Grammawe took Talon`s explanation of why Ego was well, but whether she would remember&He stopped mid sentence. Did you hear a noise?`

　　There`s lots of noises.` Kala soothed, but it was no good. He`d heard a scream and he fancied he was well attuned to them now. It won`t be them, I`m sure.`

　　Talon didn`t share her confidence. Last time someone screamed, an impossible boy had run out of the forest into his daughter`s arms.

　　Surely, not another.

　　Either way, I`m going for a look. I`m sure it`s nothing.` Besides it was time he dropped in on Rem who had been overseeing the fields in Talon`s absence.

　　He ran fast towards the market where usually a disturbance meant Gris. Normally that would not bother him, but&

　　He found Sosa lying in the dirt, Ego stood over her. Halo stared at them from a distance.

　　Anger flashed hard until his vision began to colour. He grabbed Ego by the shoulders and shoved him back. The boy looked so shocked he didn`t fight, just fell to the ground. Talon took another step towards him, feeling his body turn rigid.

　　No, father! Pawe!` Halo ran up, clutching at his legs. It was Gris, it wasn`t Ego, it was Gris!`

　　Talon turned his gaze from the boy and looked around. The gawping onlookers were divided between looking at Sosa and her new companion and looking at Gris. The old man had already wandered off, fingering the laid out goods, oblivious to all the attention.

　　Are you okay?` Talon knelt to Sosa. Did he hurt you?`

　　I`m fine. I just bumped into him, that`s all.`

　　Talon helped her up. Her skirt was torn and she had to tie it back on as best she could. Ego sprang up. Talon thought he was rushing to Sosa but the boy pushed past.

　　What`s wrong with you?` Ego shouted. It took a moment for Talon to realise, and he to lunged, grabbing Ego around the neck.

　　Ego struggled, angrily. He pushed her over! Are you going to let him get away with that?`

　　Talon didn`t have an answer, except to grapple with him. Ego slipped free.

　　You! Hey!` Ego was racing after Gris. Stop!`

　　Talon panicked and shouted Stop!` but Ego paid him no mind. Ego, you don`t know what- Ego, stop!` He lunged after him a second time.

　　Get off me!`

　　Talon couldn`t hold the boy, he was too wriggly and sweaty to grasp.

　　You didn`t see what he did, he&`

　　Before he could escape, Talon hit him.

　　I said stop!`

　　Ego hit the floor, hands clutched to his face, staring up at Talon in shock. At least he stayed down.

　　There was another shriek, more in anger than fear. Gris had snatched something belonging the whittler who had grabbed for the long banefruit picker and was holding it out like a weapon.

　　Gris ignored him and moved slowly on, examining his latest tool. Talon watched in horror. The whittler was one bad thought away from swinging his stick at the old thief.

　　Seeing the man`s thoughts, Ego darted up once more and leapt to the whittler`s aid, dodging Talon`s grasp. Yes, get him!` he shouted, help him,` he called to at the onlookers. No one else moved. Ego was running at the thief and there was nothing Talon could do.

　　Gris turned, and without dropping his newly acquired tool, he grabbed the charging Ego and tossed the boy over his hip. Ego tumbled into the whittler and his long stick. Something on Ego connected with the man`s nose and the two landed in a heap of limbs and a spray of blood. The market erupted into chaos.

　　Gris ambled away, taking his wares with him.

　　#

　　The inevitable summons did not come the next day and its weight grew with the added tension and expectation. Sosa would not speak to anyone. Talon and Kala began sniping. Ego felt the change and kept his head down. Only Halo remained unaffected. A single night`s sleep erased all his worries and the next day he was chattering away as usual.

　　Every opportunity, Talon thought. He`d given Ego every opportunity to fit in.

　　Finally the summons came and Talon sent Halo to the fields where Rem would keep him busy and well away from this. He`d thought to do the same with Sosa, but she was involved already and would only refuse to be sent away if he tried.

　　Elder Jode intercepted them before they reached the council building. The other Elders are waiting. I`m sorry, Ego, I did what I could, but people are just too frightened.`

　　Are they sending him to the trees?` Sosa asked, her anger unveiled.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

　　Jode looked awkward, and then he looked sorry. They are.`

　　But you can stop them.` Sosa pleaded, You`re the chief. You can stop them.`

　　It doesn`t work like that.` Jode spoke softly against the keen edge of Sosa`s anger.

　　There were tears in her eyes. What`s the point of you, then?` She stormed off ahead dragging Ego with her.

　　Sosa!` Talon shouted. I`m so sorry, Elder Jode, I don`t know&`

　　Jode waved a hand. It is understandable. I admit to feeling powerless at this point. This is not right, but I cannot force another option. The people are afraid of Ego, of what his being here means, of what he might bring from the trees. What has happened is just a bad omen for what is to come, that`s all people see.` He shook his head, There is nothing I can do, I am sorry.`

　　Talon rubbed his eyes. He should never have allowed them to go off. He foolishly thought that in one day they could not have done so much damage. He had not counted on Gris, however. The worst was that it wasn`t really the boy`s fault.

　　Certainly if he`d stopped when he was told rather than trying to impress Sosa, perhaps he`d still be here, but this failing did not lie with the boy.

　　Kala grabbed Jode by the wrist, Tell me, truthfully, Elder Jode. Do they mean harm to my daughter?`

　　No, no,` Jode shook his head, trying to sound reassuring, not at all. But,` Talon felt his insides drop away, you must make sure she does not give them a reason to.`

　　Talon and Kala looked at their daughter, now twenty paces ahead, dragging the doomed boy, tears on her face and anger in her mouth.

