Awkward situation. Although technically the princess of Mushroom Land, not born to the royal family by blood...or fungus. They adopted me, nothing specifically stated that they had to keep me as a princess, they just took me in out of the goodness of their hearts. I already had a father, so the king was not my daddy. No special privileges there.

The king approached the wagon in the company of his armed guards and soldiers, riding on his caparisoned royal Yoshisaurus. "Peach! What is the meaning of this?"

I put my hands on my hips. "I found an injured Koopa and I need a healer."

The king got so mad that spores showered from his cap like dust. "Send him away!"

"Look, King Mushroom, you allowed me into your kingdom and helped me when I had nobody. This Koopa won't hurt anybody—"

Unfortunate time for me to be saying this. Bowser had problems with hayfever, just like me, but instead of making little `kew' noises like me, he set the whole wagon on fire.

Bowser screamed, rolling out on the dirt as all the haybales turned to flaming fireballs, igniting the wheels as they broke free, setting a nearby house ablaze. The farmer's Yoshis panicked and fled Of course Bowser's splint also caught on fire.

As I put out my friend's burning leg, a bucket brigade came out. Others had a long hose, which they used to siphon water from a nearby lake by stomping on a bellows really fast.

The king shook his finger at Bowser. "Send that monster away now!"

I stood my ground, clenching my fists. "You complain that I don't look happy or want to socialize, and now that I have a friend, you want me to send him away!"

The king dusted the ground with more spores, probably because I said this in front of everybody. "He's burning down our city!"

I crossed my arms. "You can pay to repair a couple houses. All I need is to heal Bowser's broken leg. Is that so much to ask?"

A number of eavesdropping mushroom people shouted "Yes!"

King Mushroom slowed his breath and just stared at me, the anger in his eyes turning to weary grief and pity. "Keep...your friend here in the road. I'll summon the healer. Once his bone has been repaired, I want him gone."

Not the most kindly answer, but I accepted it. "Thank you. That's all we wanted anyway."

I sat down next to my friend and waited. The town folk put all the fires out, from time to time using their natural spores to quench the flame like firefighter's foam. The crowd slowly dispersed. Some still hung around to stare at us and mutter amongst themselves.

"Tough crowd," Bowser grumbled.

I snickered a little. "You did just set fire to a bunch of stuff."

"I can't help it! I have allergies!"

I rubbed his shoulder. "I know. So do I."

"It's a nice place. Not the friendliest citizens, but it's pretty."

"Yeah..." I sighed.

"You ever think about going back home? To your dad?"

"All the time. But you know, things are better here. I have peace and quiet. People respect me. Nobody yells."

Bowser blew a raspberry.

"Well, not usually."

"I just inherited a castle from my grandparents. Maybe I can show you sometime—"

The crowd got hushed. A robed mushroom man had hobbled to the charred wagon.

Having grown to the old age where bits of tree fungus clung to his cap, neck and body, he moved reeeaaally slowly, leaning on a jewel topped staff the whole time.

The Healer waddled up to Bowser, gave his leg a once over, then brought a bunch of potions and herbs out of his robe, spreading it around the Koopa's injuries.

Muttering an incantation, he raised the staff into the air, and the jewel glowed like a blinding blue light bulb.

The Healer touched the staff to Bowser's leg. Bowser screamed, cried out in pain, but didn't lift a finger to strike The Healer.

Bowser gasped, and with tears flowing from his eyes, touched his leg.

He stared in astonishment, immediately rose to his feet.

"I'd be careful on that for the next—"

Bowser interrupted The Healer with a bone crushing hug. When he let go, the mushroom man was gasping.

Next Bowser hugged me.

"Ow!" I gasped. "Careful!"

The Koopa's face flushed pink. "Sorry, Peaches..."

"It's okay. I don't mind being hugged."

The next thing I knew, I was being dragged away from him by a company of armed guards.

Another group of soldiers pointed weapons at Bowser, ordering him out of town.

Bowser gave me a sad little goodbye wave, disappearing down the road.