Myth-Chief

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"What is the matter with you?" she demanded, her voice rising to glass-breaking tones. "Both of you are missing the point!"

"What point?" Aahz asked. "You set the conditions of the contest. The prize is the presidency of our organization. We tied. We won't both be president, so we need to break the tie."

"Aagh!" Bu

putting Hermalaya back on the throne means she has to punish

Matfany as a usurper, and she doesn't want to, does she?"

"Not really,' I said, uneasily. The look on her face when I left her in Possiltum reminded me of that shy confession Massha had wormed out of her.

"... And having Matfany in charge isn't tenable because the people like their ruling family, right, Aahz? They take pride in it. Besides, he just had a fit of temper when he tossed her off the throne and condemned her to death if she returned. Skeeve got him to agree to leave out of a sense of honor, so the princess can be in charge again, but she doesn't know that much more about business than she did when all this got started. Both of you are thinking that only one of them is important to the kingdom. It needs both of them. You aren't paying attention to what the clients really need anymore. You forgot what it is that we do."

I rubbed my temples, where a headache was starting to grow inward. Aahz and I looked at each other.

"So what if he's unpopular now?" Aahz asked. "Matfany's a good administrator. The people will get used to the idea eventually. If Skeeve rescinds the exile order."

"Not the Old Folks," I said. "They will never allow him in the throne room, and everyone knows it. They just tried to drown him, unless you're forgetting. Besides"—I glanced back at Massha, who gave me an encouraging look—"the princess is kind of in love with him. She wants to go back, but she wants him, too."

Guido cleared his throat. "I kind of see that sort of interaction from Mr. Matfany also. He is stuck on the doll, as who of his species wouldn't be?"

"Thought so!" Bu

"Well, what?" Aahz and I asked at the same time.

"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?" Bu

"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," Bu

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 ru

"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 Bu

"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," Bu

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 gri