"What else can I do? Give up? Go back without you? Go back with no way to save my brother?" He gathered himself. "I won't leave until I am sure there is no other way. Not until I've spoken with the tanequil. Will you help me or not? Will you persuade it to speak with me, just for a minute, just to hear what I have to say?

The tanequil already knows

"Then take me to it!"

Beware, Railing Ohmsford

Her voice was soft, but there was iron behind the silk. For an instant, he was certain he had gone too far.

"Just ... let me try," he said finally.

You risk more than you realize

"I would risk everything for my brother!"

So you do. So you will. Good-bye, Railing

And she was gone. He could feel her leave-taking. He could sense the emptiness she had left behind and hear the silence that filled it.

"Grianne?" he called out anyway.

Nothing. And then ...

Come

The voices of the other aeriads, calling him away. Where would they take him now? To the tanequil or back to the bridge? If the latter, he would refuse to cross. If they would not take him to the tree so that he would have a chance to say what was needed, he would not follow them.

He began a lengthy trek through the forest, weaving in and out of the great black trunks, shadows draping his way and shards of sunlight providing fragments of illumination to guide his footsteps. The aeriads sang to him so that he knew where to go, but there was no further communication with Grianne Ohmsford. If she was there with her sisters, she was keeping quiet. If she was monitoring his journey, she was doing so in secret. He hardened his heart against her, still disappointed and angry at her refusal to help, still frightened that he was going to fail in his efforts.

But if he found the tanequil and spoke with it, there was still a chance that something could be salvaged. The aeriads served the tree; if the tree agreed that Grianne should be set free to come back with him, that the Four Lands needed her to stand against the Straken Lord, wouldn't she have to change her mind and do what Railing asked? Wouldn't she then be bound to aid him in his efforts?

He held on to that hope like a lifeline, knowing it was all he had left.

It became clear after a short while that he was not being taken back the way he had come. The trees were getting larger and the way darker. The forest canopy was closing out even the little light that had filtered down previously, and the whole of the forest through which he walked was gloom-filled and hazy. The aeriads had stopped singing, but every so often they would speak that single word-come-to let him know where he was to go. The hugeness of the trees diminished him further, and he experienced a withering of hope and confidence. The audacity of his efforts to persuade Grianne resurfaced, and he saw again how foolish he had been.

As he navigated the maze of the forest, the warnings of the King of the Silver River whispered anew from his memory. He was doing something that was forbidden. He was asking for what he could not have. If he persevered, he would not get what he was hoping for; he would get something else entirely. Grianne Ohmsford was lost to his world and belonged to another. He could not bring her back again. He should forget this quest and simply go after Redden on his own. But was that even possible? Was there any way he could go back into the Forbidding and free his brother from the Straken Lord?

His trek wore on, and the gloom deepened. It must be late in the afternoon by now. The stresses of both the morning and the trek caught up to him, and he grew sleepy. The aeriads had resumed singing, and their music was weaving about him in a soothing blanket that left him heavy-eyed and slow-footed. He took a moment to stop, and when the aeriads did not object he sat down to rest.

Just for a moment.

But in seconds he was asleep.

His sleep was deep and dreamless, and when he woke again the sun was lower in the sky. He blinked a few times and waited for his lingering lethargy to disappear, wondering how he had managed to sleep at all with the mix of emotions roiling inside.

And yet he had. He had slept, and slept deeply.

Railing

He sat up quickly and looked around. A voice, calling his name, but it wasn't the aeriads. This voice was deep and resonated with distant thunder and the roll of the earth in a quake. It took him only a moment to find the source. A monstrous tree loomed over him, all gnarled and studded with boles, its limbs so broad they seemed to have forced the surrounding trees to fall back in deference. There was a surreal aspect to this tree, as if it had come from another world or another plane of existence, a creature alien and unknowable. Its trunk was black, but streaked with tinges of orange, and the green of its leaves ranged from bright emerald to the darkest jade. Even in the windless silence of the morning, its canopy shivered softly.

It was the tanequil. The aeriads had brought him to it, and Grianne, for all her protestations and warnings, had not denied him his chance.

He sat up slowly, discovering as he did so that there were tiny roots clutching at him, slender tendrils attached to his body and limbs. He looked down at them in wonder. Had they sprouted while he slept? How could they have managed to do that in so short a time?

In his mind, he heard his name spoken once more.

Railing

But the voice was more distant now, less clear-as if the communication had frayed or the distance between them increased.

"Tanequil?" he replied.

Nothing. He waited, but there was no response. What was he doing wrong? The aeriads had responded quickly enough; there had been no problem communicating with them. Why was the tree not answering him?

He lowered his hands to the ground for leverage as he prepared to stand. But the minute he did so, the tiny roots began wrapping about him anew, entwining his fingers and wrists, their feathery touch strangely compelling.

Railing

The voice was strong again, clear and precise in his mind. It was speaking to him through the roots, he realized. He kept his hands where they were and remained kneeling so that the roots could continue to make contact with him.

Then, on an inspired whim, he spoke the tree's name in the silence of his mind.

Tanequil

The answer was instantaneous.

Railing. What do you require of me

The boy could hardly contain his excitement.

Grianne Ohmsford's freedom. She must come back with me into the Four Lands. It is a chance to save my brother. A chance to save everyone

Quickly he blurted it out in chaotic, disorderly fashion, facts mingling with emotions, details interwoven with pleas. He revealed the whole of what he was seeking, sparing nothing of himself and his doubts and fears, opening up in a way he had not done before, not even with Mirai. His thoughts passed through his mind in a rush; he could not seem to help himself. Everything burst forth from where it crowded together and found its way to the tanequil in a stream of raw emotion.

When he had finished, he was exhausted from the effort. The tree was silent for a long time. Railing, waiting impatiently, wondered if he had done enough or too much. He couldn't be certain; his perspective was skewed and his nerves rubbed raw.

Mother Tanequil commands the aeriads. They belong to her and answer only to her

Mother Tanequil? What is the tree talking about?

But you're the tanequil, aren't you? Are you female? I thought you were male

I am both. My trunk, my branches, my leaves are male. I am Father Tanequil. My roots, grown deep into the earth are female. I am also Mother Tanequil

Railing struggled with the concept.