"Morning, Zylv," Fayre sounded as chipper as usual. "Sleep well? You went to bed fairly early last night."

"Morning, my queen," Zylvia answered glibly, grinning a little cheekily. "And I slept wonderfully. How did her highness sleep?"

"Stop teasing me, Zylv," Fayre shook her head with a laugh. "I slept well."

Zylvia usually did not let her thoughts wander as she worked, but today she couldn't help but daydream.

Her mind was on Kaldrek. His smile, laugh, his gentleness, the way it felt to kiss him. She was reminiscing last night, playing over everything that had happened.

"Zylvia?"

"Huh?"

"Are you okay? I've been talking to you for a while, but you aren't responding." Fayre was looking at her worried.

"I...was just s.p.a.cing out..." Zylvia felt her cheeks redden in embarra.s.sment.

Fayre shook her head, "I see. Well, I was trying to ask you if you and Kaldrek are growing any closer?"

Zylvia wasn't sure what to answer. She wasn't exactly sure of how close they were. While they had certainly grown a lot more intimate they hadn't really talked about it.

Hazel's entrance into the room saved her from having to come up with an immediate answer. The princess had circles under her eyes and her smile seemed a little forced.

"Hazel? Are you alright?" Zylvia felt a little alarmed. The princess was a bit young to be having sleepless nights.

"I...no, not really. How could I be?" She sounded close to tears.

"What's wrong?" Fayre stood up and guided the distraught girl to a chair.

"Asrar... is really pus.h.i.+ng me away. We sort of got into a disagreement that is leaving me feeling rather confused."

"All friends argue at times." Fayre tried to comfort the girl, but it didn't really work this time.

"What was your disagreement about? Maybe something is bothering him?" Zylvia looked at the girl, feeling sorry for her. The best she could do is give her some practical advice as she didn't really know the circ.u.mstances.

Hazel bit her lower lip, "I...am sure it will blow over soon enough. I'm probably just overthinking." Her eyes had grown really troubled though.

Zylvia stared at the young woman feeling empathy for her emotional pain, "You should probably talk to him if you want to grow closer again. Leaving it is a bad idea."

"Probably I'll talk to him later I guess." The smile on the princess' face was obviously forced.

Zylvia sighed. She really felt sorry for the princess. Hazel quite obviously had a crush on the guy, but even their friends.h.i.+p was under a lot of strain. She figured that Hazel would eventually break her own heart.

They spent most of the morning trying to cheer up the princess. Yet no matter what they did, there was a shadow hanging over her head.

After they ate lunch, Hazel excused herself and headed for the library. It was obvious that she was going to try to talk things out with her knight. Fayre and Zylvia though both headed back to work some more.

Zylvia sighed, "Poor Hazel. I feel like she is going to end up breaking her heart."

"Yeah, but who knows maybe her friends.h.i.+p will survive?"

There was a slight possibility. If Hazel could get over the prejudices that Amriel had towards magic, her friends.h.i.+p would probably make it. But... she was still likely to break her heart.