Black smoke ascended into the Trinexioun pre-dawn as the steam express click-clacked passed farms and tree groves and rolling plains, the mountains always in the distance on the right. The yellow sun gradually pushed the light of the third moon back, and left the other two invisible to the eye. Grephtundy, the second day of the work week, opened on the few beleaguered travelers, but only one was awake to see. The over night run from Thurvi Province to Nathrin Province was the longest leg of the journey south to Lushthyme City on the coast only because it was the only leg that was still steam powered. (The outer province municipalities were too cheap to buy a diesel engine, arguing that not as many people were using the trains as once did.)
Ralph Tarmon shifted in his seat on the train, and watched the Trinexioun landscape go by. The blue sky and the fresh green, spring growth weren’t enough to soothe him. The rocking of the train made his stomach turn, and the stink of burning coke from the engine made him dizzy. He had never liked traveling to Lushthyme City. The trip was long, almost the full 36 hours in a day, and the train had always effected him this way.
Now he wished the trip would be over for an entirely different reason. One year he had waited for the doctor’s appointment scheduled tomorrow. One year in which his son, his only child, had slept. One year in which his successful family farm could not keep reliable help. No one wanted to stay while William was there. They were afraid of the Plague.
Ralph snorted. He thought the Plague was a stupid name for the illness spreading over Trinexious.
Ralph forced his attention back to the landscape.
The veining of the foliage had begun. Bright rainbow colors lived at the heart of most leaves in a Trinexioun spring. The color filled the central vein then spread out to the smaller veins. The color deepened with age as the seasons changed, and finally, bled into the green of the leaf its self in the autumn. The mountain forests, which bordered the backside of the Tarmon farm, were arrayed in vivid, patchwork color every autumn.
Ralph’s favorite leaves were the blue veined, but William, like Selena, favored the reds.
Ralph marked time by the changes in nature. In nature he saw Trau and Meztin personified; he saw all the Nine.
Leave a Reply