The matchmaker was a spindly old woman with a mild mustache. Her dress was powder blue with gold flaked trim, and her cap bore the coral bead of a respected court official. Servants flitted semi-invisibly from task to task around her. Long lacquered nails prevented her from completing most mundane tasks, and she accepted their service without comment. Her name was Ling.

"You are frowning," she said. "An unmarried girl should not frown. It mars the face."

"I apologize, Matchmaker Ling." The days since my revelation had not passed easily. There was no one I could confide in, and I hadn't worked up the courage to confront my grandmother about what I'd learned. My father acted as if nothing had changed between us, and in a sense, it hadn't. He was still High King of our most glorious realm, and I was still his daughter, duty bound to fulfill his wishes. That had never been a burden before, poor girls were handed over to matchmakers as readily as princesses, and I actually approved of the custom. The matchmaker, a disinterested reader of the signs, ensured that each union would always bring the most benefit to the community. That was everyone's responsibility. Maybe I would feel differently if I'd had someone in mind for myself, but that would be pure selfishness. Castor hadn't spoken to me since our flight; I knew I hadn't been fair to him, but it had been the wrong time. I felt bad, and I did like him. I thought that if the matchmaker chose to bind him and I together it would make me happy. Nevertheless, that was her prerogative.

"You have always been a pleasant child." Ling's own mouth seemed to curve in only one direction, down. The lines in her face were like the ridges between the Atlan peaks. "Do not ruin your face now over some girlish foolishness. "

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good." Ling had an ornate wrought iron compass on the low table between us. It was two feet square, double the size of the one I trained with. It's 72 sections were correspondingly more detailed. The center depicted a dragon wrestling with a horned tiger called a fenrith. This was a sign of the unified forces within all things, constantly at war and yet complementary. The dragon was female aspected, and the tiger male. Its horn was in the center of its face, like a rhinoceros.

Her hands were as thin as paper fans when she spun the arrow that was planted in the midst of the battling forces. An iron point went round and round, and I read the sign where it landed.

"Fire," I murmured.

"Yes, you are fire oriented," Ling said. "Not surprising for the daughter of the High King. Your mother was water, very different, and water produces wood. But your father is metal oriented, and that destroys wood. So you are what we expected from their union. There is something of the eagle in you, fierceness and intellect, you will need a partner that can ground you, balance your excesses." She spun again, and twice more, nodding as an assistant made marks on parchment with a brush. I could have predicted everything she'd said so far, the drawback of too much knowledge was that it removed some of the wonder and mystery from the divining process. The matchmaker couldn't use the compass to perform real magic, but fortune telling was a science that could be learned, and the compasses did much of the work themselves. Each direction was associated with an element or mixture of elements, each element with an animal and certain character traits, even organs of the body. It could become quite involved, and there were different schools of thought as to how a reading was to be interpreted, and what questions could be asked of a single reader. It all seemed superfluous to me, the diagram said what it said, and there wasn't a need for convoluted interpretations.

"You will have two children." Ling said, and I snapped into focus, she was deep into the reading.

"Daughters?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"Both sons. Extra good luck. And you will sit on the throne for many years after your father's passing. Your reign shall be a time of peace and prosperity."

Of course it would, they all were. This was the sort of fortune every heir received, and it was made true by the daemon's bargain. But if I didn't have any daughters, how could I pay his price?

Ling looked at me, and then at the miniature diagram her assistant had painted with the characters from the compass reading. Her frown had deepened until it risked incising her cheeks.

"What is it?" I asked, trying to look at what had been drawn, but the matchmaker covered her work with one hand and those curling lacquered nails.

"I will need time to finish the reading. Your match will be announced tomorrow, during the ceremony."

"Is there a problem?"

"Of course not. But you must smile more. Men will prefer you if you smile."

"Thank you, honored matchmaker." I bowed to hide an expression she certainly wouldn't have approved. She was an elder official, and as such had to be both respected and tolerated. As I did so, I tried to sneak a glimpse of her diagram, and I took a mental image so I could recreate it later.

Matchmaker Ling had a building to herself in one of the twisting, higher reaches of Cloud City. There was always moisture in the air, and often snow, but as I took the route back to the palace it was actually quite comfortable. Spring came early and strong, one of the thousand blessings of Euphoria. I decided to take the more scenic trail home.

