Tree Singer

emotion all around them, and looked frantically at her family.
Oleaster nodded her on, his dark hair flapping as he clapped. Da smiled and waved her forward with his hands. Wollemi gave her a gap-toothed smile as she took a breath and joined Tray and Cather climbing the stairs to the platform. Her palms were damp and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath.
Taiwania smiled at each initiate as they climbed the stairs, but when Mayten reached the platform her sister pulled her into a close hug.
Mayten’s throat squeezed painfully and she blinked, surprised by her own tears and even more surprised to see her tears reflected in her sister’s eyes. She stared as her sister left the stage.
What caused Taiwania’s tears? Nerves from having to sing in front of everyone? Relief at being done?

Chapter Five
Clan leader Solis—tall and regal with skin the color of coffee and short white hair—climbed the stairs on the far side of the stage, driving thought of Taiwania’s strange tears from Mayten’s mind. The clan leader’s white ceremonial gown flowed to the ground and her sleeves hung bell-like around her wrists. The symbols of all the clan callings had been embroidered in vibrant greens and warm browns around the outside of her apron bib while the scroll in the center of the bib proclaimed the wearer to be a singer of all songs.
Solis crossed the stage, stopping beside a table on which nine white aprons lay face down. Mayten’s heart skipped a beat. Her apron was there amongst the others, all made by the skilled hands of the Sun Clan. Once the initiates donned the aprons of their callings, they would be adults.
She would be an adult.
No more skipping about the woods with Anatolian.
No more sneaking off with Tray and Cather to swim in the pond.
No more carefree mornings complaining to her trees.
Solis held up her hands, white sleeves billowing in the light morning breeze.
“Thank you to our new story singer, Taiwania,” she said as the crowd grew quiet. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard the First Song sung so beautifully.”
Mayten glanced down at her sister standing with the family, surprised to see her mother had joined them. Taiwania beamed at the clan leader’s praise, even though Solis said this to the story singer every year.
The crowd applauded and Mayten joined in, smiling at her sister. She thought about Taiwania’s unexpected hug. Maybe there would be a thawing between them now that Mayten was an adult. She thought she might like that.
“All callings are equally important to the life of the clan,” Solis continued. “Unless we work together, we will not have all we need to live safe, strong, and free.”
Every year, the clan leader declared all callings equal, yet Mayten couldn’t help but feel that some callings were more valued than others. Story singers were rare and most of the clan’s leaders had been singers of stories.
She dared a look at the crowd and then lifted her gaze to the south beyond the rows of homesteads. It was miles down the path to the far-off Ocean Clan but she imagined her oldest sisters, living with their new husbands, standing with the men’s extended families at a ceremony much like this and wearing the blues and greens of the Ocean Clan. How many new initiates did their adopted clan have today? What about the Sun Clan?
She looked east, picturing the Sun Clan initiates in yellow and orange clothes, colors she would love to wear.
She longed for the solstice celebration this summer when the three clans came together. She couldn’t wait to see her sisters and their families. The celebration was filled with trading and dancing and—for those who were sixteen like Taiwania—opportunities to look for future mates.
Taiwania pretended not to care about that opportunity, but Mayten knew she secretly looked forward to it. Her sister dismissed the attention from boys in their clan, claiming a better choice lived elsewhere.
Mayten had no interest in finding a mate and was glad to have another year pass before that expectation came her way. Maybe she would never join with a mate. Some clan members chose that option.
For those like Oleaster who had already chosen a mate, the three-clan gathering brought an opportunity to declare their intentions before the clans. The newly declared couple would work together to build their homestead, or, in her brother’s case, to add on to her family’s home. When the building was complete, a wedding ceremony—the Joining—would be held. People brought gifts to that ceremony, items that helped the new couple set up their home.
Mayten felt glad for her brother as she knew he was eager to be Joined.
Suddenly, Mayten felt the initiates shift beside her. Faces in the crowd showed puzzlement and concern rather than expectation.
“I want to speak to the rumors some have heard concerning a blight coming to the land.” Solis clasped her hands in front of her, her expression serious.
Blight?
Confused, Mayten glanced at her mother—who refused to meet her gaze. Castanea stayed focused on Solis.
Her mother had been avoiding her, she felt sure of it now. If there were rumors, her mother would have known.
A blight meant something was attacking the land, destroying the growing things. Insects, disease, or drought could cause a blight. The trees would surely feel that.
Why the secrecy? If she was being trained as an initiate, she should have been told about everything that concerned the trees.
“I’m afraid the rumors are true,” the clan leader said.
A gasp ran through the crowd and people murmured to one another. Mayten darted a glance at Cather, who didn’t look surprised.
Solis raised her arms and the crowd stilled. “There is no cause for alarm.”
Something in the woman’s voice made Mayten skeptical.
“We need to investigate further,” Solis continued. “We cannot make judgments or decisions about something we know little about. We are forming a special questing team to journey to Castle Trigginsfeld and possibly beyond to gather information.”
The crowd gasped again. Questers rarely went beyond the king’s castle. Castle Trigginsfeld