The Life and Times of Bonnie Chance

Finding Carol

Bonnie and Izmir's group had entered the marketplace to see what the gossip was.

"Hey, have you ladies heard? A lunar eclipse is about to occur!" a man said.

"Oh, god! That is a bad omen!" a woman said. "Who told you that?"

"The soldiers are talking about it!" another woman said.

"What?" another man exclaimed.

"This omen concerns the life of the king!" the second woman said. "Our king is very worried! The court is offering prayers..."

"An eclipse?" Izmir said.

"This is bad!" Kurush said. "What an ominous occurrence!"

'Oh, right... Lunar eclipses are seen as a bad omen in these times by a lot of cultures...' Bonnie thought. "Why are you so surprised? Didn't your diviners predict a lunar eclipse?"

"You say that like it's easy!" Kurush said.

"Well, it is to professionals, where I come from," Bonnie said. "They can predict them a month in advance."

"A whole month?" Izmir said, impressed.

"Wow!" Kurush said.

"So, I'm guessing you didn't hear anything about this eclipse from your diviners?" Bonnie said.

"No, and if it's going to happen soon, there should have been some signs..." Izmir said.

"That's strange, then," Bonnie said. 'Unlike a solar eclipse, a lunar eclipse should be visible from every it's night on earth, so you would think everyone would see the same signs leading up to it...'

"How much do you know about eclipses?" Izmir asked. "How do you handle them where you come from?"

"There's nothing to handle. It's a natural phenomenon that man has no control over," Bonnie said. "A lunar eclipse is caused by Earth blocking sunlight from reaching the moon and causing a shadow across the lunar surface."

"Earth blocks the sunlight? How? And what does sunlight have to do with the moon?" Kurush asked.

"Oh boy..." Bonnie said. It was clear he wasn't the only one with questions. Izmir was staring expectantly at her. "Let me explain..." she launched into a simple explanation of how Earth orbited the sun and the moon orbited the earth, and the moon glowed because it reflected the light of the sun.

They weren't the only ones who had overheard the news about the eclipse.

"Your Highness, there seems to be a foretelling of an eclipse!" one of Algon's men said.

"A foretelling? It must have come from the priests of Babylon!" Algon said. "Or perhaps..."

Understand? It's just an absence of sunlight on the moon's surface for a little while," Bonnie said to Izmir and the others. "There's nothing ominous about it. People go outside and watch lunar eclipses without suffering any damage where I come from. The only bad luck you'll have is the misfortune you'll cause yourself panicking."

"So, you've been outside when there was a lunar eclipse?" Kurush asked.

"Sure. I stood outside and watched one with Carol when I was twelve, and we're both fine," Bonnie said.

"But you were orphaned..." Izmir pointed out, though he wished he didn't have to bring it up.

"No, the eclipse happened months after that," Bonnie said.

"But you're a goddess, so of course you'd be all right!" Kurush said.

"Ugh. I am not a goddess!" Bonnie said, getting a little annoyed. "But putting the eclipse business aside, what about Carol? Is there any news of her? Is she okay?"