It took a moment before Yzzi made sense of the words. The woman spoke the Siyee language haltingly and the pitch of her whistles was a little off. Yzzi considered the stranger. Should she talk to the woman? Her father had told her that landwalkers could not be trusted, but he had changed his mind when the White priestess visited their tribe this morning.

“Will you come down and talk to me?”

Yzzi shifted her weight again, then came to a decision. She would talk, but she would do so from where she was.

“I’m Yzzi. Who are you?”

The woman’s smile widened. “I’m Genza.”

“Why are you in Si?”

“To see what’s here. Why don’t you come down? I can barely see you.”

Once again, Yzzi hesitated. The landwalker was so large. She cast about, looking for a place she might perch that was closer to the woman, but from which she could fly away easily. A ledge on the steep slope the woman had just climbed down looked good enough. Diving from the branch, she swooped down and landed neatly on her new perch.

She turned to regard the landwalker. The woman was still smiling.

“You’re so pretty,” she murmured.

Yzzi felt a flush of pleasure.

“You’re strange,” she blurted. “But in a good way.”

The woman laughed.

“Would you pass on a message from me to your leader?”

Yzzi straightened. Passing on messages was important, and children weren’t often given important messages to deliver. “All right.”

The woman took a few steps closer and looked deep into Yzzi’s eyes.

“I want you to tell them that I am sorry about the harm the birds did. It was not meant to happen. They were trying to protect me and I did not realize what was happening until it was too late. I came here to see if we could be friends. Will you remember all of that, Yzzi?”

Yzzi nodded.

“Then repeat it back to me now, so I can see how well you’ll—”

A distant whistle snatched Yzzi’s attention away. She looked up and exclaimed as a large group of Siyee flew overhead. At the center was a white-clad figure conspicuous among the rest for its size and winglessness.

The White priestess, Yzzi thought. She turned back to see Genza crouching beneath the fronds of a large felfea tree. The woman’s expression was terrible—wavering between anger and fear.

“How long has she been here?” she snarled.

“A few days,” Yzzi replied. “She’s nice. You should come and meet her. She’ll want to be your friend, too.”

Genza straightened and her expression softened as she looked at Yzzi. She muttered a few strange words Yzzi didn’t understand, then sighed. “Can you tell your tribe leader one more thing, Yzzi?”

Yzzi nodded.