I sort of hoped it had all been a dream, that I would wake up in my little chamber off of Queen Flore's, a sweet and charming monkey who had never agreed to marry a monkey king or had opened a box of magic oil. The memory of all the madness was there upon waking, but it was fuzzy and blurred; I found myself counting on it not being real.

It was real.

The bedclothes lay off to the side in a single impressive knot. The nightgown I had been given was twisted around my too big and very human legs.

I screamed and tumbled off the bed. The unfortunate results of that was all that long black hair stuck in my mouth.

All the features of the new me, or the always-supposed-to-be-me, were right there, still there. I grabbed the bedpost and pulled myself to my feet. I breathed deeply. I could handle this. I had suffered through it yesterday. It was fine, it was good. I could not deny that something felt right about it.

I stared into mirror. It was barely dawn, and the faint light made my human look stranger than ever. I carefully rose a hand to my cheek. I could not get over how I looked.

A brush lay on the dresser, clean and ready for any guest and different from the soft brushes that had always been used for my fur. Was I supposed to use this for my hair? I picked it up, marveling at how my fingers wrapped around the handle. I could do this, I had seen Queen Flore do it a thousand times.

My first clumsy attempt ended with the brush tangled in my hair. I yanked it out. How hard could it be to brush hair? It was just like brushing fur. Really long fur. Bristles to hair, nice pull, nothing wrong with them being short.

After a few minutes I decided my hair looked fine and threw the brush against the wall. Stupid brush. How did humans put up with them?

Queen Flore had provided me with a dress the night before. It was a pale green, simple, pretty, and tasteful. I wondered if it were one of hers, but it was still stiff with newness. Which led to the question of why she had new dresses lying about. Probably in hopes that one day Bastien would marry.

Bastien. I felt sick at the very thought of him.

At least the dress looked nice and fit much better than Queen Patricia's had. I slipped from the room. I had always been an early riser; once I had blamed it on my monkeyhood, but apparently it could be argued as just my nature. No one was in the halls, and it was only when I passed the kitchen that I could hear servants chattering. All through growing up I had snuck into the kitchens most mornings in hopes of winning a small treat. But it was one thing for the palace monkey to beg for food and quite another for some strange girl to do so. Though I was starving. When had been the last time I had eaten? Ah, well, food was food and easy enough to get even in my situation and I still had no idea how this crazy human body would process food.

It was only when I was back among the trees that I felt calm. Trees had that effect on me. They were tall and green and slow-growing, plus I could hide among them. I walked along the trails, drinking in the green above me. This was safe, this was good. So much better than being a human somewhere unfamiliar.

Except something was wrong. I did not walk the paths of the gardens and orchards. I crossed through the branches. Walking was such an uninteresting way of travel. Up in the branches was where I could leap about and spy on people.

Well, why not? I moved to a tree, grabbed a low branch, and pulled myself up. It was easier than I had expected, especially when I stopped worrying about it. Don't focus on being a clumsy human, just climb. Lower branch to higher branch, one by one. The higher I climbed, the easier it became. I was not quite as spry as a monkey, and I certainly missed my tail, but my size was a benefit.

"Excuse me?"

Bastien's voice stopped me in the middle of hoisting my leg onto a rather awkwardly placed branch. I looked down. Yes, it was definitely Bastien, handsome as always and looking utterly perplexed.

I wanted to kill him. Clearly my fury at him still remained. But as I had nothing with which to kill him, I just cleared my throat and said "Hello Bastien." Yikes. I hadn't remembered the respectful title of "Prince".

He seemed to notice, and frowned. "Yes, I am Prince Bastien."

Did he always bring up the prince thing when he was around girls? I rolled my eyes. "I realize, Your Majesty. Forgive me. I spoke out of turn." There. Groveling done.

"You know who I am?"

I nodded. "Yes. Your Majesty." I had never called him such a thing in my entire life.

"I am afraid, miss, I do not know your name."

I suddenly realized that I should maybe put my leg down. My position wasn't very ladylike. Then again, I had noticed over the years it wasn't ladylike to be in a tree at all. "My name is… Singette. I arrived last night with Queen Patricia."

He nodded with awareness that meant he was more or less oblivious to all that information. "Ah, yes. My mother the queen mentioned we had guests."

Why was he being so formal? "I awoke early and decided to see the trees."

He gave a sweeping hand gesture. "My mother likes trees. There you go. But why are you in one?"

"In order to get a better look at the forest rather than the trees," I said dryly. "I enjoy climbing trees."

I couldn't be sure, but Bastien may have cracked a smile. I couldn't remember a single girl of his who had climbed trees. Even so, with the way he stared up at me, I myself felt a little stupid.

"If you climbed down, I could show you where fairies live," he said.

My jaw dropped. What on earth? So now he was showing fairy homes among the trees? "Are you joking?"

His smile faltered. Oh, heavens, he had been flirting. "They're quite charming. Fairies and elves love to make their homes here."

My one encounter with a fairy had been rather uneventful. I doubted they would want to live so close to humans. "No, they don't."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, Singette. I've lived here longer."

Technically that was true, but he did not beat me by far. As it was, I refused to climb down. "And do the fairies and elves like you poking around their homes? Aren't you worried about curses? Magical revenge? Being turned into a toad?"

He stared. I doubt any of the girls he had ever courted had ever said such a thing to him. "Would you like to at least take a walk?"

I considered that. To my infinite surprise, I had to consider it. But how did it look for a girl who had been found naked in the countryside to refuse the offers of a prince, no matter how idiotic? "I would be flattered and honored, Your Majesty."

Climbing down was just as easy if not easier. I was getting used to my arms and legs, and I landed on the ground with a graceful leap.

"You really are good at climbing trees," Bastien said after a moment's shocked pause.

I took him in. He was quite handsome, and I had to wonder when I had first started thinking of him as handsome. His hair was messy—apparently he had just awoken not long ago too, and he was dressed in a simple white shirt and a pair of grey trousers. Probably not the best outfit for impressing the ladies, but I liked it. He seemed so much smaller now, though he was still a good head taller than me. Still, that was nothing. I smiled at him and curtsied.

"Pleased to meet you again, Singette," he said with a bow. Then he pulled a leaf out my hair. "You do realize you're barefoot?"

Barefoot? I looked down at my feet. Indeed, they were without shoes. Go figure. "Um, I don't wear shoes."

"How can you not where shoes?"

"It seems a waste. Plus, it's rather hard to climb trees without shoes."

He seemed even more confused by me. "If you say so. You seem to be the expert."

Were my bare feet supposed to feel pain? There was sure a lot to learning to be human. "Prince Bastien, I thought we were going on a walk."

He cleared his throat. He no longer seemed all that excited. "Yes, of course. If you still want to join me."

"I don't want to look at fairies homes," I said.

"Angel rings, then. Where angels come down."

"I doubt they do." Were these the lines he used with girls? They were ridiculous. "Any rare trees? I'd like to see those."

"… I wouldn't know." He took my arm gingerly in his.

"All these trees and you don't even know the science!" I should have been more demure, but I couldn't stop talking. It had been years since I had done anything with Bastien. And so far it was not all that fun.