FSE

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Chapter 2

One hundred and seventeen Tenderfeet had entered the forest that night. Seventy-eight Tenderfeet returned by the next morning.

Many had returned to the hill as soon as they had captured their Hearts, eager to show their accomplishment to their friends, family, and their People. There was just the faintest stripe of gray on the far eastern horizon as the last of the successful hunters walked calmly out of the woods, their jars in hand, glowing brightly with the light of their Hearts.

Adain found himself leaving the undergrowth near Pony-girl, and they smiled at each other as they walked up the hill toward the cheering throng. Inside their jars their Hearts pressed up against the glass, as if to examine each other.

"Can you talk to the other Hearts?" Adain whispered quietly.

Of course, Fenjine answered. She says she is very happy with her Human.

Adain chuckled, and Pony-girl, who could not hear the exchange, gave him an awkward grin and flushed slightly, holding her jar a little closer.

At the top of the hill, Adain's mother and father rushed forward, his father lifting him into the air and spinning around in celebration, and his mother crying with happiness and relief. The reunion was fleeting; there was enough time for his parents to kiss him on both cheeks, which he dutifully wiped off with the back of his hand with a laugh, and time for his mother to give him one last emotional hug as she pressed a bundle into his arms and his father gave him a gentle shove toward a massive tent.

All over the hilltop the scene was repeating itself. Though the sun was just beginning to tinge the sky pink and soft, wispy clouds were catching the first rays of light, the crowd was ablaze with Hearts; the Tenderfeet clasped theirs to their chests in their stoppered jars, while those of their parents and the others of the People danced in excitement, weaving in and out of the crowd with abandon, pausing here and there to view one of the newly captured, then zipping off to some other curiosity. Those with full jars were beginning to separate themselves, making their way to the tent where they would learn what the rest of the year would hold for them.

Across the hilltop the scene was the same... except in one place. At the edge of the crowd, one group stood staring into the forest, weeping, waiting. The parents of those Tenders who had not returned watched the woods in dread, occasionally glancing toward the east and the brightening sky. Every breath of wind that rustled the leaves brought a gasp of hope, and when no one emerged, renewed sobs. Their Hearts hovered by their shoulders, motionless, keeping the vigil with their Humans. Behind them, from within the larger crowd of celebrants, a group of Heartsworn--the spiritual leaders of the People--silently came together and, as the first sliver of the sun flashed to life behind the distant hills and the mourners wailed and screamed as their children's fates were sealed, raised their voices in death songs for the young. As they sang, they herded the parents and siblings toward another tent draped in flowers and straps of leather dyed a solemn black. A funerary tent, erected the night before, because there had never been a year in which it was not needed.

It was a blessing that the crying of the parents and the death songs of the Heartsworn were so loud. It drowned out the screams of the dying Tenders in the forest... those who had survived the night but had not captured their Heart now found the life being drained from them by the black Hearts who had waited for the sunrise.

All Hearts, whether good or evil, honored the Covenant, and the Covenant said that those who failed in capturing a Heart could not live to taint the Land. The black Hearts were more than happy to oblige by seeing that none of the Failed survived.

Within the large tent, the new adults were gathering into groups, chatting happily and holding up their Hearts for each other to see. The Hearts were a variety of shades; some were the cheerful yellow of wildflowers, some the warm glow of honey. Some were almost white, while others were more reserved, a deep, sleepy amber. Theirs was the only light in the tent, and it shone brightly.

Adain quickly spotted Pony-girl, and with a wave, walked over to her. She was sitting in the grass near one wall of the tent, alone but for her Heart. It appeared that they may have been talking, but she gave him a welcoming smile as he approached.

"Am I interrupting?" Adain asked, grinning a little sheepishly and running a nervous hand through his hair, as was his habit. Pony-girl shook her head, and patted the grass in front of her, offering him a place to sit. Adain tucked his jar and the bundle his mother had given him briefly under one arm so he could lower himself to the ground.

"I'm Jacki," she said by way of greeting, holding out a hand to shake. Adain placed his jar and the bundle on the grass in front of him, grasping her hand. She had a firm grip.

