A Posse of Princesses Read Free Page B

want, oh, to fall in love, or have a wonderful
prince fall in love with me. And no terrible fighting,” she
added hastily. “Just something exciting! Like in a ballad. Maybe a
duel or two, or some chases, but nobody gets hurt.”
    Sidal laughed, a soft and sympathetic sound.
“Sounds like you want a stage play sort of life! And there’s
nothing wrong with that, as long as you remember what I’m sure Mama
told you as many times as she told me when I first went away to
magic school—”
    “I know.” Rhis recited:
     
    “ Fall in love
    with heart, not head,
    to trouble you’re led.
    Fall in love
    with heart and mind,
    then true love you’ll find.”
     
    She couldn’t help but feel a little
impatient, for she’d already endured last-lectures from Elda all
during supper, and even afterward.
    Sidal got to her feet. “Then I’m sure you’ll
have a wonderful time, and that’s what I want most for you. But . .
.” She twisted a fine opal ring off her finger, and slid it onto
one of Rhis’s. “Just in case. No one need ever know. If you do find
yourself in trouble, and need me, then touch this stone and say my
name three times.”
    Rhis glanced down at the ring, and closed her
other hand over it. “Thank you, Sidal,” she said. “Do you foresee
trouble?”
    The tall princess-mage bent down and kissed
Rhis on the forehead. “No one ever foresees trouble, unless she is
looking for it,” she said. “So if you don’t use the ring-magic, I
will know that you are having a wonderful visit and that you don’t
need it. It would be terrible if trouble found you, and you had no
one to help you. Never mind. Just wear it and think of me when you
are dancing. She caressed Rhis’s cheek, then left.
    Rhis clapped off her glowglobe and snuggled
under her quilts, thinking about the ring, and about Sidal. Did her
serious sister have a romantic side after all?
    Feeling very confused, Rhis let her thoughts
drift into her own dreams, and then into sleep.
    She woke up to streaming sunshine and a
promising new day. Remembering her trip, she raced out of bed and
into her dressing room where Keris, the new maid, had her new
traveling gown all laid out and ready for her. The rest of the room
looked empty, with all her trunks packed and gone downstairs to the
stable.
    After a hasty breakfast, she danced into the
audience room to kiss her father good-bye, for he was already at
work. The rest of the family accompanied her to the courtyard to
see her off. She embraced them all, winning a smile from her mother
when she gave Elda a spontaneous hug. “Thank you for bearing with
me, Elda,” she said happily. “I’ll do my best to make you
proud.”
    Elda’s cheeks flushed red, but she smiled a
little. “Dignity, Rhis. Remember, a worthy prince looks for
dignity and dedication to duty above all in his future queen.”
    That sounds just like my boring
brother , Rhis thought, but all she said was, “I’ll
remember!”
    Then Rhis climbed into the coach, waved from
the window, and they were off.
    Rhis watched her home until the road down the
mountain took them around a great slope and the mighty stone castle
slid from sight. It was not a handsome castle, Rhis thought,
watching the last tower disappear from view. In fact, most would
probably consider it gloomy, for it had been built to withstand
weather and marauders. Elda, who had grown up in the more peaceable
Gensam, had once said, “A palace is quite different, child. Built
not just for beauty but for comfort.”
    Rhis grimaced, for the first time thinking
about what those words meant. She’d grown up with all those narrow
stairways and stone rooms and cold slate floors, so she was used to
them. Would a visitor think them barbaric? Maybe it was better that
no prince had shown up to court her!
    Anyway, now she’d see a real palace.
Impatience gnawed at her as she realized just how long a trip lay
ahead of her. Though Nym was small on the map, it would take
several days to wind down