Chapter 2
The party went on all day. Isika ate, wandered, talked with her guests, accepted a lot of hugs, and bowed respectfully as the elders arrived. Ivram and Karah hugged her, and Andar and Laylit, Jabari and Gavi’s parents, bowed their heads graciously in her direction.
Isika had just sat down to watch the dancers when her friend Brigid arrived, wreathed in smiles, and plopped a present into Isika’s lap. Isika tore the wrapping off and found a dress, not the traditional tunic that she normally wore, but a robe that fitted at the waist and would flow all the way to the ground when she put it on, made of soft silvery grey weave. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head.
“This is too much,” she told Brigid.
“It is not!” Brigid said. “You know my parents are weavers. This is some of the
