Page 149 of A Tribute of Fire

“Tomorrow night,” I agreed.

“Maia’s looking at us,” Ahyana said. “Let’s get back to work.”

I stepped into the ring with Ahyana so that we could spar. I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. My mouth actually hurt.

I had started out this morning thinking that I was completely alone. It was such a relief to discover that my sisters were ready and willing to stand by my side.

What I wanted to do was return to our room so that we could try to stitch together some sort of plan on how to break into Theano’s office. Instead we had to attend our afternoon class, where Maia was again instructing on the different aspects of the goddess.

“When you become a priestess, you will choose an aspect to specialize in,” she said. I’d now officially been at the temple long enough that she had started to repeat her lessons. Io had warned me that would happen, but it felt excruciating to hear recycled information, given that I was so desperate to talk to my sisters.

Maia began listing the different aspects and I realized that I hadn’t ever really worried about choosing one because I didn’t plan on being in the temple long enough to do so.

It was easy to see what my adelphia would pick to honor the goddess. Io loved new life and plants. Zalira had an instinct about storms and when rain would fall. Ahyana surrounded herself with insects and animals that helped things grow. Suri was drawn to uncovering secrets, like the types hidden in the deep earth.

I was the only one in our immediate group who hadn’t shown some kind of affinity or interest. The thought bothered me. I might even be the only one in the room who hadn’t picked a specialization.

Artemisia might not have chosen one yet, either. And probably wouldn’t, unless the goddess had a murderous, destroying aspect that I was unaware of. I’d spent the last month keeping clear of Artemisia, who continued to lash out at the other acolytes every chance she could. She was careful to not ever cross the line to where she would officially be hurting someone and running afoul of her vows but came as close as she possibly could.

There was something truly awful deep in her core and I wondered why the priestesses couldn’t see it and continued to reward her by making her a Chosen, week after week. An honor still denied to me, no matter how well I did.

Like Theano had some kind of personal vendetta against me.

Our class finally ended and we headed over to the courtyard to take care of our weekly chores.

“Is there a possibility of getting the vault key some other way?” Zalira asked. “Without having to break into a locked room?”

“I’ve been trying to figure out how to do that since I arrived. Theano wears them all the time. I thought maybe I could become a Chosen and offer to be a key bearer, but as far as I can tell, she doesn’t let anyone else have that responsibility.”

“You’re right,” Io said with a nod. “She doesn’t. She always wears those keys.”

“I don’t remember anyone being given the role of key bearer when I was a Chosen, either.” Zalira had been a Chosen for two weeks a few months ago, before she’d been pushed out of the rankings.

I turned toward Ahyana. “I even thought about asking you if we could train Kunguru to retrieve keys and maybe he could steal them for us. She must take them off at some point. To bathe or to sleep.”

“It wouldn’t take him that long to learn how to do it. He’s very smart. Maybe a week?”

That wouldn’t work. I didn’t have that kind of time. “He doesn’t speak, does he?”

I was rewarded with a bunch of strange looks and Ahyana’s laughter. “Of course not. Why would you think that?”

“It would just make things easier if he could,” I mumbled, feeling foolish.

“Oh, I agree. It absolutely would.” Ahyana was trying to make me feel better but it wasn’t working.

We performed our tasks and continued trying to formulate a plan together. It was quickly decided that two people should remain behind because the smaller the group, the better. Ahyana and Zalira were going to stay back. Initially they had volunteered to accompany me, but Io said she wanted to go.

It surprised everyone.

“I can do this,” she said. It was like she insisted on coming because she had something to prove to herself.

Which I understood.

Suri was also going to come along and keep watch near the administrative building. Ahyana would stand guard outside the entrance to our dormitory, promising to send Kunguru if something went wrong or if one of the guards changed her nightly path. Zalira would remain in our room in case the guards came to check on us. They did that from time to time. It wasn’t a constant or a given, but we had to be prepared.

I still didn’t know how I was going to get Theano’s office door opened and hoped a solution would present itself when I got there.

It was foolish to go without knowing exactly how I would accomplish my goal, but there was no other option and nobody else had a suggestion on what I should do, either.

---