Inchworm

"But, Auntie, do you have to go?" Jenna asked as she chased her aunt across the courtyard.

"I'm afraid so, Jenna," Petunia answered without breaking stride. "Katherine is in danger. I made a promise and I intend to keep it."

"Can't I go with you?" Jenna pleaded. "Sorrel has to go off with the Young Army on a drill, and I don't have anything to do."

"No, Jenna, you stay here." The High Queen's tone brooked no argument. "Stay within the walls and be good. I told you, I can't undermine your mother's orders."

Jenna sighed with frustration. Her parents often went off for tours of the Thousand Lakes and the Western Plains, her father's domain. Sorrel had to stay behind; he was in the Young Army, as were all boys and young men under the age of sixteen. Sorrel was nine, and already he was an officer, although that had a bit more to do with his heritage than his abilities as a leader. Jenna never got to go either. In all her five years, the small princess had never left the castle grounds. She had never met another child her own age--had never seen a child her own age except for the rare occasions when the Young Army squads tramped through the grounds for a parade review.

Every time Jenna asked if she could go out with her parents, they put her off. They had even been reluctant to allow Sorrel to join the Young Army; only the fact that it was a sort of law in the kingdom had convinced them. Jenna had been a baby then, so she hadn't known that until Sorrel told her. Still, Jenna wished that her parents would just say "no" and be done with it, rather than "maybe next time" or "wouldn't you rather stay and play with your brother?"

Jenna had once asked her aunt if she knew why the Lady Greeneyes and the Lord of the Western Plains smothered her under their wings. The High Queen had taken her little niece on her knee and explained that her parents were deathly afraid of losing her and her brother. When Jenna, then a week shy of her fifth birthday, had insisted she was big enough to take care of herself, Petunia had explained that she had once had another brother, long before she was born, and that he had been killed by bad people who might still want to hurt Jenna and her parents.

It didn't make it any easier on Jenna, who only wanted to see what was out there. Knowing that there was no use in arguing, however, she sighed and hunched up in a corner, watching as her aunt swung into her side-saddle and rode away.

"Hullo, Princess."

Jenna looked up and almost smiled. "Halloa, Sebastian."

The lanky stableboy was perhaps twelve or fourteen, fifteen at the absolute most. He had always been quite kind to Jenna; she usually hung about in the stables while her parents and brother were away, talking and watching him groom the horses. Sometimes, if she knew she wouldn't get caught, she helped him out, but as a princess was not supposed to engage in such menial tasks she didn't often. For his part, Sebastian was just grateful for the company. Being rather small and short, Jenna couldn't do much in the way of helping, but Sebastian always made her feel like she was, guiding her hands over the horses' flanks with the stiff currycomb. Everything she knew about horses, she had learned from Sebastian--certainly not from her brother, who rarely had time for her anymore, or from her parents, who were too paranoid to let her near them much.

"What's the matter, Princess?" Sebastian asked, lifting the little girl and setting her on the wide, flat rail that formed a sill between two stalls. One of the horses, the golden palomino that Sebastian had taught Jenna to ride on, came over inquisitively and nudged her elbow.

Jenna rubbed the horse's velvet ears as she answered. "Nothing really. It's just that I've always wanted to leave the castle and see what's out there, and my parents won't let me out. They say it's too dangerous."

One of the things Jenna loved about Sebastian was that he treated all of her problems as though they were important ones, and as though she was a grown-up too. "Maybe it is. What if something were to happen? What if the High Queen left the kingdom again, and the Lady Greeneyes broke her neck, and the Lord of the Western Plains took ill, and the Queen of the Eagles' Reaches missed her footing and fell, and the Prince didn't return from a Young Army exercise? Who would be left to rule the kingdom?"

"Sir Guy of Gisbourne."

"He's only a Regent. You would be the last of the royal blood." Sebastian regarded her seriously. "You have a duty to the kingdom, Princess. Someone's got to be here and be safe, right?"

Jenna almost smiled. "I guess so."

Sebastian gave her one of the crooked smiles she loved so much. "Besides, I kind of like having you around."

"Really? Hank says I'm always in the way."

"Hank doesn't know what he's talking about." Sebastian ducked between the rails and came up in the palomino's stall. "Now how about you sit right up there while I give Amber her bath?"

Jenna smiled for real this time. "Okay."