Author's note: If you've been dying to find out what happened at Amber's ball... here it is! This was the original thought that inspired the entire story. I apologize for the chapter being so long but I didn't have the heart to break it into smaller pieces. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 10: Courage and Understanding

Sofia shoved a couple fistfuls of fruit into her mouth, along with a dollop of rice and 2 carrots. She had barely eaten all day, and was going to need some extra strength for this confrontation. Ruby stood behind her, tightening down the laces on her corset.

"Okay this is it. Don't worry Ruby I'll be okay, I'm sure of it!"

"Girl you know I'm gonna worry anyway, so BE careful. Your wacked-out wizard is seriously disturbed right now."

"Ruby"

"I know I know, there's good in him and stuff. IF you can talk some sense into him, tell him King Cedric owes me a new window". Sofia smiled, hugged her dear childhood friend, grasped her amulet as if to summon some unknown strength and set off toward the castle on Ruby's mule cart.

The castle seemed desolate. As the cart wound its way around the gigantic fountain up to the marble steps she couldn't help but notice how dead it all looked. Typically servants and carts filled the courtyard, but none were to be seen.

Sofia made her way up the steps and into the grand entranceway. Her family's thrones still occupied their perch. Cedric had made no effort to expunge their belongings from the castle. She wound her way through the corridors, determined to find him. Passing by her room briefly, she stopped in shock as she saw the door to her bedroom broken, the top half of the door laying on it's side in the corridor. Peaking inside, most of her room was as it should be. Several items had been moved, as if someone had rummaged through her things. She felt something tug at her leg, and looked down to see her aged friend.

"Clover!"

"Hi-ya Sof! So you DID get the amulet back, I'm so happy."

"Yes, I did. Cedric sent it back to me."

"Yeah, the guy had an emotional breakdown right here, and kinda destroyed your room. I was watching from the small hole in the wall, but when the ground started shaking I had to duck and hide."

Sofia looked around her. Pillows had been tossed onto the floor. She searched out her red flower to compliment her dress, but it was no longer located in its hiding place. "It doesn't look too bad in here Clover."

"Well, NOW it doesn't. He sat there for a little while after the explosion, then spent over an hour putting things back together. I guess he just gave up at a certain point and walked off."

Sofia noticed that her hair was caught in a slight breeze, an odd occurrence indoors, causing her to turn and notice several of the windows were still missing. She gently peered out over the windowsill, and found the broken glass littering the grounds below. Her gaze continued onward, beyond the broken glass to the gardens. She saw a figure slumped over in the amphitheatre. Cedric!

"Sofia we've gotta talk, I know that you really like him, I can't understand why but you do, and you need to know Sof that while you were asleep he was here everyday talking to you. He even slept on the floor sometimes."

"I know, Clover. I know he cares. I've got to go talk to him and have THE conversation, you know."

Clover simply nodded in understanding.

Running through the halls and out the side door, she paused half way across the lawn, catching her breath. It was Cedric alright. Her handsome, troubled sorcerer.

It was now or never. He had returned the amulet, now it was her turn. She walked slowly up to Cedric, knowing one should never startle a sorcerer but afraid he would disappear if she alerted him to her presence too early. She was within 5 feet of him, his head sunk low into his hands, barely resting above his lap. The next step she took was upon the gravel surrounding the curved bench. It crunched beneath her feet, and Cedric's head shot up in surprise. A look of disbelief crossed his face, and he stood straight up, his hands falling to his sides.

"Sofia?"

"Sofia.."

Sofia lunged forward, grabbing his hands, pushing her weight onto him knocking him back onto the bench. She buried her head into his shoulder, rubbing her face into him. She released one of his hands to reach up and wrap her arm around the back of his head, embedding her fingers into the back of his hair. Sofia was so caught up she barely noticed him wrap his arm around her waist and pull her in closer. After a few minutes she managed to pull herself together, releasing him from her grip and shifted to sit down next to him on the bench, still facing him.

