"Silence, child!" Immanu snapped. "What do you know about the spirit realms?"
Siamek stepped forward, he who loathed being the center of attention almost as much as Mikhail had, and gestured to the people who vacillated with indecision between the shaman who had, until now, always led them wisely and a thirteen summer girl.
"Let her speak!" Siamek said. "Before he died, Mikhail gave his blessing to anoint Pareesa with his sword. She is his protégé, and every person in this village knows she speaks with his voice!"
The villagers nodded and whispered amongst themselves. They would let her speak. Could she speak? Pareesa gulped at her inadequacy.
“I know that Mikhail treated everybody fairly,” Pareesa spoke gently, her eyes filled with tears. “And that each life was sacred to him, from th
