When they told him Hugh was there, Kat made an unpleasant face, but just as Anne and Keith had done, he instructed the fairies to take a break and left his workspace in the west wing. Upon entering the lesser hall, the three of them saw that Hugh had taken a seat on top of the long table and let his crossed legs dangle freely.
“You sure got some bad manners! Get your ass off the table! Some aristocrat you are!”
As soon as he saw Hugh like that, Kat shouted at him. Hugh shrugged and got to his feet.
“I never thought I’d get lectured on manners by you.”
“The way ya look now, anyone’d think you were some two-bit hoodlum.”
Kat was picky about what he wore, and he seemed embarrassed by Hugh’s sloppy attire.
“It’s hot,” Hugh explained. “Anyway, it looks like you’re accumulating fairies just fine, huh?”
“Yes,” replied Anne. “Right now, we have sixteen. And I think there are probably three or four who have the knack in the new group that arrived yesterday. Soon, we’ll be up to almost twenty.”
“That’s better than I expected. Given the big fuss at the beginning of the summer, I was a little worried.”
“Well, it’s goin’ fine, so there’s no reason for you to be showin’ your face,” Kat said through gritted teeth. “Why today, huh? I got a feelin’ you bein’ here can’t be good news.”
Hugh grinned broadly. “That isn’t true. Today, I come with glad tidings.”
“Glad tidings? Of what, Hugh?” Naively, Anne got excited at the promise of good news.
“The date has been set for when the crafters from the Mercury Workshop and the Radcliffe Workshop will come to observe. You have ten days.”
Keith’s eyes went wide. “Ten days?! Isn’t that early?!”
“It’s right on schedule. We gave you advance notice, didn’t we? That they were visiting in two months’ time?”
The crafters would be there to see the fairies’ skills. Obviously, they had to impress them.
“I wonder what we should show them,” Anne mused, holding her index finger against her lips.
Keith looked pensive. “Good question. We’ve got to convince them somehow.”
“Show them the fairies’ talents,” Hugh said simply.
Kat frowned. “So you think we’re gonna amaze a buncha crafters by being like Here you go and letting them see the fairies at work? Are you nuts?”
“Well, I think showing them that the fairies are well trained will probably impress them,” Hugh answered nonchalantly. “That’s all you need.”
Keith sounded exasperated, “That won’t do much to convince the factions to accept fairies. Surely you must know that already?”
“That’s why I said to show off their skills.”
“I think the best thing would be to let the crafters see some completed sculptures,” said Anne. “But, Hugh, the fairies don’t yet have the techniques to shape the sugar into candy.”
At the moment, sixteen fairies had been chosen. Their talents were astonishing. But they’d been working as apprentices for only a short period of time, and they hadn’t yet learned any of the techniques they needed to form candy sculptures. The fairies’ grasp of the fundamentals was exceptional. But they wouldn’t be able to show the visiting crafters any finished products.
“In that case, we’ll just have to win them over with what we have,” said Hugh.
Under his pointed gaze, Anne and the others held their tongues.
The three of them were responsible for the fairies at the castle. The question was: How much had they improved the fairies’ skills? And how could they demonstrate their students’ abilities? They were being tested.
“I entrusted this job to you all,” said Hugh. “I don’t intend to poke my nose where it doesn’t belong. We’ve said that ten days from now, the leaders of those two factions, their head crafters, and anyone else interested can come and see the fairies’ progress. You need to convince them.”
The Silver Sugar Viscount had given his order.
Kat grimaced, while Anne and Keith tensed.
Hugh watched their faces change and flashed a smile. Then he slung his jacket back over his shoulder.
“We’re leaving, Salim.”
Hugh called out to his bodyguard, who’d been waiting by the wall, and walked briskly down the stairs. As he passed in front of Anne and the others, Salim shot the three of them a look of pity, then silently followed Hugh.
“What can we do…?” Anne muttered as soon as Hugh was out the front door. “He told us to convince them. But the fairies can’t even make sculptures yet.”
“What if we made something using the silver sugar they’ve kneaded and the sugar threads they’ve spun?”
Kat shook his head at Keith’s suggestion. “Don’t be stupid,” he said. “If we did that, we’d just be showin’ off our own work. No one would be able to see that the fairies had a hand in it.”
“But the fairies aren’t at the level where they can shape silver sugar.” Anne bit her lip.
