The Rookery tribe gathered fallen wood and branches during the evening of the second day of the Dark Night celebrations just like we always had in Grislander’s Maw. My hand kept wanting to slip to the felt leaf in my poisoner’s pouch, but I’d grab a rough bit of new wood instead and kept my lips pressed shut. Some of the others in the cohort seemed put off by my intense gathering but Prevna kept eying me with concern. I wasn’t sure how much Fellen had told her about what had happened a year ago but she seemed to know enough to let me have my space and quiet.

Ulo wasn’t quite as clued in. She kept trying to wander close to gloat or antagonize me while Prevna ran interference. I don’t think Ulo liked that I was outperforming everyone when it came to stick gathering. If I thought I could have gotten through the night without keeping my hands busy and giving into weakness and ruining everything, I would have slowed down. But as it was it felt like if I stopped, or if I took too long to find the next twig, I’d find myself back in the Root Mountains with Fellen crying and her gift shredded between us.

And it was getting harder and harder to ignore the perfect target that kept appearing on my periphery. It’d be so easy to bait her. So easy to shatter her smug expression.

Someone stepped around the tree to my left and I looked up from the stick I was crouched over to see Ulo practically begging for trouble. I wasn’t in the mood for a fight, but she also clearly wasn’t getting the message to leave me alone. I knew I should pick up my stick and keep going. That would be its own kind of cut to completely ignore her, but she was right there.

I didn’t want to repeat what happened a year ago. I didn’t. But she wasn’t a friend and she had been gloating for weeks about my “terrible plan” and that everyone had gotten what they deserved for following me into the woods, never mind that she had to run the laps too.

“Someday, Ulo, you’re going to be left alone in the dark and you’re not going to know why. No friends, no recognition, no skill that isn’t second best to someone else.” I had never been good at keeping my tongue in check for long.

She flinched at the last two declarations the most even as her face flushed with anger. “No, that’ll be you.”

I shook my head and picked up my new stick. “No. I’ll know why.”

Then I did stride away further into the woodland, just to make my words cut deeper—and to keep the situation from completely devolving. I didn’t want to feel sympathy for Ulo but if I reduced her to tears then she’d remind me of Fellen and I didn’t want any connection between the two of them in my mind. It’d be untenable.

Ulo fumed but she didn’t try to approach me again. No doubt because she lost an argument she barely got to participate in. Instead she was probably rambling about beating me during the final flight test in her head. Something she’d have more an edge in than a battle of words. Not that she’d win that either.

- -

Rather than random whisper women stepping out of the shadow paths to add their own wood to the large pile the tribe gathered, Barra was given the honor of the symbolic gesture. There apparently had been some discontent about that decision that I hadn’t paid attention to, but she got her normal role in the end.

Then it was finally time for our flight test. One unspoken challenge was that we had to approach the bird we wanted to fly with and get them to follow us back to the runway to get saddled. I didn’t get to do anything so dignified unfortunately. As soon as Anore realized what was happening, I was snatched up in her beak and she carried me over to where we were supposed to get ready. Apparently none of the other birds were allowed to stake a claim on me.

Most of the others also had birds they had gotten closer to through the weeks and weeks of training. Those birds followed properly behind their fliers, though Wren was nearly swapped by the number of storm birds trying to catch her attention. She was the clear winner of our group in the birds’ eyes. I smirked openly at Ulo when she was one of the last to find a bird to partner with. Juniper was the last to join everyone else and she didn’t look particularly enthused by the bird she partnered with or what we were about to do.

I got Anore saddled, though the sheer difference between our sizes always made it annoyingly difficult. I could understand everything perfectly in my mind and knew where all ties were supposed to go but doing it as smoothly as the expert, tall fliers was another matter. Luckily, the shorter fliers had given us some tips when it came to saddling the birds during their lessons as well.

After I climbed up into the saddle and made sure everything was secure there as well, I took a moment to look up at the thick haze of darkness covering the sky. Part of me wondered if we could fly through it to see daylight on the other side while the rest of me knew that sort of challenge against the goddess would be suicide to try. Even for me.

It would be interesting to see what it felt like though. Would it be like the liquid shadow we drank or something entirely different? Would I still be able to fly properly while I was gaining the boon?

Only time would tell. I got the ladder rolled up and tied securely in place since there wouldn’t be time to stop it from swinging around once we were in the air. Then Anore lowered herself to the ground as much as she could and I slipped over her side. Now that the birds were ready for the flight it was time to go climb the ribs.

Dera and Juniper, for all of their practice, looked like we were on a funeral march as we crossed back through the nesting ground to the lake’s edge. Those of us who had been practicing the jumps were more confident: Prevna, me, Breck, and Wren. Surprisingly, Loclen and Nii had joined us after the first couple of days of practice as well. Andhi and and Ulo obviously didn’t join any activity that had to do with me, but Ento and Idra might have joined the practice if Idra wasn’t determined to stick her nose in the air and be difficult.

