consume it was to die. The energy within themselves was natural to them though, no matter its source.
Airi eased up to Shasha’s side, afraid the older sylph would interpret her actions as a threat and lash out. Shasha just lay there and Airi stretched out beside her, delicately linking her pattern to the injured sylph so that she could feed her some of her own energy.
It felt strange. Shasha wasn’t from her hive and was an earth sylph. Even back home, air sylphs and earth sylphs didn’t interact much. Their jobs were very different and they didn’t have much need to actively work together. Besides, what Airi was doing now was a very rare thing. Usually, a healer would be sent for a wounded sylph or the queen would order them abandoned if they couldn’t make it back to the hive themselves. For two elementals to share their energy was almost never done, but it wasn’t unheard of.
Airi fed Shasha some of the energy that she’d taken from Devon that morning, now changed within her to something edible for all sylphs. It wasn’t the most nourishing—Airi wasn’t a food sylph and wasn’t designed to produce energy for others to eat—but it was enough for Shasha to regain some small amount of her strength, if not to heal herself. Airi didn’t have enough power in her entire pattern for that.
It was intimate though. Airi felt her pattern blend up against the earth sylph’s, and felt some of Shasha’s pain and desperate fear for her master, even as Shasha experienced Airi’s terror and uncertainty at being in the heart of an alien hive. That need for someone else to be there for them echoed through both sylphs and Airi felt her energy pour into Shasha’s damaged pattern, the flow controlled by the other sylph.
I won’t take too much, Shasha promised.
I know, Airi answered, knowing that was the truth.
A moment later, it was done. Shasha rose from beside her unconscious master, a slim creature of marble and gems. Beautiful, she raised her arms and Airi felt the stone around them move, shifting around the earth sylph as easily as the air did around Airi. Gently, the chamber she’d made rose, lifting up through the ground.
What happened? Airi asked her finally, though she knew the only reason Shasha would have run the way she did was from a predator, and that there was only one predator in existence where calling the battlers wouldn’t make a difference.
Gleaming ruby eyes turned toward her, glistening in the sparse light coming through the airhole Shasha had left to give her master a way to breathe, despite what must have been a very real terror that the thing which drove her into the ground to begin with would be able to find it and use it to reach them.
A Hunter, Shasha told Airi, to her unsurprised horror. A Hunter has come through the gate.
CHAPTER SIX
O n the same morning that Devon and Xehm went to the gate and found Gel and Shasha—and for the first time since she had started working at the restaurant, landing a job that saved her and her father from starvation and probable slavery—Zalia woke after dawn.
For a moment, she just stared up at the cracks in the roof of her hovel in confusion, not understanding what she was seeing. She hadn’t seen the sun shining down on her and her blankets in almost five years. Every morning, she’d already been at work by the time the sun rose.
Suddenly, Zalia realized where she was and rolled out of her blankets, scrambling to her feet in a panic. Unaware of how his own morning would fare, her father was still sleeping in his bed, snoring, and he didn’t wake as Zalia bolted out of the hut, running toward the city. She passed Devon’s hut with only a miserable glance. She’d stayed awake until long into the night, thinking about him. Even the realization that she might lose her job because of it couldn’t cool her warm thoughts toward the man and she hoped that he’d have a better day than she looked to as she ran to the restaurant. She didn’t stop to
Airi eased up to Shasha’s side, afraid the older sylph would interpret her actions as a threat and lash out. Shasha just lay there and Airi stretched out beside her, delicately linking her pattern to the injured sylph so that she could feed her some of her own energy.
It felt strange. Shasha wasn’t from her hive and was an earth sylph. Even back home, air sylphs and earth sylphs didn’t interact much. Their jobs were very different and they didn’t have much need to actively work together. Besides, what Airi was doing now was a very rare thing. Usually, a healer would be sent for a wounded sylph or the queen would order them abandoned if they couldn’t make it back to the hive themselves. For two elementals to share their energy was almost never done, but it wasn’t unheard of.
Airi fed Shasha some of the energy that she’d taken from Devon that morning, now changed within her to something edible for all sylphs. It wasn’t the most nourishing—Airi wasn’t a food sylph and wasn’t designed to produce energy for others to eat—but it was enough for Shasha to regain some small amount of her strength, if not to heal herself. Airi didn’t have enough power in her entire pattern for that.
It was intimate though. Airi felt her pattern blend up against the earth sylph’s, and felt some of Shasha’s pain and desperate fear for her master, even as Shasha experienced Airi’s terror and uncertainty at being in the heart of an alien hive. That need for someone else to be there for them echoed through both sylphs and Airi felt her energy pour into Shasha’s damaged pattern, the flow controlled by the other sylph.
I won’t take too much, Shasha promised.
I know, Airi answered, knowing that was the truth.
A moment later, it was done. Shasha rose from beside her unconscious master, a slim creature of marble and gems. Beautiful, she raised her arms and Airi felt the stone around them move, shifting around the earth sylph as easily as the air did around Airi. Gently, the chamber she’d made rose, lifting up through the ground.
What happened? Airi asked her finally, though she knew the only reason Shasha would have run the way she did was from a predator, and that there was only one predator in existence where calling the battlers wouldn’t make a difference.
Gleaming ruby eyes turned toward her, glistening in the sparse light coming through the airhole Shasha had left to give her master a way to breathe, despite what must have been a very real terror that the thing which drove her into the ground to begin with would be able to find it and use it to reach them.
A Hunter, Shasha told Airi, to her unsurprised horror. A Hunter has come through the gate.
CHAPTER SIX
O n the same morning that Devon and Xehm went to the gate and found Gel and Shasha—and for the first time since she had started working at the restaurant, landing a job that saved her and her father from starvation and probable slavery—Zalia woke after dawn.
For a moment, she just stared up at the cracks in the roof of her hovel in confusion, not understanding what she was seeing. She hadn’t seen the sun shining down on her and her blankets in almost five years. Every morning, she’d already been at work by the time the sun rose.
Suddenly, Zalia realized where she was and rolled out of her blankets, scrambling to her feet in a panic. Unaware of how his own morning would fare, her father was still sleeping in his bed, snoring, and he didn’t wake as Zalia bolted out of the hut, running toward the city. She passed Devon’s hut with only a miserable glance. She’d stayed awake until long into the night, thinking about him. Even the realization that she might lose her job because of it couldn’t cool her warm thoughts toward the man and she hoped that he’d have a better day than she looked to as she ran to the restaurant. She didn’t stop to
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