Merrigan had no idea. She remembered so little of what her mother had taught her, during those idyllic days of her childhood. When Queen Daylily had died, her garden had shut itself off from the world. However, the garden here in Seafoam proved to be awake enough to hear Dulcibella's squeal of delight and her nonstop chatter, and reacted to the princess's emotions. The door shimmered, the light coming from it visible before Dulcibella, Merrigan and Elli turned the last corner. As they approached, the door swung open, sending pieces of old rotted boards flying, and chunks of rusty lock falling to the paving stones. Perhaps that was the garden's response to the old woman who had shirked her duties and then lied, to keep others from fulfilling theirs.
Merrigan crept into the garden, when Dulcibella and Elli nearly danced over the threshold with excitement. She staggered to the closest stone bench and sank down on it, half-expecting it to collapse under her. She looked around, at all the dry twigs poking up from the ground in circles, showing the hedge circles that once created sanctuaries for pixies and winkies and other tiny magical creatures. The plots of bare ground where magical healing herbs had once grown. The dry husks of trees lifting bare arms to the sky. The tangles of dry rose vines still clinging tenaciously to the inner walls of the garden.
The depression in the ground where the pond had once been, silver in the moonlight, blue under the sun, providing water for the whole garden and a hiding place for frogs. Merrigan remembered when a horde of desperate princesses invaded her father's palace, looking for a prince enchanted into a frog. She laughed, and wept a little as she told Elli and Dulcibella about the odd incident.
"It's not dry," Elli said. "I'm better with sea water, of course, but I can feel the water, waiting to come back." She gestured at the dry, dusty bowl of the pond.
"How?" Dulcibella said.
There's no harm in simply asking, Bib said. All anyone can do is say no. Unless of course they're frightened or angered by the request. Then they might get angry, but I doubt that is the case here. However, it might be wise to start out by apologizing for the silliness of her great-great-grandmother, and then ask.
Merrigan repeated the advice aloud, and Dulcibella showed her good sense by stopping to think before acting. She stepped into the depression and found the center point, knelt, pressed both hands into the spot, and very prettily apologized for the neglect and lies of her ancestors, and promised she would do the best she could to rectify matters.
"If you could help me fight the silliness curse, I would appreciate it very much," she added. "I want to do my duty as queen. You will help me, won't you? The people of our kingdom certainly don’t deserve all the trouble they've had to suffer because of my family."
She waited in silence for a few moments. A rustling sound in the doorway of the garden got everyone's attention, and Merrigan turned to see the king and queen and Morton standing in the doorway, looking tearfully proud.
Queen Adele let out a little gasp when Dulcibella got up and walked back to the edge of the dry pond. She couldn't speak, and had to point. Everyone gasped, and then laughed, when they saw the streaks of mud on Dulcibella's dress, where she had been kneeling. Sure enough, water bubbled up in the center of all the dust and dry dirt.
Dulcibella sent for Warden, and they spent the evening searching the king's library for everything they could learn about the queen's garden in Seafoam, and queens' gardens in general. Merrigan spent the evening trying to recall everything she could of her mother's garden. When she returned to the palace in the morning, her duties changed from overseeing the final details of the wedding dress to revitalizing the garden. While the pond was halfway filled with water, and the trees had the first buds of leaves popping out in a soft green haze by morning, the other parts of the garden didn't seem to be awakening. Merrigan and Morton consulted together for only an hour, determining the plants that could be found in Seafoam to be transplanted into the garden. The more rare and necessary plants that weren't native would have to be sent for.
Twilight softly fell in gray and lavender shadows, by the time Merrigan was willing to give in to the aches in her legs and back, and limped to the door of the garden. Large patches of green had replaced the abundance of twigs and sticks and dust. The pond was full, reflecting the first curve of the moon as it peered over the gables of the palace. Merrigan thought she saw a few flickers of fireflies. They could have been other magical creatures, sparkling as they ventured into the garden. She was quite happy with ordinary fireflies.
In the doorway, Merrigan looked around one last time. Her eyes blurred as she couldn't fight off the bittersweet memories of her own childhood. How different would her life be if her mother hadn't died, if the garden hadn't closed its doors, if she and Nanny Tulip hadn't been used by evil majjians to attack the garden?
Plop. The sound was unusually wet and small. Several more plops followed. Merrigan shivered and turned to face the pond. Several small, dark forms hopped up the path toward her. She retreated over the threshold, a thick sensation aching in her throat. Was she about to scream, or perhaps vomit? For a moment, she could taste all the frogs' legs she had eaten, during that awful, shameful, regretful time in Carlion, when she and Leffisand had been battling that wretched, cursed, magical apple tree.
Five frogs. All a dark greeny-brown, none of
