Iri and the Color That Wouldn't Stay Put

COLOR 01 RESTLESS LIGHT At dawn, Iri carried the prism lantern through Paleglass City, waking a little color in every window. But one ribbon of light wriggled free. "Please choose a color," Iri said. The ribbon flashed every color at once and zipped around the corner.

COLOR 02 RED / COPPER Iri found it glowing red inside a glass apple. A breath later, it was copper on a rain-wet roof. "Red!" called the fruit seller. "Copper!" called the roofer. The light slipped between their words and danced on.

COLOR 03 ORANGE / MARIGOLD It warmed the steam above the bakery until the whole street shone orange. Then it settled in a bowl of marigolds, soft as petals and bright as a secret sun. Iri began to wonder if one name could ever be enough.

COLOR 04 YELLOW / GOLD At the bell court, the light rang yellow through twelve clear bells. On Iri's lantern it gleamed gold, deep and old. The bell keeper laughed. "Perhaps a color changes when the world changes around it."

COLOR 05 GREEN / TEAL The ribbon threaded green through moss growing between the stones. It dove into a fountain and rose teal, carrying the cool blue of the water with it. Iri held the lantern open, but the light was not ready to return.

COLOR 06 BLUE / VIOLET Across the library windows it stretched blue, calm and wide. Along every glass edge, violet appeared. Iri tilted her head. The color had not crossed a border. The border had changed the color.

COLOR 07 INDIGO / SHADOW Under the oldest bridge, the ribbon became indigo and almost disappeared. "Are you lost?" Iri whispered. The shadow answered by making the gold star in her hair shine brighter. Dark was not empty. Dark helped light be seen.

COLOR 08 PINK / BROWN / GRAY / WHITE At the clay market, the ribbon blushed pink in a shell, warmed brown in a pot, cooled gray on a stone, and rested white in a cup. No color pushed another away. Each one made room for the next.

COLOR 09 THE PRISM ROOM Iri followed the ribbon into an abandoned room made entirely of clear glass. She raised the round lantern. One small beam entered the prism, and a hundred colors walked out together, laying bright paths across the floor.

COLOR 10 TOO MANY NAMES The townspeople crowded the doorway. "It is red." "It is blue." "It is gold." Everyone held tightly to the color they had seen. The room grew noisy. The ribbon grew thin. Iri lowered her lantern and listened until every voice had finished.

COLOR 11 BETWEEN THE NAMES "Every name tells something true," Iri said. "But no name tells everything." Together, the people opened the prism room to the sky. They built no cage and painted no line. They left space between the names for color to move.

COLOR 12 EVERYWHERE At sunrise, the restless ribbon poured through Paleglass City - red and copper, orange and marigold, green and teal, blue and violet, shadow and shine. It returned to Iri's lantern only long enough to light the next window. A color could have a name, Iri knew, without having only one home.