Clarion peered around the corner and stared into the dining hall. The room was practically empty, other than the table she usually sat at with the ministers. To her surprise there were three other fairies seated at the table with the ministers, all of which were sparrowman. They must have been the suitors they picked out.

The emptiness of Clarion's stomach was suddenly filled with butterflies, metaphorical of course. She was going to meet those sparrowman and have to choose a husband between the three of them by the end of summer and be impregnated. Simply the thought of it made her shudder. There was no going back now and Clarion knew that she was just scaring herself. Once she stopped thinking so bluntly, things would be less intimidating.

Queen Clarion took her seat next to the ministers. Across from her were the suitors. The ministers introduced them, "Your majesty, this is Count Wilhelm, Prince Eric, and the Duke Richard."

"Please to meet you sirs," she nodded to them respectively.

"No, the pleasure is ours." Wilhelm extended his hand to her and smiled sweetly. Clarion took it and shook it more like it was some sort of business meeting and not her meeting her possible husband. The next thing she knew, the count brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. A light shade of pink flushed across her cheeks and to the tip of her ears.

They both sat back down and lunch began. Clarion said very little. Meanwhile the ministers asked the suitors questions and waited for answers that may or may not peek the Queen's interest. She tried as hard as she could to pay attention and not to just stare down at her meal. Then one answer in particular caught her attention.

"Your highness, are there any activities you prefer in your freetime?" Snow asked.

"Uh... Well, I enjoy reading," Eric answered nervously as he scratched his neck awkwardly.

Snow instantly turned to Clarion with a smile on her face, and in less than a heartbeat she knew what the minister was up to. The queen wanted to stop her from replying, but there was no way without saying it outloud or anything else that would be very obvious to the others. So she remained still, hoping Snow would get the message that she was uneasy with what she could possibly say next.

"How wonderful!" Snow exclaimed, "The tree has an exquisite library. Maybe, once we're done here, Queen Clarion would like to show you the way there."

Clarion paled instantly at the thought of being alone with one of the suitors so soon and Snow pitching the idea of taking him to what she considered as her safe-haven. As she waited for his answer that was coming all too slowly for her to bare, Clarion looked up just one moment and saw that Eric was just as uncomfortable as she was.

Eric struggled to form words when he tried to reply. All eyes were on him and that was just too much pressure for a lunch. "W-w-w-w-well, I-I-I mean, I would glad-ly accept, a-a-as long as it is okay with her majesty."

Then suddenly the spotlight was on Clarion and she was the one being stared down by six pairs of eyes. She had to answer as soon as she possibly could so that no one else could say anything else. There was no way she was ever going to live it down if she said no, but was it really worth it to spend an afternoon with someone she barely knew in the place she loved most?

"Y-yes, of course, but-"

"But?" the ministers inquired.

"Uh... I..."

"I asked her majesty for a personal tour of her wonderful kingdom this afternoon, and she has so kindly agreed," Wilhelm replied. Everyone else was confused and trying to recall when the two had even talked to one another except for the first few moments they had met. When everyone else was deep in thought, Wilhelm winked at Clarion. They hadn't talked of any such plan and they both knew it.

"Yes, of course, maybe afterwards." Clarion replied with a quirk of a smile. She didn't want to be alone with any of them right now and showing Wilhelm around meant that there would also be other fairies to introduce him to along the way.

With this answer, Eric seemed to relax and was able to form a proper sentence, "Thank you, your majesty, I can always wait until tomorrow."

"That sounds sufficient," the Minister of Autumn said, "Your highness, your grace, I do believe that the both of you would like to settle into your chambers, may I lead you to them?"

"Yes, you may," Richard, who had been silent most of the lunch or at least hadn't spoken to Clarion, said.

"The cooking fairies will take care of your dishes, so just follow me. Our messengers have taken the liberty to bring your belongings to your rooms."

"We thank you for your hospitality," Eric replied kindly.

The three sparrowman left the dining hall, and the rest of the ministers excused themselves to their duties. This left Clarion and Wilhelm the only ones left, and more specifically, alone. Clarion looked at him out of the corner of her eye and for a brief moment their eyes met. She instantly looked away and blush crept across her face. Wilhelm chuckled, causing her to blush even more.

"Shall we?"

She nodded nervously and took his outstretched arm. Clarion tried to recall how she had gotten into this mess. Things would have been so much easier if she had just agreed to take Eric to the library. After all, there was nothing wrong with Eric. He seemed nice, but she wasn't so much as comfortable with this whole agreement quite yet, and so far the library was the only place she could truly be alone. Now she was stuck showing this sparrowman, whom she basically doesn't know anything about, around the hollow. It could be worse though, the ministers could be lecturing her about how she needed to try and spend time with the suitors. No matter how much that would be true, it's still hard to imagine happening and most likely it would be humiliating.