Chapter 10

After Violet carefully got out a plate, cup, spoon, and fork for everyone, Mum put her in the wagon box while she made biscuit dough. Violet pouted, and her eyes filled with tears. Everyone else was out of the wagon. It wasn't fair. "Want down! I want down!"

Mum looked up from the mixing bowl.

That job looked so fun and squishy. Violet longed to get her hands into that dough and mash it in her fists. "Want out!" She leaned over the edge of the wagon and looked down, but it was so far to the ground.

"Just wait, sweetie. Mummy's hands are sticky."

Violet wished her hands were sticky too. She whimpered. "Down, down, down!"

This time, Kel'nar looked up from the fire. He smiled at her. "All right, little one. You can come sit with me and Zak."

He lifted her down and led her over to the fire where something good smelling was cooking.

Violet sniffed a long breath of that good smell. "Yummy."

Kel'nar smiled. "Yes. Sit here." He picked up a long-handled fork and turned the golden pieces of meat that sizzled in a pan.

Violet sat on the log beside Zaknafein and stared at the coals. "Pwetty. So pwetty."

Zaknafein smirked. "Pretty."

Violet nodded. She leaned forward. Those glowing orange bits at the bottom of the fire were so bright and shimmery. Much prettier than the grass or rocks on the ground. She wanted to hold one in her hand.

"Zaknafein," Mum called from across the clearing, "I need you to fetch a pail of water, please. The stream is just beyond the trees. Be watchful."

Her brother got up. "Yes, Mum."

Violet grinned. Now was her chance. She leaned forward and reached for the pretty, glowing orange thing.

"Don't touch, Violet. That's hot."

Violet frowned. It was nice and warm by the fire, but she didn't mind that. "I want pwetty thing." She pointed.

Kel'nar shook his head. "That's a hot coal, Vi. It would hurt you very badly. It would burn your hand."

She pouted. Kel'nar was spoiling her plans to hold the pretty rock close. Violet reached for it anyway.

Kel'nar grabbed her wrist. "No, Violet. Don't touch." He said each word slowly and clearly, and his face looked so stern.

Violet shrank back.

He nodded.

Violet crossed her arms and kicked her legs.

Kel'nar put a hand on her knee. "I'm trying to keep you safe, Violet. Don't touch. I won't warn you again."

She pouted.

After a moment, Kel'nar looked back at the meat. He poked a piece with the long fork and put it on a plate. Then he turned to the side and set the plate on the chopping block.

Now was really her chance. Violet leaned forward and reached for the prettiest coal. A moment before she touched it, she snatched her hand back. The heat on her fingertips was scorching, and it stung. What was she thinking?

The fire seemed to get farther away on its own. She straightened her shoulders, feeling as if she were stretching all her muscles at once. Violet blinked. Her jumbled-up thoughts cleared. They had been camping, and there had been trolls. She blinked again. Zaknafein had been in danger, but he was all right. And she'd found a bottle of some sort of drink. Violet didn't really remember what happened after that. She shook her head and looked up. "Kel'nar, did something happen to me?"

Kel'nar turned toward her and dropped the meat fork. "Violet! You're back to normal!"

Zaknafein emerged from behind the tree line with a pail of water in hand. He dropped it with a splash and ran toward her, a huge grin plastered on his face. "Violet, you're back!"

Mum stood up on the other side of the wagon. "Thank Mielikki."

Violet looked from one member of her family to the next and gave them all an uncertain smile. "Did something happen?" Then the world started to get bigger again. Or was she getting smaller? It was hard to figure out.

Zaknafein groaned and pressed one hand against his forehead. "It's just like with the little troll!" he exclaimed.

Kel'nar just stared at her and sighed a long sigh.

Mum plunked down on the ground right there, nearly tipping the squishy dough from the mixing bowl she held in the crook of one arm. She looked at Zak. "I apologize fer not believin' you, my boy."

Kel'nar nodded in agreement.

Violet pouted. "I'm hungry, Kel'nar."

He smiled at her, but his smile seemed small, and his eyes looked more shimmery than usual. "All right, Violet. We'll eat soon."

