She felt like a fool. When Kaz returned, alive and well, with more power than she'd ever sensed in anyone before, Katri had actually dared to hope. Her brother was back, and he'd stopped pretending, stopped living the lie that Oda's madness and Rega's weakness had forced them to accept. And then he told her he'd truly believed that lie, and she'd felt like an idiot for not seeing it. Yes, they'd been young when they left the Deep, and younger still when they had to stop living as their parents' children, but she'd never forgotten. How could he?

But she knew that he'd gone through things she hadn't. That was why they'd really had to leave, after all. It was bad enough that Ghazt was the last member of the family of Woodblade chiefs, and that he was mated to a traitorous Magmablade, of all things, but then Kaz had been hurt, and in order to save his life, Ghazt had offered him to the Tree. The Magmablades knew whatever was in the Tree wasn't trustworthy, but the Woodblades still believed, so Rega took the necklace meant for Kaz and wore it herself. It was probably the bravest thing she'd done since she left her tribe to train with the Woodblade healer.

Katri didn't hate Rega, not exactly. Nor did she pity her, because pity was weakness, and if there was one thing Katri had allowed herself to learn from Oda, it was that weakness was unacceptable. Yet Rega was nothing but weakness. She loved her mate and her pups, but she was too frightened to protect them properly. She was at least as powerful as Oda, but she was afraid to challenge her sister, even after it became clear that Oda was going to lead them all to their deaths. Katri had even seen her mother trembling before going out to fight a lopo or burn out fulan. She was afraid, and fear was the greatest weakness.

The second greatest weakness was hope, and to Katri's great shame, she had given in to it. For weeks, she had dared to hope that Kaz might have been telling the truth. Maybe he really could lead them back to the Deep. No, not lead. Katri was the leader, not her brother, but a good leader knew when to seize an opportunity. She had hoped that Kaz was an opportunity.

She pressed her hand to her abdomen, feeling a warmth there that she'd only felt once before. Soon it would be her time, and if she wanted to take Latz as her mate, she should do so, or be forced to wait another year. Either way, she would be trapped in a hut for at least a week, which meant her plans to declare luegat on the Darkpelts would have to wait as well.

If she took a mate, she might well be pregnant when she emerged. Did she really want to attack another tribe while her body was carrying life? Everyone knew a female was weaker while she was with young. But she truly did want to be with Latz, even though that relationship had begun as one of necessity, not affection. But affection was weakness, so perhaps she should choose someone else, or take no one at all, at least until they were in the Deep.

Katri's head jerked up as she heard the long howl that told her the guards at the entrance to the den needed her. Was there an enemy, or had someone been hurt? She felt the fur on her neck lift as she remembered that Latz was guarding a group of gatherers headed out to the very edge of their territory. They had used up all the resources within a safe distance from the den, and were having to go further and further each day. Had something happened to him?

She was already moving as she lifted her muzzle and gave a questioning yip. She didn't run, because chiefs didn't run, because chiefs absolutely didn't panic, but she was definitely walking very quickly. A shorter howl came back, allowing her paws to slow and her heart to return to its normal rhythm. Strangers. That left the question of how strangers had reached the den without anyone seeing or smelling them, but her tribe was spread far too thin for the amount of territory they had claimed, and she knew it. It was one of the reasons they needed to go deeper, where food and water were more plentiful.

She stopped just before rounding the last hut, and gathered herself. Smoothing down her fur, she tugged at her loincloth, which was better than any she had owned as a Broken Knife, but still not her best. She had been working on a new loincloth made with silver fuergar fur, preparing herself for her mating ceremony. If she decided to have one.

Reaching deep into herself, she pulled power around her body, forming a shield. She was strong - perhaps even as strong as her mother - and she felt confident that whoever these strangers were, she would either be able to handle them herself, or survive long enough for the rest of her tribe to support her. And that was a thing to be proud of, because in spite of the way she'd come to be chief of this tribe, she was confident that they trusted her enough to come to her aid. It had been difficult, but she had proven herself with blood and power and good decisions, and even those who had hated her in the beginning showed grudging respect now.

Setting her shoulders, Katri strode out into the open area just inside the entrance, her gaze first going to the two males and one female who were there to act as guards. Oda had only had male guards, but Katri was no fool. Well, not usually. She knew that males worked best when protecting a female, and females could survive long enough to howl a warning back to the rest of the tribe, even if they weren't strong enough to stop the threat themselves.

