Aili was awakened for the third time in eight hours. It took her a while to individuate Rabam among the people standing on top of the inner wall.

“False alarm?” she asked with false hope, but she could feel in the air that it was different this time.

Rabam confirmed her suspicion by shaking his head and pointing at the internal forest. There was movement under the foliage.

In the end, the inhabitants had decided to keep her in the village and deactivate the gods instead. She had helped them fill the holders, even if there was a constant line in front of them to keep them full, and a mix of elders and younger people constantly producing new ones. It had become necessary when, after less than two days, they had discovered to everyone’s dismay that full holders tended to deteriorate fast.

“I swear Morìc didn’t say anything about this,” Rabam had said, holding the frayed remains of strings that had been full of viss just an instant before, viss that was now dispersed in the atmosphere and completely impossible to recover.

“Of course,” Aili had said. “It was a secret. Maybe he hoped you wouldn’t think of copying them before they were completely destroyed.”

At first it had been a problem, considering the amount of viss they needed to constantly keep seven of the nine gods asleep, to the point she had accepted to be deactivated and only awakened in case of either an attack or an emergency replenishing of the holders, when the viss of the community wasn’t enough.

She had taken that chance to experiment a bit. The first thing she wanted to clarify was whether there was a limit to the amount of viss the holders could contain. Then she realized they were patterns created to hold a lot of it and she couldn’t afford to waste even one year, so she decided to test a small object instead. The choice fell on a tiny splinter of wood.

The result surprised her: a month of viss, on something that could be held on the tip of a finger. Any additional sparkle immediately dispersed. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the resources to test whether the result would change using different materials, but she suspected it would be the case.

She also tried to deactivate herself through the holders. The ones tied to her shard were filled with her own viss, and yet they still worked when a human pushed viss through them to deactivate her. She tried to do the same, letting her viss snake around the holders and then onto the shard, but nothing happened. Apparently only the imprint of the initial spark counted, and one belonging to a sphere wasn’t acceptable.

She wasn't surprised to see that the person at the head of the group of monks was once again Daira. Something about her face seemed different, but Aili could only see what it was once she stepped closer: a bruise covering her left cheekbone. She felt her own viss flare with rage, and at the same time realized it could still be a manipulation of the monks: they could have used makeup to let her think Daira had been hit, to induce her to capitulate to their requests.

“I was forced to come here sooner than expected,” Daira said. "Since you've deactivated the gods, the villages have been attacked by the cloud people, not to mention the various illnesses that have started to spread. Some already died, and much more will follow if they don't receive medical attention. For this reason, the abbot asks you to reactivate the gods."

If she'd been the one making all of the decisions, Aili might have accepted to activate the spheres for a short time, enough to guarantee cures to everyone. But the council of the inhabitants had decided not to relent until their demands had been met, and that eased her conscience a bit. Besides, the monks could take care of those people themselves. They only didn’t because it would have made their presence manifest to everyone at the same time, putting a dent in their secrecy that wouldn't have been easy to fix.

“We will, but we have demands,” she said.

“I can't promise you they will be fulfilled, but I can refer them to the abbot.”

“One,” Aili began, making sure her voice was loud enough to be heard both by the monks and the people of Suimer. “You will tell the whole and absolute truth to the people of the nine villages, including the history that led to the current system you have in place. Two, you'll give me my shard. Three, you'll let Suimer inhabitants look for food outside the walls without being attacked."

She had warned the council against adding the third one, since it exposed their weakness, but most had agreed it was worth trying, especially after the fishers' expedition. They had crossed a temporary passageway Aili had set up over the debris and climbed the external wall to the ground with a ladder, even if Aili could have transported them all outside with her winds at the cost of precious viss.

They had moved at the early lights of day, an optimal time both for fishing and moving in secret. Yet, once they had gathered the few boats that hadn’t been damaged by Zeles during the construction of the wall or by the monks during their retreat, they had been attacked by a small fleet appearing from behind the rocks that delimited the beach. Two fishers had been captured, while the rest, including Saia's dad, had managed to return to the wall, inside of Aili's domain.

