season avatars 03 - chaos season (9 page)

Jenna quickly changed before Gwen turned down the lights in the sconce. “Now I am. Good night, Gwen.”

“Pleasant dreams, Jenna.”

Jenna’s dreams of their previous marriage were anything but pleasant.

* * *

Later that morning, still exhausted and suffering from a wine-induced headache, Jenna sat at the far end of the locomotive station, as far away from the line of people buying tickets as she could be. Using a light shawl to cover herself, she discreetly nursed Robbie. Callie, Gwen, Ysabel, and Kay surrounded her, sheltering her from the stares of the few other people boarding the train with them.

Kay kept watch out the window. “Jon might be on this train,” she said, “but normally he doesn’t come this far east.”

Ysabel smiled. “I’m sure you’re looking forward to seeing him again.”

The whistle of an oncoming train gave Kay a chance to slip away without answering. Jenna handed Robbie over to Callie, then followed her outside. Puffs of steam and roiling black smoke obscured their sight of the train. Jenna wasn’t surprised when the wind changed and blew the smoke away. Kay watched the train approach, but before it pulled into the station, she retreated to the back of the group.

“What are you doing?” Gwen asked. “Don’t you want to see him?”

“Of course I do. I’m not ready for him to see me.”

“But you look beautiful,” Ysabel said.

Now that Kay could count on regular, bountiful meals to give her energy for magic, she’d gained some slight curves. Her short, black hair shone, and her hat ribbon and dress matched her light blue eyes. With her hands worked into white kidskin gloves, she appeared almost as confident in her outfit as noble-born Gwen. Jenna had left her family farm for a townswoman’s life before Gwen had found her, and she still expected to find manure and dust on her gowns. Kay, as a former seamstress, was more comfortable with silk and lace than she was.

She stared down at her clothes and let out a sharp laugh. “I don’t look anything like the seamstress he courted.”

“You think he won’t accept that you’re an Avatar?” Gwen asked. “He and my former betrothed would get along famously, then, despite the difference in their stations.”

“Do you want me to talk to Jon?” Jenna offered. “I can let him know you still care for him.”

“Oh, could you?” The tension left Kay’s face. “You know much more about how to handle men than any of us do.”

If I know so much about men, why doesn’t Lex want anything to do with me?
Jenna put on a smile. “Why, thank you, Kay.”

As the train eased to a halt, Jenna stood on tiptoe and peered at the engine. The cab window was so small she wondered how the driver could see where they were going. Three men poured out of the engines, all of them in soot-stained clothes. Jenna would have been hard-pressed to tell them apart. Kay, however, gasped and fell back.

“Which one is he?” Jenna asked.

“The one on the right.”

Kay’s Jon was the dirtiest of the lot; he must have been the one shoveling coal. His jacket was off, and his shirt stuck to his chest and arms, exposing pure muscle. Jenna had to stop herself from licking her lips. No wonder Kay was reluctant to let him go.

“He’s not going to be on our trip,” Kay continued, disappointment and relief warring in her tone. “He’ll get a layover if he’s been working all night.”

“Then I’d better talk to him before he disappears.” Jenna darted forward so quickly all Gwen could call after her was “Be quick!”

Jenna reached for her skirts, intending to run after the men, before remembering she should show more dignity as an Avatar. That didn’t stop her from calling, “Jon!” She didn’t know his last name, so she hoped he wouldn’t be offended by the familiarity. “Stop! I want to talk to you!”

The passengers on the platform stared at her, mouths open in shock. Jon continued into the station as if he hadn’t heard. When Jenna followed him inside, the door to the ticket window closed.

She dashed over and called, “Jon! Jon!”

The elderly ticket seller woke from his doze. “Huh? Ava, the train is boarding. You should be outside—”

“They wouldn’t dare leave without me.” She hoped. She flashed a man a brilliant smile. “I need to speak to one of the crew members who just came in, the one named Jon. Do you know where he went?”

“The fireman? One moment, Ava.” He called, “Jon, clean up! You have a very important visitor!”

A few heartbeats later, Jon appeared. Soot still ringed his eyes, and his wet hair stuck up. He’d thrown a jacket over his shirt. He stared at her warily, with no signs of recognition from their first locomotive trip to Rainbow River, where they’d found Kay. Wasn’t Jenna beautiful enough to be memorable?

