"Your two human lovers disgust me." Gigona did not have the words to spout off truly creative insults, but she did have a way about her of saying just what was on her mind.

Over a week had passed since the ball. The horror of Cerise's fall had spread like wildfire legend throughout the kingdom and at that point I did not know what was the gossiped nature of the ball. The last whisper I heard, being mocked of among the servants, was that fourteen evil fairies had murdered every soul of royal blood in the ballroom. It was a rather amusing thought. Yes, Queen Patricia's prediction of the infamous ball would certainly become true.

I sat at my mirror, morning sun streaming through the window as I brushed my hair. Fascination over hair brushing had recently overcome me and it was all I could do to keep myself from brushing it all out—and I did not need Patricia lecturing me about that. "You've barely seen them, Gigona."

"Barely still means some," she replied nonchalantly. "They're lingering about, treasured and spoiled guests of that queen lady. They're like wild dogs, only the pathetic kind."

"Wild dogs? How can wild dogs be pathetic?"

Her reflection was clear in the mirror. She thought I was an idiot. "My dear Babiole, you have never actually seen a wild dog, have you?"

No one had ever come near the palace. Or near any kingdom I had seen. I shook my head.

"Then you are in no place to comment on the nature of wild dogs."

"But am I the place to comment on the nature of men? Human men?" I set my brush on the dresser and turned to lock eyes with her. It was a very monkey thing to do, the way I looked at her, and I did not feel anything like a supposedly superior human.

She sat up, tail twitching, happily responding to my stare. "No, I don't think you are."

That did get to me. I sat back and blinked. "At least I am a human."

Gigona just rolled her little monkey eyes. "For a matter of months. I don't see how that makes you an expert in anything human related."

"I'm sure I'm doing a much better job of it than you would."

She laughed. "If only I had a fairy godmother that would turn me into a human. I'm quite certain I would prove you wrong on that very thing."

"I can think of nothing more frightening than a human version of you."

She considered that. "You're probably right."

"As for me…" I picked up my hairbrush, wielding it like a great scepter. "I was born a human. I was raised with humans. I know humans better than I know monkeys as I'm sure anyone will testify. And, for your further information, I read several books that did mention the manner of wild dogs."

"Bah. Books written by humans."

I let the brush clatter to the floor and hoped it didn't chip. It had been a recent gift from Queen Patricia. "Then I think a monkey should write a book, if they know better."

"Teach me how to write and I will. You'll have it published for me, won't you?"

"I promise."

"And I will collect all royalties from it?"

I purposely pondered that for a long moment until Gigona's face twisted up in fury.

"It is my book, after all!" she declared unhappily. "I will be doing all the work."

"And what of my tutorship and work?" I asked.

She sighed and flopped back down onto the bed. "I suppose I can give you something for your efforts as apparently my charming and solid friendship will not be enough."

"I just can't imagine what a monkey like you will be doing with all that money."

She shrugged. "It's pretty. It looks nice. We like the way it sparkles in the sun. Wouldn't you say those are just as good of reasons as anything else? You're a princess now. Don't you get to go bathe in cold coins or some other sort of weird nonsense?"

I really hadn't thought much about it. I supposed that, as a Queen, Patricia had plenty of resources including gold and jewels and all the usual. I suppose that as her new heir I had some access to them. In fact, I could probably snap my awkward human fingers and have anything I wanted. "All right. You can have all the gold coins you want. From your book."

"I'll bring them back with me, then."

The question caught me off-guard. "Back?"

"Home." She sat up, her tail once again twitching like mad. "I'm getting homesick, believe it or not."

I stood up and went to sit at the edge of the bed. Part of mind insisted that it was strange that a big clumsy human was talking to a little monkey, but it still felt quite natural. Part of me still wanted to be the same size as her. "You've been living in this big fancy palace for weeks upon weeks. How could you possibly be homesick?"

"I don't think I can take much more of all this hiding and sneaking around so that Queen's servants don't throw me out. It gets old, after a while."

"If you get caught, I'll just say you're my pet! They'll have to let me keep a pet."

The look Gigona shot me was worthy of being knives. "I am hardly your pet."

It was an odd feeling. I really did not want her to leave. "But what about Merlifiche?"

"I'm almost positive he has announced my death or whatever excuse he picked by now. I will be just fine. All that is left is to discover how he'll pay for what he has done."

"When are you leaving?"

She clearly had not thought of that detail. "Soon, I suppose. I'll leave you here to deal with your two human suitors."

And with that we were back to that topic.

I also realized I hadn't given either of them much thought. Bastien was now some wart I wished would go away and Pierre… well, that was merely humiliating. They had insisted on remaining to keep an eye on me after the events of the ball, but I had barely given either of them a glance. Should I be paying attention to them? The reason of why they were hanging around was not lost on me—I knew entirely too well just how fond of Singette Bastien was and this Lord Pierre did not seem to differ too much in his thoughts. Had I been avoiding them on purpose? I didn't like to think so. But it could be possible.

"How am I supposed to deal with them?" I asked with a blatant sigh.

"Babiole, I have yet to be offered to some handsome and rich ape, but from what I understand you are required to do nothing. If they want to marry you they will speak with your Queen Patricia and a wedding will be held if you agree. It's pretty much how we came for you to become my father's new wife."

