“You’ll need tougher gills than that if you want to be a healer, pup.”
“Shut up,” she murmured.
I almost regretted my words when she glared and then promptly pushed her hands against my raw flesh. I never cried aloud, but my vision blurred and I felt lightheaded enough once the light appeared from her palms.
“You’ll need tougher gills than that if you expect to be a warrior,” she said softly. Her skin glowed and I watched, fascinated as tiny lights pulsed down her skin, starting from her head and flowing down her arms. It was her gift, a power that had been passed down to the king’s sister for as long as the records could claim. I felt something twist painfully in my gut as she mended me. I couldn’t say why, but she seemed different after having received her powers and her ancestors’ memories.
She looked up at me from her lashes and frowned as the light faded from her palms. “What are you smirking at? Shouldn’t you be crying already? I could feel your pain, Tamn. Don’t tell me it did not hurt.”
But I couldn’t answer her. Instead, I reached out to keep her hand trapped between mine and the way her inner lids kept flicking over her ageless eyes made me see her in a way I’d never felt before. The words were on the tip of my tongue when she abruptly shook off my grasp and walked toward the door.
“See you tomorrow,” she said nervously without looking back.
But I didn’t see her the next day. Long range scanners reported a habitable world in the next system, sometime before I was supposed to report to third deck and check over the shuttle blasters. So instead of making declarations of love, I was swept up with Captain and the rest of the scout ship’s crew as they convened with the king and his second in command. Before I knew it, we were strapping on gear and restocking our stores for the long journey ahead. We couldn’t fly too far out from Datura 3, but when it came to living worlds this far on heaven’s edge, caution was always best.
After, I had vowed to myself. For a time, I believed there wouldn’t be an after and the belief tore my mind apart.
“Tamn?” Qeya called, bringing me back to the treetop village, to a world where we were alive together. I blinked, turning from the forest outside my window to the source of a voice more familiar to me than my own. I listened to the way the footboards barely creaked underneath her light steps as she entered our home.
“Tamn? Why aren’t you at the village circle with the others? Min said you never came for the festival.”
I winced at her words, but couldn’t bring myself to look at her yet. I had not seen her since she left to say goodbye to the miner. And I had done my best to keep away from the rest of our crewmates in her absence. I didn’t need my brother or sister telling me to chase after her when I was trying to let her go.
Now I wondered if she came back to say goodbye to me. Truthfully, I’d been expecting this ever since she’d appeared from the jungle, terrified for Ohre’s life. Since I forced her to go to the miner soon after our return to the village.
I felt the brush of her bare skin graze my forearm, pulling me back from my thoughts. Her smile filled my periphery vision, making it almost impossible not to look at her. But I wasn’t ready to push her away again, not while I could feel the way her skin was so cool against mine.
“Arvex said you’ve been hiding out up here since I left,” she said teasingly.
“Arvex should keep to his own business,” I replied lamely. I was tired of the young king’s unwavering attempts to draw me out of my somewhat isolated corner of the village.
“He’s not worried about you, exactly, you know,” she softly offered.
“Really? I hadn’t noticed your brother’s talent for selfishness.”
Qeya sighed. “He means well. But it worries the children when you go missing for days at a time, and the elders.”
“And everyone nags the almighty king when things don’t go their way.”
Qeya clasped my wrist. I watched from the corner of my eye as she turned to face the red flowers blooming outside my window.
Tell her to leave and never come back. Tell her the truth about Adi.
“Remember the flowers that grew outside the palace walls?” I blurted instead.
Qeya smirked. “Hard to forget the flower you’re named for, Tamn.”
“I loved that flower, since before you were born in this life. Future commanders aren’t supposed to like fragile things like flowers. But I’d catch whiffs of qeya when I was bleeding and aching from blows my own father gave me and remembered what living smelled like.”
I could feel her eyes on me then, burning with things I was too much of a coward to see. Instead, I lifted my arm to snatch the red flower dangling just outside my window and pulled it free from its branch. I held it gently between my fingers by the stem and turned to face her. The smell of the alien flower coupled with her scent made it even harder not to meet her gaze. I knew what I would see if I did and I wanted to remember her as the youngling who had followed me with adoration, as the Ascended who kissed me with love in her heart.
“Tamn,” she gasped, as though she had forgotten to breathe through her mouth. I glanced up at her gills and saw they were flared, grasping for water they could not filter. I knew then she had been in the sea with him.
