"But where were you for seventeen years?" Shiara said.
"There are… places that can be reached through the proper doors, places that can't be gotten into or out of except through such a door.
Some of them are very large; some aren't. Zemenar found one that suited him and put me in it, then hid the door. Without the sword or the key, I couldn't get out until someone put the door back up." His smile was a little crooked. "I'm lucky that one doesn't need to eat in those places, or I wouldn't have lasted seventeen years."
"But I still don't understand about Antorell. He acted as if he wanted to do something to Daystar a lot more than he wanted the sword."
"Antorell never knew what the sword was," Mother said. "Zemenar, the Head Wizard, was the only one who knew the whole story, and after the way Antorell failed to guard the sword, the new Head Wizard wouldn't tell him anything."
"Ha!" said Shiara. "Served him right. But what did Daystar do to Antorell, anyway? And how? He never did anything like it before."
"He couldn't do it before," Father said. "The Kings of the Enchanted Forest can use the magic of the forest directly, but only after the sword has acknowledged them. Daystar wasn't acknowledged until he put the sword into the fire."
"Oh." Shiara sat back, looking thoughtful.
There was a moment's silence, then I thought of something else I wanted to ask about. "Mother, do you know anything about fire-witches' magic?"
"Yes, of course," she said. "Why do you want to know?"
"Could you teach Shiara how to do things?" I said. "That's why she came to the Enchanted Forest in the first place. She helped me a lot, and I think she ought to have some sort of reward."
"I didn't do very much," Shiara objected. "You kept me from staying a statue, and I think you saved my life when the roof of the Caves of Chance fell in. You're the one who deserves a reward."
"I think," Mother broke in before I could answer Shiara, "that it is time you told us what you have been doing these past few days. I have a general idea, but I would like a few more details, and Mendanbar hasn't heard anything about it yet."
I looked at Father, and he nodded, so Shiara and I went through our story again. I did most of the talking, with Shiara putting in a comment now and then when she thought I was leaving something out. I finished by explaining about Shiara's magic. Both Mother and the King looked rather startled, and then the King began to smile.
"A polite fire-witch," he said thoughtfully. "Very unusual."
"I don't want to have to be polite to people? Shiara said angrily.
"Why not?" I asked. "You're getting much better at it."
"Especially not to you!" Shiara said.
"I can understand that," Father said. "It's his fault, after all."
"What?" Shiara and I said together.
"It's Daystar's fault that you have to be polite," Father repeated.
"His and the sword's. One of the things the sword does besides control wizards is unlock people's talents, particulary magical talents. When you met Daystar, both of you touched the sword at the same time. You wanted to use your magic and Daystar wanted you to be more polite. I think the sword did the best it could, under the circumstances."
"I knew it!" Shiara glared at me. "I said it was that stupid sword's FAULT!"
"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't know. But at least you can use your magic now, sometimes. Isn't that better than not being able to use it at all?"
"no!" said Shiara. "It's worse! I have to go home and be NICE to people, and it probably won't work most of the time, because I have to mean it, and how can I mean it if I'm always thinking about being able to do magic? And it's BORING at home, and people will still keep expecting me to do things I can't do. I don't even know anyone who could teach me about magic even if I could get it to work all the time.
I'll never learn anything?"
Little flickers of flame started running down Shiara's cheeks. It took me a minute to realize that she was crying fire, and when I did, I didn't know what to do about it.
"That is quite enough of that," Mother said while I was still thinking.
Shiara looked up. "You don't know what it's like! It's horrible."
"On the contrary, I know quite well what it's like," Mother said. "And the solution is obvious. In fact, it's the same one I used."
"what?" Shiara blinked, and the flame tears stopped running down her face. "What do you mean?"
"You can become Kazul's princess," Mother said. "She doesn't have one at the moment. It would have a great many advantages on both sides.
You will learn considerably more about magic, dragons, and the Enchanted Forest than you WOULD anywhere else, and Kazul will get a princess who can't be accidentally roasted if one of the other dragons gets out of hand.
And you'll be living nearby, which will give Daystar and Mendanbar a chance to figure out how to reverse that ridiculous politeness spell."
"But I'm not a princess!" Shiara said.
"If Kazul says you are a princess, then you are a princess," Mother said firmly. "No one is going to argue with the King of the Dragons.
Besides, it will be excellent experience for you later."
I opened my mouth to ask what Mother meant by that, but Shiara asked, "But are you sure Kazul would be willing to do it?"
"Kazul will have no objection whatsoever to training the next queen of the Enchanted Forest," Mother said calmly. "You don't need to worry about that."
I closed my mouth very quickly and looked at the floor, feeling my face getting hot. I heard Shiara say, "Oh," in a small voice, and then the King laughed.
"Cimorene, you're going a little fast," he said, still chuckling. "If Shiara wants to go live with Kazul, I'm sure we can make the arrangements, but there's no reason to hurry. She can stay here until she decides. There's plenty of room. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to go back outside. Kazul was going to talk to Willin about a feast, and I haven't had a good meal in seventeen years. As a matter of fact, I haven't had any meals in seventeen years."
Mother didn't object, so the King moved us all to the feast with another wave. Everyone was there: dwarves and dragons and elves and cats, and even a few wizards who had been on the King's side. Morwen was there, too, but she spent quite a bit of time popping back to the castle to make sure Telemain wasn't doing anything she disapproved of.
Mother and the King sat at one end of a long table, and Kazul sat at the other. The elf Willin scurried up and down making sure everyone had enough to eat and plainly having a wonderful time. Shiara and I sat at the middle of the table, and the people sitting next to us kept changing. All of them wanted to hear about how Mother had stolen the sword back, and how Shiara and I had gotten into the castle and broken the spell.
"I'm getting tired of this," Shiara whispered to me while some of the people next to us were changing seats. "Let's go someplace else for a while, and let them tell each other about the stupid wizards."
"I'm tired of it, too, but I don't think we should leave," I said.
"You don't? No, of course you don't. How very irksome" said a squeaky voice from the ground by my left foot.
"Suz!" I said, looking down. "Where did you come from?"
"The forest, of course." The lizard ran up the leg of the table in a thin gold streak, then stopped and looked around nervously. "Is that-that kitten anywhere close by?"
"No, she's inside," said Shiara. "I don't think she likes the crowd.
Why?"