shm'Ahnmik'nesera
The story continues, nineteen years after Snakecharm ends.
Nicias, the protagonist of Falcondance, is the son of two characters we met long ago. More to the point, he is the son of two falcons. Though he was raised among avians and serpiente, he isn't either. He has a falcon's strengths: perfect recall, speed greater than a wyvern's, stamina beyond that of any wolf… and magic, which wakes in him when he is nineteen years old. He also has a falcon's weaknesses: susceptibility to shm'Ecl, a formless enemy that is more than capable of destroying him unless he returns to the falcon city that exiled his parents as criminals and learns to control his magic. After that, he will return home.
If he can.
Origin of the Story:
Falcondance was not the third book of the Kiesha'ra - despite all evidence to the contrary. It was originally supposed to be the fourth. I had already started Wolfcry, which was supposed to be the final book of the series, but half-way through Wolfcry the handful of chapters that would become Falcondance decided that they really had to come first. Nicias Silvermead had some important things to say.
Most of FD was written during my first semester of college. Why is this relevant? Nicias likes to narrate between two and five in the morning, for one, and those are before-bed college hours. More importantly, I somehow ended up taking three philosophy courses. Okay, only one of them was actually in the philosophy department (Intro to Ethics), but the comparative literature ("Good and Evil East-West") class wasn't really a stretch. Too much thinking, too many late nights, way too much Oregon Chai, and you get characters like Darien who insist they can't talk to you because you're functionally illiterate and need to learn a completely new language in order to communicate at all.
Well!
Anyone who has read Snakecharm could probably have guessed that the falcons were not finished playing their part in this story. Too many questions remained unanswered, such as what crime Kel had committed- a crime the Empress had stripped from her mind before allowing her to continue living among avians. Anjay Cobriana's trip to Ahnmik was referenced in Snakecharm, but Syfka hadn't had any desire to share the whole story. Much of Falcondance was simply a matter of answering these questions, and trying not to lose my mind as I dealt with characters like Darien and Hai.
Ahnmik is, among other things, the god who rules over manipulation and deception. On the falcon island, there are few lies, but it is not a crime to mislead, and saying you were misled is no excuse for a crime. Implying the Empress is anything but just and merciful is treason. Words and truths are slippery. Nothing is done for nothing; "because it is right" is reasoning that belongs to Anhamirak, not to the white falcon.
And, as Darien explained to me, on Ahnmik, everyone is a pawn to someone else. Everyone.