By the time the seven weeks of the new Moon had passed, the preparations had indeed been made for a Royal Wedding Feast. The chosen place was the Palace of the new High King and Queen, the Pearl Palace of the Aquamarine Isle, seat of the Aquamarine Isles and the Minor Peninsula. Ajax and his Queen made the trip in the Royal Clipper, as a tour of the twin Peninsulas and the islands, coasts and shores of the southern Mushroom Realms. As they flew over the Major Peninsula, Mel remarked, "I have seen maps of Earth. It does look rather like Europe, doesn't it?"
"A little," Ajax said. "As I have said, one world often acts as a reflection of the other. Perhaps it is a simplification or entirely a misunderstanding to speak of such things. The shape of the lands themselves may be mere coincidence, as much as it applies. A great deal of the appearance lies in prior knowledge, and the willingness to see similarity."
Mel nodded. Indeed, the shape of the lands and seas below seemed prone to squirm under the desire to find a familiar point of reference. With the right perspective, one could see the lines of the Mediterranean, if one pictured east and west reversed, and the boot of Italy without a heel, pointed forward instead of pulled back, with only a narrow strait between the tip and the land of the Orange Desert. Beyond it was a similarly curved chain of islands and lesser peninsulae that could be pictured as analogous to Greece. What made analogies difficult was a tendency to twist where the Terrestrial globe would have curved, often in two opposite directions at once, particularly at the further extremities that analogies required to be equivalent to Anatolia and Arabia, the Red and Yellow Deserts and the Lindorm Realm beyond. In the midst of it, one could already see the lesser peaks of a range that ran back to the Black Mountains, the core from which all the lands and seas of the World Island extended.
Manny briefed him as they approached landfall. "Agaric has talked, but he has not revealed more than we knew," he said. "There might be more trouble from Diantha. She is with Fruit. She has insinuated that the child might be yours."
Ajax shook his head. "It could not have happened, and the Maidens all know it," he said. "I have no doubt Steward Boletus is the father. I had asked about him, as you know. Now it seems likely that she hid the affair, so that I would not suspect that she was recruiting him to the plot. An adoption would not be out of the question, but we will come to that."
They first landed in the outer Isles, where the beasts of the Isles still lived. There were ground birds as tall as horses, dwarf elephants the size of ponies, and camelopes as tall and slender as the olive trees. Just as strange were the natives, tall Olive Men and Willow Maidens and dwarfish Fishers who wore masks and robes like the Biarmamen they were presumed to be kin to. They fed tame elephants in the south, and went on a camelope ride up and down the long East Isle. Back aboard the Clipper, they ventured north over the Gold Mountains, before crossing at the Great Gap to turn back south toward the Palace.
The Pearl Palace, seen from a distance, looked grown or eroded more than made. Its great spire rose 57 Royal Cubits high, as graceful as a column of coral. From its base, a veritable labyrinth of halls, hedgerows and gardens extended over the low uplands as far as the cliffs. The Spire had moorings for lesser skyships, but the Clipper had to set down in the Bay. Hector, Lady Daffodil and the children were waiting at the dock. Little Robert clapped and cheered as Ajax descended. He quieted and sucked his thumb as Mel followed, clad in her ivory mail. Behind her came one more, Nopalina.
"We're always glad to have you," Hector said. "The fact is, ah, it's the time we usually travel…"
"Aw, you don't need to make it awkward," Daffy said. "I'm Blooming. It's my odd year. No big deal."
"Mommy gets hiccups!" Sara said. "And Daddy-!"
"Hush," Daffy said. "The doctors say it's just magic reflux."
"To be sure," Ajax said. He took an unusually long look at Daffy, until he noticed Hector watching him.
"My Lord," Nopalina said, "would you like me to bring your bag?"
"Yes, yes," Ajax answered. "Only the overnight bag."
The brothers ended up trailing their women. "So," Ajax said, "what do you think of my Queen?"
Hector considered her. "She's… okay, she's a knockout," he said. He looked down at little Robert in his arms, who still stared raptly. "I can see Robert thinks so. We are already having to tell him not to stare at the ladies." He turned the boy around. The child was content to look back at Nopalina, who made him giggle and laugh with funny faces and familiar games.
