I crouched in the branches of the feathered tree and did my best not to breathe. I had been too restless to sleep given that our first real solo flights were supposed to happen this morning, so I had stepped through the shadows to come up and see the storm birds before training started. Remind myself that they weren’t all set on flinging me into open air.

But, instead, my unexpected trip placed me in the middle of an argument between Tamer and Tracker as they faced off by the trunk of the tree.

“—old to be waiting out here for you like this,” Tufani sounded somewhere between irritated and disappointed.

Barra held her ground. “Your hut isn’t far.”

“And why would I miss out on catching you red-handed? We both know you didn’t have those extra little bits when you left earlier so I won’t hear a word on the idea that they came from your stash.”

“The glass won’t be missed.”

“You risk bringing the goddess’s eye on all of us. A handful of chips maybe once a year, I can understand why that would be beneath Her notice, but going every night you think you can spare sleep to chip pouches full?”

“She gave me my blessing.” There was a long pause full of expectant silence before Barra added, “The goddess has more important things to worry about than a half-destroyed statue.”

“If the goddess wanted that statue entirely gone I’ve no doubt it’d be rubble. But half still stands. You shouldn’t grab fistfuls of what She hasn’t offered.”

“She hasn’t protested.”

“And you’ll be dead or a shamble man if She does. Did you not hear me, girl? Taking a few bits every year might be beneath the goddess’s notice when that would barely make a noticeable dent in your lifetime, but now you seem determined to steal the statue’s whole head.”

Barra’s posture stiffened but her voice stayed as cool as ever. “The goddess punished the gorger, not me.”

“You mean the Sprouts you got to do your work for you and nearly died because of it.”

“Should I be chipping the glass myself or not?”

Tufani’s cane thumped against the ground. “Perhaps it’s time to leave it alone. I don’t see the goddess taking kindly to you encouraging the destruction of Her sister’s image.”

“Why would the goddess care? It’s an old relic being put to better use.”

Tufani sighed, exasperated. “Greed doesn’t become you, girl.”

“Perhaps as an old woman you’ve forgotten the respect due to whisper women.” Barra had a bit more bite in her voice than I had ever heard before.

Tufani snorted. “Oh, aye, I’ll remember that when you remember that you are standing in my territory and are beholden to my birds and are here at my request. I managed before you came and I can manage after if you’d rather I revoke that request and send you back to the Beast Watchers.”

I stared down through the needles and feathers, surprised that Barra suddenly had nothing more to say, that Tufani had requested her presence and that the request had been accepted, even as I sorted through what I had already heard.

Really, I shouldn’t have been surprised that Barra had started to directly pilfer glass from the statue. Not if she encouraged the Sapling advisers to risk new Sprouts to get glass chips for her and, from what I had seen when we first arrived in the Rookery, she certainly didn’t discourage it.

It was just that I hadn’t thought she’d be the type to put in that kind of effort. To get down on her hands and knees and spend hours chipping glass. As far as I could tell the only thing she really focused on was Juniper’s shadow walking training—and that mostly consisted of advice and a lecture or two. No hard labor. Her light colored clothing and the glass dripping all over her would have been more than a little impractical for it.

I could understand why she wanted the glass. She needed it for her blessing and glass wasn’t easy to come by. There was a myth about a field turning to glass after a lightning storm, but I had never seen anything like that, and yet there was a huge supply not far away taunting Barra. Only mostly of reach because a corpse gorger haunted the area.

So she had young girls who didn’t know better go and get it for her. To be fair, she likely had made some trips herself or I didn’t think she’d have extra to wear that didn’t need to go on a storm bird. That didn’t mean I couldn’t blame her for the unnecessary risk, even if I was starting to see a pattern of whisper women throwing seedlings into dangerous or difficult situations without a thought for consequences. If we made it through, great, we were probably more skilled or stronger because of it, and if not, well, we should have known our limits.

I couldn’t blame them for that line of thinking even when I didn’t like being repeatedly faced with the choice to sink or swim. Not when it was similar to the goddess’s own way of dealing the people in her territory. No one could question Her.

Tufani spoke again, “So what will it be? Go back to trudging over all the nooks and crannies of the goddess’s territory looking for monsters and inspecting trees? Or stay here and keep your hands off the statue unless we can’t find another glass source?”

“I don’t trudge.”

