Page 56 of In Her Own Rite

My aunt and uncle take Kieran’s side.

“Piu, is this wise?” Aunt Dagmar asks over a video call. She, Viggo, and Saga are crowded on the other side of the screen, sitting at thefikarigof some family friend.

“I’m not saying I’ll absolutely do it,” I say. I’m in the den with Seb and Gabe on either side of me. Kieran is standing in the doorway, arms crossed with his back to us, pretending not to listen. “I’m just saying that I want to try. If we near the date of the rite and we don’t think I’m ready, I can always drop out.”

“I would never want Em to get hurt,” Seb cuts in. “If I have any concerns, I’ll say so.”

Saga nods, thinking. “With Gabriel stopping his training, we don’t have anyone else slated to complete the rite in March. There’s not anofficialreason not to have you sign up, at least.”

“But in the midst of all this?” Dagmar asks. “They’re not on Saroe. They don’t have access to the training gym.”

Seb shakes his head. “There’s a gym here we use to train in the summer. That won’t be an issue.”

“What about her mentor?” Viggo asks. “If they stay on Halluk until the rite, she won’t be able to meet with someone.”

“I don’t think we’ll be here until March,” I say. “You’ll catch the rebels before then. And besides, Seb can be my mentor.”

Dagmar shakes her head. “Nekka, can he?”

“The only requirement is that the person have been on council for three years, which Seb has,” Saga says. “Typically we’d want to set a trainee up with someone they don’t know so well, but under the circumstances…”

“Seb helped Maren learn to shift,” I say. “I think he could help me, too.”

The three of them look up, as though the thought of me needing to learn to shift for this hadn’t even occurred to them.

“I think it should be alright,” Saga says finally. “If Seb and Gabriel are with you, and they help you prepare. And if you boys promise to be honest about what she’s capable of, and to tell us if you don’t think she’s ready—”

“We will,” Gabe says next to me. “We’d never let anything happen to her.”

From the corner of my eye, I see Kieran bristle again.

“Good thing you prepared the training salts for Kieran, Emerson,” Saga says. “Now you can make your own, as well. I’ll ask one of the Halluki leaders to bring you the ancient salt in the proper ratios. I imagine you can get the rest from Seb?”

Seb nods next to me.

“So who will be in your training pack?” Uncle Viggo asks. “Seb, Gabe, Maren, Kieran?”

“Not Kieran,” I say. “Quinn. She’s a gym junkie, and she said she’d be happy to help.”

“Why isn’t Kieran helping you?” Dagmar asks. “He’s just done the rite.”

The three of us say nothing.

“Did something happen?”

“We don’t… really see eye to eye on this,” I say, glancing his way.

“I see,” Saga says. “Is he still with you, at the house?”

“Iija,” I say.Yes. For now.

“You know we love having you all at home,piu,” Dagmar says. “You don’t need to do the rite this winter. We’d be happy to have you all here for another year.”

“I know,” I say. “But still. I want to try. I just… I need to do this.”

“Alright,” Saga says. “I’ll let the council know about the change in plans. And you’ll keep an eye on Gabriel’s healing? I know you haven’t had too much luck with siphoning wounds yet, but—”

“Actually, I tried it the other day on something small, and it worked. So if you want me to try with Gabe in the coming days, I can see what I can do.”

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