“’… In either case, we shall watch the Elvish mage with vigilance. In the meantime, I eagerly await your response, and hope to see both of you for the tournament in Borac.’ Signed, ‘Her Excellency, Queen Talitha of Selasem,’” Daniel concluded. He handed it to Lady Thalia. The royal mother took the letter and skimmed over it again, her lips pursed into a small frown as she nodded to herself.

  Anna found herself relaxing. The king and queen had both been excited to hear from their Selasi counterpart, but it was hard to read Daniel and Lady Thalia’s expressions. Now, as the queen mother folded the letter again, she gave the Wisp Seekers and approving look. “You seem to have managed rather well on this journey,” she said.

  King Henry twisted in the throne to look back at his mother. “We will accept her invitation to meet in Borac, right mother?” he asked.

  Thalia handed the letter to a servant before answering. She pursed her lips. “It seems like a fair enough arrangement,” the lady said.

  “There’s precedent as well,” Daniel said. “Your father and aunt used it to meet with foreign officials at the tournament more than once. Though I’m not sure the heads of all three major nations gathered there at the same time before.”

  “Well, the Wisps are affecting all of us,” Queen Emily said. “It would be good to find a solution together.”

  “I’m glad the terms are to your liking, your Grace,” Andrew said. “Is there anything else you would like of us?”

  Emily thought for a moment. “The tournament is only about two and a half months away. If the Ryukyuujin were to make it, they would need to set out in the next three weeks.”

  “That’s plenty of time to send a letter,” Henry pointed out.

  Daniel frowned, then shook his head. “Organizing travel arrangements for a Royal procession takes some time. A letter may be insufficient to convince them on such a tight schedule,” he said.

  “We could take the message,” Anna said. “We’d be able to offer more witness about the Wisps than anyone else to convince them, and we’ve met Captain Yamada. He would recognize us.”

  “Great!” King Henry said. “Let’s do that.”

  “Hold on,” Daniel said. “They’ve only just gotten back from a mission. And they should stop by Vulcuo before this meeting at Borac to see what they’ve found out about the Wisps. A few days of rest might be in order.”

  The king leaned back on his throne, nodding. “Ah, yes. Very well, a few days of rest then.”

  “Not too long, of course, or the Ryukyuujin won’t be able to make it in time,” Lady Thalia said.

  “We could leave tomorrow morning,” Andrew offered.

  “Perfect!” The king said.

  His sister nodded her agreement. “We’ll draw up a letter for you to give the king of Ryukyuu.”

  The Wisp Seekers were dismissed, and given permission to do whatever they liked the rest of the day. Anna walked a little behind the brothers. Peter looked out the windows as they passed by, while Andrew seemed to be lost in thought.

  “We haven’t given them Queen Talitha’s private message yet,” Anna said.

  “I know,” Andrew muttered. “I’m trying to think how we can do it.”

  “We could just tell them, ‘Hey! The Selasi Queen had a private message for King Henry and Queen Emily,’” Peter said. “I’m sure they’d understand.”

  “I think that goes against Talitha’s request, though,” Andrew said.

  Peter shrugged and just looked out the windows again. Anna followed his gaze, seeing the clouds floating overhead as she tried to think of a solution. But her mind drifted as she watched the drifting clouds. She’d gotten used to flying now. She didn’t enjoy it, but she could tell which days would be good for flying and which would be miserable. And this looked like a better day than they’d had for a while.

  A thought clicked into place. She glanced at Peter. “How do you think the king would respond to a ride on Jarnvaror?” she asked.

  Peter grinned. “He’s asked me for one a few times. Never quite worked out, though.”

  “Let’s see if we have time to change that,” Anna said. Peter grinned and nodded.

  As be left to let the dragon know, Anna and Andrew stayed behind to think of some way to invite the king and queen to a private flight. Getting an audience with them before the appointed time in the morning would be almost impossible. For once, luck solved the problem. The king and queen passed by talking to one another with a trio of guards at their back. King Henry’s face lit up when he saw them. “You’re still here? Where’s Peter?” he asked

  “He went to check on Jarnvaror,” Andrew said. “We were just talking.”

