Dederi was wrong.
So very, very wrong.
Look at us now. Look! Our sacred cavern is gone! Our hunting grounds are gone!
you may all mock and scorn and mutter and curse me, but none of you can deny that I was right, that I am right, that we are in such great peril and at such great risk that only in the memory of Tiamaris’ egg have we seen the like, and we know the price of that moment.
Join them, Dederi said, her shout resounding, Join Them, these thieves who have forever stolen out birthright, our Promise! This Lyle and this Pallas, who treated their compatriots so poorly.
Yes, I counseled against it. I, Akaramo, said do not. Yet where was I when the lands were soaked with the blood of these defilers? Was I not beside you? Did I not join you in breaking the ancient covenant?
I am but a man, you said. So, yes, mock me. And when I am Akarami, will you mock me still?
They have destroyed our home, ruined our world, shattered our lands!
They have angered Baho and Tiami! The air is infused with the taint of it.
They have separated us from the heavens above — or have you forgotten already how many stars there were once were in the night sky?
They have nearly wiped themselves out, and show no signs of stopping. I say we leave them be, and pray that these great ones do no more harm to what we have left.
