Chapter 9. Penumbra

  Charlotte hung Vie's dresses over a chair. "This used to

  be our Aunt Edith's room."

  Vie looked out the windows and across the gardens.

  On the writing desk next to the bed was a vase full of roses.

  "Thank you for helping me settle in Charlotte."

  "Your welcome. I have another sister in the house and

  Nain Joan has another daughter to fuss over."

  She hugged Vie. "Its ridiculous that we're in the middle of a

  War and you still had to ask your Father's permission to

  move in with us. You're almost a grown woman."

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  Vie's face warmed - she'd never been called a grown woman

  before. Charlotte wiped the top of the dresser with a cloth as

  she walked out the door. "Have a rest Vie, I'll go and make us

  some tea.''

  Vie yawned and lay on the bed. She looked around the room.

  Even though she would never say such a thing out loud,

  Charlotte was right - the War was the best thing that had ever

  happened to her.

  *

  The raven perched high in the branches of an elm tree and

  watched the house. A sudden gust of wind ruffled it's feathers

  and swirled the leaves that lay on the ground.

  The raven clacked it's beak and watched as the leaves rose

  higher and higher into the air, then spun in a tightening spiral until a

  single form emerged - a tawny Owl.

  The raven bobbed it's head. "Freya."

  "Honestly Antares," Freya said, "I know that some of us are

  fascinated by the tawdry goings on of this age, but can't you

  find anything better to do with your time."

  One day, thought Antares, I won't have to put up with your implied

  threats. Through a window he could see Vie sitting in her bedroom

  writing at a desk. "There is something different happening here Freya."

  Freya watched Vie for a moment. "Different? How? They're all cut

  from the same cloth."

  Antares could hear the contempt in Freya's voice. She and the other

  members of the Senate, searched for any possibility of a divergence

  that might threaten them.

  It was a secret Antares harboured - the divergence had already occurred.

  He'd witnessed it and was following it's progress.

  "Perhaps you right, I'll look elsewhere."

  "Of course I'm right." Freya said.

  *