When Coralina reached The Old Ogre Inn, she found Jaedis there already, but not Heidel.

Only two or three tables held guests taking supper. Behind the long counter that spanned the room, Roke the innkeeper quietly counted his coins. Each table offered a stubby candle, but most light came from the cavernous fireplace that arched across one wall.

"I ordered our food!" Jaedis waved a hand at three small pies on the rickety table. Coralina flopped into a chair and cast a doubtful eye on the unsavory pastry before her. "What is this?"

"Nut Muddle Pie," Jaedis said cheerfully.

Coralina looked horrified "What's the 'muddle'?"

"Hmm. I think it's basically a nut pie with other... uncertain ingredients."

"And you're eating it?" Coralina cried. Jaedis was halfway through, spooning the lumpy brownish glop into her mouth as if it were plum pudding.

"It's—well, it's not terrible," said Jaedis. "I don't want to offend the innkeeper."

Coralina, who had no such scruples, pushed her pie to the middle of the table. She dug through her satchel and withdrew a rolled bundle of papers. After shuffling through them, she hung over one page, reading under her breath.

"The play?" Jaedis asked through a mouthful of muddle.

Coralina nodded. "I'm struggling with the final scene. Rewrote it yesterday, but whenever I read it, I'm not satisfied."

"What's the title?" Jaedis asked.

Before she could answer, Heidel rushed through the doorway in a flutter of excitement. "Look! Look what I bought!" She slid into her chair and set a small velvet bag on the table. She pushed down the wrappings to expose a single piece of fruit, larger than a peach, but smooth and crimson, like a cherry.

Jaedis dropped her spoon. "Is that Lumen fruit?"

"Large, ripe, flawless," said Heidel. "I couldn't believe it." She gazed at the fruit as though she had dug up a chest full of diamonds.

"How much?" Jaedis asked in a reverent whisper. Heidel blew the air out of her cheeks. "Thirty silvers. Which I haggled down from forty-five."

A new ball gown cost thirty silvers. All for one piece of fruit. Though Coralina wasn't scandalized. Lumen fruit came from massive trees that grew only in Runa, most of them spread across the hill below the castle. Their colossal trunks, hard as marble, smooth as ice, could not be climbed or chopped, and so the succulent fruit that grew in their canopies could not be harvested. Either animals ravaged the crop each year, or it dropped hundreds of feet and burst into mush.

"Did you ask the seller how he got it?" said Coralina.

"Oh, he won't tell." Jaedis intercepted the reply. "Occasionally I hear rumors that someone—or perhaps a few someones—found a way to gather the fruit. But if it's true, they'll guard their secret. Wouldn't you? For thirty silvers apiece?"

"What will you do with it?" Coralina asked. Heidel grinned and shook her head. "Not sure yet. Something special." She slipped the fruit in the velvet bag and tightened the drawstring. Then she noticed her Nut Muddle Pie. After blinking with restrained revulsion, she pushed it to the table's center to keep company with Coralina's.

"Oh!" Jaedis fretted. "Roke'll be hurt. I can't eat them all myself!"

"Good," said Heidel. "You don't deserve a death that cruel."

Coralina returned to her papers. "The Terrible Tower."

"What?" said Heidel.

"Jaedis asked for the title of my next play. The Terrible Tower."

"Ooh! What's it about?" Jaedis asked.

Coralina smiled, pleased with her interest. "It's about a maiden, very poor but very beautiful, and three men in the kingdom are in love with her."

"Three?" Heidel glared. "Coco, why is one man never enough?"

Coralina waved a hand to shush her. "A gypsy tells the maiden that while all three men appear to love her, only one is true of heart."

Heidel rested her head on one hand and pretended to snore.

"No, stop!" Jaedis flapped her hands. "I want to hear what happens!"

Coralina laughed. "So. The maiden pretends to be trapped at the top of an enchanted tower. A staircase winds around the outer wall, leading past several windows. Hanging out of each window is a terrible monster. To prove their love, the men will have to climb the staircase and battle the monsters to reach the maiden at the top. Only one, of course, will succeed."

"What happens to the other men?" Heidel asked.

"Oh, they get eaten by the monsters."

Heidel snorted. "Heartless little wench, isn't she?"

Jaedis' pearly skin faded a shade whiter. "Coco," she asked weakly. "Who do you intend to play the monsters?"

Coralina winked, and Jaedis showed a rare fit of temper. "No! I can't do it!" She thumped her fists on the table. "Why must I always smother inside a costume? Last time it was the two-headed dragon; me in one neck, Shulay in the other. No air. Before that, I was inside the back end of a unicorn. No air. I'm sorry, Coco, but I'm rather fond of breathing!"

"Holy Shoulders, you won't die!" Coralina laughed. "I'll try to give you a more... breathable costume this time. All right?"

Jaedis sighed mistrustfully and scraped the last few globs out of her pie. "What happens at the end?"

Coralina scowled. "That's what I'm struggling with. Two of the men die from the monsters. The third defeats them, rescues the maiden, and declares his everlasting love for her. Which is lovely, but somehow it all seems...."

"Predictable," Heidel said. Coralina glared. "Well, the audience will like it."

Heidel picked up a spoon and poked at her pie, as though it were some kind of dead animal she was testing for signs of life. "Who will play the men?

"Kerrick will be one. And maybe that handsome messenger I keep hearing about." She shook her head. "And Luxley might have joined us if he hadn't been clobbered. I tried to speak with him before he left, but he snubbed me."

Heidel flicked away her spoon. "And I suppose Kerrick will play the gallant hero who wins your heart in the end? He usually does."

Coralina folded her arms on the table. "Oh no, no, no." She grinned. "Shall I tell you who will be my hero this time? And declare his everlasting love for me?"

Her sisters waited quietly, though only Jaedis looked interested.

"Gord," said Coralina. "But he doesn't know that."

*********

Daylight was quietly sliding into dusk when they emerged from the inn. Shulay stood in the carriage yard, feeding handfuls of oats to the horses and rubbing their noses. The team had dappled gray hides and milky manes, impeccably matched to the silver-and-white carriage they pulled.

Heidel tugged open the carriage door. But as she lifted her foot to step inside, sounds of shrieking turned her around.

A young woman tore into the street, coming out from an alley past The Old Ogre Inn. She ran hunched over, her sobs coming in squeaky gasps, and clutched both sides of her head. Just before she was swarmed by villagers, Coralina saw the reason for her screaming. All the girl's dark hair had been cut, leaving nothing but rough, choppy locks around her head, shorter even than a boy would wear.

"It's Aisley!" Jaedis dashed into the crowd, pushing her way to the center. In the rift she created, Coralina saw the girl again, collapsed on her knees, still clasping her shorn head. Jaedis dropped beside her and wrapped the girl in her arms.

The crowd thickened as more villagers poured into the street. Most were struggling for a glimpse of the girl or shouting questions. Who did this? Where was she attacked? Which way did the bandits go? But from what Coralina could hear, the girl was sobbing too hard to give shape to her words.

Heidel and Shulay had dissolved into the crowd, but Coralina slipped back to the carriage. She climbed inside and shut the door, pulling the curtains across the windows. On the white velvet seat she huddled, knees drawn up to her chest. Her black curls hung over her shoulders and she clutched them with trembling hands. Though she'd seen the girl for but a few seconds, the small waves suggested her hair had been curly. And probably very long.