"See, they look perfectly fine."

"Then why all the extra tests?" I asked.

"Honestly?"

"Please."

"Because you are Princess Meredith NicEssus, and I'm covering my ass." She smiled and I smiled back.

"That is honest for a doctor," I said.

"I try," she said.

The nurse began to clean my stomach off with a cloth, then she cleaned the equipment as the doctor and I stared at each other.

"I've already had reporters pestering me and my staff for details. It isn't just the queen who's going to be watching me closely."

She gripped her stethoscope again.

"I am sorry that my status will make this harder for you and your staff."

"Just be a model patient, and we'll talk in the morning, Princess. Now, will you sleep, or at least rest?"

"I'll try."

She almost smiled, but her eyes had that guarded look like she wasn't certain she believed me. "Well, I think that's the best I can hope for, but," and she turned to the men, "no upsetting her." She actually shook a finger at them.

"She is a princess," Sholto said from the corner, "and our future queen. If she demands unpleasant topics, what are we to do?"

She nodded, with that grip on her stethoscope again. "I've been talking to Queen Andais, so I do see your problem. Try to get her to rest, try to keep her quiet. She's had a lot of shocks today, and I'd just like it better if she rested."

"We will do our best," Doyle said.

She smiled, but her eyes stayed worried. "I'll hold you to that. Rest." She pointed her finger at me as if it were some sort of magic to make me do it. Then she went for the door and the nurse trailed after her.

"Where did you send Galen?" I asked.

"He is fetching someone who I thought would help us."

"Who and where from? You didn't send him back into faerie alone?"