BEFORE ANSWERING HER question, I say, “If you were immortal, we could build a house here.”
Her eyes shift away from me.
I’ve said something wrong. “Are you angry?”
She shakes her head.
“First we would do the wedding pantomime, and nothing would pull us apart.”
She’s crying. I’m at her side, bending over her, taking her hands.
She leans her head against my chest. “You haven’t”—she grasps my waist and looks up—“even asked about my dowry.”
“The dowry doesn’t matter.” I wipe her tears.
She laughs a wet laugh. “It would be a big dowry. But I want to live in Hyte.”
“We can live in Hyte.”
“I would still worship Admat.”
“I know.”
“It would be his will if I became immortal.”
I nod.
“Now tell me.”
I kneel at her knees. “First we have to go to Enshi Rock, but I don’t know if we can.”
“Is Enshi Rock in Akka?”
“Yes, but it’s over Akka. It floats in the sky.”
“Mmm. Why did you leave?”
“I was lonely.” She won’t believe this either: “No one but me is young.”
“Are your parents still there?”
“Yes. Kezi, only a god or a mortal hero or heroine can reach Enshi Rock. I think you’re a heroine—”
“I’m not!”
“You saved your aunt. I think that’s heroism. But it may not be enough.”
“If I’m not a heroine?”
“You’ll have to perform an act of heroism. I don’t know what.”
“Go on.”
“Once you are a heroine, you can go to Enshi Rock with a champion.”
I stand. “I don’t think I’m a champion.”
She jumps out of her chair rock. “You rescued me from Elon and saved everyone at the market!”
I smile at her vehemence. “If I’m not a champion, I’ll have to become one.”
“How?”
“I don’t know that either. Some kind of trial.”
“What happens when we arrive on Enshi Rock, if we can?”
“You have . . . you have . . .” My voice is gone. I swallow and try again. “It’s . . .”
“Yes?”
“I can’t say. The words won’t come out. There’s an act you must perform to become immortal, a pleasant act, but Cala alone has ever succeeded at it.”
“I wish an altar were here.” She kneels. “Admat, please do not make me die so soon. Let me become a heroine. Let me succeed at the masmas’ test. As you wish, so it will be.”
Feeling ridiculous to be praying to another god, I echo, “As you wish, so it will be.”
“How do we find out if I’m a heroine and you’re a champion?”
“We try to go to Enshi Rock.” I hold my arms out for her, and she nestles into them.
My swift wind carries us. Two hours pass. We start up the lower slope of Mount Enshi and pass high above a hamlet. Three men are building a hut next to a freshly dug well. Someone must be betrothed. I recognize Kudiya, the boy—young man now—who thought I was a vision. He may be the groom. Kudiya, I think, I have my bride, too.