Updraft: Update 4
Spoilers ahead!
I’m back on the road for my commute so I have another update on Updraft by Fran Wilde. I work from home on Mondays and Tuesdays, so I only commute on the other days of the week, hence the gap.
Enough about my commute though, let’s get to the book. I left off in the middle of Kirit’s wing-test, specially the group flight portion. When I left off, Kirit and her group of students (and a couple of volunteer guards to add to the number) had completed the outbound part of the test, retrieving a flag from a tower well away from her own. As they take a break on top of the tower, Kirit gets a view of the Spire where the Singers live. Unlike the other towers, it’s surrounded by a straight, solid bone wall. That makes me wonder, is it artificially constructed? It doesn’t seem like Kirit’s people would have the resources to do that. A mystery.
The return flight goes perfectly and Kirit returns to the testing platform knowing that she’s passed all four phases of the wing-test. I wasn’t expecting it to go so smoothly. However, it’s a different story for Nat. The formation he’s in, being led by Kirit’s rival Sidra, is hit by a crosswind and a guard collides with Nat and another student, breaking wings and sending them all plummeting.
The Singer, Wick, saves Nat and someone else saves the other student, but nobody can catch up to the falling guard who disappears into the clouds. There’s a ceremony to honor the guard’s loss in a bit of good world-building, and then it’s announced by the Singers that wing-marks will be given to those who passed the next day. This surprises Kirit as it goes against the tradition of giving out the wing-marks immediately. I don’t know if this is because of the loss or if the Singers, especially Wick, have something up their sleeves. Since the command came from the Singers, nobody questions it. Kirit is excited about passing, but feels sorry for Nat who failed due to the mishap. He blames it on bad luck. Luck is important to Kirit’s people.
On the way back to the Tower, Kirit spots her mother, Ezrait?, waiting for her. Apparently Ezrait has only just returned and missed seeing the wing-test. It’s a happy greeting, but Kirit sees that Ezrait is wearing the punishment bone chip for Kirit’s transgression. Her mother avoids talking about the sky mouth incident, congratulating Kirit and preparing to send a basket to show support for Nat and Ellna. This puts a bit of a distance between Kirit and Ezrait. The subject of Singers comes up, and Erzait asks about the Singer that helped Kirit. Kirit can’t tell her about her conversation with Wick since he commanded her not to, but Ezrarit does get a description of him out of her. Ezrait seems relieved that she doesn’t recognize him. Hmm… something interesting there too.
I leave off at the next morning when the All-Moons festival starts and Kirit puts on her glorious new wings for the first time. She’s very happy–she passed her flight-test, she’s finally able to use her new wings, her mother seems to be assuming that Kirit will start apprenticing with her to be a trader. Makes me think that shake-up is coming soon.
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