Fish wasn't the only food they lacked: most of the fields had been on the outskirts of the village, now buried under a mountain of debris. Zeles had saved what was already growing there and piled it up at the center of the square, but the new sprouts had been completely submerged. They had immediately set every private garden to use, but the fruits of that labor wouldn't have been available for a long time, and would probably be insufficient to feed the whole population through the winter. They were already debating whether to keep a small stock of cattle or kill it all in the upcoming weeks in order not to waste food. The monks could imagine what they were going through, of course, but not see the full extent of it through the tall inner wall. With her request, Aili had given them a clearer picture of the situation. Only a small advantage, she hoped.

“I could tell you that we'll consider it, but frankly it's unlikely. You should know that, Ailima.”

Aili hated that she had begun using her full name, when she hadn't even as her mentor.

“I’m not the one taking the decisions,” she said. “It's a council of Suimer's inhabitants. You're hearing their requests as well as mine.”

She observed the people standing on the walls and the ones listening from the square. Rabam had read her entire speech out loud after the last council meeting was over, eliciting cheers of approval. Aili didn't think they should have given that information to the monks, but the inhabitants wanted them to know.

While Daira managed to remain impassible, the sentinels around her exchanged glances of disbelief.

“Very well, then,” Daira said. “I will return in two weeks.”

Aili had predicted it could go in two ways: one, the monks would have panicked and made their visits more frequent, perhaps even more violent, in an attempt to get her to yield. In the second scenario, they accepted a temporary defeat and dragged out the siege as long as possible, forcing Suimer to consume resources, testing the limits of its control on their gods.

Apparently, Daira had been instructed to choose the second one.

“We can't hold on for two weeks,” Aili said to each member of the council after the monks left. “We're already exhausted, they could reorganize in the meantime.”

They were already gathering at the square, surrounded by an audience of other inhabitants who more or less participated in the debate by shouting their thoughts without an order. Aili knew they needed to find a solution to that, but she was hesitant to suggest the monks' debate system.

“I suggest we wait it out,” a council member said. Protests surged from the crowd, forcing her to raise her voice. “We can manage for two weeks, and they might be bluffing when they say they'll return that late.”

“That's not the point,” someone else said. “We shouldn't let them decide when it's convenient to talk to us. We have to force them to listen.”

“Easy for you to say, but how?”

“We could steal a god,” Lada said. “It should be easy, if we keep them all deactivated and Aili helps us fight the monks.”

“And then do what?”

“I don't know, but it sends a pretty clear message.”

“We can do what we want!” someone shouted from the crowd, eliciting a cheer.

“Only as long as Aili protects us,” Lada specified. “Which is why we shouldn't wait and waste her viss.”

“There's also my plan,” Rabam started. Someone shouted for him to raise his voice.

“Which one?” an elderly council member said while knitting a holder.

“Bringing Aili up the mountain. There will be a siege here as soon as they realize that she's not protecting the village anymore, but if we manage to distract them…”

“But keep in mind they have probably predicted that,” Aili interjected. “They might have a plan in place, if not to stop me at least to escape.”

“They don't have gods to attack with,” a council member said. “They're all sleeping.”

“They have Lausune's new god. And they could create another one if they realize what we're doing.”

“So the key is to act in secret,” Rabam said. “That shouldn't be too difficult, right?”

“They saw us when we went fishing,” Silem said. “They might have some observers nearby.”

The conversation went back and forth until it was clear that they were seriously considering the plan.

“Since it seems like you want to go along with this, I can fly there,” Aili said. “Propelling myself costs a lot of viss, but I can go faster alone. As long as I hide my presence with some cloth.”

“How would you be able to communicate with us, then?” Lada asked. “We wouldn’t know if something goes badly.”

“Yes,” the elder added. “If they capture you and we don't learn about it in time, we can only wait until they capture us all.”

“As if we could prevent that even if we knew,” another council member commented. “If we lose her, we lose everything.”

“We might win everything, if we succeed,” Rabam pointed out.

Aili observed the mountain.

“I can see at night,” she said, distractedly. “I can guide whoever will bring me up there, but if they capture me or manage to deactivate me, they'll be stranded. They'll only need to light a fire to let you know of the danger, but they'll certainly be captured.”

