"I never called you that!" Dor cried.
"Not in so many words. But you thought it, didn't you?"
Dor blushed, unable to deny it. "I won't think it again," he promised lamely.
"And on top of that," she continued grimly, "you know your own parents only stand up for you because they have to, but privately they think just the same as all other people do-"
"Not the King," Dor protested. "He's not that type-"
"Shut up!" she flared, her eyes filling with angry tears. Dor did, and she composed herself. Girls of any age were good at quick composures. "So then yesterday you were different. You kept asking questions, and you paid real attention, just as if you didn't have a sexpot like Millie the ghost in your cheesy house to sneak peeks at and get the whole story, and you didn't say a word about magic, or make anything talk, or anything. It was just you and me. All you wanted to know was what it was like being a girl. It was as if something else were speaking, something awful smart and ignorant, wanting to learn from me. First I thought you were poking fun at me, teasing me-but you never smiled. Then you wanted to kiss me, and I thought, Now he's going to bite my lip or pinch me and fall over laughing, but you didn't laugh. So I kissed you, and it was awful, I bruised my nose, what the hell, I thought at least you'd know how but you didn't, and you just said, "Thank you, Princess" and left, and I lay on my bed a long time trying to figure out where the joke was, what you were telling the boys-"
"I didn't-" Dor protested.
"I know. I snooped. Some. You didn't say anything, and neither did the golem. So it seemed you really were interested in me, and-" She smiled, and she looked brilliantly sweet when she did that. "And it was the greatest experience of my whole life! You're a real Magician, and-"
"No, that has nothing to do with-"
"So I practiced kissing, just in case. Then you came in just now apologizing, as if it were something dirty. So I thought you hadn't meant it, had just been slumming, and-"
"No!" Dor cried in sudden anguish. "That wasn't it at all!"
"I know that now. Can't blame me for wondering, though." She smiled again. "Listen, Dor, I know tomorrow it'll be just like before, and I'll be a snotty palace brat to you, but-would you kiss me again?"
Dor felt deeply complimented. "Gladly, Irene." He bent to kiss her again. He was young yet, and so was she, but it was a foretaste of what they might experience when they both grew up.
"Maybe again, sometime?" she inquired wistfully. "I sort of like being a girl, now."
"Sometime," he agreed. "But we've got to fight some, too, or the others will tease us. We're still too young-" But not very much too young, he thought. He could see the road ahead rather clearly now, after his tapestry experience.
"I know." They broke, and there seemed to be nothing more to say, so Dor went to the door and opened it. He paused to look back at her, remembering what she had said about her parents being disappointed in her. She-was sitting on her bed, bathed in a forlorn joy-
"Not the King!" he repeated quietly. "I believe that."
Irene smiled. "No, not the King."
"And not me."
"Same thing," she said.
He stepped out and closed the door, knowing he wasn't through with her. Not today or tomorrow, or for some time to come. Not through at all.
Grundy was waiting for him. "Any black eyes? Broken teeth? Throttle marks? It was awful quiet in there."
"She's a nice girl," Dor said, walking toward the library. "Funny I never noticed that before."
"Brother!" the golem expostulated. "First he notices Millie the ghost, then Irene the brat. What's he coming to?"
Maturity, Dor thought. He was growing up, and new horizons were opening, and he was glad.
They arrived at the library. "Come in," King Trent called before Dor could knock.
Dor entered and took the seat indicated. "Remember how you sent me on a quest, Your Majesty? I have returned."
The King held up one hand, palm out. Dor thought of Jumper's mode of greeting. "Let me not deceive you, Dor. Humfrey advised me, and I could not resist watching the tapestry. I have a fair notion what you have been doing."
"You mean the tapestry showed me-what I was doing while I was doing it?"
"Certainly, once I knew which character to watch. You and that spider-you're lucky you didn't kill yourself in the Gap! But there was no way for me to revoke the spell before its natural span expired. I sweated to think of what I would have to say to your father, if-"
Dor laughed convulsively. "And I was worried about Irene's father!"
King Trent smiled. "Dor, I really don't like to snoop around the palace, but the Queen does. She quickly noticed the change in you, saw that you never used your talent, and found out about the Brain Coral. Her picture hangs in Irene's room; the Queen merely substituted her own illusion image for the picture and had what they call in Mundania a ringside seat. She watched everything yesterday-and today. And advised me, just now."
Dor shrugged. "I stand by what I did. Both days."
"I know you do, Dor. You're coming onto manhood nicely. Do not assume the Queen is your enemy. She wants her daughter to follow her, and knows what is required though she may resent it strongly. I am aware how ticklish the situation in the bedroom was. You handled it with the finesse I would expect in a leader."
That wasn't finesse! I meant every word!"
"Finesse and meaning are not mutually incompatible."
"Irene's not bad at all, once you get to know her! She-" Dor stopped, embarrassed. "What am I doing, telling you this? You're her father!"
The King clapped a friendly hand on Dor's shoulder. "You have pleased me, Magician. Now through your adventure, I know the secret of the flute and the hoop in the Royal arsenal; they could be extremely useful on occasion. I shall not keep you from the completion of your quest. You must wrap it up, for there will be assignments for you in today's world, as you learn to govern Xanth." He walked to a low bookshelf and brought out a rolled rug. "We saved this for your convenience." It was the magic carpet
"Uh, a, thanks, Your Majesty. I do have some traveling to do."
Dor mounted the rug. "Brain Coral," he told it, and it took off.
As the carpet ascended the sky and the landscape of modern Xanth opened out like a tapestry, Dor felt abrupt nostalgia for the tapestry world he had left. It was not that that world was superior to his own; its magic was generally cruder, its politics more violent. It was his experience of manhood and friendship, especially with Jumper. He knew he would never be able to recover the personal magic of that experience. Yet, as his session with Irene had shown, there was unexpected magic in this world too. All he had to do was appreciate it.
Down into the underworld, through the cavern passages. Goblins still reigned here, he knew, though they had almost disappeared on the surface of Xanth. What had happened to them? They had not all been slaughtered at the battle of Castle Roogna, and the forget spell would not have wiped them out Had there been some later goblin calamity?
Then he was at the subterranean lake. Modern transport was certainly an improvement over ancient; this had hardly taken any time at all.
No Goblin calamity, the Brain Coral thought to him. The harpy curse on the goblin populace was nullified on the surface, but lingered in the depths. Therefore the goblins above became, generation by generation, more intelligent, handsome, and noble, until they were no longer recognizable as monsters. The only true goblins today are those of the caverns.