Keith put his hand on his chin and pondered the problem while Kat crossed his arms and hummed thoughtfully. After standing in silence for a while, they noticed the fairies come back from the garden. It was about time for their break to be over.
Brushing his bangs away from his eyes, Kat let out a deep sigh. “For now, let’s keep working,” he said. “And while we’re at it, we’ll think about how to proceed.”
The three of them wouldn’t get anything figured out by standing around, so Anne and the others went back to work.
After dinner, Anne, Keith, and Kat entered the workshop to concoct a plan for the next ten days. But ultimately, they couldn’t come up with anything. When the Saint Lewiston Bell Church rang its midnight bell, they headed to bed.
The temperature dropped when it got dark, and as long as they kept the windows open, it was comfortable. But Anne couldn’t get to sleep. Cuddling Mithril, she tossed and turned countless times in bed.
Mithril had eventually staggered back to work that day and assisted everyone. Then he had quickly slipped into Anne’s bed and fallen asleep, so she hadn’t had a chance to ask him anything.
I’d feel bad waking him up to interrogate him.
She was worried about Mithril and even more worried about what they would do for the next ten days, and that kept her awake.
Anne gave up on sleeping, laid Mithril gently down in the bed, and stood.
She went into the lesser hall, lit a single candle, and stared into the dancing flame. Small flying insects swarmed around the tiny fire.
“Ten days to go… This is bad… They still can’t make anything…”
She held her head in both hands.
It was possible that just showing the visitors their progress might be enough. Given the fairies’ excellent technique, the faction crafters might understand their worth. But she wondered if that would really move their hearts.
The basics won’t have much of an impact. That’s why Hugh made a point of saying, “Show off their skills.”
But how, she wondered, was she supposed to show off the skills of fairies who couldn’t craft yet?
“Burning off your bangs with a candle? What a strange game.”
Anne jumped at the sarcastic voice behind her.
“Challe?!”
She pressed a hand to her bangs and turned around to find Challe peering down at her, his black eyes bewitching even in the faint light of the candle.
“Did I burn them?!” Anne asked.
“That would have been funny, but no, unfortunately, they’re not burned.”
She lowered her hand in relief, only to get flicked in the forehead.
“What was that for?!” she said, putting her hand back to her head.
“Go to sleep. You lot have been overdoing it all summer.”
She was well aware of that. Between the heat and her fatigue, she’d lost her appetite along with a little bit of weight around her hips. It went without saying that her chest had also shrunk. She knew she had to at least get enough rest, but at the moment, she didn’t feel like she could sleep at all.
“Sure, I’ll go to bed once I get a little more tired. By the way, Challe, Mithril Lid Pod has been acting strange for a while now. Do you know anything about it?”
“I know he’s strange. But no matter what I ask him, he doesn’t answer.”
“I see… I guess it’s something he doesn’t want to talk about…”
Challe looked at the stained glass window. Its floral pattern cast a multitude of colors across the floor, even at night. It must have been a full moon.
“The moon is gorgeous,” said Challe. “If you don’t feel like sleeping, would you accompany me for a little while?”
“Accompany you for what?”
“A walk.”
As far as Anne was concerned, that was a great suggestion. It was much better than glaring into a candle and nearly burning her bangs. She blew out the flame and stood up.
“Sure, I’ll go.”
Challe took off at a brisk pace. His single wing, which flowed down to his knees, swayed in time with his steps. It looked glossier than usual. Anne quickly trotted along to keep up with him.
Challe went out the front door and headed for the stable behind the castle, where he put a saddle on a horse. Surprised, Anne wondered how far he intended them to go. Challe led the horse out of the stable, mounted the saddle, and held his hand out to her.
“Get on.”
Though it was night, the area was relatively safe, and she had Challe to protect her. Deciding that it was probably all right, Anne took Challe’s hand, and he pulled her up into the saddle.
The full moon floated high in the sky, making for a stunning sight.
Perhaps it was the temperature, but it looked much larger and closer than it did in the winter. The light it cast was cheerful, and bathing in its pale glow was refreshing and pleasantly cool.
Anne swayed back and forth atop the horse, with Challe’s arms around her. At first, she thought Challe was letting the horse run around as it pleased, but before long, she realized he was handling the reins with purpose.
“Hey, Challe? Is there somewhere you want to go, or…?”
She turned around to ask him, but Challe kept staring straight ahead. She was about to ask him again, when she suddenly caught a whiff of something sweet. It was an aroma she knew well, but she hadn’t experienced for quite some time.