CHAPTER 9The Flower of Iankoros
Time spoke to the island in signs and in seasons. Spring followed a white winter, and summer came. Rain washed the naked land, and the wind blew warm, then cold as autumn neared, then bitter, then warm again; constellations wheeled in the sky. Prince Evnos watched the passing months with a vague feeling of sorrow. He saw the deep furrows trace themselves across the slopes of the hills, like wrinkles on an old woman’s face. He saw debris washed up on the beaches after storms. Once in a while there was a sail far off, which would grow larger for a while, then diminish to nothing. On clear days he could make out the flat blue-gray line of the mainland, like the edge of another, unattainable world.
Amadel was his chief joy. She could draw him out of his melanc
