Dad gave a tiny chuckle. "Maybe there's a career as an archeologist in your future. Listen, Mom's going off to bed, and I'm running out of gas myself. I figured we might want to get to the story before I'm too useless to make any sense."

Becky looked down at her DS and turned off the machine. "Yeah. Let me go brush my teeth."

Dad came into the room and sat on the bed while Becky went into the hallway. As she did, Mom came up the stairs and kissed her goodnight, hugging her for way longer than usual. Whatever Mom meant by this, it just made Becky feel heavy. She wished she was back in the world of Dino Master, or that she was a cartoon character, like RJ from "Over the Hedge." She wanted to be anything other than what she was a" a kid whose parents didn't seem to like each other anymore and were making her feel really uncomfortable about it.

Becky brushed her teeth and combed out her hair and then went back to her room. Dad was sitting with his back against the wall as he always did. She climbed onto the bed next to him and allowed him to pull her closer, though she kind of felt like being alone. Superpremium and "Bohemian Rhapsody" seemed like they had happened a few months ago.

"Thanks for the fun night tonight, babe," he said, as he squeezed her shoulder.

"Yeah, it was fun," she said with as much enthusiasm as she could manage. It had been a fun night, hadn't it? It just didn't last. How much better would things have been if she'd just gone straight up to her room when they got home?

"So the motorcade was getting ready to leave, right?"

Dad obviously wasn't going to say anything about his little exchange with Mom in the kitchen. Why would she have possibly expected him to do that when he hadn't said anything about anything else? He just wanted to get into the Tamarisk story like they did every night at bedtime. Into fantasyland. Becky sometimes wondered if he wished he could go there rather than being here with her. Maybe he'd actually talk to his daughter if she were the princess of a kingdom rather than some ten-year-old from Connecticut. Maybe that was what was really going on here. Maybe Dad didn't think she was worthy of talking to because she wasn't of royal blood'.

"Yeah, the motorcade was getting ready to leave," she said half-heartedly.

"Tell it, babe."

Becky didn't say anything for a few seconds, and then she started the story the way she always did before beginning tonight's episode.

"When they walked outside, the sky was filled with dark clouds, and it felt like it does when you know it's gonna rain but it doesn't happen for a long time. It was just dark and a" what's that word? a" oh, yeah, ominous. A hoffler ran across the lawn and went down into his hole like someone was chasing after it.

"'We weren't supposed to get a storm today' the king said to the queen. 'It was supposed to be clear and sunny'

"'Even the sky is worried,' the queen said. 'Even the birds.' She pointed to a norbeck mother nudging her babies toward the safety of the bushes with one of her beaks.

"For a second, the king reached for the queen's hand and patted it. 'Everything is going to be fine. You'd know it if I didn't believe that, right?'"

Becky looked up at her father to see if he recognized those words. If he had, he wasn't showing it. When had he become so hard to figure out? She continued with the story.

"The queen nodded to her husband, and they went to their car. As they sat down, Amelan walked up to them, handing a folder to the king.

"'I'd feel better if I were coming with you,' Amelan said.

"'I know you would,' the king told him, 'but we need you to take care of things here. The palace doesn't stop functioning when we're away.'

"Amelan bowed his head and said, 'Of course, Your Majesty.' He started to turn away, but then he looked back at the car, staring at them the way Amelan did when he had something serious on his mind. It was like he wanted to say something, but he couldn't get the words out. Amelan was usually so tough, but today he just looked sad."

Becky hesitated for a little while as she thought of Amelan's face and the queen's face. In the picture she had in her mind, everyone, even the king, looked like they were worried that something scary was going to jump out at them and like their best friend was moving to another country.

"Babe, do you want me to pick up the story?" Dad said.

"No, I got it. Just thinking."

She stayed quiet for maybe another minute. During this time, she thought about how intense everything was in this scene: the stormy sky, the nervous animals, the worried and sad people. This wasn't the first time they'd told a Tamarisk story where dangerous things were happening. In those other stories, though, everyone had been courageous and confident. She couldn't do this story that way. She just couldn't.

"As the motorcade began to move, the king took a look back toward the palace and had a thought that sent shivers down his spine. He shook his head quickly, trying to get the thought out of his head, and he faced forward.

