‘It takes some like that, love, and there is no shame in it,’ Tayan said and signed at the same time. ‘And now look at you, one of the finest Tokob warriors, your feet firm upon the jaguar path instead. Now the monsters you fight come from Pechacan and its dominions, and that is a fight of just as much importance.’

Lilla mustered a smile for them all, but Tayan knew him and knew it was an old pain and an old shame that he wouldn’t let go.

Xessa snapped her fingers, drawing their attention. ‘Besides, how would I have won any glory if you’d been eja?’ she signed and the Tokob laughed, the Xentib looking on in polite incomprehension.

‘So no,’ Lilla finished, ‘our warriors can’t also become ejab, even if just for the duration of a Wet. It’s too much to ask, even if not for the different fighting styles each employs. Stabbing a Pecha and defeating a Drowned … they’re completely different. We can’t – we won’t – ask our people to face a threat they’re not trained for, or to risk the spirit-magic failing or killing them or making them … different for the rest of their lives. And so we manage, as we have always done.’

‘And if we’re to continue managing, this eja needs her sleep,’ Tayan said, turning back and signing to Xessa. He bent to kiss her cheek.

‘But the Zellih?’ she signed.

‘I’ll come back tonight,’ he promised. ‘I’ll tell you everything then. Sleep now.’

Xessa scowled, but her eyelids were already drooping and Ossa was deeply asleep, paws twitching. Tayan stood and ushered the others out and they were silent until they were back under the open sky.

‘Forgive us,’ Ilandeh said with a grimace. ‘The Sky City … well, it’s beginning to feel like the first proper home we’ve had since Xentiban fell. We have friends here and … we’re afraid. Of the Drowned, of the Empire, of what’s going to happen. If we offended you, any of you, we are sorry.’

The Tokob exchanged looks, but what was there to say? They were all afraid.

‘What about your retired ejab?’ Dakto asked after a decent pause. ‘They couldn’t resume the duty?’

‘No,’ Tayan said and there was an edge in his voice. He was tired, he was worried, and the Xentib endless curiosity scraped at him. He was self-aware enough to know he had the same effect on others, but today he didn’t feel like being charitable.