kitchen_maid | In Which Amy and Merry Go Visiting

In Which Amy and Merry Go Visiting

It's not often, really, that Merry gets to take a holiday. Not a real one (though Papa says that kings have to learn to see a couple of hours as a holiday, and a real one at that).

But this? This is a real holiday, out of Ambergeldar, visiting Queen Cimmorene and Daystar. (Daystar, like Merry, is a prince, but Mama says that princes don't have to call each other "prince." But he still has to call Daystar's Mama "Queen Cimorene," because that's polite. He asked why he didn't have to call Mama "Queen Mama," and she said there are exceptions for family.)

The Castle in the Enchanted Forest is ever so much more fun than the castle at home. There are a lot fewer people who worry about things like whether or not you've spilled jam or torn your clothes, and Mama usually hands her crown to Willin when they get there and doesn't put it back on till they leave. (Merry thinks Mama looks prettier without the crown.)

At home, he almost never gets to wander off without people following him and, as Papa puts it, "Your Highnessing him half to death." But here, Mama and Queen Cimorene just tell them to stay out of trouble and go off to have tea.

Yes, this is a real holiday.

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Daystar is in the kitchen, trying his very hardest to get to the cookie jar without being seen by Cook, who has already told him it's too early in the morning for cookies.

He had been waiting up in the attic with Mother, because Merry was coming, and when Merry came to visit with his Mother they always came in through the attic door. But he had waited there all morning, or at least about fifteen minutes, and Mother said he was fidgeting.

Besides, she promised she would call him the very instant they arrived.

"Hello, Daystar," says Merry happily, coming into the kitchen (Queen Cimorene said Daystar was probably in the kitchen, and she tends to be right about that sort of thing).

"What are you doing?"

Like his father and his Uncle Caspian, Merry is simply awful at anything that involves sneaking.

Daystar spins around and miraculously avoids knocking the cookie jar onto the floor, cookie in hand.

"Er...nothing!" he says cheerfully, backing away from the table and shuffling Merry out of the kitchen.

"Hi, Merry!"

He breaks the rather crumby cookie in two and holds one half out to his friend. "I tried to get two, but there was only one left."

"Thank you," says Merry, accepting his half of the cookie.

"Maybe there will be more later," he adds, optimistically.

Daystar nods. "Mother's going to have tea with your mother. Which means there will be cakes."

He grins, "Want to go out to my tree house? Father and me put more of it together since last time you came here."

Cakes are even better than cookies.

They have icing. Merry is very fond of icing. (His Mama can make roses out of icing, and sometimes she has the kitchen send plain cakes and they decorate them before they eat them. Merry's roses usually don't look much like roses, though.)

"Yes!"

Daystar has a very, very, very wonderful tree house.

Daystar does have a wonderful treehouse. His Mother was very insistent that he have one, and building it has become a family event.

He grins at Merry.

"I'll race you!"

"You'll win," says Merry.

Because that castle is very confusing, with all those staircases and everything.

"Just don't lose me completely."

"You won't get lost," he says, "because you're with me, and I never get lost in the Enchanted Forest."

What would be famous last words from anyone else are actually true for Daystar, who, in point of fact can't get lost in the Enchanted Forest. The magic won't let him.

But Merry has a point, so Daystar sets off running toward the gardens and makes sure his friend stays with him. It wouldn't do to have Merry running up a staircase to nowhere, after all.

Which is what Merry meant. He's knows he's all right with Daystar, but he's also been told not to wander around without him.

But it's a good day to run, even if it may not be exactly a proper race, because it's very hard to be the first one to a place if you don't know how to get there.

Merry is laughing by the time they reach the garden.

An Enchanted Forest tree is absolutely ideal for treehouse building. The branches are all wide and sturdy, and there are plenty of ways to climb up them if you don't want to use the rope ladder.

Instead of launching himself at the lowest branches like he usually does, though, Daystar laughs and turns to his friend.

"Hey, Merry. Want to see what I can do?"

It's an absolutely ideal treehouse in every way, in Merry's opinion.

"Of course," says Merry, promptly.

Daystar looks up at the tree house, and then closes his eyes. Father always told him to start by taking a deep breath, so he inhales a massive lungful and lets it out. He feels for the magic around him, thinks about the inside of the tree house, squints his eyes shut even tighter, and pulls.

And he vanishes!

"Daystar?"

Merry looks around, eyes a little wide.

Your friends are not supposed to just vanish like that!

At least, they never do at home.

Not that he's panicking. Princes not panic.

Except sometimes they totally do.

"Daystar?"

It worked! It worked! He wasn't sure he could do it, but it worked!

"I'm here!" yells Daystar from inside the treehouse. He dashes out to look over the railing at Merry down below. "I did it! I did it! Did you see?"

Whew.

"I saw you vanish," Merry says. "I didn't know where you went.

"How did you do that?"

"It was magic," Daystar beams. "I've been learning how. Father's been teaching me."

He fails to mention that this is only the fifth time he's managed this trick successfully, and the only time unsupervised.

"That's wonderful," says Merry.

"I don't get to learn anything that fun."

His father teaches him things, too, like governing the country, and how to look like you're paying attention in Council meetings, and where to hide from courtiers.