Both Tufani and I knew that wasn’t a real promise to obey Tufani’s ultimatum, but the Tamer relented. “Fine.” She waved Barra off. “Go get your beauty sleep. The Sprouts should be starting their morning run soon and I want to make sure none of them are slacking off.”

At that reminder of the time, I shot another look at the storm bird nests, promised myself that if this was another crazed flight I’d track down the nest of the bird I rode and make them regret it. Then, after a long pause to see if there was anything else I could eavesdrop on, I slipped back into the shadows and arrived back in the lower section of the Rookery before Tufani could make her way over to the cliff’s edge and realize I wasn’t in the hut like I belonged.

- -

Anore ran her giant beak over my head for the fifth time as I tried to triple check my knots and the placement of the saddle on her back. Of course she was one of the birds we were training with for our first official flight and Tufani had assigned her to me since I was going first.

As she put it, “You’ve had more time in the air than the rest of your cohort. Put it to good use and show them how it’s done.”

That set Ulo and Idra fuming, Andhi frowning, while Breck, Prevna, and Loclen got competitive gleams in their eyes. Wren tried to be encouraging while Juniper and Dera still looked like they wished they could anywhere else. Nii and Ento shared a look I couldn’t read and didn’t really care to figure out.

Tufani checked my work and nodded. “Remember your foot signals that we’ve been practicing this past week, but if you forgot Anore will circle the Rookery once and land.”

I nodded back and climbed up into the saddle. We were supposed to fly in a wide arc over the edge of the Rookery until we reached the middle of the upper lake and then direct our bird to turn and fly back the way we came before landing smoothly on the runway.

After I knotted myself in place, Tufani checked my work again before she climbed back down the ladder and told me to go whenever I was ready.

I couldn’t decided if I was or not, but I didn’t want the others to think I was hesitating, so I shifted downward so my feet could reach Anore’s feathered back more easily, gripped the handles in a death grip, and tapped my foot twice against her back.

Anore shifted and then she was running, sprinting, wings spreading—and we were in the sky. There was an odd moment of weightlessness as she ran off the edge of the cliff before she flapped her wings and let out a happy cry. We rose in the air and I realized it was difficult to see where we were going with how far back I had shifted and laying flat on my stomach like Tufani taught us to do. Most of my view was taken up by flapping wings and the back of Anore’s head.

I didn’t want to have to shift forward and back the entire time I was trying to direct Anore, so I made the split second decision to try another tactic. Keeping my hands locked on the handles I got my knees beneath me and sat up on my heels. Cold wind tried to pull me from the saddle and made tears slide from my eyes more strongly than it had when I had been laying down, but I stayed in the new position. Even if I had to squint I could see where we were going now.

Very, very carefully I shifted my weight and reached one foot back to press into Anore’s left side. She arced in that direction until I lifted my foot. I wobbled as I got settled again but I didn’t slip from the saddle. We were headed for the upper lake now.

It was nothing like being flung this way or that through the air or dangling from a bird’s beak. Anore’s flight was smooth and controlled, not even the flapping of her wings jostling from my place. It was comparable to flying with Tufani to the Carvers’ Enclave, but not quite the same.

I hadn’t been in control then but I was now.

I grinned.

Tufani had drilled us with the advanced shoots for the past week but they had been nothing compared to the test during the first night of the festival and now that extra effort hardly seemed worth it. Some of the other girls had still had difficulty with them, and I knew every little bit of practice helped, but this flight felt more like the beginner shoots than the rest of our practice.

We approached the middle of the upper lake so I reached my foot back again and made a circle in her feathers before pressing my foot against her right side. This time she turned in a tighter arc, a bit of dive propelling her along. The wind and pressure tried to pull me free from the saddle again but I held on, and Anore completed her quick turn.

I tucked my foot back under me and enjoyed the sheer freedom I had on her back, the amount of control as she responded easily to each of my directions. Nothing to confine me. No one else to call the shots.

No wonder the Rookery revered their birds so much.

I could clearly remember how easily it could all go wrong, the panic and fear, but it felt distant. Like there was no way for the two realities to overlap. Anore had saved me from a storm, she wouldn’t become it.

I adjusted her flight a couple more times so that we on the correct path to land on the runway before I tapped her three times. The signal to land.

Her landing was nearly as smooth as her flight had been but I still nearly got jostled from the saddle as I lost my balance from sitting up on my heels. I had to let go of one handle to stop my face from smashing into leather which let my ribs connect with the one I still held. I hissed in pain but, thankfully, it didn’t feel nearly as bad as the time I caught myself on a railing in the Seedling Palace.

