Invitation

After lunch one day, Airi returned to Mildred’s room to find Mildred reading a letter stamped with the royal seal.

“The king wants to see us,” Mildred said.

“For what?” Airi asked.

“Apparently, he knows that we killed Gold. He wants to congratulate us.” Mildred sounded confused.

“Let me see.” Airi read the letter.

His Majesty, King Rook of Solumbria, formally extends his invitation to Mage Airi (third-class) and Distinguished Mage Mildred (first-class), in recognition of the valor displayed in the slaying of the Calamity, Gold the Dragon. You are hereby summoned to partake in tea at the Throne Room upon noontime of the morrow, that your service may be honored and your deeds spoken of within the Upper Palace.

“I’m guessing we can’t say no to that?” Airi said.

“Let’s go talk to Marianne.”

Marianne didn’t open the door when Airi and Mildred knocked. They waited for ten minutes, listening to the mind-numbing gramophone and the heavy breathing of the royal inspectors.

“She must have gone out,” Mildred said.

“Can you use the wayfinding spell to find her?” Airi asked, kicking her legs.

“It’s not like Little Bo Peep. You can only use it to get from place to place. You can’t find people with it,” Mildred said.

“What a useless spell.” This earned Airi a jab in the ribs.

Fortunately, Marianne returned a few minutes later. She startled upon seeing Airi and Mildred, dropping a bundle of flowers onto the floor. “Oh, not again!”

Again?

“Oh dear, I’m a mess today. I didn’t sleep well last night.” Marianne moved the flowers to her left arm and nudged the door open with her right arm. “Sorry to make you wait.”

“Where’d you go?”

“I had to get some new flowers. Eleanor used to pick them for me from the Sunroom, but no one dares to go there anymore, so I had to buy them in the city.” Marianne filled the large vase on her desk with the flowers. “They’re not quite as pretty, are they?”

“Mage Hestia. We received a letter from the king.”

Marianne held out her hand, and Mildred passed the letter to her. “I see! How unusual. I haven’t gotten the chance to send a report to His Majesty about Gold; I wonder how he found out?” She smiled at the both of them, as if sharing a delicious secret, and flicked her eyes towards the door. Outside, the four royal inspectors were undoubtedly listening in.

“Whatever the case, it looks like I’m not invited. I’m a bit hurt!” Marianne said playfully. “Airi, you’ll have to have all the fun in my place. Got it?”

Airi nodded, recognizing the veiled message behind Marianne’s words.

“First things first! You’ll need new gowns for the occasion. I’m thinking a lovely white for Airi. Mildred... I know! I’ll make it a surprise.” Marianne winked.

Mildred groaned.

In the hallway on their way back to Mildred’s room, they ran into an unexpected face: Wendolyn.

“Ms. Wendy,” Mildred said, stopping out of politeness. Airi stayed silent. She hadn’t forgotten how Wendolyn had trapped her in that cage to “study” her. “Where are you headed?”

“The Water Study Room; where else? I’d nearly forgotten how utterly pathetic it was,” Wendolyn griped. “You can hardly cast a proper spell without destroying half the room. It can’t be helped, with that incompetent Marianne as Head Mage.”

She stormed off. Airi was happy to see her go.

In preparation for the tea party, Marianne locked Airi and Mildred in her office and drilled them in etiquette. Airi struggled to form a proper curtsy, staggered around in heels, and neglected to lift her pinky when holding her teacup. When the gowns arrived later that day, they practiced walking in them. Airi was grateful that Marianne had ordered a long-sleeved, high-necked gown to hide her crystalline arm, even if it made her look a bit like a clown with a ruffled collar.

By her side, Mildred wore a rose-red gown, a stark contrast from her usual white. Against the red, her hair looked like it was made of aquamarine jewel.

When the clock ticked closer to morning, Marianne sat Mildred down in front of a mirror, opened a drawer, and removed a perfume bottle with a yellow flower on the label. Airi recognized it; it was the same stuff Nestor’s mother had used on the patient with the scar, albeit in a fancier bottle.

“Now hold still, Mildred, and don’t squirm.” Carefully, Marianne sprayed Mildred’s neck with the bottle.

Mildred touched her neck. As Airi watched, the faint scar from where the miner had grabbed her vanished.

“Curiosity serum,” Marianne said. “It’s temporary, but it’ll hide that scar until the tea party’s over.”

Noontime of the next day arrived too quickly. Marianne, with dark circles under her eyes, released Airi and Mildred from her office. “Good luck!”

Airi concentrated on walking elegantly down the hall, lifting her ruffled skirt. They climbed to Upper I, passing guards and servants. Before they could wander for long, a butler approached them.

“Good afternoon, miladies. May I escort you somewhere?”

Mildred showed him the royal invitation, and the butler said, “Very good. Please follow me.”

The butler led them through several grand halls until they reached a door with gold handles shaped like leaping lambs. Two guards opened the doors.

Inside the Throne Room, the floor gleamed in a black-and-white checkerboard of tiles. A selection of colorfully-dressed nobles surrounded the carpet leading to the throne, eyeing Airi and Mildred. Only a handsome young man with long, lilac hair and violet eyes seemed disinterested; he yawned behind his hand.

At the far end, upon a dais of tall steps, the king sat on his throne. He had Snow’s gold hair and cruel red eyes.

“Well?” the king said, voice echoing. “Come forward. Let me see the faces of the two mages who succeeded where my knights endlessly fail.”

Airi and Mildred hurried forward and curtsied. The king looked at them with thinly veiled disgust. “So these are the heroes who felled a monster my knights could not.” Abruptly, a large, false smile stretched across his lined face. “Let us have tea.”