When I got into the dining-hall I found every one at breakfast. Aryenis said good-morning very nicely and politely, but made no reference to dragons and fairy princes.
Kyrlos asked Forsyth to keep him company during the day. He was going to see some of the chief men of the district, and would ride on to Miletis in the afternoon, probably arriving latish. Aryenis and I were to go with the baggage by the main road.
After expounding all this Kyrlos and Forsyth, with Torka in attendance, went off, and Aryenis and I went out to find our horses waiting. The baggage animals had already started, and we passed them near the north gate, Payindah, very debonair on a pony, riding with Temra at the head.
It was colder that morning. There was a fresh breeze blowing, and little wisps of cloud that cleared later in the day. But the cold suited Aryenis, as it does all really fair people, and the wind whipped the colour to her cheeks, and made her eyes sparkle over the big collar of her fur-lined riding-coat.
We rode leisurely along the road and took the turning to Uncle Paulos’s, our escort clattering behind.
“You haven’t told me what we’ve come for,” I said. “You didn’t say anything about it yesterday when we left. Is it a surprise visit to your fairy godfather?”
“No. It’s a surprise we—he’s got for you.”
“For me! Why, he only saw me for the first time yesterday.”
“But that doesn’t matter to fairy godfathers, does it, how many times they’ve seen people?”
She went on: