Page 125 of By the Horns
But I’m just so giddy that I don’t pay attention to a single word of it. Instead, I keep stroking my new vivid blue sash that is as yet unadorned with pins. The fabric is soft and the blank sash is so full of potential, just like the battered but lightweight morning star attached to my belt. I stroke my sash and I smile at my husband in the audience, and I feel like a real artificer.
Raptor opted not to take part in the ceremony, even though his rank has been officially reinstated. He’s gone through one once before, he said, and this ceremony should be about us. I stand with Lark and Arrod and Kipp at my side, while my gorgeous Taurian husband watches from the audience. He sits with Hawk and Sparrow, and while everyone in the audience looks happy for us, no one has that expression of robust pride quite like Raptor does.
There’s a smattering of applause as Rooster finishes his speech, and then the crowd scatters. All the graduates stand there, a little dazed. This isn’t the end of the ceremony, of course. After this, we’ll go to the guild book that we signed when we initially began training. We’ll cross out our old name and write the new one beside it, and then our official bird name will be added to the roster of working artificers. Last night, we met with the guild’s official name chronicler to go over our name choices, so we wouldn’t take one that’s already in use. Each name has its own wax seal for sending official missives. Mine is already at home, waiting to be used for the first letter I send back to Ma.
At my side, Lark sniffs and swipes a hand over her face.
“Are you crying?” Arrod asks, disgusted. “This is a good day.”
Lark elbows him. “Piss off, I’m not crying. You’re crying.”
“I’m not crying.” He sounds affronted at the suggestion. “I’m mucking ecstatic. No more drills! Now we just get to do the fun stuff.”
I loop an arm around Lark’s shoulders and hug her. “Ignore him. You’re allowed to cry.” I know just how much this means to her. To all of us. But for Lark, the last six months have been extra emotional. She was given the opportunity to join as our fifth to take Hemmen’s spot. Normally the guild would disqualify an entire Five if one member was considered unfit, but Hemmen’s murder was seen as unfair to the rest of us (and rightly so). Lark’s leg was still healing up, and she and Mereden had recently adopted their two children. She spent every weekend at home with them, just as Master Jay did with his widow, which meant that she had to work doubly hard every week to keep up.
So aye, I totally understand her tears. She thought she was going to be repeating for quite some time. To be in the guild now, able to take a name, able to earn a wage…it’s the best. I hug her close and smile at Mereden and the children in the audience.
Sparrow races toward us, beaming. She hugs me and then Lark, and even Arrod. She drops to her knees by Kipp and flings her arms out. “Can I hug you? Just this once?”
He shrugs and allows her to hug him, his little body stiff. I know it’s not because of the ceremony. He’s thrilled to be graduating. His lady friend is in the audience, and I caught him blowing subtle kisses at her earlier. He just doesn’t like touching humans. But everyone tolerates hugs today. I pat Kipp on his shell house in quiet approval. “Kipp deserves all the credit. If it wasn’t for him acting as our sword, we wouldn’t have gotten as far as we did.”
Kipp preens at my praise, gesturing out at Raptor, who’s coming toward us now that the ceremony is over.
“Oh, him?” I tease, loud enough for my husband to hear. “He’s all right. Don’t tell him that, though, or he’ll get a swelled head.”
In truth, Kipp and Raptor work as an excellent sword and shield for our team. Their opposite sizes serve them well, with Kipp able to race up and down the tunnel walls to do whatever it takes to move ahead or defeat the enemy, and Raptor sweeping through after him, bashing heads and clearing the way for the three humans. Arrod didn’t like being “pushed to the back with the women” at first, but once he saw how effective our team was, he took pride in becoming our gearmaster. He natters on and on in our ears about how much oil our lamp is using or what supplies we’re low on, and takes inventory constantly to ensure that nothing is missed. That leaves Lark as our medic, which she doesn’t mind. Says she picks up tips from Mereden and jokes that she likes to inflict pain as she cleans our wounds.
It means I’m the navigator of our small group. At first I wasn’t too sure how I felt about that, as the navigator is one of the most important positions in a Five. But with the dead whispering in my ears, it’s impossible for me to get lost, and it seems a natural transition for my skills. I haven’t had a chance to use my morning star in combat yet, but it goes everywhere with me, and Master Jay has shown me a few tips and tricks so I can be as effective a fighter as any.
The dead that speak to me are still too noisy. If anything, they’re noisier than ever. But I’m better at directing them with what I want. Oftentimes, they simply want to be heard, and it’s a matter of telling themthat I’ll listen to all if they speak one at a time. One at a time, I can deal with.
And if I get a ghost that won’t listen? I have a big Taurian mate who doesn’t mind taking me aside and kissing the five hells out of me until my focus is entirely on him. And if that doesn’t work, well…I also have a ring piercing between my thighs, right on the hood of my clit. It’s a Taurian wedding thing, and just having it there makes everything ultrasensitive. If I have trouble concentrating, I can always squeeze my thighs super tight…which causes a different kind of distraction. But it all works.
Arrod flings his arms around Lark and me, hugging us. “We should go out somewhere to celebrate our new names and our status as official guild artificers!”
Lark politely peels his arm off and strides over to Mereden, kissing her and then picking up her son and carrying him on her hip. “Can we go somewhere kid-friendly?”
“Gods, why?” Arrod sounds horrified.
“Because I want to celebrate this moment with my family at my side, you hollow-brained pumpkin of a man.”
Mereden chuckles, shaking her head. “We can leave if it’s a problem. It’s your celebration.”
“It is,” I agree. “And it is absolutely no bother. You’re part of this crew, too.” I slide out from Arrod’s grasp and pull Sparrow in. “Just like Sparrow and Hawk, and Kipp.”
Everyone looks around for the diminutive slitherskin, but he seems to have disappeared. He reappears a moment later, leading his orange-pink lady friend, Vik. The little messenger gives us a shy wave of greeting, the gleaming thick shell of her house dwarfing her form.
“Vik is invited, too, of course,” I add. “But we need to sign the Book of Names first. I want to get mine recorded and done with.”
“What name did you request?” Arrod asks.
Sparrow claps her hands. “Oh, is it ‘Wren’? You seem like such a Wren to me.”
“It’s not ‘Wren,’ and it’s definitely not ‘Chickadee,’ ” I say, naming the two suggestions Sparrow gave me when we’d first arrived in the city. “And I don’t want to put it out in the open until it’s written down and it’s mine. Bad luck and all.”
“If it helps, I’ll tackle anyone who tries to write it down first,” Raptor tells me, leaning in and murmuring against my ear. I just tug on his nose ring. Silly, wonderful male.
Lark snorts. “You make your own luck. ’Sides, I already know what mine is.”
