Princess Academy By Shannon Hale

Chapter 25

Plumb line is swinging
Spring hawk is winging
Eskel is singing

  The first morning that dawned free of frost, Miri and Britta sat on the large boulder beside Miri's house, watching the west road.

"I'm so tired of waiting and wondering," said Miri. "I want to do something new. I wish I could teach you quarry-speech."

"You're in a mood lately to teach everything," said Britta. "I'll bet I haven't been up here long enough to get drenched in linder, but there might be something I can help you do. You once said lowlanders were supposed to be good with gardens." The corners of her eyes crinkled with her smile.

  They cleared some ground of rubble rock until their nails were chipped and fingers sore. Britta showed her how to loosen the soil and make furrows in the earth to catch water runoff. She dipped her finger into the dirt and plopped in a seed.

"This will be a pea vine, if it has a chance to grow." Miri had never eaten a fresh pea, and Britta said they tasted like a spring morning. They planted the rest of the seeds Britta had brought from the lowlands and talked about the fresh things they would eat all summer. Neither of them mentioned that the prince would come soon and someone would not be there to eat squash and cherry tomatoes.

  That afternoon, the pounding in the quarry paused at the sound of trumpets.

"Prince Steffan of Danland returned last night to the princess's academy!" shouted a messenger from the bed of a wagon. "All academy girls are requested to attend him this day."

  Miri and Britta readied themselves, taking extra care to wash their faces and comb their hair.

"Who do you think he'll pick?" asked Miri.

  Britta just shrugged. She seemed too nervous to speak. Miri's father watched them in silence, and Marda brushed off the tabletop again and again. Miri knew they were not anxious for a house in the lowlands with a beautiful garden or clothing made from expensive cloth or silver forks for their food. They just wanted Miri home again soon. Miri paused to feel the goodness of that thought—her pa wanted her home.

  She believed that now, and it made her feel as if she were still wearing the silver gown. After the bandit attack, the parents would not let their daughters far from sight, so thirty quarry workers accompanied the academy girls. The girls scarcely spoke, and no one laughed or skipped or hurled stones over the cliff's edge. Miri walked with Britta, Esa, and Frid, and after a moment Britta managed to catch Katar's hand as well.

"And we'll all still be friends," said Miri, "no matter who is princess."

  They all agreed. Britta only nodded. Miri wondered if Britta might be sick again.
Word of the bandits must have reached the capital, as the academy was surrounded by soldiers. The quarriers joined them. Inside the academy there were no tapestries or chandeliers, no wardrobe of gowns. One woman in a neat, green dress greeted them at the door and led them into the nearly bare dining hall. Miri tried to flatten a crumple in her wool shirt and noticed other girls arranging their clothing or smoothing down loose hairs.

"Prince Steffan will attend you in just a few minutes," said the woman. "Please wait here."

"I don't understand," Esa whispered to the girls near her. "If we're not going to dance and curtsy and converse again, why didn't he choose someone before?"

  Frid shrugged. "Maybe he was too cold to think straight. My grandfather gets soggy-brained in the winter."

"Or maybe you shouldn't have arm-wrestled him, Frid," Miri whispered back. "The first rule of Poise states, 'Never pick up your dance partner and toss him across the floor.'"