"How much further?" The boy slid the basket from one arm to another, turnips rolling against the warped reeds. The sound was an oddly loud crash amidst the near silence of the town's north side; dwellings and shops were far apart, clinging to only a charter declaring them part of the town.

The old woman did not stop her steady limp. The thumps of her feet had long ago fallen into a rhythm with the knocking of her staff. Her head, hardly rising above her squat body, turned to smile at the boy. "Not far, my lad. Though I must say I am impressed with your stamina."

He tried to return to the smile. "I've never been this far." He was no more than twelve or thirteen, tall for his age but as gangly as expected. A shock of brown hair covered his eyes. They were gray, and blinked nervously as he pushed the hair away.

"It's a good time to see the world, youth is." The scent of lavender wafted from her dark cloak. The smell was as the herb should be, clean, and utterly out of keeping with the rest of her appearance. Her head was as a misshapen vegetable from the boy's family garden with a long nose sprouting like a vine from her face and eyebrows akin to caterpillars. Filthy fabric covered the rest of her body to give no more appearance than a stumpy bulk. "You should it think it an adventure."

"I do," said the boy, though a hint of fear could not hide itself. "No one goes to this part of town."

"That's silly. People live out here."

"Yes…"

The old woman smiled. "Ah, I curse my own generation. Filling your head with stories of bad fairies. Am I right?"

He nodded. The vegetables spilled about in his basket. "I'm supposed to get back to my mother's stand soon."

"Just a little further. You were very kind to carry my purchases so far."

"Thank-you."

The old woman's knobbed fingers slid down her staff as she hummed a quiet tune to herself. "Not much further." Her voice was singsong. "I live just outside of town…"

CHAPTER 1

Mimi was born and raised in a dark and crumbling castle in the middle of a supposedly enchanted forest. Fortunately, the castle was held together by a plethora of spells cast by her father, who was a mighty sorcerer by the name of Weatherbold. Mimi was never sure if that were her father's true name or one he had taken for reasons of image, but she had always liked the name; it was impressive. Her mother had died when Mimi was three years old, barely old enough to remember the kind and brave woman who had tragically died whilst hunting cougars. So it was just Mimi and her father in the dark and crumbling castle. Oh, and the many visitors.

Weatherbold's knowledge and power was known for kingdoms around. More days than not saw all manner of folk begging at the castle for spells and potions and charms. Weatherbold was a pleasant man and always happy for the business.

As for Mimi, the visitors were a constant source of delight. She loved to read and the castle held more books than that love. Books were better than bread to her. But it was not the pages themselves but what was written on them. Stories, reports, information of all kinds. Visitors were simply another source of the similar.

Occasionally there was a king's assassin or a stuffy courtier who would avoid Mimi. But she was not an ugly girl. Her hair was hyacinth yellow with just a touch of curl, her eyes large and green, a smattering of freckles over her cheeks and nose. Most were charmed by her and more than willing to share what stories they knew.

Books of natural and unnatural science filled up plenty of castle bookshelves and Mimi liked them fine. It was the other things the travelers told that fascinated her. Weatherbold was too powerful a sorcerer to give heed to any king were the castle actually in a kingdom's boarders, so tales of kings and queens and princes and princesses were like gold. The princes were all brave and handsome, the princesses beautiful and tragic. Fortunately, the latter were all saved by the princes. Sometimes truly exciting things happened to these people. Though Mimi had trouble imagining someone who knew magic being evil, apparently they did happen. Princes and princesses were trapped, put under spells, and sometimes turned into a lovely bird like a bluejay or a swan.

As Mimi grew older, she lost the pure joy of hearing these tales. She still liked to hear them, but they were not fair. Or life was not fair. Here she was, a sorcerer's daughter who only knew a spell or two. Had she been born a princess exciting things would happen to her. She still loved the visitors, still loved talking to them. But once they had what they needed they were off to have whatever sort of adventures that required an advance trip to a sorcerer. The supposedly enchanted woods were not for playing, and Weatherbold was too busy to ever leave the castle.

Things were all right. Mimi loved her father and he loved her. But when there were no visitors, they rather left each other alone. He would go to his workrooms to practice his magic and she would read or study the plants that grew around the castle. Invisible servants took care of meals and cleaning. It was a good system and Mimi was happy enough.

But it still seemed unfair that she had not been born a princess and thus subject to all sorts of great adventures. Nothing romantic like that ever happened to sorcerer's daughters. The idea of being a sorcerer's daughter should sound exciting, but the truth was that it was rather dull.

In fact, things only became interesting when Lavender appeared.

Lavender was a pretty woman with long black hair who came like all the others travelers. She was seeking a cure for some medical complaint or another, but she never left. Something happened when she and Weatherbold saw one another.

Mimi was not quite sixteen years old when she found herself with a stepmother.

Stepmothers were mentioned often in the stories Mimi heard, usually for bad. However, nothing seemed to go wrong. Mimi had no particular ill feelings toward Lavender and she did not sense any of the same from her. Besides, Mimi was used to running her own life, so as long as her father's new wife minded her own business there was no reason three people could not live happily in the old castle. And that is how things went. Weatherbold and Mimi married, had a small celebration, and then went on about their own lives. There was some adjustment, but otherwise Mimi's life was the same as ever.

At first.