Page 118 of A Forgery of Fate

Elang caught my sleeve before I could leave. “Look,” he said, pointing. “It’s beginning.”

Light tiptoed past the dark cliffs, sweeping the mountainside in shimmering white pinpricks. The shimmer came from the pearls. They traveled in a gentle flurry, as graceful as drops of moonlight. Little by little, they warmed the sea. They swelled past the dunes and gray plains, crowning the jagged horizon until everything glowed: the seams between my fingers, the tiny sand crabs crawling across the roof tiles, even the field of young waterbells.

I’d always thought waterbells special because they budded in the dark but bloomed in the light. Yet never had I witnessed this actually come true—until now.

Under the glow of the pearls, my favorite flowers came alive. Their stems stretched out of the earth, and their blue petals unfolded like the soft kiss of a butterfly’s wings. As the flowers opened, there came a gentle current, tickling the petals so they seemed to vibrate.

“They look like stars,” I breathed. I reached for my brush.

“Wait,” said Elang softly. “It’s not over.”

The pearls were descending upon the castle. As they neared, I saw that each one was ringed by a shining aurora, bright and silvery like the sun and moon at once.

The pearls dipped into the Court of Celestial Harmony, and the sand spun up in little plumes, like ribbons of gold dust lifted by the wind. In gilded streams, the pearls swirled around us. I reached out to touch one. Its light exuded a wondrous warmth that tickled my fingers.

The pearls didn’t linger. Once their light had touched every corner and crevice, they moved on. I knelt on the roof, utterly enchanted.

“The Luminous Hour is special to Ai’long,” Elang murmured, crouching beside me. “I’m glad you were able to experience it.”

I said nothing. His hair was over his eyes, in dire need of trimming, and he was wearing those brass-rimmed spectacles again. They were still crooked on his nose. I closed my hands, forbidding myself from reaching over to straighten them. Was it another power of his, turning my anger into some slippery thing like the sand beneath us, impossible to grasp?

Countless ruses we had plotted together, only for the greatest trick to be played on me. I had every reason to hate him. So why, when I sat at his side, when I remembered we’d never been strangers at all—but friends for years,partnersfor years—was there a warm and prickly feeling buzzing in my stomach? To my mortification, it wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

It felt a long while that we stayed on the roof, content in each other’s silence, before cheers from the garden moved time forward again.

Below, Kunkoi was passing out flower-molded spongecakes and skewered fish balls, and the turtles were chasing watery illusions of seahorses and cuttlefish. It reminded me of a festival back home. Even Shani had joined the fun, popping bubbles with her nails.

“The race is starting soon,” noted Elang. “It’s a game children often play in Ai’long. Everyone chooses an animal, and whichever completes a lap around the garden without dissolving wins.”

Soon after he spoke, the turtles gathered in a line. Even Mailoh had conjured a contestant, choosing a frilled octopus that glided gracefully about. Kunkoi, inexplicably, had chosen a giant lobster.

“I’ll show you how to play,” Elang said. He wheeled his hands, molding a watery whale. It was a simple creation, but its form was well thought out. “When you finish, give it a breath for life.” He blew, and away the whale swam, down into the garden to join the races below. “Do you want totry?”

A group of young turtles were giggling at Elang and me, and I waved. It would be all right, I thought, to put up with the act a little longer. To have some fun tonight, then resume being angry tomorrow.

“Do you always choose a whale?”

He shrugged. “I like whales.”

I didn’t know why my shoulders went soft, or why that warm buzz in my stomach turned even warmer. “So I recall.”

I drew my finger along the water, outlining a book-sized fish with dangling fins. I took my time. The water scintillated with magic, and all I had to do was trace the creature I wanted. Soon my fish was formed, and I added three careful spots to her head.

“A carp?” said Elang.

“They’re good luck.” I noted his blank look. “There’s a legend of a carp who found the gates of Ai’long. There she encountered a tremendous waterfall, impossible to leap over. But she hadn’t come so far to give up. She jumped again and again, until she vaulted across the gate. As a reward for her courage and effort, she became a dragon.”

“Is that really a reward?” asked Elang wryly.

It was my turn to shrug. “It’s Nomi’s favorite story. She always loved dragons. And I’ve always liked the lesson it teaches.”

“What is that?”

“Fortune finds those who leap.”

I blew after the carp, and off she swam, catching up to Elang’s whale. I found myself glued to the race, laughing and cheering when both our whale and carp zipped around the garden, dissolving instants after finishing their lap.

“Yes!” I exclaimed. I caught myself before I grinned at Elang. He was at my side, doing his best to hide a smile. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought he was watching me instead of the race.

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