White.

  Snow White.

  Plain white, vain white; radiant and a touch of crystal. Every shade in this very room. Snow for the regal couches and extensive sofas; crystal for the elegant table. Plain for the walls. Vain for the cushions. Even the lamp had a touch of radiance, and as for the ceiling…

  “Celestial?” thought Naritsune.

  “Was that a suggestion, Mr Tsukiyama?” a voice asked.

  “Eh?” Naritsune began, “Goodness - I must have spoken aloud, Mr-”

  “Lonshore,” the blue and silver bearded fellow replied. “Feldaner Limwaya Lonshore. Hermitorian Lord Extraordinaire.”

  “Ah, that’s it,” said Naritsune. “I think I missed a bit.”

  “It’s not a name that you can easily forget,” Feldaner continued.

  “Nor the title,” Naritsune added. Hermitorian? What was that about?

  “Tsukiyama isn’t your every day either.”

  “Oh, there’s plenty in my neck of the woods,” said Naritsune, sitting back in his snow armchair. Although there may have been a sea and some islands between his woods and Feldaner’s.

  “Are you sure you’re not under the weather?” Feldaner asked.

  “Anything but,” said Naritsune. “Couldn’t fall asleep in here.”

  “Not the quietest I’ve been in,” Feldaner said, looking at the walls. “More like one of those places you hear about, but don’t get until you see it.”

  “Under your feet; acting as a chair,” said Naritsune.

  “That’s it,” said Feldaner. “In your face.”

  “Out There,” said a fresh voice.

  Naritsune almost flew out of the chair; then saw the jet and grey clothed character in the far corner of the room.

  “Forgotten about our other - companion…” Feldaner whispered.

  “Wouldn’t call him that,” Naritsune grated.

  “I haven’t spoken to him yet,” Feldaner continued, joining Naritsune’s gaze across the room. “Not forthcoming?”

  “A pleasant way of putting it. Didn’t you say that you before you came here; you had been in a room with another person?”

  “Why, yes. A happy chap, around your age. But had forgotten something.”

  “Better than keeping company with a statue,” said Naritsune. “Not a glance, smile, or a change of eyebrows. Or a pleased to meet you; my name’s. Just sit or stand there, looking into the violet-eyed distance, and not make a sound.”

  “He spoke before.”

  “He did with me after a prompt,” said Naritsune.

  “What did you say to him?”

  “Asked him if he was feeling well on account of the glacial sheen.”

  “That’s one way of putting it,” said Feldaner. “But the black will make him seem - paler.”

  “Well, it hit something.”

  “You didn’t…?”

  “Would have had some action. Face did all the talking. As if he were saying that now wasn’t a good time to start a conflict. So I left it at that. Until he broke the silence.”

  “Sounds like two masters having a wordless duel,” said Feldaner. “Both wise enough to know when the time is not appropriate.”

  “I’m much more of an apprentice,” said Naritsune. “An apprentice who - somehow - wound up being the best on the day.”

  “You look instructor material to me,” Feldaner said with a wink. “Take it from someone who’s met one or two. Including a boy who got the wrong side of three cattle raids yet became, not only a sword-master but First of the Seven Territories.”

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  “I think I’ve heard of that title,” said Naritsune. “Used only once or twice. The last owner being an Envara of Enslirwenn.”

  “Quite right,” said Feldaner. “We grew up together but went on different paths. When we met again, I had entered the Hermitorianhood and Envara was on the route that would make him Highest of Kings.”

  “But he - died - over a millennium ago…” said Naritsune began. “Which would make you-”

  “One of the blessings of being Hermitorian, Mr Tsukiyama. But, due to the nature of our work, only a handful can remember when Envara was High King. When it looked as if one had finally been chosen who could guide the Kingdoms of Winswall out of the cycle of feuds, disputes and needless raids. But his star was extinguished before its natural time. In the oh—its-too-faraway-war that soon enveloped us.”

  “The same one that came upon the Ten Clans,” said Naritsune. “We had an emperor in those days, and I believe he was on good terms with the High King.”

  “I believe I’ve met him,” said Feldaner, at which Naritsune opened his mouth. “And his brother. Hirusei and Arimizuten; almost like Sun and Moon. Two more great masters. But I believe the war claimed them both.”

  “You’re right. Hirusei before War’s End and a library could house the books on the Arimizuten Mystery. Jūnichinatsu became a jumble of bickering clans once more and the folk of the Darkristen Kingdoms are bedtime monsters to frighten the kids.”

  “Note to Self: don’t visit any parks the next time you’re in Jūnichinatsu,” said a voice.

  Naritsune looked across to the fellow on a couch as pale as his clothes were dark. “… You’ve been?” he asked.

  “Might be better than - this,” the stranger said with was that a shiver? “Then again, the parents wouldn’t be too happy about me alarming the little ones, so that’s an island continent out.”

  Naritsune had to stop himself from staring. It was as if the dark clothing was so deep that the fellow’s face seemed to be filled with a gentle light. Even if he did look-

  “You did want me to speak, didn’t you? Brighten the mood?”

  “You’d get a little warmer,” Naritsune began. “It’s sunbathe weather further south.”

  “I’m more - cool of the evening,” the stranger replied, flicking a plume of hair to one side. “When the Edge has gone.”

  “Or dead of night,” said Feldaner, looking at the stranger.

  “Eh?” said Naritsune.

  “Overcast’s not bad either,” the stranger continued. “Although the moons and stars so seal it.”

  “Pale, yet fair,” Feldaner added, hands pressed against his yellow birds-decored robe. “Fair like the Kindreds. Fair like the moons and stars and even now, not entirely shrouded by the darkness.”

  “Is that a poem?” asked Naritsune.

  “Right about pale,” said the stranger, looking at one of his hands, then wincing. “Knew this wasn’t a good idea.”

  “… Can’t believe I missed it,” Feldaner continued, hand resting on the chair as he continued to look at the stranger. “Would have done if you hadn’t said ‘Note to Self’.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Naritsune, glancing at the fellow, then at Feldaner. “Who is he?”

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