Matt nodded again. “Fortunately, the nixies turned her over to some dryads, and they raised her until she was big enough to get a job as a mouser with a caravan bound westward, out of barbarian territory. She never told you any of this, huh?”
“From this part, yes,” Anthony said slowly, “that she had traveled with a caravan in cat-form. She told me what she had seen of the great cities along that route—of Susa and Novo-gorod, of the wide plains and the dark forest.”
“But she didn't tell you that she grew up in one of those forests?”
“What!”
Matt nodded. “When she had gone far enough west to be safe and the caravan disbanded, she wandered into the woods and let the local brownies take care of her. They led her to a woodcutter's cottage and changed her back into a baby. The woodcutter and his wife were delighted—they'd always wanted children, and had never had any.”
“You do not mean to tell me she grew up as a common woodcutter's daughter!”
“I mean exactly that.” Matt met his eyes. “She was reared as a peasant, Anthony, just like you—but when she was grown, she found out she was something more.”
“But… but… how?”
Matt turned away to stare into the mist. “She was orphaned at sixteen and had the good sense to take her chances as a cat in the forest rather than as a young girl without protection. Oh, she knew she could change into a cat, she had that much ahead of you, and enough magic had rubbed off on her that she was able to work a few tricks—but when she was left alone in the world, she went to Idris, the local wise-woman, and learned magic. Learned very quickly, too, just as you do—she'd absorbed everything Idris could teach her in a single year. So again she started her travels—Idris sent her to me for advanced training.”
“And you brought her to Maracanda?”
“Yes, though I didn't know where we were going at the time,” Matt said, “only that barbarians were invading from the east and I had to stop them before they reached Merovence. I didn't even know she was human until we got bushwhacked in India. Balkis helped me fight off the barbarians—saved my life a few times, too. More importantly, she helped me rescue my children when they were kidnapped.” He turned to face Anthony again. “So you won't be too surprised that I came running when I heard she herself had been kidnapped.”
“No, certainly not,” Anthony agreed. “But when did she learn she was a princess?”
“After we'd helped Prester John win back Maracanda and sent the barbarians home to their steppes. Then he started comparing notes and found out she was his niece. He even managed to track down the nixies who had helped her survive as a baby, and they confirmed it—our peasant girl suddenly found out she was a princess.”
“If she grew up as a peasant, she has learned the graces of a lady with extraordinary speed!”
“Yes, she's a quick learner,” Matt said, “and Prester John tells me she has charmed the whole court. Still, though, I don't think she has a single close friend here. They all grew up in palaces, so none of them can understand what it's like to have been a peasant.”
Anthony studied his toenails, frowning.
Matt waited.
“But she does know her true station now,” Anthony said.
“Yes, but it took her a while to accept it—just as it's taking you.”
“I am no prince!”
“No, you're a wizard, and a very courageous warrior.” Matt shrugged. “Every noble house can trace their ancestry back to a commoner who was ennobled for his service to the crown and the nation. You've proved your worth by bringing Balkis safely home—”
Anthony started to protest.
Matt held up a hand to forestall him. “No, it doesn't matter that she saved your life as often as you saved hers—the fact remains that she would have died on the way if you hadn't been escorting her.”
Anthony closed his mouth and turned back to studying his feet.
“Of course, you didn't stop there,” Matt said. “You proved your worth in battle, too—proved yourself to have become much more than the peasant you were born, proved you're of a noble heart and noble mind, noble enough to aspire to the hand of a princess. Prester John and Prince Tashih are both eager to declare you to be a nobleman, if you'll just accept your due and let them.”
“They cannot make me noble,” Anthony muttered.
“No, they can only declare you to be so once you've proved it—and you have, whether you know it or not. Besides, Prince Tashih has his own reasons for liking you, whether he's stopped to think about it yet or not.”
Anthony looked up, frowning. “What reason is that?”
“I told you Balkis has charmed the whole court,” Matt said, “but if she marries a man who was born a peasant, she can never inherit—which she doesn't want to do, but that wouldn't stop some ambitious court faction from trying to push her into it and getting her killed in the process.”
Anthony stared at him, appalled.
“In that case,” Matt said, “marrying a man who was born a peasant but has proved himself to be noble might endear her to the masses, and thereby strengthen the throne even more.”
Anthony went back to contemplating the steam.
“Come on,” Matt said softly, “you know she isn't half the wizard she can be unless you're there to finish her verses for her. Why she has a block against end-lines, I don't know, but she does—and you have a block against starting them, but the two of you together are ten times as powerful as either of you alone. If that doesn't tell you something, nothing will.”
Anthony was still silent.
“Okay, so it won't tell you,” Matt went on, “but it has told Kala Nag. Who do you think is the other half of the pair that can block her conquest of the world? Not me, we've proved that—she can do just fine without me. But the two of you together have already beaten Kala Nag's sorcerers and army once. She knows you can do it again. She has to keep the two of you apart, and the surest way to do that is to kill Balkis.”
“No!” Anthony cried, horrified.
“That's why she was so angry at Balkis' kidnapper,” Matt said relentlessly. “His plans backfired; he wound up sending her to the one person in all the world who could make her a formidable power. That's a real laugh, isn't it? That delicate little girl, a formidable wizard—but she has the heart for it, and with you, she actually does have the power.”
“So the only way I can keep her alive, is to be with her?” Anthony asked.
“You got it,” Matt said.
Anthony still balked. “I am only a poor peasant! A man who would marry a princess must be wealthy.”
“Sure, a poor peasant with a fortune in gems in his pockets!”
Anthony stared up at Matt. “She told you that?”
“Only when I asked,” Matt told him. “I saw you handing a goldsmith a nugget and a diamond in the bazaar, remember. I was worried you might have stolen them, but she set me straight.”
“I do have both nuggets and jewels,” Anthony admitted, “though they are now securely hidden, no longer on my person.”
“Either way, you're rich enough to propose. Any more objections?”
“Objections, no,” Anthony said slowly.
“But you do have questions? What?”
Anthony turned to him, eyes burning. “I have seen what barnyard animals do, but I know there must be more to it, for people. Tell me—how does a man couple with a woman and make it the ecstasy men speak of?”
Matt sighed, nerved himself to the task, and proceeded to tell Anthony what his father should have, but probably hadn't known himself. He also marveled at the excellent ruby color of Anthony's face as he told.
They were all invited to the victory banquet, of course— even Stegoman and Dimetrolas, but they didn't get the invitation; there was a full moon, and Stegoman had said something about trying a bit of night flying and about the twining of the flowers. After dinner Anthony turned to Balkis and gravely asked, “Will you come to teach me your northern stars, Balkis? I can recognize very few of the sky-pictures from my home.”