Page 107 of The Kingdom of Flames

That response disappointed Celestine. For all they were, these Lords of Season, perhaps there was much they didn’t understand. She felt no softness or pity for those who preyed upon others.

“We kill them,” Azure finished.

Celestine smiled.

Chapter 23

A Land to be Traveled

They returned to camp in the afternoon, and to her surprise, she had an uninvited guest.

“It seems I have a challenger for your company.” Azure smiled.

Celestine approached Garo and petted his muzzle, before breathing into his nostrils. It was a technique that Azure had shown her. She felt closely bound with him. She was his rider. He was her mount. A choice—a partnership. Like everything in this realm of the Blue Banners.

“This camp has never moved,” Celestine said, touching Garo’s face. “But you have brought me so far.”

It was true. It was a singular truth that she owed not just to Garo.

She turned to Azure. “Thank you. For everything.”

Lord Azure didn’t turn from staring at his armor on the stand. The circlet on his brow, a blue metal that matched the swirling movement of the sky and the clouds within it. He reached out, touching his ornate knight’s armor.

“What you needed was always within you.”

“It’s time to leave,” Celestine said. It wasn’t a question. She felt it. The restlessness, the need to move, to run, to be seen.

“Being with Garo has healed much, but the final step is walking into sunlight. Sunlight means people. Abusers isolate and separate. The flower dies without its family nearby.”

“I take it there are no cut flowers in your realm?” Celestine joked.

Azure turned, coming towards her. His arms were around her, one hand caressing her cheek. His eyes, beautiful and blue, stared into hers.

They changed. They changed with the sky. They were brown for the earth, and now it’s time to leave.

“There is one, but I keep it close.” Azure bent and kissed her, and like every time, he felt like wind and sunlight. Like a wall broken loose and banished, the rubble spread amongst the proud and defiant sky.

“To Skye,” Celestine said. “To the tourney. Show me your cities, your people.”

“As you wish,” Azure whispered. His hand slid along her back. “It is time to be seen.”

That afternoon, they broke down camp. She saw Azure change from his nomadic linen and soft leather to the proud plate of a knight. There was a saddle for Garo that he showed her how to properly fit. Unlike others of her own realm, this was a simple sheepskin pad with two thin stirrups, not the heavy tack of a warhorse. Garo took to the bridle easily. Then they mounted for their journey to Skye.

“May I?” Celestine reached out to his spear-standard. There was a slot for it on her own saddle. “I would bear your standard, lover.”

Azure smiled, handing it over to her.

“It is not mine, Celestine.”

She looked up, seeing the gift. Azure had made her her own banner. His was a blue standard, the emblem of a hawk upon it in white.

Hers was blue, with a brilliant white star stitched in diamonds. It was what he sewed in the evenings, she saw now. She had always thought he was working on his own, modifying it.

All he has ever wanted from me is to hold my own banner and win for myself, no other.

Celestine’s eyes watered as they trotted, the two pack horses trailing behind them. The plain turned into a gallop as they turned into the valley, a faster way to travel than the weeks of walking barefoot. They did not speak. She did not tell him what this banner meant to her, her own declaration. Proud, high.

Seen.

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