Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Two - Harping on Friendship

The world was not kind to Amaryllis.

The moment we arrived at the Albatross estate--in a corner of the fort city with a second set of walls circling a dozen buildings that stood tall and proud, with ivy crawling up their walls and roofs made of beaten copper--we came face to face with a tall harpy in the guise of a manservant.

He bowed from the waist, arm folded over his chest and the long tails of his suit spilling out behind him. “Miss Amaryllis, it is good to see you once more.”

“Ah, hello Gen-Gen,” Amaryllis said.

I stared at her, then at the butler bird with the dark plumage and the straight back. Was that his name, or was it a cutesy nickname? And if it was a cutesy nickname, could I tease Amaryllis about it without being mean?

Amaryllis shifted, obviously uncomfortable, so I decided to tease her later. “I’m back,” she said.

“I had noticed,” the butler returned with just the barest hint of joviality in his tone. “Your room is still awaiting you. Shall I prepare rooms for your guests?”

Amaryllis stood a little taller, more regal. “That would be acceptable, yes. Two rooms in the eastern wing.”

“Of course.” He backed up then gestured to the front of the compound where a tall gate barred the path. Next to it was a much more convenient doorway. “Do you wish to enter by the servant's postern? For discretion’s sake.”

Amaryllis winced. “Which one?” she asked.

“Both, ma’am.”

I looked between the two, then to Awen who shrugged back. She didn’t have any idea what they were talking about either.

“I was hoping that Clementine, at least, would be working at this hour.”

Gen-Gen the butler nodded. “The lady is, indeed, working. She happens to be working on some drafts in the main office. She didn’t desire to travel all the way to the courts this morning.”

Amaryllis sighed. “Fine. Let’s get it over with, Gen-Gen. My friends will need clothes that are suited to things beyond adventuring. I’m afraid we came in a bit of a hurry.”

“As you desire,” he said before opening the servant’s door and ushering us in.

The Albatross compound, at least from within, was a pretty enough place. The walls of most buildings had been painted over with a sort of calcium-white paint, with the windows done up in dark blues. The big gate opened up to a large courtyard, surrounded on all sides by banks of white and blue flowers.

I recognized some as lilies, but the rest I’d need to look up.

Gen-Gen stepped in after us, pulled the door shut, and then started to guide us towards the building in the centre of the estate. It was more of a mansion than a proper home, with a stone balcony running along the front that led to a grand entrance and enough room around it for a well-manicured lawn.

I was just about to comment on how nice Amaryllis’ house was when we all paused to listen to a distant keening.

“Aaaaaammyyyyy!” came the high pitched scream.

My ears twisted this way and that to find the source, but before I could pinpoint it, the source found us.

One moment Amaryllis was standing next to me, the next she was gone with a heavy ‘oomph.’

“Amy! Amy you’re back!”

Blinking, I looked down and back and found myself staring at a doppelganger of Amaryllis, only this one was wearing a pretty sundress the colour of sunflowers. Her white hair feathers were a bit longer too, tumbling over her shoulders in big droopy bunches and swaying with every motion.

“Oh, Amy! I missed you so much!” the girl said before she glomped onto Amaryllis, then started rubbing her cheeks against my harpy friend’s face. “Oh, you’ve grown so much! Are you okay? You’re very quiet? Did you get hurt? Are you hungry? Did you pass your daily bowel movement? Did a cat person catch your tongue?”

Amaryllis took in a deep gulp of air, then glared up at the girl straddling her chest. “Get off me, Rose, or I swear I’m going to roast you,” she said.

“Aww! Amy!” the girl cheered before hugging Amaryllis even harder. “You haven’t threatened me in ages!”

Amaryllis started to buzz, the air around her turning electric with crackles and pops that had the girl, Rose, bouncing off her in a hurry. Her only reaction though, was to let out a long giggle and turn towards Awen and I with a curtsy.

“Hello! Are you Amy’s body guards?”

I felt a big grin tugging at my cheeks, so I let it loose and shook my head. “Nope! We’re Amaryllis’ best friends!”

Rose gasped, her talons clasping together over her chest. “Amy, you made friends? How?!”

Amaryllis huffed and, with a bit of help from a handy Awen, got to her talons. “You make it sound like I’m unable to be friendly,” she said.

“You are,” Rose said with the same certainty that someone might reserve for announcing that the sun would come up.

Still grinning, I shook my head some more. “It’s okay! Amaryllis might be a bit hard headed, and a little rude, and sometimes she’s mean, but deep, deep down, she’s a real sweetie!”I looked at the girl, trying to spot the differences between her and Amaryllis. Most of them came down to the happiness wafting off of her like a heat-haze. “Are you Amaryllis’ sister?”

“I am!” she said. “Oh, it’s so nice that Amaryllis made friends!”

“Can I hug you?” I asked.

Her reply was an ear-splitting whistle that ended when she crashed into me in a flurry of feathers and cheek-pecks. “I’m Rosaline, Amy’s big sis!”

“Hi! Can I call you Rose too? Oh, and I’m Broccoli, Broccoli Bunch! Amaryllis is my best friend, so we should be friends too!”

Rosaline Albatross

Desired Quality: Someone who will love her back.

Dream: To elope with someone cute and to make her family proud.

Rosaline cooed happily, then backed up a step. Her eyes turned and locked onto Awen who ‘Awa’d.’

“Awa!” Rosaline cheered as she crashed into Awen. “Amy made two friends! It’s a miracle!”

