The prince reeled backward, momentarily stunned by the force of the blow. And the person it was coming from. Did he expect Aster to just stand around and let herself be killed?

The chair had shattered to pieces, raining down around him as sticks and producing an instant headache.

“Aster, stop.” Prin coughed blood, though not his own.

Aster had an umbrella this time, sleek and black, with a pointy end that she was brandishing in his direction.

Aster opened her mouth as though to speak, but nothing came out. The bitten arm was bleeding uninhibited onto the ground, and shaking. She wouldn’t be able to fight for long.

He could always stall her out until she grew weaker.

The prince did not have the patience for it, and couldn’t risk her getting to the door and running out into the courtyard. He knew little of his own strength, but knew that an angry mob would be beyond him.

Maybe flames from a homemade bonfire, instead of hanging. Would that be preferable?

Aster swung the umbrella as he charged toward her, but was quickly disarmed.

Prin now held it and considered striking her with it, raising it high in the air.

Aster dropped to the floor and tried to crawl through the gap between his legs and escape to the other side.

Prin squeezed his legs together and trapped her.

All of a sudden a winged thing flew in his face, small but furious and he tripped over Aster in the blinding chaos.

The prince had forgotten all about the fairy. Where had she been?

This is why I said we need to squash it.

“The prodigal bug returns.” The prince said. He tried to smash it with his hand, like an annoying mosquito.

Aster got to her feet and hesitated for a moment not sure where to turn. To go for another weapon? Or straight for the door?

The fairy dodged his attempts and flew toward Aster.

Prin headed that way too, the hesitation giving him time to catch up. Although this was all happening so fast, it felt like a lot longer. And he was still hungry.

Aster lunged toward the door, leaving bloody boot prints on just about the last clean bit of floor remaining.

Prin followed quickly, continuing to try and smack the fairy out of the air, but he was unable to connect.

He reached out and pulled Aster away from the door, yanking her by her hair which was coming loose from its elaborate braids. Although that’s not what he wanted to do, he wanted to pull open the broken door and shove her through it. It was weird to be at polar opposites with yourself. But he would have to deal with the fallout of that later. After the danger was passed.

The prince turned Aster to face him. Her face was smeared with blood now as well as messy tears but it was defiant. She didn’t waste any energy in speaking, but that thousand yard stare said more than words could have.

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The fairy once again flew between them. Prin was beginning to hate this bug.

Just as he raised his hands again, this time sure he could take it down, a cloud of odd smelling smoke filled the air.

Like an herbal medical concoction, but with sweet undertones like pie on a warm windowsill.

His mind immediately tried to parse it out. What kind of herbs? What kind of pie?

That was the last he knew . . .

Elwin woke with a start. It was pitch dark in the room and he didn’t know what had awoken him. No, not completely dark, there was a line of sickly grey light around the edges of the curtain. Morning then, or nearly so.

He felt along the bed to be sure he was correct in thinking that Prin was not with him. Maybe he had gone to check on Valor?

Elwin had an eerie feeling.

He got up and opened the curtains, getting dressed quickly in the grey false dawn light. Elwin felt a little silly about it, but he was worried. It was so rare for him to be separate from Prin, without knowing where he had gone. Even when they were leaving a room, they usually would announce it to the other.

It was probably nothing.

Elwin went to Valor’s room and, since it seemed too early to knock, he opened the door a crack and peeked in. There were some candles burning down to stubs, one of which was sitting on the floor, its brass holder brimming over with amber colored wax that dripped onto the floor.

This was the first odd thing. Didn’t it seem dangerous to leave a candle on the floor in a room shared by cats and a blind boy? It seemed a recipe for a house fire. Elwin picked it up and sat it on the side table.

Prin was nowhere to be seen.

The curtain flapped gently in the icy cold draft coming in from the open window. And tucked neatly in a pile was a metal burner and some other detritus. Curioser and curioser.

Valor shivered in his sleep.

Elwin didn’t want to wake him but it didn’t seem right to let him get a chill either. It’s not what Prin would have done, if he were here.

Elwin pulled the extra blanket from the bottom of the bed up around him. One of the cats opened a single eye to watch him warily.

He went to the window to close it, wondering where his prince could be. If not here, than where on earth . . ?

Something . . . it looked like a dead leaf? Was falling, only, it was falling upward. Rapidly. Right at his face.

Elwin shut the window quickly, but not quick enough. And the fast, moth-like thing was filling the air in front of his face with a flutter of wings like paper rustling, like the pages in a book as it falls shut. It seemed there must be more than one pair, at the speed they were moving. But he was unable to make out the nature of the creature, beyond the carrier of some number of wings.

The fairy. Aster’s fairy.

He already thought of it that way, as belonging with Aster.

“What are you doing here?” Elwin asked. He took a step back to try and preserve some illusion of personal space. Elwin cast a look at Valor to see that he was stirring slightly, but not yet awake.

“Shh, just a second.” Elwin told the fairy. He went to Valor and put his hand on the boy’s forehead, just in case. He didn’t seem too warm.

“Sorry, Valor, I was just checking in. Have you see-heard from Prin tonight?” Elwin asked. He knew if he had said nothing, he might have avoided waking Valor, but at the same time he had to ask.

Valor made a little noise and opened his eyes just a crack. “Who--?”

“It’s Elwin, it’s early in the morning. I’m sorry.” Elwin said.

The fairy flew in between them, getting in his face again, until Elwin could feel the air from those tiny wings. “Do you know where Prin is? I think you do.” He said.

“Who else is here?” Valor asked, sitting up abruptly, and rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

“It’s the fairy. I have to go. I think something’s wrong.” Elwin said.

The fairy flew into his face again and back away, back and forth several times, as though agreeing with his assessment and urging him to hurry.

“Wait!” Valor demanded. “Where is it?” He held out his hand, but the fairy and Elwin both ignored it.

“Sorry, go back to sleep. We’ll talk later.” Elwin said. “I’ll tell you all about it later.” He headed to the door, the fairy sometimes following sometimes leading the way.

“I think he said goodbye . . .” Valor called after them. “Or maybe it was a dream. Don’t you dare let him leave without saying goodbye to me while I am awake!”

“Okay, okay.” Elwin threw open the door, his mind on other things.

“Tell him I said he’s a coward!” Valor said. Just loudly enough for Elwin to hear him through the door he had just closed behind himself.

He didn’t have any time to spare for the distraught and sickly boy, although he did spare him a thought. He thought for both of their sakes that Prin better be alright.