But not magic.

"Um, Daystar? Is there a ladder or something?"

Daystar hops over the railing onto a fairly large branch and promptly hangs upside down by his knees. If Mother could see him, she would probably be cross.

He points to a series of branches below him. "Those are the best for climbing up," he says, "or you can use the rope ladder over there."

Merry considers his options, and opts for the branches.

(Amy's children know how to climb trees, and that's all there is to it.)

"It's really nice up here," he says, hanging upside down as well. If his mother could see him, she'd probably just laugh and tell him to be careful.

"It's my favorite tree in the garden," says Daystar, "even before we put the treehouse in it. I think it likes me."

It's good to have trees for friends in the Enchanted forest. Especially if you're the prince.

Merry considers this.

"Do the trees here do that?"

There are trees at home that he's very fond of, but he's never considered that the trees might have opinions of him.

"My father always says that the Trees probably think an awful lot about us that we don't know, so we should always be nice to them," says Daystar, "but sometimes I just know that they like me."

He pats the branch he's hanging from fondly.

"And sometimes, they don't."

Merry's eyes get a little bigger.

"What happens if they don't like you?"

What if this tree only like Daystar?

"I'm not supposed to go places where the trees don't like me," says Daystar seriously, swinging himself back up onto the branch and sitting on it.

"I think they can do bad magic, or just..." he shrugs.

There are certain parts of the Enchanted Forest where one just does not wander about.

"Don't worry, Merry," he says finally. "All my tree friends like you, because you're my friend too."

It's days like this that Merry is glad his kingdom is only a little magical.

Because he likes being able to go where he wants in the Forest of Faraway, all by himself.

Well, with his parents, but someday it will be all by himself.

Merry settles in on the branch next to his friend, reassured.

"So the tree doesn't mind that you built a house in it?"

Daystar shakes his head. "I don't think so," he says.

He tilts his head up and looks into the branches above him. "Do you mind, tree?" He asks loudly, and then laughs. And if one were paying close attention, one might think the tree rustled a little in response.

This is good enough for Merry, in that the tree has not thrown them both to the ground.

"So," he says, cheerfully, "what shall we do now?"

"We could play dragons and wizards," suggests Daystar, "Or we could play explorers."

Daystar loves to play dragons versus wizards, only he often has difficulty finding someone to play the wizard whom Daystar (the dragon) intends to eat. Usually it's poor Willin. Pretending to be an explorer is a little less one-sided.

Merry has slightly different views on both dragons (hired to lure princes into marriages) and wizards (two of his godfathers) than Daystar does.

Besides, it's so interesting to go exploring in the Enchanted Forest. It's hardly playing at all.

"Let's play explorers," says Merry.

"Ok!" says Daystar excitedly. He instantly makes a telescope out of his hands and looks off into the distance.

Which is to say he looks off into the part of the gardens that is more Forest than garden, but in which he's still allowed to play by himself.

"Look yonder!" He cries dramatically.

Merry looks yonder.

And then more yonder.

And then as yonder as he can.

"Yes?"

There's so much to look at in the gardens and the Forest that he's not sure exactly what his attention is being directed to.

"Well, we've not explored over there before, have we?" asks Daystar, gesturing to a wooded area (which is in the midst of many other wooded areas, to be true, but it's the one he means anyway)

"Maybe we should see if there's treasure!"

Explorers are always looking for treasure. Or princesses. But princesses are girls, and girls are gross, so treasure it is.

"Yes, let's!" says Merry.

He can find a princess any old time, though why someone would want to go looking for Susan is beyond him.

"Do you think there will be?"

"It's the Enchanted Forest," says Daystar, as if that explains everything. And in some ways, it does.

"We'll need supplies," he says, with great gravity, as he has planned many an exploring mission before. He hops back over the railing and heads back inside the treehouse, where the toy chest....er...the supply chest...is kept.

Merry follows him.

"Like a lantern? And a . . . shovel. And, um, we might need to go try to get more cookies."

Because it could take a while to explore, and they might get hungry.

Daystar opens the toy chest with glee and pulls out two wooden swords.

"Well, we'll need these," he says matter of factly, shoving one through his belt and handing the other to Merry. "In case we have to fight monsters."

"And a shovel's a good idea! I got one of those too!" He hauls it out.

"I don't know if I've got a lantern, though." They may have to go into the castle to get one.

They can always get some cookies from the Mothers' tea party.

He gestures for Merry to come help him dig through the trunk to see what he can find.

Merry takes the sword and begins to rummage.

"This could be very handy, when we find the treasure," he says, producing a dark green sack that is only slightly ripped.

"Oh, and hats!"

"Yes," agrees Daystar, "Because we'll need something to carry it back with."

Hats are an absolute must. All adventurers have very adventuresome hats. Daystar pulls out a floppy blue hat with an enormous yellow feather in it and sets it on his head.

He is sure he looks incredibly dashing and adventuresome.

Merry rumamges and comes up with a rather dented red one, with a slightly bent black feather.

If you ignore the dent and ruffled feather . . . he still doesn't look as dashing as Daystar. But it will do.

"Are we ready?"

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In Which Amy and Merry Go Visiting

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