Amaryllis huffed.

“That’s Awen, my other best friend,” I said. I grinned as I watched Awen get her cheeks pecked to within an inch of her life, then I turned to Amaryllis. “I don’t know why you were worried, your family is great!”

“Rose is... unique,” Amaryllis said with crossed arms.

“Aww, you can give me a better compliment than that,” Rosaline said. She was still busy rubbing her cheeks against an increasingly red-faced Awen.

“Rose is insufferable,” Amaryllis added.

I held back a snort, then booped Amaryllis on the head. “Don’t be mean. You sister seems super friendly.”

“See, Broccoli knows what’s up,” Rosaline said from where she was wrapped around Awen.

“What in the world’s name is going on here?” an entirely new voice asked.

“Oh my,” Gen-Gen the butler said. So far he’d taken Rosaline’s... Rosaline-ness in stride. I suspected that it was a pretty common occurrence. That he was suddenly wary...

A woman stepped into our path. A taller, more bosomy Amaryllis, with eyes that practically glowed with repressed anger and whose well fluffed feathers made her look way bigger than she was. Her eyes skipped from me, to Awen, past Rosaline, and then locked onto Amaryllis like a hawk spotting an injured rabbit out in the open. “Amaryllis Albatross,” she said.

Amaryllis carefully moved back until she was halfway hidden behind me. “Big sister Clementine,” she said.

“Don’t you big sister me!” Clementine screeched. The harpy woman ran over and spun around me while Amaryllis did the same. Soon they were running after each other while I played the maypole. “Stop running you damned fool!”

“I’m not fool enough to do that! World knows what you intend to do to me!” Amaryllis shouted back.

I spun my head around to try and keep track of them, but it was hard with Amaryllis trying to use me as cover and her sister trying to nab her. “Oh, I’ll tell you exactly what I intend to do!” Clementine shouted.

A few heads started to poke out from windows, and some harpies showed up around corners, some in serving outfits, others in gowns and suits.

“I’m going to pin your wings to your back, then I’m going to strip those pants off of you, and once your shame is exposed to the entire clan and sky, I’ll tan it red! A slap for every day you went missing!”

“I wrote you letters!” Amaryllis said.

“You wrote threats and insults!” Clementine shouted back.

“That’s all you deserve, you old hag!”

“You idiot!”

“You moron!”

“Imbecile!”

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, tried to imagine what Mister Rogers would do in my situation, then with both hands shooting out to either side, I grabbed the two harpies around me and pulled them into a big hug.

“Amaryllis, be nice to your sister, it’s obvious that she loves you lots,” I said while ignoring Clementine’s protests to the contrary. I also didn’t let go, even when she started poking me in the ribs. “And big sis Clementine, it’s a pleasure to meet you! I’m Broccoli, Broccoli Bunch! Amaryllis is my best friend.”

“Amaryllis, who is this idiot?” Clementine asked.

“Don’t call Broccoli an idiot, you daft moron!”

I sighed as I held both sisters in place. Harpies were surprisingly weak, especially when they weren’t actually trying to hurt. “Mister Gen-Gen, is there a place where we could have a sit? Maybe some tea?”

“Of course, Miss Bunch,” the butler said. “Right this way.”

The butler started back towards the mansion in the compounds centre as if we weren’t being gawked at by a whole flock of stickybeaks.

“Okay, come along you two!” I said with good cheer as I started to drag Amaryllis and her sister along.

“Wow! You’re really good at Clementine wrangling,” Rosaline said as she let go of Awen and hopped ahead of me.

“I had lots of practice with Amaryllis. Is Clementine the same way?”

“I’m right here, you ignorant bun!” Clementine said from where she was caught against my side.

“Yeah, pretty much!” Rosaline said. “Amy and Clem-Clem are two peas in a pod! They used to get along so well. But then they both turned all arrogant and prickly.”

“Don’t call me that!” Clementine barked.

Gen-Gen the butler led us through the mansion’s entrance hall, where larger-than-life portraits of harpies hung on every wall looking very important next to delicate porcelain on pedestals. The butler opened a double door into a large living area with a small library, some nice sofas around a coffee table, and a grand piano in one corner.

“This’ll do!” I said. I carefully shoved the sisters onto two opposite seats then, with hands on hips, made sure to give them my most stern look. “Clementine, Amaryllis, you’re both sisters. You shouldn’t be acting like this. You should be happy to see each other, no matter what.”

“That’s right!” Rosaline chirped.

“Amaryllis, who is this woman?” Clementine asked. “I’ll have her jailed for so much as touching me!”

“Oh, get over yourself,” Amaryllis shot back. “She wouldn’t have had to touch you if you weren’t so insane.”

Clementine squeaked. “Insane? I’ll show you insane!”

I clapped my hands as hard as I could. “Guys. Please. We haven’t even introduced each other.”

There was a gleam of something dangerous in Amaryllis’ eyes and she leaned back into her seat and crossed her wings again. “That’s right. You haven’t introduced each other. What would mom think, Clementine?”

“She’d still think that at least I didn’t run away from home like an upset chick.”

The sisters glared at each other from across the table, but at least they weren’t at each other’s throats anymore. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s all just sit down and have a nice, polite, unarmed chat. Gen-Gen, would it be unkind of me to ask for some water and some mugs?”

“Of course not, ma’am. I’ll return straight away,” the butler said before moving out of the room with some alacrity.

I kind of wished I could run with him.

***