(( I'm treating this as happening after Phen's party but before "So it begins". I hope that's alright.
))
"Autumn leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down. Autumn leaves are falling down, my fair Lady!" was being sung to the melody of "London Bridge" by a bundled up winged girl as she skipped across the cobblestones leading to the grassy area around Xanth's statue. From the knit cap perched atop her unruly pale mane to her weathered old boots, she was wearing enough dark gray to classify as being in mourning. She didn't seem at all depressed, though, and Xanth only knew where she had heard such a tune to interpret it as she was.
A tuft of white feathers poked out from under the girl's hair, and it shook whenever she bounced from one foot to another. It was easy to connect the dots as to whom it belonged when a narrow reptilian head poked itself up and out from underneath the singing damsel's hat to flick its tongue at the world.
Sanna wasn't all that perturbed, as she found her nyad's voice comforting. Phen could sing about making snakeskin boots and the angel snake would still be comforted, not that the winged nymph would ever do such a thing. Since being given Sanna, Phen had sworn off snake meat, skins, and any other body part that couldn't be taken from a snake without harming it. If an item made from such components, from food to trinkets, had previously interested her, after Sanna they made her stomach queasy.
The angel snake untucked her wings as Phen neared the outer edge of the grass that was known to surround Xanth's Statue, then flapped to free them from the clinging waxen strands of her nyad's hair.
"Not yet, my Lily," Phen scolded her pet, reaching up to gently stroke under the angel snake's chin. Sanna automatically pressed into the attention, finding the heat from Phen's hands to be as pleasant as the familiar scent she associated with her nyad.
"You can sun yourself when we reach our destination, not before."
Feeling bad about having to force her will onto her pet, Phen tried to make up for it by slipping Sanna a treat, a dried cricket. Not one to turn down free food when she wasn't stuffed to the scales, Sanna snatched the morsel from Phen's light grip and gulped it down.
Smiling, Phen went back to what she was doing before Sanna got antsy, and let her hand drift back to the bubble wand that was dangling from a golden chain about her neck and dipped it back into a bottle framed by a web of interlocking gold lines that was being held by her other hand. The two halves, bubble wand and bottle, made up the pendant she had inherited from her father.
So it was with a stream of bubbles announcing her arrival that Euphenia entered the holiest of places (according to her), only to find her retreat occupied by a small girl and a skotadi woman who had a thick pad of paper before her with a drawing pencil in one hand. The presence of the skotadi struck Phen shy. They were her mother's people, and while none of them had insulted her when she was young and still living with Enyo, they had not welcomed her, either. Going from her former skip to a walk, she gave the pair a wide berth, angling to go around them so she wouldn't interrupt their conversation. Trying to look casual, she didn't allow her wings to clench up, instead willing them to stretch a bit while she breathed slow and deep to keep a clear head.
For the hundredth time, she wished she could hide her wings without whatever she tucked over them hurting them like crazy. Their gray feathers were a dead giveaway that she did not belong to a caste, and she was tall enough for most anyeli to wonder why she had yet to choose a side. That their society mandated that she had no right to make such a decision hardly mattered to passerby.
That was when she noticed the condition of the garden. Her dread at the skotadi's possible reaction evaporated like a drop of water on a hot sidewalk the moment she took in the wilted flowers and mounds of feces. She even forgot that she wasn't alone when she cried in horror,
"What have they done?! Who allowed someone to do this? This is holy ground!"
Of course Phen's exclamation startled Sanna, and the angel snake flew like a stone from a sling from the practically growling nyad's hair, only to jerk to a halt in midair when she reached the end of her leash. She hovered there, anxious to reach the statue that was oh-so-close-just-let-me-touch-it, when Phen took the step that was needed to allow the pearly reptile to perch on the shoulder of the statue and slide a loop of her sinuous body about its arm. Sanna arched her wings in triumph and fluffed out her tail tuft. That sight cheered Phen up some, but she shook her head anyway before screwing the parts of her pendant back together. She tucked her heirloom under the layers of her clothing, and made sure it was safely nestled before she tied the end of Sanna's leash about the statue's ankle.
"I entrust her in Your care, Great Lady," Phen earnestly prayed with a bowed head, her hands coming up to be clasped before her,
"I brought You a gift, but its importance pales when compared to the need I see here."
Remembering that she had company, Phen swiftly added,
"And while some enjoy my performances, I do not wish to further disturb those who were first in Your presence."
"I will present it before this day has passed," Phen promised, then moved away from the statue, feeling calm as she ever did after offering words to her goddess.
Turning slightly, the winged nymph peeked in the little girl and anyeli's direction, if only to check and be sure that she had in fact not ruined their conversation with her outburst.