They were away from The Doors, and Farah had lifted her skirts, but even held close to his side, she watched where her feet fell as they made their way through the forest back to their horses.

“Can we go there again someday, True?” she requested.

“Absolutely,” he granted.

She shot him a luminous smile.

That one could hold a mountain high, and would, if she felt it would make it easier for you to pass through.

That was his duty.

But he could not deny he felt warmth deep in his chest at thinking she might feel the same.

“Thank you for taking me there, it was even better than you described,” she told him.

He lifted her hand from his elbow, bending to it and kissing her knuckles before he tucked it back to where it was, all the while he kept their gait slow, but steady, toward their mounts.

When he again looked forward, Farah dropped her head to his shoulder.

“And thank you for the loveliest day I’ve had in a very long time,” she went on softly.

With that, True turned his head to kiss her hair.

He heard her gentle sigh.

It was not holding a mountain high for her to pass under.

But she was happy.

Which meant, so was he.

Baldrick, Grand Fell of the Gnomes of The Doors

The Doors, South Center of the Great Thicket Forest

WODELL

“Expect a summons. From True.”

Glenda, Empress of the Pixies, nodded while looking unsurprised.

As she wouldn’t.

They all suspected, upon True’s return, if he heard they had not been included in the royal nuptials, this would happen.

“Is she as marvelous as tales are telling?” she asked.

“Better.”

Her little pixie eyebrows rose into the pink markings at her forehead. “Better?”

“Their love will move mountains.”

“And defeat Beasts?” Glenda inquired.

Baldrick held her eyes. “I felt fear, Your Grace. Now I have only hope.”

“Then she is better than marvelous.”

“We will still need to be ready,” he warned.

“As ever, Baldrick, of course,” she drawled.

With that, and without another word, as was her wont, she buzzed away, only to turn back to look at him from the distance.

“Does she make him happy?” she called.

“He does not know it quite yet, but she is his world.”

“It’s about time he got one,” she replied.

She then swooped a loop in the air on a trail of taffy-pink pixie dust and darted out of sight, glittering dust drifting to the earth in her wake.

Baldrick moved to his tree and into it, ready to put up his feet and drink more ale.

And later, when he lay down in his bed, he slept easy for the first time since he felt a quake.

57

The Finnie

Queen Ha-Lah

Beach Beside the Triton Sea

OFF THE WEST COAST OF FIRENZE