"Snow?" Lee asked. In the light cast by the headlights, the flakes of ice glinted and sparkled as they passed by the windows.

Lee was expecting them to be hit by raindrops. He ran through the conditions before they entered in his head. It should be liquid water out there.

"I guess you could say the Seed Kingdom has been subject to a snow job," Bret said.

Both Spigot and Otto glared at him.

Lee turned back, Nicole and Bonnie behind him.

Ophelia stood up as he got back to the workstations. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Yeah." Lee sat down at his station. "It's snowing out there."

"But all we saw was rain when we came here earlier," Milro said.

"That's because you were lower in the atmosphere," Lee explained. "Where you were was above freezing, so the snow had melted. It's actually a common process. A lot of rain in thunderstorms is actually melted snow. Though, it is less frequent when it comes to a stratiform precipitation shield. It's shallow enough and in an atmosphere stable enough it is usually either be rain or snow all the way through."

He realized the tail radar was the only one able to determine precipitation type.

"I don't get why you're confused," Tammy said from her station. "It's been around negative ten out there."

"But to get snow like this you would want to be around negative fifteen or even negative twenty," Lee replied.

"But this might explain why so much moisture is falling out of the atmosphere here," Nicole said. "The equilibrium vapor pressure over ice is less than over liquid water."

"Equilibrium what?" Sophie asked.

"Oh, you did not just do that," Ophelia groaned.

Lee heard her and knew what it meant, but the question had been asked. "Vapor pressure is how much of the atmosphere's pressure is due to a certain element of it, in this case water vapor. It's determined multiplying the atmospheric pressure by water the mixing ratio."

Sophie blinked blankly. Ophelia held her forehead in her hand.

"The mixing ratio is the fraction of the atmosphere is water vapor by mass," Lee said. "Anyway, the reason it's important is how water changes phase.

"Picture a glass of water. If you zoom in to the molecular scale, the water looks like a bunch of jiggling balls."

Franklin interrupted him with a snicker. "Jiggling balls."

Lee heaved a sigh. He had walked into that one. "Anyway, every once and while, one of the molecules will be bounced out into the air around it. However, some molecules in the air will impact with it and join the others. How often molecules leave is determined by temperature and surface area of the water. How often molecules enter is determined by how many are in the air.

"If there's a few so that molecules leave faster than they enter, the water net evaporates and less water is in the glass with time. If there's a bunch so that molecules enter faster than they leave, the water net condenses and there is more water in the glass with time."

"Is that how clouds work?" Milro asked.

"It's exactly how clouds work," Lee said. "In this case, you have a bunch of tiny water droplets surrounded by a supersaturated atmosphere. The water vapor is absorbed into the droplets until they become heavy enough to fall as raindrops. However, once there is not enough water vapor for them to absorb as fast as they lose water to evaporation, their growth stops. Eventually, dry air entrained into the cloud will cause the remaining droplets to begin to evaporate away."

"But it's snow out there, which makes things different," Milro said as if walking through the thought.

"In ice, those balls are now not jiggling nearly as much because they are locked into a crystal structure," Lee explained, pushing back his webs to lock his fingers together for emphasis. "Because of this, they kick each other out less frequently, so less water vapor in the air is needed for them to keep growing. Because of this, snow is a more efficient precipitation type to pull moisture out of the atmosphere."

He turned to his screens. "Also, when there is melting, it absorbs latent heat. This reduces the local temperature which reduces evaporation and allows for more condensation in the lower levels. Basically, the presence of snow leads to more rain in all kinds of ways."

"Then we've solved the mystery of why it's raining in the Seed Kingdom like this," Sophie cheered. "It's because it's snowing up here."

"Yet it raises a whole new question," Lee said. "Why is it snowing up here?"

"But if it's below freezing," Milro said, "shouldn't it be snow?"

Lee opened his mouth to answer, but Ophelia beat him to it. "Before my brother gives another doctoral thesis, I'll just say water resists changing to a less energetic phase. That's why you can have water vapor well below the boiling point and you can also have liquid water and even water vapor below freezing."

"So, we need to find out what is encouraging the water in these clouds to freeze," Lee added. "But we got a start."

Sophie playfully smacked Milro on the back. "We'll be big again before you know it!"

Lee had his objective: find out why it was snowing up here. It should not be too hard to find with all the instruments at his disposal.


