Winter, my twelveth year...

"I'm bored, Morgaine," Zephne said, petulant. She rested her chin on her knees and sighed dramatically.

I rolled my eyes at her, smiling myself, and shifted my position on the stair. As much fun as it was to demurely sit on Faiella-bionin and make the guards nervous—what if we tripped and fell off the edge?—it became dull rather quickly. I gazed at the alabaster archway in front of me that marked the entrance to Rebma, tracing with my eyes the tritons, dolphins, and mermaids carved there as I had done so many times in the past.

"We could go upside and play on the beach..." Zephne suggested.

I shook my head. "It's cold up there," I replied. "There's snow on the ground." Down here in Rebma Mother always made sure the temperature was mild.

"Well, that might be kinda fun. I haven't seen snow in years."

I looked at her. "You mean the time my Aunt Llewella took us sledding in Amber? How old were we?"

Zephne pursed her lips. "Oh, five I think." She laughed suddenly. "Do you remember the funny man that told us stories and made us laugh when we came inside for hot chocolate?"

"Prince Random? Yes..." I replied.

A guard looked at us out of the corner of his eye and I winked at him and waved. He quickly turned away.

"We could go sledding again!" Zephne said excitedly.

"Who would take us?" I asked, gesturing. "Aunt Llewella is still gone off to war fighting the—whatzit?—Chaosites."

Zephne's exuberance disappeared as quickly as it had come. She sighed again.

"We could go by ourselves, I suppose," I whispered, elbowing her in the ribs. "What do you think?"

She pondered this. "I don't know. Not today, at least. Mother wants me home before long to prepare for the solstice ceremony tonight."

It was my turn to sigh and become petulant.

Zephne turned to me, her manner mostly sympathetic. "Your turn will come, Morgaine. Surely by the time the summer solstice comes around. It's not that surprising, really. I am older than you."

"By only seven months!" I retorted, my voice rising. "I just don't understand why you can go and I can't. What's the big deal, anyway? I can understand things as well as you. Just because my first blooding hasn't come yet doesn't mean—"

"Morgaine..." Zephne whispered to me as she squeezed my arm. "They're staring at us."

I looked up and sure enough all four guards were gazing in our direction.

I scratched my nose and looked away, my color heightening. "It's still not fair!" I whispered vehemently to Zephne. "We've done everything together since we were kids—and now they're splitting us apart."

"It's only for a little while, Morgaine. You know that. Surely in another month or so yours will come..."

I dismissed her attempts to console me with a rude gesture.

Zephne turned away and put her chin back on her knees.

We didn't say anything more.

The silvery dart fish swam around us in schools and the stairs leached all of the heat out of my backside. The guards turned back to their posts.

After awhile Zephne leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Would you like to see where they're having the ceremony?"

I turned and looked at her, eyes wide. "How did you find—?"

She put a hand over my mouth. "Shhh!"

We both turned to look at the guards but they were studiously ignoring us.

Zephne took her hand away from my mouth and I smiled. "Who told you where it was?" I whispered back. "I've tried to get that information out of Mother for years..."

"Well, I don't know exactly where it is...it's in one of the tunnels at the bottom of the stairs leading to the Pattern room. I overheard my mother talking to one of her priestesses."

I stared at her, thinking about how much I wanted to see the ceremony, thinking about looking for a hiding place so I could watch it, thinking about how much trouble I'd get in if I got caught.

I grinned wickedly at her. "Let's go!"

We jumped up and ran between the guards, Zephne squealing in laughter. They let us pass.

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