We climbed the ribs with the same groups we had during the first test. Prevna and I led the way while Wren encouraged Dera behind us. No tribe members accompanied us this time. We had to whistle for our birds and step off the ribs into open air on our own. Prove that we had gained the skill and confidence to fly the birds throughout the goddess’s territory if the situation demanded it.

Prevna went first, just like before. She leaned close while Wren and Dera were finishing climbing up and said, “We got this. From one horror to another.”

I nodded back. “From one horror to another.”

She smiled as I repeated the phrase and then she let out a loud whistle for her bird and was running for the rib’s tip. Prevna leapt out into open air and plummeted down only for her bird to sweep under her and carry her away. I breathed easier once I saw her smoothly get herself tied in place and settled into the saddle.

Wren gave Dera a comforting hug and went next. I ignored the small twinge in my belly at seeing that, not willing to dwell if I was still jealous or if it was something else. Wren gave me an encouraging smile too before she focused on her task. Another whistle, another girl leaping off the rib’s tip and just like that it was just me and Dera.

She looked at me with wide eyes.

I rolled my eyes back at her. “Just because it went bad when you weren’t prepared before, doesn’t mean it will now. You’ve practiced. Trust in that.”

Dera’s eyes got a little bit wider at my advice before she looked…somewhat embarrassed and then determined. “Thanks.”

She said it easily like gratitude was normally given so easily. I wasn’t sure how to respond so I just watched as she edged past me to step up near the rib’s tip. One big breath, two, and then she let out a piercing whistle. She didn’t leap off the rib like Prevna and Wren, but there only another moment of hesitation before she steeled herself and stepped off the edge. Unlike her long scream during the first test there was only a quick yelp as she fell before her bird swept her up. I hoped she’d be able to stay on this time.

I took in the scene around me before I called Anore. Most of the cohort were on their birds and winging their way up towards the dark veil. Only me and two others were still on the ribs. It was difficult to see through the darkness but I thought the far one who looked like they were about to jump was Andhi and the one on the rib closest to me was…Juniper. Huddled up and doing her very best not to look at all the empty air around her or the distance to the ground.

Storms. If she refused to get the second boon after all I went through to rescue her…if she thought that for some inconceivable reason that if she just didn’t the next boon she could quit and go back to her tribe…then it was more than time to snap her out of her bullshit. If she was just scared, then it was time to snap her out of that too.

I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted, “If you want to prove you’re not weak now would be the time to do it!”

Her head jerked up and she glared back at me.

“That’s right! Get angry!” I continued, “Prove you can be more than the girl just needs rescued over and over again!”

She jerked and moved to stand like she was going to yell back at me or actually jump over the rib’s tip. But something must have went wrong because suddenly she was slipping, scrambling at the rib’s rounded side. Falling.

Juniper hadn’t whistled, still wasn’t whistling, though she was screaming. There’d be no bird flying for her. Nothing to catch her but the thick ice covering the lake.

Why did she have to be so good at making the worst situation possible? No wonder she wasn’t supposed to go anywhere on her own.

I let out the loudest whistle I could for Anore and prayed that she was observant as she had been in the snow storm. The birds were trained to catch people jumping off the ribs’ tips, not off their sides.

I leapt towards to Juniper.

If Anore didn’t see us and correct her course right away there wouldn’t any time to rescue Juniper before she hit the ground. I whistled again. I couldn’t reach Juniper from my jump alone, the gap between ribs was too wide, but this way Anore would be at least facing the correct direction.

Feathers rose up beneath me and Anore screeched triumphantly. I had landed too high up, nearly on her neck. I let myself half-tumble, half-slide backwards through the saddle aiming to reach her back with my feet. I felt her dropping away from me before I got there. I latched onto the handles and knew in my gut she had to be diving for Juniper though all I could see was feathers and leather. No time to tie the safety ties in place, but I could shift, try to get in place to give Anore better directions.

I inched backwards on the saddle until my feet finally touched Anore’s feathered back. I didn’t fight the downward pull of her dive to try to sit up, so I still couldn’t spot Juniper past Anore, but at least I could give directions now.

A sudden impact and a scream that was much closer than it had been before. Juniper dangled out of Anore’s beak and I grinned.

And then Anore was doing a barrel roll to twist out of her collision course with the ground. I gritted my teeth and managed to hook one foot back under the left handle to help lock myself in place while she turned. The force of the turn did pry one hand free but I did everything I could to hang on. This thing whole thing would be pointless if I got pulled free and Anore couldn’t rescue me again. Neither Juniper nor me would be likely to get our second boon then.

Anore pulled out of her roll and swept up past the ribs. I took advantage of the smoother flight to get my safety ties secured, and glanced at Juniper again to see that she was awake. Then I set my sights on the dark veil overhead. It was time for us to earn the right to look into the darkness and see what lay hidden in its depths.