Remie, also a member of the uninvited crew, laughed bashfully. “Actually, I haven’t either,” he confessed. He wondered why, but it always seemed like he was left out of the group. Remie didn’t want to go per se, but it still hurt.
Knowing that Kerio hadn’t been either made him feel better, but that also threw a wrench in things—neither Kerio nor Remie had any contact with the maids. Unfortunately, Gormus, Slad, and Gees were also in the camp of nonattenders. The only two people in their friend group who ever attended were Fie, ever the curious cat, and Queen, ever the dog trailing her. But those two were at the heart of this issue. One was absent, thereby causing this whole affair, and the other needed cheering up, thereby creating the purpose of this operation. So that was a bust too.
Seeing Remie looking stumped, Kerio said, “I can try looking for someone who has contact with the maids.”
“Oh, no. It’s fine. You already heard me out and gave me this great idea, so I’ll try the rest on my own now. There’s no one in my immediate friend group that will work, but I’m sure it’ll work out if I broaden my search a bit.”
Kerio was a good listener and gave serious advice. Yeah, Remie thought, I really do like him a lot. Hearing Kerio call him a friend in return, inspired Remie to do his best, lest he let Kerio down.
“Okay,” Kerio said. “But if you need my help, know that I’m here for you.”
“Sure. Thanks.”
Their conversation afterwards turned to other subjects before they eventually turned in for the night. The next morning, Remie changed from his pajamas into his squire uniform as Kerio sat beside him reading a book. Remie needed to get up early this morning to make it back to the north dorm in time while Kerio had no such need. However, Kerio got up early anyway and made tea for Remie before he left.
The tea had cooled down enough for Remie to drink while he was changing. Holding the cup in both hands, Remie tentatively began, “Um... I think...” It felt weird to leave this early with a casual “bye.”
“Hm?” said Kerio.
“I’ll...see you again soon...” Why in the world had that been what he landed on? Remie turned bright red in embarrassment, his last words trailing off into a whisper.
Yet Kerio only smiled back in response. “Oh, sure. Take care now. See you soon.”
“Uh-huh.”
As he left Kerio’s room, Remie broke out into a smile as well.
Remie was not the type to reach out to people on his own, but he later worked up the courage to ask if he could arrange a meeting with the maids. The other boys were shocked at first but soon realized what his goal was and readily agreed to help. Now things were looking up, Remie thought, and it was all thanks to Kerio.
However, when he met with the maids and broached the topic, one maid said, “Let me see, what do I know about Princess Fie...? We’re all new girls, so we’ve never had a chance to meet her. We could try to break in and see her, but some of the other girls already broke the rules about that, so now the senior maids are really cracking down on us.”
“I see,” Remie said, disappointed. He hadn’t expected this response, but oh well. Back to the drawing board. “Sorry for the unreasonable request.”
Seeing Remie in such a state distressed the girls. He was so handsome that he had, surprisingly, quite the gang of secret admirers. Less than wanting to date him, exactly, many of them wanted to be his friend or even simply lay eyes on him. The maids all hurriedly began to offer their best eyewitness reports.
“W-We have seen her from a distance, though!” one of the maids said. “I didn’t get a good look since she was too far away, but I thought she was cute!”
“Right! And she looks quite small! Smaller than me, I think,” another added.
All the information they had ran in this same vein, but the girls had tried their hardest to think of anything. “Thanks,” Remie said, and he gave them a smile for their efforts.
However, one girl among them hadn’t said a peep so far. She was the youngest of the bunch and had spent the whole time staring at Remie in confusion. Finally, she worked up the courage to speak and said, “Um...you’re looking for Heath, aren’t you?”
This shocked Remie. He had only mentioned Princess Fie, the new arrival in the palace, but this girl guessed correctly that he was actually searching for his friend Heath. Little did Remie know, but this was the very same girl Heath had once saved from being picked on by some of the older maids.
One of the girls spoke up from the group, saying. “Where’d that come from, Arcia?” The speaker was none other than Arcia’s old tormentors, but the bullying had now taken place over a year ago. Seeing Arcia looking so distraught, this girl was simply worried for her coworker.
Remie stared at Arcia and, for a minute, did not know how to respond. However, seeing Arcia looking so serious, Remie steeled himself as well and said, “Y-Yes, that’s correct.”
Arcia looked down and remained silent for a moment. Finally, she declared in a voice filled with conviction, “The girl in the palace known as Princess Fie is actually Heath.”
“Huh, what do you mean?” one girl cried.
“Heath is that cute boy from the north dorm, isn’t he?” another asked. “You know, the mischievous one.”
“You mean that he’s Princess Fie...?” said a third maid in bewilderment.
“Is that true, Arcia? We only saw her from afar. We can’t be sure—”
“No, I’m sure,” Arcia said. “That’s Heath. I don’t know what he’s doing in a place like this or why he’s being called Princess Fie, but I’m sure that he’s Heath. I would know him anywhere.”
This stunned the maids into silence. They looked at Arcia with wide, doubtful eyes.
Remie decided to tell them all the truth. “It’s kind of complicated, but... I’m trying to get in contact with Princess Fie—I mean, Heath—because he’s my friend. So I was hoping, if any of you would be willing to talk to him...” While Remie and the others couldn’t do it, maybe the maids would have more luck. He wasn’t sure how much they could do, but he hoped that whatever it was would lift his spirits.
“I don’t know...” one of the girls said.
“I don’t think we can do that...” another added.
“We’ll be in huge trouble if we get caught...”
Arcia alone looked Remie in the eyes as the other girls made their excuses. Her stare was almost daunting. He gulped and tried to return her unwavering eye contact.
She asked, “Heath is important to the person you’re worried about, isn’t he?”
Remie did not know how to answer, but he nodded. “Yes, very much so. I think he’s more important to Queen than anyone else in the world.” He must have been, or else Queen would not have been in such a state, thought Remie. He knew this very well from all the time he had spent watching over the two of them. They, in turn, were likewise important friends to Remie.
Arcia was silent for a few seconds and then nodded. “Very well. Then I will do my best.”
“Arcia?!” a maid cried.
“B-But it’s dangerous...” another of her friends added. All of the older maids were worried for her, but Arcia’s determination was unmoved.
“I understand exactly how he feels,” Arcia said, “so I want to do this.” The maids fell silent. “Please tell him to write Heath a letter, and I’ll do my best to get it to him somehow.”
“Thank you, Arcia,” said Remie. He gave her a deep bow.