“And thus the Cockatrial festival is celebrated every five years to commemorate Lord Æscwine’s courageous and heroic deed of slaying the cockatrice. Incidentally this also was the last time a cockatrice was encountered outside the other march in the long history of our kingdom. Well, nowadays the festival is comparatively overshadowed in importance by the trade fair traditionally taking place at the same time but the Avallachians still uphold their ancient traditions with vigor. One of them is the play about the cockatrice trial Your Highnesses will watch later.”

The librarian Augustine was undoubtedly in the right element. He enjoyed guiding Prince Edric and Lady Mafalda through the festival. It was rare that there were people as interested in the history behind it as the two royals were. Mother and son listened attentively, and when they asked about something still left unclear, they always were questions constructive to the conversation.

At the moment the group of three, followed stealthily by some royal guards, made their way over the trade fair. Here and there they stopped to marvel at unusual goods from the other march, Edric sometimes starting a conversation with the otherworldly vendors about traditional agriculture methods of their homeland. In those situations, Agustine’s presence was invaluable. The old scholar of the otherworldly spoke ten languages of the other march fluently and fifteen more at least well enough to have rudimentary conversations. At the moment he was completely a tour guide though.

“So the people of Avallach still know about the origin of this festività and identify with it, Signore Augustine?” Lady Mafalda inquired.

“Well, I guess it is the same as everywhere else.” the elderly scholar sighed “An occasion to celebrate is much more important to the locals than the reason behind it. Yet every child in Avallach knows the story of Lord Æscwine and the cockatrice, at least the popularized version. The play shows the founder of the margraviate as a beast-slaying hero popular with the people but concerning the details it quite diverges from the historical or should I rather say mythical accounts in the chronicles. But I should not delve too deep into the matter as of now, lest I spoil the play for Your Highnesses.”

“Quite thoughtful of you, Mr. Augustine.” Prince Edric agreed “But allow me to ask: Present day Avallach is a famous junction of the other march and the human world, with denizens of both populating the town and the territory, mingling amongst each other. But is it known if this peaceful coexistence preceded the arrival of Æscwine of Avallach or if it was shaped by the margravial rule? I cannot quite remember that you would have touched this topic in your much-read Chronicles.”

“That is correct.” Augustine affirmed “To be honest, the early chronicles sadly keep silent about this questions. The first mention of coexistence between humans and denizens of the other march appears only about 200 years after Lord Æscwine’s lifetime, and is extremely casual at that. The only information thus available is that coexistence was already a matter of fact at that time, nothing unusual at all. About when coexistence began, I am afraid…”

The librarian’s answer was cut short by a sudden ruckus at a stall nearby. The vendor, a broad-shouldered uncouth fellow speaking in the dialect of Northwestern Yteland, raided his hand to slap a woman whose hair was covered by a plain brown headscarf. He had roughly seized her other arm and loudly accused her of attempted theft. The woman denied, frantically shaking her head and speaking rapidly in a foreign tongue. This only managed to enrage the vendor even more.

“Listen here, ya lil’ bitch!” he cussed “Coming to Ytelant without knowin’ the language and tryin’ to steal from an honest fella like me. Those are the right fellas, ain’t they? Now admit what ye’ve done. Is no use otherwise, ya know?”

“Excuse me, good Sir.” Edric spontaneously intervened “As you can see, the lady obviously feels quite distressed about your accusations. Please allow me to mediate for you, since she only appears to know how to talk in the tongue of the empire which I coincidentally also am proficient in.”

The stall owner, less than happy about the suddenly appearing meddler, disdainfully scoffed at the lanky black-haired guy whose clothing was simpler than what nobles normally used to wear, and then he asked: “And who’re ye?”

“I am Edric of Yteland, if this name should be known to you.” the prince answered completely unfazed.

Immediately the vendor’s attitude did a 180. The uncouth man was even so baffled that that he forgot to restrain the accused thief any longer. The woman remained were she was, her eyes mirroring her confusion and incomprehension of the situation. She started to rub her hurting arm where she had been grabbed before.

“Ye- ye’re the second prince?” the vendor asked in shock.

“That I am.” Edric agreed with a nod “Now tell me, what do you accuse this woman of?”

“A-answering yer Highness: I saw this gal how she was grabbin’ one o’ me delish fresh red apples and the next I know the apple has disappeared without her payin’ for it.”

“Thank you.” the prince spoke. Then he turned to the still dumbfounded woman and continued in another language: “Please excuse me, Milady. This gentleman here accuses you of stealing one of his apples. What can you tell me about this?”

The woman’s dark eyes widened in surprise. Soon they were filled with a light of hope and happiness.

“Oh, thank the Lord!” she exclaimed “What good luck that I have met you, good Sir. I am accused of theft?” The surprise shown on her face was no doubt real. “I did no such dishonorable thing. All I know is that I stood here, looking at the apples because I thought of buying one. But as soon as I picked an apple up and wanted to turn to the vendor to buy it, somebody bumped into me and it slipped from my grasp. Directly afterwards the vendor violently grabbed my arm, began to shout at me and threatened to hit me.”

“She says that she lost the apple when somebody bumped into her.” Edric told the apple merchant “Perhaps you should look beneath your stall for the missing apple since it might have rolled there.”

