Chapter 2. In Which Guests Arrive

When the delegation arrived at five the next day, everyone was in the throne room to greet them. The magic wardrobe had given Morwen a blue dress, and Telemain looked almost as princely as Daystar in a black shirt with wide sleeves and a cape with a ruby clasp. Much to Cimorene's surprise (she'd only gotten good jewelry out of the wardrobe once) he was also wearing a ruby drop earring.

Willin announced the delegation and showed them in. The royals wore red with gold accents, and the guard captains were in dress uniforms, white with the insignia of the realm. The Vizier, a slender man whose curly black hair was doing its best to escape from a red turban with a falcon feather stuck in it, was the first to approach the throne. He reached for Cimorene's hand and kissed it, then said "I am Vizier Rashid. My greetings and those of my city to such a lovely Queen. If a kingdom truly reflects its rulers, yours must be the most excellent of kingdoms."

Meanwhile, Suraya was looking at Telemain. "Are you the Grand Vizier here?" she asked.

"Oh, no, milady. I am a consultant on matters of the thaumaturgic variety."

"He's our magician," said Mendanbar.

"Does he always talk like that?"

"Yes!" Mendanbar, Cimorene and Daystar all said at once.

"Not always," said Morwen.

"And who might this lovely lady be?" asked the Vizier. "A great duchess, perhaps?"

"No, your Excellency. I'm only a witch. My name is Morwen."

"I have the highest admiration for witches. My mother and all my aunts were witches."

"You didn't ask why I wasn't wearing a black dress and flying a broom."

"You didn't ask why I wasn't wearing black robes with a red cape and trying to overthrow my King. I was returning the favor."

Morwen giggled. "I think we're going to like the Vizier, Cimorene," she said.

Cimorene sized up the Vizier. He was a few years older than she and Mendanbar were, but still rather good-looking, with thick black hair and a short pointy beard that probably might have been sinister on someone else, but certainly wasn't on the Vizier's features. Cimorene was starting to think her scripts had been as wrong about viziers as they were about princesses and dragons. There was absolutely nothing slimy about Rashid.

"I would like to speak to your King," asked Mendanbar.

"I am afraid that is currently impossible. You see, he never learned your language, and his command of Latin was never good."

"I speak Arabic!" said Telemain, wandering over to the King and introducing himself. The King burst out laughing.

"What? What did I say?"

"I believe you intended to say you were a magician, but instead you said you were a magic. Don't worry about it." The Vizier said something in Arabic to his King.

"He said, 'do not laugh at the great sorcerer Telemain or he will turn you into a toad.'"

"Really?" asked Daystar.

"No, he said 'be polite, your Majesty, we are guests here.'"

"You wouldn't think a King would be reminded to be polite," said Daystar.

"He's not accustomed to diplomacy yet," said the Vizier. "This is the first mission he's been on since he ascended the throne. Back at home, I'm afraid he has a tendency to simply order people about. Of course, being the King, he can do that, but I firmly believe in the power of politeness."

"You are definitely going to like the Vizier, Mum," Daystar said.

"Why would you go on your first diplomatic mission somewhere you didn't know the language?" asked Mendanbar.

"I have no idea," said the Vizier. "King Samir said that he would like to make a journey to pay his respects to the King of the Enchanted Forest. He knew that with myself and Suraya along he would be able to have his words translated."

"Your princess learned something useful?" asked Cimorene.

"Only when she asked me to teach it to her," the vizier answered. "She even asked Malika to teach her fighting skills."

"I don't see any weapons," said Daystar.

"Malika is a master of unarmed fighting techniques. She can use weapons, but she doesn't rely on them. Those are the techniques she taught Suraya."

"What were your lessons supposed to be about?" Cimorene asked the princess.

"Proper etiquette, mostly. How to react when an evil jinn carries you off. We haven't got a problem with dragons, but it seems like another jinn pops up every week. I don't think Uncle Samir quite trusts Rashid. Most of my scripts were about handling vizier problems."

"Oh? Did they tell you how to rebuff his invariably slimy advances?" Cimorene asked.

The Arabian princess blushed. "Well, yes, but I thought that part didn't apply to Rashid. I rather like him."

This was, of course, unheard of. Princesses fell in love with princes, or worthy knights, or very rarely a deserving peasant. Even Cimorene, who'd done almost everything a princess was not supposed to do, was a little surprised to see one declaring any measure of affection for a vizier.

"All right," said Cimorene. "Willin will show you to your rooms; there is some time before dinner."

"May I have the room nearest your magician's?" the vizier asked. "He has already invited me to take a look at some projects he is working on."

"But that's Daystar's!" the elf said.

"I'll give it up. Good luck sleeping, Rashid," Daystar told him. "I didn't sleep a wink last night."

"If Herman's boarding school boys are making a racket outside again, I'll personally make sure none of them leave that tower until they graduate," said Cimorene.

