"Which is the oldest evidence of humans in Amakna! Amalia?"
"What? Sorry, I got a bit lost. Don't you think this tree would use a little manure?"
Yugo, hands in his pockets, gave her a long look. She let go of the branch which went back to its place with a rustle, while she started fingering the hem of her top.
"I don't want to bore you."
"You're really not. It's all interesting, but..."
"What?
With a sigh, Amalia flumped onto the bench and pulled her knees up to her chin.
"I just can't focus" she confessed.
Yugo sat beside her. He rested his cheek on her shoulder and the pom-pom on his hat tickled Amalia's spine.
"We'll have to find something else to do, then" he said brightly. "Are you sure you're all right?"
"Oh, Yugo, I'm not even bruised."
"Mmm..."
Amalia muffled a sigh. She was sitting in the garden with Yugo, he was talking to her, everything was just as she wanted...
But it wasn't.
The grass was wet, the wind was cold, the sun was burning hot on her bare shoulders. Suddenly Yugo jumped up, pulling Amalia after him - she didn't even have a chance to squeak.
"I know what you need! Exercise! Catch me!"
And, not waiting for her to answer, he dashed into the greenery.
"Yugo?"
With a shudder, she walked after him, although that wasn't the activity she was feeling up for. Her stomach felt like lead, so did her heart, the grass was really cold under her feet.
For the first time since she was a little girl, Amalia got herself lost in the maze of palace gardens.
"Yugo?! Ugh."
Pushing a branch away from her face, she walked into a round clearing. It was surrounded by a tangled wall of shrubs with large, white flowers and shiny, dark green leaves. A statue of dancing Dathura in the centre stared at her woodenly. The branch lashed at her back, recoiling.
"Stupid bush... Yugo! Are you there?"
The sunshine dimmed, as if hidden by a large cloud. The princess shuddered and hugged herself. The way to the next garden room had a curtain of flowering vines in it, which Amalia mechanically pushed aside.
"Yugo?"
"The grass squelched under her feet.
"Yugo!"
"He's not here, sweetie."
Startled, she saw her father looking at her from a high-backed bench. She would have seen him earlier if that wasn't for the shade of a weeping willow, the focal point of this clearing.
"Come and chat to your old man."
Slowly, reluctantly, Amalia went around the bench to stand before her father, wringing her hands behind her back.
"Sit down" he said, patting a moss-covered seat by his side. Amalia perched on its edge. They were both silent for a while.
"I'm glad you got home safe" father said finally. The princess hugged herself, eyes focused on a pale little flower at her feet, sad and gear-like.
"I was started to worry you'd come out in Frigost or somewhere and cause a diplomatic situation" her father chuckled, and Amalia felt her cheeks flush.
"That would be horrible" she hissed.
"Politically problematic, that's for sure."
"Problematic. Politically."
"Don't shout" father started, but Amalia sprung up.
"That's all you care about? I'm not important? I see your secretary more often than you! I know the names of your throne room guards' girlfriends! You haven't deigned to speak to me in days! Why don't you just sell me for some coal mining treaty?!"
She breathed in heavily.
"Do you see this tree, Amalia?"
She blinked. Her arms went down as she stared incredulously at her father.
"What?
"It has leaves, right?"
Amalia rolled her eyes. "If you don't want to talk-"
"Sit down."
"No, thanks."
"Sit down and look at the tree. Can you see it whole?"
"I don't feel like playing riddles."
"Can you see it whole?"
Amalia sighed. She flopped onto the bench, suddenly too tired to stand.
"No. Just bark, branches, leaves."
"Exactly" her father said, very solemn. "You can't see the roots, vascular bundles, many other parts that together make up tree."
"Daad..."
"And yet the tree would die without them."
"Have I ever said your work was unimportant?"
"No."
"It's like" Amalia stared at her own hands, folded in her lap "like I'm not a part of the tree lately. I feel like a fallen leaf."
