We stood on the edge of a windstorm so fierce that I wouldn’t be surprised if it cut my hand should I be foolish enough to reach out over the cliff edge. Our cohort and the seedlings from the year after us, Mishtaw, Prevna and me, other whisper women I didn’t recognize who I assumed had become mentors to some of the others while we were busy with Mishtaw—we all watched as wind whipped by a foot from our faces, held in check by the goddess’s will.

This was the home of the wind sprites who swept through the goddess’s territory during the Welcome of the Winds. Some thought they were part of the storm front that changed everything from warm season to cold, as well, but no one could prove it one way or the other since the spirits were quiet during that storm, if they participated at all.

Now we could hear their murmurs, their shrill laughter and unintelligible gossip, as if through a thick wall though there was only open air before us. Their home was deep in the Barrier Mountains and scoured clean of any harsh edges, any plant life. Nothing seemed to survive the constant flow of wind.

But that wasn’t to say the wind sprites’ home was a barren wasteland with nothing but moving air and sandy rock. The rock itself stretched over the wide basin in tendrils, some thick enough to walk on, others no more than a finger width, like an artistic spider web that a whole community of spiders had gotten together to create. I didn’t even need to glance at Juniper to know she was dreading our next trial as much as she had hated flying on the storm birds. The ground was too far away to see through the web of ledges and thin paths.

The wind spirits had also picked up multitudes of petals and leaves and carried them back to their home. There were waterfalls of red, orange, and pink petals cascading down over the ledges, rivers of pine needles and golden leaves flowing between them, rainbow whirlwinds.

This was the place we were to earn our final boons.

The whisper women pulled out their prayer needles and spoke together. “We beseech you, o voices of the wind. May our young and bold, our earnest and brave, learn your ways and withstand your winds so they might rise and serve our goddess. We beseech you to part the veil and allow them their trial.”

Then they pricked their wrists and flung drops of blood into the void, where they were swept up and lost among a river of leaves. A thin line of leaves split from the main river and curled in a lazy spiral over the three branching paths that led from the edge we stood on into the spirits’ home.

I felt Mishtaw relax next to me at the sight before we all headed back to our camp. It wasn’t far. We were on a relatively small plateau tucked between two steep mountains with a massive pine tree towering where they joined together. Its branches shadowed the plateau while its roots dug through the stone and created natural sections to the camp.

We settled around a burnt out fire pit. Prevna and I on one side, Mishtaw to our left, Juniper opposite us and desperately trying to pretend she wasn’t latching onto us because she had no one else. Breck also lounged opposite of Mishtaw. Everyone else had split off into their own groups or were speaking with their own mentors. Breck had never settled with a single mentor, but she seemed to respect Mishtaw enough that she’d come to listen in when she thought there was information she ought to know that our mentor would share with us.

“You’ll have three or four days,” Mishtaw said. “Don’t waste them. The wind spirits are fickle gentling their winds so seedlings can earn their wind whispering boon. There’s no telling when they’ll be amenable again.” She saw Breck make a face at the idea that we needed gentle winds. “Don’t fear, if you earn your second boon here you’ll have an intimate knowledge of just how punishing their winds can get.”

Prevna leaned forward to look around me. “How many earn both boons here?”

Mishtaw shrugged. “Most attempt it, but most don’t last long enough to complete the tempering. The wind spirits will give you one chance after you earn your first boon and if you don’t take up the offer then you’ll lose the opportunity. Fail, and you’ll still be able join a sect on a provisional basis but you’ll have to complete your tempering to earn the elemental resistance boon by staying out in the season changing storms.”

“And the wind whispering boon?” Juniper asked.

“You can attempt the spirit’s trial as many times as you like.” She pulled a thick piece of cloth from a pouch. “You’ll be blindfolded. You’ll have to listen to the spirits’ guidance to find your way through the winding paths. They’ll bring you to one of the wellsprings that their winds pour from and there you’ll earn your boon—how you listen and how well you communicate them will determine which wellspring they bring you to. Which in turn can affect the strength of your boon as well as certain aspects of it, such as how easy it is to be accurate with your messages or how far you can send them.”

So this was to be a trial of variables then. Every decision could affect the thing after it, and I had no desire to be saddled with subpar boons. Nine Claws had said earning my boons here could go a long way to making a good impression on whichever sect I chose to join. It was advice I might as well follow since I had promised Esie I’d stay in the storm for as long as I could to use the unique circumstances to try to learn more about Azabel and the Lady Blue with my new boon.

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Besides, a large part of me was interested in pitting my will against the wind spirits’ and learning who came out on top. I had gotten a taste of what they were capable of when the Warming Winds thawed me after I was frozen, and it made me wonder if earning the second boon here was a difficult as everyone said it was. We had learned more in the weeks leading up to coming to the spirits’ home and it was clear that those who had earned both boons here were considered a cut above other whisper women, even those that might have not found their way to the best wellspring.

