It was mostly flat ground from the clearing to the new campsite, but the spot itself was situated on top of a rocky hill. The hill was decently tall and looked a little tough to climb, but at the top was a large flat plateau, definitely wide enough to fit all the princes. The hill was also made of rocks instead of grass and trees, so the bright summer sun was easily visible overhead, and all the entrances were well-lit. Around them, the canopy of trees was large and thick enough that the camp wasn't easily visible from a distance.

"Perfect," breathed James as they approached the campsite. The Enchancian prince climbed a rugged group of rocks to reach the top of the plateau, and he looked out at the wide crowd of students. James blew his whistle loudly, and all the princes quieted down.

"Now that we have found a base," announced James, we must, uh, build fortifications to defend our territory?" He shot a questioning look at Sir Gillium, who nodded and gave the prince a thumbs up. James turned back to the crowd. "We must build fortifications to defend our territory!" he repeated, sounding much more confident this time. "The strength of our fortifications will determine how many points we get, which we can use to, uh, buy stuff." Sofin furrowed his eyebrows. What was a fortification? He didn't know that word.

James moved back a couple feet to take a seat on a tall gray stone. "So," continued the prince, "come to me to figure out your assignments."

As soon as James was done speaking, pandemonium ensued. Dozens of princes scrambled up the rock staircase haphazardly, crowding around James to ask him lots of questions. Sofin sighed. He had wanted to ask James what a "forcafitacion" was, but it seemed like James was going to be busy for a little bit as the crowd of princes tried to talk to him. Sofin was glad it was a cloudy day, or else it would have been way too hot to stay outside under the sun.

It took a while, but eventually the princes started to leave James and head towards various directions in the forest. Sofin watched them go one by one, until the crowd around James had finally disappeared. Sofin climbed the rock staircase himself so he could talk to his brother.

James was still seated at the one tall gray rock, scribbling notes onto a piece of paper on a clipboard. "Sofin," said James unenthusiastically. He sounded really tired. "I hope Hugo didn't give you any trouble earlier."

Sofin shrugged. "It was alright. He was a bit cocky until I jumped across a stream farther than he did."

James gave a weak smile. "Nice going, Sof. By the way, you know what cornflowers look like, right?"

Sofin thought for a moment. He remembered those were the tall blue and pink flowers with spherical heads from his Buttercup training. "Yep, I do," said Sofin.

"Great!" said James in relief. He marked something on his clipboard. "You're in charge of finding as many cornflowers as you can, for decorations." He gave a long sigh. "Wow. I thought being captain was going to be easy, but it's a lot of work."

James looked pretty tired, but Sofin figured it was as good a time as any to ask what they were even doing in Greenleaf Forest. "So, James, can you explain what—"

"James!" interrupted an excited voice. Sofin turned to the rock staircase as Zandar pulled himself up with heaving breaths. Undeterred, the Tangu prince ran towards his friend.

"Zandar!" said James enthusiastically. "Did you find the princesses' camp?"

"Yeah! And you'll never guess where they made it!" said Zandar in excitement.

James laughed. "I knew I could count on you!" he said. "Where is it?"

"They built it right at the edge of the lake," explained Zandar. "You know what this means?"

James flipped furiously through the pages on his clipboard until he found one that looked like a hastily drawn sketch of the forest. His face lit up in excitement. "Yes!" he said, pumping a fist in the air. "We can redirect this stream over here to this river which flows into the lake, to make it bigger." He pointed at two of the streams on the map.

Sofin peered closely at the rivers he was pointing to. "Wait, but that'll make the lake bigger and flood the girls' camp!" he said, shocked.

"Exactly!" said Zandar. "James, you're a genius!" The two best friends broke into laughter.

Sofin took a few horrified steps back. What was James thinking? Why did he want to flood the princesses' camp? He couldn't think of a good reason, unless it was just a big prank on the princesses? But that was so mean! Amber was down there! James wouldn't want to drench his own sister in water, would he?

