A Green Cloud Came

Her fingers lightly caressed a button on the long table as she half-turned toward him. At this moment, she was glad they still wore the semi-barbaric accoutrements donned for last night's festivities, commemorating the conclusion of the final war—weird, fantastic trappings, selected more for adornment than for approximations of ancient military dress—for he would not notice that she was trembling. When at last she spoke, her voice was steady.