Continue the legacy.
“I was watching you during the Proving,” she says.
“Stalker.” His arm twitches as he resists the urge to wrap it around her. Why is it that she can so freely touch him and it’s not strange, but the thought of laying a finger on her makes his head spin?
“You started every test not trying,” she says. “Then by the end you tried.”
“Then that only counts as half trying.” He shakes his head.
In typical Sam style, she’s right. He had started every test determined not to try. But then he’d see Sam watching him and he’d know he couldn’t do it. He had to try.
For her.
“Your half trying is better than most people’s full trying,” she says. “I’ve got bad news for you, Hawk. You’re going to pass.”
“Then we pass together.” He swallows, wondering how this girl can notice so much about him and be oblivious to so much else.
“Do you really think I’ll pass?” she asks.
He rolls his eyes at this. “Sam, you’re the smartest person I’ve ever met. You’ll pass.”
“Being a leader is about more than just being smart. You have to be kind, too.”
She shuffles away slightly and stares out at the setting sun. It’s only then that he realizes this wasn’t one of her jokes. She’s genuinely worried.
He shifts his hands behind him and leans back on them, trying to work up the courage to wrap his arm around her. Just one simple movement, that’s all it would take. And maybe she’d lean back into him and he wouldn’t have to use any words to tell her how he feels.
She’d just know.
But as he lifts his hand from the timber and is inches away from draping his arm across her shoulders, Sam bounces to her feet.
“Look, Hawk! Look! It’s another fire. This one’s bigger than the last.”
Hawk scrambles up beside her and strains his eyes.
“Your island’s on fire,” she says, referring to the land mass he’d discovered when he was a small boy and Wren took him out on a boat. Truthfully, Wren had been the one to find it, but somehow over the years she’d managed to change the story to give him the credit.
Now known as the Newlands, the island had grown with each year that passed as the sea crept back, exposing more soil for the wildlife to nest on and trees to sprout. It’s enormous now compared to when he’d first seen it.
“It could be a dark cloud.” Hawk shifts uncomfortably on his feet, knowing Sam’s right but desperately wanting her to be wrong.
She slips her hand into his and squeezes. “It’s not a cloud, Hawk. People are living in the Newlands. Animals don’t make fire.”
Frustration winds its way through Hawk’s body. The only thing keeping him rooted to the spot is the warm hand tucked in his.
How can someone be living on his island? When the fires had first been spotted, they’d thought someone was just passing through. But there have been too many fires lately and they’re increasing in size.
It’s not someone from Askala, he knows that for certain. Long ago, they’d agreed that Newlands would be a place of conservation. A way for the Askala to extend its healing of the planet beyond the confines of their island.
If the Outlanders have set up camp there, they’ll destroy it. Their own barren lands are proof enough of their lack of ability to care for the Earth.
And this is why he shouldn’t have tried so hard in the Proving. He can’t spend his life stuck here making decisions and trying to assimilate one Outlander at a time to their way of life as they arrive on their shores.
He needs to be out there. Discovering new places. Protecting the Earth. Convincing every last person there’s a better way to live.
It takes all his strength, but he lets go of Sam’s hand and turns away, knowing the choice he has to make.
“Where are you going?” she calls after him as he walks back down the bridge.
He doesn’t answer, because he doesn’t know. And the thought of that is splitting his heart in two.
He wasn’t named after a predator. He was named after a bird.
Now he just has to decide whether or not he wants to fly free.
SAM
Sam’s waited her whole life for this day. It feels like every breath has counted down to it. Every page studied, every hour spent practicing, every second spent painting it in her mind has come to now.
Her Announcement.
As she looks around the ballroom, Sam smiles. It’s playing out just like she imagined. The garden surrounding them is as verdant as she is excited. Sam can just about name each plant by scent—Vitis vinifera, Persea americana, Citrus aurantium. Each vine and tree and shrub feel as if they’ve opened their branches, welcoming this moment.
Up on the stage built specifically for today are the leaders, waiting to say the names of those who will join them. Her parents are there and Sam pushes up on her tiptoes to see they’re standing straight-backed and serious, just like she imagined. They look more…tense than she expected, but then again, sometimes she can read these things wrong. They’re probably just like her—trying to contain their excitement.
As they wait to walk up the steps to their future, Sam stares at the broad back in front of her. Just like all the detailed scenarios that played out in her mind, she’s standing between her two best friends. Hawk before her, Mercy behind.
As they’d completed each test, she’d silently scored them in her head. Hawk, with his torn heart had tried not to care, only to end up excelling. The genetics have always fascinated Sam. Despite neither of his parents being leaders, he’s the smartest, sweetest person she knows. He could’ve passed without trying.
Mercy was a little harder to gauge. Her more…simplistic solutions were eventually correct. But it’s because Mercy has an eye for people, not for seeking out patterns or problem solving. Sam could always tell when Mercy got stuck, because she’d smile at the person next to her and strike up a conversation. Sam’s always wondered why Mercy just didn’t focus a little harder—and she’s yet to figure out how useful Mercy’s skills will be to Askala—but she’s still expecting Mercy to pass.
And Sam is confident she’d excelled. As she’d stared at the puzzle pieces, as she’d kept her cool when the pressure was on, as she’d helped those around her, she’d carefully weighed up each decision. She could see the slight variations on the previous year’s tests, intuitively understanding what it was wanting them to demonstrate. It had been fun making sure she showed she’s everything Askala needs. Kind. Smart. Determined to see her father’s vision thrive.
And now here she is. They all are.
Sam grips Hawk’s hand, excitement feeling like bubbles in her gut. She pushes up to whisper. “Even the gastric folds of my stomach are quivering!”
Hawk glances back at her, rolling his hazel eyes. “You know that sounds kinda gross, don’t you?”
Sam wrinkles her nose. “You can’t tell me yours aren’t flipping out right now.”
He studies her for long moments, and Sam wonders what he’s thinking. She recognizes the anticipation that mirrors hers, then finds the apprehension she knows is much more than the nervousness they’re all experiencing. It’s because Hawk isn’t sure whether he’s scared he’ll fail…or pass. She’s never been able to figure out what ties Hawk so strongly to Askala, but it’s one question she hasn’t asked.