Ophelia turned away from her monitors just to give her tired eyes a chance to rest. They had been crisscrossing the Seed Kingdom and the surrounding area for more than six hours. They had used every instrument at their disposal to monitor every atmospheric condition she could think of. They had generated megabytes of datasets and gigabytes of graphics from skew-Ts to precipitation type profiles. She had never imagined they could so thoroughly dissect the atmosphere before stepping on this plane. Yet, despite all this, why it was snow continued to elude them.

Lee had his forehead resting in his main monitor screen, his eyes winced shut. "Why are you snow?" he groaned, rearing up to punctuate the sentence with his head making gentle contact with the monitor. "You shouldn't be snow." He did it again.

Ophelia had learned to read Lee's mannerisms from a young age. He was different, high-functioning autistic was the diagnosis. Throughout their childhood, she had been there to support and protect him. She translated him for others when he got into his own little world or explained things to him that he missed due to not picking up on social ques as well.

Him referring to the weather in the second person was a sign he was burning out, maybe even ready to meltdown out of frustration. She put on her headset and adjusted the microphone. "Master Chief," she said into it, "Lee is shutting down back here." She paused to yawn as she was quite tired herself. "And, frankly, I'm ready to join him."


Spigot listened to Ophelia through his earpieces. "It's approaching oh-one-hundred back home. How about we call it a night and take things back up tomorrow morning with fresh eyes."

Bret held his fist in front of his mouth as he yawns. "I'm ready to hit the sack myself. We should have an extra pilot napping back there."

Spigot heaved a sigh. He was wanting to fall into a bed as well. "All right. Let's call it a night."

"Should we head back to the airbase?" Otto asked.

Spigot thought. They were currently over the Moon Kingdom, being in the midst of a west to east pass on the southern edge of their search area. "Star Town is closer and has a runway that can accommodate us." He adjusted his microphone. "Set a course for Star Town airfield, Mister Lungqvist, and request landing clearance."

"Aye, Master Chief," Alex responded through Spigot's earpieces.

Bret picked up his speaker. "Ladies and gentlemen, we will be making a stop in the picturesque Moon Kingdom for some shuteye."


Lee massaged his strained eyes and sat back in his chair.

Ophelia motioned back. "Wake up Franklin. If we can't sleep, he can't."

Lee complied, banging his fist on the metal cabinet that separated them. Snorting and grunts came from the other side. "Oh, it was just a nightmare," Franklin groaned.

"What was?" Ophelia asked.

"There was a furry creature on the wing messing with one of the engines and I had a big hairdo and theater acting skills," Franklin answered. "Thanks for waking me."

"How can someone so terrified of airplanes fall asleep on one?" Ophelia asked.

"They're insidious, I tell you," Franklin said darkly, "insidious. They'll lull you into a false sense of security, and that's when they get you."

Ophelia rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Nicole looked up from the station in front of Lee. "Maybe things will make more sense after a good night's rest."

"Maybe," Lee sighed. "We got data coming out of our ears and every other manner of orifice. However, data is useless if you cannot refine it into information and synthesize it into knowledge. That is where we're stuck."

"What's the problem?" Sophie asked. "You seemed to be making sense of things once we hit the snow."

"The issue is context or lack thereof," Ophelia answered. "What if I told you it was twenty degrees, but didn't give you location or time of day? That's a pleasant late spring afternoon in Saginaw City, a heatwave at the top of the Snow Mountains, or sending the citizens of the Flame Kingdom scrambling for parkas. That's what we have here."

She sat back in her seat. "We should've seen this coming. We have no baseline for atmospheric conditions above the Seed Kingdom. Even if we did, we're so late investigating it would be hard to tell what's a potential cause, what's the result of contamination from the excess rain, and what's just junk that doesn't concern us."

"You're tell me you dragged me up here for nothing!" Franklin snapped.

"No, we now know it's snowing which we didn't before," Lee said. "We were also able to better sample the anticyclone driving the blocking pattern keeping the flow pattern stuck which is the other half of the equation.

"It's looking like the two long block years." Lee sat up in his chair. "This pattern could hold into the middle of next month."

"I don't the Master Chief wants to hear that," Tammy commented.

