“Was there a jambiya left?”
He frowned and then smirked.
“The curved dagger? Really?”
“It’s what she’s best at.”
“Yes, there was a jambiya there.”
“Good…good.” She bobbed her head up and down. “I’ve got to get back, got to figure out how to get her into that tower.”
“We haven’t even had our lesson. Although there can’t be much more to learn, right?”
“We’re hardly halfway through the Book of Blood. There’s still a lot that might come up in the test.” Sylah rearranged her skirt. “Sorry I’ve got to run, but I do need to figure this out.”
“Sylah, wait,” Jond said as she got up to leave. She rolled her eyes and kissed him. He avoided her eyes and added, “I just want to check that you still remember the mission.”
Sylah felt her lips curl. “Remember the mission?”
“There will be a reckoning for every Ember.”
“I know, Jond, I remember Papa’s words, even if the other Sandstorm leader doesn’t deem me worthy.”
“The Sandstorm, the leader…the journals, they just weren’t enough…but I’m trying.”
Enough.The word gave her pause.
“Will I ever be enough for them?”
The look Jond gave her was pained. “Sylah…”
Will they ever be enough forme?
“The Final Strife, Sylah.”
Sylah didn’t repeat the words, yet they quickened the beating of her heart, but this time she wasn’t sure if it was from pride or fear.
—
Sylah found Anoor crying when she got back. Not the incessant all-consuming sob Sylah had heard before, but a wordless, hollow cawing. She didn’t know what to expect after Anoor’s talk with her mother, but it wasn’t this.
“Maiden’s tits, she’s only one woman, what could she have said to hurt you so?”
It was then that Sylah saw the letter in her hand. Anoor’s dark skin was pulled so taut over her knuckles, you could see the white bone underneath. Sylah had to pry it from her grip. Her eyes scanned the words.
“They’ve brought forward all of the trials. Given the temper of the tidewind this season the imirs are concerned for the welfare of their districts…the trial of the mind is tomorrow…” Sylah sat down next to Anoor and put a hand on her leg. “It’s okay. We knew this would be coming, it’s only two days earlier. You can do it.”
Anoor looked at Sylah’s hand as if she had only just realized she was in the room.
“We don’t have enough time. I can’t win. The bloodwerk trial is in two weeks; we were meant to have another mooncycle.” Her voice was shards of pain.
“But your bloodwerk is impeccable. The bloodwerk trial is always timed, and you’re fast at drawing runes. I’ve never seen you get one wrong. You’ll win that trial, no problem.”
“You don’t understand…that means the final combat trial is two weeks after that. So in one mooncycle I’ll be fighting to first blood. How can I learn the rest of the Nuba formations in one mooncycle?”
She couldn’t, but Sylah wasn’t going to tell her that.
“You’ve trained for nearly four mooncycles now; you’re better than any of those in the training barracks.”