I hated walking on glass. It was slippery, and my dirt-covered feet made it hard to walk.
Why do you throw yourself head first into things like that? Oliver pressed through the bond.
I looked over at him and grinned; his dark hair was tousled, and his gray eyes held so much worry. I just wanted to lean into him.
Because I…I went to answer him but realized I didn’t have a good answer.
His impatience hummed through the bond.
I’m not sure. I sent it to him.
He sighed. We should figure out why.
As we walked on the glass, Briar, walking in front of us, started singing.
“Child born of starlight,”
What? How does she know that verse? My hands began to shake slightly as I looked ahead at the glass path, trying to control my breathing.
“Dancing under moonlight,”
No! She can’t possibly know this song. I felt something crack inside of me as Briar continued singing.
“Unable to be tamed,
Child born of starlight,
The threads of Fate are weaving,
Weaving the story of your life,
May your heart lead your choices,
May courage be your foundation,”
She sang the melody I tried so hard to figure out when I was a kid.
“Child born of starlight,
Dancing under moonlight,
May your thread always grow.”
My heart dropped into the sand. I knew that song; I used to hum it as a kid. It was—my eyes widened, and I stumbled back, my feet slipping on the glass. Oliver caught me as I fell. Slowly guiding me down into a sitting position.
Oliver’s hands held my face as he crouched in front of me. “What’s wrong?”
But I couldn’t focus on his voice; I couldn’t focus on his face. The words of the song are still replaying in my ears.
“I—I know that song.” My voice shook. Looking down at my hands, I clasped them together to stop the shaking. He moved his hands from my face to my hands.
I tried to focus on him on the sand, on the shards. On anything but that song.
“What do you mean you remember that song?” He asked
“It was a song that was on the back of a letter from my parents.” I paused and my mouth suddenly dried.
I looked around; Briar and Castor had moved closer, Ami and Cyrus hovering nearby. Elyon hummed a cryptic smile on their face.
“I used to have this letter from my parents, it…” I pulled it from my memory. It wasn’t deep. I still repeated some of the lines in my head. I didn’t mean to, but the words had become one of the only things that felt like mine in Serlane.
“Gidion burned the letter a few years after I joined the Ancient Circle. But I have read it so many times, I still remember every line.” My head spun slightly. How did Briar know that song?
“What did it say?” Oliver sat on the pane of glass next to me.
I sat for a minute, the glass hard beneath me.
Trying to make sense of what was happening, my mind was spiraling.
Then Oliver picked up my hand. “Sahora, what did the letter say?” He kept his voice low and steady.
The words rolled off my tongue, as if I'd said them so many times before. Both aloud and to myself.
“Our Dearest Sahora,” My voice broke. Words I held onto so tightly.
“You were born under a storm-filled sky. A sky that danced with lightning as you took your first breath.” Saying that line felt like something that I wasn’t quite ready to accept.
“We couldn’t keep you beneath this sky, our sky, Sahora; it was simply too dangerous.” I looked up at the sky. It was bright blue, burning my eyes as the heat bit into my skin. Something in it felt bigger than it had since I came to Celentra.
“Too risky with the rising powers.
We didn’t want to send you to this world, but the Fates.” I paused, slowing down as I thought about each word.
“Ask for things without reason.” My eyes widened as I tried to push the realization away.
“Things that have to be set in motion.” Dread filled me as I realized that my parents had referenced the Fates in the same way everyone in Celentra did.
“Looking for us will only lead to dead ends. You will not find us until you are ready. Until the world is ready for you. The signature was unreadable.” I finished.
Briar’s jaw dropped slightly. “Sahora, do you understand what this means?”
I shrugged, “That my parents wanted me but couldn’t keep me?” I tried to bite back the emotions threatening to rise in my chest.
It couldn’t be.
Cyrus stepped forward. “That line ‘We couldn’t keep you beneath this sky, our sky,’ That could mean you weren’t born in Serlane.”
My throat felt tight as I held back the thought, “Then where was I born?”
Briar cleared her throat, “You have a Worldname, remember?”
“No, that's just because of Kathera’s soul,” I told her, pushing down the emotions about to overflow.
“Skyborn, only those born in Celentra have a Worldname.” Elyon chimed in with their haunting voice.
My world narrowed as their words struck me.
Only those born in Celentra have a Worldname.
I stood and began pacing; Oliver walked right behind me, a hand hovering at my hip.
“But if I was born in Celentra, that would mean.” I paused, trying to understand. My breath was short. “Does that mean my parents could be here?” I asked, my voice choking on the last word.
Everyone exchanged uncertain looks until Oliver touched my side gently; it brought me a sense of calm that felt dangerous to hold. “I don’t know, but we will figure it out. I promise”
I nodded, taking his hand, knowing he would keep his promise.
We walked forward on the glass towards Calin. Steps that might lead me closer to finding my parents. When I was a kid, I wanted to know where I belonged. But now, as I looked down at Oliver's hand in mine. I had already found where I belonged.
Now I just needed to find my family.