'It's no longer about the money.'
'It's always about the money,' Aahz said.
'How are you going to bring the kingdom back together?' Bunny asked, patiently.
'I don't know,' Aahz said. 'Matfany's pretty much soiled the nest. Everybody's going to think it's fishy if he suddenly brings Hermalaya back and reinstalls her. It'll look desperate. Could throw the whole kingdom into a tailspin.'
'She'll lose all credibility if she brings him in as her prime minister after he threw her out,' I mused.
'So, you need something different,' Bunny said. 'Use your imagination. How do we get the fairy-tale wedding without breaking the newly solvent bank?'
I frowned.
'Why don't you ask them?' Tananda asked, reasonably.
'Ma'am?' Matfany said, rising to his feet and bowing as I escorted Hermalaya in. Guido, Nunzio, and Chumley all rose. After a stern look from his client, Aahz grudgingly hoisted himself out of his chair.
For her part, the princess looked as nervous as Matfany did. After her bravery in the swamp, she had gone shy on me when I proposed a meeting. She held herself with dignity. I pulled out a chair for her. I thought that neither one of them was going to talk at first, but the princess managed to break the ice.
'I hope you are recovered from your misadventure?' she asked. 'It's just like the Old Folks to resort to old- fashioned barbarian tactics when they are upset?'
Matfany bowed. 'I am well, ma'am, thank you for asking. I trust I find you in health?'
'You do,' Hermalaya said. 'Though for the life of me I did not think of that as being uppermost in your mind these last weeks.'
Matfany cleared his throat awkwardly. 'Ma'am, you don't need to be difficult about it. I have regretted the harshness of the way I spoke to you on that day.'
'Of the way you spoke to me? Isn't it what you said that took me aback? You have some nerve, even pretending that you are even concerned about me, when it seems that all along you must have had some designs on taking my place!'
The prime minister's brows went down. 'Now, ma'am, you know that isn't so! If I might be so bold to ask you to examine your own behavior in those days leading up to, yes, my outburst, you might think that I was justified in expressing my concern with regard to the smooth running of the kingdom and my concern at your seeming ignorance of its problems!'
'But not with such rancor!' Hermalaya said. 'If you only knew how much it hurt me for you to burst out like that. I could have taken any kind of a scolding—I was brought up to assume responsibility for my actions—but to have you even refuse to listen to me, then to banish me forever from my beloved country just broke my poor heart?'
Matfany dropped his eyes. 'Forgive me, ma'am. And I have since learned, in your own words, that you did have the kingdom's welfare in mind.'
'I did! Only I was thinking more of the here and now? Not what came later. I should have asked your advice. That was wrong of me. I didn't let you do what you do so well.'
'That makes me even more ashamed. I'm sorry. I have just got to curb my awful temper.'
'I am so sorry, too,' Hermalaya said. 'You know I just don't have much head for business? I shouldn't have given away all the money without asking you.'
'Well, you did it for the right reason,' Matfany admitted. 'I could've held off the bills another several months if I knew.'
'If I'd explained,' she said.
'If I'd listened,' he said.
'Oh, no, it was my impatience ...'
'My impetuousness ...'
They were out of their seats and moving toward one another without even knowing they were doing it. Matfany took one of her hands gently in both of his and gazed down deeply into her eyes.
'I wonder, ma'am, if you might consent to sit with me one of these evenings and enjoy the moonlight? In a purely respectful context, of course.'
'Why,' Hermalaya sounded breathless, 'I believe that would be a pleasure, sir.'
'Awww,' the women chorused. I suppressed a little sigh. Massha, Tanda, and Bunny were all correct. They were in love with each other.
'All right already! Let's get back to the point,' Aahz insisted. Hermalaya and Matfany looked at each other. The princess's little pink nose turned even more pink. Both of them retreated to their seats.
'So you see what we have to do,' Bunny said. 'We have to get both of them back where they belong.'
Aahz turned to Hermalaya. 'Okay. Here's the bottom line. We need to reinstate you, in some kind of realistic fashion, and we need to change your image,' he said to Matfany.
'We can't,' I said. Everybody turned to look at me. I shrugged. 'He condemned a member of the royal house to death, so he can't just quit and say he's sorry. Hermalaya can't marry a traitor. He can't just come back. He has to pay with his life.'
Matfany looked taken aback. 'I beg your pardon, sir?'
'You can't take him away again?'
I grinned. 'Not exactly. We invent a savior for the kingdom, someone who is willing to come in and put the princess back on her throne.' I held up my hands dramatically and formed an illusion between them. 'From the faraway land of, uh, Goodenrich, at the far south end of Reynardo, comes the handsome prince Fanmat, who will face the usurper and defeat him in a really dramatic duel to the death.' The white-furred figure of Princess Hermalaya appeared on a castle parapet, threatened by a black-haired villain. A shining, golden-pelted hero came riding in on a stallion—I immediately nixed the stallion when everybody else in the room gave me a strange look —pushed the villain aside, and took Hermalaya in his arms. 'Then he can marry the princess, who gets her throne back, and the two of you can live happily ever after.'
'Bravo,' cheered Chumley. 'Yes, I can see it. It would suit the situation precisely, what?'
'Looks good to me, too, Boss,' Guido said. Bunny gave a nod of approval.
The prime minister shook his head in concern. 'There's no kingdom of Goodenrich or a Prince Fanmat that I know of,' Matfany said, frowning. 'And I don't like this idea of dying, sir, even though I admit I've been a fool.'
Hermalaya tapped his wrist. 'Silly, it's you.'
I clapped my hands, and the vision vanished. 'I wouldn't be much of a magician if I couldn't create a good illusionary hero. Until you can change your appearance to match it, that is.'
'I like him the way he is?' the princess protested.
'Can't do it,' Aahz said, flatly.
'Why not?' Tananda asked. 'Everybody will love it.'
'It'll void all my contracts,' Aahz complained. 'You're going to destroy my reputation in sixteen dimensions for a lousy love story. Matfany is the one who signed them.'
'Not if I confirm them, Mister Aahz,' Hermalaya said. 'On a modest basis, your idea of sponsoring national land-marks might be a good thing. But no more big old gaudy signs. That destroys the natural beauty, and without that, what have you got?'
Matfany stared at her with dawning admiration. 'That's some mighty good business sense, ma'am.'
She blushes. 'I've learned a thing or two from Mister Skeeve and his friends.'
'Any more objections?' Bunny asked Aahz.
'Nope,' Aahz said with resignation. 'If I don't lose out on anything. I don't care what kind of shenanigans you have to go through to get what you want.'
'We'll have to make it dramatic,' Tananda said. 'Chumley and I staged a fake assassination once. It was great!'
'Indeed,' Chumley said. 'Owing chiefly to the skill of the dramatis personae, myself included, I might humbly add.'
'Oh, that sounds like it will be fun?' Hermalaya said.
'It was,' Tananda said. 'Have you ever done any skits?'