Sofin stopped for a moment. Okay, James totally would want to drench Amber in water. But still!

Still a little shocked, Sofin backed away from the laughing pair and headed into the forest. He needed to warn the other princesses! And maybe find some cornflowers along the way.

Under the bright spring sun, Sofin darted into the canopy of trees. He hadn't gotten enough of a look at James's map to know where the princesses' camp was, but he headed back towards the clearing where they had first arrived. Walking through the trees was peaceful and a little bit calming. The tall plants and grasses, the quiet chirps of the crickets and the lovely trill of birdsong in the air. It was all so calming.

Before long, Sofin pushed his way through some tall grass and arrived at the empty clearing where the coaches had landed. He could see the wide dirt path along which they had arrived. Now, all he needed to do was remember which way the princesses had gone to find their camp.

Wait.

Which way had the princesses gone, again?

Sofin looked around the clearing, but aside from the dirt path leading off into the distance, all the directions looked mostly the same. Just tall trees, going on as far as the eye could see. Sofin scratched his head, thinking.

"Uh…maybe they went this way?" Sofin guessed aloud. He chose a direction mostly at random, heading through the tree line and across the long forest.

This way, the ground seemed to slope downwards a little, but after a few minutes of walking with no sight of a lake, Sofin knew he had to have guessed wrong. Sofin sighed, taking a seat on a nearby fallen log. He had to admit that without James's map, he was totally lost.

Sofin groaned. Maybe he could look for cornflowers instead? But he had no idea where those were, either! Sofin threw his hands up into the air. This was totally pointless. Sofin leaned back on the log, moving his hands down to rest on the log.

"Aaah! That human hand is gonna squish me!"

"Gah!" exclaimed Sofin in surprise. He reflexively pulled his hands up before they landed on the log, then looked at the spot on the log where the noise had come from. There was nothing there. "Who said that?"

"You can hear me?" came a tiny, high-pitched voice from the same spot on the log.

"Yeah, I can," said Sofin. He put one hand to the amulet around his neck. "My amulet lets me talk to animals." He peered at the log closely, but there was still nothing there at all. "But who are you? I can't see you at all."

"Oh, sorry!" squeaked the voice. Then, right before Sofin's eyes, a small brown patch of the log shifted and changed color to green. The green patch formed the shape of a tiny lizard, who opened his eyes. He was small enough to fit into the palm of Sofin's hand.

"I'm a chameleon!" squeaked the tiny lizard. "I can change my color to blend in with my surroundings."

"Really?" asked Sofin. He moved his palm down to the chameleon, who jumped into his open hand. Sofin moved the chameleon up to his eye, so could get a better look. "Woah!" he said in surprise. "You're so tiny!"

"I'm just a kid," said the chameleon. "I'll get bigger when I'm older. My name's Dexter! What's yours?"

"Oh!" said Sofin. He hadn't even introduced himself. "I'm Prince Sofin of Enchancia." He gave a little bow, making sure to keep his hand with the chameleon up. "But you can call me Sofin."

"It's nice to meet you, Sofin!" said Dexter. "What brings you to Greenleaf Forest?"

"Well, I'm here with a bunch of other students from Royal Prep on a field trip," explained Sofin. "I don't really know what the field trip is about, but I'm trying to find a lake where some of the other students have set up. A lake is a really big pool of water. Do you know where it might be?"

"Hmmmm," said Dexter, thinking. "A really big pool of water? I know where one of those is!"

"You do?" said Sofin, excited.

"Yeah!" said Dexter. He jumped out of Sofin's hand and onto the ground, disappearing into the bright green grass. "Now, follow me!"

"Wait!" said Sofin. "You blend into the grass so well, I can't even see where you are."

Dexter changed color so that he was a bright orange, which stood out wonderfully in the green grass. "Is this better?" he asked.

"That's great!" said Sofin. "Lead the way!"