Anore slowed and settled, and I was able to shove myself up and take stock. I’d have a bruise but everything else was fine. Next time I’d lay back down for the landing.

Tufani called out, “Feeling the consequences of ignoring my teachings right away?”

I glared back at her as I started to untie myself and the ladder. “I couldn’t see and give her commands at the same time. So I improvised.”

She took in my lack of height. “I’ll have one of the shorter fliers give you tips.”

I wanted to another pointed comment back about the fact that she could have thought of that earlier, but I held my tongue. I wasn’t in the mood for a lecture and I knew she’d point out her earlier warning about my needling others.

So I got down, untied the saddle, checked over Anore, and got out of the way so that Breck and her bird could go next. Prevna smiled playfully at me as I rejoined the group and made a show of resting her chin on my head. She wasn’t really tall enough to do it comfortably and she stopped as soon as I swatted her, but her point was made. I was short, she wasn’t, and she was proud of her baseless accomplishment. Nor was it fair that if she kept getting taller like she had been then it might not be long before she could put her chin on my head as easily as she wanted.

Well fine. She could bang her forehead on all the low hanging branches and I would take full pleasure in smirking back at her without even needing to duck.

Breck’s flight went well and she didn’t have any trouble on the landing. Of course, she was also tall enough to see and give her bird directions while laying flat in the saddle. I scowled at her and her victorious smile widened. I did my best to ignore her smug face after that. Scowling anymore at her would only strengthen her victory.

One by one the others took their flights. Each one was smooth, controlled, easy. Nothing like what we had been thrown into before though I had some suspicions that Wren chatted with her bird more than actually using the proper signals with her feet.

Despite that Dera was nearly in tears again when it was her turn to go. She looked like Tufani was banishing her from the tribe rather than giving her the chance to fly through the sky. Tufani took pity on her and her big round eyes. Dera only had to get the saddle on correctly, herself tied in place, and then hang on while Anore took her on a shorter circuit, no foot directions needed.

Tufani climbed the ladder to make sure she was secured safely and give Dera last minute assurance. When she climbed back down I could tell that her bad leg was bothering her more from going up and down the ladders to check our work, but she didn’t let the pain reach her face even if she did lean more heavily on her cane.

Then the Tamer whistled and Anore took off for another flight. Dera let out a short scream as the large bird started running before she ducked her head down against the saddle and did her best to pretend it wasn’t happening.

They were barely in the air for a minute or two before Anore swooped back down onto the runway. Dera took a long, long moment to prop herself back up from the saddle. The all encompassing fear was gone but she still didn’t look comfortable and, once she realized how close the ground was, she scrambled to untie herself and climb down. Tufani congratulated her on her bravery and effort. Wren and Loclen took on the job of cheering her up further again too.

Juniper got the saddle on her bird and resolutely went to climb the ladder before she froze halfway onto the storm bird’s back. Idra clicked her tongue and crossed her arms at the display. They still weren’t getting along. Ento nudged her and whispered something in her ear but Idra didn’t fully relent. She got as far as uncrossing her arms and glaring at the ground instead of Juniper.

In the end, Tufani had to do the quick flight Dera had gone on with her. From what I could tell Juniper hated every minute of it but she kept herself from screaming her head off like she had before. Tufani helped to get her untied as she lay statue still in the saddle and then guided her carefully down the ladder. Once Juniper reached the ground there was a tense moment of stillness before she seemed to come back to herself and noticed us all staring. Then her face got all blotchy and she sprinted away.

I hoped that didn’t lead to needing another rescue mission but I didn’t go after her. If anyone was going to it should have been Ento and Idra but they were too wrapped up in whatever feud they had going on to chase after her. Wren might have gone too, but she was too busy comforting Dera.

Prevna nudged me and leaned close to talk softly in my ear, “What do you say? Five minutes or ten before we go check on her?”

I glowered back at her and she chuckled. “Five then, to get it over with. Don’t worry I know where she probably went.”

“We don’t have to go.” Prevna didn’t look remotely swayed so I added, “She probably wants to be alone.”

“She might, but I think she could do with one of your pep talks.”

“I don’t do pep talks.”

Prevna slapped me lightly on the shoulder and grinned. “Exactly! That’s why she’ll listen.”

Tufani let us all have a break until the midday meal ended and, somehow, I found myself begrudgingly following Prevna to go…talk sense into Juniper.