The Burning Ground

4. The final dissolution of the Remnant

Wintshikan looked up as the door opened. Luca came in, then Nyen, Wann, and Hidan.

Luca nodded to Zell, then to Zaro in the other bed. She brought her hand around and held out the case of Tale Cards. “We need you to read for us, Heka.”

Wann brought Wintshikan the Heka’s Shawl, setting it about her shoulders. +It’s important.+

Wintshikan took the case, looked at it, looked up at Luca. “What is it?”

Luca clasped her hands behind her. “It’s because you’ve got the sight, Heka, you always had it even when you wouldn’t believe what you saw.” She turned her head so she could see the others. “Well?”

Hidan and Nyen were standing with their backs against the panels. Hidan signed. +All clear. Go ahead.+

Luca nodded, fixed her eyes on Wintshikan. “Remember what I said when we saw… um… the ocean for the first time?” Her mouth twitched into a brief, taut smile. “A fern offered us a chance to redeem that pledge. I want to know is the chance real or is she pulling something for reasons I can’t see.”

“She?” Wintshikan slipped the cards from the case, unwrapping the silk scarf folded around them. She set the case on the bed beside Zell, spread out the scarf, sat holding the cards.

“A Pixa fem. She said she was the one in the song, the little gray ghost. I think maybe she is. You look in her eyes, and it’s cold as winter and you see a hungry boyal thinking you’re food.” She shivered.

“You and Wann, Nyen and Hidan, you’re thinking of going with her. Is Xaca?”

“No. We’ve talked it over, she wants to stay with Kanilli; us, we don’t have daughters to worry about. I want this, Heka. You know how much.”

“I know.” Wintshikan murmured the blessing over the cards and shuffled them. She lifted her head. “Let it be my touch alone. I am Shishim. The last of Shishim.”

With a jagged gesture, Luca called the others around her. They stood together, shoulders touching shoulders, watching as Wintshikan cut the cards and laid them out on the bed beside Zell.

Wintshikan’s breath quickened as she saw the base card was no longer the black oval of formal Death, but a sign of approval. She touched the card with the tip of her forefinger. “This defines us. As you can see, it is the Fire on the Altar. This that you do, Luca, Wann, Nyen, Hidan, you do in the service of God.” She moved her finger to the first of the three cards in the middle row. “These are the determinants that mark the days to come. The first card is a warning. The SkyFire. Danger, quickness, the unexpected coming at you. Be fast on your feet and never forget to look behind you. The second describes that which surrounds you. It is the Cauldron which brews both poison and health. Think well what you do. The third is the Gateway that looks forward and back. Again a choice. A turning point. I can’t tell you what to do because I don’t know what that choice will be. Whatever you decide, you will have my blessing and Zell’s.”

She touched the first card in the top row. “These are the guides to direct us to the Right, Path. The Egg. Out of your actions in the days to come a new world will be born. The Balance. If I read this true, the War will end, and life will right itself at long last. It may be what I want to see, but my heart says this will happen.”

She moved the remaining “cards from her lap, set them on the white sheet beside Zell, and got to her feet with some difficulty, her joints protesting. Eyes blurring with tears, she hugged each of them hard, held each for a long moment before she let her or xe go. Then she stepped back. “Go with God and the blessing of Shishim.”