“Do all fairy princesses have red-gold locks?”
“I don’t know about all, but some of them do. The one in my story did.”
“What story is that?”
“Oh, only one I was making up while you were looking into the fire. Wonderful red-gold locks, and hazel-grey eyes, steady, clear ones, and—no marks on her shoulders.”
“That’s mean, Harilek. I shan’t tell you my story now if you’re going to laugh at me.”
“I wasn’t laughing at you. I’m glad there isn’t going to be a mark.”
“But there will be really, only it’ll be so small that none will see it unless they know where to look for it.”
“That makes the story all the better. Princess with small mark on shoulder, that only the fairy prince who knows about it is able to find. Then, when he goes to look for the princess when she gets lost—they always get lost—he has to keep an eye on shoulders all the time. I’m afraid all the princesses in that story would have to wear very low-necked clothes or he’d never get to the end of his search.”
“And how does the princess know the prince? Does he have fairy marks?”
“Oh, he’d have wiggly ones where the dragon’s claws scratched him. Purple scratches, probably, and a tooth-mark or two down one arm.”