get comfortable,” Senator Niobe said. “Vice President Calliope has warrior training now, which means that you do as well.”
Aluna stood in the doorway of her new room and stared at the bed.
“Warrior training?” she asked.
“Yes,” the senator replied. “The vice president must train for several hours every day. The boy is not invited. He will remain here.” She nodded to Senator Hypatia, who took up a guard position outside Hoku’s door.
“I’ll be okay,” Hoku called. “Fins and flippers, did you see all this food?”
“Food?” So that explained the glorious smell wafting through the hallway.
Senator Niobe said, “You and the vice president will dine with the president tonight, after warrior training, bathing, and a lesson in etiquette.”
Aluna scowled at the mention of etiquette, but didn’t fuss. She’d put up with far more than social humiliation in order to train with the hunters back home. Warrior training! Suddenly, being a prisoner didn’t seem like such a bad fate after all.
NIOBE ESCORTED ALUNA through passageway after passageway until they emerged in the bright afternoon sun at the base of Skyfeather’s Landing. Aluna blinked up into the sky and gaped at the flocks of winged women swooping and darting through the air. Even higher still, Aviars no bigger than dots drifted in wide circles on invisible currents. Watchers, Aluna thought. From way up there, they could probably see for forever.
Senator Niobe pointed to a series of platforms jutting out from the basin wall almost a hundred meters above the ground. “That is the training area.” She pointed below it. Aluna had to squint to see a steep staircase cut into the wall. “Use the breather as you climb, and stop if your vision blurs or the headache returns. But hurry. It’s not respectful to keep your instructors waiting, even for sky sickness. I’ll be watching, so attempt no escape.”
Aluna grunted. “Why would I try to escape before warrior training?”
The senator crouched and sprang into the air. Her wings unfolded and caught the wind. She rose fast as air bubbles in the deep. Wings, Aluna had to admit, were almost as wonderful as tails.
She jogged over to the base of the great basin wall and started up the stairs. She took them two at a time at first, eager not to miss a single moment of practice. Halfway up, her head started to spin and her lungs demanded more air. She puffed on the breather and kept going. By the time she’d made it to the top, she had to drag herself up the final stairs, one at a time, with a rest between steps. Sweat clung to her skin, a sensation she despised. The ocean kept you clean and cool.
The first platform seemed to be a preparation and resting area. Long benches lined the rim around neat stacks of equipment, jugs of water, and piles of towels for wiping away sweat. Water flowed inside three alcoves nestled into the cliff face for Aviars who wanted a more thorough cleaning.
The warriors on the platform pretended to ignore her, but she caught more than one stealing a look. Those beginning their training donned padded armor, then leaped off the platform and flew to another. Aviars finished with their exercise jumped off the edge and drifted out of sight.
Aluna was wiping sweat off her face when Calliope landed next to her in a flutter of wings and a gush of air.
“I’m so sorry!” Calli blurted. “I didn’t want you and Hoku to get stuck here because of me. You don’t really have to be my friend.”
Aluna opened her mouth to speak, but her lungs needed more air. She popped the breather in her mouth and inhaled. Even with the steep climb, she was beginning to need the artifact less and less. After she’d gotten a few good puffs, she secured the breather in her waist pouch.
“We all have to obey my mother,” Calli continued. “But you don’t have to pretend to like me or anything.” Her face was red, and her arms crossed and uncrossed and crossed again in front of her. “I’ll understand.”
“Calli —”
“I don’t even want to be a fighter,” the girl said nervously. “If I hadn’t been born the daughter of the president, I’d be a tailor, just like everyone else born that month. Can you imagine? Me, making clothes! If I got to pick, I’d be a technician or a doctor. I like figuring out how things work. But those jobs weren’t scheduled to come up for ages.”
“Wait. You don’t pick your job