season avatars 03 - chaos season by sandra ulbrich almazan Page A

the next Winter Avatar?”
    “As sure as I’ll be wearing green for the rest of my life. And she wants to know if she can be sure of you.”
    He laughed harshly. “Me? Married to an Avatar? She might as well be a Crown Princess of Fip. She’s moved into a better world now, as far above me as a star.”
    She leaned closer. “She still loves you.”
    His eyebrows flew up in surprise, but all he said was, “That may change once she meets more wealthy nobles. I know we discussed marriage, but she shouldn’t consider herself bound by that.”
    “Why not tell her directly and let her decide?” Jenna asked. “She’s free to make up her own mind. Her family doesn’t expect her to make a brilliant match for them.” Jenna wondered if Gwen would really choose her own spouse or end up with someone her family picked out for her. Her own parents had just been relieved when someone offered to marry her before her belly swelled.
    Before Jon could speak, the train outside sounded two toots. He shook his head. “No time for that now. If you plan to take that train, Ava, you’d better board before they leave without you.”
    “They wouldn’t dare!” she said indignantly.
    He left the ticket window without responding.
    Jenna hurried outside to find the passengers had all disappeared. One of the conductors beckoned her over to the first-class carriage. She ignored the folding footstool and climbed into the train on her own without getting her dress tangled on the steep steps. The train jerked forward as she made her way to the Avatar party. Two older nobles shared their carriage, but although they eyed the women, especially Gwen and Jenna, with interest, they stayed in the corner and read their newspapers.
    Jenna slid into an empty seat next to Kay, who stared at her with hopeful eyes.
    “He said…he said…you’re like a star.”
    Kay beamed. She and the other Avatars leaned closer.
    “And?” Gwen asked.
    Jenna shrugged. “And…I let him know you could choose whom you want to marry.”
    “So, when is he coming to the One Oak?” Kay asked. “When can I see him?”
    Jenna stared at her. “You wanted me to ask him that?”
    “Well, didn’t you?”
    “I didn’t know that was what you wanted.”
    Kay sighed so heavily Jenna glanced up to see if a raincloud was going to appear in their carriage.
    Freeze it, maybe she wasn’t as good at arranging other peoples’ romances as she thought she was. Hopefully her upcoming talk with Kron about Ysabel would proceed more smoothly. He sat on the other side of the train in his own seat, behind Dorian, as he stared out the window. Jenna watched him as Gwen and Kay discussed how to arrange to have Jon transferred to a position based in Midpoint and if it could be done without his realizing who was behind it. Dorian looked haggard, with dark circles making his complexion appear sallow. He leaned back against the seat with his eyes closed, but he tossed and turned restlessly.
    The train followed the Chikasi River for several hours. The train’s path was straighter than the river’s, veering around obstacles but never straying too far from Challen’s main travel route. They passed fields and orchards. Jenna eyed them critically, but the locomotive traveled faster than a galloping horse, so she couldn’t examine the plants closely enough to determine how healthy they were. She didn’t see any deathbushes, though she would have liked to walk through the farmlands and touch the plants to learn more about their health.
    If the plants were plentiful, the people weren’t. Occasionally Jenna spotted someone working in a field. Twice they stopped at hamlets where the biggest building was the granary. They had a few moments to walk on the platform while goods were loaded or unloaded and the train took on water and coal. At the second stop, Jenna asked a farmer how his crops were this year. He complained about the weather and pests and the state of his soil, but he didn’t mention any