A/N: Thank you for the reviews guys! The wedding and all that it entails will be coming up soon

Malingo's tale of Kaspar Wolfswinkle

The geshrat looked nervous by the time he arrived, flanked by Letheo and Lola. He shuffled into the room not knowing where to look, and visibly avoided catching Candy's eye.

"Hi," Candy said holding out her hand for him to shake.

Nervously he reached forward and let his hand brush Candy's before looking ashamed of himself and shrinking back.

"Were is Peta?" Candy asked.

"Bringing food," Lola replied staring at Malingo in a curious way.

"I'm sure you have things you need to be doing," Candy said walking to her chair by the fire. "So you may both leave me now."

Lola opened her mouth to complain about the unfairness of being sent from the room, but Letheo's bow caught her unawares and she nodded and curtsied. With them both slowly leaving the room in case something interesting should happen, Candy sat down and smiled at her guest.

"I suppose I should explain myself," Candy said. She held her hand out in a welcoming gesture towards the empty chair, and Malingo dutifully took a seat. "I am suspicious about some things here in Midnight. Of course being who I am, no one will give me a straight answer if I ask my questions, so I am hoping that you will."

Malingo looked up. He remembered how she had looked just as alarmed as he had, to find that Carrion had caught her in the dungeons. He did not know what had happened to her between that moment and now, as Carrion was not a man to be trifled with. But Candy looked unharmed; she was composed, so maybe she had a way of avoiding his legendary temper?

"I will answer your questions Lady," Malingo replied keeping his eyes to the ground.

"Good," Candy said settling back into her chair and smiling. "If you are agreeable, you will come and work for me now. You will not be returning to Wolfswinkle… That's unless you want to return of course."

"Thank you Lady," Malingo said looking surprised and forgetting now to be nervous. There was little to be frightened of from this girl. She was trying too hard to put him at ease, like trying to include a nervous guest at a party. Candy smiled again, and Malingo felt himself returning it.

"Your duties will be to see to the safety of myself and my maids, … especially my maids. They have found themselves in an unusual situation, where they are being romantically targeted for questionable reasons."

"For their connection to you Lady?"

"Yes… or at least we think so. But either way, it is not fair of me to ask them to walk around the tower unprotected and alone," Candy explained solemnly, and then her face brightened once more. "Do you accept?"

"Of course, I would be a fool not to," Malingo replied, wondering just how his luck could possibly have changed so dramatically.

It was not the grateful response Candy might of liked, but after all, what was she really expecting? Malingo was a servant without the right to leave. She hoped in time that he would come to regard her as a friend, and not just another someone he had to take orders from.

It did not take Candy long after to learn that Kaspar Wolfswinkle was a mean man, with a small greedy mind. Any chance of gaining just an ounce of power over somebody else and he trampled over all in his path to get there. But he was also a coward, someone that would only ever attack from behind and from the shadows.

Malingo had spent many years trapped on Ninnyhammer, forced to attend to his master's every vain request and follow every petty order. Always keeping his head down, always trying to stay just out of reach of his master's brutal hands. No matter how much he might want to escape, he could find neither opportunity nor courage to leave.

Wolfswinkle had made him afraid of the outside world, promising him even more hardship and toil. The Abarat seemed an unfriendly place to Malingo and even if he had escaped, he would have had nowhere to go. Wolfswinkle kept his slave broken, even the slightest hint of rebellion and the beatings would be severe.

Malingo informed Candy that Wolfswinkle considered himself a magician and that the power that he wielded came from a collection of magical hats that he had stolen from the heads of other dead wizards. Whether Wolfswinkle had had any hand in their untimely deaths, Malingo did not know. However he did know that Wolfswinkle was fickle, that his allegiance to Mater Motley only held true since she had promised him more magical advancement and made sure the Abarat turned a blind eye to his activities on Ninnyhammer.

Wolfswinkle feared Motley, but his greed drove him into her clutches, whereas he could find no way of being of interest to her grandson. Christopher Carrion saw nothing worth his while from the tiny man in yellow, which Malingo said riled his master into a temper that could be savage. It was then that Malingo advised Candy that if she should ever need to bribe someone to do something for her, Wolfswinkle would be an easy target.

What Motley wanted with Wolfswinkle, Malingo didn't know, as Malingo was always left in the dark. The recent trip which had accumulated into the chastisement of Malingo that Candy had witnessed and his short stay in the dungeons, had come about after a misplaced luggage bag had delayed their arrival to the tower, and subsequently made Wolfswinkle late for his appointment with Mater Motley.

By the time they had finished eating what Peta had brought them, Malingo was wondering how this new arrangement was going to work out and Candy's thoughts were drifting towards her next meeting with Carrion. Maybe she would try and find out why Mater Motley would want to meet with Wolfswinkle in the first place, and what might be going on here that no one thought she should know. She even contemplated bringing up the DeWinters and seeing what she could find out about them too. But only if she could keep her nerve.

She left Malingo to rest by the fire, which he looked very uncomfortable about doing, and joined Peta, Suzette and Lola in her room. Where Suzette had been all this time Candy gave up trying to guess, but trust her to appear again when something interesting was happening.

"So, we have a new friend," Suzettte said peering through the keyhole back into Candy's reception room where Malingo was sat awkwardly alone. "How cute are his ears!"

"Suzette," Peta scolded. "He is not something to be stared at."

Suzette straightened up, shrugged and walked to Candy's wardrobe and began searching for something for her mistress to wear.

"So, Midnight weddings…" Candy said nervously. "What exactly happens? I've never even been to a wedding on my own hour, let alone here, and a royal wedding at that."

Lola smiled and unrolled the scroll of paper she had been holding. It appeared that they had been busy while Candy had been talking to Malingo. The paper scroll was a map of the city, with a road highlighted in silver pen. The road began at the towers and cut through the town, through the main streets and towards another building near the sea, which Candy supposed was where the ceremony would take place.

"The bride traditionally wears a loose flowing dress, usually in the colour of her family, to signify freedom, purity and beauty. If you still had your long hair you would have to have worn it loose too, maybe with some flowers…" Lola explained in a dreamy sort of voice, as if she could think of nothing more romantic than floating towards your betrothed in a bundle of material. "But of course we can still do the flower part if you like, match them to the colour of your dress. What colour will your dress be?"

Candy frowned. Her family didn't have a colour. It was only the highborn families that had clan colours and coats of arms. As far as she knew, her family had neither.

"I don't know," Candy admitted.

"Never mind," Lola reassured her. "We can ask your mother, leave it to us."

"Lola is right, you don't need to worry about a thing," Peta said.

"Except for what you'll be wearing tonight," Suzette chimed over her shoulder, having had no luck at present finding anything in the wardrobe.

"You will have to walk bare footed through the town, don't ask why because I don't know. But you have to walk so that everyone can see you. We will walk with you, along with musicians, who will play song specially written for you… It's tradition!" Lola exclaimed after Candy looked at her as if she didn't believe her. "Then you meet Lord Carrion, there is the ceremony and you change into your husbands colours to show you have changed houses and allegiance, and travel to the celebration. Usually it's a feast or party of some kind. Or course there has not been a royal marriage here for a very long time, so those are the basics, but its bound to be much more ostentatious."

"Do I need to learn any lines or anything?" Candy asked. "Or can we practice?"

Peta shook her head.

"There is nothing to practice. It's up to those around you to do the work; all you need to do is show up. Honestly Candy, people will be working hard, you wouldn't want to be the one to mess up Lord Carrion's wedding would you!"

"That's why I want to practice," Candy said meekly.