Rainbows and Rainclouds Chapter 1, a song of the lioness fanfic

A/N: They're in a rough kind of time order, except for the last one. They range in length- some from one sentence, others (most!) a couple of paragraphs. I suppose this could be claimed as having small spoilers, for things like the current state of Daine and Numair's relationship and Roald and Shinko's children. They're only small things but I didn't want anyone screaming at me for spoiling it for them. The rating is for some suggestions to sex.

Disclaimer: As you all know, I do not own any of this- Tamora Pierce does.

Dedication: To Ana, for her help, for inspiring me to continue, and for persuading me to post it on the 'Dove.

Rainbows and Rainclouds.

1. Last.

Roald had been overwhelmingly grateful for Kel's efforts to get him to open up to Princess Shinkokami, yet in private he couldn't help but wonder how long these positive feelings towards his betrothed would sincerely last.

2. Soul.

Shinko liked to spend time getting to know her new family, especially her sisters-by-marriage, Kalasin and Lianne, even if the former would be leaving for Carthak soon. Kally enjoyed telling Shinko all about Tortallan fashion and her mother's Riders, and in return, Shinko tried to make Kally understand the calm spirituality the Yamanis pursued and their poetry about one's soul.

3. Child.

One of Shinko's earliest fond memories of Tortall was when a young common girl, barely five years old, her hands and face pink from scrubbing, had slipped through the guards to present the Princess with a bouquet of hand-picked wild flowers.

4. Gentle.

Shinko had always secretly worried that marrying a knighted Tortallan prince would mean submitting to a harsh, controlling man. She had been glad to discover her ideas were wrong, and that Roald had as gentle a personality as she did.

5. One.

It had been unbelievably hard to adjust to a new home in a completely unusual realm, regardless of any training she'd had beforehand. But Shinko set a brave face and took it one step at a time, Roald holding her hand all the way.

6. Thousand.

There are a great deal of customs and ways of life for Shinko to get used to in her new home, one such thing being the food. At a summer banquet, one course is a simple salad, and the Tortallans help themselves to a variety of dressings to add flavour to the lettuce.

Shinko picks the Thousand Island dressing, its salmon colour appealing to her and Roald watches in quiet amusement as she tries to hide her distaste. As the corners of his eyes crinkle with his smile, he discreetly calls over a serving man to swap the Princess's spoilt salad and bring her fruit juice to wash away the tangy taste.

7. Wait.

The Princess was homesick for some while, although she hid it well. Roald found he was immensely happy when she was, after letters had eventually arrived from her Yamani friends and family.

8. Cool.

Shinko and Roald go out riding when they can and today is hot, almost too hot to be in the saddle. It bothers the Yamani Princess far less than it does Roald, and with a restrained smile she leads him to a stream he hadn't noticed and, wetting her hands, runs her fingers along his forehead and across his cheeks and neck, deliciously cool and fresh on his sweat-slick skin.

9. Change.

They had escaped into the city for the afternoon, dressed rather plainly, and perusing the market stalls which had captured Shinko's fascination. He held her hand loosely as he guided her through the crowds, keeping an eye to their money.

At one stall, a pretty and inexpensive necklace took Shinko's fancy. Roald personally thinks it looks a little tacky but he wants to encourage her interest in anything Tortallan, especially since she does not usually wear jewellery. He opens his purse to buy it for her, only to find that he had not realised how little money he had left on him. He had spent most of what had remained of his change on the sticky buns they had just devoured.

Before Roald could do anything, Shinko took her own coin and paid the man, snatching up the necklace and Roald's hand and moving away. Roald tried to tell her she had given the stallholder the entirely wrong coin as the man stared in awe at the gold piece in his palm, but Shinko was not listening, already fascinated by her new trinket.

10. Sudden.

Shinko hid her annoyance behind her beautifully painted fan (it was her favourite, Roald had painted it for her as a betrothal gift) and hoped the journey wouldn't be much further. The Tortallans had insisted that she travel in this lumbering coach along the Coastal Road because it was much too windy and much too wet for Princesses to be riding.

There was a crash of thunder from the suddenly-dark sky above and the clouds let forth an unexpected wave of rain. Roald drew up beside the coach as his betrothed peered out. Already he was soaked by the stinging splats of rain and he gave her a mocking look.

'Happy now?'

Hiding her smile with the flick of a well-practiced wrist, Shinkokami sunk back into her cushioned seat, closing the drape over the window.

11. Goodbye.

Shinko watches from a window as down in the courtyard below, Roald puts his arms around the neck of his horse. The gelding has served him well but there is no chance now that the sick, weak beast will survive through the night, regardless of anything Daine or any other animal healer does. Everyone has to die eventually and Shinko tries to understand how hard it must be for the gentle knight to lose his first warhorse, helplessly watching it happen. As Roald slowly persuades his horse back into his stable, Shinko knows this is one goodbye he must make alone.

