Sarah made it five feet after they left Jareth to nearly collapse onto a park bench. Calria rushed to her side. "Take it easy. I forget all that information is hard to process the first time."

"Oh no. I can take information like that. I get it all time. I'm friends with two pirates and a prince," snapped Sarah. "What I can't take is that your freaking cousin is the man who put my life into a blender!" With a huff, she curled up in the corner of the bench.

Calria did not run off scared, get embarrassed, or get angry, and for that, Sarah's respect for the princess grew. After a quiet minute, she looked to Sarah.

"When I was ten years old, my father and Jareth spent Christmas Eve yelling at each other before he stormed out of the palace without saying goodbye. The past couple years, he'd been spending more and more time being a frat boy idiot, but that night we lost him. Jareth was my best friend, and I thought he was gone forever."

Whoa. That was unexpected, to say the least. Sarah had the distinct feeling of suddenly being told she was a bit character in someone else's story. She leaned forward, encouraging Calria to continue.

"Two and a half years ago, he showed up without warning. He looked like he hadn't slept in a week and acted like someone knocked sense into him. That someone was you. By doing the right thing, by telling him no, you woke him up. I really don't want to sound creepy, but you're sort of my hero."

Sarah's mouth got very dry, presumably from its hanging open for a few minutes. She quickly cleared her throat. "I was just trying to fix my own mistake. It wasn't anything special."

"You're right. But nothing special at the right time, in the right place, to the right person, can have a huge impact. Take it from someone who's had to study a lot of history. 'Nothing special' can change the world."

"You are surprisingly insightful, your Majesty," Sarah stood with a mock curtsy before offering her hand to Calria.

"Oh come off it. I've been in training since I was three and a diplomat since I was thirteen; don't give me the Disney princess treatment. I'm on shore leave until I turn twenty anyway." Calria wagged a finger at her giggling friend. "So no 'your Majesty' business."

"Is that why you're here?" Asked Sarah after they'd been walking for a while. "Taking a break?"

"It's part of training the heir. I'm technically in academic exile until I come of age at twenty. Keeps me down to Earth, I guess. Plus home isn't the most comfortable place to be in government at the moment."

A shadow passed over Calria's normally cheerful face. Sarah noticed. "What does that mean?"

"Politics are stupid, that's all. It's actually fun being somewhere without all this pressure to perform. I miss my family, though. Not having my little siblings around feels weird."

"Did not peg you for a big sister."

Calria smirked. "I was spoiled at a young age to make up for the training that came later. I have three younger brothers and two little sisters who are lucky to get an abbreviated version of my education. Connection-wise, Jareth is the closest thing to a sibling I have. He was the once to take care of me as a kid."

Both girls flinched at Jareth's accidental mention. As they neared the William's street, silence settled over them like an uninvited guest. Then a thought occurred to Sarah, stopping her on the sidewalk while a smirk inched up her face.

"What's so funny?"

"Let me get this straight. Jareth spent most of his teenage years babysitting you?"

"Cousins can be built in nannies."

"That means you have dirt," said Sarah, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Calria was nearly bouncing. "I thought you'd never ask."