Windburn

The queen slid onto her throne and let out a sigh. “If you ever have the pleasure of ruling, child, may I suggest a rather comfortable chair? This one bites at my rear no matter how I sit.”

I laughed, as did Cactus. “I will keep that in mind, though I doubt the time will ever come.”

She picked up a staff beside the throne and tapped it into the rolling clouds at her feet. A high-pitched ringing bell resounded three times, like the tinkling of chimes.

Cactus reached over and touched my hand, then pointed behind us. The doors swung open and three Enders strode in. Two men and a woman. The men were built like most Sylphs: tall and slim, their bodies whip-like in their movement and structure. The woman, on the other hand, was shorter than me. Her body was solid muscle by the way she moved, but she was not the slender shape of the other Sylphs.

“A curvy Sylph? Since when?” Cactus let the questions slip out and I fought not to cringe. The woman’s face didn’t even twitch, but I saw the hitch in her chest from a breath of air being sucked in too fast.

I stared at him. “And since when have you known a Terraling woman to be my height, Prick? Do you think you have met every kind of woman this world holds?”

Idiot.

“Idiot,” Peta spit out.

The female Ender looked at me, and our eyes met. Understanding passed between us. I knew what it was to stand out in your home, to not fit what was considered normal. To say it was a challenge was something of an understatement. The elemental world was not forgiving of those who did not conform.

“Samara, would you be willing to guide Larkspur through the Eyrie? Take her wherever she wishes and aid her in looking for her father. Nothing is off limits.”

Samara made a fist with her right hand and pressed it to her heart. “As you wish, my queen.”

“Bah, you wish it too. I see you wanting to know more about her.” The queen waved at her, her blind eyes seeing far more than they should have. “Go on now. Take our visitors. Show them a room, and give them some food.”

Samara crooked a finger at us. “Come with me.” Her voice was as solid as her body; there wasn’t a single wavering note in her words. She led us out of the throne room and to the left, down a long hallway that wound around the mountain, like the curve of a woman’s hip. “As guests of the queen, you will stay in the heart of the Eyrie. Your rooms are safe, set into the mountain. But the rest of the Eyrie could slip out from under your feet when you least expect it. There will always be a Sylph outside your doors, so if you have need of them, they will help you.”

Sounded more like we would have a guard at all times to keep an eye on us. But maybe it was my past experiences in other elemental homes that tainted my view of things.

The halls were wide and tall, with open ceilings like the throne room. Walls with no roof, and the bright blue, cold sky beckoning above us. Of course, the Sylphs could keep the weather constant over their homes. Cactus, Peta, and I, on the other hand, would have no such amenity.

Where the Eyrie was not cloud and drifting fog, it was set into the mountain, as Samara had said. I couldn’t help but reach out and touch those parts, reassuring myself that I could at least still feel the earth here and there.

Samara stopped in front of a door on the left of us, toward the mountain. I let out a sigh of relief. “There is food and drink inside. I will be back in an hour to take you where you wish.”

She turned on her heel and strode away, her white leathers blending into the drifting clouds at her feet.

I stepped inside the room and let out a sigh. There was no cloud for footing here, but a solid smooth stone. I bent a knee and pressed my hands against it. Limestone, common to the area. It warmed under my hand and the mountain seemed to strain to reach me.

“Easy, Lark.” Cactus put a hand on my shoulder. “I don’t think you should connect with the earth here. Neither of us should.”

I blinked up at him. “Why not?”

He crouched beside me and lifted my hands from the stone. “Terralings made this place for the Sylphs.”

I knew that our family had at one time been close with the Sylphs. “What does that matter?”

“Because, Dirt Girl, what you felt in Giselle applies here too. She had Spirit flowing through her from the things Talan had worked on her; the mountain has had Terralings work through it in detail. It makes the stone eager for your touch.”

Frowning, I stood. “That makes no sense. We have helped all the families build their homes in the past. To one degree or another. Why would touching this particular stone be bad?”

Peta trotted to the large bed that dominated the room and leapt up onto it. She sunk down to her chin in the lush blankets. “Oh, this is nice.” She seemed to lose her train of thought for a moment in the physical sensation.

“The Eyrie . . . it is different from the others. The Pit is buried under a mountain close to the fire in the earth. The Deep floats in the ocean, made up of sand and shells. But the Eyrie is built into the mountain, and while it is high within the stratosphere, it is the power of the Terralings that keeps it together. With the connection you have to the earth boosted by Spirit, you are drawn like a magnet to this place. It means you have more power here than anywhere else in this world. It also means the mountain will do as you ask, even if you don’t ask.”

“Shit, I didn’t know that.” Cactus tightened his hold on me, and pulled me closer to him. He let go of my hand and wrapped his arm around my waist. “Don’t touch anything, Lark. You’ll break the mountain in half.”