Chapter 113: The orange tree.

Chapter 113: The orange tree.

Ike entered his two-acre enclosed garden and scanned for the queen. Shay’s typically regal form sat hunched on the bench under his orange tree. The glass ceiling of the yard was being pelted with rain as she wept softly. Ike paused as he considered what to say to the only mother figure he’d had in his life.

Reaching into the pocket of his robes, Ike fished out his rolling papers and his small square container of Pix herbs. He pinched out a tiny amount of loose leaves from the box and then rolled them into a cigarette. Once he had the cigarette to his lips and his container back in his pocket, he strolled toward the queen.

Sitting next to Lee, Ike blew on the end of the rolled paper. The Panchen Fire turned the herbs into glowing embers, and he started to smoke. The old king of the Dagerstanteens used to say that sometimes silence was the best way to communicate. At this point, Ike didn’t know what Queen Shay wanted to hear, so he sat.