Contents
Chapter Six
Overview
Neema enforces perfection at the opening rehearsal, then meets her bubbly new assistant, Benna, who tidies, bakes, and vows to find Neema’s missing chameleon. Preparing in an extravagant Raven gown and amethyst choker, Neema readies for the ceremony but learns her peers have excluded her from afterparties, underscoring her isolation as abdication nears.
Summary
Neema spends the day driving the opening ceremony rehearsal to her standards, forcing a second run despite resentment, because the emperor pays her for perfection. Exhausted and overheated, she cools off under the Monkey palace waterfall before returning to her rooms at sunset.
There, Neema meets Benna Edge, a cheerful young kitchen worker sent by Chef Ganstra to assist her. Benna has already cleaned and prepared cakes and tea. Neema mentions her missing chameleon, and Benna eagerly promises to search for it, preferring to believe it wandered off on an adventure.
As Neema dresses, she and Benna talk. Benna reveals she is from Westhaven, unaffiliated, and marked by tattoos celebrating life in a perilous homeland. Benna helps fasten Neema’s indigo Raven gown and diamond choker with an amethyst centerpiece, completing Neema’s carefully chosen “armor” for the night.
Neema instructs Benna to ready a bath and a pick-me-up drink before the afterparties. Benna’s upbeat competence contrasts with Neema’s private doubts and guilt about family distance.
Finally, Neema leaves for the ceremony poised and radiant, but the truth lands: she has not been invited to any afterparties. With the emperor near abdication, her Raven peers can safely snub her. The snub exposes Neema’s isolation—feared and needed for her role, yet unloved and painfully lonely.
Who Appears
- Neema KraaHigh Scholar running the opening rehearsal; exhausted, dresses in a Raven gown and amethyst choker; privately excluded and lonely.
- Benna EdgeNew assistant from Westhaven; cheerful, efficient, provides cakes and tea; vows to find Neema’s missing chameleon; helps dress Neema.
- Emperor BersunReferenced as employer nearing abdication, raising stakes and enabling court snubs toward Neema.
- Chef GanstraSends Benna from the imperial kitchens to assist Neema; warns not to touch Neema’s books.
- Janric TursulFormer assistant whose departure prompted Neema to request help from the kitchens.
- FacetCourt jeweller who provided Neema’s diamond choker with amethyst.
- GaidaRaven peer with an afterparty planned in her honor; emblematic of Neema’s exclusion.