Green shoots and leaves were plentiful at this altitude, most of the flowers were lower down the slopes, but bamboo is evergreen. Small grey and brown birds fluttered among the stalks hunting for grubs. I turned my gaze to the off-white stone of the mountain itself, and began painting on it with my mind's eye.

I've always had a highly visual imagination, and the process of learning the diagrams had honed my inclination into a genuine skill. Each symbol was connected to others in a prescribed fashion, so as long as I knew a few of the readings the matchmaker had been working with I could recreate the entire diagram from there.

She had seen twins, which required the third terrestrial branch of the compass, but there was more than one stem that would suggest they would be males. Pingyin? Kengyin? More importantly, what could cause the matchmaker so much alarm that she would end my reading abruptly? Could it have to do with my visit to Ahriman?

More possibilities played out before my eyes. The characters representing movement, excitement; those could mean many things. The boar overtop the pheasant, peril and difficulty overwhelming my inner fire. Was that it? Certainly, it was not the sort of thing one foretold for the princess if one wanted to remain the matchmaker, but there was no way for me to be sure.

I was on a path just above Cloud City's largest plateau, and I could see the central parade ground outside the palace. I wasn't ready to go home yet, and there was something I'd put off for too long.

Grandmother lived in a pagoda whose lower levels were dedicated to making offerings to the ancestors. She and grandfather were considered living ancestors, and while he had flown off aboard a personal sky-ship years ago, Grandmother had taken to her role as a symbol and a matriarch. People from all over the city came to pay her homage, seeking her blessings and advice.

The attendants were sitting on their heels as I approached the pagoda. They greeted me and rose to slide open the double doors. Eight shrines, one for each wall of the building, small offerings of rice and sage had been left by that morning's petitioners at the feet of statues representing past rulers of Euphoria. Their calm, beatific faces were meant to inspire contemplation and satisfaction, but today they struck me as vacant and oblivious, hardly an inspirational attitude. I bowed to them before going upstairs to the private levels where another attending waited. She recognized me.

"Princess Joi," she said, "are you here for the Lady?"

"Is my Grandmother in?" I acknowledged the attendant and she gave a deep bow.

"She is not, your highness."

"I'll wait." I said, and she let me into my grandmother's antechamber. There was a small, artificial pond of goldfish and many wall scrolls depicting inked landscapes. Though the hangings were the work of masters through the centuries, the technique remained consistent. I'd trained as a painter as one of the many skills a royal personage was expected to attain, and I'd always found it a bit disappointing. Our nation's art is heavily stylized, and emphasizes form over detail, painting as an advanced calligraphy. The forms of nature echo the forms of the diagrams and vice versa. Even in this, the touch of the daemon king was evident.

Grandmother was not gone long. She smiled when she saw me, her hair held aloft with gold pins. She wore a plain tan dress and a cherry red shawl, a thin silver chain around her neck.

"Joi," she said, "what a pleasure it is to see you."

"Grandmother." I stood and bowed. "I'm honored."

"None of that now." She gestured for me to accompany her into the next room. It was a sitting area she kept ready for guests and supplicants, with a low table and pillows to sit on.

"The tea will be cold," she said.

"That's fine," I said. "Were you out visiting?"

"I like to see the markets, even if I don't buy anything." She brought cups for us both and a pot to pour from. "As much as I relish playing the wise ancient, being cooped up here every day can be unbearable."

"I saw the matchmaker this morning."

"Ling? What a special woman. I'm glad for you." We both drank in silence for a moment, it was bad manners to inquire into someone else's fortune. The tea was bitter, and my grandmother took it with a little salt.

"She said I will have two sons."

"Wonderful!" She clapped. "That is such perfect news."

"I was wondering whether that meant I would never have a daughter, or whether I might have one and lose her."

Grandmother did not look her age, but when her smile faltered there were signs of the years on her brow. "The readings do leave room for interpretation," she said. "Have you talked to your father about this?"

She knew. I knew she knew, had already known, but it was so hard to believe. Grandmother was a good woman, a kind one, with a sense of humor. What had she been willing to give up for the crown? The same as all the others, I supposed.

"He showed me, Grandmother. I need help to understand."

"Oh, my child." She smiled sadly. "It is not so complicated. Sacrifice is a part of life, and this is ours. Our power and position come at a cost, but it is not for them we do it. The kingdom needs us. These mountains are not meant to be fruitful, nor ships to fly. It was my place to give up a child, and one day it will be yours."

