Agatha came back from her interview with the Baron not in trouble and apparently satisfied, but not forthcoming about what had been said. Tarvek didn't give much thought to it — hostage taking was the way of the world, and if Agatha had been reconciled to it then so much the better for her. She did write a long letter to Barry Heterodyne later that day, and, when she got a reply, showed him the part that confirmed that Barry Heterodyne had been to Mars and believed Gil was from there. It still left Tarvek mystified as to why that needed to be so secret — were people from Mars really likely to hear about Gil all the way from Europe? He wanted to investigate more, the whole thing just seemed slightly odd, but there wasn't a way to investigate Mars from inside the school and he was afraid Gil would stop talking to him again if he mentioned it. Especially since he still wasn't clear why Gil had thought he needed to the first time. It wasn't as if Tarvek was going to tell anyone.
Gil for his part was still a little distant, grumpy that Tarvek hadn't believed him and Tarvek, despite himself, wasn't entirely happy with Gil either. It had always been so easy with the three of them, falling into exploring or inventing as if it was impossible to say or do the wrong thing around them. Only apparently it hadn't been.
Then, a few days before Tarvek's birthday, he got a letter from home suggesting that he invite Agatha to Sturmhalten for his birthday, and that he could bring that orphan she liked as well if he wished. It was hardly very gracious regarding Gil (Tarvek spent a few moments being indignant on his behalf) and Sturmhalten was…it was home, but it wasn't a place Tarvek had ever enjoyed being much. But if it could just be the three of them for a day, maybe it would at least be a little like it had been? And it couldn't really do any harm, his family just wanted to keep an eye on Agatha. They'd been allowed to visit Mechanicsburg for Agatha's birthday, so surely it wouldn't be forbidden. He made up his mind to ask.
"It won't be like Mechanicsburg," he began, as they puttered about with their riding dragon clank that evening. That wasn't as much fun as it used to be, either. Maybe they could take it with them... Tarvek paused to try to imagine his father's reaction to that. Perhaps not.
"Most things aren't," said Gil. A little snarky but not really biting. "Were you going somewhere with that?"
Tarvek shook himself a little. "I was wondering if you'd like to come to Sturmhalten for my birthday. Only, it won't really be a party or anything." And he really hoped Agatha wouldn't expect to sneak off and explore Sturmhalten, he didn't want to imagine his father's reaction to that.
"Oh," said Agatha. "I was wondering too. That sounds nice." She gave Gil a look that was almost as hopeful as Tarvek felt.
Gil looked a little wary, but said, "I guess I can ask."
"I don't see why they'd say no, they let us visit Mechanicsburg," said Tarvek, not sure whether to relax now they'd said yes or expect something else to go wrong.
"That was really supervised," Gil said. "And before we got in trouble."
Tarvek sighed. "I liked it better when I was the only one worried about that."
The children wanted to visit Sturmhalten. Klaus controlled his immediate reaction to this and informed Agatha he would have to write to Barry. She insisted on doing so herself as well; Klaus imagined her letter was considerably friendlier.
Barry must have left as soon as he received the letters, because he turned up waiting in Klaus's office the next day. Klaus halted in the doorway and scowled at him. "How did you get in here without my knowing about it?"
"I assume you've been charging around too busy to be informed of anything short of an imminent threat," Barry said. "I'm just here to be shouted at in person."
"They want to go to Sturmhalten," said Klaus, as if Barry hadn't heard that twice over now.
"Yes." Barry left his spot against the wall and went to sit down; Klaus sighed and went to his desk, as standing in his own doorway glowering was a little ridiculous. Barry added, and it wasn't a rhetorical question, "Do you have a reason not to let them?"
"No," said Klaus, frustratedly. "Aaronev has nothing to gain by hurting Agatha, and I'm sure he doesn't know any reason he'd gain by hurting Gil. I'm still not happy about sending them into the stronghold of someone I can't trust."
"I don't blame you." Barry grimaced. "But they probably would be fine. Aaronev's not stupid." He considered briefly. "I suppose I could tell him about the portal."
"Red Fire, why do you think that would help?" said Klaus.
"Because then he'd know I have a way into Sturmhalten," Barry explained, "that he can't effectively defend."
"I think he'd just destroy it, if he really thought he couldn't set up effective traps on his end," said Klaus. Aaronev probably couldn't set up effective traps - not against Barry - but he might not realise that.
