Page 98 of The Kingdom of Flames

“You did wonderfully,” she whispered. She had never hunted before, not once.

“A treat, Celestine. In your pocket.” Azure motioned to her.

“Right,” she said. She held the bird high. He was quite heavy. Then she produced a dried mouse from her jacket pocket Azure had given her to wear.

Ferro took the morsel and ate.

“Grab your kill, Final Bride.” Azure watched her.

Celestine bent low, picking up the dead hare. There were puncture marks where Ferro had killed it. A bit of blood dribbled from its nose.

So helpless, so fragile. But when she glanced at Ferro, she felt the unity of the world, and all animals had their place in it.

“I will clean this one, you the next.” Azure held his hand out, and she handed him the dead hare.

“Thank you, brother,” The Lord of the Blue Banners whispered and kissed the dead bunny on the nose. “He is ready, Celestine. Fly him again. We’ll move to the north. Garo waits for us that way, anyway.”

“Let's go.” Celestine was already walking, holding the hawk high. The thrill of the hunt was surprising. It was wondrous to see Ferro do what he was meant to.

Wings are meant to spread, talons to taste blood. It is the order of things.

That order, illustrated so clearly in the vast plains and hills along the realm of the Blue Banner, reassured her.

Celestine’s time with Tristien had been nothing but structure. A choking, suffocating structure. Where the rules arose and fell and changed constantly. Even had she not placed the circlet upon him, her world would have become smaller and smaller.

Yet there was nothing but space here on the plains of Azure’s lands. A freedom that was as vast as the sky above her each day. It was easy to lose yourself here. But Azure drew her forth. There were no guards. He often walked without even his sword. But she had never felt safer. They walked the plains to listen to the wind and watch nature. The hare ran and burrowed. The hawk soared and dove, spreading its wings proudly after a kill. Foxes and mice and other creatures moved swiftly and with purpose.

The order of nature, not man or a Lord of Season, reigned here.

Each day, she hunted. Sometimes with Ferro, eventually with a sling or the curved bow of Lord Azure. They drank water from streams. Her bare feet grew strong and calloused among the grasses.

In the mornings, she dressed near Azure, her shame and timidity gone now. Because there was security when he was close. For some reason, she knew no other Lord would dare invade his beautiful lands. He was not here to teach her about his wants and desires or prove himself.

Azure was bent on showing her the vast sky above them, the swirling grasses, and the silence of no words.

Garo broke down the bricks and stones encased around her emaciated soul. Something was gained with each hare she ate, mouse, squirrel, or fish from the stream. It had no name, no explanation. The soul and body she walked in would never return to what it was. The scars would heal and fade, but the trace of them would always be upon her flesh.

“There is no choice but to return to what we were,” Azure said one evening as they tossed their wooden bowls into the fire. “But a man can starve to death staring at what he once was or what happened to him.”

“What do we do, then?” Celestine asked.

“We look but do not stare. We either move or we wither. Each morning, we must face the brutality of the vast sky. Only walking under it saves us. Man is a cursed creature, but the sky gives us the gift of healing our own folly.”

Celestine nodded. Their bowls burned in the fire. She set about carving her next one for tomorrow. She never asked why they burned their bowls. Perhaps it was to serve a single purpose and move on. To see the futility of holding onto old things. Perhaps it was something to do. And that was reason enough.

The kind eyes of Lord Azure watched her daily. But it was Garo that brought her to herself.

One morning, after Celestine brushed the young colt, a new allowance the horse made, Azure said it was time.

“You have learned the earth. You have come closer to him. The two of you have embraced one another, and he eats from your palm the treats you pluck from my lands. He wants to be ridden. Do you feel it?”

Celestine was staring into Garo’s flesh, brushing him. “I do…”

“But you are afraid.”

“I am,” Celestine answered. This was the nature of their conversations. A pure truthfulness, a forthrightness. No games, no maze to enter and leave. Azure encouraged her to speak truthfully. What she wanted, what she didn’t. What she needed.

For Celestine, born in the Painted Realm, women were taught to be what was needed. Proper, polite, and ready to serve. The unmarried helped around the house and kept themselves chaste. The wedded entered into a lifelong union with their husbands.

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