Hector elbowed his brother. "But come on, it's 10 years since I was on a date with any but my Lady," he said. "When I look at another, the only thing I can think of is how she would look if she had born four Fruit. Look at you. You spent all those years playing around with the Maidens. Then the one you finally take seriously is older than you."
"I must say," Ajax said, "Lady Daffodil is looking well."
"Yes, she has been quite proud," Hector said with a smile. "She has been exercising and keeping to her diet. I have been trying to do better myself. She says she still has not decided if she wants another little one. I keep telling her, she has been much happier with the weight off. Not that I would not be happy…" He trailed off with a shrug.
"Has she said anything more about being tested for Lindorm blood?" Ajax asked.
Hector looked at him more thoughtfully. "You have never told me what you saw in the Mirror," he said. "If there was something you saw, I would prefer not to know. If it comes to that, I think there are things she already knows. She is happy as things are. In all the time I have known her, I have found it is her best quality."
"The Mirror World was full of strange distortions," Ajax said. "There were things I saw that might not be true in our world."
"You would know better than I," Hector said. "Now, what is this I hear about your Maidens? Two of them tried to kill you, and a third tried to kidnap you? And she turned out to be a Lindormess? Then there has been talk about your senior Maiden…" He glanced back at Nopalina.
"It is nothing," Ajax said. "At Mel's request, I have offered to name her as my Favorite. All it means is that we will adopt any child she bears as heir to the throne. She has not said if she will accept."
"Okay, sure," Hector said. "If you ask me, there's still way too many ways for that to go wrong."
"I know," Ajax said. "Frankly, I am glad to think of putting the Maidens behind me. We will still receive the Seven as annual tribute, of course, but once I am wed, we should receive a different kind of volunteer. Somewhat older, most likely, and ones who really care about learning a trade. Not the kind who would have ambitions… Dear God, of that, I have had more than enough."
They came to the gates of the Palace grounds, modest save for the brightly polished bronze. A guard opened it for them. They entered the Gardens and made their way through the hedgerows. By then, Ajax walked with Daffy, and Hector chatted with Meliboia and Nopalina. Mel carried Robert, who looked supremely satisfied in her arms. He had grown curious about the mail on her shoulders, which he stroked with his small hands. He cried when she discouraged him from trying to poke between the scutes, and cried louder when the armor pinched his tiny finger.
"Oh, Hector has been wonderful, he's supportive and so patient," Daffy said. "The important thing has been getting outdoors again. I was never happy being cooped up in the Palace. Really, I'm spending more time with Hector and the kids. We hike, and go bird riding, and we just expanded the Royal Golf Course. We get alone time, too, of course. We just need space when… well." She giggled. "Look at me, talking about that to you. You really are like my big brother."
"I appreciate that," Ajax said. He looked back at Mel. She was enduring Sara's questioning.
"Yes, I am marrying Uncle Ajax," Mel said. "In fact, we are already married by the rites of my people."
"Are you going to have a baby?" Sara asked almost querulously.
"No," Mel said. "Not all women can."
"Why not?" the girl pressed. "Are you too old?"
"No, I am a little older but not that old," the Myrmidoness answered evenly. "Sometimes, there are problems."
"Like what?"
"Lady Sara," Hector said sternly. "We have talked about this. There are things you do not ask…"
Ajax smiled. "You chose a good man," he said to Daffy.
"Maybe I didn't just choose him," she said in return. "Don't sell yourself short. I always knew, Hector wouldn't be who he is without you."
They toured the Great Hall and the lower tiers of the Spire, which had been turned into a Museum almost as extensive as the one in the Dowager's Palace. One of the exhibits showed the Model A of King Martin the Wanderer, long since out of gas. The servants and visitors gathered around the old King's hand-cranked record player. Three of them danced and two collapsed in tears as it played the first movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony. "We have been able to duplicate parts for the record player," Hector commented. "The Alchemists are still working on suitable materials for records."
