#37

"It's going to rain," Stormy grumbled.
Brian glanced over at her. She was laying down in her cage, one leg dangling out between the bars. "Can't you stop it?"
"I've been trying. I don't have any authority here."
"What do you mean? I thought you could do it anywhere."
"Well, you're wrong," she snapped bitterly.
He frowned and looked away, arms folding over his chest. He was sitting back against the bars, legs folded in front of him. "I don't understand."
She rolled onto her side so she could look at him. "Because you're human. You're not even supposed to know who we are, let alone understand what we do."
He glared at her. "Well, I do know you, and I want to understand."
She sat up, hair falling to her shoulders. She slipped her other leg through another bar and leaned forward against them, the cage tipping slightly with her weight. "We were all given our powers in the conditions. We have to look after such and such places, for these and those reasons, always following the will and way of the Wearer of the Belt. It's easy for the other kids, for Buddy and Red and Violet. But Moonglow and I, we're different. The others work with Rainbow, to bring colour and new life. Moonglow and I, we fill in the gaps.
"She and I can do our work from anywhere. But we still answer to the Wearer of the Belt. She's responsible for keeping so many worlds bright and beautiful, thus Moonglow and I only have authority on those places, and only if Rainbow Brite wills it."
"I think I understand," Brian said slowly. "But, if you can't use your powers here, and that means this world isn't under Rainbow's protection, does that mean she can't use her powers here either?"
She thought about it, then looked over at him. "I don't think so. Spira, where she met Krys, that world wasn't under her protection, but she used her powers there. I think it might be different for her."
After a short time, Brian spoke again. "Rainbow wasn't the first 'Wearer of the Belt', right?"
"That's right."
"Who came before her?"
She looked ahead again. "I don't know. I wasn't here."

Darkness.
"Where am I?"
A flash of lightning, a desolate world, darkness.
"What is this place?"
Another flash, a different picture. A castle, towering into the sky, clinging like a great tree to a cliffside. The sky roiled with thick, smokey, gloomy clouds. A sea raged below the cliff, waves gathering themselves into titanit swells, then throwing themselves mercilessly against the castle walls. Darkness.
"I know this place."
The white light again. Closer to the castle now, focus drawn to a balcony, just out of reach of the hungry waves. Silver hair, a black gown.
"Who is she?"
Another figure steps out. High collar, a crown. His arms go around the woman. Darkness again.
"I know them."
A bright light. A different light.