It Sleeps in Me by Kathleen O’Neal Gear

blinked at each other. They’d been occupied discussing far more important things, like forbidden love and disembodied souls.
    “Some,” Sora lied. “What do you think about it?”
    Long Fin seated himself beside Wink and leaned forward to brace his elbows on his thighs. “I think we should do everything we can to obtain it.”

    Taken aback, Sora said, “Why is that?”
    Wink exchanged a strange, secret look with Rockfish, then said, “Rockfish told us last night how lucrative the stone could be. How can we say no?”
    After a morning of trust and soft words, Sora felt suddenly betrayed. She glanced around the fire. Had Wink already made the decision to go after the stone?
    She glared at her husband. He lowered his eyes, obviously shamed by his duplicity. Is that what had taken him such a long time last night? While she’d been speaking with Skinner, he’d had a discussion with Wink and Long Fin? What surprised her most was that she had not foreseen it. Of course he wanted the stone. His people would give their very lives to …
    She went still inside, as though the eyes of her souls had just come upon a hidden snake. Was he thinking that? That if the Black Falcon People did not want to take the risks his own people might?
    Dear gods, he didn’t tell Wink that, did he?
    Wink said, “Sora, listen, I was up all night thinking about this. Rockfish suggested that his people might be willing to send two or three hundred warriors. With our two hundred, and Blue Bow’s two hundred, who could stand against us?”
    Long Fin eagerly nodded. “We would all benefit enormously.”
    Sora gave Wink a look of disbelief. “Who could stand against us? I’ll tell you who: An army with a thousand warriors. An army that knows the terrain better than we do. An army that, if endangered, has relatives in a dozen nearby villages who will appear at the fall of an arrow to support them.” Her voice had gradually been rising until now it was almost a shout. “If we do this at all, we should dispatch a very small war party to minimize our risk! What’s the matter with the three of you? We could be sending our warriors into a trap. Even more important, what makes you think Blue Bow will keep his word about sharing the stone?”
    “Well … ,” Long Fin said with a casual smile. He was a handsome youth with large brown eyes and perfect white teeth. “If we
have five hundred warriors there, and he has two hundred, we can take what we want, can’t we?”
    Sora looked at Wink’s stiff face, then at Rockfish. His wrinkles had rearranged into apologetic lines. Yes, Long Fin was obviously sixteen.
    “Do you truly think Blue Bow hasn’t thought of that?”
    Long Fin’s smile froze. “What do you mean?”
    “I mean, he’s not a fool. He contemplated every twist and turn long before he dispatched his war chief. We are no friends to him. He must have planned for the possibility that we will betray him and take the stone for ourselves. Wink,” she pleaded, “we just went to great effort to keep peace with the Loon People. Do you now want to do something that will cause war? That’s what will happen if we do as your son suggests.”
    “My Chieftess,” Long Fin defended, “I did not mean to suggest that we take the stone, only that if Blue Bow goes back on his agreement, we could take it.”
    Rockfish slid around on the bench to face her. In his softest, most persuasive voice—the voice he used when negotiating Trade—he said, “How do you think we should protect ourselves? I may be able to pull more warriors from distant villages, but it will take time that I’m not sure we have. Should I try?”
    “What do I think?” She blinked in surprise. “I don’t want to do this at all. It’s political suicide! Please, listen for a few moments.” She extended her hands to them. “Imagine what the other villages will think if we do not invite them to send warriors south. They will rightly feel slighted. On the other hand, if we do