Send us a comment -- click on the check mark and visit the forum

What went before

• Now all we had to do was get back and ...
• Convince the Captain it was ok.
• Convince the sorcerers it was ok.
• Convince the princesses it is ok.
• Convince the people it is ok.
• Hmm.  "all."
• It seemed like such a good idea.
• Well, Ariel, the oread and I agree on it.  Bet my Mom would too.

Well, we needed to get back alive before any of this mattered.

The cliff was pretty easy.  The toads were bloated and sleeping.  But I had some concern about those lightwalkers.  They had told such bizarre riddles -- and didn't care what the answers were.  The Captain called them deceivers when we were out of their forest, and we all were concerned that leaving the other way was going to be harder.

As we got closer, it sure looked like it was going to be harder.  You could see the magic and the spells lighting up the sky -- it was like a war going on.  We were careful, and by the time we got there it was pretty much over and the sorcerers had taken over the path we were on.  Sorcerers we knew, from the city.

They had been concerned too, and had tripped an ambush when they decided to make sure we got back ok.

The head of the guild took a good look at us.  "So, I can tell who won the contest -- at least this far." "Though it is usual for the champion to carry the crown, not wear it.  Looks good on you."

The Captain looked pained and glared at us.  "I've been trying to get it off ever since these two delinquents and that oread put it on my head."

All the sorcerer said in reply was "It does look good on you."

The Captain glared.

We cleared the forest safely and moved to the mists.  There was a clear path through them that burned a little on the edges.  Those sorcerers didn't mess around.  At the other edge of the mists there were a bunch of guys from the merchant's guild -- guess they were curious who had won to, and were still placing bets when the group came through.

The head sorcerer began to tease the Captain as we met the merchants, and pretty soon they were all bobbing up and down with "looks good on him, doesn't it."  He didn't catch it, but the people were all getting serious.  He had kept things together for a long time while the princesses had made a mess of their conflicts.  Everyone knew him, everyone respected him, everyone knew that he knew how a kingdom really should be run, and everyone knew that he had been a strong voice in setting up a council to advise, consent and help run the city.

This city had a magical focus that required a queen, or a king, to bring it to a sharp point, but nothing said who that had to be.  You could see the wheels turning as we met representatives of each guild on the way to the city.

By the time we got to the city, it was interesting.  The princesses were there, at the line, waiting to see who would actually take the crown across the line and deliver it.  As they say, it isn't over 'till its over.  The contrary one started screeching at us to do something to stop him.  The kind one looked pleased he had won, you could tell she had a crush on him, just like he still had one on her.  The mean one seemed excited to win, but resigned at the work it was going to mean.

Then the guild masters announced that we had a king.

Everyone erupted.  The two harsh sisters both looked like they might say something, but the contrary one spoke first "everyone, to me, to arms!"  She was ready to fight.  One guard ran to her side, sword drawn.  No one else budged.

The mean sister took one look at her, muttered fool, and grabbed the head of the sorcerer's guild.  "Now that I'm definitely not the queen, you can't keep me out.  I've had it with the worry, and the effort to be hard enough to be queen."  She strode off towards the mage towers.  The nice sister ran into the Captain's arms and gushed all over him.

The contrary sister realized she only had one guard, but seemed to be ready to try to fight anyway.  One of the sargents looked ready to spit them both on a pike when the Captain said "you followed her, you married her, though you can't stay in the guard -- its back to the farm for you."  Before she knew what had happened, the contrary sister was married to a pig farmer and sent out of the city with him.

Kind of a fitting end.

The Captain realized that he couldn't stop it, and accepted being king.  Married the nice sister too.  So, she ended up as the queen, kind of, after all, but without harm to the city.

We were both given ear clips as gifts.  One each, for our left ears, with a ruby, a sapphire and an opal on each.  Oh, the mean sister (well, she isn't mean any more, just focused) got the name ruby, the nice one sapphire and the contrary one took the name opal with her to the farm.

I was given the ruby necklace that was supposed to go to Ruby when she was declared queen and Ariel was given the opal necklace that was to go to Opal and that she had forfeited.  Sapphire was given her necklace and wore it when she was crowned queen-consort to her husband the king.  The necklaces were made of very fine steel links, coated with thin gold plate -- they weren't very expensive chains, but symbolic of strength.  The ruby was three carats, but had a serious flaw.  It sure was pretty. The Opal was milky white, with diffuse fire.  Kind of fit Opal, as the Ruby fit Ruby.  Had she been Queen I suspect that the flaw would have matched the flaw she was developing with her being so mean and hard.  Once she gave up her claim to the necklace and to being Queen, the flaw just remained as a reminder.  I thought it was very pretty.

We were pleased.  We had matching jewelry to wear, now all I need to do is make up my mind to get my ears pierced and I can wear mine with earings!

We both gave them gifts to celebrate the wedding, some plastic blocks with flowers in them.  We had brought them along trying to decide what to do with them (we got them as birthday presents, and neither of us needed any more clutter) and they were great as wedding presents.  No one else had ever seen anything like them.

All we had left was a visit to the "city of glass" and we would be ready to get out of this area for a while to give the Captain some time to be king without us clouding up the picture.