"Adain," he answered, and Jacki nodded.

"How long did your hunt take?" she asked.

"Most of the night," Adain admitted, picking up the jar that held Fenjine and placing it on his lap again. "I had a couple of run-ins with red Hearts and... well, it slowed me down a bit."

"Oh my gosh!" Jacki gasped, holding her own jar close. "Were you hurt? How did you escape?"

"I hid from one of them; I was lucky it didn't see me. The other one... I had a bit of help. A lot of help," he said with a weak laugh, holding up his jar.

Aw, thanks! Fenjine's voice echoed in his mind. You didn't have to tell her that! Though the mouse's tone was modest, Adain could feel its appreciation and approval.

"Couldn't make it out there on your own, huh?" a loud voice cut in with a harsh laugh, and the burly boy from the night before dropped down in the grass beside them. Both Adain and Jacki glared at the newcomer, but he ignored their stares. "Name's Maro," he said. Neither of the other two offered their names in return. Maro shrugged, and held up his jar. "Told you I'd get me a strong one. Heart of a cave bear, and only took me an hour to catch him." Inside the jar, the Heart hovered, unmoving, a deep orange. Adain looked at it uncomfortably. It didn't have the warm feeling that the other Hearts in the tent had... it made him feel as if he was staring down a wasp.

_I don't like that one... something about it creeps me out,_Fenjine whispered, and Adain could swear he felt his jar shudder slightly.

"So did you get your pony, pretty girl?" Maro sneered at Jacki, his voice and his bared teeth showing that he definitely did not find her at all pretty.

Jacki rolled her eyes, and patted the jar in her lap. "I caught a bongo," she said airily, giving Maro a look through half-lidded eyes that dared him to say something stupid. Maro quickly took her up on the offer.

"A bongo? Ooooh, an oversized goat, how impressive!" he said loudly, looking over his shoulder to another group of boys who started laughing. "And how about you, tough guy?" Maro turned back and stared at Adain, his eyes challenging. "What magnificent beast did you manage to bag?"

Adain began to understand why some people lied about their Hearts, as he looked down at Fenjine in his glass jar with the leather cap. Everyone wanted to say they had caught the Heart of some animal that was big, was useful, was respected or powerful. As Maro had said the night before, what village Chief had captured the Heart of a grasshopper? Then again, Maro could just as easily be lying. There was no proving that the Heart in his jar was actually a cave bear.

That's when Adain noticed that the string that held the leather cap onto his jar had come loose, and the bit of boot leather had begun to slip to one side. His jar wasn't completely covered.

And Fenjine had not left.

Adain lifted his head and stared Maro in the eye. "I caught a mouse," he said evenly, matching Maro's loud tone.

Maro's eyes flew open, and his mouth gaped wide for several seconds. Slowly he started to laugh; first just a couple of loud guffaws, then full-fledged hysterical laughter. "A MOUSE?" he screamed, looking at his group of friends and pointing at Adain. "Tough Guy here caught a MOUSE!" Maro could hardly breathe he was laughing so hard, and the crowd of boys behind him echoed like a pack of hyenas. One even bent down and pulled up a clump of grass, throwing it at Adain so it fell around him in green rain as the other Tender hooted that Adain should feed it to his little friend.

Wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, Maro stood, holding his side with one hand. "Wooo, there is no way I can compete with you two," he said, spurring a new round of guffaws from the others. "You know, I think I'll leave you mighty hunters here to talk about your grand success. I'll be over here with the others; you know, the ones who caught real animals, not--" he stopped, howling again at his own wit, "food, or pests." Maro turned and walked back to his friends, holding his head and his jar high as they clapped him on the back and continued to point at Adain and Jacki.

Idiot, Fenjine scoffed.

The two Tenders said nothing for a moment, listening to the other group bragging about their wolves, tigers, sharks, and other fierce creatures. Finally Adain broke the silence.

"Um, what is a bongo, exactly?" he asked. "I thought it was a kind of drum."

