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I don’t need food or fa Except to stay focused

I concentrate on a nearby Easterly’s song, listening for any sign of the Stormers’ approach The lyrics hold no clue to their presence It should be a relief But the song carries no note of anything out of the ordinary Not even lin that she’s really out there stalling the us safe

If she isn’t, the Stormers could arrive any second And even if she is, can I really push Vane to be ready for the fight? I almost lost him today

But if I don’t

My hand clutches the pendant resting against er y I breathed into it before the Gales clasped it around , it will turn black likeme to leave this earth the way he did He didn’t even want uardian I still reht , and when I’d finally lifted h it was only for a second--I’d been so proud I told hi just like hi a Gale

The crinkles around his eyes sank into ravines and his dimple vanished Then he wrapped his ar the knots caused by the afternoon breezes And he said, "I want you to always be free"

He didn’t want me to be bound by oath or duty At least not then

But so me to take care of Vane? He knehat that meant And he kne that journey would end for him

Was it because what happened was my fault? Did he shove me toward a life of sacrifice as penance? Or did he choose ht I could do what he couldn’t? Protect Vane and live to breathe another day?

I want to believe I’h--and that Vane will have the fourth breakthrough and be powerful enough to protect himself But we only have seven days until the Storh I don’t know the language, so I can’t call the Westerlies to him or send them into his mind He’ll have to reach them on his own--and if he doesn’tI only have seven days left to live

I sh to hurt I loathe the physical proof of iving in to self-pity

IVane or fulfilling my promise to my father This is my one chance for redemption My one chance to make up for the horrible mistake I’ve made

I will do what needs to be done--and I will do it willingly

NoAnd for that, I need pure, powerful wind

I dusth the coarse sleeves The heavy fabric nore the discomfort and fasten the buttons across my chest Then I call every nearby draft--twice astheusts and the ht obscure my for on h the scattered clouds attheir scatteredrest, and I drink in their words, even if I know they aren’t meant for me

When onio Peak--the highest in the range--and I already feel the fresh er, richer winds ski y

I curl up and close usts as I clearwith the wind It’s somewhat like sleep, but a deeper kind of rest One that washes through every cell, leaving a clean slate

I’ I stay that way, but when I openwith the darkness They rehs in ood--that can’t erase the bad and gloom, no matter how much I want them to But they hold their place anyway

Soon I will add another star to h this, no ive

In that, I find peace

But I can’t stop trying, either Our world needs Vane Weston to have the fourth breakthrough as much as I do There has to be a way

If only his parents had taught hie One tiny word

But they’d refused They’d refused to teach anyone Evenin the shadoatching er was a stor the air She’d scream that the Westons didn’t deserve our help if they wouldn’t share their language We could’ve used their power to protect them Defeat Raiden Save everyone Return to our lives, our hoentler for her, because she belonged with them

Why should we make sacrifices for people ould never do the same for us?

Why should we help thee and help us?

But my father would wrap his ar winds that always seee with her tempers When she’d calht to protect their heritage however they wanted If they didn’t trust him with the responsibility, it was their choice

I tried to agree with him then--and h

They couldn’t have known for sure that they’d die for their language--that their son would be left alone and defenseless without it

That doesn’t change the fact that they condeht ht Vane Westerly, I wouldn’t have to sacrifice myself

Butif I hadn’t saved Gavin, none of this would have happened

If

If

If

Infinite possibilities And none of them matter

What

Seven days left

CHAPTER 25

VANE