“You can do so much better,” Golden Trumpet said with subtle changes in her brilliant yellow color and a release of invisible chemicals.
“You don’t like anyone who isn’t bowing to you,” Tracia said. She sat on a leaf in her mother’s throne bush that was extremely large in comparison to Tracia.
“I am a humble leader of the Northern Jungle by decree…”
“…decree of the great and glorious Agê herself,” Tracia said monotonously to illustrate how many times she’d heard her mother say it. “Of course, Mino, you are only doing your duty by turning your nose up at anything foreign to the Northern Jungle.”
“Oh, little Excellence,” Golden Trumpet said wistfully, “I would give anything to be young and so firm in the petal like you. Let me ask you, why do you think I turn my nose up, as you say, at the asanbosam you’ve been flying around the north with? You know why Agê, in her wisdom, put the asanbosam in the south, far away from the north. As the Vodun of this disc, Agê made all of the life that grows here, but she didn’t dictate the design of everything and some of the dwellers of this disc are dangerous to others. You know what it was like before Agê divided everything, you were always fighting for your life in your own home.”
“And I always won,” Tracia said firmly. “I am strong because of what the jungle was before partition. I love Agê, she is Grand Mino, and I don’t mean disrespect by saying she made an error. I honor her with my honesty, or I would if you didn’t forbid me talking to her.”
“You have no respect for the big picture, little Excellence. You are privileged to know the great Vodun Agê personally, to have the Third Heart in your chest, and you don’t realize the magnitude of that.”
“I do,” Tracia said with frustration, trying not to be angry at this conversation that the two had many times before. “I promise I do, Mino. But there is no difference between the north and south, the jungle or the forest. We are all children of Agê. And Red is good. She is not like the vicious asanbosam that hunt azizas. Just like all azizas aren’t innocent victims of the asanbosam. You heard about the azizas who enslaved thousands of asanbosam in the Middle Jungle? Using them as hunting animals to round up food to sell to other discs?”
Golden Trumpet sighed until the brilliant yellow of her petals returned to normal.
“I love you, Tracia. I know that you care, but I think that you are letting your feelings get the best of you. But that is just my opinion, and I recognize that it is based on limited information. I don’t mean to stifle you, little Excellence. I want you to be happy, to spread those beautiful wings high and wide. But I worry about you.”
“You don’t need to worry,” Tracia said. “You’ve raised me well, Mino, and it is a privilege to be your daughter in this kingdom that Agê entrusted to you. I am doing what is best for me, and I am sure that it is best for everything in the north. We shouldn’t ban southern dwellers from the north unless they warrant it. You would like Red if you spoke to her. She reminds me of you.”
Golden Trumpet’s brilliant yellow petals suddenly went pale. “I’m sure,” she said insincerely.
“She was born in the South. Can you believe that she had never left her home? She’s never seen the disc beyond the borders of her jungle. She’s barely seen the South.”
“But she swings through the trees, snatching up unsuspecting creatures to brutalize them for fun. I’ve been firmly planted here since birth and my knowledge of my surroundings is only as wide as the roots, branches, leaves and flowers of my throne. I guess it’s almost similar. If you say so.”
Tracia rolled her eyes, but continued. “When I met Red, I was lost in what I thought was the Middle Jungle, but I had made my way to the South. I slept in a tree one night and I woke up to a familiar smell. It was your soft scent, Mino, in that far away jungle and I thought for a moment that you had arrived there to drag me back home. But then I saw Red in the treetops gathering wood for an addition to her home that she was building, and I realized that the smell, your smell, came from her. I approached her cautiously, and after an initial altercation, we talked and I asked her about her scent. She said that she traded a lot for the perfume, but it was worth it because the smell calmed her. Your scent calms her.”
As Tracia talked, Golden Trumpet’s petals changed from muted pastel, to an almost brownish yellow that showcased her anger.
“I demanded that your father rid the Fonlands of that perfume!” Golden Trumpet said angrily. “I was assaulted for that perfume to exist! A criminal violated me to obtain my essence. I wasn’t going to bring it up, but I smelled it on her and it is an incredible insult. If she were not your companion, she would be dead.”
“Mino,” Tracia said and she turned on her leaf to face the brown yellow petal of her mother. She placed a hand on the soft petal that felt furry. “I did not bring Red here on a whim. I don’t mean to upset you, but this is important. Red is good and I want you to get to know her. I apologize for the perfume, it should not exist. But it brought me to Red, you brought me to her, and I don’t think it was for no reason. Just give her a chance. Acknowledge that some southerners should be welcomed in the North.”
Golden Trumpet’s yellow slowly began to lose the dark tones.
“While your companion is here as your guest, I will welcome her graciously.”
“Thank you, Mino” Tracia said sincerely. “You won’t regret this.”
***
Red was handsome. She stood on solid legs and her chest was broad. Her shoulders were square and her long arms bulged with muscle. The red hair that covered her muscular body was thick on her chest, but much lighter on her limbs, and pale, white skin was visible underneath. Despite the horror of asanbosam mouths and teeth, her face was strong and reassuring, and her eyes were big and expressive. When she saw Tracia approaching through the foliage, Red’s whole face lit up and she stood taller.
“You’re back!” Red said excitedly.
“I wasn’t gone long,” Tracia said as she made her way to stand before Red.
“It felt long. So when are we leaving? The Brook Festival is starting soon in the forest. You’re going to love it, Excellence. There will be rompo singers and really tasty food, none of it other Fonlanders so you can rest easy.”
“What about fruits?” Tracia asked. “Golden Trumpet thinks eating fruit is murder.”
