Chapter 6: Thunder

Last year, two trainees who had succeeded in completing all the trials had been rejected by the rheas. Scarlett had never seen the girls again, but Mimbi told her that one of them became a starwatcher. Everyone said there was no shame in being rejected by a rhea, that they had their ways and they knew best. But it said something of you if the birds didn’t want you. That there was something soft or weak in you that the rheas couldn’t ignore, and made them silently tell you that you were not enough to become a warrior.

The High Chieftess appeared on her black and grey rhea, which looked battle-worn and tough like its rider. A thick scar fell from its forehead to its beak.  The bird moved with long and elegant strides, and behind it, at least twenty rheas followed. They moved in unison, like a small cloud of black, grey, and white feathers.

Scarlett had read of ancient times where men and women would be introduced to each other in formal, structured gathe