“And that's why that someone has to be me,” Rabam said. “They consider me dangerous, they might think I have a plot in mind even when there's none and as a consequence be more careful about attacking you.”

Aili knew it wasn't the real reason why he wanted to take that risk, it was written all over his viss. Still, nobody had a better idea.

“If I have to leave you alone, there are preparations to be made,” she said.

“What do we need?” Lada asked.

“Some rocks, a scalpel… Oh, and two volunteers.”

At midnight, when the sky without moon was so dark Rabam couldn't even find the walls without her help, they departed from Suimer. Her sphere was well hidden inside his backpack, while he held a torch with the pattern to create flames carved all around the handle, ready to activate it at the first sign of danger.

“Promise me you won't put yourself in needless danger just because you feel guilty,” Aili told him, speaking in his ears.

She kept her domain expanded enough to catch any sentinels before they could realize that the rustling of leaves was someone advancing toward them.

“Not that simple,” he whispered. “I need to get captured if we don't manage to defeat the monks in time. Otherwise, they'll use my family as leverage, sooner or later.”

“I’ll try to get them out, if I have the chance.”

“Thank you.”

He stumbled forward in complete darkness, with only her nudges as guidance. She admired his willingness to go on for hours despite the grim toots of howls all around, the rustling of boars and the trees constantly blocking his path. She helped him cross a stream with her winds.

A soft light started to filter through the foliage, and Rabam stopped.

“We're close,” he whispered. “The night sentinels are never too far from the entrance.”

“Wait here, and be ready with the torch. I'm going to expand my domain.”

She did, moving slowly. Part of her knew that the monks couldn't possibly have a way to repel her, otherwise they'd have already used it against Suimer. But they were masters in keeping secrets, and she always expected them to have set something aside just for that occasion. She expected an attack, a dart of ballistae, or even to find that the village had been abandoned for days in favor of some other secret place.

Instead, she felt another god.

The barrier of light cut the forest in half as she felt a push against her domain. She pushed back almost as a reflex.

“They moved Lausune's god here,” she said.

Rabam raised the torch over his head, ready to light it. Sentinels were shouting and leaving their outposts to crowd around the barrier of light.

“We’re being attacked! Send the signal,” the abbot said.

Saia looked for him in the small group that was pouring out of the village's entrance. It took her a bit to realize that the voice had come from above.

“You are a god?” she asked in disbelief.

He didn't answer. She thought back at Vizena, how the abbot and priors had declared that the rules were the most important thing, only to break them by bringing a god to their village.

“You hypocrite liars,” she screamed, not caring how much viss she was pouring into the attempt to make the abbot retract. “Willing to betray your principles and rules when it could give you power.”

She remembered Rabam's words about some monks wanting to live free, or what they perceived as being 'free', like the people of the villages.

“How is it possible?” she asked, addressing them, even if they couldn't see where her attention lay. “How could you accept something like this?”

“If you would stop screaming, I'll be glad to explain,” the abbot said. “Our ancestors have been farsighted, but even they had never imagined that a village could completely isolate itself, with a god inside we can't control anymore and that can control our other gods. Our rules didn't say anything about what to do in these circumstances, but we knew what our ancestors would have done: create new rules. So the night of the attack it was decided that the abbot can be transformed into a god to protect the village when one of the gods might attack it undisputed.”

“Who decided that? Why the abbot and not someone else?”

“Because in an emergency we can't organize trials, and the abbot is the person who passed more selections than anybody else. I've been a prior for the better part of my life and worked in close contact with the previous two abbots. Yes, two: I was judged too immature the first time, and only obtained the position after years of hard work. The priors all agreed to this proposition, and the vote of the assembly sealed the approval.”

Aili thought she would have loved to see how many votes had been in favor compared to the total, but didn't trust the abbot to provide a truthful report. Besides, even if it was a narrow majority, it was probably still valid.

“So now you'll be abbot for the next two hundred years?”

“No. You're so eager to consider us evil that you think us stupid. I’m not complaining, since it might be what we need to defeat you. But for your information, once I'll have you defeated, I'll step down from the role of abbot and protect Suimer instead, like any other god.”