Barry looked rather startled by this suggestion. "It's too interesting to destroy," he protested, but then frowned. "Well, maybe not, if he already knew about it to study or was seriously planning to do something objectionable. Good point."
"I think we'd do better keeping that as a way in, if necessary. At least you'll be able to get to them quickly." He glared at Barry again. "Assuming I have to let them go."
"I don't actually think Aaronev intends to hurt either of them," said Barry. "He may think he's going to plant the idea of marrying Tarvek in Agatha's head, I suppose."
"I think Castle Heterodyne beat him to it," said Klaus, drily. "And I'm pretty sure Agatha can handle herself against hinting."
"I should hope so," Barry said. "I would almost be sorry not to hear her response if he brought it up."
"It would probably be startlingly tactful," said Klaus. Mostly because Tarvek would be present, and Agatha was careful of her friends' feelings.
"Likely," Barry said. "But it might also be a lot more direct than Aaronev thought he'd be getting. Incidentally, she wrote to me for advice on getting Gil and Tarvek to be sensible. I'm afraid I wasn't very much help."
"What on earth did you tell her?" Klaus asked, distracted and rather intrigued by this.
"Um-" Barry pushed a hand back through his hair. "That sometimes if people aren't actually trying to kill each other, you have to let them work out being upset between themselves."
"You actually included that qualification?" said Klaus. Admittedly, if it was advice Agatha was going to use in future, especially among Sparks, it might be worth bearing in mind. But still.
Barry blinked. "Well, yes. I wasn't sure if I should have added any other examples that might require intervention..."
"I don't think they really apply to the situation at hand," said Klaus.
"Well, no." At this point Barry just sounded confused. "That was the point."
"...at least she's well advised for the future," said Klaus, after a moment. "They're talking to each other again, by the way. I suppose you already heard that from her."
"Yes, but apparently still grumpy. Agatha thinks the invitation is Tarvek's attempt to make up for not believing the Martian prince story until I corroborated it."
"...Which means stopping Gil from going would look like a rejection," said Klaus. He felt like he ought to be in favour of driving a wedge between them. It had been easier to prioritise Gil's safety over his happiness when he hadn't been there to see him cry about it. "Especially without explanation."
"There is that. We could suggest that after all the times they sneaked off with him they shouldn't expect to be sent new places together, but it's still a rebuff."
Klaus nodded. "And you really don't think Aaronev is plotting anything beyond, possibly, matchmaking?"
"I'm sure he's plotting greater influence or ultimately control of Europe," Barry said easily, "but he's not likely to think he can get that by harassing our children."
Klaus let out a snort that was half laugh. "True enough," he said, feeling strangely relieved at having it stated like that.
"And in case of the unforeseen..." Barry looked thoughtful. "Have you made any more of those beacons?"
Gil was a little surprised and not completely sure whether to be pleased when he and Agatha both received permission for the visit. He suspected Tarvek of trying to get him away from the rest of the school and wasn't quite sure how he felt about that, and sometimes he didn't really get the idea Sturmhalten was a very nice place to visit. Then again, Mechanicsburg had been great, even if the Castle was weird.
His father found an excuse to see him beforehand. Not a very secretive one, either. Gil was called to his office (after Agatha and Tarvek, even) with the vague implication that he was going to be spoken to sternly about how he should appreciate being allowed to go anywhere after getting caught sneaking around. When he saw the Baron standing by his desk frowning, Gil rather wondered if that really was it.
"Gil," said the Baron. He held out something round and black. "I don't expect you to be in danger - or I wouldn't be allowing this - but in case anything happens."
Gil blinked and took it, turning it over in both hands. Easy to operate, there was one big red button, recessed to prevent accidents. And a little stub that looked like you could extend it. "What does it do?"
"It's a beacon. If you press the button it will activate, and let me know you're in trouble."
Gil looked up from it. "Oh. Thank you." A quick glance down. "Is it radio? Is this an antenna? Do I hold the button down or just push it once?"
"Yes. Yes. Just press it. Do not under any circumstances take it apart to study it, it's there for your protection," said the Baron.
"I wasn't going to!" Gil protested, although it was tempting.
"Keep it close," said the Baron, and then smiled at him, a smile that didn't look precisely fake but didn't look precisely happy either. "Try to have fun."
Gil looked up at him. "...You don't want me to go," he said, and then felt stupid about it because the Baron could have just said no.
The Baron hesitated and then surprised Gil by kneeling in front of him. Gil still had to look up, but not so far. "I'm not used to having you where I couldn't reach you easily if something happened." He gave Gil a wry look. "Or at least to knowing about it when you are. I'm sure you will be fine."
