Awakenings (Restoration, Book 1)

A surprising fantasy about friendship, trust, and restoration. Nearly a millennium ago the Speakers were murdered...and their relics disappeared. But now awakenings stir the land. Xari Oth'ilin, an orphan child of two peoples, flees the prejudice in the orphanage to pursue her destiny. But it isn't until the Otter relic falls out of the sky that she learns she has been specially chosen as one of the twelve elite, long-forgotten group of "protectors" known as the Speakers. Fluttermouse, a headstrong, accident-prone fairy, is tired of being treated like a sprout. As she stubbornly pursues adventure and fame, she'll meet headfirst with more trouble than even she could dream up. Anathriel Lelaine, a snobbish handmaiden, only imagines life inside her secluded mountaintop kingdom-until she's thrust into a dangerous liaison with Immen, the leader of the eagle riders. Bound together by chance, magic, and a desperate flight from the evil Mortén, they all discover that anything can happen....