Kaye was ten the first time they had taken her to Korok’Kan. Before then she would stay behind with her mother, the children and the old while Gairin and Hogog traveled southeast. Since that first time five years ago, Taya had stayed behind every year, but now she refused to, saying she wouldn’t miss Kaye’s first time leaving the vilge as a full-grown Nagra hunter.

  She still remembered how, four days away from the vilge, Taya had sat with Kaye on her p atop the same rock she was standing on now, overlooking the section of the trail where the path was so narrow that they had to form into two lines to go down, and expined to her that all the Nagra vilges left halfway through autumn to give the nd time to heal. All the deer, rabbits, boars, birds, and fish they hunted had time to procreate, and for the trees to bear fruit again. Taya had told her all of that before, but either forgot about it or thought Kaye had been too young to understand what it meant.

  Below, the oxen were being freed from the yokes. The nd was too uneven to risk the carts, so a dozen men would slowly bring each cart down the trail before guiding the animals.

  Eight-hundred men and women felt like a lot more when so few could fit into the trail at a time. The descent could easily cost them a couple hours. They would slow down after meeting with the other vilges and if they were unlucky there would be rains, the whole journey could…

  Her attention shifted as she noticed someone approaching from the corner of her eye. Without needing to turn, she knew it was Rogar.

  “Kaye Nanur, hiding from your family?”

  “Yes,” she admitted, looking for her parent’s silhouettes somewhere below. “They flock around me too much. My father more than the others.”

  “It’s tiring sometimes, isn’t it?”

  She nodded.

  “I have something for you.”

  More gifts? Her seven proposed had given her family many gifts already. More pelts than they would ever need, bows that would only decorate their house since Kaye already had her own and many trinkets, bracelets and earrings.

  From his pack Rogar pulled out a neckce and held it out for Kaye to take a look. At first there was nothing special about it, only a series of teeth-looking things, but then she noticed that some were made out of stone or wood, flinted and sculpted to look like either canines or inverted waterdrops. They seemed old and there was no rhyme or reason to the distribution, nor to the uneven space between them created by many knots.

  “It isn’t Nagra,” she said, touching one of the stones.

  “No. My father found it close by. If you go down where we are heading and turn back west, following the shoreline there are caves that can only be accessed when the tide is low. He found it inside one of the caves and repaired it. Added new stones, new wood, then he noticed it. May I?”

  “Noticed what?”

  Rogar gestured with the neckce on both hands, raising his eyebrows. Kaye turned, allowed him to pass it over her head and around her neck.

  “Walk around and listen to it.”

  Kaye did so, stepping away from the rock and onto the grass. As she took a few steps, the weight of the neckce swung it to the sides, the bones, wood and multitude of stones tinkled against each other producing slightly different sounds for each material, some sting longer or repeating because the order wasn’t even. It almost sounded like a melody.

  “Is it too tight? I can loosen it up for you.”

  “No need, it’s fine.”

  From the way Rogar went silent Kaye could tell he had been expecting a different answer. Despite being taller than she was, he looked small for a moment there. Like a sixteen-year-old boy should. Kaye didn’t feel like the thirty years she had lived, but didn’t feel like fifteen either.

  Oh Rogar, you’re going to be devastated when I go.

  “Thank you,” Kaye forced herself to say.

  “I’m happy you liked it. Now, I think we were supposed to go down before the oxen.”

  They descended together, staying quiet most of the way. As future chief, Rogar had some matters to attend to regarding the organization of the journey, or maybe that was just his excuse. The Nanur were more than used to this route.

  Kaye was alone among the Nanur when she reached the beach, one of the st to arrive. To her right, the Calm Sea stretched southwest, gentle, foaming waves rolling against the sand. The trail she had just traversed smelled different from the forests around the Nanur tribe, but now the smell of salt was thick in the air. To her left rose a cliff, all jagged at the bottom, though it seemed to grow more even the higher she looked.

  Nothing but reefs broke the view of the sea, on top of which sea gulls were gathered, staring intently at them. Despite that, she knew that somewhere beyond the horizon there would be nd, no matter how far someone had to sail.

  Kaye had heard about many pces when speaking to the Nanur or other Nagra throughout the years. She heard that if someone traveled north from the Nagra nds, leaving Rennel and then through Odanas, they could reach the Spring Isles, an archipego of seafaring people that traded as far as Mor in the east. She had heard of Saldassa, a nd of deserts. Of the invading Toronan Empire where it rained ashes and of wild pces where wild people spoke in wild tongues no one understood.

  Any of those pces would do to start, but she’d only know her options in the docks of Kakinse.

  Her new neckce tinkling a half-melody, Kaye reached the road. A waving hand brought her attention to the cart where her family was resting and sharing a quick meal.

  “Out in escapades already?” Hogog asked as she approached.

  She didn’t expect her uncle to be the one to say it.

  Taya made a gesture for Hogog to focus on his food while Gairin signaled for Kaye to join them. She reached for a piece of white cheese.

  “Aren’t you going to join in?” her father asked, pointing to the free space in the cart.

  “I’m not tired yet. Just a bit hungry.”

  “You should rest anyway. There’s another tribe on the road so we’re not moving anytime soon.”

  “Another tribe?” Kaye perked up.

  “Probably Roen.”

  Hogog shook his head, “I bet it’s the Urcan.”

  “Why is that? I thought the Urcan were farther north,” Kaye asked.

  “Intuition, little one.”

  “Who do you think they are, dear?” Gairin asked, looking at Taya.

  “We’ll know soon enough, won’t we?”

  “She’s no fun,” Hogog said.

  “I’ll go and take a look,” Kaye said.

  “Are you sure you don’t need to rest?”

  “I’m fine mom, really.” She smiled at Taya, held her gaze for a moment before turning away, nibbling on her piece of white cheese.

