9,500 YEARS AFTER DISAPPEARANCE
# 1 - 6

Wavedancers # 1 "Search For the True Crown Part One"
The sea-elves celebrate the crowning festival. A storyteller says their ancestors arrived from the sky and met with death from humans. Five fled with an injured preserver. Ausra was lost to the river. The survivors were trapped on the cliffs by a giant maraeva. They jumped into the ocean. Ausra saved them, riding a whale. The Bay of Solitude was their new home. Ausra, the first crown, Livian, Sima, and Desh chose to become like dolphins. The Wavedancers were born. The festival lasts two months. Sleia finds Barmek outside. He feels he should be somewhere else. They swim up the Shoaltail River. Korilla (with octopus arms below the waist) prepares the feast. Cubs Inkbottom and Shoresprout go to Tentus's cave, guardian of knowledge, firstborn, and hermit. They go through the Chamber of Remembrance to his sleep chamber. He says to get Rhialdor. Barmek and Sleia sit and talk. When he was a squirt his mother would disappear. He followed her into a hidden tunnel and found a long-kept secret. Because of him, Brom sent Raenafel away. Sleia says she's back now. She passed all the tests. She's not the same elf Barmek saw then. He wants to search for the true crown. They head off into the night. He can't believe his brother Jormak's behavior. They got an open sending yesterday. Hyfus led them since Brom's death. Jormak said the children of Recognition were taken from them by an unknown power. Brom's daughter was one. She was sent to escape and bring a High One. Jormak's mother had a dream and told him to set forth and bring home two travelers. He returned with a High One, Sydor, and Raenafel. She's actually Winnowill.

Wavedancers # 2 "Search For the True Crown Part Two"
Barmek and Sleia are in the forest at night. Barmek can't keep silent. Raenafel is an imposter. The preserver No-Wing seems to have disappeared. Sydor said it was in the Palace with its own kind. "Raenafel" went before the one who birthed her, her teacher and protector, Kirith, who is now blind. Raenafel asks her to think back. She does and agrees it's truly her. Barmek thinks her blindness should have been a surprise. The Wavedancers are feasting. Raenafel senses trouble between Hyfus and Tilaweed. Jormak says they haven't been right since the loss of their child of Recognition. They wonder about Barmek and Sleia. Rhialdor brings in the next dish. Tentus wants Raenafel and Sydor to visit. They are led to his chamber. He felt sickness when a child of Recognition was about to be taken. He feels it now. The next day, a bear chases Barmek. Sleia pulls him up to a branch. They eat dreamberries and get drunk. Sleia starts hallucinating. Kirith sends to all the Wavedancers. They all come, even Raenafel and Sydor. They need to search. Rhialdor asks Raenafel to restore his lifemate's sight. It began with a dream. She gave birth to twins. Two spiders crawled out and attacked her eyes. She awoke blind. She knew to send Jormak for them. She was given the gift of foresight. Barmek and Sleia attack a bear while still drunk. Barmek holds his knife up as it runs, killing it. They travel the rest of the day and then rest. A large group of ants surround them.

Wavedancers # 3 "Search For the True Crown Part Three"
Sydor and "Raenafel" are in their chamber. Sydor says the missing ones must be found. Jormak enters. There is no sign of Barmek and Sleia. The others want to know why they have this curse. They ask Sydor for help but he has no answers for them. He and Raenafel leave. They must think faster. He starts ranting, angering Winnowill. He sends, unleashing her despair, her searing memories. Suddenly he's confused. He collapses, revealing his instability. He decides he must take control. The tribe shares their grief with Hyfus. He's noticed Tilaweed is so cold about it. She's off watching the sun set, crying. Barmek and Sleia are many leagues inland, swimming up the Shoaltail. Soon they come to the ruins of Blue Mountain, silent testimony to failed ambition. They find pieces of the Great Egg and remains of giant birds. Sleia is bitten by a snake. The numbness begins to spread. Barmek carries her to the forest. At night she falls unconscious. A deer comes to him, then runs off. Water drips on Sleia's face, waking her up. He starts bringing more water. Over a few days she regains her strength and they can continue. After more days pass they can see the frozen mountains to the north. Sleia becomes delusional, thinking Barmek wants to kill her. She attacks him and he fights back. She pushes him off a cliff and runs into the night screaming, "Freedom!" She runs until she collapses. She awakes to No-Wing spitting wrapstuff. It takes her to a bundle in a cliff face.