Red laughed enthusiastically, showing her razor sharp copper teeth that were like a bear trap in her mouth. Her smile made Tracia smile.
“We can’t go yet,” Tracia continued. “Remember why we came here?”
Red used the copper claw of her pointer finger to scratch her chin.
“Excellence, I would follow you anywhere. Your Essence is intoxicating and I would go anywhere to experience it. Whatever we came here for is irrelevant to me.”
Tracia chuckled as she shook her head. Her Excellence, her Third Heart was a gift and curse; it allowed her to sway the feelings and emotions of weak-willed Fonlanders, but it also revealed that the majority of Fonlanders had weak wills and were so easy to manipulate that most of her interactions with others were boring and not worth her time. Even her own parents were unaware of her true power and she had manipulated them in the past in ways that they didn’t seem to comprehend. Part of her felt bad for taking advantage of her parents and her guilt kept her from doing it regularly, but as she got older, Tracia became more comfortable using anyone for any goal that she believed served Agê. Tracia was determined to show the Vodun of the disc that she was loyal and effective at shaping the disc in her image. Red was nice, but she was just a very eager card in Tracia’s deck to be played when most opportune.
“You pestered me to get you close enough to Golden Trumpet to steal some of her essence so you can go into the perfume business!” Tracia said, sounding genuinely angry. “I’ve risked so much bringing you to the North, and you just want to leave empty handed for the Brook Festival?”
“It’s supposed to be really good this year,” Red mumbled and looked down at the ground in embarrassment.
“Do you want the perfume or not?” Tracia asked.
“Honestly, no…” Red started, but then Tracia almost flew away from her and she said, “Don’t get mad. I told you before we came here, Excellence, that perfume is nice, it’d be nice to go into that business, but I heard, and saw, your conversation with that giant flower. I don’t want to piss that thing off. You made it seem like it would be easy to get on the way to the Festival. But it’s ok, it’s really not that important.”
Tracia shrugged her shoulders. “Well, if you’re over it now, great. We can leave and stop angering my mother. But Bomat asked me to take him something if you weren’t interested. Let me go grab it quickly and then we can go to the festival. The rompo singers better be good, too, or I’ll be annoyed.”
“Bomat?” Red asked. “What does he have to do with anything? You’re stealing from your mother for Bomat? I thought I was special to you. You’re that desperate to make your mother angry by trading her essence to the south? And you want to make Bomat rich? You know he is the cruelest asanbosam in the jungle.”
“Why do you care?” Tracia shrugged again. “I’ll be right back, get your things ready to fly.”
“I want it,” Red said and she jumped into the trees, swinging and catching branches with her hands and feet to keep up with Tracia as she flew toward Golden Trumpet’s throne.
***
“You didn’t have to kill her!” Tracia screamed over the body of Red, flayed out on the ground in front of Golden Trumpet’s throne. There was a formation of aziza warriors standing before Golden with long staffs with sharpened tips as straight as they stood. They were heavily barked and there were plates of it all over to form armor with floral accents at the shoulders, elbows and knees. The Heavy Barked were always on call to defend the ruler of the Northern Jungle, and according to their law, laying hands on Golden Trumpet warranted death; except for Tracia and her father of course.
“You brought that vile beast to our home and she assaulted me as I knew she would. She tried to enter the trumpet of my petals!” Golden Trumpet said with disgust and horror permating her visage. “You called that pervert your friend? One who would defile your own mother? Tracia, surely you must see it now. The partition was a necessity and you would do good to stop railing against it.”
Tracia wiped tears from her eyes. She’d been away from the Northern Jungle for a while, wandering around the disc since she reached a young maturity, when she developed the curiosity to experience the world without the supervision of her parents or the azizas who gawked at her wings and whispered too loudly about her being either a god or a devil. She’d met Red early in her travels and even though Red mostly followed dumbly behind her, high off of the pleasure of her Essence, Tracia did like Red’s strong personality. She was loud and gregarious and she introduced Tracia to corners of the jungle and forest that she would not have found otherwise. They had grown very close. But Tracia was on a mission to speak with Agê to reverse the partition, and sadly, she would have to make real sacrifices to get what she wanted.
“Mother,” Tracia said, mustering all of the high nobility in her body to stand tall and resolute, “you have done the wrong thing if you insist on a future with segregation. You have created a martyr against that cause. Someone who has died senselessly as a result of forcing Fonlanders to live apart for arbitrary reasons. She should not have tried to take your essence, but she is only dead because she is from the South. I know that is true now because the former head of your Heavy Barked was also caught trying to steal your essence, after doing so successfully enough while you slept to single-handedly supply the trade of your perfume around the entirety of the Fonlands, and what was his punishment mother?”
Golden Trumpet was flustered. “Why are you bringing up the old Commander? He has nothing to do with this.”
“That old commander was guilty of far worse than poor Red,” Tracia continued and she focused her attention on the Heavy Barked who tried to stand stoic and unlistening. “That old commander defiled my mother! He entered her trumpet as she slept! He defiled our Mino! What did he deserve? He deserved death, to be flayed and all of his parts burnt in a pit.” Many of the Heavy Barked nodded along to Tracia’s words. They had tried to kill the commander when they discovered his treachery, but he was saved because of his high standing, stripped of his standing, and banished from the Northern Jungle. “Red should not have violated you, mother,” Tracia said to Golden Trumpet. “But she is dead and the old commander is not. That is proof of bias, that Northern lives matter more. And I cannot allow that to stand. I will end it.”
Tracia knelt and picked up the body of Red, then flew away from Golden Trumpet, her Essence sparkling behind her to increase the drama of the scene. She headed back to the South to start a revolution.
PRL Serials 