Misapprehensions Abound

Temmin was beside himself. There in the spyglass was his sister, Sedra, meeting in the woods with a couple of Travelers. "Jenks!" he called. No answer. "Dammit, Jenks, what are you doing, where are you the one time I really need you?" he cried out, searching the little suite of rooms. He gave up and dashed out of his study down the hall, down the stairs and into the mudroom.

"Come! Just come!" he yelled at the two startled footmen blacking boots there, and ran out the door. They flew after him, work aprons flapping.

"Your highness!" cried one of them, nearly abreast of him. "What's amiss?" It was Fen, his red hair streaming back as he ran.

"Sedra!" Temmin gasped. "It's the Princess Sedra! She's in trouble!"

He ran for all he was worth toward the little folly by the reflecting pool, where just beyond it, through its graceful Southern archways, he could still faintly see the garish red of the caravan. He had to reach Sedra; they were all she had keeping her from Amma knew what. Temmin ran until he thought he would die, vision blurring, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Fen and the other footman pull up short. He looked ahead and saw the caravan was gone. His sister was walking calmly toward them, kicking her gray skirts clear of the wet grass, a plain straw bonnet lined in gray atop her head.

"What on earth is the matter with you, Temmy!" she cried. "Jenks is going to hang you by your thumbs."

Temmin looked down and grimaced. His good shoes were covered in mud, and his trouser legs were soaked and spattered. "I saw you from my window," he panted, "I saw you with--"

Sedra had closed the distance between them and took his arm with a jerk, marching him back toward the Keep. "Not in front of the servants," she hissed in his ear. "It's all right," she said firmly to the footmen, who were looking down at their own muddy shoes and uniform trousers with great annoyance. "Go on back to whatever it was you were doing. Get cleaned up first. The Prince and I will walk together a while before we return. Tell cook to have luncheon ready for me in my study."

The two footmen pressed uncertain knuckles to their foreheads and loped back to the Keep. "These were brand new clean today!" Temmin heard Fen's voice float back. "I don't know if I have another pair to wear. Affton will have a fit, we're done for." Temmin groaned inwardly and made a note to speak to Affton on their behalf.

The siblings walked on in silence. "What were you doing with them?" Temmin finally said when he was sure they wouldn't be overheard.

"With whom?"

"Don't be like that, Sedra "

"Whatever you think you saw, you didn't see it," she replied, keeping her gaze on the middle distance.

"I don't like what I've learned about those people, they may be--" How could he explain magic to his practical-minded sister? "What were you doing with them?"

"Leave it, Temmy," she snapped. "If there's any misunderstanding here, it's yours." Sedra dropped his arm and strode off. Temmin watched her go in consternation, then trudged miserably back through the muddy grass alone to face the wrath of Jenks.

"Mother Amma, give me patience!" said that worthy as Temmin crept into his study in wet socks, carrying his formerly elegant shoes. "What were you thinking, your highness, running out into the muck like that in good morning clothes! Fifteen minutes and I could have had you fitted out in a decent walking suit and proper boots!" He fussed and clucked as Temmin shucked his wet and muddy clothes and trudged into the bathroom to get cleaned up; he'd run so hard he'd splashed mud all the way up the front of his shirt and waistcoat and the back of his coat. "When you're done, I've got a lovely brace of pigeons for your luncheon. Not to mention a piece of my mind," he added under his breath.

Temmin wet down a flannel and began to give himself a quick once-over from the sink. "Oh, Jenks, I had to! There wasn't time to change!"

"What could possibly be worth causing me all this bother, you young dunderhead?" the valet said, shaking his head at the prince from the doorway.

"I thought Sedra was in trouble," he mumbled, wiping his face. "I saw her in the forest down by the pavillion. I thought I saw a Traveler caravan too, but she says I'm mistaken. What would Travelers be doing in the King's Woods anyway?"

Jenks handed him a clean shirt. "Travelers have always had access to the King's Woods, by royal decree. Goes back a good 800 years or more. They camp there a few times a year, do a bit of poaching--well, hunting, since they're allowed to--tell the fortunes of the more gullible servants, and leave."

"You don't suppose Sedra was getting her fortune told?!" said Temmin, buttoning his shirt. "No, that can't possibly be right! That's something Ellika would do, not Sedra."

Jenks shrugged and handed him fresh trousers. "Girls is girls, as my mam used to say. Even Miss Sedra must have a girlish moment now and again, your highness."

As he ate his lunch, Temmin tried picturing Sedra inside a Traveler caravan, leaning avidly over a table full of cards as some bent old crone filled her ear full of nonsense about tall dark strangers. He just couldn't see it. He pushed back from the demolished pigeons and gave a small burp. "Oh--when you go below stairs with this, Jenks, please take a message to Affton that the two footmen who came back all covered with mud were out on my orders and are not to be disciplined." He winced guiltily. "Perhaps you'd better do that now. Oh, hang it, I'll go myself. It's the least I can do."

