I mused this over. Was it luck to become one of the Alanga? Certainly there was power to be gained, but there was suspicion and scorn too. When the Alanga had fought one another, whole cities of commoners had suffered. Some people might have romanticized the stories about them, but more thought we were well rid of them. And always the Sukais had used them as a warning – this was why we had to complete the Tithing Festival; this was why we had to have the constructs. In case the Alanga returned.

I studied Ragan’s face, the way his brows were drawn slightly together. He was holding something back. “Just luck?”

This time, I was sure it was a grimace. “Ah, that’s not exactly the truth. I didn’t draw the task. I was… running away. Trying to. It’s an embarrassing story. Having potential isn’t always wonderful. They pushed me hard. My masters did. Do you know what it’s like to have someone expect something of you that you don’t know you can live up to? So I ran away. And I found Lozhi.”

I knew what it was like. I knew very, very well. “I found Thrana in the old mines beneath the palace,” I murmured. I watched her play in the surf now, a far cry from the wretched creature I’d pulled from the water. “My father had been experimenting on her.”

“They do have some very interesting properties,” Ragan said. He added quickly: “Not that they should be experimented upon. No one deserves that, least of all these creatures.”

“What else do you know about them? Where do they come from? Why do they bond with us? How do they choose who to bond with?”

“I didn’t have access to all the books,” he said, holding up his hands briefly before grabbing the railing again. “No one knows where they come from, only that they start to appear every few hundred years. Your father might have kept records – the Sukai family was very interested in making sure the Alanga did not return. As for why they bond with us and how they choose…” He squinted at the clouds. “I can’t say I know that either. But I have guesses. They don’t have this power on their own. Just as a cleaning fish will attach itself to a shark and they both benefit, I think the ossalen attach to people. We need one another. We receive these abilities, and they receive a way to influence the world.”

“Lozhi doesn’t seem to influence you much.”

“I’ve a better control on our bond,” he said lightly. “It’s stronger.”

I didn’t feel like the bond between Thrana and me was weak; quite the contrary.