Twisk shrugged. "Why not? I have nothing better to do."
"Hmf," said Madouc. "Enthusiasm or none, I am still pleased! Come, we have already been called to the table!"
"I will naturally avoid the gut-clogging impact of your coarse food; still, I may taste a drop of wine and perhaps the wing of a quail. Who is that handsome gentleman?"
"That is King Aillas. Come, I will introduce you."
The three strolled across the lawn to where the table had been laid with-linen napery and salvers of silver. Aillas, in conversation with one of his escort, turned to watch the three approach.
Madouc said: "Your Highness, allow me to present my mother, Twisk, often known as ‘Twisk of the Blue Hair'. I have invited her to share our banquet."
Aillas bowed. "Lady Twisk, you are more than welcome!" He looked from Twisk to Madouc and back to Twisk. "I think I see a resemblance, though certainly not in the color of the hair!"
"Madouc's hair was perhaps the only birthright rendered her by her father, a certain Sir Pellinore, of frivolous bent."
Shimrod approached the group. Madouc called out: "Mother, I would like to present another of my dear friends!"
Twisk turned, and her blue eyebrows lofted high. "So, Sir Pellinore! At last you choose to show yourself! Have you no shame?" Twisk turned to Madouc. "I advise more caution in the choice of your friends! This is the secretive Sir Pellinore, your father!"
Madouc gave a poignant cry: "I can choose my friends, Mother, but as for my father, the choice was yours!"
"True," said Twisk equably. "Indeed, it was from Sir Pellinore that I learned the caution I am now trying to teach you."
Madouc turned to Shimrod. "Are you truly Sir Pellinore?"
Shimrod attempted an airy gesture. "Many years ago, I wandered the land as a vagabond. It is true I occasionally used the name Sir Pellinore when the mood came upon me. And, indeed, I remember an idyll in the forest with a beautiful fairy, when I thought the name Sir Pellinore rang with romantic reverberations-far more than simple ‘Shimrod'."
"So it is true! You, Shimrod, are my father!"
"If the Lady Twisk so asserts, I shall be honoured to claim the relationship. I am as surprised as you, but not at all displeased!"
Aillas spoke: "Let us take our places at the table! Our goblets are full with wine! Madouc has found her father; Shimrod has found a daughter, and the family is now united!"
"Not for long," said Twisk. "I have no taste for maudlin domesticity."
"Still, you must acknowledge the moment. To the table then, and we will celebrate Lady Twisk's surprising disclosures!"
"First: we shall salute my absent queen Glyneth and the new Princess Serle!"
"Second: to the Lady Twisk, who astounds us with her beauty!"
"Third: to Madouc, one-time Princess of Lyonesse, who became demoted to ‘Madouc the vagabond', and now by royal dispensation becomes once again: Madouc, Princess of Lyonesse!"