Seeing that the guards looked calm and uninjured, Katri turned her attention to the strangers, only to almost trip over her own paws at the sight of them. What were two females doing here alone? Especially such a mismatched pair. The older one looked like she might be as ancient as the mountain, her jaw moving as she chewed on something. The necklace the younger one was wearing was obviously still new, with no tarnish or missing beads.

What really caught Katri's eye, however, was the color of their fur. The elder's fur was probably originally a deep red, while the younger's was as pink as Katri's, though with a strange wildness to it that made it stand up in tufts and swirls. The old female's loincloth was made of what Katri's memory told her was niu-fur cloth, and the little one even wore what looked like a small, highly decorated vest, the likes of which Katri hadn't seen since leaving the Deep.

"Who are you?" she demanded, already breaking with tradition, which demanded that the intruders introduce themselves first.

The old female let out a rough laugh, revealing a clump of something in between her jaws. Katri had never been interested in being a healer, but she had spent almost as much time around Rega as Kaz had, at least when they were little, and she knew zhitong when she saw it, though it didn't grow well in the heights.

"Well, no question who you are," the old female said. "My name is Sika, and this is Kyla." Kyla gave a polite yip, but she seemed oddly distracted, given that she was speaking to a chief and probably supposed to be protecting this Sika.

Then Katri got a little closer and that strange sense she'd inherited from her father told her why Kyla dared to let her attention wander when by rights she should be nervous, if not frightened. In spite of her age, Sika was powerful. Maybe almost as powerful as Oda. But Kyla was something else entirely. She might even be stronger than Kaz and his reptilian companion. If she wanted to kill Katri, it wouldn't be difficult for her to do so, though she would probably take some injury in the process. That was if she had any interest in doing so, which at least for now seemed unlikely.

"I'm Katri, chief of the Longknife tribe," Katri said, desperately trying to figure out what these two frightening females could want from her. There was no way they were from any of the nearby tribes. Not only were there no red-furred tribes on this level, but there was no way a tribe with members this strong would remain here, so close to the top of the mountain, where the power was thin, and resources all but absent.

Now Kyla's attention came to her. "Oh, good," the small female said, clearly relieved. "We accidentally ended up in Ironskull territory last time, and I definitely don't want a repeat of that." She cast a look over her shoulder, towards her pack, as she said this, and Katri's ears twitched as she thought she heard several soft squeaks come from that direction.

"The Ironskulls are not friendly," Katri said carefully. This was an understatement. The Ironskulls had only recently been forced up as a result of some turmoil in the mid-levels that Kaz had mentioned briefly in his howl about where he'd been since he left with the humans.

The Ironskulls were one of the reasons Katri felt like such a fool for listening to Kaz. If she'd already defeated the Darkpelts, she wouldn't be here to have to deal with the Ironskulls. They weren't powerful individually, but they seemed to breed like fuergar, which led to them needing more food and water to support all their members, which in turn led to them aggressively expanding their territory, even into areas that would have traditionally served as a buffer zone between tribes.

Sika snorted. "That's an understatement. First they demanded we give them everything in our packs in exchange for passage through their territory, and then they tried to claim Kyla was a pup and should remain with them for her own safety."

Kyla rolled her golden eyes back toward her own pack again as she said, "That wasn't going to happen, obviously, but once we put down a few of their females, they decided to stop trying to grab a lopo by the tongue."

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Katri's eyes widened. What did 'put down' mean? Had they killed some of the Ironskulls? If so, that might convince the too-large tribe to slow down their push toward Longknife territory. Would that give her enough time to take Latz as her mate before they had to attempt to descend?

Kyla waved a hand. "We didn't kill them, just knocked them out. They had such weak shields, it was like slicing through cheese."

Katri blinked. What was cheese? Then a quivering nose appeared over Kyla's shoulder, and a fuergar climbed up onto the young female's shoulder. It squeaked twice, laying one paw on Kyla's cheek so it could stand on its hind legs and sniff the air.

"No, I don't have any cheese," Kyla told it as if she understood the squeaks. "I have the Woodblades trying to make some from niu milk, but Yingtao says it doesn't have enough protein, or something. They did manage something that's like butter, though." The fuergar squeaked again, and Kyla sighed. "Yes, I'll get you some, but not much. It might not be good for the babies."