“Lady? No, Avatar,” he said. “You’re one of the new Avatars.”

Gwen would say it would be proper etiquette for someone else to introduce them. Seeing as their mutual acquaintance was unavailable, Jenna didn’t mind doing it herself. “Jenna t’Reve, the next Summer Avatar.” She gave him a pointed look. “Sister Avatar to Kay Seltich, the next Winter Avatar.”

“Kay.” He swallowed. “It’s true, then? She’s the next Winter Avatar?”

“As sure as I’ll be wearing green for the rest of my life. And she wants to know if she can be sure of you.”

He laughed harshly. “Me? Married to an Avatar? She might as well be a Crown Princess of Fip. She’s moved into a better world now, as far above me as a star.”

She leaned closer. “She still loves you.”

His eyebrows flew up in surprise, but all he said was, “That may change once she meets more wealthy nobles. I know we discussed marriage, but she shouldn’t consider herself bound by that.”

“Why not tell her directly and let her decide?” Jenna asked. “She’s free to make up her own mind. Her family doesn’t expect her to make a brilliant match for them.” Jenna wondered if Gwen would really choose her own spouse or end up with someone her family picked out for her. Her own parents had just been relieved when someone offered to marry her before her belly swelled.

Before Jon could speak, the train outside sounded two toots. He shook his head. “No time for that now. If you plan to take that train, Ava, you’d better board before they leave without you.”

“They wouldn’t dare!” she said indignantly.

He left the ticket window without responding.

Jenna hurried outside to find the passengers had all disappeared. One of the conductors beckoned her over to the first-class carriage. She ignored the folding footstool and climbed into the train on her own without getting her dress tangled on the steep steps. The train jerked forward as she made her way to the Avatar party. Two older nobles shared their carriage, but although they eyed the women, especially Gwen and Jenna, with interest, they stayed in the corner and read their newspapers.

Jenna slid into an empty seat next to Kay, who stared at her with hopeful eyes.

“He said…he said…you’re like a star.”

Kay beamed. She and the other Avatars leaned closer.

“And?” Gwen asked.

Jenna shrugged. “And…I let him know you could choose whom you want to marry.”

“So, when is he coming to the One Oak?” Kay asked. “When can I see him?”

Jenna stared at her. “You wanted me to ask him that?”

“Well, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t know that was what you wanted.”

Kay sighed so heavily Jenna glanced up to see if a raincloud was going to appear in their carriage.

Freeze it, maybe she wasn’t as good at arranging other peoples’ romances as she thought she was. Hopefully her upcoming talk with Kron about Ysabel would proceed more smoothly. He sat on the other side of the train in his own seat, behind Dorian, as he stared out the window. Jenna watched him as Gwen and Kay discussed how to arrange to have Jon transferred to a position based in Midpoint and if it could be done without his realizing who was behind it. Dorian looked haggard, with dark circles making his complexion appear sallow. He leaned back against the seat with his eyes closed, but he tossed and turned restlessly.

The train followed the Chikasi River for several hours. The train’s path was straighter than the river’s, veering around obstacles but never straying too far from Challen’s main travel route. They passed fields and orchards. Jenna eyed them critically, but the locomotive traveled faster than a galloping horse, so she couldn’t examine the plants closely enough to determine how healthy they were. She didn’t see any deathbushes, though she would have liked to walk through the farmlands and touch the plants to learn more about their health.

If the plants were plentiful, the people weren’t. Occasionally Jenna spotted someone working in a field. Twice they stopped at hamlets where the biggest building was the granary. They had a few moments to walk on the platform while goods were loaded or unloaded and the train took on water and coal. At the second stop, Jenna asked a farmer how his crops were this year. He complained about the weather and pests and the state of his soil, but he didn’t mention any strange plants until the end.

“Oh, and the weeds this year are growing so fast, you’d think the Summer Avatar was growing them on purpose.”

Charles suffered an acute coughing fit.

“What do they look like?” Jenna asked.

Before he could answer, the train let out a warning whistle.

“Send a sample to the One Oak!” she called before boarding the train.

As they pulled away, the farmer waved his hat at her, a puzzled look on his face.