  None of them asked about the neckce, which told Kaye they all knew what it was. She wasn’t pnning on wearing it all the time, but decided to keep it on for a few days to avoid offending Rogar.

  Kaye walked around a crew working to repce a cart’s wheel as she made her way up the road. The traversal through the beach had been a quiet one sting two days, after which they trekked up a shorter cliff and were now going to join the tip of the road that led southeast, as there were no roads that led directly to any Nagra tribe. If they went the other way, it was a six-weeks journey by foot that led to Odanas. She wondered how the path would look on a map.

  Ahead, she caught sight of Chief Yorog speaking to another man. This one was tall for a Nagra, with a wolf’s head over his own. Odd, considering it wasn’t that cold. Some other men with wolfskins stood behind him but with theirs lowered to their backs, and behind those their people were slowly traversing the road.

  Kaye was a bit surprised when the wolfskin turned to her. There were plenty of people around and she wasn’t even that close, but her hair must have stood out.

  The man raised a hand towards her; Chief Yorog and some others turned to follow where he was pointing.

  “Ah, Starchild!”

  She approached at that. His announcement basically forced her to.

  Her uncle’s intuition was correct, wolfskins meant they were Urcan, but she wasn’t sure who this was. Chief, she guessed, but if so that meant he was the new one, for she had seen all the chiefs in Korok’Kan two years ago and would remember such a man, even if the Urcan were the only ones who did not annually migrate southeast.

  “Kaye Nanur,” Chief Yorog said. It almost sounded like a correction. “Pride of our tribe, now a full-blooded hunter.”

  “Betrothed, I presume?”

  “Seven pretenders,” she forced a smile to go along with her answer.

  “Stiff competition then. What a shame. Will you be coming down to Kakinse this year?”

  “Only so much you can do in Korok’Kan.”

  The wolfskin ughed at that. “Chief Hokar Urcan,” as he introduced himself, Hokar spread his arms wide, the added volume of his pelt making him look even bigger, “I know you’ll have no shortage of willing company, but I would be gd to guide you around Kakinse. I know every alley of that city, all the good pces to trade, drink, eat and to have fun. However, I fear you’ll have to forgive my ck of gifts for now, Starchild. I was not expecting to meet you on the road.”

  “That won’t be a problem, Chief Hokar. I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities to fix this.”

  Smiling, Hokar Urcan gave her a curt nod, then another to Chief Yorog. “We can share the road towards Kakinse if you change your mind, but as you can see this one is too narrow. The Urcan will be going ahead then, to guide the Nanur to Korok’Kan.”

  As he turned, Kaye finally lowered her gaze to pay attention to what he was carrying. She had noticed it before, but decided it wasn’t a good idea to stare.

  Hokar Urcan and all the other wolfskins she could see had swords attached to their hips. The Nagra worked iron, but rarely for something rger than an arrowhead. Those weren’t Nagra weapons. Likely steel.

  Chief Yorog stepped towards her, rested a hand on her shoulder. “Hold no grudge against him, Kaye Nanur. The boy found himself in the skin of a man and it is ill-fitting.”

  Despite Hokar’s parting words, the Urcan left behind them a cloud of dust; the Nanur had to wait for it to settle before joining the road.

  Kaye said her farewells to the hunting party and started making her way through the Nagra train with her prey hanging from one shoulder. They had met with other, smaller tribes and were now traveling together in a long, sinuous gathering that snaked through the main road. Though they had enough food for the journey and foraging provided whatever else they needed, small hunting parties were always coming and going for the sake of tradition, seeking whatever small game they could find in those parts.

  She caught sight of Taya in her family’s cart fixing a basket with new weaving. Her father was in the coachman’s seat, and Hogog was nowhere to be seen.

  “Back already?” her mother asked when noticing her.

  Kaye hopped on the back of the cart, letting out a deep sigh.

  From the front came Gairin’s voice, “Daughter? What did you catch?”

  “Nothing much. Two pheasants and a rabbit.”

  She id back on top of their luggage, feet dangling in the air. The rivets in the road made the cart steadier than it had been on the trails they had traversed in the st few days, but it still wasn’t great rest when moving.

  “You know you can’t catch something big every time, don’t you?”

  Kaye shook her head. “That’s not it, mom. Just a bit tired.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She nodded. The other hunters had annoyed her with questions about what she was going to do now, as if they expected her to be doing something that wasn’t what they were all doing, but it was best not to discuss that with her parents.

  “Where’s uncle?”

  “Went out st night for an arm-wrestling competition. Hasn’t come back yet.”

  “Aren’t you worried?”

  Taya turned to her with a frown, trying and failing to keep a smile off of her face. Hogog did that all the time and always came back hungover or hurt. Sometimes both.

  “Now, I know you’ll want to jump off the cart as soon as I say this, but Rogar was looking for you…”

  Kaye rose.

  “... And I distinctly remember you saying you were going to tell him when you went out.”

  “I didn’t find him.”

  “That’s fine,” Taya spoke dismissively, “but you should let him know you’re back.”

  “And why’s that? He’s not family, not chief either, and even if he was, none of the others had to tell Chief Yorog.”

  “Kaye—”

  She hopped off the wagon. “I’m going to look for uncle, maybe he needs help.” She felt ashamed for saying that. It was too childish of an excuse.

  Though her mother said nothing more and didn’t try to catch up to her, Kaye didn’t look behind and instead left the road, walking on the low grass around it. She knew her parents had already decided to accept Rogar’s proposal, but also knew they would understand eventually that she was trying to make it easier for all of them to bear when she left for good.

  Thankfully, traveling the main road was much faster than the tracks closer to their nds and soon Kaye was rounding a hill. Another one came into view as she did so, and she could already see on it the stones of Korok’Kan.