A beady-eyed glare was followed by the fuergar climbing back down into the open pack, where several more squeals and squeaks followed. How many fuergar were in there? And why did it feel like the great power Katri had sensed was coming from the rodent, not Kyla herself?

Then Kyla's words caught up to her, and Katri said, "Woodblades?" Her voice almost cracked on the word, and she could feel her ears flatten.

Sika reached over and pinched Kyla's ear before turning to Katri and saying, "Your brother Kaz sent us to get you. He thought you might remember me, though I told him it was unlikely."

Katri leaned to the side, staring down the tunnel behind the very strange strangers, as if Kaz might be lurking there, waiting to jump out and surprise her as he had when they were very young pups. The passage was absent of all but her guards, however, and she straightened, trying to gather her wits. "What. Is. Going. On?" she asked, careful to make each word as clear as possible in hopes that they might actually answer her.

"Oh," Kyla said, nose dropping a bit in embarrassment. "We're here to take you home. Your whole tribe, I mean. Ija says you can be a Magmablade subsidiary, now that we can have them again, but I think she'd let you just join, if you want. Gram said you could be a Woodblade subsidiary instead, which made Ija growl at him, but I don't think she was really upset, because there's not that much difference now since half the Woodblades were originally Magmablades anyway."

Sika reached toward Kyla's ear again, and the younger female dodged out of the way. Sika sniffed and said, "What this scamp is trying to say is that the Magmablades would like to invite the Longtooth tribe to the Deep. You will have a safe den, all the food and water you need, and while Ija would prefer for you to become a Magmablade subsidiary tribe, she understands if you feel that our tribe betrayed you. As Kyla said, the Woodblades stand ready to receive you as well."

"The Woodblades are…dead," Katri whispered. Yes, Kaz had told her they were trying to form a new Woodblade tribe, but this sounded like it was done. And who was this Ija? She dug through her memories, both of Kaz's howl and from her own youth. Ija…and Kyla, perhaps…were cousins?

"Vega's pups," Katri whispered, jerking back as if she'd suddenly realized that Kyla was a janjio in disguise, about to fly at her from the darkness.

Kyla's ears flattened, and her shoulders drew tight, causing her vest to wrinkle beneath the straps of her pack. This revealed the edge of a thick area of pink scarring across her shoulder, and Katri instinctively reached up to trace the similar band of smooth tissue that lay in the center of her own chest.

"Vega's dead," Kyla said. "Kaz killed her. Didn't he tell you?"

No. No, he most certainly had not. He had mentioned that Vega died while attempting to rebel yet again, but he hadn't told Katri that his was the hand that took her life. Katri felt a moment of fierce pride at the thought. Her brother had taken vengeance for them, and while a simple death wasn't enough to pay for the suffering of the Broken Knives, it was all Katri could ask for.

"But her daughters still control the Magmablades," Katri said flatly, folding her arms over the sensitive scars. "Why would I place my tribe in their power again?"

Kyla tugged at the fur by her ear, an action so reminiscent of Kaz when he was worried that Katri almost flinched. "That's okay. I mean, I wouldn't want to be… I wouldn't trust us, either. But Gram is really nice, even if he is still just a puppy. He'd be a good chief for you. And maybe someday you'll realize that Ija's really, really great."

Sika clicked her teeth, and Kyla stopped, though she didn't straighten back up into the confident young female Katri had seen at first. And that, more than anything, convinced Katri. Because inside, she was exactly the same. Katri had spent her life as the daughter of either an arrogant, insane female, or a broken, weak one, and she could recognize a kindred spirit when she met one.

Either way, she had had to force herself to pretend not to be ashamed of her family, until she became chief of the Longknives, and was finally able to leave so much of that life behind. She rarely even spoke to the other former Broken Knives, though she watched over them with particular care. They reminded her of when she was nothing, though, and she couldn't bear to spend time in their company.

Katri's hands drifted down toward her abdomen, toward that heat that she wouldn't be able to resist for much longer. Did she trust these two enough to uproot her tribe, even though they spoke Kaz's name so comfortably? Did she dare try? If she went with them, there was no way she could take Latz as her mate this year, so it would be a personal sacrifice, as well as a risk to the entire tribe.

