Slowly her eyelids began to droop, and the wings of her latest bird fell too, as she forgot to lift them after she made her final fold. I swept my hand over her eyes, the way my mother did to help me sleep.
I’d never had a sister, but if I had, I would have wished for one like Megari.
I kissed her forehead and laid her on my bed. While she slept, I rested my head against the window and searched the sky for the constellation of the Crane, but there were too many clouds. So I counted the strikes of lightning to six—one for each brother. My eyelids closed by the time I reached Hasho.
When I woke, my blanket was spread neatly over my body, covering even my feet.
Megari loomed over me, fully dressed.
“The storm’s over!” she declared, her moon lute bouncing against her back. “Wake up! It’s already past breakfast.”
Once I rolled to my side, she opened the windows. The stormwasover, but battered clouds still hung in the sky, gray and torn.
“Look, look what survived the blizzard!” she said, pointing toward a patch of pink-blossomed trees by the river. I had to squint to see them, but once I did, they popped out against the landscape of melting snow. “See that? Plum blossoms! I’ll bet they just bloomed—the thunderstorm must have been lucky after all. Let’s go, Lina. It isn’t far—just outside Iro, down the hill. We could be back before lunch.”
My head tilted with caution.What about your mother?
“We can’t tell Mama. She’ll say no because it’s too cold, that there’s assassins and wolves and a thousand other reasons—”
I hesitated.Wolves?
“We’re not going far out enough for wolves.” Megari laughed at my concern and threw my cloak over my shoulders.
“Come, Lina,” she said, towing me by hand toward the door, “we’ll be the first to see the blossoms. I’ll bring my moon lute and play until my fingers freeze. It’ll be beautifully romantic.”
I touched her braids. Only a few months ago, I’d been just like her. Young, and wanting to treasure every moment because I feared it’d be the last. Impatient, for a year felt like an eternity. Now I felt older than the moon.
Go on,urged Kiki, stretching behind a vase.You could use the excursion.
Will you come?
And stay in your pocket all day?Kiki snorted.I think not.
Megari was still pulling on my sleeve.All right,I mouthed, kicking my satchel under my bed.
“Yes!” she cried, and she let out a squeal that warmed my heart.
Together we found Pao, who let us out of the fortress. We capered down the hill, often losing our balance against the ice. I lost count of how many times we fell on our bottoms and had to pull each other away from freezing puddles. It had been so long since I’d had a carefree moment like this. Megari’s happiness was infectious, and I couldn’t stop smiling.
“I haven’t gone to Iro in months,” Megari said, pointing at the city below. “There’s a road from the castle to Iro, but it’s covered in snow and ice. I hope it clears before the Winter Festival.”
A smattering of soldiers’ camps dappled the hillside below the fortress, but Iro itself was smaller and quieter than I’d imagined. I saw merchants carting goods along the icy roads, and a man selling roasted chestnuts, but the streets, white with snow, boasted little other traffic. No mansions or villas, no outdoor markets or arched bridges or boats rowing along the river. Only a handful of red gates in the watery sun.
It was everything I would have hated as Princess Shiori.
Now I found it idyllic.
I held out my hand to catch the clumps of snow falling from the tree branches. As they melted on my palms, I watched children poke sticks at the frozen river winding through town. The sight of the Baiyun River made me hang back. Had Seryu finally made amends with his grandfather? It had been weeks, and I’d heard nothing from him.
“That’s Rabbit Mountain,” Megari said, pointing at the snow-covered peaks above. “Legend has it that any rabbit who climbs to the top gets to live on the moon with Imurinya. In the spring, the valley has hundreds—thousands—of rabbits. Takkan and I used to try and catch them, but Mama would never let us raise one. She said it would be too much work, and that we’d only be sad if Chiruan made rabbit stew one day.”
She chattered on: “She wouldn’t let us climb to the top either. We tried to drag Zairena with us once when she was visiting, but she loved looking at the rabbits so much we never made it to the top. Who would have guessed she’d become the tiger she is now? I would have invited her today if she were more like her old self. I think she’s happier spinning at her wheel anyway, making those silly threads for the empress.”
Empress consort,I corrected automatically in my head. But yes, I was secretly glad Megari hadn’t invited Zairena.
“Besides, you’re much more fun than her,” said Megari, hooking arms with me. We were nearing the plum trees. “I could see all the rabbits running to you and trying to jump onto your hat, Lina. It must be excellent for keeping out the snow and the sun.”
I smiled, touched by the girl’s cheerfulness.Yes, it is.
