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Chapter Fifteen: Between
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2021-08-18 21:24:49Ilyria looked closer at the shimmering feather in Thassa’s hand. It was at once like water and like mist, pale and dark. She felt that if she looked at it long enough, it could transport her away, perhaps even to Zarmej.
When she looked up, Thassa was watching her.
“It is from the Lightning Bird,” he said, confirming her fear.
“But you said it was from Vatra,” said Ilyria. He had made a mistake, surely?
“The place of fire, Vatra, it is the home of the Lightning Bird.”
“No,” she said. After all, she had seen his aerie, across the desert sands, a place of clouds and silence. Not fire. “That cannot be.”
“Whatever you have seen, Ilyria, it was what he—it—wants you to see. The Lightning Bird cannot stay long here. Whenever it retreats, it is to Vatra. That is where the companions are. I am sure of it.”
Ilyria grasped for a meaning but all that she could come up with was what she knew Thassa was thinking—the Lightning Bird had had a
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