“Wait!” cried Akihito. “There they are!”
Michi peered over the side again and saw a flash of white through the falling black. Her heart surged as she recognized Kaiah, a small figure astride her that could only be Hana, ascending through the downpour. But the ’thopter pilots were still revving their engines, gaijin soldiers emerging from their tents, pointing skyward, clamor spreading across the camp. Was Hana fleeing them? Were they chasing her? Where was Piotr?
What the hells is going on?
She found one hand drifting to the chainkatana at her waist, jaw clenched.
The thunder tiger and her rider rose higher, Akihito pacing like an expectant father. As they drew level with the sky-ship, Michi recognized Hana under her heavy clothes. The girl had her kerchief and hood up, eye hidden behind her goggles—expression completely masked.
The crew cleared space on the deck as Kaiah drew closer, a few still murmuring in wonder at the sight of the magnificent beast in full flight. Blackbird groaned in sympathetic agony as the thunder tiger landed, talons tearing his ship’s deck to splinters. Akihito bounded down to the main deck despite his injured leg, pushing through the mob as Hana slipped off the arashitora’s back. Kaiah shook herself like a wet dog, spattering the assembled crew with reeking black. Hana pulled down her kerchief, tugged the cowl from her head. Akihito stopped in his tracks. Michi caught her breath.
Hana had bleached the dye from her hair, leaving it a gleaming blond.
An uneasy murmur rippled among the crew, hands drifting to weapons, a few backing away. The girl was pale as ghostlights, slender and fierce. What the hells had she been doing down there among the round-eye army? How was she still alive?
“Hana?” Akihito’s voice was uncertain, sandpaper at the edges.
The girl pushed up her goggles, glanced around the crew, that strange glowing eye finally settling on Akihito. Her voice was as cold as storm winds.
“Why are you here?”
“You left without telling anyone—”
“We don’t answer to you, Akihito.”
The big man blinked, taken aback. “We were just worried about you.”
That glowing gaze flickered to Michi. Back to Akihito. “I’m sure.”
“What the hells are you doing out here by yourself?”
“Trying to save what’s left of this hellhole.” Hana shrugged. “Convincing the gaijin not to rub us off the map.”
“Did Piotr put you up to this?”
“Put me up to it?” Hana frowned. “Isn’t this what everyone expects me to be doing? Being a stormdancer? Playing hero and saving everyone’s asses? I wish you people would make up your godsdamned minds about what you want me to be.”
Michi cleared her throat. “Why would the gaijin listen to you, Hana?”
The girl pointed to her eye. “I carry the mark of the Goddess. My uncle, brother of the woman my father dragged back here to Shima—he’s one of the commanders below. We’ve been speaking for the best part of a day. Him. The Marshal. The Sighted. And little old me.”
Akihito glanced at the thunder tiger looming at Hana’s back. “What did they say?”
“Lots of things.” The girl’s reply was cool, her gaze cooler. “But they’re confused. To find someone who bears the mark of the Goddess born of a Shiman father … it’s changed the way they see us. The way they think the Goddess sees us. I told them about Yukiko, the Kagé, the rebels in Yama. They’re not sure what to make of any of this now.”
“Are they going to press their attack?” Michi asked.
“Against the Guild? Most definitely. But as for the rest of us?” A shrug. “They honestly don’t know. Not anymore.”
“Gods above…” Akihito breathed.
“So.” That cold, glowing gaze flitted back and forth between Michi and Akihito. “You two might just get to play happy families after all.”
Akihito blinked in the lightning strobe. “What?”
“I understand, Akihito.” Hana drew a breath, as if reaching deep for the words. “I can’t say it doesn’t hurt. But I understand. I need to be bigger than that. I need to be more.”
“Wait, what?” Michi was incredulous. “You think he and I . .?”
Akihito looked at Michi, terrified. “Me and her?”
Up on the pilot’s deck, the Blackbird rolled his eyes at his first mate and sighed.
“I saw you,” Hana said. “The courting gift you gave her…”
“Courting . .?” Akihito frowned, remembering. “It was just a scrollcase for her book, Hana. She’s writing a history of the war. I think it’s important. That’s all.”
Michi held out her hands as if to take the world by the scruff and steady it. “There is nothing going on between us, Hana. Gods above, absolutely nothing.”
Akihito glanced at her sideways. “You don’t have to say it like that…”
“No. Really. I do.”
Hana licked at her lips, dirty blond hair plastered to her face. “You mean…”