Sitting with one chrysalis in the crook of his arm while Nala sat cradling the other, Idrus listened to the world descend into madness. Outside the storm grew violent, inside the queen grew deadly.

“The sloths’ carcass was a gift,” Sessel assured the crowd. “Your king favored sacrificed—”

“The meat was old,” Citel said, glancing at Sessel.

Today’s circle was bigger, Idrus sitting opposite her.

He tried to make sense of the chaos. Everyone was frightened. Nala’s power of speech had shriveled down into simple grunts. The only things at peace were the babes in their golden shell who slept without a single thought to the nonsense their mothers and father had caused.

“It is my thought,” Citel began, “that this is a punishment. We have left the old ways. Your king wastes his cycles, choosing to remain in the one for mating while his vulgar favored does the same. And I cannot even speak of the night of those babes conception. No wonder they are strange; the means of their path into the world is a strange and uncommon one.”

Idrus stared her down; wondering if she would dare over-speak and lose her own head in the process. She held her peace after the murmurs erupted.

Sessel seemed old. The weariness and frustration in her voice made her appear worn out.

“It is only a storm. Stories of monsoons are not unheard of. It is only accidental that it should happen now. We should ration our food and be patient.”

“To what end?” Citel asked. “We have lost our way. Should we cast the bad out, good fortune should return to us yet again. Mark my words.”

“The bad?” Idrus asked finally. “Am I that bad?”

Her eyes settled on Nala for a moment and Idrus hoped it would remain there. Nala’s arrival nearly half a cycle before she’d even set foot in the roost would render that argument nonsense.

Instead of Nala, she focused on the chrysalis he held, then on Idrus’s.

He understood.

“Then it should be a good omen for a king to come into life with such passion,” Idrus insisted.

“Passion? Passion? They are strange and uncommon. They were made in dirt and I regret my folly.” Tracing the scar on her face, Citel said, “I will accept my mark. But I request that you allow me to choose a champion, a second mate to complete this process.” She gestured to the two chrysalises. “I would say allow the new batch to feed off these, but as they are poisonous once they’ve taken on the chrysalis, I ask instead that we break the pods now before they’ve taken our shape.”

All was silent save for Nala’s gasp.

Even now Idrus could feel the larva move within its protective case. It was strong and filled with life. To kill it....

“Fear is a disgusting Earther weakness,” Idrus said. “These larva fought and killed to stay alive; they are warriors. But to take a life out of fear...that is cowardice. Do not turn us into murderers to hide your impropriety.”

Sucking in a deep breath, Citel rose to her feet. “A child feeds from its mother, not of it. If you do not destroy them, you doom us all.”

She walked away, a flood of Summoners at her back.

Eventually Sessel spoke up, urging everyone to get back to their stations lest the flood waters enter and drown them all.

Soon only the three of them remained.

Sessel sat down on Idrus’s left. “Daga...”

“I won’t kill them,” Idrus said. “There were over five times ten. Two are left and it was by no means easy. You cannot ask me to kill a king after he’s fought so hard for his life.”

Sessel’s eyes gravitated to the window where the rain poured down.

“We cannot last much longer as we are now,” she said.

“So you believe it, too?” Idrus asked. “What nonsense.”

“No, I do not believe it,” Sessel said. “I do not believe it. I think it’s is a good sign that they are born with such power at their backs that nature itself cries to greet them. I agree, but everyone is frightened and the queen’s displeasure spreads rumors.”

Nala kept her hunched posture.

Letting out a sigh, Idrus said. “It is foolishness.” He gesture to Nala. “My Na’am can coax herself to pleasure.”

Even with this harmless admission, Nala snapped her head up to look at him, eyes wide.

Idrus wasn’t surprised by her reaction. Sessel’s look of confusion was also understandable.

“That is a strange talent. How is that possible?”

Nala’s gaze burned but Idrus matched it as he answered. “She uses her mouth and fingers, and the Queen saw and both of them have been acting erratic ever since.”

