It had an official look, as if all the structures had been built for a purpose, not for beauty. A few, though, had homelike touches: flowers planted on either side of the door and curtains in the windows. “They said it was an outpost,” Mina said.

“But what does that mean?” Ferro asked. “What do they do here?”

“You mean, besides stare at us?” Jyx asked, staring back at the outsiders.

Coming out of one of the buildings, the three rescuers jogged toward them. Neela was in the lead, followed by Varli and Eione. Eione was wearing a tough leather apron with various tools tucked into its broad pockets. Neela wore black boots that reached up to her knees. Mud and grass clung to them. She had a grass stain smeared up one arm. Varli was the only one dressed as she remembered: in climbing gear, with a heavy jacket.

“Mina, Pixit,” Neela greeted them. “And friends. Welcome to Dern.”

“Not to be rude,” Eione said, “but why, by the storms, are you here?”

Mina glanced at her friends. They seemed to be waiting for her to speak. She felt a flutter of nerves in her stomach and reminded herself that this was her idea, she could do this, and Pixit believed in her. «Always,» he said in her mind. Out loud, she said, “Pixit and I wanted to say thank you. And . . . we were hoping you’d be willing to tell us more about the ten-year storms.”

Chapter
Twenty

Mina curled up with Pixit in Neela’s kitchen. It was cramped with all of them in it. Two of the storm beasts, Ragit and Brindle, had volunteered to wait outside and keep watch, in case any teachers had seen and followed them. Inside, Neela served tea.

Varli was perched on a stool, and Eione was squatting on the floor. She kept her distance from Chauda and Pixit, eyeing them warily, but Neela seemed unperturbed by the sparking beasts inside her home.

Mina, for her part, couldn’t stop staring at the lantern on the table. It wasn’t lit with a candle—​it gave a steady amber light, as if it was powered by electricity. «But that’s impossible,» Pixit thought. «They don’t have storm beasts.»

She repeated his words out loud.

Eione snorted. “You don’t need storm beasts for electricity. You need technology. But you Alorrians are so dependent on your storm beasts you can’t imagine inventing anything, can you?”

“Eione,” Neela scolded. She then smiled kindly at the storm guardians and their beasts. “Without storm beasts, we’ve found our own way of doing things over the years. Our cities rival yours for grandness.”

Mina felt her eyes widen in surprise, and saw that her friends wore matching expressions. They’d always been taught to pity the outsiders, when they thought of them at all.