Page 40 of The Shadow Wand

An ache fills her heart over the remembrance of the dragon she and her friends helped to free.

Where are you, Naga? Did you ever make it to the East?

“...and he’s claimed the Vo River as his kindred.”

Tierney’s head snaps back toward Asra’leen, who goes silent, her smile fading, as she seems to register Tierney’s defensive flare of emotion.

Tierney’s mind falls back into the feel of swimming through the Vo’s dark waters,mergingwith the Vo’s dark waters, the immediate bond that formed between her and the Vo last night more intimate than she imagines any lover’s caress could ever be.

“Are you all right?” Asra’leen asks, her rainbow-flecked eyes glinting with concern.

Tierney can’t speak for a moment, feeling deeply thrown by the idea of another Fae bonded toherVo.

Tierney knows that Asra’leen has formed her own kinship with a waterfall on a small island just to the south of the Wyvernguard. Last eve they talked deep into the night, and Asra’leen spoke of the first time she made contact with her waterfall, a deeply significant Asrai bond forming between her and the falls with just that one touch, the sense of immediate connection a euphoric rush like no other. And now, Asra’leen strives to visit the lovely waterfall as often as she can, submersing herself in it and often morphing into water to become one with it, happily surrounded by its myriad fish and amphibians and aquatic insects and plant life, this small manifestation of Erthia’s water now an integral and deeply cherished part of Asra’leen’s heart.

Tierney knows, from her kelpies, that all Asrai eventually find their waters, a body of water that they claim as their own and are claimed by in turn.

Last night, Tierney found hers, and she isn’t ready to share it.

“Did you just say that Fyordin Lir has laid claim to the Vo?” Tierney presses, an unmistakable edge to her tone.

My river.

Dancing mischief lights Asra’leen’s eyes. “Well, he’ll have to share it now, won’t he? It seems that you and Fyordin have formed the same kinship.”

Every Fae instinct inside Tierney recoils at the idea.

No. The river is mine.

“You’ll work it out,” Asra’leen says soothingly, a rainbow aura glittering to life around her before her mouth turns up into another bright smile. “C’mon. Let’s go meet everyone.”

Tierney blinks against the bright sunlight as she pauses at the threshold of the Wyvernguard’s arching exit. The broad obsidian terrace that rings the base of the South Twin Island is splayed before her and teeming with military apprentices—the shocking sight of what must be a Fire Fae division to her far right, the red-haired apprentices’ conjured flames flashing in the air, and an Elfhollen Fae division to the distant left, the Mountain Fae arranged in rows as they shoot arrows at targets lined up along the terrace’s edge.

But it’s the division directly in front of her that wrests the air from Tierney’s lungs.

“Myl’lynian’ir,” Asra’leen says to Tierney brightly, beckoning her with the Asrai words forcome out, my friendas she steps backward onto the huge sunlit terrace, one graceful blue hand playfully outstretched toward Tierney. Asra’leen’s crystalline rainbow aura flashes brilliantly in the sunlight, her cloud of foam-colored hair brightened to a blinding white as it’s tossed about in the breeze coming off the Vo River.

Tierney can’t move. Can’t speak as she takes in the fantastical scene before her, the Vo River shifting its current to greet her, flowing in to splash against the terrace’s railing.

There are over twenty Asrai Water Fae assembled on a wide expanse of terrace near the river’s edge, all of them with the same changeable deep-blue hue that ripples like water, curled hair, broad features, and pointed ears as Tierney’s, and all of them wearing the sapphire uniforms of the Wyvernguard military apprentices, just like hers.

Stunned, Tierney takes them in, in one sweeping glance: a young Asrai woman with blue-black skin creates huge swooshes of water in the cool morning air, masses of cattails decorating her long navy-blue curls; a young man wearing a crown of ivory shells stands near the river’s edge as he conjures a slim waterspout that reaches from the river toward the white clouds above; a muscular, broad young woman circles in place, her hands gyrating as she fashions river eel shapes of enormous size from sparkling water, the black shells decorating her coiled locks glittering in the sun along with the suspended water-creatures.

Everywhere, Asrai Fae are openly wielding their water power, openly displaying their allegiance to the waters of Erthia.

A sleek, androgynous-appearing Asrai is throwing bolt after bolt of water over the Vo River, their spiky blue hair festooned with pale water lilies. And a young man with a brooding expression is forming a small rainstorm off to the side, the magic flowing from his upturned palms. He meets Tierney’s gaze, his indigo eyes widening as lightning spits from his storm, as if in startled response to her.

The forbidden Asrai tongue that her kelpies taught her is spoken freely, her ears thrilling to its fluid cadence. There are lines of runic weaponry propped against a weapons rack, Noi water-power runes glowing a bright sapphire on the hilts of swords and bows and spears and a host of other weapons.

For a moment, it’s like the entire world tilts on its axis, and Tierney has to stifle a sound of pure emotion as the storming magic inside her rises and churns with a pained joy.

We’re all free. Free to be Asrai Fae.

And not just Asrai Fae...

Asrai Fae soldiers.

Tierney’s eyes glaze with tears and she fights back a choked-up feeling, as she thrills to the blessing that is the Eastern Realm.

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