Author: Derin

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next “I have never claimed to be – ” “I didn’t say you claimed to be anything. But that’s how you think. Like you and your people dropped out of the sky, a nascent beginning that gets to dictate our future. You repeatedly talk about how this … Continue reading 62: Realignment

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next “Maybe somebody took her,” Ketyk frets. “Or hurt her.” “There’s nobody around,” Yar assures him. “If there was, the scouts would’ve seen them, or we would’ve seen evidence of their foraging.” “It could’ve been someone in this group,” Ketyk says. He rounds on Kesal. “You -- … Continue reading 61: Regrets

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next The proposed Rayjo Tau site is very high above the ocean, but it’s not nearly as high as Tyk was expecting. Despite all of Smon’s talk about height being important, there’s still plenty of mountain above them as they walk out from between two sharp, steep … Continue reading 60: Sunseekers

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next Time moves on. Smon gets her metal purified and then forged, expands her farm, and starts stockpiling food. Ketyk grows very quickly into a surprisingly strong flyer, soon able to make it up and down the communication tower without needing to rest on the way (a … Continue reading 59: To the Tower

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next Tyk is of course as excited about the wingsong stream as anyone. She’s desperate for news of home, and Kemia thoughtfully keeps abreast of the situation and the very morning after they start to get faint, fuzzy communication is able to tell her that the Redstone … Continue reading 58: Forging Ahead

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next The hiveheart announce Smon’s true nature and the Rayjo Tau plan that very afternoon. Smon helps them frame the situation as better than playing temporary host to some baby stars, as them being the hive that will shape the entire future of the continent, possibly the … Continue reading 57: Red River Ramble

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next “It’s a bold claim,” one of the hiveheart says, “for a handful of inexperienced children to make. That this new type of communication tower could reach all the way across the ocean.” “Our star-travelling guest has demonstrated other powerful abilities,” another points out, “and the girl … Continue reading 56: Alone

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next Tyk can’t help but be impressed by the restraint of the people of Glittergem Hive. Even as Smon, clean and well rested and adorned in her least tattered silks, strides through the entrance hall with Tyk and Mia and their truebrothers, nobody tries to approach her; … Continue reading 55: Diplomatic Potential

<<First .......... <Prev .......... [Archive] .......... [Glossary] .......... Next> Things move pretty fast when you have essentially unlimited labour and resources to get them done. The Lightsong Travel Agency was up before I knew it. Word of our existence was spreading to every aljik nest we could contact. Very, very slowly. Aljik nests don’t communicate … Continue reading 25: Two Years Later

First ---- Previous ---- Glossary ---- Archive ---- Next After they eat, Mia and Kemia offer to give them a tour of the hive. Smon politely declines, claiming that she must rest. Tyk knows that Smon must be burning with curiosity about the hive, but also understands her dilemma; Smon doesn’t want to get caught … Continue reading 54: The Echoes In Stone