“Two blossoms to the left! Four forward! Ha – checkmate!”
Ressa slams her rim down on the board, scattering pebbles across the peachflower grid.
Every afternoon, she and Mirthlin meet at the garden’s edge to play the Peachflower Game, using petals and stones to mark moves across the tiles. Nobody really knows the rules. Ressa changes them mid-play.
“You can’t move diagonally!” Mirthlin protests.
“Not unless the wind’s from the east!” Ressa grins, shading her blooms with a proud tilt.
A cheer goes up from the balcony.
Florendelle’s rooftops love a spectacle.
And Ressa loves to win.