Ajax nodded. "It is good enough that we have the Symphony," he said. "At least, four-fifths of it."
Hector nodded in turn. "I talked to Martin before his passing," he said. "It was a five-record set. He said the fourth record broke."
Ajax realized then that Mel had been listening in. "What really happened?" she asked.
"Martin the Wanderer reunified the Green Isles and the Peninsula," Ajax said. "They talk about him kicking out the Lindorms, but he had more fights with the other Mushroom Realms. Naam finally made a separate treaty and withdrew. Somebody saw that as an opening. A new dictator called Zog the Zadokkuan showed up and sent Martin into exile."
"It was more than that," Hector said. "He was a creature nobody had seen before and nobody has seen since. He ruled for over a decade. Naam couldn't intervene without breaking his own treaty, and the rest of the Mushroom Realms couldn't spare enough forces from the war with him, at least until Zog started to move up the Peninsula. After Ajax freed Pruna the first time, she led an expeditionary force to bring Zog to terms. Ajax came along, but he couldn't stay because of the situation in the Red Realm. I fought the Tyrant myself."
He shook his head. "He, it, was not a creature of this world. He looked like a cross between a squid and a jungle frog. He had powerful magic. Oh, and he would eat anything. He ate half a squad of Sky Marines I sent to take him alive. We wanted to question him, just to find out where he came from and how he got here."
"What happened?" Mel asked, already clearly impressed.
"I had to use Death Caps to defeat his magic," Hector said. Daffy had come to his side, beaming in hero worship. "I finally threw one into his mouth. He still swallowed it. Then he finally collapsed and turned black. I couldn't tell if he was alive or dead. His subjects didn't take any chances. His own guards dragged the body to a grinding machine and threw it in. There wasn't enough left to dissect."
"And it happened the same time an alien invaded the Red Realm?" Mel said.
"Not really," Ajax said. "Like I said, he had been there the whole time. He wasn't completely unique, either. With all the humans who show up in this world, it would be strange if we didn't get also get arrivals from other places."
"There's another thing," Mel said. "It seems like people from Earth usually end up powerful, don't they?"
"That could be simple selection bias," Ajax said. "Even in a world like this, strange people appearing as if from nowhere attracts the attention of the powerful, if they are observed at all. If others remained obscure or died quickly, it follows that we would know little about them. It certainly has happened. Just last year, we found one who had turned up in the White North, from a place called El Salvador. He was still wearing shorts."
"Yikes," Mel said. "Well, I suppose it's only horrible if you think about it."
The attendants led them to their rooms, which were pointedly separate. Mel accepted a room with Nopalina. Ajax was given a room down the corridor. After dinner, however, he went downstairs with Hector. Mel broke off and followed them down. "All Hells," she said when she reached the bottom. "Seriously?"
The brothers were playing cards inside the Royal Dungeon. The doors were noticeably shinier and sturdier than the rest of the bars. Ajax looked up and shrugged. "A Lord makes sacrifices for his Lady," Hector said. "I am bound so she is not tempted. Besides, the door does lock from inside."
Mel looked torn between bemusement and anger. "Okay, so why isn't she the one in here?" she said, literally rolling her eyes. "You're not the one whose body is telling you it's time to make a baby. Don't you worry what she's going to do up there?"
"It is as Ajax has said, the Blooming is not the end of reason or morality," the High King said. He laid down a card. "Her desires are as they would be at any other time. I am her one and only, as she is mine."
Mel looked at him intently. "All Hells," she said, "you're cocky."
"I have instructed him on certain things, and tested him," Ajax said. "As far as I can judge, his knowledge and skill are equal to mine."
"A Lord does not boast," Hector said. "And you are slipping, Alex."
"Well," Ajax said after a few more hands, "look at the time. I should go."
"Good to catch up," Hector said. They shook hands and embraced. Hector locked the door behind Ajax as he went back upstairs with Mel.
"By the way," the Queen-to-be said, "why don't the bars match?"
"Ah… that," Ajax said. "When they had Princess Sara, Daffy, ah… tore the old ones out." His bride suppressed a screech.
And at the top of the stairs, they passed Daffy as she went down.