Jacki chuckled, patting her jar with some affection. "Well, there's that, and it's actually a kind of antelope. They're from Africa, and they're the biggest antelope in the world," she explained. Adain nodded; it was actually a pretty impressive catch. Jacki looked over at Adain's jar with curiosity. "Did you really catch a mouse, or did you just say that to tick him off?"

Adain looked down at his own jar, the lid still slightly open, and Fenjine still glowing brightly inside. "I really caught a mouse," he said calmly, holding the jar up so Jacki could see it better.

Jacki looked inside, staring at the glow through the glass. Then she peeked around the jar, catching Adain's eye. "Well, he'll be easy to feed, won't he?" she said with a small grin.

Adain laughed. "Yeah, I guess he will be," he said with a bit of relief that she wasn't going to laugh at him, or worse, get up and walk away.

"I caught a crow," a voice said quietly. Both of the Tenders looked up to see another girl standing beside them, her jar clasped tightly in her arms. Green eyes looked at them shyly out of her freckled face. "I know that he's not the strongest animal, but he's smart. And very funny."

"Mine's a terrier," another voice spoke up, and a tall, well-built boy strode over to them, sitting down next to Jacki. Seeing him sit, the freckle-faced girl sat as well--then more started walking over.

"I caught a rabbit."

"I caught a deer. It was very young when it was killed."

"I caught an otter!"

Before long, a jumble of Tenderfeet who had all caught Hearts that others might not find so impressive were gathered by the side of the tent, laughing and holding up their jars, exchanging stories of their hunts and swapping names. Adain and Jacki found themselves having a difficult time keeping up with all of the conversations at once, and then Adain felt a small tap on his shoulder. He turned and looked up, to see a smallish boy with thick glasses staring down at him. Adain knew he had to be thirteen--you couldn't go on your Heart Chase at any other age--but he appeared to be no more than eight or nine.

"I caught a bison," the boy said quietly, "but...I think she's sick. I--I don't know what to do." He stammered into silence, holding up his jar. Inside, the Heart had sunk to the glass bottom, and glowed only faintly, a sickly, dark color like shadowed copper. The small boy wiped a tear from his cheek and looked at Adain with desperate eyes.

Adain had no idea what to do; he didn't even know why the boy had chosen him to tell about his sickly Heart.

It's because he knows you are honest; after all, you said you caught a mouse. He trusts you, Fenjine said quietly. Hold me up; let me see her for a minute.

Adain held up his jar, and inside Fenjine pressed himself up against the glass toward the faint glow in the other jar. Both Hearts pulsed at each other for a moment, before Fenjine spoke again.

She is very, very sad, he said in a mournful voice. The boy should take her to see Grandma Fael.

Adain wanted to ask why the bison was sad and if it had anything to do with the boy, but he knew that Fenjine could not answer that. He looked up at the scared Tender again. "What's your name?" Adain asked.

"Cill," the other answered quietly, bringing his jar back into the curl of his arms.

"Cill, you should take your Heart to see Grandma Fael. She's right over there, see?" Adain pointed to where Grandma Fael had entered the tent and was smiling and hugging boys and girls that crowded around her, holding up their jars. "But go quick; she's going to start talking soon. Don't be afraid; you push yourself right to the front of the crowd and show her the problem. She'll help you before she starts."

Cill nodded, and trotted off. Adain watched and sure enough, tiny Cill elbowed his way through the throng of other Tenders and grabbed Grandma Fael's sleeve, tugging on it. They talked briefly, Grandma Fael looking into his jar with grave concern. Placing her arm around Cill's shoulders, she led the boy to the other side of the tent where a room had been cordoned off, shooing the others away and letting the flap close behind them.

Nice work, Fenjine's voice said. Fist-bump.

Adain chuckled and knocked the side of the jar, Fenjine giving his tap from the other side.

With Grandma Fael currently occupied, it became obvious to the crowd that there was going to be a bit of a delay before the morning's event. Discussions and laughter began to trickle through the tent again, rising slowly in volume as some of the more boisterous groups bragged loudly and others wondered in unison where they would go after Grandma Fael's speech. But it was not long before it became evident that not all of the Tenders gathered were in good spirits.