"Oh." Gil hesitated, and then stepped forward and reached up to put his arms around his father's neck. "I guess I don't usually think about being... um... accessible."
His father wrapped his own arms around Gil. "I noticed," he said. He let go and ruffled Gil's hair. "Don't worry about it. If I considered it a good enough reason to stop you going I would have."
"Okay. Thanks." Gil shoved the beacon deep in a pocket before he left, and made sure it was hidden there again on the morning of Tarvek's birthday, before they left for Sturmhalten.
It was a quiet ride. Just them and the pilot. It was weird thinking back to Agatha's birthday and how much fun they'd been having. And about the adults who'd been along and having fun too.
Somehow Gil had expected Sturmhalten to be like Castle Heterodyne, as the only ground based Castle he'd encountered. It wasn't. It was more like Castle Wulfenbach, on the inside, at least the parts of Castle Wulfenbach that were finished. Castle Heterodyne was old and it wore all its age on the surface, bones and gargoyles and antiques. This place was new, no, it was a few centuries old, at least, but it didn't display it. It was rather overwhelmingly decorated in gold and purple with the Sturmvoraus sigil displayed — indecisively, Gil felt — both with wings and without.
A man and a girl who had to be Tarvek's father and sister were waiting for them in a parlour which was rather too large for a small gathering and had servants hanging around the edges of it. There was a small table with a jug of lemonade and biscuits set out, presumably to welcome them with. Gil wasn't sure he'd dare to take one. This place seemed to demand etiquette and that had never been his best subject.
Prince Aaronev was looking at Agatha with a strangely besotted look. Gil supposed she was rather cute, and he'd seen her have that effect on adults occasionally. The Prince came forward to greet them and stopped to pat Tarvek's shoulder. "Happy birthday, Tarvek."
"Thank you, Father." Tarvek sounded rather formal, and not as if he was very much at ease here, either.
Then the Prince moved on to Agatha, and smiled down at her. "Welcome back to Sturmhalten, Lady Agatha."
"Thank you, Prince Aaronev!" Agatha said, with more enthusiasm than anyone else had managed so far. She sounded... mostly at ease, which she usually did, although Gil was fairly sure she wouldn't try to hug the Prince in the middle of all the formality. It had been weird enough when she'd started doing it to the Baron, but he'd been there with a friend and everything. "Hello, Princess Anevka. It's nice to see you again." She said this pretty convincingly even though one of the first things she'd told him about Sturmhalten was that she didn't think Anevka liked younger kids very much.
Anevka glided over - and it really was gliding, she had to have practiced walking like that, Gil was sure no one did it naturally - and patted Agatha on the head. "Likewise, I'm sure," she said.
Agatha's eyebrows pulled together a little. "Did people do that to you a lot when you were five?"
"You have no idea," said Anevka, giving Agatha a look as if she'd just noticed she was a person.
"That makes sense then, but I'd rather you don't, please. How have you been?" Agatha broke off here to add, "Oh, thank you," not to Anevka but to a servant who had just sort of flickered up to the girls and handed them little glasses of lemonade.
"Perfectly well," said Anevka. "And you?"
"I had a birthday too!" Agatha said happily. "There was a fair in Mechanicsburg and we got to go around and analyse all the games, and Uncle Barry got engaged. Tarvek says he doesn't think his will be quite as busy."
"Not even close," said Anevka. She put down her lemonade and glided across to hug Tarvek, "Not that I'm not glad to have my baby brother back for the day."
"I'm eight," Tarvek said, resignedly, but he did hug her back.
"I remember when you were her age. You were so cute."
"Thank you," said Tarvek. "I've been trying to get over it. Gil, would you like a biscuit?" This sounded almost normal, but Tarvek threw him a weirdly worried look when his father and sister couldn't see. Gil hoped this didn't mean there was anything strange about the biscuits.
Gil took a biscuit, it was crumbly and sugary, perfectly nice and not noticeably strange. The lemonade was good, too, and afterwards Tarvek was told he could show them around and brought them to a laboratory. It was a bit like the school one on Castle Wulfenbach - smaller, but not by that much - with stools and benches sized for children. "This is mine and Anevka's," Tarvek said, looking around it curiously. "She hasn't changed it much while I was away."
That seemed odd. The one at school changed a lot, even if you didn't count the school moving around when the Baron built bigger ones. "Do you usually change it more than that?" Gil asked. There weren't very many projects sitting out, either, although they looked kind of interesting. Maybe Anevka was like Tarvek and kept putting everything away.
