Chapter NineVaxi felt Sen's hand gripping hers as she stepped off the metal ramp of the Talon onto solid ground. The first time she made the journey from the Plateau to Darad, it had taken her several days. This time, it took mere minutes.
Her thoughts drifted inward. Only fourteen days had passed since she had skulked away from the village in the dead of night. Her goal was to complete her Sojourn as per her grandmother's wishes, and return bearing the Ixtrayu's first child in a generation. The ill-conceived mission nearly resulted in her death at the hands of six Vandan raiders, only for her to be saved by the young man whose mere touch sent shivers through her body.
Now, here she was, standing with a dozen of her sisters in front of a magnificent ship from the Above. The path Arantha