Zaknafein stared at his extra-little sister during supper.

First, she picked up her piece of wild grouse and dropped it with a shriek. "Hot!" She stuck her fingers in her mouth and sucked on them while big tears rolled down her cheeks. Then, while Mum was blowing on Violet's piece of meat and cutting it into miniscule bites, Violet wriggled on the log bench, and the plate that was on her lap tipped sideways. Violet wailed when her biscuit hit the ground.

Kel'nar picked it up, brushed it off, and put it on his own plate. Then he offered her his biscuit, but she crossed her arms and shook her head.

"It has a bite out of it!"

Finally, she accepted the fresh biscuit that Mum offered her. After Violet almost dropped that one too, Mum sat her on her lap and fed her. Then the fussy two-year-old complained about having to drink water again.

Mum sighed and looked over her little head at Kel'nar. "Maybe she needs milk again. All I can say is, the sooner we get home, the better. Camping is work enough without having a two‑year‑old to contend with. At least she hasn't regressed to—oh!" Mum pressed her lips together in a grimace. "So much for that thought. The both of us need to get to the stream and wash now." Mum stood up and set Violet on her feet. Mum's lap was drenched, and no drinks had been spilled.

Zaknafein stared at Violet. "Did she just—"

Kel'nar cut him off with an upraised palm and a nod. He stood up. "I'll fetch you some dry things from the shelter."

"Thanks, Drizzt."

A gust of wind came up, and Violet frowned. "I'm cold, Mummy!"

Mum rubbed her back. "You're about to get colder. We're going to bathe in the stream."

"Ooh!" Violet's eyes lit up. "Goody!" She clapped her pudgy little hands.

Kel'nar emerged from the shelter with a bundle of clothes in his arms. "Don't know what you're going to put her in. She has no other clothes the right size. Here's her blanket for now."

Mum sighed. "It'll have to do. Come, sweetie." She took Violet's hand and led her down the trail to the stream.

Zak tried to swallow the chunk of wild grouse he'd had in his mouth for who knew how long. He dipped his head and prayed that Violet would go back to normal soon. "And," he added silently, "that the camping trip won't be ruined any more than it already is." Suddenly he didn't feel much like eating. His backside was protesting the log bench too, after the troll's rough treatment. He set his half-finished supper beside him on the log and stood up with a grimace.

Kel'nar looked at him, and Zak turned quickly toward the woods before his father's keen eyes saw the tears in his. "I'm going to—" he gestured to the trees. "You know."

"All right, Zak." Kel'nar's voice sounded softer than usual.

Zak blinked fiercely and hurried away.

When he finally came back from the business that Violet apparently had to be retrained in, Zak stopped short. Kel'nar was washing plates in a dishpan of steaming water. And he was humming.

Zak slunk close to the wagon tailboard and picked up a dish towel to dry with. Had Kel'nar forgotten Zak was supposed to wash and dry tonight as his punishment for spying?

Kel'nar rinsed the soapy mixing bowl and handed it to him.

Zak didn't meet his eyes.

"I know what I said, Zaknafein," Kel'nar said at last, "but I seem to have forgotten how difficult a two‑year‑old can be."

Zak looked up from the bowl. "Really?"

In the distance, Violet shrieked long and loud.

Kel'nar nodded. "Really. And now that I've seen more of it firsthand, I can't say I blame you for wanting to see if justice was carried out." He looked Zaknafein straight in the eye. "But don't let it happen again, because now that I've told you what I expect, I won't be so lenient if you spy in the future."

Zaknafein nodded. "Yes, Kel'nar."

Kel'nar clapped him on the back, soapy hand notwithstanding.

Childish shrieks carried to them from the stream again.

Zak frowned. "Do you think she's getting another spanking for disobeying?"

Kel'nar shook his head. "Cold water." He tapped the tip of his ear, slightly more pointed than Zak's own. His hearing was more sensitive too. "She's yelling that it's cold." Kel'nar's mouth twitched like he was trying not to laugh.

Zak grinned, shaking his head. "She was all excited about it. Guess she found out she doesn't like it much after all."