"Not that much, but I thought she might have moved things. And sometimes our cousins use it," said Tarvek, not entirely informatively.
"Are we going to make something?" Agatha asked, climbing up on one of the stools to inspect the benchtop equipment.
"Ah, yes," said Tarvek. "There are chemicals in those cupboards, mechanical parts in those, tools over there, and half finished projects are in here." He pointed to two large cupboards. One of them was labelled "Anevka's projects. (Tweedle, if you hide a bear in here again you will get it back in pieces)."
"Would a bear fit?" Agatha asked doubtfully.
Tarvek laughed and held his hands up, indicating something about the size of a kitten. "Tweedle's would."
"Tweedle makes big mimmoths and little bears?" Gil asked, going over to have a look in the other cupboard. Probably they shouldn't mess with Anevka's without her, even without bears.
"He likes animals. More than he likes people, I think, although he can be nice. The bears sing." Tarvek came over to join Gil at the cupboard. It contained a lot of clockwork - some of it even inside things. Including a little set of clockwork dolls that Tarvek looked a bit embarrassed about, now Gil was seeing them. "I was reading about the Muses," he said, as if that was an explanation.
"I'm not surprised," said Gil, feeling vaguely grouchy about Tarvek being embarrassed, as if Gil would be mean about the dolls even if they were maybe a little bit silly. He wondered if this Tweedle person knew anything about lobsters. "Do they work?"
"Not like Muses do, of course," said Tarvek, picking up one in a deep pink dress. "They're not even very complicated, just clockwork, really, if you wind this one up she dances. I made them a while ago."
"I didn't think you'd made them people," said Gil. "Even if you were Van Rijn I don't think they'd fit."
"Gil," said Agatha. "Tarvek. Come here, I have an idea! Ooh, could you bring the dolls?"
Agatha's idea turned out to involve making much weirder clockwork dolls, mostly in watchcases. She thought they could be useful, which Gil couldn't quite see considering their size, but trying to make tiny automata pick things up at least gave them something to concentrate on until lunch, and everything started to feel almost normal.
The morning had probably gone as well as Tarvek could have expected. It had the same nearly normal but off kilter feeling that working in the Castle Wulfenbach labs did now, only enhanced by the familiarity and strangeness of being home again after almost a year. At least Agatha had kept them all busy, she seemed to really like her little watch clanks.
Lunch was informal, which meant at a small table and with only half a dozen servants, who kept whisking in to refill Agatha's plate. She was eating as if they'd been climbing around all morning. Afterwards she excused herself politely but abstractedly, clearly eager to get back to her clanks. Tarvek had just followed her out of the room when Anevka called after him, "Tarvek, come here a moment."
Tarvek turned back. Gil looked questioningly over his shoulder, which made Tarvek feel hopeful even as he waved for Gil to go on. "Yes?"
"Father told you to bring her here, didn't he?" she said, nodding in the direction of the disappearing Agatha.
Tarvek blinked. "He said I could invite them," he replied guardedly. The letter had been rather encouraging, at least about Agatha.
"The Geisterdamen keep going on about her," said Anevka, patting her carefully styled hair with one hand. It was a studied gesture, but only because it was something she'd trained herself into instead of pulling locks out to wrap around her fingers when she was worried. "Their holy child. Seffie thinks they're going to kill her."
Tarvek couldn't help staring at her, but he tried to hide any other reaction. She could be pretending to be worried. She did that sometimes. The Geisterdamen were very strange, but this didn't seem to make sense. "Why would they do that?"
Anevka shrugged. "I don't know. I thought they worshipped her. Seffie's got strange ideas about them - she won't visit anymore." She looked disgruntled about that. "Anyway, the Heterodyne Girl is meant to be marrying you, isn't she? So it's not like Father would help them kill her. But Seffie thinks they talk about her like a sacrifice."
"I thought Father was trying to help them get their mistress back," Tarvek said, very quietly indeed. "I can't see how killing Agatha would help, let alone doing anything to Seffie." On the other hand, Xerxsephnia had a keen sense of self-preservation. Everyone said so.
"Things have been a little creepy since they arrived. I've been glad to have you out of the way instead of underfoot and needing to be worried about," said Anevka. "I suppose you'll be gone again soon, and your friends with you."
"We're going back tomorrow," said Tarvek. It was nice of Anevka to worry, if she did, but unsettling for her to admit it.
