Page 121

It waited until the witch gasped, until her eyes flew open, until the girl and the father and the beast gathered around her and helped her and held her.

Was that right?asked the drifting joyous thing that was notquite wind and was no longer queen.

That was right,answered the Old Wild that lived in the whole huge world, its whispered voice already not so strange as it had seemed only moments before.Now, come. Come and see.

.44.

The New Beginning

Thorn Skystone decided she wasn’t going to leave her chair.

She was quite comfortable there. The chair’s blue pillows were soft and velvety. Mazby purred in her lap as he slept, his bandaged wing quivering with every breath.

She glanced at the chair beside her, in which a snoring Brier slept.

Thorn scratched her left arm until it hurt, and then petted Mazby’s tiny feathered head with one finger. Her thoughts were beginning to dip and fret. Worry squeezed hard around her ribs. Unlike Brier, Thorn’s worry never slept, and sprouted tears constantly.

Like now.

When Quicksilver and Ari entered the room, they saw Thorn’s tears immediately.

“What’s wrong?” Quicksilver plopped into the chair on Thorn’s other side. “Did someone say something else to you about Celestyna? One word from you, Thorn, and I’ll punch them gladly.”

“Let’s not go punching anyone for, I don’t know, a day or two?” Ari perched on the arm of Quicksilver’s chair, looking as splendid in his new pressed tunic and velvet-trimmed cloak as Quicksilver looked uncomfortable in hers. He smoothed down the hairs that had come free from Quicksilver’s braided knot.

Frowning at him, she wildly scrubbed her hand through her hair until it fluffed out everywhere.

Ari, sighing, pinched the bridge of his nose.

Thorn rubbed her cheeks with her sleeve. “I’m all right, I just...”

Beyond the closed gray doors across the room, fiddles and pipes began a solemn song.

Thorn’s pounding heartbeat flooded her ears. “I wish I wasn’t so nervous.”

“Well, stars, I wish that too.” Quicksilver blew some hairout of her eyes. “Strutting around before a giant room full of people is Ari’s thing, not mine.”

Ari looked rather pleased with himself. “Iamquite good at it.”

Scowling, Quicksilver flicked his leg with two fingers.

“Do you ever...” Miserable with embarrassment, Thorn nuzzled her nose against Mazby’s soft, warm belly. He cracked open his long-lashed eyes.

“Hello, Thorn,” he murmured, a purr rattling his sleepy voice. “Is it time to go in?”

Thorn kissed his head. “Not quite yet.” Then she peeked up at Quicksilver. “Do you ever... cry?”

“All the time,” answered Quicksilver promptly. She jerked her thumb at Ari. “Not as much as this fellow, though.”

“When you’ve got a tragic past,” said Ari sagely, “it’s expected of you.”

“Why do you ask, Thorn? Because you’ve been crying? That’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Because I cryall the time,” answered Thorn.

“Your body and mind are exhausted,” Ari said. “Tears are a way of relieving stress.”

“But even before all this happened, when I was just a sweep,a nobody, I cried at any little thing! When I was happy or sad or scared or angry. I got scared a lot. I never knew what to say. I feel everything. I feel too much.”