“I thought I saw you come in, Wizard,” said King Haimeric. “Come join us. We were just talking about our trip. And look at my new bush; the buds started opening today.”

It was one of his yellows, with pale blooms almost the color of parchment but tinged very delicately with red on the edges. I bent down to get a faint whiff of scent. “So where are you going?”

“To visit my parents,” the queen answered. “I think Baby Buttons here is old enough to travel safely.”

The castle without the queen in it would be even worse. “Why can’t your parents come visit us?” I asked.

The queen laughed. “They visited here last year, when their grandson was born. And you know they hate traveling. I think they got their fill six or seven years ago, going around the western kingdoms trying to find someone appropriate to marry me to-until I found someone myself!” with a smile for the king.

“I’m still a little concerned about my garden,” said the king. “You know, I’ve never been away from the roses in June. Some of the bushes haven’t bloomed yet, and I’m starting to worry about them.”

The little prince looked up at me from his mother’s lap. He had startlingly bright emerald eyes, the same shade as hers. He gave an unexpected chortle. “Gizward,” he said.

“Did you hear that?” asked the queen, so quickly that I almost wondered if he might not have said what had seemed so clear. “He just said ‘Wizard’!”

In spite of the king’s concerns about leaving his rose bushes in June, the trip almost immediately became something for which the whole castle was preparing. The king and queen would travel with a relatively small party: the baby’s nurse, the queen’s Aunt Maria, a few ladies, and a half dozen knights. The king was leaving his chaplain and me behind, although we had often accompanied him on short trips.