Chapter Text
High above the lands of the West, Althea Altair gripped another handhold and shifted her position. She did this with her eyes closed, because the sky could only be navigated by touch, although shining through this layer of the sky was the noon sun that would have burnt or blinded anybody else.
She hung from a harness and a rope web of crampons, carabiners, and rappelling devices.
When she reached out for the next handhold and felt a vaster smoothness, she put the fingertip of one glove in her mouth and pulled it off. With a now-bare hand, she rapped her knuckles against the surface. The sky opened up, and a hand reached out for hers and pulled her through the trap door.
When Althea stood upright, she opened her eyes, and closed them again—with a grunt, shielding her face with a sleeve. She removed her harness with her eyes closed, which made it more difficult.
“Welcome to the observatory,” said a robotic and tinny voice like an Aletheia’s, but Althea knew that it was no Aletheia.
Another voice echoed from further off, the Dierne’s voice. “Hey! You’re earlier than we expected.”
“Was the observatory about to get more garish?” Althea asked. The Dierne’s laughter signaled her approach, and Althea felt moved to elaborate what she had glimpsed. “Seriously. Everything used to be yellow. Now it’s fuschia, and aqua, and…yellows I can taste just by looking at them. Tangerine and saffron.”
The tinny, robotic voice offered, “I think it’s pretty.”
Althea grunted again, addressing the Dierne. “Irene helped you redecorate, didn’t she.”
After a pause, the Dierne said, “Yes.”
Althea couldn’t see Irene’s pout as the faery princess wriggled her fingers in space, (really, into the holographic matrix motion-interface) typing again: “I think it’s pretty!” The programming turned the typeset words into sounds.
“More than that,” the Dierne added, “Irene’s going to live here from now on.”
Althea said, “Lily Bell was supposed to.”
“She’s in the other observatory. We’re going to go see her, remember? Come on, let’s go.” The Dierne made her way to the door, waving behind her at Irene. “If you need anything, Irene, you have my number…”
Althea followed the Dierne’s voice, still insisting, “But, why?”