Chapter 01: Convocation

Survive. Luna burst through the doors of Sudalijhe’Yi’s Great Hall, wasting no time to take in the heat and haze of celebration. She ignored the few curious glances cast her way and dove into the forest of rangers, trying best to step about the edge of her cloak.

If Zingiber posed a problem, Ty had said, Luna could rush the protective ritual-- something more finicky than difficult. Ty could walk Luna through it, if Luna could just remember where they were supposed to meet. Near the back, perhaps.

The details were lost in the dust. But it didn’t matter; it couldn’t matter: Luna had traveled so many leagues, bowed to too many new elders to make it here. Zingiber couldn’t take this from her.

She almost heard his footsteps behind her, but that was impossible. The clamor of the crowd about her drowned out even the ensemble on the center dais, leaving only the rhythm of their drums-- though that might have been her heartbeat.

She could reach out with her aura, feel for his, but he would expect that.

No, she would melt into the crowd and let her scent mix with all that had ridden in from the edges of the realm.

She weaved through several pods of greencloaks, then halted mid-stride and let her aura collapse. Luna shivered. Zingiber could chase a ghost to the edge of the hall now, following nothing but a feeling. For her part, Luna would rest-- like she hadn’t done in many weeks-- alone, despite the crowd.

Ten thousand conversations rattled the cedar walls that held the Convocation, riding a current of joy and celebration that the young Guluwe had naively thought unique to a Ridemeet. Grander still were the variety of strange tongues that tickled her callow ear; the communal quilt of furs, silks, and cloths that rippled under a blanket of dappled green; even the stench of sweat and smoke that filled her lungs. Life.

Nearby, a dry musk took Luna back to her southern quest at the turn of the zyuga, when she’d traded cheeses to desert nomads for spices and paste flour. It was pure wonder, then and now.

“Tals’Ola said we had to find someone else.”

She traced the complaint to a pair of twin girls who had busied themselves scanning the party. They wore their hair like the heroes of western stories, twisted into many braids that cleaved to their scalps.

At once, within a storm of unfamiliar scents, Luna caught the trace of home. Not just the open steppe, but salvation. Ty had told her too many times-- a consummatory ritual. Find food.

“How about the crown re--” Those dulcet words were cut short as Luna tore between the two badgeless rangers.

She could apologize later, after a proper introduction. Right now, the smell of roast game yanked her through the heart of the crowd.

She’d barely glimpsed her quor through a break in the green when Luna ran into a faceful of wool. She paused to settle her senses, rubbing a fresh scratch on her forehead.

He was only a boy, perhaps even younger than Luna herself, though he towered over her like a snowbear. She admired his poncho, a rainbow of bright neat bands that felt as soft on her hands as it had on her face.

“Sorry,” he said, his gemstones rattling as he stumbled about. For what, he never explained-- something he saw over her head stole his attention and his breath.

Luna took the chance to run. No time to waste. It could be the Crown Regent himself behind her, for all she knew.

“Hey-la!”

Within moments she was lost in the crowd again, shivers trickling down her back as she felt her pursuer’s footsteps fade in her wake. Agile he was not.

She knew where she needed to go. She could double back, give Zingiber a false trail to chase, and--

Ah. She caught the scent again. Smoked lamb.

Luna breached the edge of the open, pulling her hood up as she rushed to the banquet spread.

She had found home again: flour dumplings in countless forms and sizes; chunky stews of meats and tubers; enough smoked jerky for a life’s worth of offerings; an entire table of fruits on the vine, encircling thirteen roast fowl.

Other tables offered Kyeri fare at its most satisfying and nourishing: squash stews, crisp corn cakes and fry bread, hickory nut soup, and cornucopias brimming with a hundred varieties of grapes, apples, peaches. She stared at a heap of ruby-red strawberries, picked ripe a full two moons past the summer solstice. What was this magical place?

A jolt at her side-- Luna gripped her dagger hilt by instinct.

No. She froze.

Not life or death, she reminded herself. Just rangers.

As casually as she could, she studied him from the corner of her eye.

This one looked even younger than the last, his face as fresh as a fawn and level with hers. He, too, was smothered by his new ranger’s cloak, even at the smallest size. Of course, unfamiliar eyes would patronize Luna as well, but she could leverage that into strength. This one, so soft, his skin pale like a newborn, she wasn’t sure.

He offered a thin, apologetic smile. His face melted further around his dark eyes, which carried an energy-- an intention-- that made Luna reconsider him.

His lips twitched but never opened. Good.

She would have to start with the meats, breads, and fruits, before she could buy time for the stews and soups. She surveyed the tables before her, hunting for cheese and yogurt to round out her bounty.