Adain, Jacki, and the others who had sat near them all turned as one, weaving their heads back and forth to see around the crowd as they tried to make out the scene on the opposite side of the tent. Adain finally stood, his curiosity driving him to shoulder his way through to a better viewing spot.

Two girls were standing nose to nose, screaming at each other. One was tall, with perfect hair, perfect clothes, and that perfect attitude that told the world that she was never, ever, to be denied anything. Behind her stood a cluster of clones; the "in crowd", Adain had once heard such cliques called. All of them were looking down their noses and sniffing disdainfully at the second girl. She was overweight, with a bit of a snub nose, and she was yelling with all her might at Miss Tall and Perfect, who gave it right back.

"Stop lying! You did not catch the Heart of a unicorn!" Tall and Perfect screamed, with a stamp of one foot that set her earrings jingling against her thick black hair. "You can't catch what does not exist!"

"I did too catch a unicorn, and you can't say they never existed!" Snub-nose bellowed back, her pig-tails shaking in rage. "Just because you haven't seen one doesn't mean they aren't there! They're in all the books! They were in old _history_books!"

Tall and Perfect rolled her eyes, picking some imaginary fleck of dirt from under her manicured nails and wiping them on one of the snow-white fur trims on her leather skirt. "Prove it," she hissed through bared teeth, giving Snub-nose a cat-like grin. "Prove you caught a unicorn."

Snub-nose straightened up with a huff. "You know I can't prove it! No one can prove what animal's Heart they captured, not even you. And I say I caught a unicorn, which is a lot better than your stupid... your stupid fish."

The brown eyes in Tall and Perfect's face grew dark. "Dolphin," she growled. "And don't you forget it, you fat blob of nothing. All the good Hearts find people like me, not worthless little runts like you."

With a hot flush racing up her neck to her pudgy cheeks, Snub-nose shrieked in Tall and Perfect's face, "Well, if you got an animal that you deserve, that's not a dolphin at all! It's probably a worm! Or a slug!"

Tucking her jar under her arm, Tall and Perfect gave Snub-nose a fierce shove, sending the shorter girl stumbling backward, finally to fall on her backside. Unthinking, the girl put her hands out to catch herself and...

CRASH.

As one, the Tenders in the tent gasped, looking at the broken jar on the ground. Though the tent had been erected over a thick patch of grass on the hillside, the jar had landed on one of the few stones, and had cracked into several pieces. The Heart that had been inside hovered above the shattered glass uncertainly.

Tall and Perfect snorted, turning on one heel back to her friends with a curt, "Klutz," stated scornfully over her shoulder.

Jacki had pushed forward to stand next to Adain, and had seen the whole thing. The two looked at each other. To make someone else drop their jar meant exile, but that only applied to before the Heart Chase, as far as they knew. What was going to happen now? They turned toward the closed off room where the Tenders could hear Grandma Fael calling out to find out what happened, but before anyone could answer, there was a loud scream, followed by a POP that echoed through the tent.

Tall and Perfect stood frozen in place, holding her now empty jar. The Heart she had captured had forced the lid off of its own accord, and now hovered in front of her face, flashing brightly. The girl blinked a couple of times, and then regained her regal composure.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" she yelled. "I captured you fair and square, now GET BACK IN YOUR JAR!"

The Heart flashed once, then grew darker, but remained in place, staring her down.

With an irritated curse, Tall and Perfect shoved her jar into the arms of one of her friends, who took it more out of instinct and shock than any desire to help. Whipping back to the free Heart, Tall and Perfect continued her tirade. "You are MINE. You do what I SAY, and you do it WHEN I SAY IT. Now get back in your jar before I make you get back in there!"

The Heart grew darker, inching closer to the raging girl's face. With a howl that only a spoiled girl who did not get her way could make, Tall and Perfect lunged forward and grabbed the Heart with both her hands, her face splitting into a wicked grin of glee as she easily caught it.

ZAP! The electrical crack could be heard even over the shocked cries of the other Tenders at Tall and Perfect's audacity. The girl screamed, her hands flying apart, the Heart free again. It flashed rapidly in agitation, zipping once around the Tender to hover again in front of her.

