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“I lared, not at her, but at the woaze She did not hed

“I think you and your mistress are both ie in tiive me leave to meander in the Ajan alleys of my tale…”

THE TALE OF THE

CAGE OF IVORY

AND THE

CAGE OF IRON,

CONTINUED

THE FLOOR OF THE CAGE WAS PILED WITH cushions triold thread The child was resting on a lovely blue brocade, and she turned in her sleep, pulling up the Firebird’s wing over her shoulder like a blanket His neck was curled protectively around her, banked and glowing, his beak polished brass, sticking out between the blackened bars of the cage The door swung open and free, and with the breathing of the pair, the whole thing swayed back and forth on the frame that held it up a ways above the dusty floor

“Hello?” I said softly, but ainst the red walls The bird stirred and his eyes slid open lazily, shi The child moaned softly and her aviary caretaker hushed her

“Go back to sleep, dovelet, it’s only a Djinn come to see Papa” I saw her head fall back to its pillow, and soon enough the contented sounds of a child sleeping drifted out of the cage

The Firebird gently extricated hie, the size of a young elephant, his plue forefeathers down to creamy sear-white underfeathers And his tail was afla which is truly afire—long tailfeathers like those of a peacock, tipped in curls of fire and ns As he woke the flaht him beautiful in that moment, for fire, as ever and always, speaks to fire

“Youinto ash “My daughter needs her sleep”

“Your daughter? But she’s human!”

“The ways of the world are strange and dear, hter she is, doubt it not”

“Simeon sent me to you I understand nohat he meant: a flame like my own”