“Without these,” he said, holding up the first medallion, “we’d be dead. Gone. All five peoples extinct, yah?” Marasi nodded. “And he taught you this? The Sovereign?” “Sure did. Saved us, bless him. Taught us that the Metalborn were pieces of God, each one of them, though we didn’t have any of those at first. He gave us devices, and started the Firemothers and Fire-fathers, who live to fill these medallions so the rest of us may leave our homes and survive in this too-cold world.