"It is what it is," Lee replied. "It wouldn't be too much of an issue if the rain wasn't so constant and widespread. It's the snow forming so readily so close to freezing that makes this unique." He looked at his monitors with readouts of the data they had collected. "There's a reason for it among all this, but we could be staring it straight in the face and not know it."

Lee turned to the view out his window and the expanse of sand dunes far below them. Unlike the Bonneville Strip, which saw some precipitation, the Great Luna Desert saw so much as a cloud. The only plant life was clustered around the oases, islands of green in the sea of yellow. The people of the Seed Kingdom are probably envious.


Star Town—the capital of the Moon Kingdom and the desert nation's largest settlement by far—sat in the crook formed by the northern and western arms of the Spring of Stars. The inland sea was shaped like a giant five-point star and served as the only access to outer space, its water held in place by the artificial gravity field that attracted everything towards the inside of the shell and the Wonder Planet's normal gravity.

The town itself was made of simple, stone buildings and dusty streets. Unlike Drop Castle—which was at the heart of Saginaw City—Moon Castle sat a few kilometers outside of town.


Bret guided the Hurricane downward towards the airfield on the outskirts of town. "Star Town Control, this is the Drop Kingdom Craft Hurricane: callsign Delta-Four-Three-Romeo-Foxtrot on final approach. Requesting permission to land and approach vector. Over."

"Delta-Four-Three-Romeo-Foxtrot, this is Star Town Control. Your transponder signal says you're a reproduction of a—" there was an awkward pause "—Lock-heed Martin Whiskey-Papa-Three-Delta Orion? Is that correct? Over." the control tower asked.

Bret exhaled audibly. "It's pronounced lock-keyed, and, yes, that is correct, Control. Over."

There was another pause. "Well, if that don't beat all, you're on the list. Delta-Four-Three-Romeo-Foxtrot, you have permission to land on Runway Bravo: vector zero nine three mark two four. Over."

"Roger, Control," Bret replied. He hung up the radio. "This is why I hate landing at foreign airfields. You'd think we're flying Big Foot."

"If we were flying the original, we'd be going by Miss Piggy," Spigot said as Bret guided them towards the designated runway.

"Why did you build a new plane?" Bret asked.

"It was the power system," Spigot explained. "When we were looking to replace the old diesel engines with electric motors, we discovered we would have to take the plane apart to completely change the infrastructure. Between that and components needing replacement due to fatigue, we might as well build a new plane. Also, the Aeronautic Museum didn't want to give up their best attraction."


Fixed-winged craft were rare in the Wonder Planet. Their speed was not needed in such a small planet, so balloons were the more typical aircraft because they needed less power as their lift was accomplished with heated or light gases.

This made chances to witness them land a treat. The Hurricane tilted up with its landing gears extending out. It descended towards the runway, landing on the wheels under the base of its wings towards the near end of the runway. The nose settled onto its gears. The plane slowed until it came to a rest.


Spigot hopped from his chair, stretching his stiff legs. Everyone gathered in and around the cockpit. "First order of business is getting the plane stored. Greene, Frost, get us a space in a hangar with refueling and maintenance and try not to kill each other in the process."

Tammy leered at Bret who responded with his own. "No guarantees."

"That's why Hofer, Jäger, and the Pryor Twins will be around to referee." Spigot turned to Emily and Franklin. "Pearce and Santiago, you're with me and Lady Dupré to find suitable lodging."

He then noticed Alex. He jabbed his finger towards his muzzle. "And you!" He pointed to Milro and Sophie. "Watch the princesses like a hawk."


Alex saluted at this command. "Aye, Master Chief, like a hawk."

Spigot turned away from him to head to the back of the plane. Alex turned to the two princesses. "Like a hawk."

Alex leered at them like a hawk would eye its potential prey. He craned his neck forward and hunched his shoulders like the wings of a hawk perched. He circled them, moving his feet sideways like a hawk maneuvering on a branch.

"Not like an actual hawk!" Spigot yelled at him from the opening door and extending ladder.

"I'm not taking any chances!" Alex yelled back.


Spigot sighed in exasperation and had to face palm when Franklin did not even wait for the ladder to extend before leaping out.

"TERRA FIRMA!" Franklin screamed as he hit the dusty tarmac on all fours. "I love you." He kissed the ground, but then spit. "You taste like dirt, but I love you." He did his best to hug it.