"They already tried to make me marry Bastien, if you remember."

"I suppose he is handsome, for a human." There was a note of disgust in Gigona's voice as if she could not think of any marriage partner more dreadful than a human. "But you said no to that, I thought. So why is he still hanging around?"

I sighed again. "I have known Bastien for pretty much my entire life. He thinks he can have whatever he wants if he is patient and vigilant enough. Which means he would be hanging around this kingdom for the rest of my life."

"So marry the other one. The one that watched you being all monkey-like on the pillar."

"For all I know, he's just hanging about in hopes of seeing me doing something else that is equally stupid."

"The ability to climb is a useful one, though."

I nodded. "I kind of miss it."

"But that's not what we should be talking about." She sprang to sit on my chest and stared at me with surprisingly bright eyes. "You really cannot be hiding in here hoping they go away. I insist you go talk to them."

As much as I hated to admit it, she was absolutely right. I figured I looked as nice as anything and as apparently I was some great beauty by human standards what I wore did not matter. It was blue and that was all I comprehended.

Bastien and Pierre were playing, of all things, chess. That I did not understand. I did not know enough about Pierre to determine if he actually liked chess, but I knew perfectly well that Bastien did not. The game must be one of those standard rules of behavior when there was nothing else interesting to do. As it was, both men were enveloped enough in the game to not even notice as I entered the patio. I leaned over Bastien's shoulder. He was black.

"You had best move your king," I said. "A check is not far out of the way."

Pierre looked up at me in surprise. He looked no more distinguishable than he had before, but I did like the way his face looked. "Princess!" He rose to his feet for a graceful bow, but not before moving a bishop. "You may have warned him, but I still have him in a reasonable trap."

By that time Bastien was also standing and bowing. "I'm sorry. We did not hear you come in."

It felt strange that Bastien would be bowing to me. For all he knew, I was just some little orphan from the roads when we met.

"I meant to surprise you both," I said. "And forgive me for influencing your game. Though perhaps Prince Bastien doesn't mind as much. From what I recall you don't even like chess."

He nodded, almost in relief, before giving me a rather strange look. "How did you know that?"

Oops. I decided not to reveal my mistake. "You babbled on about it once at your mother's palace. I actually was listening."

He seemed to accept that and returned his attention to the chess board. He still towered over it, and the effect was rather awkward. He was just too tall for the chess board. "You can spot a trap, Princess Singette, so perhaps I can enlist your help again."

I had to admit that I was pretty good at chess, though I wasn't sure how much I wanted to help Bastien again. Oh, well. I slid into his seat—Lord Pierre had already sat back down. I flashed him the most winning smile I hoped I could give. "Lord Pierre, would you mind entirely if I played a few moves for Prince Bastien?"

His round face lit up more than I thought possible. He apparently loved the idea. "I would be most delighted, Princess. It would be an honor."

I studied the board. Yes, Pierre definitely had the advantage, leaving me with the moral decision of whether or not I should play my all on behalf of Bastien or let fate do what it will and let Pierre win. I moved a pawn and glanced at Bastien out of the corner of my eye. He seemed rather elated, so he obviously had no idea what I was doing.

Pierre moved a knight, and I moved a knight as well. Around that time I wondered if I should get around to moving the aforementioned king. Pierre wasn't that close to winning. Next move, then.

He moved, and I finally moved the king.

Two moves later and I was in check. Checkmate followed and that was that.

I looked up at Bastien apologetically. "Sorry."

He frowned, but it was a forced frown. "Did you really try to win for me?"

"Well…." The truth was that I probably could have moved the king to a better position than I had. "Lord Pierre is a very talented chess player."

Lord Pierre did look modestly pleased with himself. "I practice it only incidently," he insisted. "But I would love to play again."

"With Prince Bastien or myself?" I glanced again at Bastien, trying to read his face. He tried his best to keep it passive, but I could detect a hint of jealousy. Oh, brother. I lose him one game of chess and he already wanted all other men away from me.

When I glanced back, Lord Pierre had his eyes on me—only for a moment, then they dropped, almost about of embarrassment. "You had to play with what he had left. I would rather play with you."

"All right," I answered slowly. "Then I will go about my business and you two can return to playing against each other."

"No!" they both said in unison.

"We will find some other activity after your game," Bastien said quickly. "One… all three of us can participate in. We can go hunting or something. Take a walk. Archery."

"Archery?" I repeated. I had never actually done anything with archery. Something about my monkey body being too small to hold a bow or some other practical nonsense.

"I do like archery," Pierre said as he set up the board for us. "You will be white, Princess. It's only fair."

I smiled. Pierre was polite, though I was still waiting for him to bring up my moment of climbing. When the board was ready, I made my first move.

"I would be more than happy to teach Princess Singette the art of archery," Bastien put in.

"Is archery an art?" I asked.

"It certainly is. It is part of the great art of hunting. I'm very good at it and I'll be happy to teach you everything I know."

Archery did seem to make him happy. "And what makes you think you need to teach me anything at all about archery?"

Pierre laughed, surprisingly loudly, and Bastien's face went bright red.

"I'm sorry," Bastien said with a stammer. "I… didn't think you might already know."

I took Pierre's rook. "I don't and I will be more happy for you to teach me than you will, I promise."

That statement, at least, made him happy.

Pierre won the chess game. He was quite good.