sugar berry

[imeanforever]

Near a stream that pours off a high cliff and then snakes away is a garden, carefully tended, and a house, built of wood and stone and transmuted pearl. Fairies weed the plants. One is fixing the roof. A berrybush, hair atangle with spidery branches, is painting gold stripes onto her purple arms.

Comments

[imeanforever]

"I'm a malcontent."

[infinitely_stranger]

"Reasonable."

[imeanforever]

Promise laughs, a little.

[infinitely_stranger]

"I tolerate the Queenscourt well enough. I find that it is very convenient to be able to truthfully say I have no rebellious inclinations. But if the Queen were someone like Thorn or Grandmother Stone, I would not be able to say that."

[imeanforever]

"Thorn likes - he likes his vassals to be so afraid of him that they stop factoring it in to whether they like him or not," Promise murmurs. "It worked really well on Blossom, you saw her. I think she's gotten to the point where it's an absolute fact that displeasing him is bad and has constructed other reasons to think so besides the part where when he's displeased he starts torturing people more."

[infinitely_stranger]

"Not a mental trick I would be able to pull, I don't think. Good thing the Queen got to me first."

[imeanforever]

"I couldn't do it either. He went to a bit of trouble to catch me so he didn't give up immediately but I don't think he considers me a great loss."

[infinitely_stranger]

"I wasn't expecting him to give up someone he particularly treasured."

[imeanforever]

Shiver.

[infinitely_stranger]

[imeanforever]

"Thank you," she says softly.

[infinitely_stranger]

"You're welcome."

[imeanforever]

Now Promise is quiet again.

[infinitely_stranger]

So is Arcane. Quiet appears to be Arcane's default state.

Look at that landscape go.

[imeanforever]

Eventually Promise falls asleep.

She talks in her sleep.

"Petals. Page. Claws, thorn. Harp."

[infinitely_stranger]

Arcane keeps flying. He can fly forever, if there is rain enough to live on, and this trip will go much faster if they never land; therefore he plans to sleep on the wing as soon as Promise wakes up.

[imeanforever]

Promise goes on talking in her sleep for seventeen hours. It is somewhat doubtful that she had been allowed to sleep recently under Thorn's jurisdiction, but sudden freedom may have served as a stimulant.

She wakes up. She startles, but takes stock of the situation and composes herself presently, heart rate calming down.

[infinitely_stranger]

"Hello," says Arcane. "You utter nouns in your sleep."

[imeanforever]

"I know."

[infinitely_stranger]

"I wasn't sure. It seems the sort of thing one could escape knowing."

[imeanforever]

"I didn't use to know, but I've since been told."

[infinitely_stranger]

"When I sleep I just keep going in about the same direction at about the same speed that I was going when I fell asleep. It's convenient on long trips, and if I drift off course I can correct it easily enough with fast-flight when I wake up. I think I will stop fast-flying and go to sleep soon. Do you expect to be able to keep up with me for seven or eight hours if I pick a reasonably sedate pace?"

[imeanforever]

"Mm - I think so. I haven't flown for a very long time in - a very long time. If I need to wake you up how should I do that?"

[infinitely_stranger]

"Saying 'Arcane, wake up' is a fairly reliable method, and if that doesn't work and you urgently need my attention, grab the edge of a wing - you won't damage them that way, but it's very startling."

[imeanforever]

"Okay."