"oh," brida said after her eyes swept across the pond, and she did the math.

the swans scampered back into the pond, floating on its tumultuous surface. they started to glow and extended their wings before they disappeared in a storm cloud of white feathers.

when the light faded and seven princes were left behind, sloshing in the water, brida went down on one knee. "my lords," she said.

falk, just as blunt as brida, plunged past greetings. "what did you hope to accomplish by bullying elise, captain meier?"

"w-what?" brida said, lifting her head up.

"bullying might be a bit of a strong word to use, don't you think?" nick asked, shaking his leg to get rid of dripping water.

"i am disappointed in you, captain meier," rune said in a gentle voice as he moved next to elise, placing a warm hand on her lower back. "i thought you were more patient, and that you would realize elise is not one to act oddly without a good reason."

"yes, prince rune," brida said, staring at the ground.

"you won't do it again now, will you? what elise does, she does for our sake," steffen said with his portrait smile. "please stand, captain meier. in spite of our words, we are thankful you have come. what news do you have for us?"

"i had a letter to deliver to princess elise," brida said.

when steffen whipped around to face elise, elise held out the letter. "it doesn't say much," she said. "gabrielle probably wrote so little in case it was intercepted."

brida twitched at the sound of elise's voice.

"patience, captain. we will explain the situation once we hear yours first," falk said, standing between the captain and elise.

"there isn't much to tell, prince falk. the guards and i knew something was wrong when all eight of the royal children disappeared. there were whispers, rumors that clotilde did something to you. an enchantress launched an attack against queen clotilde. your subjects did their best to help, but queen clotilde was able to throw the lady enchantress off her. i know the enchantress and princess gabrielle spoke together for some time, for i guarded their meeting. the enchantress left, and crown princess gabrielle summoned a number of captains and military men she trusted. i was among them. she explained to us that you had been cursed, although she did not say how. she asked me to track the enchantress to the location where i would find princess elise and all of the royal princes. the rest of the men, i believe, she organized to create a resistance force."

"how do they resist?" mikk asked.

"i only heard very few of the plans, for princess gabrielle thought it would be best to leave immediately-in the end it did not matter for i could not track the enchantress at all and had to rely on luck," brida said, standing at attention.

"humph. elise, come with me," falk said, pulling elise along by her elbow.

"but-,"

"no buts. the others will explain the nature of the curse to her," falk said, dragging elise into the dim forest. falk kicked at plants, his expression cold as he looked through the underbrush in the nearly extinguished sunlight.

"what are we doing?" elise asked.

falk ignored the question and hunkered over, digging plants out of the ground.

"falk?"

"rub this on your hands. the undersides-the spores will ease the itching," falk said, slapping several large, leafy ferns into elise's hands.

surprised, elise meekly did as she was told, hissing when the first touch of the fern burned almost as badly as the stinging nettles themselves. the longer elise rubbed, though, the better her fingers felt. the angry red splotches eased some, although several open wounds still oozed blood, and the burning gave way to a dull ache.

some of the tension left elise with the pain, and she closed her eyes. "thank you, falk."

falk rustled around in the underbrush, ripping at more ferns, and didn't reply.

elise used the other fern leaf on her other hand, allowing a slight smile to ease across her lips.

"you weren't made for this kind of work," falk said.

"pardon?"

falk straightened up, holding a pile of fern leaves in his arms. "this terrible task-it is too much to ask of you. it worries me."

just like that elise's smile was gone. "you don't have to be afraid. i will break the curse. you might not think me competent, but i'm stubborn enough to see us through this."

"no, that's not what i meant," falk said.

"then what did you mean to say?"

falk's shoulders moved in an almost imperceptible shrug. he led the way back to elise's camp, placing the ferns in elise's shelter by the rock.

"falk, elise, come see what brida thought to bring-the smart girl," nick called.

steffen stood on the water's edge, gabrielle's letter dangling from his hands. mikk, nick, erick, and gerhart were huddled around brida's saddlebags and horse.