Free Legends of the Saloli: Approaching Storm by Adam Bolander

the thing in the bush. When he finished, Rust did not look happy, “Are you sure you saw all of this?” he asked.
     
    “ What, you think I imagined it?” Blaze protested.
     
    “ You could have been asleep the whole time. You may have dreamt it.”
     
    “ I did not dream it, I know what I saw.”
     
    “ Blaze, I assure you, Razor may be a bit rebellious, but he’s just as loyal to Icefire as you or me.”
     
    “ I know what I saw.” Blaze insisted.
     
    “ Blaze, don’t argue with your chief,” Slicer instructed.
     
    Seething with frustration, Blaze kept his mouth shut.
     
    “ Thank you for listening, Rust,” Slicer said.
     
    “ Any time, Slicer, any time,” Rust answered, turning to speak with another saloli.
     

     
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    “ Okay, Blaze, today I’m going to teach you a very useful technique. It is something a mentor always teaches his trainee when he thinks he is ready,” Slicer said. He and Blaze were back at Acorn Place again. This time Blaze had managed to find the way here all by himself. Slicer had been right, once he had managed to find the first landmark, the rest just came back to him. “Today I’m going to teach you to see without using your eyes.”
     
    “ Whoa, seriously?” Blaze asked, already impressed.
     
    “ Oh yes, I’m very serious. First, I’ll give you a demonstration. I’ll close my eyes, and you go hide. I’ll give you thirty seconds.” He closed his eyes. Blaze scampered off, and made straight for the nearest tree. Digging his claws into the bark, he scurried all the way to the top and went out to the far edge of the topmost branch, where he could watch Slicer. After the allotted time ran out, Slicer slowly turned in a circle, stopping when he faced the direction Blaze had gone. He slowly came to the same tree Blaze was in. Then he began to climb all the way to the top. As he began to make his way across the branch where Blaze was standing, Blaze saw that he still had his eyes closed! He stopped right in front of the young saloli. “Hello, Blaze,” Slicer said, smiling. His eyes were still closed.
     
    “ How did you do that?” Blaze asked, unable to explain what he had just seen.
     
    “ With my nose. Come down out of the tree with me and I’ll explain.” Once they were down on the ground again, Slicer turned to Blaze and said, “All right, close your eyes,” Blaze did, “Now inhale through your nose, deeply.” Blaze did, and almost gasped from surprise. Even with his eyes closed, he could tell exactly where Slicer was. He wasn’t sure how he knew it was his mentor he smelled, there were hundreds of saloli scents around here, but the scent just somehow said “Slicer” to him.
     
    “ What do you smell?” his mentor asked.
     
    “ I smell you.” Blaze responded, though smell didn’t seem quite the right word for it. Seeing with his eyes closed. That’s what Slicer had called it. That described it better than anything else, Blaze decided.
     
    “ What else do you smell?” Slicer continued. Again, Blaze inhaled, concentrating harder now. He could still smell Slicer, but he found he could also smell where Slicer had been. As if he had left a scent trail behind him wherever he had gone, which he had, Blaze told himself. Turning around, he smelled Slicer’s scent going all the way up the tree, and down again. There was something else there, too, another scent that Blaze couldn’t quite place.
     
    “ What’s that other smell?” he asked Slicer.
     
    “ That’s your scent,” the old saloli explained, “You left it as you went up and down the tree, just like I did.”
     
    “ This is amazing!” Blaze exclaimed, “Can every saloli do this?” Slicer nodded. “How come I didn’t know I could do this before?”
     
    “ Because you hadn’t been trained to use it, yet. You were so used to it being there that you never even noticed it. Now, keep your eyes closed and see if you can find me with just your nose. Give me thirty