A Break in the Sunlight

12. Zugszwang

Two heads, one the darkest brown and one a light golden blonde, bent in concentration over a small wooden table next to the velvet-draped bed.

The bed stood on a carpeted area that floated in the center portion of the cavernous room. An oversized armchair had been pulled up beside it, wrinkling the rug beneath.

An identical chair stood across the room, to the left of where the first had been. The immense fireplace opposite–which held crackling fires through the long Arcadian winters–lay dormant as the warm summer breezes swept across the room from the open windows.

Apart from the chairs, table and bed, furniture was conspicuously absent from the chamber. Instead, the expanse of sun-dappled wood was artfully dotted with pillows and throws. Turkish carpets lay here and there, creating islands in the sea of shining teak, and the high walls were hung with rich tapestries. Eight marble columns rose up through the room to support a ceiling high above. It was frescoed with a garden scene mirrored in the plants that lined the floor to ceiling windows on both ends of the room.

Jaren sat in the bed, propped up by pillows, seemingly oblivious to the echoing grandeur as she studied the board in front of her. Sain leaned forward in the armchair. He reached his arm out.

"King's Bishop to g7." The low cadences of his voice echoed in the hall, along with the click of the ivory piece on the board.

Jaren shifted forward and tucked a couple of stray golden hairs behind her ear. Her hair had grown since she had left Firedown, and even flopped down over the left side of her head where it had been shaved, and was just now growing back.

Footsteps echoed along the far edge of the room, and a shadow crossed the bank of windows. Jaren glanced in time to catch sight of a robed woman disappearing through the second set of tall doors.

"Who was that?"

Sain looked up, but the woman had gone. He gave a little shake of his head and a shrug. "Nomi, perhaps, or one of her women." He nodded at the board. "It is your turn."

Jaren looked down at the chessboard, a frown knitting her brow. She studied the pieces for a few minutes, reached out for a pawn and then looked up at him.

"Nomi is the woman who has been bringing me breakfast? The one who doesn't speak Common?"

Sain nodded.

"Is she your housekeeper?"

"No, no" he laughed, a white smile flashing. "Nomi is my mother."

Jaren's cheeks reddened slightly, and she looked down at the board. "Oh," she said, and moved a pawn.

Sain leaned forward and tilted her chin up, briefly. Jaren jumped at the touch, and he removed his hand.

"In our culture, only the lady of the house will break a guest's fast," he explained kindly, though the smile was still lurking in his eyes. "Nomi speaks Arcadian, but no English. I introduced her to you when you arrived, but you were very weary. I will introduce you again soon. She is very busy now, though, as it is Harvest."

It had been a week since they had landed on Arcadia, and Sain had traded his dark brown uniform for a plain white shirt and light-coloured khakis. He spent the mornings out on his plantation in a hovercraft, but most afternoons and evenings he spent here, with her.

He was teaching her chess. They had offered her a vid and a manual hook-up to the CenNet, but she declined. Something about it was a little too raw, and though she was anxious to get back Inside, she was damned if she was going to go in on a manual system like some goddamned sightseer.