Fighting the dull sting of jealousy, I caressed the sensitive skin along her gills. I smiled to feel her shudder at my touch. “When you were born in this life, it seemed only right they named you after that flower. I think I associate you with the smell of those flowers, with home. Even now you smell like them when you shouldn’t. Sometimes, when I thought you were dead—I’d catch whiffs of qeya on my skin…”
I realized I was rambling. I never was good with words like Arvex or Hanea. I usually preferred silence over speech. It was less embarrassing.
Qeya covered my hand with hers, fortunately, ending my rant and sending a shock of power through me. “Tamn,” she said again, and I knew, without her words that she wasn’t leaving me. She came back here because she was choosing to stay.
I drank in that moment, from the way her lips parted to show her brilliant smile and inner luminosity. I saw what she couldn’t say, that she thought she was ready. It was too much.
I pulled my hand from her grasp and took a step back. “You will always be home for me, but we aren’t living on Datura anymore. We may never find a way back.”
“Tamn,” she said, this time with an undercurrent of fear.
I grimaced. “I have worshiped you like an Orona since I thought you died, but I am not worthy to carry your heart. I think it would be best…”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Tamn,” she interrupted. “I don’t care if you think you are worthy or not.” Her anger surprised me as much as the speed with which she reached up to clasp my face. “I know you feel like you have to sacrifice yourself for me. Ever since we found each other again you’ve been trying to choose for me, just so I won’t reject you.”
“But I didn’t—that isn’t why—I would never do that,” I sputtered, suddenly lost and as small as I had ever felt.
Qeya shook her head, her smile pained and far too weary for fifteen. “Yes, you would. You think I don’t remember you from our past lives, but you forget I Ascended years before you in this life. I’ve had a lot of time to think. I…” She paused, drinking in air through her gills. “I love you. No matter what you think you’ve become, or what you think I deserve. That’s never going to change.”
I covered her hands with mine. “I know you do.” It was pure torture to watch her face crumble as I pulled her hands down to rest between us. “But we can’t keep pretending we’re the same people we were, not if we want to survive.” It was on the tip of my tongue then, the truth about the chole and my madness and Adi.
Qeya squeezed my hands and I realized she was crying. “You’re my best friend, Tamn, please don’t push me away.”
“Never,” I replied and pulled her into my arms. “You will never lose me, I promise.” Perhaps one day she would be ready
to accept and love me despite my flaws. But maybe she wouldn’t and if we had to evolve into strangers to survive life on Heaven’s Edge, I vowed to never abandon her. I would believe in her no matter what, until the skies burned and the seas bled dry.
Acknowledgements
This novella wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of my editor, Jessica Augustsson who is a true literary genius. Your patience with me while working through Tamn has been phenomenal. Truly, this would not be the same book or character without your insight. My cover designer, Naj, thank you for recovering this entire series and making it look legit. Your ability to take my simple ideas and make them so much better always astounds me.
And last but not least, thank you Grandpa for sharing your love of writing and the written word in the first place.
I started writing from an early age, pounding on the antique typewriter my grandpa gave me. From there I started writing a series of short stories about a group of kids who crash land on an alien planet. As you might have guessed, the Heaven’s Edge series stemmed from those childhood ideas.
Please feel free to contact me through the links listed below to find information on upcoming books. I love hearing from readers and other authors. Being new to the game myself, I’m always happy to help others follow their dreams.
Author’s Note
Thank you so much for reading Tamn!
If you enjoyed reading the adventure, please consider leaving a review or recommend it to a friend. Reviews are the Indie Author’s lifeblood. Not only do they help other readers decide whether to buy my book, but also spur me on to write the next installment faster.
Tamn, Qeya and Ohre will return in Heaven’s Edge #4: Adi
Thank you again for your support!
Jenn
About the Author
Jennifer Silverwood was raised deep in the heart of Texas and has been spinning yarns a mile high since childhood. In her spare time, she reads and writes and tries to sustain her wanderlust, whether it's the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania, the highlands of Ecuador, or a road trip to the next town. Always on the lookout for her next adventure, in print or reality, she dreams of one day proving to the masses that everything really is better in Texas. She is the author of two series—Heaven's Edge and Wylder Tales—and the stand-alone titles Stay and Silver Hollow.
For more about books, writing, and beauty, visit:
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Other Books
Heaven’s Edge Novellas
Qeya
Ohre
Tamn
Wylder Tales
Craving Beauty
Wolfsbane’s Daughter
Scarred Beauty
Bound Beauty (coming 2018)
Silver Hollow
Stay: A Love Story
She Walks in Moonlight
Tamn Page 9