"Why?"
"Everybody's doing something..."
"Have you visited the Tree of Life today?"
She rolled her eyes. "First thing in the morning. Yugo walked me there, you can ask him."
"No need, since you told me."
"But other than that I'm just milling about the palace, under everybody's feet."
"Since when?"
"What?"
"Since when are you underfoot?"
She bit her lip.
"I spoke to Eva yesterday" father said "she hasn't seen you much lately."
"She's busy" Amalia shrugged.
"No time to play with you, eh?"
"I'm not a child!"
There was a slight smile on her father's face. Amalia slumped on the bench. Somewhere overhead a piwi burst out into twitting song.
"I'm an idiot, aren't I?" she muttered.
"You said it."
"Amalia?" the shrubbery rustled and let out Yugo, his hat crooked on his head. He hesitated, seeing the king, but only for a second before bowing formally.
"Good morning."
"Nice to see you, Yugo" father rose from the bench "but I have to go to work now. As for you, Amalia, you're wrong."
She fluttered her eyelashes.
"You are a root, however small for now. When a root dies, the tree can't be well. Think about it."
He hugged his daughter briefly, then strolled away to the palace.
"What does he mean, a root?" Yugo asked, sitting down by Amalia's side.
"I haven't really worked this out yet."
Sunbeams finally got through the clouds and wove threads of honey gold into willow branches. Even the pale flower gained some colour.
"I'm sorry, Yugo."
"Whatever for?"
She brushed her bangs aside.
"For..."
I don't have to tell him, she thought, biting her lip. Not now.
"For making you worry" she finished, awkwardly.
"No problem. Sometimes it's a healthy thing, worrying."
Avoiding his eyes, Amalia arranged herself on the moss, elbow rested on the back of the bench and said "You never finished about these ruins at Emelka."
He looked flabbergasted for a moment, then laughed, rubbing his neck.
"I forgot. Why, do you wanna hear?"
"I do" she said, truthfully.
The blue blanket made a nice contrast with the single lock of ginger hair.
"She likes it, too" Yugo said confidently. The baby gurgled, sighed and closed her eyes.
"Of course" Eva smiled at Amalia, who felt herself blushing.
They were sitting on the bench by the statue, Dally stretched out in the grass at their feet, Yugo perched precariously on the back of the bench. Adamai was snoozing on the turf. Grougal and Chibi, under Alibert's watchful eye, were chasing each other, tumbling, laughing and whooping. Amalia sighed.
"Can't life always be like this?"
"You'd get bored out of your mind" deadpanned Yugo.
"Puff. I will anyway, when you go. Couldn't you stay one day longer?"
"Thanks" Eva smiled, and Yugo promised "We'll write to you."
"Have you got a name for her?" Amalia changed the subject.
Dally groaned.
"Anything I think of, Eva dislikes, and what she likes is too long or weird."
"Meaning no" Yugo summed up, rocking slightly on the back of the bench.
Amalia looked at the small face, decorated with a ginger lock. It was much smoother and less red than she remembered.
"Your name is long" she said.
"And everyone shortens it, or calls me something else anyway."
"M-m."
There was a smell of crushed grass, warm and summery. Amalia imagined a red-headed girl walking through a meadow in full sunlight, towards her destiny. A shining white tunic, a glint of steel in the girl's hand.
"Darcy" she said.
Eva tilted her head. Yugo carefully slid down onto the moss-covered seat.
"Darcy" Dally repeated. "Mmm. Darcy. I like it. You can call it."
"What do you think, young lady?" Eva asked lovingly.
The girl looked at Amalia with tiny, greyish brown eyes, almost exactly like her father's, and smiled toothlessly.
"Darcy it is" her mother decided.
"Hello, Darcy" said Yugo, looking over Amalia's shoulder. And he put his hand around her waist, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Darcy" Amalia said, intertwining her fingers with Yugo's free hand.
"Lee!" said the baby iop confidently.