“I’m not afraid,” Storm told the setting sun. It was a lie. Why had the Elementals singled her out to wield power over both Water and Air? Why did the Salamander want her dead? “I’m only me!” she whispered to the dusk, feeling very young, very alone and not particularly brave. “Tortoise? Are you there?”

The Elemental was silent, but a ke-ke bird flew to perch on a stem of fragrant wisteria above her bench and began to sing. It sang the sun down. Her heart slightly eased, Storm returned to her too-large room and too-soft bed. The moon rose and set again before she slept.

“How nice you look!” Betaan stood back, examining her handiwork. “Don’t you agree, Mer?” The morning sun slanted through the glass of the window and showed Storm an image of herself in the brass mirror that both confused and pleased her.

“Absolutely.” Mer smiled at Storm. “You might start a fashion for short hair. And Beta has done a good job with the cosmetic. Your eyes look huge now.”

“I still want to pluck your eyebrows,” Betaan said. “They make you look fierce.”

“I like my brows. Perhaps I am fierce.” Storm stared into the mirror, and her heart beat faster at the sight that met her eyes. The translucent layer of paint made her eyes, mouth and hair look dramatically dark. Can that be me? I look … exotic. Exciting even. When Betaan had insisted on painting Storm’s face, she had decided it would be quicker to give in. Storm needed to go to town early this morning in order to escape her custodians in time, or Uncle Lake would wait at the inn in vain.

“Almond will certainly want to dance with you next time!” Betaan gazed at Storm through half-lowered eyelids, and Storm felt her face grow warm.

“I am too young to dance with a grown man.”

“True. But in two years you will be a woman, and if you stay with us, you will be able to be a woman, not a non-sex. You would be able to marry, to have children. Don’t you want a family some day? Why should you sacrifice yourself for your island?”

Not answering would be rude. Storm spoke reluctantly: “Weather-witches have always been men. Some of the Elders worried about the Balance.” The hardest thing about being Chosen by the Elementals had been becoming a non-sex. But she had made the choice, done what her Elders demanded. “Everyone makes sacrifices for their people.”

“I don’t.” Talon’s daughter stared at her. “Why should I? This is my only life on this earth, and I intend to enjoy it. Besides, your Elders’ demand was unreasonable. Oh well, your island is small and isolated. I suppose your people cannot avoid being superstitious and uneducated. The Elementals gave you your powers, so how can it be wrong?”