It had taken a lot of prodding but Prevna had eventually got it out of Mishtaw that she had been one of a few in her group to earn both boons here. Eliss had to do things the more standard way and earn the elemental resistance boon by exposing herself to the seasonal storms.

“Can we watch others attempt the trial?” I asked.

Mishtaw and Prevna both shot me knowing looks, but Mishtaw answered, “You can, but memorizing the paths they take won’t help you. The spirits will obscure the paths at a certain level and you can’t know how good a wellspring the others are being guided towards. I’d recommend spending some time getting used to the winds past the veil and then attempting your trial. The more time you interact with the winds the better chance you’ll have at understanding them.”

My ears perked up at that. “Are we required to return to camp at night? Or otherwise?”

Mishtaw looked like she didn’t want to answer but she did so, with a long suffering look. “Most people want to eat or sleep without fear of rolling off an edge but, no, if you want to stay within the veil until the wind sprites decide the time for trials is over, you can do so.”

Well then. Being a whisper woman was all I had now, so I might as well put my all into it. The mostly destroyed landscape of plants outside my memory tent spoke to that. Some packed food and I could spend all my time learning what I needed to.

Prevna bumped my shoulder. “Just make sure you still go to the latrine. No one would appreciate their home getting fouled up because someone else’s lack of common sense.”

I rolled my eyes back at her. “Of course.”

Juniper worried at her pant leg before she forced herself to ask, “What if we fall?”

Mishtaw held her gaze. “You will. And the wind spirits will catch you and bring you back to the beginning of the paths if stepping into open air was a mistake. They’ll test your trust, your obedience, and it’ll be up to you whether you think listening or putting your foot down in those instances is for the best. Sometimes it might be trick, others a short cut.”

Juniper didn’t look remotely comforted by that information. Mishtaw sighed and added, “You’re not the only one to attempt the trial with a fear of heights.” She pointed to another whisper woman with a fierce expression, a braid of jet black hair going to her waist, and a bless mark wrapping around her right elbow. “Speak with Ilantris. She reached the Wellspring of Communion and she hates heights as much as you do.”

My eyebrows rose at that. From what we had learned the Wellspring of Communion was the third best wellspring a whisper woman could hope to reach and often came with an added bonus of being able to send the same message to multiple people at once. A skill prized many of the sects since whisper women had a habit being spread out all over the territory for various tasks.

Above it was the Wellspring of Devotion, known for allowing even newbies with the boon to send whispers from one end of the goddess’s territory to the other. The highest wellspring was the Mother Spring, but, apparently, the wind spirits guarded that one jealously. Not much was known about the benefit it granted as the few who reached it kept tight lips and didn’t let on if what they could do was a result of the boon or pure practice.

That wellspring was my goal. It’d allow me to start earning the respect I needed as well as give me the best chance of fulfilling Esie’s request. If I was stubborn, if I was patient and took in every bit of information I could, I was sure I’d reach it. I was determined to make that the only possible outcome.

Prevna, on the other hand, was less interested in the mysterious wellspring and focused instead on reaching the Wellspring of Devotion. She had said the name was apt because she wanted to be able to check on me whenever I inevitably went on another dangerous mission. I wasn’t sure what to say to that, but she had moved onto another topic before the silence could grow awkward.

Neither of us were ready to admit it, but over the past few weeks there had been hints were it seemed like we were considering different sects, that we might not automatically pick one together since what we wanted to pursue might not be the same. But at the same time neither of us were ready to face the possible separation so we hurried past anything that might imply we wouldn’t be together like we had been since coming under Mishtaw’s purview.

Mishtaw clapped her hands together, once, sharply, and brought my focus back on her. “Rest up while you can. It’ll take until morning for the wind spirits to relinquish the intensity of their storm and open an entrance through the veil.”

She rose to check in with Creed, who was helping the other fire starters keep the camp running, while Juniper resolutely headed in the direction of the whisper woman Mishtaw had pointed out. Breck acknowledged Prevna and me with an up nod before she wandered off, likely to see if Loclen and Nii had received the same advice Mishtaw gave.

Prevna took the opportunity to slump against me dramatically. “Wake me up when the veil is open.”

I poked her in the head. “We haven’t even had the evening meal yet.”

She considered for a moment before adding, “Wake me up for that too.”

“You can’t stay like that all evening.”

“Watch me.”

“It doesn’t look comfortable.” Given our height difference she had to hunch a bit more to get her head on my shoulder.

I didn’t need to see her face to know the moment she started smiling smugly. She said, “You’d be surprised.”

I sighed and let her have her way. No doubt she was doing this now since she knew I’d be spending most of my time over the next few days in the spirits’ home, singularly focused and unwilling to spend time on anything but gaining the boons.

So we sat in silence for the next while, Prevna taking comfort in the contact. I did to, to the extent that I could, but my mind was already turning over what information I had about what was to come next and how it might help me reach my goal. One way or another, I was determined turn the situation to my advantage.