"No," he said. "I'm all right. I think. Yeah, everything's in place." He looked up at the roof again, two stories above.
"Your turn, Let," Alter called up.
"It's high," came a childish voice from the roof.
"Hurry up," said Alter, her voice becoming authoritative. "When I count three. And remember, knees up, chin down, and roll quick. One, two, three!" There was the space of a breath, and then it fell, rolled, bounced unsteadily to its feet, and resolved into another boy, this one blond, and slighter than the first.
"Hey, you kids," Jon said.
They turned.
Jon looked at the smaller boy. His slight blond frame, less substantial then even Alter's white-haired loveliness was definitely of the royal family. "What are you doing out here, anyway?" Jon asked. "Especially you, your Highness."
All three children jumped.
It looked like they might balk, and after that descent from the roof, he wasn't sure where they might balk to. So he said, "Incidentally, the Duchess of Petra sent me. How did you do that fall?"
His Highness was the only one to relax appreciably.