"Cedric, you're my everything. Speak to me. Tell me everything you're trapping deep inside. I promise I'll listen. I promise I won't run away."

She saw him gulp, and turn his upper body away briefly. She reached her hand up to his cheek, coaxing him to turn back around and face her. "I promise Cedric. I'll never abandon you. Just tell me what all this is about."

"The guards.." Cedric's words were halted, and he hesitated briefly. "I asked the guards to protect you. You were so vulnerable asleep like that. I didn't mean to trap you, I never wanted that."

That made sense, using Cedric-based logic, but he was avoiding the real issue. "I understand, thank you for having them protect me Cedric. But I really need to know what happened that made you want to remove my family." Cedric's body tightened up, and his expression changed to that of an imprisoned animal, but she needed the truth. He turned his face forward, looking toward the grass in front of them, and stared off into the empty space.

"Why'd you do it Sofia?"

She didn't know what he was talking about. "Do what?"

"When you.. when you healed my hand. Why did you do it."

Sofia realized they were sitting in the spot where his spell had backfired at her 16th birthday party. He was staring at the very place she had used magic to heal him. It had been over 3 years, but the memory of it came rushing back to her, causing her to blush. Obviously, he had chosen to lurk here for a reason.

"I'll tell you Cedric, IF you promise to tell me what this is all about."

His gaze turned toward her, then down towards her hand that was still clasping his. He nodded in affirmation. Sofia summoned all her courage, thinking back to the words of encouragement Pocahontas had given her earlier.

***never with fear and anger. Always with courage and understanding***

She inhaled deeply, and involuntarily began to squeeze his hand.

"Okay, so I asked you to perform at the party because… I really care about you. I always have. And as I got older I slowly realized that I wanted to be near you more and more. More than flying derby, more than mandolin lessons, more than any of those things. I would always make excuses to spend time with you, and having you perform at my party seemed like a pretty good excuse. I couldn't just invite you, because Amber insisted only royal prep students should come. That's why Mom and Dad didn't come either. But I really wanted to spend my birthday with you, more than anyone else."

Cedric leaned in as she spoke, resting his chin on the top of her shoulder.

"So anyway, when the spell backfired and they were all so mean, I was so hurt and angry. Then I realized that you were bleeding, and it didn't matter anymore that everyone was there for my birthday. All that mattered was you, and you were hurt. I just kind of, reacted, and did what felt right. It felt right to kiss you. I'm sorry, that must have been embarrassing for you."

She felt Cedric chuckle, and his head leaned into the side of hers, speaking softly. "Not as embarrassing as the uncooperative bottle, or the pink slime, and definitely not as embarrassing as what happened …afterward."

Oh yes, Cedric in the tower bathing.. Sofia let go of his hand, gently placing it on her thigh. He cringed a bit, but didn't retract it. She reached forward slowly, touching his waist. "I'm sorry I embarrassed you, again… But you know.. you must know.. you are so handsome."

His head resting on her shoulder, she could feel his reaction to her words. His breathing began to intensify into deliberate, heavy breaths. She had just told him that his body was handsome after all, so this reaction was to be expected. He was satisfied with her answer, now came the part where he told her the truth.

"Cedric, I want to understand why this happened. You are the most amazing, talented, thoughtful man. I know deep down you would never hurt me, or my family. I know they are okay, wherever they are. You are my everything Cedric."

"Stop saying that Sofia!" His head shot upward, hands retreated. Dread filled his voice as he practically shouted it at her. "I CAN'T be your everything because I'm, well, I'm a NOTHING okay. All my life I've been trying to convince everyone around me that I'm special, but I'm not. YOU are special, YOU are amazing, YOU are kind, caring, and beloved. I'm just an old bumbling fool."

Sofia cut him off. "Enough. I love you too much to hear you say such awful things."

Cedric froze. Oops, she'd used the "L" word, albeit in the wrong context. She was saving that for the right moment. His head dropped lower and his arms reached out to her again, pulling her in closer. "I'm so sorry Sofia. So sorry for all this mess. I thought everything would be okay and, I know it was naive, but I really didn't see another way out."

"A way out of what? Cedric, just tell me what happened at Amber's ball, one minute we were dancing, and the next you'd disappeared. I looked everywhere for you Cedric, everywhere. You weren't even in the tower."

Cedric managed to squeak out an "okay…" before starting his story...

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

The big night had finally arrived. Amber had been planning it for months, down to the very last detail. Her natural predilection for party planning combined with the great significance of the event meant no detail was left unaddressed. To Amber, this was the most important event to ever grace Enchancia, to the staff, and especially to Cedric, it was the most excruciating event to ever be held. Amber had wanted everything except her to be in white. White tables, white clothing for all the staff and guests, white decorations. She would be dressed head-to-toe in the finest gold and silver. Set against the snow-white surroundings, she would appear like a sun goddess and dazzle all the young princes far and wide. Cedric went around the ballroom muttering to himself about the injustice of wasting his time and magic on this farce, enchanting the walls, floor, and ceiling to drain them of their color when Sofia popped up next to him. "Hi there! How's the whitening?"

Cedric spun around to see his Sofia standing there, in her normal purple ensemble. "Good evening Princess, I'll have this place devoid of color soon enough. Honestly though, doesn't it look a little like purgatory around here. I much prefer purple." To which he let a smile escape.

Sofia seemed to notice, and returned the smile in kind. "I know it's a bit much, but it's Amber. One should just expect these things, right?"

Cedric turned to her, "Shouldn't you be in some blindingly white dress as well dearest?" The 'dearest' had simply snuck out of his mouth, but he couldn't cram it back inside, there were no spells for that.

Sofia blushed, glancing downward. "I do have a dress for this evening, but I'm not sure I'm going to come. I … I don't want to be a distraction."

"A distraction to what Sofia?"

"Well, I just don't want to mingle with all these stuffy princes and pretend like I'm interested in how many chariots they have or jousting titles their knights have won. Amber wants all the attention on Amber, and I'm fine with that. So, it would be easier if I just didn't come at all."

It was true, if Sofia was at the party then some of the young men were bound to come up and speak with her… they may even want to dance with her. Cedric frowned and grit his teeth. Sofia must have noticed, because a worried expression crossed her face. "Do you think I should come, Cedric?"

He thought about it for a minute. "Princess, you should come to the party. I have to perform the Solaris Descendante spell during the ball for Amber, and I wouldn't dream of doing it without the world's best apprentice at my side." Sofia began to blush profusely. "Besides.." Cedric leaned in toward her and spoke softly, "If anyone bothers you I'll set them straight and point them in Amber's direction."

Sofia's face lit up like the sun, a smile bursting forth. "Perfect! I'll go get ready, you should get dressed too Cedric, everything's got to be white white WHITE!"

The guests filtered in slowly. Amber waited in an adjacent room to make her grand entrance once the bulk of attendees had arrived. Most had adhered to the white dress code, however a few had either forgotten or ignored the edict. Amber, of course, had planned for this eventuality, and tasked Cedric with draining their garments of color with a temporary spell. Not being the most personable sorcerer, convincing the visiting royals to allow spells cast on their wardrobe was not going smoothly. In the middle of a rather heated argument with the crown prince of some far-flung country Cedric began to seriously desire turning this boy into a toad. Suddenly, the prince stopped yelling, stiffened up and bowed graciously. Cedric turned to see Sofia, in the most dazzling white dress. Unlike her normal outfits, this one's corset extended down over her hips and trailed into a perfect A-line, accentuating her hourglass figure. Her hair was tied up in a bun, adorned with white daisies and gypsophilia. Cedric stood, awestruck at how beautiful she looked, but only for an unnoticed instant, as Sofia was striding forward at breakneck pace. She took up residence between him and the argumentative prince.

"Good evening Prince Victor."

"Good evening Princess Sofia."

"Your Majesty you may not realize, but the man you are addressing is Cedric the Sensational, Royal Sorcerer of Enchancia, and my best friend. He has instructions from the king to assure everything in the ballroom is white as snow. Please allow him to perform his duties."

Cedric watched an embarrassed look cross this Prince Victor's face. "My apologies Princess." He stood up straight, arms open wide. "By all means, Royal Sorcerer, have at it."

Cedric grimaced toward the boy, but Sofia latched onto his free arm and smiled up at him. It was all the encouragement Cedric needed to drop the argument, and he begrudgingly pointed his wand at the boy and drained the color from his wardrobe. That was supposed to be the end of it, right…

Prince Victor took a couple steps toward Sofia, "There see, all better. Good show Royal Sorcerer." He reached out a hand, obviously expecting Sofia to return the gesture, "Princess, allow me the privilege of a dance with you this fine evening."

Cedric looked down at Sofia, who was still latched onto his arm and found his courage. She needed his help. "I'm so sorry Prince Vincent but I'll be needing Sofia's help to 'convince' the rest of the guests who are too good to read the invite about the dress code requirements." The prince's eyes narrowed, stern and cold. He straightened up, and retracted his hand. This was thinly veiled anger from a boy clearly used to getting his own way, but Cedric wasn't acquiescing. This boy was too young to inspire the terror he felt when King Rolland gave him that look. The prince bowed again, and Sofia grabbed Cedric, dragging him off to the other end of the ballroom.

Cedric stood there, amazed at this beautiful creature. Kings cowered at her words. Sofia looked like she was confused, or maybe nervous, but then looked up at him and smiled gently, "Thank you Cedric, my great defender. The way you stood up to him, you really are sensational."

"Anything for you Sofia." He leaned in toward her and whispered, "You're my best friend too."

Cedric saw her smile widen, "Really Cedric? Am I your best friend?"

"Of course you are silly girl, who else braves the Horrid Hills with me to collect wombeast eyelashes or the Burning Palisades to acquire dragon scales." Sofia began to giggle, and gave him a short hug. Smiles broke out on their faces, and the evening continued onward. Cedric ran interference well from that point onward, and Sofia busied herself with rearranging his potions for the impending magical demonstration.

Most of the guests had arrived, and it was now time for Amber's presentation. Sofia handed Cedric the fog-potion and whispered "Good luck".

He reached out for her hand, which always seemed to steady his magic, and handed the bottle back to her. "Toss it into the air for me, would you?". She nodded, and let the bottle fly. Conjuring the spell, magic leapt forth from his wand, releasing a great fog that swept down along the entire ballroom floor up to everyone's ankles and ascended the marble staircases to the balcony overlooking the ballroom. Cedric saw Sofia lean in to speak, "Fog that rolls uphill, nice touch Cedric."

"I thought you'd appreciate that Princess."

The doors gracefully parted, sending waves of fog back down the stairs, as Amber emerged in her gold and silver gown. Sounds of requisite admiration filled the room, and Cedric guided Sofia toward an unoccupied corner. Now that Amber was present and dancing with the various young men it was much easier for Cedric to simply enjoy his evening with Sofia in relative anonymity.

It was delightful, they munched on treats, chatted. He could tell something was on Sofia's mind, but didn't press her on it. He performed a couple small spells for her entertainment, which she enjoyed quite thoroughly as evidenced by her giggling. All of a sudden Sofia's attention turned to the opposite side of the ballroom,

"Oh look Cedric there's Dad dancing with mom. I haven't seen him all night."

"He's probably been too busy holding audience with Amber's suitors to dance, Sofia."

"What do you mean?"

"Honestly why do you think all these boys turned up tonight, just to dance with golden-delicious Amber?"

"Cedric my sister's not an apple. And yes, I thought they were all here to dance with her."

Cedric couldn't help but shake his head, his sweet if naïve princess. "Amber is a princess from a powerful and prosperous kingdom Sofia. These boys want to marry her to forge an alliance between their kingdoms and Enchancia. They have their kingdoms best interest in mind. Forging alliances is something Rolland will have a say in, so the boys that are interested in Amber ask for permission to court his daughter. If Rolland doesn't like them, or the way their kingdoms are run, the boys are out of luck, no matter how good of a dancer they are."

He could see Sofia's stunned look, and immediately felt guilty for telling her a blunt truth. Her eyes narrowed and she gripped her amulet, a habit she'd developed during times of peril.

"I've got to warn Amber."

He would have laughed if Sofia's expression was not deadly serious. "My sweet princess, Amber already knows all that. She knows that her marriage will be political in nature." Sofia's eyes shot upward and met Cedric's, and he could see tears welling up in her eyes. "Oh but don't worry dearest, I'm sure Rolland will agree to allow the boy she likes to court her. Rolland is considered a good king for some reason, and Amber is a force to be reckoned with."

He could see a horrible worry in Sofia's eyes still, but her features grew hard, her ears involuntarily moving ever-so-slightly backward.

"I'll never marry for anything less than true love."

Cedric gulped. This was a topic he wasn't ready to discuss, definitely not yet.

He started to speak, "Sofia, I.." but was interrupted by Baileywick.

"Cedric, Amber has chosen the suitor she would like to be dancing with when you perform the spell. King Rolland has requested you perform the spell immediately. Come Cedric."

Cedric looked at Sofia, who forced a smile onto her face and let him be taken away from her toward the center of the ballroom. There, Amber was curtseying in front of a young prince with dark brown hair. Wait… that was the same smug boy from Sofia's birthday a few years back who was spouting all sorts of nastiness in Cedric's general direction. Amber stepped toward the boy and the music started. It was now or never. Unnerved by hatred of the boy and the unfinished conversation with Sofia, Cedric raised his wand to hear Rolland grumpily command, "On with it Cedric".

He stuttered, "Planetaus… ar-arresto aboriente… o-oribitus!" White light shot from his family wand up toward the center of the ceiling, and the celestial heavens exploded forth like miniature galaxies across the night sky. The occupants let out expressions of stunned awe, and Amber started dancing with her suitor. Just when it seemed like he had avoided disaster, planets began to lurch downward. Cedric felt terror at the spell backfiring, all of these celestial bodies were going to careen down on the inhabitants of the ballroom, he may end up being responsible for the deaths of half the worlds nobility in one fell swoop.

Rollands' voice rose up loud and menacingly, "CEDRIC" and he felt himself bend over in fear. He looked over toward Sofia, who was watching his emotional collapse, and felt such shame.

Sofia's gaze met his and her brow furrowed in worry. She drew her wand, took up a fighters stance, pointed it at the heavens, and chanted "Repairus maximada hoverunda celestialis". The planetary bodies stopped their descent and remained hovering far above the heads of the occupants. A general sigh of relief let out from the crowd, and several couples began to dance.

Cedric looked up toward King Rolland, who had a disappointed grimace on his face. Next to him stood Prince Victor, the argumentative one from earlier that evening. This wasn't going to be good. "Some Royal Sorcerer you've got there, King Rolland." The sarcasm oozing out of his mouth. Rolland just shook his head, the disappointment palpable.

Cedric bolted out of the ballroom and around the corner to the balcony overlooking the gardens below, away from critical eyes. How horribly embarrassing, and what Sofia must think of him after that. He barely had time to catch his thoughts when he felt a pair of long slender arms grab hold of his waist. "Cedric! I'm so sorry I interrupted, but Dad was being so rude and awful! I just had to do something."

