In The Name of Love

After a couple of weeks at Court, Kai is finally certain that he’s seen all of Adelhyod’s courtyards. He had expected that they would all be more or less the same, but to his surprise and delight, each has its own special features; some boast ornate fountains, while others have fish ponds and still others have no water features at all, and each is home to a different variety of plants. Kai has never seen many of the plants in the Royal Courtyards before. He couldn’t have predicted, when he decided to come to Court, that being here could be instructive in his training as a cybrinn, but he’s made far more progress in that area than he has in either befriending a wealthy, high-ranking woman or in getting King Ansgar to acknowledge him in his meetings with the Aethyrozian nobility.

His favorite time to be out of doors is around sunset, when the insects are settling down and the light is golden and everything is appearing to its best advantage, and so this evening he is wandering the courtyard he’s decided is his favorite, the one with the most unfamiliar plants and multiple fish ponds in it. Most everyone else in Adelhyod, as far as he can tell, is still having supper, which is fine by Kai. He’s never minded solitude, and he welcomes the time to think and enjoy the natural world.

A crow flies past him, laughing to itself about something or other and reminding him of Fifi, who mentioned her pet raven the last time he met her by chance in a courtyard. Kai smiles, remembering how he’d found her that day: halfway up a tree, skirts tied between her legs, one arm wrapped around a branch and holding her sketchbook while she tried with the other to sketch a bird feeding its young in a nest further up the tree. He’d wondered aloud how she’d gotten there without disturbing the birds, which startled Fifi so that she almost dropped her sketchbook and the adult bird flew away, scolding Kai for his intrusion. Fifi was similarly put out, at least at first, but she stayed and talked with him for a few minutes before going inside to “face her responsibilities,” as she put it.

Every time I’ve found her outside, since that first courtyard meeting, she’s been sketching a plant or a bird or some fish, Kai realizes, and she never seems the least bit concerned about acting like a princess, beyond being embarrassed to be found with muddy skirts and tangled hair. He doesn’t mind seeing her that way; she seems much more comfortable and genuinely herself in the courtyards than she did during the formal events of her sister’s Quest for Favor. Does anyone else see that in her? he wonders.

At least Solveig, when she’s not pretending to be Ingemar, does. Kai recently learned that she was part of the princesses’ household for some months, before her brother took ill and she went back to Nulmyr to care for him. Such employment is typical for daughters of noble families, and Solveig enjoyed it while it lasted; she found both princesses pleasant to be around, and neither acted superior or treated their subordinates with anything but kindness and respect. She wasn’t at all surprised by the outcome of Princess Wilhelmina’s Quest for Favor, saying the elder princess has always been the type to put her family and her country before herself. Fifi, she said, is more unpredictable—the type to forget etiquette and sneak out of official functions, and not the least bit afraid of King Ansgar.

That in itself speaks volumes, in Kai’s opinion; in his meetings with the nobility about Aethyrozian policy, King Ansgar is gruff and serious, and anytime Kai dares to speak, he is met by a harrowing glare from the king. Ingemar and Karl have taken to repeating Kai’s suggestions so that King Ansgar might actually hear and consider them. It hasn’t escaped their notice that the king has a particular prejudice against the representative of Lyrnola. What none of them can say for certain is why the king is so rude to Kai. By all accounts, he only resembles his father in outward appearance. Does he hate my father so much that showing any favor to Lyrnola is unthinkable for him? Kai wonders. Or has he somehow learned that I’ve spoken with Fifi outside of Court functions? That can’t be; he would have sent me away or worse—

“Fancy seeing you here,” Fifi interrupts Kai’s musings as he rounds a thick clump of elderberry bushes. She’s straddling a bench next to a pond studded with lily pads, sketchbook and pens around her, a short distance down the stone path from him. “I’m beginning to wonder if you actually spend any time indoors.”

“I could say the same for you,” he replies. “Did you have no…royal obligations this evening?”

Fifi shrugs. “Family supper, as always. But Father and Mother started arguing about particulars of their agreement with Syazonia about Minna and…. Well, these water lilies are far more agreeable company. And I haven’t gotten to sketch yet today, since I’ve been sitting to have my portrait painted, so if you don’t mind….” Her focus shifts to the pond beside her, sketchbook and pen in hand.

“I would never stand in your way, Princess.” He takes a step back. Her head snaps up and she glares at him.

“Fifi. You agreed to call me Fifi.”

Kai’s cheeks heat up. Why did I use her title?! “I’m sorry. Fifi. I don’t want to keep you from drawing, so—”

“I can draw and talk. Unless you’d prefer solitude. Or better company.”

“Not at all. I haven’t met anyone else at Court who has such a genuine appreciation for the natural world.”

Fifi smiles but doesn’t answer; a tiny frog has hopped onto a lily pad near her seat, capturing her attention. Her pen moves across a sheet of parchment with quick, sure strokes to depict its pose. Moving as quietly as he can, Kai slowly closes the distance between himself and Fifi’s bench and settles himself on the opposite end of it. To his relief, the frog does not seem bothered by his proximity. Its throat sac inflates and deflates as it croaks a warning to others in the area: Stay Away, This Place Is Mine.

“I think he’s posing for you,” Kai breathes, barely audible.

“I’m grateful,” Fifi answers in kind, then bites her lip in concentration as she sketches the outline of the frog’s webbed foot. “I haven’t drawn frogs much. They don’t often sit still like this while I’m watching.”

“How strange.” The frog looks directly at Kai, and he mouths, ‘Stay there for her,’ to it. The frog tilts its head to one side and croaks again: For Now.

“What do you mean?”

“I would think frogs would be more cooperative than birds.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice, with Algot, figuring out how to get birds to pose for me.”

“Is Algot doing well?”

“Yes. Driving the maids crazy, as usual. Any shiny object left on a table is fair game for him. I have to fetch jewelry from his hiding places every other day or so, seems like.”

“And yet people keep leaving jewelry on tables?”

Fifi smiles. “I’ve told them not to. Habits are hard to break, I guess.”

“Perhaps.”

“Thank you, good sir frog, for choosing such a lovely perch. If only that water lily behind you was blooming…” She sighs, looking at the water lily bud near the posing amphibian.

Without thinking, Kai reaches toward the bud. “Bloa’ma,” he whispers, willing the bud to open. A moment later, the pale pink petals unfold with grace into a stunning blossom.

Fifi’s breath catches. Kai’s eyes widen and the blood drains from his face. Bones and briars, I forgot myself, he curses internally. He looks at her, bracing himself for the worst.

“You…?” she asks, gesturing towards the flower, warm brown eyes full of wonder. The frog croaks in amusement and leaps into the pond with a splash.

An agonizing moment passes with neither of them moving or speaking. She watched it happen. No point in denying it now, Kai tells himself, then nods once, praying to Cybarei that honesty will not be his undoing.