Sika's knowing eyes followed the gesture, and she nodded her head. "You look like your father, you know. Those broad shoulders, even though you're lean, like your mother. You have his eyes, too. I always felt like he could see right through me."

Katri stared at the old female. She had known Ghazt?

Sika sighed softly. "Is this your first heat? Even if you choose not to go with us, I can help you through it. There are plants you can eat to hold it off, for a while, at least, and then when your time comes, it won't last as long. You don't have a mate bead, and without a mate, it can be…difficult, especially when you're worried about your tribe. There's not enough to eat here, and those Ironskulls are going to be annoying, I can tell. I can hold them off until you're back on your paws, though."

Katri glanced toward Kyla, feeling her own ears grow hot. This wasn't a subject they should be discussing in front of such a young female. But Katri had no one to help her through this. Rega had been there the first time, but Katri didn't know what was in the medicines her mother had given her. The Longtooth healer didn't seem to know about them, either, and just bluntly told Katri to take Latz to her hut and be done with it.

"We'll go with you," she said, clamping her jaws shut just a little too late to hold the words in. There was just something about these two. Sika wasn't familiar, not exactly, but there was something about her that told Katri she could trust her. And Kyla… Kyla reminded Katri of herself, if only she had been allowed to grow up in a safe place, with a real family. Vega certainly wouldn't have been a good mother, but here was Sika, and Kyla clearly loved her sister, as well.

Kyla's ears perked up, and she let out a little yip of excitement.

"But," Katri said quickly, "I won't promise we'll be a subsidiary tribe to anyone. If that's a requirement, we'll find our own way down."

Sika shook her head. "Not a requirement, though I think you'll find that you'll be better off if you choose a great tribe to attach yourself to. They'll negotiate on your behalf for mates, territory, even the role you'll take on in the Deep. Being affiliated with one will give you bargaining power, and without it, you'll find yourself clinging to the top levels of the Deep, or even pushed up into the mid-levels."

No. Katri wouldn't allow that. She and the Longknives would stand on their own, or she would bow her head in order to remain in the Deep. She wouldn't allow her own pride to bring about the downfall of this tribe she was building. She wasn't Oda, after all. Still, she had to try.

She glanced behind the two females once again, this time noticing that Kyla's pack was wriggling in a way that made her vaguely uncomfortable. What was going on in there? "Where are your escorts?" she asked, suddenly realizing something else strange about these two. "And your trade goods? The tribes between here and the Deep aren't just going to let us pass, and I don't have enough males to trade."

Even if she did have enough males, she wouldn't. She remembered as her uncles were slowly sent away, traded one by one to allow the Broken Knives safe passage up well-guarded stairs or through territory controlled by other tribes. If she really did make it to the Deep, she would find a way to search for them. Maybe the Irondiggers could carry a message for her. If any of her uncles were still unmated, perhaps she could trade for them again.

"Oh, we don't need any of that," Kyla said cheerfully, as if she'd never turned into that defensive, unhappy pup. "Mei?"

The fuergar poked her head out again, but this time she jumped down, rather than climbing to Kyla's shoulder. Opening her mouth in a way that made Katri's eyes hurt, she bit at the air, and where her teeth came together, the air tore. The hole became larger and larger, until Kyla could fit through, and then the fuergar paused expectantly until the young kobold reached into a pouch at her waist and pulled out a rectangle of pure gold that definitely shouldn't have fit in there. She gave this to the waiting rodent, who gripped it in her pink paws and began to nibble with surprising delicacy.

"I'll stay here and help them get ready," Sika said. "Come back tomorrow at this time."

"You think that will be enough time?" Kyla asked.

Sika glanced past Katri, at the small den filled with patched-together huts and too-thin kobolds. "That should be plenty," she said. "And I think it's best we hurry."

Katri's ears grew warm again as she realized what the old female meant, but her eyes were caught by what she saw through the hole that shouldn't have been there. It was a sight she had never expected to see again, at least not while she was still young. The air held the lambent glow of many thousands of shining plants that couldn't grow higher in the mountain, and while there was a level stone floor straight ahead, it ended in a cavern with open sides, revealing a sharp drop leading down to…the city. That ancient city, filled with life and color and kobolds of all colors and tribes.

She was going home.

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