Anevka nodded. "Run along and play while they're here, then," she said, turning away.
"Thanks," Tarvek said, now that it wasn't definitely about the worrying and she wouldn't take it back or something. She probably wanted him to be annoyed about being told to go play like a little kid. He kind of was, except he did want to go play with Gil and Agatha, and anyway he wasn't going to show he was annoyed if he could help it.
...But he wondered what the Geisterdamen could have done to make Seffie stay away.
Sturmhalten was so much more fun this time. Before, Anevka had really obviously wished she could stay instead of being sent off to make friends with Agatha, so after a short tour that had not involved going in any labs, Agatha had suggested they go back. Only, instead of just knocking on the door and going back in like Agatha expected, Anevka had gone around somewhere else and found a place to eavesdrop. And Agatha hadn't minded eavesdropping when it was part of exploring, even if Uncle Barry told her afterward that it hadn't been nice to Kl- Baron Wulfenbach, but she had minded it a lot when they could have been inside with snacks instead of sitting somewhere too hot and uncomfortable where they couldn't ask questions.
Come to think of it, maybe it was like with Tarvek and not wanting to get in trouble. Anevka had been told to go somewhere else so she hadn't wanted to go back openly.
Anyway, this time she was with Gil and Tarvek and there was a lab. A really nice one, all to themselves. It could only have been better if they'd brought their riding dragon, because Agatha was so full of ideas all of a sudden that she could hardly decide what to do first. She'd turned around and around in the lab while the boys talked until suddenly she knew what to try: clanks that could help her do everything at once!
After lunch (which tasted better than anything ever) she almost ran down the corridors to get back to her new little clanks, Gil chasing her, and only noticed Tarvek was missing when she wanted to ask him for another of his clockwork dancers.
"Where'd he go?" she asked Gil.
"His sister called him back. Didn't you hear her?"
Agatha frowned and shook her head. "No... ooh, I bet I couldn't. I was trying to remember something and humming to myself!" It was a good hum, it felt nice in her throat and was a little bit like Uncle Barry's humming. She'd been missing that lately. He'd done it when she was very little, if they were alone somewhere safe. Castle Wulfenbach didn't hum anymore either, or it was damped out in the finished places, and she missed the vibrations from the unfinished parts.
"Uh-huh - here he comes."
"There you are," Agatha said happily, seizing Tarvek's hand as he appeared in the doorway and towing him over to the cabinets. Even simple mechanisms like a hinge were interesting right now. Everything broke down in pieces for her when she looked at it, parts and planes, angles and axes and motions and how they could be different.
Tarvek let her have his old clanks, of course. Agatha ended up taking apart some of Anevka's as well. And by the end of the afternoon she'd discovered that humming like Uncle Barry helped her concentrate on one idea and shut out the boys' arguing over the little propeller she'd built and all the murmurs when people came to the door, and her little clanks could walk and lift things and follow simple verbal instructions.
She hated to leave for dinner, but she was really hungry again.
She told Anevka and Prince Aaronev all about it while they ate - she had to remind herself a couple of times not to tell Tarvek and Gil because they'd been there - and Prince Aaronev listened excitedly and asked her all the best questions and how she was feeling, and didn't scold when she forgot and talked with her mouth full. (Actually he forgot a couple of times too, but Agatha remembered to be polite and not say so either.)
"They do sound fascinating," Anevka broke in as the servants brought in little plates for dessert. "But perhaps we should give a moment to the festivities?"
Tarvek looked a bit surprised, as if he'd come close to forgetting it was his birthday, which distracted Agatha from the really good inventions she was thinking of long enough to feel guilty. Even though she thought he'd been enjoying building things, too. The servants seemed willing to take that as a cue - perhaps because Prince Aaronev wasn't giving one - because a moment later they had whisked in with a cake. It wasn't huge like Agatha's had been, which was just as well since they weren't sharing it with a whole town. It was plain white with a clockwork design in the icing. There was a package wrapped in gold tissue paper on the edge of the plate.
Tarvek picked it up rather carefully and looked questioningly at Anevka, who nodded. "Thank you," he said, easing the tissue paper apart gently in case whatever was inside was fragile.
It was a bronze rabbit, about as long as his hand, with a wind up key in its back. It looked old and well made, possibly Spark work, possibly just a carefully cast toy. Either way, Agatha really wanted a closer look at it. It was about the same size as the clanks she'd been making all afternoon, and she wanted to see what it could do.
