Her father had told her about rainbows, but she’d never seen one in any of her trips to the surface. Hadn’t known that something so lovely could arch between heavy gray clouds. Other than Sister Madeleine, it had been the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.

“I love all the colors,” she said softly. “But especially when they’re together. Rainbows are best.”

For some reason, Madeleine looked delighted. “Now there’s a great Bible story! Noah and the rainbow. God’s promise of renewal.”

“That was a sad story,” Hæra objected.

“Well, yes, it’s been argued that it was cruel to destroy most of humanity, but remember—don’t take it literally.”

That wasn’t the part Hæra found sad. It had seemed a shame to get rid of all that lovely water that had covered the world. “I don’t.”

Madeleine shifted in her seat, appearing uncomfortable. That made sense—the padding wasn’t the best. “Since we’re asking…intimate questions, are you a Christian? What with reading the whole Bible and everything.”

“No,” Hæra said flatly. “I read it because I had to.” Or so she’d thought. She evidently should have been reading Madeleine’s—what did she call it? That Catechism instead.

“Oh.” Madeleine winced. “Your family made you? When you were growing up?”

Hæra nearly laughed as she imagined Beathag’s reaction to the Bible. That was a telling question, though. Maybe Madeleine’s family had made her read it. “I think we’ve talked about my family enough for now. I’m glad to be rid of them, and that’s that. What about yours?”

A shadow passed over Madeleine’s bright eyes, and it had nothing to do with the fluffy white clouds overhead. “That’s a sad story too. They’re gone.”

Hæra was about to ask, Gone where? when she remembered that sometimes humans used that as a euphemism. Maybe Madeleine was doing that.

“Do you mean they’re dead?” she asked, to clarify.

Madeleine laughed shortly, although Hæra hadn’t been joking. “You’re blunt, too. That’s okay. Yes, they’re dead. My parents died in a car accident when I was sixteen, and my brother was fourteen. He…didn’t cope well. Overdosed when I was twenty-one.”

Overdosed. That meant drugs. It showed up in the Orcadian occasionally, and Jonathan always said it was a pity. Hæra wondered why Madeleine had joined the Daughters of Grace after the tragedy, instead of making another family with a mate and a child.

It seemed to be another way Madeleine and Hæra were similar, at least. “I’m sorry. That sounds hard.”

“It was. Is. I don’t talk about it often. They’re in a better place now, and we’ll see each other again someday.”