"Oh Sofia, you're going to love the Spring Fair!" said Amber, for the fiftieth time that hour.
"I know, Amber," Sofia answered indulgently. Amber checked her dress – which was peach, with little pink silk blossoms sewn into it in honor of the occasion – in the mirror one last time before the two princesses went down to the entrance hall, where the rest of the royal family waited.
"What part are you looking forward to the most, Sofia?" James asked. "I can't wait for the eating contest!"
"Definitely the fireworks! They sound lovely," said Sofia. "But what's this about an eating contest?"
"It's the most awesome thing in the world!" said James. "All the princes sit down at a table and eat as many peaches as we can. The last prince standing wins the Golden Peach."
Sofia rolled her eyes. "So another prince thing."
"Well – yeah," James said sheepishly.
"Look on the bright side, Sofia," Amber said. "At least we're not expected to make ourselves sick for nothing but pride."
"Children, let's get going," Roland called from the door.
The fairgoers cheered in greeting when the royal family arrived, anxious for the fun to begin. From her seat in the royal carriage, Sofia picked out Ruby and Jade in the crowd, waving enthusiastically from atop their fathers' shoulders. The carriage pulled up to a stage in the middle of the fairgrounds. It stood beside an enormous peach tree, the oldest in Enchancia. King Roland took the stage and gave a short speech, but Sofia could tell the crowd wasn't really paying attention. All eyes were on the queen, who was waiting on a short stepladder to pick the symbolic 'first' peach of the season.
"I won't keep you all waiting anymore," said Roland, and he smiled up at his wife. "Honey?"
Queen Miranda picked the fruit and called, "Happy Spring, everyone!" The crowd whooped and clapped.
The queen turned to the children as she descended the ladder and said, "Now you three go have some fun."
"I'm going to go find Ruby and Jade," Sofia said. "Meet you guys later?"
"Sure," said James. "Just don't forget to come cheer me on at the peach eating contest. It starts in one hour." Then he ran off to find Zandar.
"See you later, Sofia," said Amber, going over to join Hildegarde and Cleo. Sofia waved to them over her shoulder before heading for the last place she'd seen Ruby and Jade.
She found them by a dart game booth, trying to win a giant stuffed unicorn doll. It was Jade's turn. Just as she was about to throw her dart at one of the balloons, Ruby yelled, "Oh my gosh, did you see that?" and pointed wildly off into the sky. There was nothing there, but Jade missed her balloon trying to see what Ruby was pointing at. The three of them burst out laughing.
"Can I try?" Sofia asked.
"Of course, your ladyship," Jade said with an exaggerated curtsy and a fake accent.
They giggled some more.
Sofia concentrated on the balloon marked '100 points'. She threw her dart but missed by a few inches.
The sound of slow, nasty applause came from behind them. "Not bad, princess, even if you did miss," said Hugo.
"What are you doing here, Hugo?" said Sofia, irritated.
"It's a fair, princess, open to everyone," he replied lazily. "You know, if you really want one of these stuffed animals, I could win it for you."
"No thanks. I can win it myself."
"Really? 'Cause it didn't look like it just a second ago."
Sofia glared at him. Without another word, she turned, aimed her last dart, and planted it right in the middle of the 100-point balloon.
"You did it, Sofia!" Ruby crowed.
"Yeah! Go, Sofia! Did you see that, Prince Hugo?" Jade mocked.
Hugo's jaw clenched. "So you won a stupid toy. Big deal. You want to know what you can't win, princess?"
"What's that, Hugo?" said Sofia, her blood pumping hotly.
"The peach eating contest this afternoon."
"Is that a dare, Hugo?"
He snorted derisively. "Don't even try. I win that contest every year."
"Well, Hugo, I will prove to you again that a princess can do anything she sets her mind to. I'm going to win the peach eating contest," Sofia declared.
"Ha, yeah right," he said. "You won't even last that long."
"Oh no? Watch me," she said, and she walked away with Jade and Ruby, their backs ramrod straight.
The nerve of that guy, Sofia thought. She was so angry she ran right into Jun, almost knocking her over.
"Sofia, are you alright?" Jun asked.
"I should be the one asking you that, Jun," said Sofia. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention where I was going."
"It's alright. I'm fine," Jun answered.
"Really, Sofia, what's wrong?" Amber asked from Jun's other side.
"Ugh, Hugo just makes me so mad!" Sofia exclaimed. "He dared me to enter the peach eating contest."