"What kind of people have I surrounded myself with?" Spigot grumbled.

Spigot descended the stairs with Nicole in front of him and Emily behind him. "Where are we going to get rooms?" Emily asked. "Because I'd rather pitch a tent in the desert than spend a night in some scuzzy fleatrap."

"I just want somewhere that won't draw much attention," Spigot said.

A hoverboat cruised to alongside them, floating several centimeters off the ground. The door in the side opened and a small ladder extended. An older Rabi man descended to the ground.

Despite their race's name suggesting they were of rabbit heritage; Rabi were most closely related to jackrabbits, making them hares. Their particularly long ears were the most obvious evidence of the distinction. Like Beavers, their tails were nothing like those of their evolutionary cousins, being long—almost mouse-like—and ending in a ball of fluffy, white fur.

The man in front of them had ears so long they lopped down to frame his face. They were much like a Doggle's, though starting higher on his head. He was also quite well dressed, and took out a pair of small glasses to balance on his nose.

"Greetings," he said. "On behalf of Regent Moon Maria of the Moon Kingdom, I am here to bring Princess Milro of the Drop Kingdom and Princess Sophie of the Windmill Kingdom to her for an audience."

"What?" was all Spigot could say in response.


Moon Maria's Chief Minister quickly got things squared away with the Hurricane being stored and taken care of. Once the Hurricane was properly stored and security locks in place, he then took them to Moon Castle. Spigot made sure Milro and Sophie were well hidden as they cruised along the outskirts of Star Town which seemed to be active at all hours.

Lee recorded that the surface conditions were a temperature 18°C, 9.6% humidity, 1003.1hPa of atmospheric pressure, and winds out of the east at 2.6kph. With that recorded, he sat back to take in the ride.

The hoverboat was an example of the Moon Kingdom's efforts to reverse-engineer the Wonder Planet's artificial gravity technology. It could not fly, but by hovering almost a half meter off the ground, it could glide across the surface like a puck over an air hockey table. The ride was smooth and it made its way swiftly away from town toward Moon Castle.

Lee turned his attention from the buildings to the sky. "Look at that sky." The sky was a deep blue in color that faded to almost a white towards the surface. It was not the midnight blue of night, more like mid civil twilight.

"You can't tell if its day or night," Ophelia added.

"It's because of that." Spigot pointed up.

Directly above, where you would expect to see the Blessing of the Sun, was the Full Moon—three times the size or so as it was from Saginaw City.

"During the day, it blocks the Blessing of the Sun and during the night its glow is overwhelming," Spigot explained. "So it's always twilight in the heart of the Moon Kingdom."

Moon Castle itself was a representation of the nation's theme with its giant, yellow crescent moon sitting above it. Balloons with star-shaped envelopes lifted off or landed from the platform surrounding it. The engineers and princesses were escorted inside and to the throne room where the Regent awaited them.


Milro dipped in a curtsy along with Sophie. "Greetings, Your Majesty." Though, it was disconcerting Moon Maria used a pair of opera glasses to view them.

The tall and slender regent handed them to the Human maid to her side. She was the tallest of the queens, her height emphasized by the slim design of her black dress and added to by the giant crescent moon crown she wore. She was pale in skin color with the bangs of her midnight blue hair sticking out from under her crown.

"I welcome you to the Moon Kingdom; Princess Milro, Princess Sophie," Moon Maria said. "Princess Milky is asleep and Prince Shade is out on personal business, so they are not here to accept your respects."

"How did you know we were coming?" Bret asked, getting an elbow in the side from Tammy.

"The aurora ripples like a fine ribbon, announcing seekers from the north will come to the Moon Kingdom to rest," Moon Maria answered. "That was this evening's prophecy."

"Prophecy," Lee scoffed.

"Our princesses have been shrunk by a magic tree," Ophelia said. "I think we should keep an open mind."

"If you're looking for rest, please feel welcome to stay at the castle," Moon Maria said. "Though, such a lar—er, numerous entourage will need to share rooms."

"I'm sure we can make it work," Spigot replied. He paused. "Given the current state of the princesses, discretion is of the utmost importance. Can you keep the fact we're here secret from our kingdoms?"

"I understand," Moon Maria said. She turned to the Human maid. "Please see our visitors to the guest rooms and see to their needs."