It was Sofia, she was hugging him from behind. "Oh Sofia please don't I'm so embarrassed right now…"

"Don't be embarrassed, everyone loved the night sky you made Cedric. Only YOU could make something that fantastic. There were hundreds, no thousands of stars. I think dad doesn't realize how hard it is to make one star do that, let alone thousands, but I do! Can you teach me how to conjure galaxies Cedric, can you?"

"Of course I can Sofia, you're a gifted sorceress. But it would take time to learn the spells."

"I've got time, I've got all the time in the world for you… that is, if you have time."

She stood there, staring at him. He couldn't figure it out, everyone else in that room had seen his spell backfire and passed judgment on his ineptitude, but somehow Sofia saw only the things that went right. He heard the music start up again in the ballroom around the corner. Sofia bit her lip, and glanced downward at her dress.

"Cedric, there's something I've been meaning to ask you all night."

"What is it Princess?"

"Would you.." She glanced around but no one could be seen, the balcony was very secluded. "Would you dance with me?"

Cedric gulped. How could she possibly want to reward that awful display with her only dance of the evening? And with the kingdom's most awkward dancer at that. "Oh Sofia I'd love to but I'm a terrible dancer."

"I'm sure you're wonderful, and there's no one else here but me." She was right, they were alone on the balcony. What could it hurt, it was just one dance after all.

He'd never danced with her before. The desire to make her happy mixed with his fears, and he reluctantly took her hand, reaching his other arm around the small of her back. He slowly drew her in close, and began to sway steadily, side to side. She let out a contented sigh, smiled, and rested her head on his shoulder. She was actually enjoying this! The nights failures melted away, and he was wrapped in delight, happiness soaring up to the stars above. Mid dance, Cedric couldn't help himself, "Sofia, you really are a powerful sorceress. You conjure spells with such authority. It's very, impressive."

He felt her inhale deeply while they continued to sway, "Aww…thank you Cedric, it's all because of you. But.." She raised her head off his shoulder and looked outward toward the full moon. "I'm not really a sorceress. You told me yourself, a sorcerer really isn't a sorcerer until they can practice magic on their own, after their apprenticeship and completing the sorcery trials before the magical tribunal." Sofia faced him again, and smiled gently. She started to force the direction their feet moved, taking the lead so they were now turning and swaying. "I wish I could spend all my days learning magic with you in your tower."

Suddenly an idea dawned on him. She WAS a powerful sorceress. Very powerful. She had pretended to be his apprentice for years but what if she actually WAS his apprentice. Apprenticeships last one or two years, probably two in Sofia's case because she had missed out on all the training at sorcery school. By then she would be 21, a respectable age for a girl to be pursued by a suitor, even perhaps one much older than herself…. 21 was a much better number than 19. Much better, and it would keep her in lessons, delaying any designs her family may have on repeating this farce Amber was putting on, only with Sofia's future being bartered away.

"Sofia, do you think you'd like to be a sorceress one day, in earnest."

She smiled up at him, eyes beaming, but then the music stopped. She stopped swaying, and he followed her to a standstill.

"I guess the song is over…"

"Yes Princess, I guess so."

Just then a young prince emerged onto the balcony, a portly fellow, rather short with curly blonde hair. "Oh hello Princess Sofia, would you care dance with me for the next song?"

Cedric realized this would never end, they would always be after her, and there would come a time when she could no longer graciously avoid the onslaught.

"Oh hello Prince Desmond, I would really like to dance but you see I'm so busy with … uh…". She was still a terrible liar.

This Desmond boy didn't look too disturbed with the rejection, if rather shy, "P-Please don't worry Princess, I just saw you out here and all. Alright then." He turned to make a hasty retreat back into the ballroom.

Cedric stared after him. That was the final straw. Sofia loved magic, and hated all these princes fawning all over her.

"Sofia, I'll be right back okay, just don't… just don't okay."

"Huh? That was rather cryptic. But don't worry, I'll be right here Cedric." She smiled at him, and he took off into the ballroom.