Sessel waited. When they said nothing, she threw up her arms. “Is that all? Is that all this is about!? The queen wishes to bury us for that?” she wailed.

Idrus nodded. “It’s laughable but perhaps Summoner culture and ours now diverge. They feel something that we cannot...shame.”

“Shame?” Sessel said. She let out a sigh. “I see. It is true, we hadn’t even covered ourselves in the third stage before the Earthers’ arrival. Perhaps we cannot understand what transgression your favored has made, but the queen does and so does your Summoner, I assume.”

Giving off another nod, Idrus said, “The queen was very vocal about her disgust. She will not take Na’am as a second and I refuse to let her be a third.”

Sessel gave no response for some time. Finally, she put her hand on Idrus’s shoulder and said, “Daga, think of your people. No, I do not agree that the babes are to blame for the storms....”

Her voice petered off to nothing, forcing Idrus to look at her.

“What are you saying?” Idrus asked. “My favored is to blame?”

“No, Daga. You are to blame,” Sessel said. “I believe you are to blame. You go contrary to the season. You go contrary to the cycles; you go contrary to our way. Our way is to have more batches. Our way is to shift into a lower stage, not live out our existence in the mating stage—constantly mating, constantly releasing your seed for no fruitful end.”

Idrus broke her gaze, preferring to stare at the floor.

“Go back to the old ways, Daga. Even when the Earthers came we lived by the old ways. It kept us safe and sane. Now you take a single person to your bed and you’ve made two babes who do not love their mother. That is not our way. So I ask you, Daga, go back to the old ways. Put the Summoner out from your bed for a time. Select another, select a few others, allow yourself to grow attached to others. You’ve fixated on this single one for so long it is all you know. Allow yourself another’s affection and when you can do this, the queen will have you again and you can produce more.”

Each word stole Idrus’s ability to respond. He looked down to both his and Nala’s chrysalises.

“We will have to dispose of these two, Daga. You are right in saying that the one you hold has a fire in his gut that’s stronger than the very first of our kind. It is power, and it is beauty, but short of allowing him to grow his legs and arms and feeding him to the new batch, which would be cruel, we can do nothing for him.”

“I do not understand,” Idrus said. “I do not understand how this has all come to pass. This storm is nothing of consequence. These babes are as strong as any other. I feel...I feel this is our way. These two are our way back from all that we’ve left behind.” His voice died down to a whisper, “I cannot kill them.”

Sessel eased closer. “Then train them as bodyguards. Bodyguards are the ones left over from the excess batches. Stronger than common Levelers but not as strong as the king.”

That seemed like a fair enough solution. As Idrus looked down at the pod in his grip, his spirits sank.

“We only need patience,” Idrus said. “And the queen must leave us. She should not remain and poison other Levelers with her contrary ways.” He glanced at Nala to find the Summoner’s posture as weak as ever.

“I will follow the old ways,” Idrus said. He turned to look Sessel in the eye. “The queen is not of our ways. She is of Earther custom. She invited me to mate laying on her back.”

Sessel’s eyes widened. “That is a lie.”

“That is no lie,” Idrus said. “The rains came with her, and they shall leave with her as well.”

All eyes fell to the babe in Idrus’s hands. “They cannot be faulted.”

“If what you are saying is accurate these babes, too, cannot stay,” Sessel insisted. “I had thought you meant to hurt her with your words. I did not know you meant this—that she’d even mate in that fashion. If we cast her out now, she cannot go far in this weather. She would seek shelter with another clan and breed there. That is a threat.”

“But it is the only one we have,” Idrus said, standing. “I will bring the babes beyond this valley.” He looked down to Nala. “And I will return this Summoner home to her farm. When the storms ebbs and everyone has calmed, I will return and see about remedying this situation. And in return, the queen leaves as well. Her kind and her ways have no place here.”