"My sister was innocent."

"Yes." Grandmother met my gaze.

"And I had an aunt? You had a sister?"

"I married into the dynasty, you know that, Joi. It was Grandfather who lost his younger sister when she was a baby. Deaths like this are not generally recorded in the family tomes, as your sister's passing was recorded with your mother's. What are you asking me?"

"They don't have a choice," I said, "they are fated to..." that long purple, rasping tongue, "how can we have a bargain with Ahriman? Isn't it taught that all we do is to protect against him?"

"That is a fine point of philosophy." Grandmother folded her hands across her lap. "Ahriman is not really an enemy. He is a force of nature, the shadow who walks behind the man. Our duty is to reduce his influence upon our kingdom as much as possible. One life is the smallest possible price, even the life of an innocent babe."

"Can someone volunteer to take their place?"

"Don't be foolish. That is not the bargain. That isn't what Ahriman desires."

"There has to be another way."

"Your ancestors found the best possible way, the greatest good for the greatest number."

"And unending punishment for one."

"For one. Yes, child, unending torment. I don't believe the daemon would allow his victims to ever completely lose their minds. They suffer. I know it, and that is something we must live with. You are young, and have not seen the ways of other kingdoms. Their people live in squalor, fighting interminable wars. Suffering is their way, because they do not know a better one."

"What about my fortune, if I don't have a girl?"

"You will. The matchmaker wouldn't mention a baby who didn't live long enough to be named. Ahriman hides himself from the readings."

I tried to imagine a life growing inside me, carrying it for most of a year and going through the trauma of labor only to have to give her up. Not just give her up, to feed her to a daemon and condemn her to an existence of utter and unrelenting torment. My child, for all the other children.

"I don't think I can do this."

"You will, when the hour arrives, you will be strong."

"It doesn't feel that way."

"You are thinking that what we have to do is evil, but how can it be, if it produces so much good? Other kingdoms allow children to starve and suffer for no purpose at all."

"I know that. I know it."

"You are still shocked by what you saw. That is a reaction of the body. Your higher faculties will prevail."

I couldn't refute her argument, it aligned with everything I'd been taught my entire life. But I couldn't rid myself of the image of my sister.

"Thank you, Grandmother."

"You will be married soon, things will be easier when you have a husband at your side. We all have our roles to play, and you will be happier when you have accepted yours."

I bowed as low as the table, my grandmother's opinion was clear. After thanking her again, I returned to my rooms in the palace. Over the past few days I'd begun to see my position in the world in a different light. All the marble and gold, the silks of my clothing and the cream colored canopy above my bed, these were not natural things. My servants did not have them, though they were fed well and not overtaxed, theirs was not a life of luxury. A girl took my shoes before I entered my bedchamber, and another prepared my bath. It was so easy to dismiss these favors from my mind because I had been taught that everything in our kingdom had its proper place and that place was assigned at birth. The diagram told our futures or it created them, there hardly seemed a difference. The matchmakers, an entire class of fortune tellers, existed to guide every aspect of our society. They composed the Euphorian court. How many children should I have? What is my ideal profession? The wisdom of the system was evidenced by the harmony and fruitful nature of the kingdom. The diagrams were the secret of our success. But now I knew the secret of the diagrams.

Hot water poured from a pipe in the wall, another luxury. I sank into it and closed my eyes, dismissing the servant with a gesture.

There was an ache in my chest that wouldn't go away even in the steamy water. This was wrong. How could I live like this when my twin was in a cage? It didn't make sense. At the very least, couldn't she be taken care of when the daemon was finished with her, not disposed of like a rind? But she wouldn't be released until it had another victim. My future baby. I wouldn't do it. I couldn't do it, kingdom or no kingdom. There were some things that no one should have to choose. What if I never had a daughter? Ahriman would be forced to wait until the next generation for his due. With the magic in my blood and my knowledge of the diagrams I could ensure the birth of a boy. Except Ahriman was the source of that magic, and I doubted he would allow me to thwart him in so obvious a manner.

What if I didn't have any children? Would that violate the pact my family had made? Would the line end with me, or would another be forced to take our place on the throne? I had no answers, only more questions, except that I knew I would not give him what he wanted. I would not be another link in this infanticidal chain.

And I was going to help my sister.