“Make haste, Jhun! There’s a fellow rookie from the Mithran Highlands you must meet!” A new voice called from behind.

Ignoring the approaching footsteps, Luna moved towards a platter of buns of white cheese. This newcomer sounded too young, too rehearsed to be an elder proper, but he could still wield the authority to censure her, if he found reason.

Or if reason found them, despite all instruction from his bester. Zingiber would be relentless. She needed to complete the ritual before it was too late. Where was he now, and where was Ty?

“Thank you, Ai’Yoza, but I humbly request a break. I’ve learned enough names for the night.”

Ai’… Aisupo. Luna had been right; this Yoza wasn’t even a teacher yet.

Luna frowned. She hadn’t found cheese, but some kind of sticky bun. . . pudding. She grabbed the shiniest for her plate, then another one.

“You’re welcome, Saya’Jhunaluska, my blessed guildmate.” The aisupo responded with great irony. “Your etiquette honors me, but your lies wound me. You’ve made but a single acquaintance.”

“Two!” Jhun said, shuffling nearer to Luna. “This is. . .”

Aiy, Yoza? As Luna suddenly remembered, Ty had mentioned a Yoza from Gulu, with strict instructions. Luna couldn’t remember what those might be, but they seemed awfully important at the time.

“Heyla,” Yoza said, impatient.

She looked up. Nobody spoke.

“Luna,” finally.

“Ahh, Luna? Well met from the Steppe.” Ai’Yoza looked at her with new interest, his eyes drifting to the crane feathers in her hair; Luna studied him in kind. His face was interesting, almost handsome, but wrong, like a brother’s. He was dwarfed by the badge he wore, an intricate vine crown encircling the Bloodranger’s master seal. Luna had seen one like it before, on the chest of Xifo’Jay during his recruitment campaign in the spring. The weighty badge had been instrumental then in recruiting Luna to Hayuwasi, but now it only represented power-- and danger.

“You must try the fish, Luna.” Yoza’s smile stretched too wide.

Luna recoiled. She could tolerate a ceremonial piece of salmon jerky, but on her own terms. She stepped back. It seemed time to disappear.

“Halt, kkosa.”

She did, despite herself.

“Take some for him, at least.” Yoza said. He winked and pointed at the orange tabby that had joined the three of them.

Luna froze.

She could only watch as Zingiber sauntered through her legs, tail high as he triumphantly ruined Convocation. She hadn’t yet even learned the ritual. Luna sighed, resigning herself to Yoza’s censure.

“Is that allowed?” Jhun asked, unmoving. “I thought beasts were prohibited inside.”

Luna half-heartedly raised her eyebrows. “Are they?”

She could feel eyes on her from across the room. Whispers had grown into chatter as celebrants admired the terrible beast that tore through the hall, and now they watched him bunt against her boots.

“Of course. But Ty already told you that, didn’t she?” Yoza crouched to crook a finger at Zingiber.

The cat approached with ginger footsteps, his head bobbing as he assessed the offer.

“You don’t know, but the Crown Regent gets rather ornery during these events, kkosa. He’s one for decorum. Etiquette. Obligations to the community, built on custom and history and gravitas!”

By instinct, Luna gently reached out.

((Suspicion.)) Zingiber sent, rumbling through Luna like a contrabass.

Luna scoffed as the hum of her beast resonated through her. ((Friends in new home)), she responded with a push of her own aura. As if a ranger of Hayuwasi would try to do a tigercat harm, in plain sight of his bester.

“. . . will inevitably ask, ‘Who leads whom? Have you no control over your beast?’” Yoza finished, his stare unrelenting.

“Control?” Luna asked. “I am no puppetmaster, aisupo. A bloodranger ought to know as much, much less one fit to stand in for Xifo’Jay.”

The ranger rose in a hurry, gathering his limbs to tower over her in the way these men liked to do. Aiya, it was like she’d never left home.

“If not an issue of restraint, then what? Perhaps this one doesn’t understand his presence is prohibited,” Yoza said. “You can communicate such an idea, yes?”

“We can,” Luna said. She didn’t offer more.

The aisupo sighed.

“What’s your name?” He asked.

She stared at him. “. . . Luna.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Khutuluna.”

“And you hail from?”

“The Gulu steppe, forgetful osa.” She scowled. This was no simple bullying, but an entire ritual of it.

“Yes, yes. Eat.”

Luna stared at the piece of jerky that dangled in front of her face.

“What?”

She looked to his face for comprehension, but his gaze shot above her head, past the crowd, towards a group of rangers who approached the banquet. One elder led the pack, his crown high on his graying hair, framing the wrinkled glare of a crestcap defied. The mere sight of Luna seemed to offend him.

