Chapter Six

Peach stood in shocked silence as Anna bowed to the older magikoopa. "And you, my father." She turned towards the other. "My mother." She bowed again.

"There is no need for such formality here and now, my daughter." Said Anna's father. He hugged her briefly. "How I have missed you!"

"And I you." Anna replied.

Malachi turned towards Peach. "And this must be the Princess Toadstool. Welcome to our home." He said with a slight bow. He turned to acknowledge Kammy and Kamek, who stood by the door. "Kamek. Kammy." His greeting lacked the warmth it had held previously. "Dinner is ready." He said to his wife. "I did manage not to burn it as you left, Karina."

She smiled woodenly. "Good. Shall we eat?"

And they did eat, and they talked. At least, Malachi and Karina and Anna talked, and Peach was gradually drawn into the conversation, but Kammy and Kamek ate in silence, and the others did not try to engage them in conversation.

Kamek sat beside Karina, as silent and seemingly unruffled as ever, as if this present situation were nothing with which he should be concerned.

Kammy, on the other hand, glared at her plate, fuming. Obviously things had not gone according to plan for her. Apparently, though, she would not try anything here.

There was no sense of family amongst the three. They might as well have been complete strangers caught in some disagreement, who had never seen each other before.

Anna seemed worried, Peach noted, and understandably so. Peach wasn't sure of much, but she was pretty certain that being tried by the magikoopa council was no laughing matter. She picked at her food, and tried to enjoy being with her parents as she answered questions about what she had been up to.

Malachi, Anna's father, did not seem particularly concerned. He was cheerful, and made every effort to make Peach feel at home. Peach was annoyed with him until she realized that Anna had gotten her tendency to act as if nothing were wrong if she couldn't do a thing about it from him.

Peach turned to study Karina, Anna's mother. There was a calm there, but also worry. And almost completely hidden was a fierce passion to protect those she cared about, and this deal with the council had her upset. How she felt about Kamek and Kammy sitting at the dinner table, though, was more than Peach could see.

Dinner ended soon enough, and after they had cleared the table, Karina took care of sleeping arrangements. Peach and Anna would have Anna's old room, and Kammy would have the guest room. If Kamek noticed he was being ignored, he gave no indication of it.

Peach followed Anna down the hall and into a delightful room filled with mostly books. It was bright and cheerful, much like the magikoopa herself, and Peach felt rather at home here. There was a dresser in one corner, and a bunkbed in the opposite.

"Anna?" Peach asked as they settled into bed.

"Hmmm?" Anna areplied distractedly.

"What's going to happen tomorrow?"

Anna sighed. "I don't know. If Kammy gets her way we'll both be dragged back to Koopa Castle. Who knows what Kamek's after."

"Will that actually happen?" Peach asked, frightened.

Anna smiled. "You aren't bound by our laws, Princess. Nor are you King Koopa's property. The council will not allow them to have you."

"What about you?" Peach worried.

"I don't know."

Peach lay awake for a long time after her friend had gone to sleep, worrying. What would happen to Anna? She had said Peach wasn't bound to the laws of the magikoopa, but was Anna? Would Kammy get her way? What did Kamek want?

She gradually became aware of voices coming from the kitchen. Two people were talking, and one of them sounded angry.

Peach slipped out of bed, and crept down the hallway, stopping just out of sight.

"I won't do it." That was Karina, and by the sound of things, she was furious. "Not to her. You can't ask that of me."

"No." Came the reply, and Peach was certain it was Kamek. "I cannot. For various reasons. But you know what needs to be done."

"Do you have any idea what that would do to her?" Karina hissed. "Do you even care?"

Kamek was silent.

"You don't care. Not for her. Not for anyone. You're doing this to protect yourself. Your position. If Anna gets dragged back there it could screw up everything for you, couldn't it? And if you actually did try to help her, it would put you in a position where you were challenging Bowser. But you won't do that, will you? So instead you expect me to- to- to do that. Well, I'm not your pawn, Kamek. And neither is my daughter."

"I cannot go against the entire council, whatever they decide." Kamek said at last.

"Not this time!" Snapped Karina. "Not if it doesn't suit your purposes. Not if you don't benefit from it!"

"I have done what I can, Karina. What becomes of your daughter is up to you." He said, his voice uncharacteristically cold and harsh.

"You've done what you will. It's not the same thing, and you know it." Karina retorted. "I knew from the start I didn't like Kammy. I didn't know until now that I didn't like you either."

Silence reigned, and Peach crept back to bed, even more worried than she had been before.