"Of course, Your Highness." The maid descended the stairs. "Come with me, please."

Moon Maria turned to the Rabi maid to her left. "Also, find Artemis and Luna and lock them away for the night," she whispered.

"I'll get right on it, Your Highness," the Rabi replied.

While likely meant to go unheard, the group all had sensitive hearing. Spigot stopped and turned back. "Who?"

Moon Maria sat up straight. "Oh! Just a pair of Maine coons that have claimed the castle as their territory."

Spigot bobbed his head in a nod. "Ah. Maine coons." He stopped. "Maine Coons?!" He grabbed the sides of his head and groaned.

"You all right, Master Chief?" Emily asked as he stormed past her.

"Why is today when I learn everywhere I go has giant cats?" Spigot groaned.

"It could be worse," Lee said as they followed the maid.

"How?" Spigot asked.

"If the princesses were much smaller," Lee answered, "we would have to worry about spiders."

Everyone groaned in response. "Not helping Lee," Ophelia said.


They were provided four rooms to divide up. Spigot, Bret, and Otto were in the first; then Emily, Tammy, and Bonnie; Nicole, Ophelia, and the princesses; and finally, Lee, Alex, and Franklin.

They were also given night clothes so their uniforms could be washed for the next day. They were a cream-colored robe fastened by a star-shaped clasp, a pale blue night cap topped by a star-shaped decoration, and a pair of fluffy slippers with crescent moons embroidered on them. The men had loose-fitting, pale blue t-shirts and pajama pants while the women were provided pale blue nightgowns and bloomers. They even had sets that fit Milro and Sophie…mostly.

"How do they fit?" the Rabi maid who came to pick up their clothes asked.

"They're a bit big in areas," Sophie answered, putting Milro's thoughts into words.

"I'm okay with it," Milro added. "In fact, the extra space in the bloomers is perfect since there's no tail hole."

"You stuffed your tail down one of the legs too?" Sophie asked.

Milro looked to Sophie and gave just an embarrassed nod at her bluntness. She turned back to the maid and noticed how small their clothes seemed in her hands. "You can wash our clothes safely?"

"We have special washer specifically for the clothes of Seed People. They'll be perfectly fine," the maid said. She glanced away wistfully. "This is a rare opportunity to use it. We have everything for guests from the Seed Kingdom if we have them, but they almost never travel outside their borders."

After their little misadventure in the Bonneville Strip, Milro could hardly blame them.

The maid turned to Nicole and Ophelia. "What about you? Everything to your liking?"

"I'm actually surprised you had something in my size," Ophelia said. "These feel wonderful."

"If you need anything else, you just need to call." The maid slipped Milro and Sophie's clothes in a tiny basket she set on top of Nicole and Ophelia's uniforms in a normal-sized basket to pick up and carry out of the room.

Milro was amazed to see how much hair Ophelia had once she took it out of that bun as it cascaded down to the small of her back. Nicole, for her part, tied a second ribbon to the end of her hair so it will be in place while she sleeps. Sophie and Nicole also used ribbons to tie up their ears above their heads.

Milro turned to the bed for her and Sophie sitting on the nightstand, a perfectly scaled match to the main bed. Her watch sat next to it.

She turned back to Nicole. "Thank you for bringing my mother's watch, Lady Nicole."

"I just thought it was the right thing to do," Nicole said.

"But, isn't it your watch now?" Sophie asked. "I mean, you can't wear it, but…"

Milro shook her head. "It's meant to be a symbol of becoming a woman, I don't feel anywhere near being a woman right now."

"Sixteen is an odd time," Ophelia changed. "I went from being a ballerina to an engineer when I turned sixteen."

"Really?" Sophie asked.

"How did that happen?" Nicole asked.

Ophelia opened her wallet and took out a small photo. "Here is our first and last appearance on stage."

She handed Nicole the photo for her to hold so Milro and Sophie could see. It was a picture of Ophelia and Lee, the former dressed in a white ballet costume with a snowflake motif and the latter dressed as an Arabian for the Dance of Coffee.

"You two look cute," Sophie said. "Why did you leave?"

Nicole handed Ophelia back the photo store again. "I think Lee started ballet because I did, but his heart was never in it. He was an understudy for that performance of The Nutcracker, and only got on because the original dancer was sick most of the month. When he learned the Cloud Generation Service was creating a weather observation corps, he enlisted as soon as he was old enough."