“It’s just as ye said, yer Highness.” the burly man declared after looking under his stall table. “Please excuse me earlier rudeness, Missy. That was uncalled for. Won’t be happenin’ again. I promise.”

“The apple was beneath the stall, Milady. The vendor apologizes for his previous rudeness caused by his misunderstanding. Do you want to let this matter rest or do you wish to bring it to the attention of the guards?” Edric explained the other party.

“Thank goodness!” the woman replied in relieve while making the holy sign used in the empire “Since all has ended well I believe the matter to be finished. Thank you very much for your assist…”

“Princess, Your Highness!” shouted a woman’s voice, leading to the previously accused woman to fall silent. “Princess Myrtis, where have you gone? Don’t you know that you are expected to meet up with Prince Edric from Yteland who is said to stay in this town at the moment? This is no time to play exploring, Your Highness. His Imperial Majesty only agreed to this voyage since you said you wished to unofficially see the man who could be your future husband, did he not? The previous emperor’s daughter and current emperor’s niece has to observe the properties. Have you forgotten that, Princess?”

The cheeks of the woman wearing a headscarf, who, if observed closely, really appeared to be still a youth, were dyed in deep red. Edric was equally speechless because he learned about a possible engagement in such a bizarre way. Additionally, both the prince and princess still hadn’t introduced themselves to each other. Since that was the case, the kingdom’s second prince felt even more awkward since his potential fiancée was still unaware of his identity.

Soon the woman owning the impressively loud voice calling for the princess in disguise came in sight. She was a dumpy woman of advanced age with greyed hair, sparking dark eyes and unbelievably long ears which were almost reaching down to her knees and wide enough to cover herself with. The woman – she was a panotian, member of one of the rarer tribes at the borders of the empire who were still considered human despite their strikingly different appearance – was no one else but Artostre, the old and trusty nurse of Princess Myrtis Porphyrina. With her chalk-white complexion and her stout build she formed an almost comical contrast to her slim, quite tall mistress whose darker complexion was typical for the people of Southern countries such as the empire.

“There you are, Princess!” Artostre exclaimed “Do you know that I have looked for you literally everywhere? Oh, enough of that. Don’t get distracted so easily, Your Highness! Looking at your excursiveness even I would doubt that you are the greatest female scholar of our empire if I didn’t know better. Wasn’t your goal to take a look at your potential fiancé who is said to be quite the scholar in his own right? Shoo, shoo, Princess. Let us continue our search for this Prince Edric, be soon done with it and immediately return to the empire.”

“Artostre…” Princess Myrtis murmured in embarrassment. Why of all things did her nurse have to make such a clamor in front of her benefactor who mastered her mother tongue fluently?

In the meantime Edric had managed to regain his composure. Luckily for him he was the only one around fluent in the language of the empire. His mother only spoke her mother tongue as well as Yteish and Augustine also didn’t seem to understand, at least judging from his clueless expression.

Gathering all his courage, the prince declared: “I believe I can save you the trouble of cluelessly searching for Yteland’s second prince. I am this Prince Edric you are looking for. Just, how can it be I have yet to hear even a single word about a planned engagement concerning me? I should already be informed, shouldn’t I?”

The surprise in Myrtis’s and Artostre’s faces was plain obvious. They never had expected to run into the very prince they were looking for. Interestingly it was now the Princess who regained her composure first. As if to show that she didn’t need her disguise and longer, she took off the headscarf, thus revealing her pure black head of curls and curtsied. Then she spoke:

“Greetings, Prince Edric. I am Myrtis Porphyrina, daughter of the late emperor Stylianos Porphyrios and niece of the current emperor Gennadios Porphyrios. I understand if you might be surprised about the talks of our possible engagement but it is nothing official as of yet. Before continuing the engagement talks I wished to personally find out about you, especially about the scholarly disposition you are said to have. As a scholar myself it is of utmost importance to me that my future husband is able to appreciate my endeavors on the field of knowledge. I am fully aware that a woman dabbling in scholarly research is terribly unladylike but I do not wish to deny what I like the most.”

The more Edric heard, the more he was taken in by this prospective bride of his. He himself had pushed back the matter of his own marriage because he feared ending up with a woman who was unable to appreciate his research. Most aristocratic women reacted with incomprehension regarding his scholarly enjoyments after all. They normally preferred socializing over research.

“What a joy to meet a kindred spirit.” he replied ”I myself enjoy my research very much and am terribly interested what field of interest your studies might focus on. I myself am a scholar with a rather pronounced agricultural interest. If you do not mind, Princess Myrtis, how about it? Do you and your companion want to join me for the play which is said to be the climax of the present local festival. We can then converse afterwards about our respective interests. Just please allow me to inform my companions about the unexpected turn of events, since neither my mother nor our guide who himself is a famous scholar in Yteland are proficient in this language.”

“I would love to.” Myrtis answered after convincing her nurse that following the prince’s invitation was the right thing to do.

Thus Prince Edric’s group had two more people when they set out for the stage where the play was supposed to happen. While chatting with each other, Edric and Myrtis realized that they were quite similar and had compatible interests. In both the thought took root that if it was already inevitable to marry for political reasons, it might not be too bad to marry a kindred spirit such as their prospective engagement partner.

Incidentally, the engagement with Myrtis whom he never had met was the main reason behind Edric renouncing his claim to the throne and retiring to a monastery in Violant’s last lifetime. Now that they had met, history would change significantly.