  “Ah,” the king said, nodding. “I’ve been meaning to try getting a ride on the dragon for a while, but you guys are always so busy. Or resting up from your missions…”

  “Brother,” the queen hissed. Anna couldn’t help but grin.

  “Well, I think Peter was planning a quick flight with Jarnvaror,” she said. “The two of them can’t get enough of it.”

  “Really?” Henry asked. “You think he might take us along?”

  “Mother would never approve, Henry,” Queen Emily said.

  “She barely approves of us riding horses,” the king replied. “We’ll be fine.” He turned back to Anna and Andrew. “Let’s go see him.”

  Anna and Andrew led the way, and a few minutes later, they’d caught up with Peter, who was just saddling up the dragon. Peter enthusiastically agreed to give the pair of them a ride. Looking at the saddle, the guards objected that they wouldn’t be able to accompany the king and queen on the flight, since there wasn’t room. “They’ll have me, and a dragon,” Peter argued. “They’ll be fine.”

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  “At least one of us should go with you,” one of the guards said.

  “I think it would be better if it was me. Or Sol,” Anna said, adding the Archmage’s name hastily at the end. She could feel Andrew’s eyes burning into her, and she knew she was gambling, but she was sure it would make the guards less worried if she made the offer. “See, it’s difficult to hear while flying because of all the wind, but I know a spell that can help with that. That way, they could give Peter instructions if they don’t like it and want to land. Sol could, if you’d like us to go and get him.”

  “No need,” said the young king. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

  “Are you sure you want to go for a flight now, Henry?” the queen asked.

  “Obviously,” her brother replied.

  “I’ll wait right here with your guards then,” Andrew said. “I hope you enjoy your flight.” As Peter and the guards helped the royal siblings into the saddle, Andrew placed a hand on Anna’s shoulder. “Do you remember the whole message?”

  Anna nodded. “I’ll give it to them,” Anna said. “Don’t worry. And make sure the guards don’t worry either. We’re just letting the king go for his flight for once.”

  “Right. Best person in the world for that job right here,” Andrew muttered, looking more worried than ever. Anna tried to give him an encouraging look before climbing onto Jarnvaror’s back herself.

  “Alright!” Peter said “Let’s take to the skies! Hold on, everyone!”

  Jarnvaror rumbled a response to Peter. He crouched, raising his wings, and the royal siblings grasped tight onto one another. Anna, sitting in the back, held on to the two of them herself. Then the dragon launched into the air which thrummed with the beating of his wings. The city fell away beneath them along with the canyons and rivers it was built over, while the sky seemed to open wider to receive them.

  Anna had seen it before. She watched royal children in front of her. Queen Emily had shut her eyes in terror for a few seconds. Then, she looked around in wonder. King Henry was laughing, drinking in everything he could see. His eyes streamed from the wind rushing passed them.

  Anna wove her spell to create the wedge in the wind. The sound died away, and they were no longer buffeted in the face quite so much. King henry twisted in his seat to look at her. Anna held up her glowing anchor for him to see. “It is really loud without that, isn’t it?” he said.

  Anna nodded her agreement. “We’re not able to talk much on most of our flights.”

  “Don’t you just love the rush of the wind though?” Peter asked.

  “I don’t,” Anna told him. Then she turned to the royal twins. “Well, now that we’re up here, what do you think?”

  “Can you take us to the Crimson Wood?” King Henry asked. “No, wait, I want to see the mountains! And the Desert.”

  Peter laughed. “It would take over a day to reach those places. Except for the woods. That would only take a few hours. You can just see their edge from here,” he said, pointing to the tree line off in the north.

  “I’m not sure I want to be up here quite so long,” Emily said. She gave Anna and Peter a soft smile. “At least not on my first flight.”

  “That’s alright,” Anna said. “We wouldn’t want to worry your guards and family by taking you so far away.”

  King Henry crossed his arms. “Everyone’s always worried about us like that. You don’t need to be, though. We’re the king and queen of Grealand! The Royal Scepters! What does that even mean if we can’t do what we want?”

  Anna wasn’t sure how to answer. Peter grinned over his shoulder at him. “That’s about what I thought when I made friends with the dragons,” he said. “But it probably wouldn’t have been good for me or anyone else if I’d started asking the dragons to do everything for me. Even if they listened. My brother had to help me learn that, and I’m still figuring it out. You’re both even stronger than me.”