"How dare you!" Tall and Perfect shrieked, and before anyone could stop her, dealt the Heart a swift backhand that sent it flying across the tent. It hit the leather wall of the partitioned room with a soft thud just as Grandma Fael stepped out, Cill looking shyly out from behind her. The elderly woman took one look at the Heart, which had righted itself and was shaking with rage, and then looked to the girl standing arrogantly at the other side of the tent, her head high and her eyes flashing in righteous defiance. But now Tall and Perfect stood alone; all of her friends and everyone else had backed as far away from her as possible, including Snub-nose, who was crab-crawling backwards as fast as her arms and legs could carry her, her Heart following.

Tall and Perfect's Heart stayed motionless, pulsing slowly, and with each flash of light it grew a little darker, a little less gold. Inside their jars the other Hearts started banging around in a frenzy, and the crowd of Tenders raced to the edges of the tent to get as far away as possible from the Heart that was rapidly turning a sanguine shade of red.

"No, that is not the answer," Grandma Fael said calmly, holding her hand up beside the loose Heart to calm it. "You know what happens now. There is no need for you to get revenge." The Heart continued to pulse an angry red, but flickers of gold started to return as Grandma Fael stepped to the center of the tent.

"Karisha. Come here."

Tall and Perfect, or Karisha, as she was apparently named, looked back at her friends for support, but none would even look at her. As she looked around the tent, and finally to Grandma Fael, it slowly began to dawn on her that she was in trouble. And the look on her face quickly revealed that she was no stranger to getting herself out of it.

"It was her fault," she bellowed, flinging her arm out and pointing at Snub-nose, who cowered back slightly. "It was that lying little pig's fault, saying she caught a unicorn. I mean, how_stupid_ can you be? And then the fat cow tripped and dropped her jar. You all saw it! She's such a klutz! And then, with all the ruckus over her being so stupid, my jar opened and my Heart fell out, and it wouldn't listen when I told it to get back in its jar. So make it come back now," she demanded, grabbing her empty jar from the quaking girl that still held it and thrusting it toward Grandma Fael.

Grandma Fael said nothing, simply looking evenly at Karisha with one raised eyebrow and her arms folded. Karisha's Heart too remained motionless, waiting.

Karisha sighed in disgust. "What is the holdup? Make it get back in the jar! It's mine! I caught it!" She held up the jar again, and everyone in the tent stared at her.

Grandma Fael waited several moments and spoke again. "Karisha. Come here."

Karisha did no such thing, throwing her empty jar to the ground--it did not break, just bounced and rolled to the side--and folded her arms with a huff. "Someone go get my dad. He'll fix this, and he'll fix you for not making my Heart obey me." Not a soul moved. Karisha whirled to her group of friends, who backed up even further against the wall of the tent, threatening to collapse it. "You heard me! Sarine, go get my dad. NOW." The girl called Sarine turned away, hiding behind her blonde hair and the shoulder of one of the other girls. Karisha's jaw dropped, shocked that her bossing would get her nowhere.

"Karisha!" Grandma Fael said in a raised, strong voice. "That is enough! You know the Covenant. Your Heart has left you of its own accord; it deems you not worthy to take your place among the People. You are one of the Failed, and you have no place here. Leave." The Heart that had been captured by Karisha flashed once in vehement agreement, finally beginning to lose its red hue and return to its original brilliant gold.

Finally, Karisha's dire situation began to sink in. "But... but... it escaped! It didn't leave me--it escaped! Make it come back!" She was no longer yelling, but pleading, with tears rolling down her face.

Arms still folded, Grandma Fael turned toward the Heart. "You heard her, she says you escaped by accident. Do you want to go back to her?"

The Heart slowly floated toward Karisha, who cried out in happiness and relief, picking up her jar and holding it out again. But the Heart stopped out of her reach, flashed one more intense blast of angry red at her, and then at a slow, deliberate pace, floated out of the tent. "Noooooooo..." Karisha wailed, running after it, her cries turning into screams of terror as two large men met her at the front flap of the tent. "No! Daddy! Save me, Daddy! It's not my fault!" she shrieked, backing away from the men, but they grabbed her arms and held her tight, forcing her to stand before Grandma Fael, who took the jar away from Karisha and set it on the grass again.