“Eat,” Yoza repeated.

She took the morsel from him and swallowed it near whole. It tasted as she expected, but better than exile.

“And bow, my young sayamak.”

“Really?” Could Luna bear a lifetime of this madness? “What--?”

She tried to speak, but for the arms that wrapped around her and lifted, squeezing hard.

“Luna!” Ty squealed. “Where have you been? I told you to meet at the other side of the banquet!”

“Zingiber.” Luna twisted as best she could to loosen the vise around her ribs.

((Bad guarding,)) Luna sent with the last of her breath to her beast, who sat and watched the Kyeri’s assault.

((Yellful friend. Safe.))

“Ah, so he wasn’t happy to hear about the rule,” Ty said.

Zingiber would have been furious, certainly, if Luna had found the time to tell him.

“Ty, let her down.”

“Is this not rangerly behavior, Yoza?” Ty giggled, lowering Luna to the ground. “I do sincerely apologize.”

Yoza ignored her. “Saya’Luna, you must bow.”

“Luna!” Ty hissed, shoving Luna away. “You’re still not done?”

Luna shrugged. “I ate the offering.”

“Then bow!” Ty screamed. She pointed at Luna’s forehead. “Finish the ritual!”

Gritting her teeth, Luna performed the dance as she’d been taught: a twirl, a bow, and an expanding flourish of the hands as she rose, her gaze stubbornly locked on the bloodranger’s seal on Yoza’s chest.

A cold thumb left an ink smudge cold and heavy against her forehead.

Luna snapped her head back and swatted at the affront, but Yoza was already gone.

“What was that?” She spat as she wiped at her forehead; the ink had already hardened.

“That,” Ty said, examining too closely, “is your ward against all angry elders for the night. You’re officially the first rookie of this cycle!”

“Tals’Dana, why did Ai’Yoza mark this sayamak before the ceremony?” A hard voice cut through and snapped Ty to attention, arms at her side. The young Kyeri bowed deeply before Luna even completed her pivot towards the group of elders.

He was not a tall man, but he stood straight, his long hair flowing proudly from a woven nest of copper, gold, and wood that glinted in the firelight. It wasn’t his crown that hinted to Luna his true identity-- no, Luna knew that from the trio of elders who hung onto his every word, the stiffness in Ty’s shoulders, the quieting of the crowd around them. His gaze did not shy or prod for permission; it trained on her forehead and bore through where the mark seared her skin.

“I must ask him,” a ranger replied-- this one was the shortest of the three, her skin leathered and finely cracked under countless summer suns. She caught Luna’s eye, gave a smirk, and waded into the crowd.

“Edennight, Crown Regent. The responsibility weighed heavy on Yoza’s heart, as he’s a mere substitute, and kkosa Luna gave him a great chance to practice!” Ty said. She always had an answer, even if it wasn’t always true.

“Aye, edennight, Saya’Ty?” The Crown Regent regarded the rookie with a twinkle of amusement in his eye. “And what of your own responsibility, as guideswyn to foreigners? Have you served this land and its people well?”

“Of course!” Ty pulled Luna close, forcing her to gulp down a stretchy piece of dough. “I’ve kept this wanderer out of trouble for weeks.”

“And what of her beast?” The Crown Regent finally turned towards Zingiber, who shamelessly lay on the floor, licking his hindquarter. Luna fought the urge to shrink back towards Ty.

“Well you see, Crown Regent, Luna’s been Zingiber’s bester since she can remember, and out on the Steppe. . .”

In the hours since their arrival at Sudalijhe’Yi, Ty had found time to dye her hair a stunning crimson and sculpted it into a fan that flared out from the back of her head. She looked too much like a Jhouri peacock now, dragon jade beads draped through her crown as she argued for mercy.

True to her word, Ty would deliver Luna from censure yet again. She weaved together facts, fiction, and egregious Guluwe stereotypes to build the case for Luna and Zingiber, just compelling enough to keep the patient elder’s interruptions at bay. Before long, Ty had expertly distracted the Crown Regent from Luna’s presence.

As she counted the wrinkles that worried his face, Luna wondered how many battles the Regent had fought for peace and stability. Under the stitch scars, pockmarks, and disfigured nose lay the dashing face of a hero, buried beneath too many tragedies. Those eyes had once been soft and kind, she thought.

“. . . unbecoming of a bester,” the Crown Regent said. He had turned to face Luna. “You have one year to show us, Saya’Luna.”

“Show--” Luna swallowed her question. One year to show them. . . something. “We can do it.”

