platinum and diamond

[go_meta]

They get to Casasha. Shara gets her cream puff and her fruit. Strangers incline their heads to her and call her "pennon"; a few recognize her personally or just know that there aren't any other Swanpennons her age and call her "princess". Casasha is pretty densely populated - there's farmland in parts of it, but the place the wilds spit them out in isn't it; it's a largish city by the source of the river they've been following, and after they spend a night in an inn there - and their horses are more thoroughly seen to than is possible on the trail - they'll be proceeding on a well-trafficked highway to the royal household.

Comments

[in_tatters]

Adarin laughs. "If we were that bad neither of us would ever be able to function."

[go_meta]

"Ah. Well, I don't think anybody but me heard you swear off writing. I could just release you from the promise."

[in_tatters]

"That's all right, I don't think I'd be much good at it. I'm more of a numbers person."

[go_meta]

"Fair enough."

[in_tatters]

"But I guess if we every figure out a way to tell your story in a math problem, I am your man."

[go_meta]

"I haven't the foggiest idea how you'd do that. Maybe I'm not mathy enough."

[in_tatters]

"Yeah, I've got no idea how I'll turn that into math, either. Sorry. You'll be the second to know."

[go_meta]

"Cool."

[in_tatters]

[go_meta]

They make it to Casasha City. Casasha City is huge and has very tall buildings, including the palace.

Shara rides up to it, is recognized by the guards, vouches for "my rescuees", and hands off the horses and proceeds into the building proper on foot.

"Let's grab my parents, they'll want to watch me making my try," she says. "In case it takes this time."

[pleating]

"Bet you it dooooes," sings Kayam.

[in_tatters]

"If it doesn't I'm making faces at it."

[go_meta]

"You are welcome to supervise too."

Shara asks the nearest palace staff for the last known whereabouts of either monarch and follows their directions to the king's study.

There, in his study, is the king! He is wearing his crown and everything.

"Father, I'm back! I brought rescuees! There were more of them but only these ones wanted to come along. This is Adarin and that's his sister Zeviana."

[try_me]

Zeviana inclines her head. "Your majesty."

[in_tatters]

Adarin does the same. "Your majesty. We are indeed the rescuees."

[go_meta]

"Good to meet you," says the king, getting up to hug his daughter. "What did you rescue them from, Shara?"

"Some kind of raveler I don't even know what to call her - she was raveling people, their - liking for each other. She had a bunch of them kept more or less like pets in a house in the wilds. I noticed her casting a spell as we rode by, figured out which of the occupants was her, dropped my flashball to signal Kayam, shredded one of his shields to let her knife the raveler," she gestures at Adarin, "and then we just barely had time to explain instead of having to bail, they were really upset, it didn't wear off when she died."

[try_me]

"We're much less upset about it now."

[go_meta]

"There was considerable variety in the reactions to her death," says Shara. "Some of them were really mad but we got out of there with Adarin and Zeviana without a problem. Anyway, I think it's a good shot at impressing the crown and expect you and Mother will want to watch."

"Of course we will," agrees the king. "I think she's in the aviary."

Off to the aviary!

[in_tatters]

Yay, aviary!

Adarin's quiet on the trip there, he's not sure about what to say.

[go_meta]

The aviary has birds in it. Also a queen. Her crown is not even on, but she looks a lot like Shara. And hugs her. And is addressed by Shara thus:

"Mother, I'm back, I rescued some people and brought two home with me, come watch me try the crown."

"Of course, darling!" exclaims Queen Auriny. "Hello, it's so nice to meet you both."

[in_tatters]

"It's nice to meet you, too," says Adarin.

[try_me]

"Hello!" says Zeviana brightly.

[go_meta]

"Crown lives in the throne room under guard," says Shara, and she leads the way towards the throne room.

There, she proves that she is herself both by looking like herself and by demonstrating that she can do metaravelry and therefore cannot also be doing shapeshifting (she turns her back and Kayam makes a tiny space fold, which Shara finds unerringly on the first try and pokes her finger through to tap a guard on the nose from four feet away). They let her have the crown.

It looks like an inch-tall half-inch-thick ring of mirror-bright platinum, no diamonds at all.

Till Shara goes and ceremoniously kneels before the heir throne to the right of the regnant throne, and puts it on her head.

Then an invisible seam opens up, dividing the ring into a top and a bottom, and it proves to be hollow.

Well, hollow of platinum, anyway. It contains quite a lot of radiant-cut flawless diamonds, which float between the two rings, rolling in a slow languid circle clockwise around Shara's head.

"Is - is it working? I can't see," Shara asks, shaking with excitement.

[in_tatters]

Adarin grins and laughs. "Looks like I don't have to make faces at it after all. Congrats, Shara."

[go_meta]

Shara grins from ear to ear and gets up and sits in her throne and flings her arms in the air and whoops.

Her parents and Kayam all rush forward to hug her at about the same time and manage it, more or less.