Daisy

Lady Hen woke me early in the morning. It was before twilight from Bubbles’ groggy testimony. Hen had shaking bags below her wide eyes. “Princess…” She whispered.

“You haven’t slept,” I sighed.

She shook her head, “A girl should ne’er have to watch her father die. Ye rested.”

“I’m exhausted.”

“Madame Piff spoke o’ mercy before,” She said under her breath, “I need ye to be asking the dragon for something. I pray she’ll listen.”

“Ask her yourself. You have my blessing.”

“Ye know she only cares about ye. Or has she not yet made that clear enough?”

I pushed my tangled hair out of my face. I reached for the tiara sitting beside my bed, “What do you need, My Lady?” As I placed it over my forehead, the shadow of the ivory dragon cast over the wall behind me.

Lady Hen’s knees wobbled under her weight, her back tried to bend back down. She breathed heavily and her eyes sank, “Daisy has fallen ill. I fear she can’t recover in a place like this, she is too young. For any chance to not follow her father, she needs to be allowed to leave. She needs to leave today.”

“What about you and Falcon.”

“It’s like ye suggested before,” she shook, “Daisy would have to take him with her, and I would be bound to stay. Else, there would have to be an extra person. If only the two can go, the dragon would have to be the one to care for them.”

I nodded, “Bubbles… I know you can hear us.”

“I fairly announced the rules to everybody. Changing them now would be an injustice.”

“The rules aren’t real,” Lady Hen complained, “ye made them up, and not one of us had a say in them.”

“I made them up, yes. That gives me no right to change them,” Bubbles said firmly, “no, you had no say in them. That’s not for my food to decide for me.”

“Daisy will die,” she clenched her fist, “her father died believing she may not.”

“You had the same illness and got better. As did some others. Sickness exists in all parts of the world, and is something I have no part in. If she dies of it, roll her into the river so the disease can’t spread further. Isn’t this how you always dispose of bodies?”

I stood up sharply, “Allow me to choose Daisy to be freed now, or I won’t choose anyone in a month.”

“Fussy,” Bubbles sighed, “do what you want. The more people who stay there, I have an incrementally larger meal to digest.”

“I’m not trying to fuss, I’m trying…”

“I don’t care, Fawn. If it didn’t come to this, you weren’t going to choose her anyway. What difference does it make?”

I gritted my teeth, “You promised my father, in return for me, to answer the requests of the royal family. I demand…”

“That rule doesn’t work like that. You can have as many palaces. I can provide you with as much food and water. I can bless you with jewels and scepters at your will. I can devour as much company as you want. I could burn the rest of Farhaven to the ground, if you asked it. But, I will not surrender my food on a simple request.”

“You’ve said the other people are nothing to you! You only need me!”

“They bring me minimal sustenance and little satisfaction. That doesn’t matter. A shame. But, that is for them to be disappointed by, that they could not be better. I’ve done my part, they should do theirs to the best of their ability. That is the nature of a deal.”

Lady Hen fell to her knees, “I am offering meself to ye! What more can ye want? I am more than a li’l girl is! But, if ye do not accept t’day, she will die.”

“I won’t let anyone go until the last die,” Bubbles insisted, “it is your responsibility to stay alive until that time.”

“We could all be dyin’ by then.”

Bubbles burped, “Yes, I anticipated that.”

“Ye meant for that, didn’t ye? That we’d all be dead by then…”

“I thought it was quite likely indeed. A risk I was willing to take. I really don’t understand why you humans are getting all worked up over this. I didn’t have to offer to save anyone at all. That’s abject charity.”

I shook my head and walked downstairs. Falcon was kept in his bed in one corner of the room. In the other, Daisy was curled in a ball on the floor. Madame Piff had wrapped her in what cloth she could, and was splashing water onto the girl’s forehead.

“Piff, I told ye to wait!” Lady Hen ran toward her, “Ye can’t get sick, too. You’re too old.”

“Didn’t I forbid you from trying to choose the girl over Hen?” Madame Piff glared at me, “The rest of these fools won’t realize what the beast was speaking of. I do.”

“I offered it meself, ye know!”

“Oh, Hen…” Madame Piff ran her fingers through Daisy’s hair, “You’re as much a child to me. When you’ve seen my years, you’ll know to make things easy on yourself.”

Lady Hen slowly stepped in beside Daisy. She’d been sick before, so there was no worry of her becoming feverish again, “The beast won’t be letting us anyway. Go, now, you’ll get the fever.”

“I’ll look after the girl,” Piff shook her head, “You stay with the princess. She was around the

father, too.”

“I won’t get sick,” I said firmly.

Lady Hen walked around me. She put her arm around my shoulders, “An’ I’m sure ye said many things your father would never do. Ye cannot risk yourself, now. Falcon needs ye to stay safe.”

I shoved myself past her and knelt beside Daisy, “Good morning. How are you today?” I put my fingertips on her forehead. She was hotter than the ground. Her cheeks were flushed and red and thin. The rest of her, pale.

“Princess…” She mumbled. I smiled at her and gave her the water I could. Piff stayed beside her longer as Hen made me go back upstairs. I lay in bed through the rising morning. Falcon woke up, crying at one point. The rest of the day was silent. I never saw Daisy again.