The Crown Regent eyed her carefully. She stared back into the void.

“Good.”

All in all, it wasn’t Luna’s worst first impression on an elder.

“I can’t believe he didn’t censure you,” Ty said, once the Crown Regent and his entourage had finally moved on. “I’ve never talked so fast.”

“Thousands of beasts roam the paths of Sudalijhe’Yi outside, yet a bester can’t bring her companion in for a feast?” Luna browsed through another table, this one smothered in a rainbow of curried meats and steaming rice. She frowned. There were actually too many offerings tonight to try them all.

“You can, usually,” Ty said. “Just not tonight. It’s Convocation.”

“So?”

“So animals stay out of the Great Hall for a night.”

“Why?”

Ty met Luna’s eyes and stared.

“Because it’s Convocation, Luna.”

Luna blinked.

“Aiy. I see. And after months of recruitment, after passing initiation, after weeks of caravaning down here, they would exile me because Zingiber was being stubborn.”

Ty shrugged and rose to her feet to follow Luna. “Because you let him. A hundred strangers walked into the rangers’ home, and they’re committing a year to us. They’re selective. Once we’re branded, we’ll feel the same way about the next class of rookies.”

“Or maybe by then, we’ll focus on the things that actually make for a good ranger,” Luna said. Her plate was half-empty now, which meant there wasn't enough to share with a begging Zingiber. “No more arbitrary rules.”

“Ha! Halfway through Convocation, and already she champions reform!” A voice boomed from behind. “I like your friend, Ty.”

Luna turned to face two rookies, one of whom she recognized instantly, based on Ty’s many stories. Alex reminded Luna of the bronze Afthian war dolls her brothers used to trade for-- carefully sculpted and endlessly polished. Luna swallowed hard a piece of half-chewed bison.

The other rookie, who Luna recognized from minutes before, gave a skewed smile.

Luna winced, her forehead wrinkling around her wound.

“You should’ve heard her during the caravan,” Ty said. She exchanged familiar bows with both Alex and their much larger friend, his gemstones shimmering like an aurora. “Jhigili, you could have spent the entire trip trying to explain to her why she had to chart her hunts, why we curfew every night, why we need permission for excursions.”

“Felix, you mean,” Alex said. “You promised.”

“Ah, right.” Ty couldn’t seem to decide between a sneer and a smile. “Felix?”

The large boy considered Luna carefully then.

“What Ty means is that Hayuwasi is a delicate system. For six zyugas, six generations have stewarded this land, championing the tenets of the original six founders. They’ve coined us the reform. . . ”

((Greet)), Luna commanded with a grumble from her core.

Zingiber didn’t move from between his bester’s legs. ((Strange smells)).

Luna gathered her aura and pushed into her companion’s as she took a step forward, taking care to nudge his ribs with a stiff boot. He’d chosen to intrude on the ceremony, so he would play his own part.

((Go)).

The cat didn’t budge.

“Is this some kind of game!?” Luna asked.

Zingiber’s ears swiveled to focus on his angry bester, but he otherwise ignored her.

“Sorry,” Felix said, “I don’t--”

“No, I meant the beast-- Zingiber,” Luna said. Her fury dissolved into shame as Felix wrestled with his shock, his mouth twitching in confusion. “He’s not ready for Hayuwasi, it seems.”

Zingiber looked up to stare.

((Too angry)).

“Felix, maybe you should leave,” Ty suggested.

“No!” Luna shoved her plate into Ty’s hands and befronted the pair of Kyeri rookies.

“Zingiber. Guard me.” She pushed with her aura like they’d practiced a thousand times before, the deep hum in her chest booming high and low.

With no hesitation, Zingiber jumped to Luna's front, every muscle tensed. Alex and Felix teetered back, cowed for a moment by a five kig beast despite themselves. He looked fiercely harmless.

“Good boy.” Luna crouched down, placed two hands on his back, and pressed her loyal friend hard into the wooden floor.

((No. Strange)).

“Zingiber’s well-trained, in some ways.” She smiled at her new guildmates as she scooped up the cat and pressed him into her chest in one smooth motion, denying the wriggler any chance of escape.

((No. No. No.)).

All three Kyeri rookies crowded around Luna and Zingiber with adoring eyes, and the strangers around them grew bolder in their curiosity.

((Behave.)). She overwhelmed Zingiber with her aura as she squeezed him into his chest, making sure he could feel the full extent of her message.

His defiance settled into an anxious purring that flowed through her, light and erratic.

If he couldn’t behave, he could at least be brave for a night.

“Sorry. Let us introduce ourselves properly. Would you like to pet Zingiber?”