The Canticle of Whispers by David Whitley Page B

one thing about her that still marked her out as an Agoran. The other, a starfish, was Mark’s symbol.
    Mark …
    Lily felt a stab of sadness. She hadn’t seen Mark for nearly a month now, ever since the Order of the Lost had spirited him away. She’d traveled a long way to get him back, but she was no closer now than she had been before.
    With a resolute sniff, Lily dropped the scales into her apron pocket and pushed aside the heavy velvet curtain at the mouth of the cave that acted as the Conductor’s home. There was no more time for dithering. She still had no idea where Mark could be, but if this Oracle really did know as much as Septima and Tertius seemed to think, then she must be the best person to start asking.
    Although she couldn’t help but wonder what someone who impressed the inhabitants of a realm like Naru would be like.
    *   *   *
    The last notes of the Choir’s song were fading away as Lily emerged. Already the choristers were wandering down from their platforms, chatting in groups of two or three. As they all kept their distance from each other, this hubbub was loud, each conversation trying to drown out the next, without any thought for privacy.
    More surprising, though, was their reaction to her. These Naruvians were supposed to be obsessed with knowledge, with new things, and she must have been the most extraordinary person to walk among them for years. Yet they seemed determined to ignore her, scattering if she attempted to get their attention. Their shimmering clothes—simple robes and tunics, glimmered in the undulating light from the Hub. As Lily walked among them, fragments of their conversations emerged out of the noise.
    â€œIt can’t be true, can it? No, not possible…”
    â€œYou’d better believe it. This is top-quality knowledge! So what will you give me for it?”
    â€œâ€¦ So she thought no one else would turn up, just wasn’t her lucky day!”
    â€œEverything I know about the village is worthless! I’ve nothing but old news … this is the worst day of my life! Why did they have to go and get a new Speaker?”
    â€œWell, he had been dead for several days…”
    â€œâ€¦ that’s no excuse!”
    Every time she caught a hint of something familiar, it dissolved into a sea of nonsense. The Choir began to move faster around her, rushing over to greet new people and spurn others. It was like no crowd she had ever been in, so loud and yet so separate, as though each person wanted to be everywhere and nowhere at once. Lily began to feel quite disoriented, stumbling from one group to another, trying to pick out the Conductor. She was so absorbed in this that she hardly noticed Tertius and Septima until they were almost face-to-face.
    The pair stopped in front of her. For a second, they glanced at each other, and back at Lily, in a slightly puzzled way, as though she had been someone they had met once, a few years ago. And then, Septima turned back to Tertius, and resumed their conversation.
    â€œYou’ll never believe it,” she continued, her eyes wide and excited, her hands fluttering. “She’s going to stay with Crede! What do you think he’ll do now?”
    â€œWho cares?” Tertius grunted, stepping around Lily as though she were invisible. “Why are you always listening to the Agoran echoes anyway? I heard something really good from Giseth last night. One of the monks is missing. His Speaker is frantic.”
    â€œReally? That’s amazing!” Septima gasped in delight as she trailed after him. “Um … what’s a monk, again?”
    And then Septima and Tertius were gone, vanished into the chatter. Lily stared after them, mouth agape. Had it really been only yesterday they had been screaming at each other as they betrayed her to their “enemy”? And had they really been talking about Agora? For a moment, she thought about