"Oh, no, Mother, it wasn't the school boys." He pointed to Morwen and Telemain while they were distracted poring over one of the Vizier's magic books.

Cimorene giggled. She withdrew a pair of earplugs from her pocket and handed them to Rashid. "If Daystar is right, you'll want those."

"What was all that about?" Morwen asked.

"Daystar says you two kept him up last night, and I'll not have you disturbing our guests."

"Were they doing magic?" Suraya asked Daystar.

"Er…no," said Daystar, clearly embarrassed. "They're newlyweds."

"Oh, I see," said Suraya. "I've never heard of a witch getting married before."

"Did…did you even hear Rashid earlier? I think you owe him an apology," said Cimorene.

"No apology necessary," the Vizier said. "You see, when I said 'my mother' earlier, I was not referring to my birth mother. I never knew who she was. You see, I was a foundling, and I was raised by a wealthy witch and her six sisters in a tower near the palace. I called the one who found me my mother. Suraya knew of what she spoke, as she has met the sisters. Morwen is still the first married witch either of us have met."

"You might find that most things in the Enchanted Forest aren't what you expected," said Cimorene. "You'll both fit right in, being such an unusual vizier and princess."

"I'm an unusual princess?" asked Suraya.

"Oh, yes," said Cimorene. "You learned to fight, and you learned Latin. And since you're such good friends with a magician who was raised by witches, I'm sure you learned a little magic too."

"I did. I can make small objects fly around."

"Everyone learns a few pieces of magic in the City of Rubies," said Rashid. "The King himself learns magic."

"I had heard the City of Rubies was a magocracy," Telemain commented.

"A what?" asked Daystar.

"Magicians are in charge there," said Rashid. "No, I think you got us confused with the City of Sapphires. The King can be a magician, but he is not required to be. Samir has little interest in magic."

Telemain looked like Rashid had just said Samir had done something heinous. To not be able to do magic was one thing (though there were forms of magic anyone could do, if they studied and had the right components), but to be disinterested in magic was, in Telemain's worldview, bordering on wrong.

The dinner was soon brought into the Great Hall. As well as huge sides of beef that one of the dragons had helped Cimorene roast, there were loaves of rye bread, bowls of salad, roasted potatoes, and a pot of carrot soup.

"I made baklava for dessert," said Cimorene. "I was tempted to try making an entire meal with recipes from your country, but I didn't have time to get the ingredients. I did get what I needed for the baklava, though."

"Thank you, Cimorene," said Rashid. "We were looking forward to trying your food, so it's just as well you couldn't get the ingredients."

"I didn't know princesses could cook," said Suraya. "I thought you had royal cooks and so on."

"I do. I couldn't have made most of this without them. But I learned from my family's cook, before they stopped the lessons."

"Oh, I see," said Suraya. "I learned some things from Hakim and Malika, but Father stopped those lessons too. And my lessons with the baker, and the woodcarver, the blacksmith, the language masters, and the magicians. And the assassin."

Cimorene spat her drink out. Some of it landed on Rashid's face. He pulled a black handkerchief out of his shirt pocket and dabbed at it daintily.

"What did she just say?"

"Oh, it was a little joke to see if you were listening, your Majesty," said Suraya. "You looked like you weren't."

"Can you confirm this, Rashid?" asked Cimorene.

"Yes, your Majesty."

"Good. For the record, Princess Suraya, that is not the kind of joke we approve of here," said Mendanbar. "Say the world is banana-shaped or something if you want to test our attention."

"But it isn't, and that's dull," said Suraya.

"I remember thinking everything was dull," said Cimorene.

"You're from Linderwall," said Daystar. "Everything was."

"Well, my son does make a good point," said Cimorene, "but just because learning formal manners can be a bit dull doesn't mean you should be deliberately unpleasant. Good etiquette should really be about how you deal with people, not what fork you eat with. Scaring someone like that is not nice at all."

The princess muttered something in Arabic under her breath.

"She says 'how am I supposed to have any fun around here with these sticks-in-the-mud.' I am terribly sorry, your Majesties," said Rashid.

"I think you should talk with her father," said Mendanbar.

"It won't work. She's already annoyed with him for bringing her here and expecting her to marry a prince she's never met."

"I see. Then perhaps I should talk with her. Tomorrow. Tonight, I'm sure we would all like to get settled in our rooms before any serious business occurs."

"Cimorene, I think you and I should have a private talk after dinner, regardless. With Telemain and Morwen, if possible."

"Certainly, Mendanbar, but I can't think why."

"And I can't say why here. I will there."

After that, the dinner went well, with Rashid telling Cimorene and Mendanbar some of the more interesting aspects of the Kingdom of Rubies, while Hakim discussed fighting with Daystar and one of the palace guards. Suraya seemed to enjoy the food, but wasn't nearly as talkative after her joke flopped, and seemed to spend most of her words on Malika. Cimorene wondered if she'd been too harsh on the princess, and hoped that the next day would go better.