  “I’ve been telling him that,” Emily said. “Well… something like that, anyway. We have responsibilities Sol and Daniel won’t ever have. We need to be ready for them.”

  “Very smart of you,” Anna said. “

  “We are ready, though,” King Henry said.

  “I’m not sure,” his sister replied.

  The pair of children seemed to suddenly realize they were having the conversation before their vassals. They shut their mouths. Anna could feel her heart going out to them. The pair seemed like such ordinary children it was easy to forget they were the rulers of the largest nation on the continent. How much could that weigh on them? She couldn’t say, and she didn’t want to add to it. But the Wisps weighed on her, and they wouldn’t be helped by silence either.

  “There is something else were wanting to tell you two,” she said. “Queen Talitha of Selasem asked us to pass a message to you, and no one else.”

  “She did?” Queen Emily asked.

  “Yes,” Anna replied. “She wanted to pass a hunch of hers off to you that she got while interrogating Lady Sheil.”

  The royal twins exchanged a glance, Henry looking as if they’d just given him a present and Emily looking more worried than ever. “What did she say?” the king asked.

  “Sheil mentioned someone in the capitol. Not by name,” Anna said. “Probably the spy we’ve been looking for. Talitha’s hunch, though, is that the person isn’t so much a spy as just… maybe the leader, or one of the leaders, of the Wisp Stealers, and that this person was always a member of the court.”

  “Well that’s not too different from what we’ve been expecting,” King Henry said.

  Queen Emily nodded in agreement. “Maybe, but it would make this organization more dangerous and a bit harder to find… Who would it be, though?”

  “Maybe we should let Sol and Daniel know so they could expand their search.”

  “Queen Talitha thought it might even be one of them,” Anna said.

  The king burst out laughing. “No way! Sol’s been loyal to the Scepters since our father was our age, and Daniel’s our cousin! He wouldn’t betray us.”

  “I’m not saying they are,” Anna said. “We just wanted to let you know what she said.”

  “Really?” Emily asked.

  Anna nodded. “I trust Sol,” she said. “And I think I trust Daniel too. But I also think she’s right that the spy isn’t just a spy.”

  The royal siblings looked at each other. King Henry grinned. “Well, that makes sense, doesn’t it? These Wisp incidents have been eating away at the kingdom. The palace would be the best place for the key conspirator to make his scheme!”

  “So what do you want to do about it?” Peter asked. “We couldn’t think of anything on the way back here.”

  “Sol and Daniel have been looking for this spy for a while,” Emily said. “I’m not sure what more we can do.”

  “I have an idea,” Henry said. “We can start our own investigation! We might think of stuff the two of them haven’t.”

  “Um… can you do that without the spy noticing?” Peter asked.

  The king grinned back at him. “No idea! Do you think you guys could?”

  Peter caught Anna’s eye and shrugged. Anna shook her head and said, “I don’t think we have that kind of skill.”

  King Henry crossed his arms, still grinning. “No matter. We’ll think of something.”

  “Do you want to tell Sol and Daniel?” Anna asked.

  “No way!” Henry said. “I want to figure this out for myself.”

  “That could be… dangerous,” Anna managed. She tried to catch Emily’s eye, but the young queen only shrugged.

  “I trust the pair of them, but I think his Majesty my brother is right,” she said. “Our mother has kept us too sheltered from this sort of thing. The only way we can prove we’re ready is to actually do something ourselves for once.”

  “Yes!” the king agreed.

  “Don’t worry about us,” Queen Emily continued. “You have your own mission to worry about, and I’ll make sure we think things through before rushing into anything.”

  Anna looked between the twin monarchs, a sinking feeling in her stomach. She had a hard time imagining the little queen being able to stop her excitable brother from doing anything.

  “Hey, don’t underestimate us, too!” the king said. “Look, if you think it will help, we’ll focus on making a plan for catching this spy while you’re off in Ryukyuu. We won’t implement it until the tournament, and we’ll tell you first!” His grin returned. “You’ll probably be a big part of the plan, after all.”

  “Of course we will,” Anna said. She didn’t feel comforted in the least.