Dexter led Sofin across a thin stretch of the forest, past lots of small plants and flowers. Before long, they reached the place Dexter was talking about.

"Behold!" said Dexter. "My home!"

He gestured proudly at a small pond of water, maybe ten feet across and wide. Sofin could hear the quiet trickle of a stream flowing into the pond. It was a little too small to be considered a lake, and Sofin certainly couldn't see any princesses nearby.

"So?" said the chameleon, hopping excitedly. "Do you like it?"

Sofin smiled at the chameleon. "Your home is wonderful, Dexter. But a lake is even bigger than this pond. It's big enough for me to swim in. Sometimes, you can't even see the other end."

"Oh," said Dexter. "Sorry." He looked down at the forest floor, looking a little sad.

"That's okay!" reassured Sofin. "This is a big pool of water for you. There's something else I'm looking for, too. Do you know where cornflowers are in the forest?"

"Cornflowers?" said Dexter. "Are those the tall thin ones with bright blue flowers?"

"Yeah!" said Sofin. "Those ones!"

"I know where those are!" exclaimed Dexter. "For real this time. They're this way!" He headed back in the direction of the clearing.

Sofin followed the chameleon as he scurried across the forest once more. It didn't take long this time. After just a minute, the chameleon stopped at a clearing filled with bright blue flowers.

"Are these the ones?" said Dexter, pointing at the flowers. Sofin stooped down to one and smelled it, taking in the earthy, sweet scent.

"Yep, these are the ones!" announced Sofin. Dexter did a tiny victory dance on the ground, spinning in a circle. Sofin reached down to give him a small pat on the back.

"Thanks so much for helping me out, Dexter," said the prince.

"No problem!" said the chameleon. "I should probably get back home now. My parents might be worried."

"Alright," said Sofin. "But if you ever need me for anything, I'd be happy to help out. It's the least I can do for a friend."

"Sure!" agreed the chameleon. He shifted color to green, blending in again with the grass. "Bye, Sofin! It was nice meeting you!"

"Bye, Dexter!" called Sofin, and he listened to the quiet ruffling of grass as the chameleon headed back towards the pond.

Sofin took a deep breath as he looked out over the patch of cornflowers. James hadn't said how many to get, but he didn't want to take too many, or else the cornflowers wouldn't be able to grow back. He paced around the patch of flowers once, then reached down and plucked a single cornflower.

"Sofin!" called an excited voice. The prince startled, dropping the cornflower and turning around to see Charlene running at him. She slowed to a stop, breathing heavily, a huge smile on her face. "I'm….so glad…I found you," she said, between heaving breaths. Her dress was a little rumpled, and Sofin could see some dirt on her pink shoes. It seemed like she had run the whole way here.

"Charlene!" exclaimed Sofin, happy to see his friend. "Why are you here?"

Charlene took one final deep breath, her voice steadying. "I was looking for you," she said. "Took a bit, but here you are! You'll never guess what happened."

"What?" asked Sofin.

"Well," said Charlene, "I asked Professor Velova if you could be on our team for today, since I know you wanted to."

"You did?" said Sofin in surprise.

"And Professor Velova said yes!"

"She did?" squeaked Sofin in shock.

"Mhm!" Charlene nodded her head.

Sofin stopped for a moment. "You actually asked the professor? You didn't just pretend to ask and get permission, then pretend like she said yes, so you could get me on your team?"

"Come on, Sofin," said Charlene with big eyes and a pout on her face, "would I do that?"

Sofin just raised an eyebrow.

"Okay," admitted Charlene, "I totally would. But I actually asked this time! And she really did say yes. I promise!"

"Wow," said Sofin. "That's…that's great news!" he said. No more exploring the forest with Prince Hugo, that was for sure. "I'm so excited we're on the same team now!"

"Right?" said Charlene with a huge grin. "I've got to show you our base first. It's the best!" She darted off into the trees.

Laughing, Sofin followed behind her, leaving the patch of cornflowers behind.