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Awiwi tried to hush her baby son, but the pain from the wounds the ubias had inflicted was too much for him to bear. Then Awiwi sensed someone coming toward her. She looked up, and saw the woman who led the mainlanders standing over her.
When Tiyana reached down, Awiwi shrank away, her arms protectively cradling her infant. But when Tiyana’s hand touched the boy, his cries ceased. Turning her back on Tiyana, Awiwi raised her baby’s head so that she could see his face. He looked up at her, wide-eyed. Then he gurgled and smiled. When she looked closer, she saw that his wounds were no longer bleeding.
Awiwi felt Tiyana’s hands on her arms. Gently, the Matile woman lifted the Uloan from her knees. Awiwi turned to face the mainlander, opening her mouth to shout at her. Then she felt a faint tingle from Tiyana’s hands. Awiwi tried to pull away, but Tiyana held her firmly. Awiwi looked down at her arms ... and saw that the spider-scars were slowly disappearing from her skin. It was as though all the traces of Legaba upon her were being erased by the power of this new god, this Almovaar.
“No,” Awiwi whispered in protest as the last of the scarification faded, transforming her into a hated blankskin. But her protest was half-hearted, and was finished almost before it had begun.
Inside, Awiwi had changed even as her skin transmuted. It was as though she had shed a reeking, ragged garment that she had worn for far too long. Legaba was gone from her. She was a new person. It was as though she, and not her infant, had only recently emerged from the womb.
Tiyana smiled at the island woman. Awiwi smiled back. Around them, other Adepts were following Tiyana’s lead, lifting the Uloans from their knees and expunging the spider-scars from their bodies. Jawai was the last to accept the eradication of Legaba from his life. And he was the only one who still appeared to regret the changes the mainlanders had wrought.
It was a beginning.
The Uloans did not know the price they would ultimately have to pay for falling into the embrace of Almovaar.
Tiyana did not know it, either. Nor did the rest of the Adepts who were duplicating what Tiyana had done, not only on Jayaya but also the rest of the Uloan Islands.
Nobody knew, other than Kyroun and Gebrem.
And Almovaar ...