She crossed the sitting room and struggled to pry open the window screen. Her fingers had gone rigid, a warning of coming tremors. Ariel rushed to her side and helped her slide the screen open a few inches. Duja offered him a small smile of thanks, then glanced through the window. She half expected to find her daughters at each other’s throats. What she saw was even more surprising. Laya and Bulan weren’t fighting, nor were they in the courtyard alone. Eti was scampering across the tiles to stand between them.

“Are you ready?” Eti’s voice, small and childlike, floated up to Ariel’s sitting room. The girl raised her right palm. A pellet of pure gold rose about a foot above her head, its rounded surface glinting in the sunlight.

Duja let out a delighted laugh. “I don’t believe it. They’re playing a game,” she said, amazed, and waved Ariel over to watch. He stood behind her shoulder, the window screen concealing most of his profile.

Down in the courtyard, Eti made the first move. Her eyes darted between her sisters, deciding upon her target. After a few seconds’ deliberation, she drew her hand back and hurled the pellet at Bulan. The pellet zoomed across the courtyard in a yellow streak. Bulan was ready. She lunged to the side, catching the pellet with the flat edge of her sword. It soared back to Eti, who jumped to catch it with a satisfied cheer.

“Your turn, Laya!” she cried, casting the pellet in her other sister’s direction.

But neither Bulan nor Eti could match Laya’s winds, which cut through the air like a dagger. Laya needed only to thrust out her hands, and a blast erupted across the courtyard, rattling the windows in their metal frames. The blast whisked the pellet high above the girls’ heads. It sailed over fifty feet away to the opposite end of the courtyard, before crashing to a stop a few inches in front of the entrance to the palace gardens.

“Whoa,” Ariel whispered, astonished.

In the courtyard, Bulan groaned. “Laya! We agreed to keep it within bounds,” she yelled.

Eti crossed her arms and pouted. “I don’t care what you said. I’m not fetching it.”

“Well, I’m not fetching it,” Laya yelled back.

“What’s going on here?” the king called. Duja caught sight of the top of his head as he stepped out of the eastern wing. He joined his daughters in the courtyard, his hands clasped behind his back.

Eti pointed at Laya. “She’s cheating.”

Duja could see Laya roll her eyes all the way from the sitting room. “Please. There are no winners or losers in this game,” Laya said.

“So?” Bulan asked.

Laya shrugged. “If you can’t win, you can’t cheat. Everyone knows that.”

“Oh, I don’t know if that’s true,” Aki said in a good-natured tone.