Lilac Child Chapter 2

The window was too narrow for Zini to climb out of, but that didn’t stop her from trying. After an hour of squirming and sweating, she realised she’d never make it as a circus contortionist unless she lost half her body weight and dedicated a year to training. She loved the circus, but another season cleaning up after the elephants would see the end of her.

Hanging from the bars gave her the opportunity to view the city from a unique angle, something Zini always appreciated. From her vantage point, she could see all the northern hill. From the temple at the top down to the sea harbour where tall-masted ships unloaded goods brought from all over the empire. She had friends down there, among the dockers and the wharf rats. She had friends all over the city, more than she could remember, but she knew them when she saw them. If they could’ve seen her, they’d have been disappointed, and probably disowned her. Everyone got caught at some point, but to get nabbed by a pair of soldiers that spent their days sniffing shield polish was just embarrassing. They hadn’t even chased her; she’d just landed at their feet. The morning sun cast a golden glow on the metal girders of the Iron Bridge. It was the grandest of the bridges spanning the gap and joined the two halves of the city together. It always struck her as strange that the southern, home of the imperial palace, was by far the poorest half while the north with The Unified Temple was the richest. She knew it was mostly a matter of sunshine. One side had it, and the other couldn’t afford it, but she felt it said something about the temple and the empire. Mostly that it was built by people that didn’t like flat open spaces. Now that Zini thought about it, most of the great Sondaran cities were built in places ill-suited for large gatherings of people. Sentinel sat at the bottom of a steep cliff and had to be protected lest the sea wash it away one stormy night. Terlin was just a mess, and Sondara, the original source of imperial power, was a collection of sinking islands joined by rickety bridges. Zini had only ever known Nesher, but if it was anything to go by, the empire was in trouble. But then if it wasn’t, she wouldn’t have a job, or so Mother Olo told her.

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