The Black Shard (5 page)

"Oh, there you are," King Warren said to Werrien from across the terrace. "We've been looking for you." He linked arms with Lafinia, and the two of them made their way over to Werrien and Kristina. "How was that for a birthday blast?" he asked Werrien, proudly.

"Put it this way—it was loud enough to just about knock the food tables over," Werrien said, smiling slyly, "and it almost did just that."

"Well, then, I'd say a little better than the last blast, when the most it did was vibrate the tables," King Warren joked.

"My dad has a thing for cannon blasts," Werrien said to Kristina out of the corner of his mouth when the king wasn't looking.

King Warren turned his attention to Kristina. "And who may this lovely young lady be?" he said.

"Do you remember Kristina?" Werrien asked his father.

King Warren was taken back. "I'm sorry that I didn't recognize you.You've grown—and into such a beautiful young lady," he said.

Kristina smiled timidly at the king and queen. "I feel honored to be at Werrien's birthday party," she said, "but I would have brought a gift for him, if I'd been more prepared."

"Having you here is a great gift in itself," Queen Lafinia said, smiling radiantly.

Kristina couldn't help but blush. "Thanks," she said.

While she was speaking, Kristina suddenly felt a tug on her pant leg. She looked down, and flabbergasted, her mouth dropped open.

"Did I surprise you?" a familiar voice said.

"Oh, my gosh! Raymond!" Kristina said, full of surprise. Her eyes filled with warm tears as she bent down and scooped her former pet rat into her arms. After a long, heart-filled hug, Kristina placed Raymond down again. She noticed that Raymond had grown a little larger, mostly in his belly area. "Wow, Raymond, somebody must be feeding you very well."

"Yes, I must say, maybe a tad bit too well," Raymond said, standing on his hind legs and patting his full belly.

Kristina looked behind Raymond and saw another rat, patiently waiting for him. "Are you going to introduce your friend to me?" she asked Raymond.

Raymond turned to look at the other rat. "Come a little closer," he whispered nervously.

Timidly, the other rat went to stand beside him.

"Kristina, this is my girlfriend, Lilly," Raymond said.

Kristina's eyebrows rose and the first thought that popped into her mind was,
your girlfriend? Uh ... You didn't ask my permission to have a girlfriend.

Lilly lowered her head in a humble bow and then held out her little pink paw toward Kristina. Kristina crouched down and shook it.

"Pleased to meet you, Kristina," Lilly said. "Raymond has told me wonderful stories about you and him."

Kristina eyed Raymond. "Oh, he has, has he?" she said, slightly flustered but trying not to show it.

"Yes, he told me how he used to live in your room, and how you would take him places in his special pouch." Lilly grew more excited as she continued. "He also told me a story of how he bravely road on a horse while escaping his enemies, and of how he saved three children from a cave that was crumbling in."

To change the exaggerated subject, Raymond cleared his throat. "Yes, well, anyhow, enough about me. Tell me how you've been keeping," he said to Kristina.

Kristina wanted to tell Raymond how she longed for him to come back home with her, but seeing how happy he was, with his
girlfriend,
she just resorted to saying, "I've been real good, mostly keeping busy with school."

Lilly's eyes scanned underneath the buffet table for any traces of scrap food. She spotted some pasta and fruit that had fallen from one of the guest's plates. "Shall we get something to eat, dear?" she said enthusiastically to Raymond.

"I guess that I am getting a little hungry," Raymond said while rubbing his full-figured belly. "Would you like to join us?" he asked Kristina and Werrien.

"We'll follow you," Werrien said cheerily.

As they followed Raymond and Lilly, Kristina whispered to Werrien, "The last time I was here, you told me that there were no other rats in Bernovem."

"There wasn't—that is, until Lilly came to Bernovem from Tezerel."

"So did Raymond move out of Retzel's and Mitzi's house?"

"No, apparently Lilly now lives with them as well."

At the buffet table, Werrien handed Kristina a plate. Both were quiet for a while as they scooped up the food. Then Werrien said, "Come to think of it, I don't even think that Leacha saw him—she never mentioned him to me."

"Are you saying Leacha never met Raymond?"

"Oh, no—sorry. I was back to talking about the old man who rescued me."

Kristina felt frustrated as she scooped scalloped potatoes onto her plate.
How could Werrien go back to that subject so quickly, when all I can think of is that my best friend has found someone else to take my place.
She looked at Werrien.
Well, at least Raymond was only one of my best friends.

Hester and Davina suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs, and noticing Werrien and Kristina, they hurried over to them.

"Oh, good! There's food here. I was just wondering when I'd be able to eat something more substantial than what those strange little servant men were pawning off on us," Davina said, already plucking a few olives from a tray before getting herself a plate.

Werrien stared at her oddly. "Help yourself," he said.

"Don't mind if I do," Davina replied, with a confident grin stretching across her face.

The two Brinewine brothers, Heerzek and Sepel, appeared at the top of the stairs, and when they spotted Hester and Davina at the buffet table, they quickly made their way over to them.

"Oh, great!" Davina said under her breath to Hester.

"You're just bummed because Sepel beat you in the croquet match," Hester whispered loudly.

"Uh, Earth to Hester! Didn't you notice? I actually let him win." Davina shoveled curried squid and rice onto her plate.

"Oh, come on, Davina! You just can't admit that you've been beaten," Hester said as her eyes trailed over the length of the table in search of desserts.

