Before I knew it, we’d been there a month.
“Do you have any enemies?” I asked the elder that evening after dinner. She’d invited me to sample their whiskey. Nick was off somewhere, probably with that blonde, so I might as well find some way to pass the evening. And why did it bother me more now than it had before? I’d been the one to turn him away all those years ago.
Yes, but he seemed pleased to have an excuse. Maybe even relieved?
The elder touched my hand, bringing my attention back to her. “We’re the Crins. This is our territory. We stay within it. The Jajes to the south stay there.”
“Do you ever mingle?”
“We must, or else eventually our children will pay the price for our isolation. This was learned centuries ago. The wise ones decreed that every ten years we have a gathering, a
