The gods speak in signs. It could be a leaf falling in summer, the cry of a dying animal, or the ripple of a breeze over smooth water. It could be smoke spreading across the ground, a gap in the clouds, or the flight of a bird. But one day the gods sent a thunderstorm. It was a severe thunderstorm, a thunderstorm that will be remembered, even though people did not call this year the year of the thunderstorm. Instead, they called it the Year of the Coming of the Stranger. The Stranger came to Ratharryn on the day of a thunderstorm. It was a summer day, the same day Saban was almost killed by his half-brother. The gods did not speak that day. They screamed shrilly.