The head of the Heartsworn stared at Karisha coldly. "Karisha, your Heart has left you. Even given another chance to forgive you, it saw nothing in you worth forgiving. A person with no Heart has no place with the People or with the Land. Leave. Go and meet your fate."

The Tender was pulled bodily from the tent by the two men, screaming and kicking, crying for her parents who, when they saw her leaving without her Heart, turned their backs to her, hiding their tears. Grandma Fael lowered the tent flap so the assembled youngsters could not see what happened. They could only hear her wails fading in the distance.

"Who was the second one in this incident?" the Heartsworn asked, and again the crowd moved, parting away from Snub-nose, who still sat on the ground, crying heavily.

"She pushed me, Grandma! She pushed me and my jar broke and my Heart fell out!"

"Why did she push you?" Grandma Fael asked without inflection, kneeling down and staring evenly at the girl.

"Because... because I lied. I said I caught a unicorn. I just wanted those girls to like me!" she sobbed, wiping her runny nose on her arm.

Grandma Fael nodded, and turned to the Heart that remained hovering nearby. "So Seeci lied about you to be popular," she said to the Heart, which dimmed a little in response. "What are you going to do about it?"

The Heart paused, and then floated in front of Seeci's face. "I'm so sorry!" she wailed. "I'm sorry I lied about what you are!" Seeci looked around the tent and cried out to everyone, "I caught a turtle, okay? My Heart is a turtle! I said it was a unicorn because... because..." she broke down in tears again, burying her face in her arms.

Grandma Fael and the Heart looked at one another, and the Heart moved away to hover over Karisha's abandoned jar. The old woman picked it up, and the Heart floated into it, waiting patiently while the lid was found and capped. With the Heart resealed in a container, Grandma Fael walked back to Seeci and tapped her on the shoulder. The girl looked up and gasped, crying out in relief as she grabbed the jar and clasped it to her chest. "I mean it," she said quietly, rocking it back and forth. "I'm sorry. I'll never lie about you again."

Why didn't she just come hang out with us if the other girls didn't like her? Fenjine asked curiously. Aren't we good enough for her?

"I bet we are now," Adain whispered. "Some people just want to be popular no matter what, but I think she just learned that sometimes the cost is too high."

Hmmph, those girls were jerks anyway. And that snotty one? That was no dolphin--that was an alley cat.

"You're not supposed to tell me that!" Adain hissed, looking around to make sure no one heard them, even though he knew no one could hear Fenjine anyway.

Oops, Fenjine said with fake regret. Anyway, I didn't tell you about what anyone had for a Heart anyway since that primped-up prissy doesn't have one any more, does she?

Adain said nothing to that. Yes, it was true. But it also meant that as the rest of the Tenders resettled to sit waiting for Grandma Fael to finish comforting Seeci, Karisha was somewhere out there going to her death. It was not something he wanted to think about.

There was a nudge on his knee, and he realized that Cill, the small boy with the sick bison, had taken a seat next to him. "Talking to Grandma Fael was a good idea," he said, looking a bit more relaxed. "She helped me talk to my Heart. She is very sad because she misses her calf. She hoped that she would find it with the other captured Hearts, but it's not here."

"What are you going to do for her?" Adain asked.

"Well, I offered to let her go so she could look for her little one..." the boy said quietly. Adain's eyes widened, because by the Covenant, that would have meant that Cill would have had to leave as well. "But she decided to stay; she said she couldn't let me die for her loss. So we're going to look for her calf together." Cill gave the jar in his lap a small smile, and the dark Heart inside glowed faintly, but warmly, in recognition.

"That's great!" Adain whispered, clapping the boy on the back as all heads began to turn toward the center of the tent. The moment they had been waiting for had finally arrived. Grandma Fael was now going to tell them what the next year would bring, and how their lives depended on what they and their Hearts did in the coming seasons.