With great joy Celli looked up between the parted branches of the worldtrees to watch the water bearers return. Their reservoirs were full of restored wental seedpools they had retrieved in their widespread searches, and all of the watery entities had been infused with the anger and fighting spirit promulgated by Jess Tamblyn and Cesca Peroni.

She and Solimar touched the same tree, listening to the verdani sing out their welcome. The canopy rustled as fronds moved aside, granting the Roamer ships room to approach.

Bursting with energy and anxious to be freed, the wentals convinced the newly arrived pilots to open their cargo bay doors while they were still in the sky, letting the energized water spill out. As streams of silvery liquid poured into the open air, the suspended water gathered itself into reflective globules like engorged raindrops that drifted among the towering trees.

Previously, Celli had seen the wentals fuse with damaged worldtrees, a symbiosis that converted them into enormous verdani battleships. But what the wentals were doing now was new to her. Since the gigantic thorny treeships had proved too vulnerable to the faeros, this time, the wentals and verdani would try a different tactic, a way to engulf and contain the fiery elementals, and then trap them back inside their suns.

Celli and Solimar joined other green priests, all of them intuitively understanding what they were supposed to do. Climbing the towering trees, they harvested small treelings that grew in crevices in the gold-scaled bark. They detached the shoots and carried them gently down.

In normal times, emissary priests had planted new groves on distant planets, spreading the sentient trees across the Spiral Arm. These treelings, though, had a far different purpose.

Through telink, the green priests also knew the news from Nira about the recent faeros battle at Golgen. Jess and Cesca, Adar Zan’nh, the wentals, and the Roamers were all preparing to take the fight to Ildira. And the worldforest would join them. All of the allies had to act now, before the faeros began their vengeful destruction.

With her gaze turned to the sky again, Celli watched the numerous wental spheres drift down like a rainstorm of huge drops. She and Solimar stepped forward, carrying their newly harvested treelings. Because the verdani were interconnected, each delicate plant was as significant a part of the worldforest as any larger tree. All of them were one.

A wental sphere as broad as her outstretched arms hovered in front of Celli. When she pressed one of her spindly treelings against the curved soap-bubble edge, the water folded itself inward. She positioned the treeling at the center of the globe of water, where it floated free. An aurora of light shimmered from the core, and the water rippled with liquid power, as the verdani tree and the wental combined into a stronger force. An invincible force, Celli hoped.

Completed, the water sphere lifted into the air to hover above the treetops. Solimar also inserted a treeling into a waiting wental ball, and the second englobed tree rose to join the first. More green priests came forward to do the same, each one creating a new combined elemental weapon.

After dumping his liquid cargo in the air, Nikko Chan Tylar landed hisAquarius alongside the ships of ten other water bearers. He emerged, followed by his father, Crim, and another old man, whom some of the clan representatives recognized. “Caleb Tamblyn!”

“Yes, I’m joining this damned fight after what those fiery monsters did to me, and they murdered Denn.”

Mother Alexa and Father Idriss came out to meet them, carrying baby Reynald, whom they were tending while Peter and Estarra were at Earth. “We can always use more fighters.”

“Then I’m ready to join the fight.” Caleb crossed his bony arms over his chest. “I’ll make a difference, just you wait and see.”

Celli’s father reached out to shake Caleb’s hand. “Happy to have you with us. And what is it you can do, exactly?”

The old man looked flustered.

The green priests continued to create weapons with treelings and water spheres. Fronds floated inside their wental bubbles, both drawing and providing energy. Many silvery balls lifted above the canopy, reflecting the sunlight like a cluster of polished pearls. Nikko stared upward, his almond eyes sparkling. “That’s really beautiful.”

“Let’s hope the faeros don’t think they’re so pretty,” his father growled.

When they were ready, the wental-verdani spheres shot off toward Ildira.

“Is that all there is to it?” Caleb Tamblyn asked, looking around uncertainly. “I expected something tohappen.”

“Oh, there’s more to come,” Celli said.

“Much more,” Solimar added. “But it’s going to take place at Ildira.”

Caleb clapped Crim on the shoulder. “Then what are we waiting for?”

Nikko was already sprinting toward his ship, and the other water bearers did the same.

126

Sarein

She and Cain formulated their plans, timing everything carefully. They waited for a blustering Basil to fly off to his closed-door meeting on the Confederation flagship; once he had left Earth for the full diplomatic process, they would have less than two days to hamstring the Hansa government.

Before he departed, though, Basil came to her quarters again, looking tense and harried. Fortunately, he did not have sex on his mind; he needed something else. “Soon we’ll celebrate, Sarein. Everything will be back in order. Once I manage to make Peter recognize his untenable position, the Hansa will run smoothly again.” The Chairman made no secret of the ultimatum he had issued; he was quite smug about Peter’s long-lost brother Rory as his trump card. He expected Peter to quickly bow to his wishes.

Basil stood so close that it felt awkwardly intimate. The warmth of his breath sent a chill down her spine. “I wanted to reassure you.” He touched her shoulder. “When I come back from this trip, I’m going to need your help much more often.” He traced his fingertip along her chin, up to her high cheekbone. “I’ve been cold to you, I know. Distracted. But I need you by me.”

Sarein’s mind was a whirlwind of clashing thoughts. Did he really remember some hint of emotion toward her? Or was this just another kind of manipulation? She couldn’t forget the damning set of surveillance images he had hidden under her pillow, a clear warning that he knew she had done things for which he could easily execute her. She blinked as a strange thought crossed her mind. What if Basil had meant the gesture not as a threat, but as afavor, to prove that he knew of her indiscretions and yet was willing to forgive her?

Basil smiled as if an idea had just occurred to him, but Sarein was sure he had planned it carefully. “While I am gone, I want you to move your possessions into my private quarters underground. Stay there with me, safe in the bunker. We’ll be together every day.”