Wavedancers # 4 "Search For the True Crown Part Four"
Brom and Kirith help his lifemate Ailsa give birth. There's so much pain and birth-blood. It's the curse that threatens to obliterate any child born of Recognition. The Wavedancers mourn, knowing that the child will be taken. Kirith takes the child up for her first breath. She returns and Ailsa is dead. She's to tell the others the child is also dead. He performs the death ritual and returns Ailsa to the sea. He takes Raenafel to a hidden cave, where she grows up with the help of Brom, Kirith, and No-Wing. She's taught about Recognition and soul names. One day Barmek follows his mother and discovers the secret. Raenafel gets his soul name and it is with her always. Raenafel must go into hiding. Brom tells the truth to the tribe. Raenafel will go to the Palace and return with a High One. The present: Sleia suddenly remembers Barmek and finds him at the bottom of the cliff. She carries him back. No-Wing says Raenafel has healing power. She carries Raenafel into the water and unwraps her. She brings Barmek, also wrapped, into the water and frees him. Raenafel rises out of the water. Barmek blacks out. The knowing part of him, his dreamspeak, takes him back to when choices were clear. Raenafel comes to him. He was too young when they Recognized. Not now. They become a buck and a doe and run off. He wakes up. They tell Raenafel about Winnowill, about Kirith's blindness, and about how her father, Brom, died fighting the curse. They don't head for the Palace, No-Wing said it blinked away (Kings of the Broken Wheel). They head home.

Wavedancers # 5 "Search For the True Crown Part Five"
Jormak joins with Winnowill. He gives her his soul name. It's two days before crowning. She says the Palace is a place of blue rocks that shifts into the shape of an egg. They'll leave the world behind while the others sleep eternally. In the Chamber of Remembrance Sydor tells them the Palace is a crystal sphere stained with the blood of the High Ones. It's not how No-Wing described it. All the worlds they went to spoiled High Ones' magic. First children of Recognition were taken, then Brom, and now Barmek and Sleia. Korillia's mother passed through a whirlpool of old magic and her octopus legs were the result. Before, she was happy, but she discovered she's barren. They'll travel among the stars, reunited with spirits of loved ones. Sydor calls to Winnowill. She knows he can't control her. Since Tyldak dropped her on his island he waited patiently as she healed. If he's betrayed she'll pay. Shoresprout wouldn't believe that Inkbottom's sister is Sleia. His father tells him they're both right, she's his half-sister. He goes to tell her but Sydor draws him away. Elsewhere, Sleia tells Raenafel that she and Barmek will be lifemates, they've been together since they were squirts. Raenafel sees a piece of the egg in her hand and says they must go, now. She and Barmek are fighting Recognition sickness. Morning, the eve of the crowning: Rhialdor asks his son Jormak to talk to his mother Kirith. She isn't taking Barmek's loss well. He says she should get over it and walks away. At night they all gather for a sea hunt. Tomorrow Hyfus will hand his duties to "Raenafel," his final duty. She wants Jormak to do it, breaking tradition. She and Sydor will leave them behind, even Jormak. Winnowill rests for the ceremony.

Wavedancers # 6 "Search For the True Crown Part 6"
The sea hunt begins. Sydor is disgusted by them. Inkbottom and Shoresprout catch a large fish. The travelers are homeward bound as a storm approaches. Barmek tells Raenafel that their union would be doomed. At home, only the most succulent catches are kept. Tilaweed remains silent. Inkbottom and Shoresprout are with Tentus in the Chamber of Remembrance. Ausra shaped some who chose to swim like fish. She went away because she couldn't stop the curse of Recognition. Barmek, Sleia, and Raenafel take cover from the storm. When the moons rise the crowning will begin. The storytellers begin. Ausra gives courage to the new ruler, Neama gives compassion, Brom gives determination. Winnowill enters as Barmek, Sleia, and Raenafel arrive. They've come to stop it. Jormak says it's treachery. He attacks Barmek, knocking him unconscious. The true Raenafel heals Kirith's eyes. Kirith yells, "Stop!" She now knows who the true Raenafel is. Sydor acts confused. Raenafel throws her ceremonial trident, cutting his face. She's seen what he's forgotten. She pulls away the curtains in his mind. He is reminded of how the humans welcomed the High Ones with death. He collapses to the floor. The Wavedancers disgust Winnowill, there's no fight in them. She's tired of their foolishness. She sends, knocking them to the floor. Raenafel punches her and is slammed into a wall. As Winnowill leaves, Jormak follows. Barmek can no longer fight it and goes off with Raenafel. Winnowill leaves Jormak as Barmek and Raenafel finally answer Recognition's call.