Chapter 6
Living Water
Antomír, the young son of Mirnían, the Dar-in-exile of Vasyllia, watched the flights of firebirds from the branches of an old beech tree. They rose from the center of Ghavan Town in waves of two and three, their red-gold tail-feathers trailing behind them like tongues of fire, as the children released them from gilded cages. Even from this distance, Antomír clearly heard the call-and-response songs that ushered in spring. Today was the ceremonial birthday of nature, only days away from Antomír’s twentieth birthday. All month, the migrating firebirds had been returning, and all week the boys had been losing sleep to capture them at night. This year, they had caught thirteen. An omen for a warm and fruitful growing season.
“Kulik-kulik! Birds of fire!
Bring to me m