Cedric practically ran through the crowd, as not to be derailed by anyone's conversation or loose his nerve for the impending encounter. Unfortunately, Baileywick was faster. Cedric felt a hand grab his shoulder, and spun around to see the Castle steward restraining him, "Cedric, King Rolland would like a word with you."

"Oh great Baileywick, how delightful, but I actually need to speak with him as well."

Baileywick led Cedric toward the small room Rolland had been holding audiences in all night, and suddenly Cedric realized that Rolland's reason for wanting to see him was probably in relation to the failed magic of earlier. His confidence faltered upon the dreaded realization that he was about to be severely chastised for the magical mishap. How could he possibly stand up to Rolland and demand Sofia be allowed to pursue magic as a career after that? Let alone with him as her mentor…Aagghhh…

"Your Majesty I have found Cedric."

"Very good Baileywick, thank you. Now Cedric", Rolland turned his gaze straight onto the poor sorcerer, who had begun to slump over from the pressure building in the room.

"Y-yes your Ma-majesty"

Rolland took in a long breath. This wasn't going to be good. "Cedric, Queen Miranda and I have been talking. We both think that Sofia spends too much time playing magic around the castle. She needs to pay more attention to her social circle, her friends and future suitors. I was going to wait until tomorrow, but the behaviors we've seen evening have forced my hand."

Cedric couldn't believe what he was hearing, where was the king going with this? Sofia loved magic..

"Cedric, I want you to stop tutoring Sofia in magic. She needs to spend time with her friends, get out and enjoy all that life has to offer her."

Cedric practically broke down. NO! This wasn't what Sofia wanted at all.

"Bu-but SIRE… So-Sofia lo-loves magic."

"There are no 'buts' this time Cedric."

"no no she does l-love m-magic and she- she could be a wonderf-ful sorceress. I know sh-she.." He was unable to control the stuttering at all anymore.

"Cedric, enough already. She has already graduated from Royal Prep with highest honors in sorcery. That is more than she will ever need to be a queen. Her magic lessons need not continue."

"Bu-but she she doesn't WANT to be a qu, a qu, a queen."

Baileywick pipped up, "What are you stuttering about Cedric?. King Rolland has told you what is going to happen."

"No no no, So-sofia wants to l-learn magic. She does."

Rolland boomed this time, "Sofia is exceptional at many things Cedric, magic is only one of them. Besides, her classes have ended. This really isn't.."

"I c-could doo it."

Rolland and Baileywick paused. Cedric realized he was staring at the floor, clasping his upward pointed wand with both hands, completely unsure of what to do or say next.

Rolland spoke, "do what?"

Cedric shut his eyes, and tried to imagine Sofia's smile staring up at him. He would loose her forever if he didn't convince them to let her be his apprentice. She would be whisked off to an unending stream of parties, dances, social activities, and eventually loose all desire to be with him in his tower. He summoned all the confidence his thin frame could muster.

"I could teach her magic to become a real sorceress."

There was silence, but it was short lived. Rolland burst out laughing, then Baileywick followed. Cedric opened his eyes to see this man, this 'King', so beloved by his people, howling in laughter so hard his face was turning pink. Laughing at Cedric, his competence, his hopes and his dreams. Cedric felt like a glass flower that had been stepped on by an elephant, shattered into a million small shards, each one digging into his psyche.

Rolland finally caught his breath, "Cedric, be reasonable. She doesn't need you anymore. Now, I've had enough, this is a COMMAND Cedric. The magic lessons will stop. Miranda will inform Sofia tomorrow morning."

That word, that horrid word. His kingliness, always using THAT word to force Cedric to do whatever whim this man wanted. Something deep inside Cedric snapped, and reality fell away.

"As the king COMMANDS, so shall his subjects obey." Cedric sunk his head low, and felt his eyes narrow. The stutter in his voice was gone. The king made the decisions, but Rolland was unreasonable, Rolland was wrong, everything wrong with Enchancia and would destroy his life without a second thought, and Sophia's life too. He had to go. For Sofia…

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o