Amber looked alarmed. "Tell me you didn't accept? What am I saying, of course you did." She sighed in exasperation. "Sofia, I'm sorry, but that contest really isn't for princesses. James tried it last year, and it made him sick all day. He couldn't properly enjoy the festival after that. We ended up leaving before we even got to the rides."
"Amber, don't worry, I'll be fine," Sofia assured her. "I won't get sick."
Suddenly Ruby gasped. "Face painting! Come on, Sofia!" Then she took Jade and Sofia each by an arm and pulled them towards the booth.
"It happened to James, it can happen to you!" Amber called after them.
-an hour later-
"The peach eating contest will begin in ten minutes!" a man announced.
"Well, I better get going," Sofia said.
"Good luck, Sofia," Ruby said, smiling.
Jade added, "Let's meet up when you finish, so we can play more games!"
A few minutes later, Sofia took her place at the table beside James, mountains of peaches before them.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" James asked in concern.
"Yes," Sofia replied firmly.
"Well, then good luck. But please, don't push yourself too hard. It's just a game."
"I'll be alright, James," Sofia assured him. "Good luck to you, too."
"Princes," said Roland, adding, "and princess. On your mark! Get set! GO!"
The king blew a whistle, and the crowd that had gathered to watch went wild, calling out encouragement to the contestants.
Sofia dug in, devouring peach after peach as fast as she could and throwing the pits in a little bucket next to her seat. Soon she had peach juice on the tip of her nose and all over the lower half of her face, running down her chin and staining her dress, but she didn't care. She was going to beat that arrogant jerk Hugo.
Princes started dropping like flies. Soon Zandar and Khalid were out, followed by Jin and James. Then it was just Sofia and Hugo. Even though she was getting really full and wanted to stop eating, Sofia pushed herself to keep going. She couldn't let Hugo win. She had to show him a princess could do anything a prince could. Plus, she just really didn't like the guy.
Sofia peeked over at Hugo. He looked about as uncomfortable as she felt, but still he kept shoving peaches in his mouth. For a second, Sofia thought maybe proving her point and stroking her ego all on account of a boy – especially that boy – wasn't worth what she was doing to herself. She slowed down a fraction. Then Hugo flashed her a condescending grin, and she reached for another peach.
She lost track of how many pits were in her bucket. Finally, when she thought she couldn't take it anymore and all those peaches were about to come back up the hard way, Hugo flagged. His hand froze midway to his mouth, his face turned green, and he ran for the closest bathroom. The crowd cheered like crazy.
"Looks like we have our winner!" King Roland boomed over the noise. He put a hand on Sofia's shoulder and smiled down at her. "We'll have to count the pits to be sure. Bear with us a moment, as we confirm the results."
As the pits were tallied, Sofia tried to smile but gave up when the effort proved to be too distracting; her mission now was to keep the peaches down.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of this year's peach eating contest is – Princess Sofia!" Roland announced. The spectators clapped and whistled and hollered while Roland presented Sofia with the Golden Peach.
"Sofia, sweetheart, are you feeling okay?" he whispered in her ear. "You look a little woozy."
"Ugh, I don't feel so good, Dad."
"Uh oh. We better get you home." Roland gathered Sofia up in his arms. She laid her head against his neck and closed her eyes as he left the stage, searching for his wife and daughter in the crowd. James trailed behind them.
"Dad, could I talk to you please?" Sofia mumbled.
In a panic, Roland stopped by a bathroom.
"Oh no, Dad, that's not what I meant."
"Oh," he said, hoping his relief wasn't too obvious. "What is it, Sofia?"
"Dad, I don't want you to miss the rest of the Fair because of me," she said earnestly.
"Oh, Sofia, honey. This Fair comes every year. Don't worry about it - either of you," he added, throwing a glance over to his son. Finally, a little ways up the path, he found Miranda with the other queens, talking about starting a book club. "Miranda, could I talk to you for a minute, please?"
Miranda excused herself. "Rollie, what happened?" she said, her gaze settling on each of the children in turn. Sofia looked far worse off, but James was clearly also feeling ill. Her mother's instincts kicked in as she fretted over both of her children.
Roland didn't want to make Sofia and James feel worse, so he just whispered in his wife's ear. "Well, Sofia won the peach eating contest, but let's just say it's not all it's cracked up to be. I know Amber won't want to leave so would you mind staying while I take James and Sofia home?"
Miranda said, "I think we better all go home. I'll get Amber."
Sofia opened her eyes a little and said feebly, "Mom, don't, I'll be fine, I promise. Stay and watch the fireworks for me."