12. Bother.

Roald was working on his report when his new wife knocked on his door and came in; he looked up in surprise.

'Could you have someone show me to your libraries, please?'

Roald blinked in his bewilderment again, then put down his pen and stood up. 'I'll show you myself.'

'Oh no!' said Shinko in alarm. 'I don't want to be of any bother to you!'

He smiled a little too sweetly and squeezed her hand. 'Nothing is a bother when it comes to my own wife,' he replied, ever-so courteously.

13. Power.

Shinko liked to walk with Roald in the afternoons or evenings, in moments when they were free from Royal duties. The gardens were fine enough, but she'd seen gardens before and in reality, one flower was as good as another.

Where she really liked to walk was the Menagerie. Here were creatures she'd never seen before and their quiet power amazed her. Roald was more than content to walk by her side and tell her about all the different animals.

14. God.

There was to be a war with Scanra, and Shinko prayed- prayed that her betrothed would come home alive. She did not want the crucial peace treaty to fall through for a second time, and she did not want to have to return to the Isles and marry the man her mother-in-law had originally picked out for her.

15. Drive.

On those long, lonely nights when Roald was away, and before she had her little girl to adore, what kept Shinko going was the knowledge that she was doing the right thing for her people.

16. Harm.

Shinko slyly watched Lady Yuki be courted by Sir Nealan. The Princess knew that her marriage to a Tortallan would proceed regardless of her emotions, but she hoped with all her heart that her mischievous friend did not get trapped into an unnecessary betrothal and come to any harm.

17. Young.

Privately, Shinko desperately wants to take Roald on a visit to her home country and when she lets it slip to him, quiet one night during a feast, he squeezes her hand beneath the table, kisses her forehead and promises, "We're young. We've got plenty of time to go seeing the world."

18. Motion.

One kiss sets in motion a whole series of kisses, which eventually ends up with them breathless. To Shinko's surprise, her husband starts to laugh, sweeping her into his arms for another kiss. This extroverted behaviour is so unlike the quiet, calm Prince that Shinko cannot help but laugh quietly herself, covering her mouth with one delicate hand.

19. History.

Their wedding would be one that went down in history, whether its outcomes were profitable or detrimental: a wedding that bound two realms.

20. Learn.

Shinkokami knew how to be a princess and she knew how to be a lady. She had grown up as a Yamani, and was learning how to be a Tortallan. She knew from instinct and experience how to be a good daughter and friend, had been instructed on caring for children when the time came for her to be a mother, and had attended lessons since she was a young girl on how to be a proper wife.

But no-one had taught the girl how to be a lover and Roald took it into his own hands to quietly, gradually, tenderly instruct her himself.

21. King.

Roald quietly worries about the day he would have to take his father's place and though he never talked of his anxiety, Shinko always knew what had him so captivated and when she saw that look in his eyes she would slip her soft hand in his and try to comfort him.

22. Blur.

Roald was getting to know his wife considerably well by now and how, just like his friend Kel, she contained her feelings behind a Yamani mask; so he was horrendously shocked one day to enter their rooms, humming jauntily under his breath, and discover Shinko in tears.

She was crouched on the floor, her pale legs peeking out from her kimono, her face hidden by her hands, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably. He watched, thunderstruck, as her heart-wrenching sobs paused long enough for her to glance up at him. Seeing her husband blurred by her tears, she gulped in air with a hiccup, trying to get herself under control. She struggled to her knees, wiping her hands on her obi, stuttering his name.

In one fluid moment, he was on his knees by her side, tugging her unrelenting hands. She resisted him, but finally fell into his arms, burrowing her face into his shoulder as the tears came again.

Roald held her tightly, stroking her long, soft hair until her tears had dried and her sobs had stopped.

23. Command.

Roald had never expected demure, blank-faced Shinkokami to be anything different behind closed doors but once they had been married for some time, he began to see how deceptive a Yamani mask could be.

'Roald!' yelled the pretty woman from the adjoining room. 'If I have to tell you one more time to get here now, you'll be sleeping outside for a week!'

With a sigh- yet smiling all the while- Roald put down his captivating book and joined his oh-so delicate wife in their grand bedchambers.

24. Need.

What Roald had needed most of all in his wife was a companion that accepted him for who he really was.

25. Mad.

Shinko was carefully embroidering cranes onto her new forest-green obi when Roald stormed into their private room, his eyes smouldering. Shocked, having never seen the placid man angry, Shinko instinctively shrunk away before she went to comfort him.

Later she discovered from Yuki (who had learnt from her fiancé Neal) that another young knight had insulted Princess Shinkokami and, as the Crown Prince, Roald had not been allowed to call him out.