"To get his mind off things, he looked through the papers Amelan had given him. This didn't help at all. The papers included reports of the latest acts of sabotage, including one that had killed one of the last remaining families of kestertons that scientists had been nursing back to health. The little cats were so delicate and innocent, and the evil, evil -"

Suddenly and completely without warning, Becky found herself sobbing. The image of beautiful furry creatures getting blown up had taken an already somber story and made it unimaginably worse. It was like there was nothing Becky could do to make this story better. Every word that came out of her mouth just seemed to make it sadder and sadder, even if she didn't want it to turn out that way. And now all she could do was cry.

She felt Dad's arms squeezing her. "Babe, are you okay?"

This had never happened to Becky before. She loved Miea and the king and the queen and the hofflers and the mohonks and the waccasa.s.sas. She thought about them all the time and felt like she knew them the way she knew her best friend Lonnie. But even when things had gotten scary or tense before, she'd never just started crying.

This wasn't like anything else though, was it? This wasn't like any other Tamarisk story, and she realized now that Tamarisk stories would never feel the same again.

Finally she wiped her eyes, looked at her dad a" who seemed completely confused by what was happening a" and then looked away from him.

"The Thorns are ruining everything, Dad," she said.

And then another sob caught in her throat.

8.

Plenium spent several seconds simply watching his daughter's face. He realized of course that she could see him as well and that she might easily notice he wasn't entirely paying attention to what she was saying, but right at this moment, he felt a strong need to look at her. He always noticed the combination of wisdom and innocence in her eyes. He always noticed the vibrancy and sense of possibility in the timbre of her voice. For just a few seconds though, he wanted to absorb all of it, to remind himself how important it was to do this. He needed to remember that capturing the essence of his daughter was a vital thing to do whenever the opportunity arose.

He snapped from his reverie when he noticed Miea was no longer speaking.

"It's worse than even I thought," she said when he made eye contact on the screen with her again.

"I'm sorry, my dear, I just got distracted."

Miea frowned. "You don't get distracted, Dad. The only thing that would distract you is if you were thinking about an enormous state problem."

"That wasn't what I was thinking about. I was thinking about how remarkable you are."

Miea rolled her eyes and shook her head at the same time. "You're going to need to do better than that, Dad."

Plenium grinned. "You don't believe I think you're remarkable?"

Miea tipped her head forward. "You know that isn't what I'm saying." She made a shooing motion with her hand. "What I was telling you, when you weren't paying attention to me, is that there was a great deal of conversation on campus today about the mission now that you've officially announced it. Of course everyone thinks you and Mom are geniuses for making this overture. You're going to have to teach me that trick. How do you get the entire kingdom to believe that every move you make is the right one?"

"You weren't at this week's Kingdom Congress. If you'd heard the accusations the representatives from the Pinzon Merchant a.s.sociation were making, you wouldn't believe the feelings about your mother and me are so unanimous."

"Okay, so not everyone thinks you're flawless. There have been quite a few rumors, though."

"What kind of rumors?"

"About what's happening down south. Some people are claiming that there have been many more incidents than have been reported. I keep telling them I would know about this if there were, and that you wouldn't be going on a diplomatic mission to Gunnthorn if things were that bad. Of course they respond by saying that this is precisely what I would say if things were that bad."

Suppressing the media had never been a policy of Plenium's governance. However, because so much of Tamarisk was agrarian and by nature less connected to what was happening in Tamarisk City, it was possible to keep local incidents local by simply revealing less about them. There had been long conversations about how to treat the spate of recent acts of sabotage, and Plenium, Folium, and their advisors ultimately decided that if there were to be any chance of diplomatic accord with the Thorns, it was essential not to enflame the Tamariskian citizenry. He knew that increasing the wariness the people of Tamarisk had for the Thorns would make it exponentially harder for them to accept harmony between the kingdoms should Folium and he be able to negotiate it.

That wasn't the reason he hadn't shared the worst of this with Miea, though. That reason was far simpler and entirely unmotivated by politics: he didn't want her to worry. At some point in her life, Miea was going to a.s.sume the burdens he currently carried. Even once she set foot off campus permanently, she would be responsible for a certain amount of statesmanship along with her career in botany. For now, though, she still had time to experience the pure joy of life.

Folium didn't entirely agree with this sentiment about their daughter. She believed Miea needed gradual exposure to the political complexities that came with leading the kingdom. Plenium had prevailed in this argument, though, because so far he'd been able to convince the queen that there was always another day to begin Miea's training as a sovereign.