Heerzek, the boy with the black hair, took a plate from the front end of the table and went to stand by Hester. Sepel took a plate as well and went to stand by Davina.

"We've found a nice table set up right by the fire-breathers," Sepel said to Davina.

Davina half-grinned nervously and stared across the table at Hester.

"Sounds good," Hester said, casually shrugging her shoulders.

Davina rolled her eyes and sighed. "I guess that we will need a place to sit," she said unenthusiastically. She stared at Hester, loading her plate up with apple strudel, wobbly lime gelatin, and lemon poppy-seed cake. "You're doing the same as the last time—eating only desserts."

"What do you mean,
the same as the last time?"
Hester said. Then she glimpsed down the long table at three twinkling balls of light heading toward Kristina and Werrien, and her mouth suddenly fell open. Her food slid off her plate and onto the floor. "Now I remember," she said, looking bewildered.

"So do I," Davina said, suddenly recalling as well.

T
he three twinkling balls of light were actually fairies. Two of them flew up behind Kristina and landed on her left shoulder. They were so light in weight that Kristina didn't even notice them. One of them, a girl, tugged gently on a few strands of Kristina's hair, causing Kristina to flinch and almost let go of her plate. Luckily, Werrien, who was right beside her, quickly steadied it.

The fairies flew in front of Kristina's face. "Surprise!" they said in unison.

"Clover and Looper!" Kristina said. Then she held the palms of her hands up for them to land on. Clover landed on one and Looper on the other. "I was hoping I'd get to see you two." There was clear excitement in her voice.

Clover looked the same as the last time Kristina had been in Bernovem, but Looper had changed some.

"Looper, you've grown a little taller," Kristina said.

"An eighth of an inch to be exact," Looper said proudly, standing as tall as he possibly could.

Clover flew off Kristina's hand and again hovered in front of her face. Then suddenly, another fairy, this one a teenage boy, appeared at Clover's side.

"Kristina, I'd like you to meet my friend, Sage," Clover said, smiling gloriously.

"Uh ... Sis? Don't you mean your boyfriend?" Looper quickly added.

Clover's tiny cheeks turned hot pink, and she gave Looper an austere, older-sister look, meant to discourage him from saying more.

Even though Sage was no more than three inches tall, Kristina was amazed at how handsome he was, with his shimmering, blue-black hair and baby-blue eyes.

"Nice to meet you, Sage," Kristina said.

"Likewise," Sage said, giving her a composed wink. "I've heard a lot about you," he added coolly.

"Oh?" Kristina said apprehensively, her eyes shifting downward. Even though Kristina had made her peace with Clover the last time she was in Bernovem, her thoughts gravitated to the many arguments that they had engaged in before then.

"Clover really looks up to you," Sage added.

Kristina's eyes lit up. "Really?" she said, rather surprised to hear it.

"No doubt; she is a lot taller than me," Clover said, her hands now on her hips as she smirked and blinked her very hazel eyes at Sage. She grabbed Sage by his arm. "Come on," she said, tugging at him, her wings flapping harder than usual as he resisted. "Remember? You said you didn't want to miss the archery competition."

Sage waved good-bye to Kristina, just before being whisked away by the feisty, red-haired fairy.

Davina and Hester hurried over to Kristina.

"We remember now," Davina said excitedly.

"Remember what?" Kristina said, taken off guard by their abrupt approach.

"Well, duh! We were here before," Davina said.

"And you were too," Hester added, glaring at Kristina and thinking of her as being an absolute imbecile.

"I can't believe that you don't remember?" Davina added.

"I remember. I can't believe it just came back to you guys," Kristina said. She was surprised at how naive Davina and Hester could be.

"And now, I remember him," Davina said, smiling shrewdly at Werrien. "I guess you're not as bad of a guy as I made you out to be."

"And that rude, little, old gardener man who thought we were trespassing," Hester said. "Now I remember him as well."

"Actually, Ugan's really nice," Kristina corrected her.

Davina took a bite of her food. "Yeah, I guess he's not that bad," she said, talking with her mouth full.

At least the food doesn't hang from her braces like it used to,
Kristina thought.

Werrien examined Davina's face. "What's different about you?" he asked her.

"Oh, it's probably that I'm not wearing braces. I've had them off for almost a year. Quite a few people have hinted that I should go into modeling." Davina smiled, revealing her straight teeth.

"May I ask who 'quite a few people' are?" Hester said flatly.

Davina thought for a moment and then said, "I meant quite a few people in my family, like for instance, my parents." Her face changed from a smile to a red-faced frown.

"I think you look great," a male voice said, coming from a short distance behind them.

Davina quickly turned around to see who had spoken, and at the same time Clover, who had come back to talk to Looper, whizzed over to Davina and landed on her shoulder.

"It was Se-pel," Clover teased Davina. Davina turned around and cringed.

"Oh, come on, Davina! They only want to be our friends," Hester said.

"Just because you have a thing for the black-haired one, doesn't mean I have to feel the same about the brown-haired one." She turned and glanced at Sepel's pointy ears. "I doubt they're even human," she hissed.

Sepel and Heerzek approached Davina and Hester, carrying full plates of food.

"Are you girls coming to join us? We can still get the table next to the fire-breathers," Heerzek said.

"Actually, they've changed those tables over to a card tournament," Sepel said.