Aili could feel her rage grow at that: the monks knew the danger of having someone control them with absolute power for two hundred years, but when it came to the nine villages they considered it fair and even merciful. The abbot becoming Suimer's god after he had refused to deactivate Vizena felt like a slap in the face of everyone who had ever lived in the village and fought for its freedom.

“So you want to be a god and an abbot at the same time.”

“Only until my successor's training is completed.”

“Rades?” she asked, thinking that at least he seemed meek enough to reason with.

“Maris,” he said. “They're what we need, with a sphere still loose out there.”

“Yes, because they're incredibly loyal to you.”

“Aili,” Rabam called. “We need to go.”

He was right: there were lights in the water in front of Suimer. The monks weren't reluctant anymore about coming out at night, and she suddenly realized why: they had a god, now, that could perceive when another one was approaching. They didn't need to be careful anymore.

She flew out of Rabam's bag, shining a light on the surroundings, then pushed him forward with her winds. Flying the whole day down from the mountain would have been a waste of viss, and dangerous if the inhabitants didn't have enough viss to counteract the influence of the monks that were constantly trying to deactivate her. It took them a while to go down the mountain that way, with Aili half-carrying Rabam while he ran blindly forward.

“Leave me here and go to them,” he said.

But the monks were in pursuit. Far away, for the moment, but numerous enough that they’d have found Rabam the instant she flew away on her own.

As they approached, the situation at Suimer became clearer. The monks were surrounding the walls again, from both forest, villages and sea. They had a god, Aili realized when she saw what was happening at the top of the walls: it was being peeled away, in crunches, together with the most superficial debris. The god, Lausune’s god, since they were the only deity they didn’t own a shard of, had probably realized that breaking the walls would mean having to block an avalanche of debris before it could bury the monks and nearby villages, so they had opted for a slower but more secure method.

Suddenly, a sphere of light left the monks and flew toward Suimer. Aili felt her viss buzz uncontrollably: since she wasn’t there, nothing could stop a god from taking her spot. She poured her viss into accelerating their descent, but knew she wouldn’t have arrived in time.

Then, two explosions rocked the external wall at two opposite points. The debris started to pour out of the holes. The god stopped halfway through their ascent to block the avalanche on their site, but couldn’t do anything for Kivari. It submerged some of the monks, threatening their tents and the houses of the village.

“I’ll stop it if you fly away,” Aili yelled.

The god rotated in mid-air, as if indecisive. She expanded her domain as much as she could and pushed against theirs until they capitulated. They flew down toward the surviving monks, part of their viss still employed in preventing an avalanche on Tilau’s side.

Aili waited until she was back at the temple and Rabam safe inside the village before using a huge amount of her viss to repair the holes and carry the debris back. She found the two people who had made the devices explode, hanging for dear life to the ladders a few armlengths above the gaping holes, and brought them back. They were welcomed with hollers of victory. Aili was grateful that the monks had decided to report the pattern of explosions accurately in their book about the mountain’s history.

She braced herself for a long siege, but to her surprise the monks started retreating.

She guessed it was because they didn’t want to waste the only god that was entirely under their control, besides the abbot. They had made their point clear regardless: Aili couldn’t leave the village unsupervised.

She gave time to the village to calm down and organize a new meeting of the council. Rabam sat on top of the internal wall, observing with her.

“Where’s his shard?” he asked.

“I was wondering the same thing. One thing is to transform the abbot into a god, one is to let him do what he wants. They must have a shard somewhere, outside of his reach. Possibly in a different place from the other shards. Are there many rooms inside the village that could be outside of a god’s reach?”

Rabam thought about it.

“The shard room, of course. Even the crater room.”

“Which is?”

“Where we dump the ashes of our dead so that their viss can join the mountain, even if technically the original function of the place was to make sure nothing dangerous was happening inside the crater. It’s the lowest room in the village, as you can imagine.”

Aili thought that information was even more important than it seemed, but couldn’t pinpoint why.

“Or maybe they’re keeping the shard outside the village,” Rabam added.

“The top of the mountain,” Aili said, looking at the peak of rock almost deprived of trees. “That could be a possibility.”

“So what’s our next move?”

Aili returned her focus to the village. A line of people was already bringing chairs and tables outside.

“I’ll tell them everything, then we’ll decide together.”