For Darkness Shows the Stars

head in the direction of the laborers. “It’s not for me to say she shouldn’t have it, Miss Elliot, but I can’t guarantee there won’t be a fight before the day’s out. Favoritism and all that. My own common-law doesn’t have anything half so pretty.”
    Elliot peered into the field, searching for Ro’s bright hair, but saw no sign of it. Instead, she saw something else. “Ro!” she called, and waved the girl over.
    Ro ran up to the boundary fence, her face split in two by a smile, her hair mostly hidden beneath a silky scarf the color of shaded summer leaves. It made her skin glow. It made her green eyes stand out from her face. Kai had not forgotten Ro. He even remembered the precise shade of her eyes.
    Ro giggled and twirled, pointing to the scarf.
    “It’s beautiful, Ro,” Elliot said, trying to keep the unexpected stiffness out of her voice. He’d brought Ro a present.
    “I’d have already taken it off her,” Gill added helpfully. “But I know you have a special fondness for this one.”
    She should take the scarf from Ro, Elliot thought, for all the reasons Gill had mentioned, and more besides. Ro was a very pretty girl, and not a child any longer, either. The vile sorts of things that happened on other estates were forbidden on the North estate—her father had his faults, but he was scrupulous when it came to the behavior of the people who lived on his lands. Her cousin Benedict had been sent away years ago for taking advantage of a Reduced girl. Still, there were dangers out there, as well as changes that she wasn’t sure Ro herself was ready to make. Other Reduced her age were already mothers, but Ro had never shown much interest in children or the birthing house. All she cared about were her flowers.
    Elliot beckoned Ro closer, then touched the edge of the scarf. It felt cool and silky beneath her fingertips and she wondered what it could be made of. Bamboo, perhaps? Not real silk, certainly. A silk scarf was worth a sizable percentage of the yearly income of the estate. Not even Malakai Wentforth could have that much to spend on a scarf. How many sun-carts could he have possibly found?
    “Kai!” Ro said with glee, tugging it off and handing it to Elliot.
    She hadn’t spoken his name since a few months after he’d gone. Sometimes Elliot wondered if Ro even remembered her old friend. But clearly, she hadn’t forgotten him any more than he had her. This was such a very Ro gift—green and pretty and utterly decorative. It wouldn’t keep her warm. It was far too slippery to hold back her hair. But Kai understood Ro as well as Elliot did. She loved beauty. And so that’s what he’d brought her.
    Elliot handed the scarf back. She wouldn’t be the one to deprive Ro of that. “Be careful with it. It’s very fine.”
    Ro nodded seriously, then pushed it back onto her head with muddy fingers.
    As she returned to Gill, he clucked his tongue. “You spoil her.”
    “Do you have a complaint about the quality of her work?”
    “Point taken.” He gazed out over the fields. “Miss Elliot, I don’t mean to pry, but there’s talk . . .”
    “Yes, Gill?”
    “The Posts living up at the Boatwright house. The Cloud Fleet, they call themselves. There’s someone we know up there, isn’t there?”
    “Yes.” She toed the dust at the fence line before lifting her gaze back to the older man’s. “Mal’s son is back.”
    ELLIOT HAD DOUBTED THAT Tatiana’s offer to show the Fleet the star-cavern sanctuary was a serious one, so she was surprised when her sister organized a tour the following day. Tatiana intercepted her as soon as Elliot returned to the house from the dairy.
    “Take off those clothes and run a comb through your hair,” her sister ordered. “We’re taking our guests to the sanctuary.”
    Elliot’s eyes widened. “Do you think Father would approve of that?”
    “Do you think Father would approve of you appearing in front of our tenants looking like a Reduced servant girl?” Tatiana replied. “You might see them any moment.”
    Elliot wondered if Tatiana would be so concerned with Elliot’s attire had the Fleet Posts not looked so very fashionable. But there was no arguing with her sister, so she went to her room and spent a good five minutes standing before her wardrobe in search of a suitable outfit.
    Very little would do. Her nice clothes were old and ill-fitting. She had several of Tatiana’s hand-me-downs, but no amount of seam letting-out and