26. Shadow.

Shinko had been ill once, terribly ill. Roald never realised quite how in love with her he was until he saw her lying helpless in her sickbed, only a mere shadow of her normal self.

27. Fortune.

Roald was well aware that as the Crown Prince of one of the most successful Eastern Realms, he had all the fortunes of that realm to look forward to and claim as his own. Yet he believed (however cliché it was) that he already held more wealth than the realm could ever claim in his wonderful wife.

28. Eye.

Roald was tired and because he was finding it hard to concentrate, the topics being discussed at today's meeting were boring him. He stifled a yawn, pinching the bridge of his nose to try and wake himself up.

The Prince glanced up as one of the side doors opened and was quietly shut again. To his surprise, Shinko stood there, her palms and back pressed against the cool wall as she watched. Catching her husband's eye, the Yamani lady flicked her ornate fan up in front of her mouth, and to Roald's further shock winked lustily at him, reminding the man why he was so tired in the first place. He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat, and tried vainly to get his mind back to the issues at hand.

29. Naked.

Roald, unaware of what his wife was doing, walked into her rooms one afternoon. Shinko shrieked and water splashed over the ornate rug as she tried to cover herself. She glared at him from the bath, her arms clamped over her chest, her knees drawn up, her hair wetly hanging across her face.

Rolling his eyes, Roald turned to leave, calling back, 'I've seen you naked before, Shinko!'

30. Precious.

It was yet another ball and yet another party and Roald searched the rooms for his wife. He found her surrounded by friends, dressed in an elegant Tortallan style gown of apple-green and cream. He liked seeing her in both his home country's ball dresses and her native kimonos, but what amused him was that of all the expensive, elaborate jewel-incrusted accessories she could have had, the one piece of jewellery she liked to wear most of all was the precious, slightly-tacky necklace she had bought in the market.

31. Hunger.

Roald had never before understood that he could feel a desperate hunger for something other than food for his empty stomach.

32. Sing.

Roald woke up lazily, curling his arm around his wife and dragging her slightly-chilled body closer to him. The sun peeked through the heavy window drapes, and the birds outside were twittering their welcome to spring. With a contented smile, Roald drifted back to sleep.

33. Stop.

Roald didn't care what age they were when they got married, he still thought they had been naïve and innocent until they had a baby. Then they had to stop procrastinating and completely grow up, for better or for worse.

34. Hold.

Shinko was exhausted, her whole body was sore and throbbing, but when Thayet walked in, proudly cradling a bundle, Shinko lifted her weak arms with a sudden urgency. As Thayet perched on the bed next to her and placed the baby in her arms with an understanding smile, Shinko only wished her own mother could have been there too.

35. Never.

The birth had been hard, very hard, and Shinko was only slight. Never again would she bear children; the healers said it would kill her if she did.

36. Time.

Roald had found himself with spare time in the evenings during Shinko's pregnancy and, remembering his own childhood, he visited the carpenter's yard and found some scraps of wood. Gradually, he carved the cut-offs into graceful shapes, painting them all by candlelight, unknown- he thought- to all but Shinko, and was rewarded when his daughter spent most of her time playing with them.

Out of her wooden animals, young Lianokami loved best of all the golden-painted lioness her Grandpapa had presented her with.

37. Wrong.

Roald watched his daughter play with the other children; they were a mixed lot- children of Courtiers, mages and warriors. Lianokami's favourite playmates were Sarralyn and Rikash Salmalín- who Roald had often babysitted when their parents had been called away on an emergency.

Roald didn't care who his daughter played with. He just thought it was wrong that she should be a lonely Princess, just as it was wrong her mother couldn't have more little "darlings".

38. Fool.

Roald had heard the stories and seen enough evidence himself. There were his parents, for a start, and then his Aunt Alanna and Uncle George and most recently Uncle Raoul, but Roald had never quite understood how one could be such a fool in love until it was too late.

39. Attention.

Lianokami's attention was always on her toys, particularly those hand-made wooden animals her Father had painstakingly created for her.

In the end, the only way to persuade the stubborn Princess to stop sliding everywhere on her stomach and start walking was by using her animals as bait. As she tottered on chubby legs, hands vainly clutching the air in front of the toys her Mama always held just out of her reach, Roald sighed in relief.

Lianokami plonked onto the floor in a heap, her favourite two toys in her sticky fingers. The lioness Grandpapa had made for her swiftly ended up in her sulky little mouth, as the grey-bearded goat from those her father had created was banged along the rug.

40. Picture.

Roald had often looked at the Yamani painting Kel had given him, all those years ago. It had offered him peace then, and an insight to his upcoming marriage. Now, it still sat on his desk, next to the miniature of his wife and the recently added portrait of their first child.