They stopped for luncheon at a larger town called Apple Valley. The inn overlooked the Chikasi and featured a large balcony with tables. Jenna leaned on the railing and admired the view. The sun’s warmth faded as someone joined her. She turned her head and saw Kron.

“I almost think I recognize this turn of the river,” he said. “There were more trees here in my time, but they were oak and birch, not apple. I think the bend was sharper then too.”

She nodded, unsure of how to respond.

He gave her a wry grin. “So, I hear you’re the one to talk to about romance.”

Her face heated up from inside. “I’m not the Avatar of Love.”

He laughed, not unkindly. “No, Summer is too shy to woo anyone. He must have chosen you for your boldness.”

“Me?” she said, flattered.

“Well, you are still very much like Janno, though I doubt you chase women the way he did.”

“Of course I can’t do that anymore!” The idea sparked images in her mind of her wooing Gwen the way Lex had wooed her. She couldn’t take it as far as Lex had, however.

“And I bet Gwen would disapprove as much as she did when she was your mother.”

“My mother? By All Four, I don’t need more details from that life.” She tilted her head back to the table, where Ysabel sat watching them. “What about Bel? Has she changed since she was your Bella?”

“More than I imagined.” He pressed a protruding nail into the railing with a finger. “She…she doesn’t want to listen to me the way Bella did. She seems more confident now, even after all of the trouble with her family.” He sighed. “One thing that hasn’t changed is her desire for a family.”

“Most people are reborn with no memories of their previous lives,” Jenna said. “We keep some, particularly those dealing with magic. But we remember personal details too. Most of us have been both men and women, but Ysabel has always been a woman in every life.”

Kron nodded. “Not surprising. Fall has been hostile to me every time I’ve seen Her. I wouldn’t want to meet Her alone, without Spring to temper Her.” He hesitated. “She must have a reason to hate men so much.”

“Only the Four know what that is.” Jenna made the sign of the Four over her heart. “Anyway, Kron, we don’t remember as much about our early lives as we do more recent ones. I hate to say it, but…Ysabel doesn’t remember the life you had together however long ago it was.”

“I suspected as much.” His voice developed a dangerous edge. “And I wonder why.”

By All Four, did he think Fall Herself was blocking Ysabel’s memories of him? Jenna shivered. He could be right, but she wouldn’t want to oppose any of the Four. Time to move away from potentially blasphemous territory and onto the advice she wanted to give him.

“You have to start over with her,” she said. “Pretend you’re two strangers who have just met.”

“I don’t know if I can do that, Jenna.”

“You have to.” She met his gaze head on. “You’re a stranger to her, and to us. If you want the chance to win her heart again, then restrain yourself.”

He stood straight. “By All Four, do you think I would force myself on her? I don’t need you or a child goddess to teach me how to behave decently. I knew that hundreds of years ago. If your Challen men must be punished before they learn good manners, then I pity the rest of you when you wed.” He turned to go back inside the restaurant, then faced Jenna again. “Or perhaps I should pity the man foolish enough to marry you.”

Jenna glared at him, half-tempted to pull off the top railing and batter him with it. She flinched when the door rattled behind Kron as if he meant to send it flying toward her. She retreated to a corner of the balcony next to a rosebush, hoping its scent would calm her. All she could do was stare at the stems and wonder why she’d shown her own thorns to Kron.

Gwen came up to her and offered her a glass of dry red wine. “By All Four, Jenna, we just wanted him to court Ysabel more slowly, not run away from us. We might need him again.”

A faint smile brightened her face, so she couldn’t be too upset. Jenna couldn’t help feeling she’d failed her sister Avatars, especially Gwen. She was the one who’d wanted her to help Ysabel and Kay, but Jenna was only making their lives harder.

“I’m sorry.” She stared into her wine. “I shouldn’t have been that harsh with him. He’s done everything he can to help us.”

“I was suspicious of him at first too, remember?” Gwen asked. “Without him, we wouldn’t have rescued Ysabel in time.”

Of course, that didn’t mean he had a right to claim Ysabel as his bride. That had been in another life. They’d only been married once, not like Gwen and Jenna. But Jenna couldn’t marry Gwen this time. Maybe she shouldn’t be jealous that Kron had a second chance with his love. She didn’t deserve one with Gwen.