Remembering how much Sofia had been looking forward to the fireworks, Miranda's heart hurt and she silently vowed to do something to fix this for her daughter. "Just rest for now, okay, sweetheart?" Sofia closed her eyes and went back to sleep. "Dear, take care of them. And remember, Baileywick has the week off, so it's up to you to make sure they're comfortable."
"Don't worry, honey. I'll take care of everything. You have a nice time." He gave his wife a quick kiss and left with the two kids.
As he did so, he passed Amber. "Oh no, not again!" she said when she saw the condition Sofia and James were in. "I knew this would happen."
Ruby and Jade came up to Amber, and Jade asked, "Where's Sofia? We were going to play more games!"
"I don't think Sofia is going to want to play games anytime soon," she said sadly.
"Why not?" Jade asked.
"I just saw her leave with my dad. She wasn't feeling very good."
"Oh no!" said Jade. "What can we do?
Amber appraised them, fluttering her fan reflexively. "Ladies, follow me. I have a plan."
She led them down to the lake, where they spoke to a certain group of bargemasters whose assignment that night required a little…relocation.
In the royal carriage, Sofia was still sound asleep in Roland's arms. The driver took the low road, so as not to upset Sofia and James's stomachs too much.
"Dad, I'm sorry I ruined the Fair again," James apologized.
"James, you didn't ruin the Fair," said Roland, as the carriage stopped at the castle. Billy opened the carriage door a few seconds later.
"Thank you, Billy," said Roland, climbing from the carriage and carrying Sofia inside the castle, his free hand all the while on James's shoulder to keep the prince steady.
In the entrance hall, James said, "I can make it from here, Dad. You take care of Sofia."
"Okay James," the king said and made for Sofia's room.
Sofia opened her eyes. "Dad, my tummy hurts."
"It'll be alright, darling," he said, even as Sofia ran for the bathroom.
When she came back a few minutes later, he asked, "Why don't you get ready for bed, Sofia, while I go check on your brother?"
"Okay."
Then Roland left, and Sofia changed into her blue nightgown.
"Hey Princess, I thought you were at the Fair," said Clover, hopping over to her bed.
"Ugh, Clover, please don't mention the Fair. Or peaches. I hope I never even see a peach ever again," she groaned.
-in James's room-
When Roland arrived, James was lying on his bed.
"Is your stomach feeling any better?" asked the king.
James said, "Yes Dad, now that I am lying down and resting."
"I know what usually helps you rest," said Roland, and he lifted the prince gently into his arms. He rocked the boy until he fell asleep, at which point Roland gingerly pulled off James's shirt, coat, trousers and shoes, exchanging them for a simple nightgown. Then he carefully tucked the sleeping boy in, giving him a kiss on the forehead. "Sleep tight, James."
-a while later-
James was starting to stir. He woke up, surprised to find that he was in his nightgown.
Zandar was waiting in a chair nearby. "About time, James! Come on! Thanks to Amber, we have a surprise planned for Sofia."
James said, "Alright," as he put on his slippers. "But I will be leaning on you a bit."
"Sure, James," said Zandar. "Still tired?"
"A little. But I thought you would have been home resting."
Zandar shrugged and said, "Well, that makes both of us. At least it's spring break."
"That's true," James agreed.
Sofia was just waking up from a nap when she heard a knock on her door. "Come in," she called.
The door opened to reveal Amber, tailed by Hildegarde, Cleo, Ruby, Jade, Vivian and all their friends from school. Even James was there, leaning slightly on Zandar's shoulder. Some of them were holding balloons, some baskets full of various contents, and several of them had big stuffed animals in their arms.
"Surprise!" they said in unison.
"Since you were too sick to stay at the Fair, we brought the Fair to you!" Amber said with a big smile. She and James came and sat on Sofia's bed, while the others set up some games and tied the balloons all over her room.
"Guys, this is wonderful! Thank you so much!" Sofia said, touched.
"And this isn't even the best part," said Vivian. She crossed to Sofia's window and threw it wide open. "Just wait until sunset!"
Sofia gave her a quizzical look.
"You'll see," said Amber.
They played games until twilight. As the sun began to go down, everyone gathered in front of Sofia's window. Amber spotted the barges pulling into position down on the lake. "Here it comes!" she said excitedly.
There was a whistling sound and then a loud crack, and light bloomed in the sky. Sofia gasped. "Fireworks! Oh, thank you all so much!" she said, her eyes shining bright with radiant bursts of motion, like living stars, reflected in their depths. "I'm so happy!"
Amber put her arm around her sister. Sofia laid her head on Amber's shoulder and reached for James.
Surrounded by their friends, the three of them watched the fireworks.