Traitor's Moon

led them on foot to the open land beyond the city’s edge. Her blue-and-yellow sen’gai was made of twisted bands of silk intertwined with red cord, and she wore a voluminous silk coat over her tight-fitting tunic.
    The Khaladi were taller and more muscular than most of the ’faie Alec had met, and many had bands of intricate tattoos encircling their wrists and ankles. They smiled readily and treated their guests with a mix of respect and warm familiarity that quickly put him at ease.
    On a flat expanse of ground just beyond the city’s edge, a circular area a few hundred yards in diameter had been covered with huge, multicolored carpets and ringed with bonfires. Instead of the usual dining couches, low tables and piles of bolsters were arranged around the perimeter. Mallia ä Tama and her family served Klia’s party themselves, washing their guests’ hands over basins tosymbolize the customary bath and offering them wine and dried fruits dipped in honey. Musicians arrived carrying pipes and long-necked stringed instruments unlike any Alec had seen. Instead of plucking or strumming the latter, the players sawed at the strings with a short bow, producing a sound at once mournful and sweet.
    As the sun sank and the feast progressed, it was not difficult for Alec to imagine himself transported to their mountain fai’thast. Under different circumstances, he would have been content to spend the entire night in such company.
    Instead, he kept a watchful eye on Seregil, who often fell silent and glanced frequently at the progress of the moon.
    Do you dread the night’s destination so much?
Alec wondered with a twinge of guilt at his own anticipation.
    As the banquet neared its end, thirty or more Khaladi rose and shed their tunics, stripping down to short, tight-fitting leather breeches. Their lightly oiled skin shone like satin in the firelight.
    â€œNow we’ll see something!” Seregil exclaimed under his breath, looking happy for the first time that night.
    â€œWe are great dancers, the best in all Aurënen,” the khirnari was telling Klia. “For in the dance we celebrate the circles of unity that make our world—the unity between our people and Aura, the unity of sky and earth, the unity that binds us one to another. You might feel the magic of it, but do not be alarmed. It is only the sharing of khi that unites the dancers with those who watch them.”
    The musicians struck up a dark, skirling melody as the performers took their places. Working in pairs, they slowly lifted and balanced each other with sinuous grace. Without the least hint of strain or tremor, their bodies twined into configurations at once disciplined and erotic, arching, folding, curving as they rose and fell.
    Rapt, Alec felt the flow of khi the khirnari had spoken of; differing energies of each successive dance enfolded him, drawing him in although he never stirred from where he sat.
    Some dances featured a single gender or male and female couples, but most involved all the varying groups at once. One of the most moving was a performance by pairs of children.
    Klia sat motionless, one hand pressed unconsciously to her lips. Pure wonder showed on Thero’s thin features, softening them to something approaching beauty. Beyond them, Alec could see Beka among the honor guard, the hint of tears glistening in her eyes. Nyal stood beside her, not quite touching as he watched her watch the dance.
    One pair of men held Alec’s attention for dance after dance. Itwas not simply their skill that moved him but the way they seemed to hold each other with their gaze, trusting, anticipating, working in perfect unison. His throat tightened as he watched them during one particularly sensual dance; he knew without being told that they were talímenios and that they had lived this dance, this mingling of souls, together most of their lives.
    He felt Seregil’s hand cover his own. Without the least embarrassment, Alec turned his hand, weaving their fingers together and letting the dance speak for him.
    As the moon rose higher, however, Alec found himself increasingly distracted by the thought of the rhui’auros’s summons.
    Ever since Thero had first mentioned the rhui’auros and their abilities back in Ardinlee, he’d wondered what it would be like to have that missing piece added to the small mosaic of his life. Wandering with his father, knowing no kin, claiming no town as