　　They ran. Kala grabbed Sosa and pulled her back. Talon propelled Ego onwards. Sosa screamed and fought with her mother. Ego didn`t struggle with Talon. The boy was lost in horrors of his own imagining.

　　Talon looked back at his struggling daughter, still reaching for the boy. Go with your mother. Do as you`re told. Stay there and don`t come out. If I see you come near this hearing I will take you to the centre and so help me, Ale-ki will see me take a branch to you, do you hear me, girl?`

　　Sosa stopped and stared up at him shocked. He tried to ignore the pain that look brought to his heart. Tears in his eyes, Talon turned and led the boy he had saved towards his own execution, towards the only hope he had of keeping his daughter safe from all this.

　　Yet he failed, even in this.

　　The Elders waited in the public meeting space, all grave faces. Talon was asked where his daughter was.

　　No. No, she has nothing to do with this. None of this was her fault. She was attacked by Gris too. You cannot, you cannot&` But while he spoke, all he could hear was the rising anger of an Elder`s voice blocking him out until finally it rose and he stopped talking as someone shouted.

　　Silence, Talon, of the fields.` It was Elder Hora, inflated to her most pompous. It looked more effortful than when chief Elder Jode did it. Perhaps as the youngest Elder she had the most to prove. We will bring your daughter and you will listen to the wisdom of this council.`

　　Talon sent a pleading look at Jode, but the old man avoided his gaze.

　　Please, please you cannot give my daughter to the trees, she has done nothing wrong. Please, give me instead. If anyone has failed here it is me, give me instead.`

　　We will not give your daughter to the trees.` Relief flooded through Talon. But you will be silent. If you utter one word, we will give you both.`

　　Talon found himself on his knees.

　　Kala, Sosa and even Halo were fetched to the hearing. Talon`s face was wet and eyes red. He stared at Sosa, pleading with her to stay silent. She looked at him, questioning, terrified. That the fear froze her face was a blessing, although it also froze his heart.

　　He took his chance, abandoned Ego, and ran to her, scooping her into his arms as if he could hold her quiet, hold her safe. She didn`t embrace or fight him, but stayed immobile.

　　Don`t say anything,` he whispered, Please, don`t say anything.`

　　Ego.` Elder Hora`s voice remained officious.

　　Ego stood, tiny and alone, his eyes not on the Elders, or Sosa or Talon, but the trees that loomed beyond the buildings. There was nowhere in the village where the black canopy of the darktree forest could not be seen; Talon had never realised this until now.

　　Ego had run the trees, he knew what horrors awaited him. Of all those gathered he was the only one who did. Talon trembled and pulled his daughter closer. He would not have her face that horror as well.

　　Talon heard none of the words being spoken and only became aware that Ego was being led away. He rose, expecting to be taken, to be made to go, but the Elders` spoke again.

　　No, we must speak to Sosa. She must atone to Ale-ki.`

　　Talon knew they were not sending her to the trees, but if she simply had to spend time, maybe a day, with Ale-ki, then she was safe. She just had to atone for the shift in the balance, to put things right with Ale-ki. The imbalance may not be her fault, or even her job to fix, and he would likely join her for the duration of her penance, but if that was all she had to do&

　　Talon kissed her head, but the girl was staring after Ego who was being led away towards the edge of the forest. She was shaking. He held her and watched Ego.

　　Pawe?` Her voice was a whisper through the tears. She was pleading with him for something he could not give. There was nothing he could do.

　　What if that was Halo? He thought.

　　Elder Jode.` He found himself standing before the assemblage, forcing his voice steady. I feel it is me who has accepted the boy. Would you allow me to accompany him to the edge of the village?`

　　Jode signalled the procession to stop. If you would like to offer the boy comfort, I will not be against it and I can see no reason why any others would be opposed?` Jode looked around.

　　Talon kissed Sosa`s head again and whispered in her ear. Then he shot a reassuring look at Kala, who shuffled over to take his place, arms around Sosa.

　　He ran to the front of the procession led by Elder Hora, and took Ego`s arm. The boy didn`t react, his eyes ahead. He stumbled, his feet barely lifting from the floor. Talon held him up.

　　One of the Elders handed Ego a stick and some food wrapped in a cloth slung on a vine. Talon took the staff, placed the wrapped food about Ego`s shoulder and then the stick in his hands. It was the first time he looked at Talon. Ego`s mouth moved, but his lips looked dry. He could make no words.

　　I`m sorry, I`m so sorry, Ego.` He was just a boy. A child.

　　It is time, Talon,` Hora said, please let Ego into the forest.`

　　Please, just give me a moment with him. Just a moment.`

　　The Elder looked annoyed. Talon found he did not care. They had waited cruel days to deliver this verdict, they could wait now on him just a few moments longer. Talon pulled Ego close to him and hugged him tightly, whispering into his ear the whole time, hoping the boy could hear him. Hoping he listened. He gripped Ego roughly, trying to shock him from this trance, trying to make him listen.

　　The Elder had already started an incantation of the anki. It would continue and repeat until Ego had left the village and was lost in the darkness of the trees.

　　Did you hear me?` Talon looked the boy in the face and whispered as loud as he dared.

　　Ego swallowed and managed to find enough moisture to speak.

　　Please don`t make me go.`

　　Talon rolled his eyes and grasped the boys shoulders firmly enough to hurt. Did you hear me?` It was too loud, this time, but he supposed it didn`t matter.

　　The boy nodded. Talon hoped it was truthful.

　　Talon stood away from Ego so he was standing on his own. He worried the boy might fall, but he didn`t. Be strong,` he said. Remember what I told you.`

　　Then Talon gave the boy to the trees.