Free Compis: Five Tribes by Kate Copeseeley

slipping from around her neck. She twined her fingers with his and brushed her lips across one of the knuckles. He sighed, and brushed his thumb across her mouth.
    “Oh, this is such a mistake,” he said, without thinking.
    She pulled back, frowning. “Well, I thought you were enjoying yourself, but I see I was mistaken.”
    “Nikka...”
    “No, it's fine. I don't know why I wasted my time coming out here with you. I don't know why I was looking forward to it.” She stood up, jostling the remainder of the juice in her cup. He stood, as well, in one quick motion.
    “Nikka, wait, please,” he said, taking hold of her arm. She paused and he turned her toward him. His left hand grabbed her other arm with a light touch and he pulled her closer, looking down at her irritated face.
    “This is a mistake for me, because when I'm with you all I can think about is you, not the tribe you will be Initiated into in mere days. I forget that I'm Ignis and my future is most likely written for me. I'm worried about how I'm going to feel when I see you up on that stage and your robe turns any color but gold.
    “I'm an idiot for getting all caught up in you, your smell, your smile, your soft curls,” he said, moving them and tipping her head back in the process.
    He leaned down as she reached up, and they met in another kiss. It was even better this time, because he knew she was feeling what he was.
    Hold yourself together, Zyan , he told himself, this is only a fling. It is nothing and it has no future.
    When they parted again, he ignored his brain, which was still screaming at him to LET GO, and he pulled Nikka in to his chest and held her, feeling something akin to what he felt about Alea—protective—and rested his chin on her head. They stood that way for a few minutes, Zyander enjoyed the smell of her hair, flowery and light, then he let her go, smiling down at her with a smile that he hoped said, “I am interested in you, but not for longer than this gathering.”
    She frowned again, stepping back.
    “I see, and I suppose I understand. This will be an entertaining week, but that is all it can be,” she said.
    He took her hand, drawing her outside and under a nearby tree.
    “It's probably safer out here,” he said with a sheepish smile. He hated to be the type of person she couldn't be alone with, but the truth was, he lost his head around her.
    They sat in front of the tree, its wide trunk comfortably supporting both of them, as long as Nikka was snuggled against his shoulder. She settled against him without apology.
    “If we only have a week,” she said and left the rest of her sentence unspoken. “Tell me something of your life.”
    Zyander slid his arm to hold her and wrapped a curl around his finger, staring at it for a moment. It was hard to think of something that wasn't depressing.
    “My home has been in my family for many years. It was built long before the sickness came, and once many generations used to live there. My father tells me that some time ago, our house was filled with parents and grandparents and great grand parents and great great great great grandparents. We are a long lived tribe, like the Sanguis. And unlike the Aeris, we tend to breed true, even now, as you will see.
    “This is all to say, our house is large, our land is large and bleeds into the forest around it. In some places, our land runs into Napalin, the Great Forest. And this is what I will tell you about.
    “When I was first Inducted into my tribe, I would sit with my father in our family workshop and try for hours to make the most basic spells work, but my powers are weak. I could never complete a task, because I would use up all the energy that I had to work with. As I said before, this was when I was new to the secrets of my tribe, so I had little control over the overwhelming frustrations I suffered while trying to work spells. At one point, I threw down the moonstone I was working on, and ran from the house out into the