“Yet we don’t want to regress to a state where half of our children are born—”

“There is little danger in that now,” Sirri interrupted, her eyes suddenly cold. Drilli suddenly remembered hearing that the Speaker’s first child had been born wingless and shrivelled, and had died an infant. “There are enough of us now that such occurrences rarely happen.”

“I was not talking of inter-tribal connections,” Zyll said. “I was talking of links within a tribe. My tribe is scattered. If we are not careful, it will vanish in a few years.”

Sirri’s expression changed subtly, somehow becoming thoughtful and dangerous at the same time. “You need not be worried about that anymore. The White will return your land to you, and you now have an effective means to defend it, thanks to young Tryss.”

Zyll’s jaw tightened at the mention of Tryss’s name. “Even so, we need to strengthen the bonds between our families, or we will return only to find we are strangers to each other.”

Her eyebrows rose, then she nodded respectfully. “If you must go to such lengths to reassure yourselves, then that is what you must do. I will miss your family’s presence here in the Open.” She looked at Sveel. “You’ve been training with the warriors, haven’t you? How are you finding it?”

Sveel straightened. “It’s hard, but I’m practicing every day.”

She nodded. “Good. You’ll need those skills to defend your land after you return. Which is what I wanted to talk to you all about.” She paused, then turned to look at her son. “Sreil, did you bring that basket?”

The boy blinked, then his eyes widened. “No, I forgot. Sorry.”

She shook her head and sighed. “Well, go fetch it then. Bring some water, too.”

“How am I supposed to carry all that?”

“Take Drilli with you.”

Drilli blinked in surprise, then looked at her father. He nodded his approval, though he did not look happy. She got to her feet and hurried after Sreil.

Speaker Sirri’s son set a rapid pace, and soon the voices of her tribe had faded beyond hearing. He glanced back, then slowed so she could catch up.

“So you’re going to be married,” he said.

She shrugged. “Looks like it.”

“You don’t sound too enthusiastic.”

“Don’t I?” she asked dryly.

“No. You don’t like Sveel, do you?”

“He’s all right.”

“But not who you’d like to be marrying, right?”

She frowned at him. “Why are you asking?”

He smiled. “It was pretty obvious who you favored at the trei-trei, Drilli. So why aren’t you marrying Tryss? He’s more famous than the founders.”

Her stomach twisted. “Because I don’t have a choice.”

“Of course you do.”