The Storm Witch by Violette Malan Page B

speak to one another.”
    “And not just to one another, I think.” Dhulyn shot a glance over her shoulder.
    Parno looked around. The crew of the Wavetreader were gathering on deck, crowding the rail and climbing into the rigging the better to see their kin on the other ship.
    “No one’s saying anything.” he said. “No greetings, no questions, nothing.”
    “The younger children are not here,” Dhulyn said.
    “Only those over the age of ten were allowed on deck.” And how do I know this? he thought. There were several of the older youngsters close by them, round-eyed with anticipation. And while a few were waving, and some were wriggling and shoving each other with excitement, none of them were making a sound, neither calling across to the other ship, nor chattering to each other.
    Dhulyn was right. It was not just the Crayx speaking to each other. Like a humming in his blood, only just beyond the reach of his own underdeveloped Pod sense, Parno could feel the communication taking place around him.
    Movement on the other deck caught his attention as two ruddy-haired men, as alike as matched daggers, bronzed and freckled by the sun, approached the rail of the Skydancer just as Darlara and her brother came to the rail not far to Parno’s left.
    “What do you wager all the ships’ captains are twins?” Dhulyn spoke in her nightwatch voice, a thread of sound audible only to him, and then only because they stood close enough to rub shoulders.
    “No bet,” he answered in the same voice.
    Anything louder than the nightwatch whisper might well have been heard, Parno thought, for the ship around them had now fallen ee rily silent. Even the children had ceased their fidgeting, and all that could be heard were the sounds of the stays creaking as the wind sang through them, a light slap as small wavelets touched against the hulls. A sail flapped once and was still. Suddenly the air seemed oppressively hot and damp, and the pressure shifted.
    Dhulyn nudged him with her elbow, pointing with her chin. Darlara and Malfin stood each with one hand on the rail, their free hands linked, their eyes open and fixed on the twin captains opposite them. They and all the crew that Parno could see had similar expressions. Not, he was glad to note, the empty-eyed look he’d seen once or twice before when people shared their mental spaces with other creatures, but more like the look of thoughtful concentration that he had seen on the faces of people using their Mark to Find or Mend.
    Now and again an emotion flickered across someone’s expression, shown by a frown here, a lifted eyebrow there. As the communication continued, there were fewer and fewer smiles.
    #Impatience# #Annoyance# #AngerFear#
    Parno didn’t flinch this time, though he felt himself frown in response to the momentarily glimpsed emotions.
    “They communicate simultaneously, all of them at once,” Dhulyn said, this time in a more normal voice, as if she felt the same need that he did to disturb the silence.
    “It’s certainly faster,” he replied, hoping that he’d kept the longing and eagerness out of his voice.
    She nodded, showing him the ghost of her smile. “Do you think there’s time for us to—no, here they come.”
    It was most obvious in the children. Everyone around them relaxed, and took deep breaths, though they hadn’t been noticeably tense. Some of the crew shrugged, and resumed whatever tasks the sighting of the Skydancer had interrupted, those on watch back to their posts, parents and minders hurrying to rejoin the younger children. There were looks exchanged, some frightened, some still frowning, a few speculative.
    Parno waited, and when Darlara turned from the rail, she looked, as he’d expected, to him. She smiled, but with a small twist to her mouth, as if her news were mixed.
    “No exchange?” he asked her, guessing what the main concern would be.
    “Oh, no. That’ll go as planned.”
    “And what won’t?” Dhulyn said.
    Darlara