A Story Told by the Mothers in Grey House How the Seasons Came to Be

A Story Told by the Mothers in Grey House: How the Seasons Came to Be

This is holy and ancient knowledge.

In the Rose Era, the seasons moved on their own, and lay upon the whole of the palace. This was a great marvel of the Ladies. Sometimes great storms arose and flooded the palace. Sometimes great snow buried it. Sometimes great droughts starved it. Then, as the palace grew, and a Lady's voice could no longer be heard over the whole of it at once, the Iris Lady gave thought to this troublesome matter. She took no food, heard no lullabies, listened to no petitions. She sat in the top of Black Tower and thought.

A power such as the seasons could not be constrained by any force except a Lady's. But to exercise such power, a Lady could do nothing else. The rule of the palace would crumble. The Iris Lady thought and thought, and in the depths of winter a new thought came to her. She took one of her daughters and said, You are the Lady now, if you help me.

Then the two Ladies dug out a great room in Black Tower, and opened an eye overlooking the whole of the palace, and they built there a great wheel, and the Iris Lady stood in the center and said, You are the Lady now, if you take my arms.

Then the younger Lady cut off her mother's arms and from them made Black Tower's five piers.

The Iris Lady said, You are the Lady now, if you chain me to the great wheel.

Then the younger Lady chained her mother to the wheel, and at once winter fell on Grey, spring on Blue, summer on Red, and autumn on Yellow, and the hub of the seasons was Black. And the new Iris Lady went on her way rejoicing in her new virtue, and the old Lady began to turn. At first, she turned too quickly, and summer flickered over the palace like lightning, and winter breathed a single cold breath. Then she slowed, and learned the proper round of days. And ever since, she turns the wheel of the seasons, and watches the whole of the palace. As she laid down her virtue, the rise and fall of dynasties does not trouble her: she follows the will of the Lady of Black Tower. But sometimes she sees a person in need of a summer's day, or another yearning for the cool of winter, and she grants it to them. This too is a great marvel of the Ladies.