It's not supposed to snow in the South Forest, but the weather in the second-emptiest corner of Shelha is not the only thing behaving strangely. When an ex-tyrant started acting up again, Sethral had hoped it meant the end of lazy days and monotonou...
Venture north and there's four, and the chilly winds blow
Through a season that layers the landscape with snow.
Venture south and there's only the wet and the dry,
And you'll never see snowflakes, however you try.
But stay in the south and three seasons you'll see:
The growing and bursting of buds and of leaves,
The hot and the stormy—get ready to flee—
And the cool, where the snowflakes drift down but don't stay;
I'd rather have three seasons any old day.
Three seasons to watch,
Three seasons to play;
Three seasons to hold every moon, every day.
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Sethral gasped awake some time after moonhigh. She flattened herself in the moss beside Whipper and forced herself to breathe, searching for the cause of her anxiety. There was a new sound in Stormhole, faint but definite. Sethral lifted her wing carefully from the thistlecloth over Whipper's back and crept across the room.
Ryatzi's fever had broken. He was shaking like a leaf, his breath coming in frightened gasps. Sethral looked around for Jay, but the Raindai was out cold against Wing's flank and the last thing she wanted to do was wake him. She looked back at the Saberel. Well, if nothing else, his lethal bite would be useless with him so weak. Stepping around behind him, Sethral touched a wing to his back, then tentatively lowered herself to the moss.
Stormhole was deathly quiet the next morning. Whipper waved a good morning across the room as Sethral lifted her head. He had managed to wrap himself up like a caterpillar in her thistlecloth and seemed to be enjoying it. Turning her attention to the creature under her wing, Sethral stilled. Ryatzi was awake. He was lying as still as death, breathing so shallowly he was completely silent. He was not relaxed. Slowly, Sethral eased her wing off his back. The Saberel remained in place until she stood and stepped away. Then he lunged. Sethral whipped her wing back and fell off the ledge—it was faster than jumping. She scrambled to a less threatening distance. Ryatzi made it to a crouching position and backed against the wall. He hissed as Sethral moved to cover Whipper. She stopped moving.
