“Because,” she continued, “I didn’t want to hold you back from your dreams.”
Even the dogs looked impressed. And then everyone was looking at me.
“I’m not trying to hold you back from your dreams. Until right this second, I didn’t know your dreams involved hurling fireballs at dried flowers in the Forest of Emeralds.”
“How would they, if I never knew those things existed? Except for the dried lavender, of course.” She turned toward the Princess of Arrows. “Can I replace that for you, by the way? I was so excited I didn’t even think twice about setting your lovely flowers on fire. Did it come from a shop around here?”
“I picked them myself.”
“Oh.” Mom paused, appearing to try to work out how, exactly, to replace the hand-picked flowers.
The Princess of Arrows regarded her with a look of politeness that seemed as if it could outlast the sun.
“Well,” Mom finished, “I’m sure there’s a craft store around here somewhere.”
“Oh, yes,” Poppy said. “There’s a Michael’s on 6th Avenue.”
The Princes of Arrows cocked her head. “You do not wish to visit the Vale of Amethysts?”
“Visit the what of what now?” Mom said.
“Vale of Amethysts,” Berron said. “A natural feature in the Forest of Emeralds.”
Mom looked at me for help. I shrugged, having no more idea of what or where that was than she did.
“Is it… is it very far?” Mom said.
Berron shook his head. “A short walk over mostly level ground, at least until you reach the downward slope into the Vale itself.”
The Princess of Arrows stood and brushed off her golden dress. “Shall I take you now?”
“Now?” Poppy said.
“Have you aught to do elsewhere?”
“Sister,” Berron said, gently, “they may have obligations.”
She lowered her head and folded her hands. “My enthusiasm is too great,” she said. “To have such visitors quite overwhelms me.”
My mother hurried forward and placed her arm around the wilting Princess. “Don’t you fret. Of course we’d love to see the Vale of Amethysts, wouldn’t we?” Mom looked at Poppy and me and raised her eyebrows.
“Of course,” Poppy said.
“Actually, I have to get back to the shop in a little bit,” I said. Time passed strangely in the Forest of Emeralds. It was easy to lose track of how long you’d been there, and get to Manhattan just as the sun was setting, having lost an entire day.
Berron stood. “I’ll go with them.” Jester tugged at the leash, eager to go anywhere and do anything.
“I wasn’t saying there needed to be a dude to keep them safe.”
“Neither was I,” Berron replied easily. “My sister could outfight me blindfolded.”
“This is true,” the Princess of Arrows said.
I remembered Berron throwing a chair across the restaurant, and wondered what a sibling battle might look like, and how the delicate-looking Princess could overpower Berron’s height, strength, and grace.
I really had to stop admiring him.
“Before you go,” Berron said, approaching me and drawing me away, toward the trees. They closed around us like velvet curtains, though we were only steps away from Poppy, Georgiana, my mother, and the Princess of Arrows. He scooped up Jester in his arms and smoothed his floppy, fuzzy ears. “Don’t mistake me,” he said. “I didn’t volunteer to go because they need a chaperone. I volunteered because your mother is going.”