Ignoring Jenks' astonished look, Temmin picked up the tray and headed down to the kitchens, where he buttonholed Affton and explained. "I shall rescind their punishment, your highness," said Affton with a small bow. Fen peeked out of the scullery, face red with steam, and gave Temmin a grateful smile and a little salute.

Feeling much better about himself, Temmin walked back toward his rooms whistling nothing in particular and doing it softly. As he passed Sedra's rooms, he once again heard raised voices, though he couldn't make out the words. The door began to open, and, suddenly wary, he ducked into an alcove.

Out came the Teacher, face clouded with anger. Sedra stood in the door. "If you can't or won't, I'll find someone who will," she said.

"I made mistakes with you," the Teacher said, taking her hand. "and I'm sorry, truly. I appreciate you carrying messages for me, but--"

"You think I don't know what's going on, what you're up to."

"I assure you that you do not. You don't understand the least little thing, Sedra, and I'm asking you to be careful, for your own sake." With that, the Teacher dropped her hand and strode down the hall. She watched the black-clad figure down the front stairs, her chin high, and retreated back into her study, closing the door with a bang loud enough to make Temmin jump in his alcove.

What on earth was that about, he wondered, and how could he bring it up with the Teacher without getting caned?

That night, Sedra didn't come down for dinner. Temmin was paying no attention to the conversation, picking the good bits out of an aspic and pondering whether he should say anything to his mother about that afternoon, when Ellika said the name "Allis Obby" and his ears pricked up. "Sorry, what?"

Ellika snorted. "I knew that'd get your attention. I saw Miss Obby on the Promenade this afternoon and she said she'd saved a dance for you Vennaday night."

The Baron's ball--he'd forgotten about it entirely. "I asked for a whole set!"

"Oh, don't be greedy, Temmy, she's very popular and couldn't possibly give you an entire set, not even if you were Daddy."

"Oh, I think I could manage to obtain a set with just about any lady in the kingdom," said Harsin quietly with a wink to his son. Ellika and Temmin both resisted the urge to look at their mother, and Temmin paid close attention to his wedge of cabbage in wine sauce.

"Vennaday night, Jenks," said Temmin the next morning as he cleaned up after his ride. "I am relying upon you to make me resplendent. I have a dance reserved with Miss Obby."

"Considering this is Eddinday, that gives me plenty of time, your highness, as long as you don't decide to go traipsing around a paddock in your dancing shoes." Jenks smoothed out the morning suit that hung waiting for Temmin to get out of the bath.

Temmin dunked his head under the water and came up dripping like a water dog. "D'you know, I have to collar that Ellika, she promised to tell me everything she knows about Miss Obby days ago."

Jenks shrugged. "Knowing your interest, I've found out a certain amount below stairs, your highness. Not that you'd be interested in the gossip of servants."

"Servants always know the good bits, Jenks, tell all!" said Temmin, jumping out of the tub and into a toweling robe.

"She is a performer at the Lovers' Temple," said Jenks cautiously, handing across Temmin's underwear.

"That much I'd figured out on my own, I mean, she's obviously not a priestess, she's too young. What does she do? Sing? Dance? I'm betting she dances."

"She is a twin, your highness. Of a pair of beautiful, nearly identical twins."

"I know that," Temmin answered irrritably, shrugging into his shirt. "Her brother is Issak Obby--oh." He stopped mid-buttons. "Oh. Oh, dear."

"Yes, your highness."

"I hadn't even thought about her being a twin." Well, he thought, except for that one dream...

"It does put a different face on it, young sir," said Jenks delicately, handing over Temmin's trousers.

"Well, she is a commoner, I wasn't intending to marry her," said Temmin, "just maybe have some--I don't know--fun!"

"Fun. Yes, your highness," said Jenks.

Temmin slipped on his braces and then a really rather pretty green waistcoat with a pattern of reeds woven into it, wonder where Jenks dug that up, he thought. "Do you think her being the Living Embodiment of Neya the Beloved makes her out of bounds?"

"No, no!" If Jenks had had a hairline, his eyebrows would have been close to it. "Your highness, that's sacrilegious!"

"Well, I don't know how these things work in the capital!" said Temmin.

"The same as every Temple everywhere, young sir. The Sacred Twins play their roles in the Spectacles and apart from that are free to live their lives, as long as they live them within their vows. You know very well how wrong that would be, to lead any of the Embodiments from their vows."

"I keep forgetting how religious you are, Jenks."

The valet stopped combing Temmin's hair. "The Gods have been very good to me, your highness," he said quietly. "It's only right I be as good to them as they've been to me."

"Well, I promise I won't try to sway Miss Obby from her vows. Do I have your approval?"

"You promise to leave her alone if things go awry?"

"I absolutely promise."

"All right, then, your highness, I shall help you however I can," Jenks smiled, helping him into his suit coat and brushing bushels of imaginary lint off of it. "Neya's Embodiment--if you can manage it, it's good luck, in any event!"