“Here,” Davik said, removing the furs from his shoulders to place around his sister. “I told you to bring your shawl.”
Devina shot her brother a sheepish smile. They were young, though not quite as young as they’d been in the ungira memory I’d stolen. This was, perhaps, four or five years later. Davik had grown big, coming into his strength. And Devina’s impish features had turned lovely and beautiful.
It was strange seeing Davik without his scar on his cheek.
“I wish we wouldn’t leave,” Devina said. “I love this place. Do you think Lomma can convince Father to leave the horde so we can settle in Rath Rowin’s outpost? I think it’s near, isn’t it?”
They spoke in Dakkari, but I could understand every word.
“Don’t speak such things,” Davik replied. “Father would be upset if he heard you say that.”
“I’m tired of travelling so much,” she said. The look Davik shot his sister told me that he didn’t feel the same and this was perhaps where the siblings differed. “I wish we could stay in one place. For the rest of our lives.”
“I want to be in a horde forever,” Davik replied. “It is in our blood to roam.”
Devina sighed and looked down at the valley of waterfalls. “We are coming of age. Perhaps I will marry soon. And hopefully he won’t be a darukkar. Perhaps a merchant. And we can live in Rath Rowin’s outpost together and have many children. Or maybe in Dothik.”
Davik grunted. “Why would you want to live in that city? It’s too loud. Too…crowded.”
“I like it,” she said. “It’s exciting, don’t you think?”
Davik clearly didn’t and I almost smiled at the bewildered expression on his face. There was something about him…something light and unburdened. The Davik I knew now was severe, sometimes cold, and very often angry. And still, I was drawn to him.
“Do you think you’ll find a bride soon?” Devina asked her brother, cocking her head to the side. “Maybe Jeva?”
Davik leveled her a warning look. “Why Jeva?”
“Everyone knows you’ve been tupping her in the forest. Even Lomma knows.”
Davik groaned, biting out a low curse under his breath.
“I’ve been noticing Jarun lately myself,” Devina told Davik. “He is so handsome and I think he might like me. Maybe he has ambitions of being a merchant. Maybe he likes Dothik.”
Davik was annoyed. Even I could see he was protective of his sister and he growled, “Jarun is a damned fool and I forbid you from even looking at him.”
His tone reminded me so much of the Davik I knew now that I almost smiled. I drew closer, looking down at the two young Dakkari.
Devina snorted. “You’re not Father, you know.”
“I’m older than you are,” Davik countered. “And Father is away.”
“I like Jarun,” Devina said, doubling down. “And he’s terrible with a sword, so I don’t think he’s destined to be a darukkar, which bodes well for our future.”
Davik growled, annoyed again.
“And I like Jeva for you.”
“I don’t care if you like Jeva for me,” Davik said. “We are done talking about this.”
There was a long stretch of silence between the two siblings and the breeze rustled through the valley below, billowing silver mist from the waterfalls.
“I worry about you, Davik,” Devina said softly, reaching out to take her brother’s hand. “I worry that we will be separated soon. Because you know that you want to remain in the horde and I know that I do not. And so I worry about who will take care of you when I am not there.”
“And who will take care of you,” Davik started quietly, “when I am not there?”
“We have been together our entire lives,” Devina said, turning her gaze back out to the valley. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe as I watched her sad expression. She looked so lost for a brief second. “I do not know how to live without you. But I think we always knew that one day, we would be separated. I’ve always had this feeling that it would happen and it scares me. I just want to make certain that someone will be there to take care of you.”
Davik was frowning. His tone was gruff when he said, “We will not be separated, Devina. You know that if the outpost is what you truly want…then I would live there too. But I beg you, do not choose Dothik. I…I do not think I could bear living there. At least in the outposts, we are still in