41. Safe.

Whenever Shinko got up early and practiced her glaive or shukusen in their rooms, Lianokami would scamper- back pressed to the wall- to her parents' bed, clamber up and huddle against her half-asleep father. Safe in her Pa's arms, Lianokami would watch her Mama do those disturbing, scary dances.

42. Ghost.

Lianokami watched her mother apply her rice-paint with a scrutinising eye.

'Mama, why do you want your face to be all white? The other kids say it makes you look like a ghost.'

43. Hide.

'I understand completely what you're saying,' Roald said to Neal. He didn't get to spend much time with his old friends anymore (they were always off doing knight duties and he was always stuck in the palace doing Princely things) and he tried to snatch a few moments with them whenever they were in residence at the palace. 'It's exactly like-'

Suddenly he broke off, his brow furrowing, and signalling for Neal to stay where he was, the Prince crept forward. Just as a little boy dashed around the corner, Roald plucked a young girl- her gorgeous silk dress ruined by earth and mud and what looked disturbingly like bird muck- from behind a bush.

'Oh, Papa!' she moaned as the black-haired boy shrieked in delight. 'Now Rikash has won again!'

44. Wash.

'Ow, Mama that hurts!' whined the little girl as she was scrubbed roughly. Her mother gave her a sharp look from the other side of the room and signalled for the maid to continue scrubbing as she organised her daughter's fresh clothing.

'Well if you will get yourself covered in Gods-know what, my lady,' said the maid, 'what can you expect? Little Princesses have to be pretty and clean.'

'I'm not sure I want to be a Princess anymore,' muttered Lianokami, grumpily folding her arms over her chest. 'Sarralyn's mother lets her play with the animals all the time!'

45. Wall.

To his surprise, when Roald answered the knock on his door he was presented with a red-headed Lioness with a black-haired Princess on one hip. 'Lian!' he exclaimed.

'I don't know where this young one is supposed to be, Roald,' said Alanna as the child scrabbled for her father, 'But she- literally- ran into me in the stable yard.'

'It felt like running into a wall, Papa,' Lianokami complained, to Roald's utter horror.

46. Now.

'Roald Conté! Get yourself here, now!' bellowed Shinko. 'Our daughter reckons you said it's perfectly fine for her to go running around the country with the Riders!'

Roald ambled in from the adjacent room, eyebrows raised, eyes slightly dancing. 'I'll have you know it's Roald of Conté, if you please, my dear. Surely, now, after all these years you'd have remembered that.'

Lianokami stifled her laughter, and it emerged as an unlady-like snort as Roald rolled his eyes, wondering how the shy boy he had once been had ever ended up with such a wife and daughter.

47. Book.

Roald knocked on his daughter's door and entered her private room when she called.

'I brought that book I promised you,' he said, sneaking a look around. It wasn't often he was allowed in the sixteen-year-old's room. 'The one about your great-great-grandfather Jasson.'

'Oh, thanks, Papa,' she said, bounding over and kissing his cheek as she took the book from his hand with scarlet-painted nails. She was away again with a flick of her sleek black hair and a cloud of perfume.

Inwardly he sighed. Teenagers. Turning to leave, he noticed a row of carved animals lined up on her mantelpiece, their paint rather chipped and a few pieces broken. In the foreground sat the goat and the lioness.

48. Vision.

King Jonathan's vision started to go; he was too stressed, the healers said, too tired, and always peering over documents in bad candlelight. The nervous healers did all they could, and told the King to get lots of rest.

Roald watched in dismay as they laid a special compress over the King's eyes, all the while trying to silently comfort his silent, composed mother.

49. Torn.

Shinko had gradually loosened in her Yamani ways as the months and years drifted by, particularly once her child was born and had to be raised; but even when Lianokami had children of her own, and Shinko was an old woman, she always remained torn between the home land she longed for and the new land she lived for.

50. Belief

As they picnicked together on the sunny hill behind the coastal summer palace, Roald watched his family: his pretty wife absorbed in the fruit she was eating and her conversation with Lady Yuki; and his young daughter, black hair wind-swept as she ran around with Sarralyn, Rikash and Vania, flapping her wings like a bird. He smiled to himself in that moment of peace, believing that, perhaps with a family like this, it wouldn't be so bad to be King after all.

A/N: Just a few points that I didn't want to clutter up before the fic with.

1) Please check out my profile for an explanation in the change of my screen name if you're interested/bothered.

2) "Lianokami"…? Where did you get that from! For those of you that don't know, Tamora Pierce has said that Lianokami is the name of Roald and Shinko's daughter.

3) "Vania"? Again, what? Vania is the youngest of Jon and Thayet's children, probably about the same age as Lianokami and much younger than her siblings.

4) Are you going to write more Roald/Shinko, a proper fic perhaps? Yes, I am. In fact, I'm currently working on the first chapter. But I'm very busy at the moment with my approaching university exams so don't expect too much, too soon.