"That's neat," Agatha said, peering at the hare. "A rabbit clank."
"It's a hare," Tarvek said. "See, the ears and hind legs are proportionately longer."
Agatha committed that to memory, and grinned at him when he looked as if he thought he might have offended her. "Can we see what it does when you wind it?"
"Let's see," said Tarvek, smiling as he turned the key.
The hare, when wound, hopped forward a few paces, bent its head as if grazing, twitched an ear and hopped on again. It was more or less what would be expected of a toy like this. He put a hand in front of it to stop it walking off the edge of the table and it suddenly stopped, ears going up in alarm, turned and bounded into the air. Gil caught it just before it landed in the cake and put it tentatively back on the table where it resumed hopping. "It's Spark work," Tarvek said, delighted, leaning forward, careful not to get too close and set it off again. "At least a minor Spark. It reacts. And it must have really strong springs in its legs."
"Yes." Agatha put a hand on the table, in the hare's path but at a distance, watching in fascination. "Was it hard to wind?"
"Not really. A little stiff, but I think it's pretty old." The hare stopped when it reached Agatha's hand, sat up and thumped its leg, then turned and hopped off again, more slowly now as its spring was starting to run down. "It probably only has a few reactions." Agatha nodded. Like his clockwork dancers then, and like her little clanks (which couldn't yet do anything close to everything). But real Spark work to play with, all the same, she wondered if she could take it apart with her cake fork? "We can look at its insides later, if you like?"
"Ooh. Yes, please." Agatha leaned on the table to watch it, chin in her hands, then remembered she'd been instructed to keep her elbows off the dining table and sat back, although her fists stayed clutched under her chin in delight.
"It won't bother your sister if you take her present apart?" Gil said, looking a little worried.
"It doesn't usually bother Anevka to take anything apart, unless it's hers and won't go back together when she wants it to," said Tarvek, but he looked across the table at Anevka. "You won't mind?"
"I picked it for that," said Anevka, looking pleased with herself. "I had a look myself when I cleaned the gunk out. The workings are quite interesting, and not too complicated. No buttons for you to worry about."
"I haven't had trouble with buttons since I was younger than Agatha," Tarvek said. "Uh. Did you happen to replace the gunk with anything else?"
Anevka smiled. "Out of practice?"
Tarvek sighed and looked at Agatha and Gil. "Gloves and goggles," he said firmly.
"But not tonight," Prince Aaronev said, unexpectedly. "Fascinating as I'm sure you'll find it, it's time for all of you to prepare for bed."
"Ohhh-" Agatha bit her lip hard. It had been a long dinner and she guessed it was late, but still. Well, it couldn't hurt to ask. "Couldn't we go back to the lab for just a little while?"
"I'm afraid not." Prince Aaronev looked and sounded shocked that she'd even suggested it, and Agatha felt embarrassed and then angry about having been. "Off with you all now, to be rested for the morning's travels."
She didn't know why they'd need that much rest or to start so early. It wasn't like Castle Wulfenbach was very far away right now. Maybe he thought they should arrive before the first lessons. But she'd thought she would have more time to- "Oh, I will need to get my little clanks if we're leaving first thing-" Agatha began.
"In the morning!" said Prince Aaronev.
"Come on," Tarvek said a little nervously. "We'll get them before we leave."
The servants took over then and showed Agatha to a separate room from either of the boys, which was a little disappointing and Agatha wondered if it was on purpose to try to make sure they all slept instead of talking or sneaking out. The women also stayed around to help her wash and change, although they didn't answer very much when she talked to them, and they had barely left when somebody tapped on her door again.
"Yes?" She hauled it open - huh, maybe there was a reason for the servants wanting to help with everything, the door didn't open as easily as the ones on Castle Wulfenbach. "Hello again, Prince Aaronev. Did you want to talk about my clanks some more?"
He bent down and smiled at her, with his eyes very bright. "Perhaps. But there are also some people here who have been very eager to see you again."
"Again?" Agatha asked in confusion, and was about to ask why and then Prince Aaronev stepped back so he wasn't filling the doorway and two Geisterdamen came in from the sides. "-Eotain! Shrdlu!" She had said it before she even remembered she wasn't supposed to say she knew them, but they were already here and Prince Aaronev already knew, and she remembered Uncle Barry had said they were bad but they'd always been nice to her and she flung herself at Shrdlu, who picked her up and they were both hugging her and the language came back even though she'd thought she was forgetting it. "I missed you so much!"