"Tell your friends I'll be happy to do a remote Kingdom Congress with them when I'm back from this trip and that I'll answer any questions they have with complete candor. I'll only put one condition on such an event."

"Oh? What's that?"

"That your young man be in attendance."

Miea chuckled, and it was the most musical thing Plenium had heard all day. "If you were to hold a remote Kingdom Congress, Dad, you'd have to post guards to keep Dyson away."

"Then I should have thought of this sooner. I a.s.sume he's still treating you well."

"As well as he was treating me when you last asked three days ago. And since you've added to my security detail, you have even more people with whom to confirm that."

Plenium didn't realize until that moment that Miea was aware of the extra guards. He'd been briefed about the overreaction at the musical performance, but he was under the impression that only Hensis and Sinica had been involved.

"Increased security for royal children when both the king and queen are away from the palace for an extended period is standard, Miea. This simply hasn't happened since you've been at university. You can check the archives if you'd like. Meanwhile, I'm not going to allow you to wriggle away from the topic at hand."

Miea smiled at him wryly. "Oh? What's the topic at hand again?"

"The man who is stealing your heart."

Miea's eyes gleamed. "Ah, that again. Well, you can't steal what someone offers willingly, Dad."

His daughter's response set off warring emotions. Plenium certainly wanted Miea to be happy, and he was realistic about the fact that at some point a man was going to have a prominent place in her life. At the same time, though, he'd never heard Miea admit her feelings for Dyson so nakedly before, and he found this the tiniest bit disconcerting.

"I certainly hope you'll be less obvious with your emotions when you're negotiating with the Thorns," Miea said when Plenium had trouble responding.

"Don't be overly entertained by this, Miea," Plenium said archly. "You'll be a parent someday too." Then his expression softened into a smile. "Dyson really means that much to you?"

Miea's eyes warmed. "I've never felt this way before."

Plenium wished this conversation was taking place in person. He longed to reach for his daughter's hand. "Then I'm very happy for you. And Dyson is the most fortunate young man in all of Tamarisk."

"I'll make sure he knows that."

"I would expect you to make sure he knows that daily. I can have Hensis remind him if it's too much of a bother for you."

Miea giggled, instantly reminding Plenium of the imagination games they used to play when she was younger. "That's okay, Dad, I can handle this responsibility."

"Do you have plans with him tonight?"

Miea leaned toward the screen. "We have plans, but he won't tell me what they are. He's being terribly mysterious about everything, which is not like him at all. It's entirely possible I'm over-thinking this. The last time he seemed to have a big secret, it wound up being a special sprout of toiyabe that he'd been crossbreeding for weeks. For all I know, he's going to take me into the forest to introduce me to some rare form of fungus."

"Ah, young love," Plenium said.

Miea pointed a finger. "No mocking from you, Dad. If I remember correctly, you once courted Mom over the birth of a brood of seapowets."

Plenium feigned indignation. "That was a very tender moment."

"As will be my fungus viewing."

"Yes, I suppose it will be." Plenium shook his head at the thought of the adjustments he was going to have to make in his mind if Miea and Dyson's romance continued to develop at the level she seemed to believe it was developing.

As he considered this, an aide entered the room to let him know he was needed for some final preparations for the mission.

"I'm afraid I'm being pulled away, Miea. I'd far prefer to stay here with you discussing romance."

"That's okay, Dad. I'm just glad you got a chance to call before leaving."

Miea knew very well that Plenium never would have left without checking in with her, but he understood what she was saying.

"How many extra guards are you bringing?" she said quickly, as though she thought he was about to signal off in that instant.

"We're following standard protocol for diplomatic visits."

"Is that enough?"

"It's easily three times more than enough. Protocol is nothing if not overwhelmingly cautious."

Miea nodded slowly. "Overwhelmingly cautious is good."

"We're taking care of ourselves, Miea."

Miea's eyes flicked up to catch his. "I know you are."

"We're going to have great stories to tell from this trip. If all goes as hoped, we'll have a groundbreaking treaty at the end of this."

Miea smiled, though he could tell that it was strained. "I can't wait to brag about it to all of my friends."

"Until again, my dear."

"Until again, Dad."

Plenium reached for the b.u.t.ton to signal off the screen when Miea said, "Dad?"

"Yes, dear?"

"The extra guards truly are enough, right?"

"They truly are."