Ophelia began to part her hair and weave it into a braid. "Without him, I learned that the ballet company considered us a matching set. It didn't help puberty hit like a freight train and I grew thirty centimeters over three years. Swan Lake comes off as odd when Siegfried and Rothbart only come up to Odette's eye level.

"So, I enlisted along with him," Ophelia continued, both talking and braiding. "Besides, he needs me, and I had come to love the weather along with him. I think I made the right choice."

She shrugged. "Of course, I might have left the ballet, but the ballerina hasn't left me. I've kept up my diet, exercises, practice, and even dance regularly. The bun I keep my hair in was taught to me while in the company. Friends I have in the company also periodically send me pointe shoes for practice—they want me back even if the big wigs see it as an all or nothing deal. I'll sometimes wear them to work instead of my normal flats."

Milro tried to picture Ophelia in uniform only with a pair of pointe shoes on her feet. It was an amusing thought.

"I had similar change of plans only at fourteen," Nicole said. "I had planned to join the Ministry, but my mother had already made arrangements for me to join the Queen's Court as a maid of honor. Fortunately, Queen Elena knew a way I could do both as her liaison."

"So, don't feel discouraged if life feels in flux," Ophelia said. "That's just part of the fun of being a teenager."

That might be true, but neither of them would leave their teen years with only six years before taking over an entire country. Nothing was in flux about Milro's life. She was going to be queen. The issue was her, her being inferior to her mother. However, she did not feel like going into it at this late hour.

Ophelia finished her braid and tied it off with a white ribbon. She stretched and yawned. "Well, I'm ready to hit the sack." She kicked off her slippers and slipped under the covers. "Goodnight, Your Majesties, Lady Nicole."


Bret lay on top of the covers while Otto was wrapped under them. "I'm the pilot. Why do I have to be on the covers?"

"Because you lost at rock-paper-scissors," Otto grumbled as he tightened his wrap.

Spigot lay on the couch under a blanket. He glared at them. "Shove it and get to sleep!" he snapped.

"And why did you automatically get the couch?" Bret asked.

"Because I'm the Master Chief!" Spigot answered and turned back on his side.


The next room over was the exact opposite. Tammy, Emily, and Bonnie were fast asleep almost immediately. Tammy held her smaller colleagues under her arms.


Nicole had always had trouble getting to sleep in a strange bed. The bed was not uncomfortable, it was heavily in fact. However, it was not hers and that was enough to keep her mind from settling. Sharing a bed also did not help as she was worried about disturbing Ophelia who was already peacefully asleep. She tried the couch, but that did not make a difference. It was frustrating when everyone else was asleep and she could not drift off.

She finally decided perhaps a little walk could settle her down. Being quiet to not wake the others, she took her fan off the nightstand and plied the darkness for her flats. She thought she found them, but the pair were far too big and especially wide suggesting they were Ophelia's. Then she found hers. She slipped them on—feeling more comfortable walking around in them than the slippers provided—and left the room. She closed the door gently and looked down the hall.

The hall had windows on the opposite wall and the occasional couch and table. Lee sat at the nearest one, staring out at the sky. At least someone shared in her insomnia. She opened her fan to shield her lower face and strolled to him.

"Can I join you?" Nicole asked.

Lee turned to her with a start. "Oh! Uh, sure."

He scooched to the side for her to sit down. "Can't sleep either?" she asked.

"I was kind of forced out." Lee reached for his side. "Did you know Alex kicks in his sleep?"

Nicole's side hurt out of empathy. "I can imagine."

"The couch is just short enough to not be comfortable," Lee said. "Also, it was too dark and too quiet. My brain doesn't want to turn off with too much sensory deprivation. And, sometimes, I find it easier to fall asleep sitting up, so here I am.

He turned to her. "What about you?"

"I just have trouble sleeping in a strange bed," Nicole answered.

She stared out the large window in front of them. That deep blue sky and yellow sand dunes extended in front of them. "I heard you can see colorful aurora in the Moon Kingdom."

"That's during the quote unquote day here," Lee said, making air quotes. "Because the Blessing of the Sun is hidden, it doesn't drown out the aurora like elsewhere. Some say they aren't actual aurora but this stuff called promin that powers the environmental equipment. Supposedly, it was also what the Sunny Kingdom princesses used to perform their little miracles during the Crisis."

