"Are you sure you're ok? Don't try to be tough with me, boy."
"Yes, Illi. I'm ok. I didn't throw up like the others." Karsaan replied to his sister, Illarah.
They sat in his room. Up on the higher level of their mothers home that was built around and into the branches of another Iroko tree.
The wooden walls were illuminated by Suntear shards hanging from the branches blocking the ceiling.
"That doesn't matter, Karsaan." Illarah said.
"I think it does. I hear the others are sick." Karsaan replied.
Illarah sighed.
She was beautiful like their mother. Her skin was dark like the tree bark. Her eyes were as green as its leaves. Like all Scouts, she wore her hair in thick dreads. She had high cheekbones and sharp ears that made her look like old artistry of the Ancestor Gods. Like most Scouts of their Tribe, she wore a green cloak with leopard spots painted on its backside along with leather armors and wrappings around her hands and feet. Winds blew into their home and caused her Avian-Scribe instrument to whistle on her hip.
"They're sick. But they're healing." Illarah replied finally.
"Good." Karsaan replied.
"So…. What did you see, Karsy?" Illarah asked him. "In the Many-Worlds, I mean."
Karsaan looked away from her as he sat at the edge of his bed. "I saw nothing. The river water tasted like frozen rot. The sky mixed with night and day. The trees sang their energies. The beasts came and chose their Bond-Makers. I wasn't one of them. I was the only one who wasn't chosen. Two hundred and fifty students. I was the only one. That's it."
"That's not it." Illarah replied. "The Guide is taking a trips to The City of Connection. She thinks we've recieved a bad omen and wants the Council of Chiefs to prepare."
Karaaan side eyed her, "When has the council agreed on anything?"
"No idea. But if the Guide is shook then so are we." Illarah replied.
Karsaan stayed silent for a while. Until Illarah poked him with a finger. It kind of hurt since her hands were scaled and tough like bird feet.
"What was that for??" Karsaan asked and rubbed his bare shoulder.
"You know who else failed to form a Bond on their first trip to the Many-Worlds?"
"Who?" Karsaan asked.
"Anteluwa."
Karsaan looked up at her with his eyebrows held high, "As in…?"
"Our older brother. Yep." Illarah confirmed.
"What— how?" Karsaan asked, "He's always been so good at…. everything."
"Last I checked, you're pretty gifted as well." Illarah replied.
Karsaan rolled his eyes.
"Why are we different, Karsy?" Illarah asked him.
"Because we're Biyubara." Karsaan replied.
"Which means..?"
"Two blood." Karsaan said.
"In the Four Worlds, one overlooks and is interconnected with the rest. Which is it?" Illarah asked.
"Are we in school right now— OUCH!"
Illarah flicked him with one of her bird fingers.
"Answer." Illarah said. "Which of the Four Worlds is connected directly to the rest?"
"The History-World. The Forth World."
She nodded, "Your blood is your history. Your skin and your hair is your history. Your soul is your people's history. Our history is split between two. Our Mother is part of the Ekun Tribe. Our home. Our Father is from the Assad-Rākib tribe further south. Our brother didn't form his first Bond on Ekun Tribe land. He had to travel to the southern sands and join the Lion-Riders. Maybe you do too."
"When can I go?" Karsaan asked immediately.
"Probably after the Ceremony. You'd have to speak with mother first. You're the youngest, she might get all…. Well… how she gets." Illarah replied.
Karsaan smiled.
Illarah did as well as she stood up, "Don't give up, Karsy. Even the weakests beasts fight until they can no longer. You still can, so you must. Especially if the Guide's fears are rooted in truth. Something is coming."
Karsaan's hope was immediately switched to anxiety as he remembered the black bile and dead fish in the grass.
Illarah tousseled his curly and nappy bulk of hair. "I have to go. I'll be back for the Ceremony."
She turned and headed for the window.
"Wait, Illi." Karsaan called out her.
"Hm?"
"Does that mean Anteluwa's first Bond wasn't Abio, the River-Hunter Ape?"
Illarah nodded, "Abio is his third Bond. His first waits for him in the southern sands." She jumped out of the window.
Karsaan sat in his bed a while longer, "I wonder if I can form three Bonds….. I just have to go south. To my fathers tribe."