When The Petal Fell

9-2

She bit her lip as she began her search once more. 'Look to the children', Cierene had said, but which children? She found a barrel, outside a dive of an inn called 'The Watchful Goat', and climbed atop it, holding on to the eaves of the building, looking out over the crowds. An old crone of a woman, tugged at her breeches, smiling upward with a mouth free of all but the blackened stumps of teeth.

"Away with you, woman! I've no coin to give you." A few walkways in the distance, Sora thought she saw another child. The tugging on her leg continued. "I said 'away'!"

"I'm a Seedling." The woman's thin fingers gripped Sora's breeches tight.

"Don't be ridiculous." She tried shaking the woman's hand from her leg, but those old fingers held surprising strength.

"Been a Seedling all my life, miss." Sora caught a glimpse of the old woman's eyes and saw no madness there, nor any deceit. Only clear, blue and filled with kindness. "Lady Cierene takes care of me, as Lord Luhsn did before her and Lord Ranftar before him. I can get a message to her ladyship."

Sora jumped down from the barrel, furrowing her brow as she tried to work out if this old woman was as genuine as she appeared. Tilting her head, she could see it. The ghost of a pretty face at one time, where age had striven to hide it. She took a chance, catching the woman's elbow and pulling her away from looming ears.

"Listen, it's not so much a message I want to send as I need to find out if Cee, I mean Lady Cierene, is safe. The rumours, you understand?" She ducked her head to see if the woman did understand, or if she needed to explain more.

"The Lady is safe, miss. You must be Lady Sora. We've been looking for you." The old woman took Sora's hand, patting it. "Her Ladyship prays you continue your search. Two more have fallen by the same hand. You must return to the side of the Kannai, in the morning, as you would have if the terrible events had not happened. She is safe."

Sora felt surprised. The old woman was more intelligent than her appearance would indicate. Chewing on the words, for a second, Sora tried to pull her hand back, but the old woman held firm.

"Thank you. I understand." Now she knew Cierene was safe, she could relax a little. Have a drink, perhaps, and sleep undisturbed until the morning. "And it's just 'Sora'. I'm no lady."

"Her ladyship asks that you remain wary, Lady Sora. Nothing is as it appears when the mind itches." With one last pat of Sora's hand, the old woman released it, nodded her head and turned away, disappearing into the crowd of late-night Underside revellers.

Sora realised she shouldn't feel too surprised. Not at the old woman being a Seedling, nor at the speed with which Cierene had dispatched her message. For the first, the Court of Blossoms had had their claws in the lost children of Tarkar's Bridge for decades and, as Cierene had told her, some prospective Buds didn't manage to follow through to the levels of Petals. And the second, Cierene, for all her training and cold, emotionless fake faces, was still Cierene, at heart. She would have wanted Sora to know she was safe and save Sora from worry.

Still, Sora would have preferred a little more information and less flowery, pseudo-prophetic ramblings and warnings. She was a big girl, she could handle herself, and she was clever enough to realise that the itching in the back of her mind was an indication of a Thought Mage at work.

Instead, now she had to go, cap-in-hand, to Rifnarus' favourite little spy to get all the relevant details and, no doubt, the snooty Kannai would find great relish in rationing those details. It occurred to her that waiting for Klaron to tell her everything she needed to know would be a fool's errand.

After hoping a quiet night was coming her way, now she had to spend at least a part of it finding out as much information as she could, and another good part sifting through the wheat from the chaff. It felt good to know that Cierene had come out of the fateful ceremony alive and well, though. Despite Sora's envy at Cierene's rise from the troubles of the Underside, despite their strained relationship, Sora still loved her like a sister. An annoying, rich sister that had married into money, but a sister, nonetheless.