"Ah," Nicole replied. She looked to the Triton and his gill slits. "I'm surprised you and your sister aren't more uncomfortable here."

"Because it's so dry?" Lee asked. "Our bodies are very good at osmoregulation, and seawater is much more dehydrating than this." He pointed to his gills. "Also, while on land, our gills are protected and supported by a layer of mucus to prevent water loss through them.

"Heat is more of an issue for us. We are very good at retaining it due to living in relatively cool water, so we have a hard time dissipating it."

He turned to her. "What's with the ears?"

Nicole closed her fan and reached up to her ears and the ribbon holding it up. "Oh. Our earlobes serve many purposes, one of them is protecting our ears from the wind. However, it can also block the airflow that keeps moisture from building up. We have to clean our ears religiously and tie them up when we sleep to let them get fresh air."

"Speaking of air," Lee said, "that was a good pick up on the difference in equilibrium vapor pressure between water and ice. That's some very technical knowledge. Are you sure weather is just a hobby?"

"A dedicated hobby," Nicole replied, she opened her fan again to hide her face. "I've read all the science texts I've been able to get my hands on. I would like to make it a profession, but I already got one lined up."

"Being duchess?" Lee asked.

Nicole nodded in response, holding her fan higher. "Though, for now, I can at least work adjacent to it for Queen Elena. She is looking into making a weather observation division of the Ministry like you have." Lee was not wearing the sensor he had earlier. "Maybe I can get a weather sensor like you have to record conditions wherever I go."

"I think we can hook you up," Lee said.

They sat there, staring out the window, trying to get to sleep or at least think of a subject until they did. A thought came to Nicole. She closed her fan. "Can I admit, when I was a little girl, I thought your people were mermaids and had tails like fish when I first heard of them?"

Lee laughed and took his foot out of his slipper. "Nope, two feet. Though, webbed ones." He wiggled the long toes with webbing between them like his fingers. His foot was also wide like Ophelia's must be for the size of her shoes. He put his foot back in the slipper. "Flukes are overrated. There is plenty of value in being able to plant your feet even in the ocean."

"Not to mention being good for dancing ballet," Nicole said.

"Ophelia told you about our previous career path?" Lee asked.

Nicole nodded. "She showed us a picture from your lone performance in The Nutcracker."

"I was surprised when she submitted her papers next to me. Ballet was her life," Lee said. "Though, she thinks she needs to protect me because I'm her younger brother and on the spectrum."

"Does she?" Nicole asked. "Need to protect you, I mean."

Lee sat back and crossed his arms. "I want to say I let her because it seems to give her purpose in life as the big sister. However, she has helped me more times than I care to count."

"And you're twins?" Nicole asked, knowing the answer but wanting to hear it.

"Yeah," Lee replied. "Ophelia was an only child for almost three whole minutes." He turned to her. "What about you? Do you have any siblings?"

Nicole should have seen the question come up. Being asked it always felt like a jab through the heart, but she wanted to let it out. Lee seemed like someone she could let in on it. Still, she opened her fan to hide her wistful frown. "I've been an only child for eighteen years and counting. Which is very strange in the Windmill Kingdom.

"Doggle families are of two types," she explained, "either a bunch of kids or no kids at all. Part of it is most Doggle pregnancies are multiples. Otto has a twin sister, Bonnie has a twin brother, and Alex is the middle child in a set of triplets. It was exceedingly odd for both Prince Auler and Princess Sophie to be singletons but Queen Elena more than made for it when kid number three turned out to be kids three through eight."

Nicole stared out the window. She was not sure if they were facing her homeland, but it was out there where there were plenty of large families as well as her very small one. "Only children are rare and often teased for being spoiled."

"It has to be nice to not have to compete for attention," Lee said, his voice suggesting he had plenty of experience in that arena.

"Perhaps, but there's also no one to save you from the smothering," Nicole said wistfully.

This is coming closer to home. She would often want to change the subject when it got to this point. It was what brought her short courtship with Otto to a calamitous end. However, something about Lee made her feel comfortable pushing onward. Maybe it was just because he came from outside the Windmill Kingdom and its traditions and rules, but she felt there was something more than that.

