Mirage by Jenn Reese

Dash spoke again. “My family came to see me today. Well, most of them did.”
    “Your family? You’ve never mentioned them before.”
    “Our families are . . . not like yours,” he said. “Any number of Equians may make a family and live together. I was raised by eight parents — three of them elders — and have four brothers and sisters my age and younger. We all share the Shining Moon bloodline, but we are not siblings. Not like you are with Daphine and your brothers.”
    She thought about this. “No, you’re siblings like me and Hoku. Siblings by choice.”
    He grinned. “Yes. We are a family by choice. That is a good way to phrase it.”
    “Will they talk to the khan about your situation?” she asked. She liked the idea of having so many new allies. But Dash shook his head.
    “My family defended me at my first trial, but I will not let them do so again.” He pulled on a tassel from one of the pillows with his mechanical hand and twirled the fabric between his fingers. “There is no defense for what I have done, and I wish to save them from further hardship. I have asked them to step away, and they have given me their promise.” He turned to look in her eyes again. “Please. Do not try to involve them. It would hurt me if you did.”
    She nodded, wishing they were back home. Promises idly given under the waves were not so binding. Back there, a Kampii’s word did not feel heavy as a whale, and it was easily washed away with the tide.
    “I am worried for Erke and Gan, though,” he said. “I am told that my fathers left the settlement to look for me shortly after I was exiled and have not returned. We were always so close. I would have liked for you to meet them.”
    “They’ll be back,” she said with feigned ease. “I’ll meet them then.”
    “If they come to harm because of me . . .”
    “They won’t,” she said quickly. “They raised you, so they must be good fighters. They can protect themselves.”
    He laughed then. A surprisingly light sound given their conversation.
    “Oh, Gan can’t even lift a sword,” he said. “Erke is decent, but unexceptional. My sword skills came from a need to defend myself at an early age, not from parental teaching. No, our family specializes in animals. Our falcons are renowned across all the desert.”
    “The birds in the enclosure,” Aluna said. “I haven’t gotten a chance to see them yet.”
    “Falcons are sleek and smart, quick and deadly. They are also far too stubborn for their own good. It is no wonder we took to each other early.”
    “You’ll show me the falcons, then,” Aluna said. “When this is all over, you can introduce me to every last one of them.”
    A drum sounded. The crowd fell silent immediately.
    “It begins,” Dash whispered. “Tayan and Dantai will speak first, and then our khan. The heads of each family will call the hidden moon. Some will offer gifts to coax him back into the sky. But then is the real wonder.” His eyes glowed. His face lit with obvious joy. “Then the word-weavers will take over. You will hear stories that no Kampii has ever heard. There will be solos and duets, and if we are very, very lucky, even a quartet. Weaver Sokhor is a difficult man to like, but he trains his weavers well. Our herd is one of the only ones that still remembers the old ways.”
    He turned to her and took both her hands in his. She almost jerked them away in surprise but managed to stop herself.
    “I want you to hear everything, Aluna. I want you to understand what is good about our people. No matter what happens to me, I want you to understand why I am proud to be an Equian. I want you to know that even if I die, I will die as one.”
    She nodded once and swallowed. Her voice had fled. Dash smiled briefly at her acknowledgment and turned back to the spectacle beginning in front of them. Eventually his hands slid from hers, although the memory of them lingered.
    Together, they listened to the speeches, the songs, the