higher, until it assumed the shape of humanoid legs. Clay and sand pushed up and around the legs, forming a torso. Branches shot out to form arms, little twigs for fingers. The dirt rounded atop the neck to form a head, and yellow-green grass sprung up from the scalp, curling around the face that started to appear decidedly female.
As the small nose pushed out from the round cheeks, the eyes turned otherworldly green, and the hair transformed to white wispy silk, he recognized that face. Aya. Daughter of Earth. Not completely of the natural world, but not entirely human either.
By the stunned and silent expressions shared by everyone around the broken circle, no one else had ever witnessed such an appearance of an earth elemental. Not even the premier. Before, she had always simply walked out of the shadows on human legs to join them around the fire.
“Listen to me.” Aya’s voice tumbled back into a normal register, closer to the feminine tones Griffin remembered from years earlier.
She turned to Griffin and the Chimerans, the movement incredibly fluid. As she did so, her body changed, solidified. Her skin turned the warm brown of a tree trunk, then shifted to the burnished tan of sand, only supple and humanlike. A foot made of roots pulled free from the clinging earth. By the time she set it back down it was solid, her toes curling over the mud. Leaves wove themselves around her body, cloaking her in a loose garment of glistening brown. The more Aya moved, the more human she appeared. More human than the last time Griffin had seen her, as though she’d developed further into this body, if that was even possible.
She raised a twig arm, and the leaves and flowers at the tip shifted into fingers. She pointed one at the chief. “Kekona Kalani must be stopped.”
The chief blanched under the weight of Aya’s declaration, his mouth going slack, his shoulders slanting toward the churned-up earth.
The premier pushed ahead of the Ofarians. “What did Kekona do now?”
Aya’s green eyes flashed with an inner light that reminded Griffin of deadly ice. She answered the premier but kept staring at the chief. “Kekona seeks power to change the world.”
Bane shoved forward. “That’s not true.”
“No?” A very human lift of pale eyebrows. “Kekona is looking for the Fire Source, the root of Chimeran magic. She thinks it’s harmless— you think it’s harmless—but that root is buried deep in the Earth’s core. It’s part of the foundation of this world, and the Chimerans have only been allowed to borrow it. If the Source is disturbed in any way, it will alter life. It will create death. If Kekona touches it, fire feeding fire, she could destroy continents or create new ones. Massive destruction that the Children of Earth would have no way to counter.”
The silence that fell over the wood was as ominous as Aya’s words. More revelations, more shock. And by the horror and distress and utter paralysis making twisted masks of the Chimerans’ faces, this was something not even they knew.
And Keko was already gone.
“The Children of Earth guard the Source. It’s one of our many duties, to keep the power sacred and safe, to protect it from disturbance and to protect the Earth from its wrath. I’m telling you now, if you do not find Kekona and stop her, my people will hunt and kill her, just as they did the last woman to lay claim to what was not hers.”
The Chimerans shared a look. “The Queen,” Bane whispered, reaching big hands up to clasp around the back of his head.
The premier thumbed back his cowboy hat. “Kekona has caused enough problems for the Senatus and for all Secondaries. She must be dealt with.”
“No,” Griffin protested, because Keko’s own people had not. “Don’t.”
Aya turned to him. The top of her white hair barely came to Griffin’s shoulder, but her presence was massive. “Don’t what?”
“Just . . . don’t kill her.”
Aya’s eyes flashed green again, but
As the small nose pushed out from the round cheeks, the eyes turned otherworldly green, and the hair transformed to white wispy silk, he recognized that face. Aya. Daughter of Earth. Not completely of the natural world, but not entirely human either.
By the stunned and silent expressions shared by everyone around the broken circle, no one else had ever witnessed such an appearance of an earth elemental. Not even the premier. Before, she had always simply walked out of the shadows on human legs to join them around the fire.
“Listen to me.” Aya’s voice tumbled back into a normal register, closer to the feminine tones Griffin remembered from years earlier.
She turned to Griffin and the Chimerans, the movement incredibly fluid. As she did so, her body changed, solidified. Her skin turned the warm brown of a tree trunk, then shifted to the burnished tan of sand, only supple and humanlike. A foot made of roots pulled free from the clinging earth. By the time she set it back down it was solid, her toes curling over the mud. Leaves wove themselves around her body, cloaking her in a loose garment of glistening brown. The more Aya moved, the more human she appeared. More human than the last time Griffin had seen her, as though she’d developed further into this body, if that was even possible.
She raised a twig arm, and the leaves and flowers at the tip shifted into fingers. She pointed one at the chief. “Kekona Kalani must be stopped.”
The chief blanched under the weight of Aya’s declaration, his mouth going slack, his shoulders slanting toward the churned-up earth.
The premier pushed ahead of the Ofarians. “What did Kekona do now?”
Aya’s green eyes flashed with an inner light that reminded Griffin of deadly ice. She answered the premier but kept staring at the chief. “Kekona seeks power to change the world.”
Bane shoved forward. “That’s not true.”
“No?” A very human lift of pale eyebrows. “Kekona is looking for the Fire Source, the root of Chimeran magic. She thinks it’s harmless— you think it’s harmless—but that root is buried deep in the Earth’s core. It’s part of the foundation of this world, and the Chimerans have only been allowed to borrow it. If the Source is disturbed in any way, it will alter life. It will create death. If Kekona touches it, fire feeding fire, she could destroy continents or create new ones. Massive destruction that the Children of Earth would have no way to counter.”
The silence that fell over the wood was as ominous as Aya’s words. More revelations, more shock. And by the horror and distress and utter paralysis making twisted masks of the Chimerans’ faces, this was something not even they knew.
And Keko was already gone.
“The Children of Earth guard the Source. It’s one of our many duties, to keep the power sacred and safe, to protect it from disturbance and to protect the Earth from its wrath. I’m telling you now, if you do not find Kekona and stop her, my people will hunt and kill her, just as they did the last woman to lay claim to what was not hers.”
The Chimerans shared a look. “The Queen,” Bane whispered, reaching big hands up to clasp around the back of his head.
The premier thumbed back his cowboy hat. “Kekona has caused enough problems for the Senatus and for all Secondaries. She must be dealt with.”
“No,” Griffin protested, because Keko’s own people had not. “Don’t.”
Aya turned to him. The top of her white hair barely came to Griffin’s shoulder, but her presence was massive. “Don’t what?”
“Just . . . don’t kill her.”
Aya’s eyes flashed green again, but
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