Chapter Seven

My stomach sank as I watched the tiny human woman drop, but she had had enough of a grip on the Denynso beside her that he was able to catch her before she was lost. Terror rolled over me. If her falling made any of the other ones question the solidity of the ground beneath their feet, they, too, would begin falling. Instead, they all rushed forward, getting off of the expanse of reflected stone as quickly as they could and then turning angry, suspicious eyes toward me.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" the man that had rescued the small woman who fell demanded, taking an aggressive step toward me.

He didn't feel like a warrior. He seemed gentler, calmer, more nurturing despite his attempt to intimidate me.

"Ciyrs," the woman said, grabbing him and pulling him back, "You don’t know that she did anything."

I felt relief wash over me. At least this one seemed to be willing to trust me rather than immediately blaming me.

"What do you think happened, Elianna?" another of the warriors snapped toward the small woman, "She's the one that told us it was all of a sudden safe to walk on the sky, and then as soon as you do, you fall."

"Don't talk to my mate like that," Ciyrs snarled toward the warrior, turning his aggression to him instead of me.

"I'm just pointing out that it's ridiculous for her to defend this person, whoever she is, when she is obviously the one who just tried to kill her."

Suddenly everyone started talking and shouting over top of one another and I felt like I was filling with so many feelings, emotions, and energies that I was going to shatter. I held my hands up and shouted as loudly as I could possibly force my voice.

"Stop it! All of you."

The cavern fell silent and the group turned and looked at me. Bannack seemed startled, but somewhat pleased, at my outburst and he stepped a little closer to me.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I didn't try to kill her," I said, wanting to talk to the entire group but at the same time feeling the compulsion to talk only to him, "It wasn't my fault."

"Then whose fault is it?" Ciyrs demanded.

"Hers," I said matter-of-factly.

"What?" he said roughly and I noticed all of the warriors looking at him with surprised looks on their faces as if he never showed this type of personality toward anyone.

Indeed, I could see the healer within him and knew that this was not in his normal nature. When it came to his mate, however, he was far more intense and aggressive than he would ever be when he was away from her. This made me less angry at the way he had treated me, but I was still not happy.

"In order for a reflection to mean anything, you have to believe in that reflection. If you didn't know what an item was and you saw a reflection of it, you still would not know what it was. You wouldn't embrace its presence and believe in its functions because you wouldn't know about them. If you looked in a mirror and saw something that you thought was something else, you would still believe that that reflection was what you thought it was and that if it was real, it would function the way you expected it to. Reflections only have the meaning that you give them. If you don't believe in the reflection, it can't work for you. She didn’t believe in the stone beneath her feet, so the stone was no longer there."

I expected for them to react strongly again, but they surprised me by seeming to accept what I had told them without further argument. Even if they had argued, there would be nothing else that I could have said to them. It was a very simple concept, though one that may be difficult to grasp for those who hadn't grown up with such rules governing their existence.

"Do you live here?" the largest of the warriors asked me.

"Yes."

"May we look around?"

It was an unusual moment, a moment of balance and control. This was a moment that I had been waiting on for years, a moment when I would no longer be alone and could possibly look forward into a life that was not isolated beneath the ground for the majority of the time, and yet a moment that I also feared. I was so accustomed to being alone and to protecting the space that had once been the home to everyone who I have ever loved that it was frightening to me in a way to think of others entering the deeper areas of the space. I was very aware that nearly every inch of the land ground was a place where someone I cared for had taken their last step or even their last breath, and I had the irrational fear that if these people stepped on those places, they would cover them and diminish the memory of those last moments.

I glanced over at Bannack and found him looking at me, evaluating me. Looking at him offered me a sense of anchoring among the others in a way that I didn't understand. It was as though the rest of the group and I were completely separate entities, but that Bannack could act as a link between us that would close the space.

"Yes," I finally said, offering my permission for them to go further into the cavern.

"This is Loralia," Bannack introduced.

"Hello, Loralia. My name is Pyra."

One by one the warriors and the women introduced themselves to me and I found myself attaching characteristics to each of their names so that I would remember them more clearly later. Zuri was incredibly strong, but adored the way that her mate made her feel feminine and beautiful. Samira held wounds that were still healing, but for the first time in her life, she felt like she belonged. Elianna was vibrant and spirited, but still had a vulnerability in her that seemed to come from an event in the recent past that shaped her now and for the future.

I nodded at each of them as they introduced themselves and tried to offer smiles that would comfort them and ease their worries about me. Once everybody was introduced, Pyra started forward, keeping his eyes trained on me as he moved further into the cavern. There was still a heavy sense of distrust around him as he moved slowly past me and then ventured deeper. The others followed him, gazing around as they moved beyond the hill where I had been hiding when they first entered and stepped down into the expansive chamber that dipped lower and contained the first collection of small buildings that were once home to my friends and family. Two tunnels led off of this chamber, each leading to another chamber containing more buildings.

Off of these chambers were two more tunnels that fed together into one narrow corridor that led deep into the cavern to the chamber that our kind used as its greatest source of protection. When there were threats, we would gather there, utilizing our mirrors to reflect a solid wall over the mouth of the cavern so that no one could enter. I spent much of my time there, forgoing the home I once shared with my parents and siblings to live in the protecting surroundings of this nearly empty chamber.

"There is a tunnel that leads off of that first room and goes up into the cliffs at the edge of our compound," Pyra said.

It seemed more a statement than a question, but I replied anyway.

"Yes. I haven't used it in many years."

"Are there any other tunnels that lead into the cavern from above ground?"

"No. The only way to enter is that tunnel and the hatches in the forest."

"How often do you go above ground?"

The change in voice made me turn to Bannack, who was still standing close beside me. There was a faintly desperate look in his eyes and I could feel the sense that he was trying to understand of the emotions rolling through him, as if knowing how often I walked on the same ground as he did.

"Never," I told him, keeping my voice as even and calm as I could in an effort to assure him.

"How do you survive down here without ever going up?"

"The cavern provides everything that I need. There are plants throughout the cavern and a stream in the middle chamber. I was born down here and have always been here."

"Will you come up with us now?"

My eyes widened and I saw Pyra look sharply at Bannack, but he didn't say anything. My warrior, for that is how I was beginning to think of him, was staring at me intently and I saw him lift his hand toward me.

I hesitated only a moment before placing my fingers against the warmth of his palm and seeing the hint of a smile touch his lips.