Descent
Novella 21,240 words Recommended by 2 award/anthology sources
"The maadiregi at the temple of the talking drum say that there is a word in old Sauúti, the high language of our ancestors, that when spoken backwards, allows the speaker to fly. To take to the sky like a bird, unshackled from the persistent pull that Órino-Rin’s gravity exerts on us all."
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence
Quasar links out; the story lives on Clarkesworld, where the author gets the click.