"I'm not an only child from a lack of trying," Nicole said. "My mother had been pregnant twice before. However, the first pregnancy was twins she could not support, but didn't know until they were both stillborn. She miscarried the second when she contracted canine influenza during the same outbreak that killed King Bö—as well as both my grandparents. I was actually a surprise as she was already forty-two when she learned she was pregnant with me."

Nicole exhaled a long sigh. She started to fan herself as she felt herself getting warm thinking about it. "My mother is…complicated. She's arguably the most powerful person in the Windmill Kingdom outside the royal family. However, it cost her dearly. Her parents, her twin brother, two lost pregnancies. Sometimes I wonder if she would give up her power just to have all those loved ones back."

Lee was quiet, perhaps thinking of what to say at this. "That is a lot to lose, but she does have you and I'm guessing your father."

Nicole nodded. "Though, all those complicated feelings come down on me." She closed her fan and tilted to one side." "On one hand, I'm her little Collette—her miracle—and a part of her is terrified I'll be taken away like so many in her life. It seems like at times, if she could, she wants put me in my prettiest dress and keep me in a glass case like a porcelain doll." She tilted her fan to the other side. "Yet, I'm also Lady Dupré, the lone heir to the family legacy and now the Pasturelands Duchy. She has made so many decisions for me in my life towards that goal." She opened her fan and fanned herself. "About the only thing I'm not to her is Nicole, a girl and now young woman with her own hopes and dreams.

"I'm going to be duchess, I know that," Nicole said. "I'm even looking forward to it as there are things I want to do for the Pasturelands. However, in the meantime, I feel like I'm being suffocated as my mother micromanages my life to meet these expectations she has for me to be a proper Windmill Kingdom lady. She wants me to learn ballet and flower arranging rather than science and technology."

She realized who she was talking and what he had dedicated much of his childhood towards. She held her fan to just below her eyes. "Not that there's anything wrong with ballet, it's a lovely art."

"Interesting you bring that up." Lee smiled. "Our parents were not happy when I said I intended to leave the ballet company for the Cloud Generation Service. They figured we were stars in the making, and we would be rich and famous. They implored me to stay in and I would find my place.

"However, I started to fall behind. Some of it was self-sabotage, I must admit. It was not that I didn't enjoy dancing ballet, but I saw it more as a hobby and not a dedicated one. I started treating it as such as I dedicated more time to hitting the books on weather observation and less time practicing. Then Ophelia seemed to be a centimeter taller every time she was measured," Lee said. "Our parents finally admitted plans for your children are like plans for battle: they rarely survive initial contact with reality."

"If only my mother could adapt that outlook," Nicole said. She started fanning herself again. "Part of the issue is I think she's insecure about her position. The Dupré's were merchants before King Randa elevated my uncle and then my mother to high nobility. He even changed the laws of succession for my mother, so she's the first female to be a ruling noble in the history of the Windmill Kingdom. On top of that, she has a single, female heir. She believes we need to work twice as hard and be twice as careful."

Lee again seemed to take his time to think. "It's easy to be nervous about being first."

"That's what I've told myself so many times," Nicole admitted. It was nice to get some pushback but not being told to just take because that is how things are. "Still, she has always looked down on my interest in weather, even before she became duchess. Pursuing the sciences is below our station as far as she is concerned, especially for women. It's more like she doesn't like science and expects me to little clone—another peril of being an only child. I think, if I had been the fourth child, I could've been an engineer without complaint, but I'm instead the future duchess and have to keep up appearances."

"But you being the heir does present an opportunity for you to set the standard when your time comes," Lee said. "There is a saying in the Drop Kingdom, 'Water will flow the same way whether you want it to or not until you do dig it a new path.'"

"I guess so," Nicole said. She closed her fan. "Anyway, thanks for—"

She turned to Lee only to see he had fallen asleep. His head tilted to the side and his chest rose and fell regularly and slowly. Nicole was alone again, but Lee's slumber was more contagious as she felt herself drifting off. Perhaps the emotional release of bearing her soul was what she needed for her mind to finally settle.

She picked up Lee's arm gently to drape over her shoulder and leaned against his chest. He was slightly cooler to the touch than a Human or Doggle, but only enough to be comfortable to touch. Resting against him, at some point, she fell asleep.