Things were really set in motion after that. True to his word to Eden, our father did fire the tax men who were robbing the townspeople. I dare say he seemed kind of... impressed with us. In that same awkward stumbling way our mother used to try and compliment us, he started to do the same. A "good job" here or a hesitant "have a good day" after breakfast.

Eden had originally been taking his earldom classes with the head butler but now father took him on directly once a week as well. They seemed to both really be enjoying spending time together... I think, father was kind of the stoic type. I was actually a little jealous. I suppose I'd still never had a private conversation with our dad.

Even though things were fixed, we waited a month before going back into town. Long enough for the dust to settle.

When we eventually did, we were welcomed back with surprisingly open arms. Eden's sort of heroism that day he promised to help the town left a mark on Edgar and, in turn, his inflated opinion of Eden boosted my brother's status with the boys.

It was the end of another Sunday market when we all moseyed out of the alley to skulk back to our families and homes.

I waved at old man Gengunhuber who was fiddling with keys at his doorstep. "Hey Mister Kidnapper!" I called.

"That's Oscar Gengunhuber to you brat!" He shook his head. "You two really should not be wandering around down here."

"And yet we will continue to anyway, Oscar Gengunhuber!" I called with a wave goodbye and we moved on.

"Mister!" He yelled after us. "Have some manners!"

"Have a good day, Mr. Oscar Gengunhuber!" I yelled back even louder.

"Don't provoke him," Eden muttered.

"Me?" I asked. "Never."

When we passed the baker she gave us a good-natured smile. "You two are back again?" Then a look of concern flashed across her face. "Do your parents know you come out here?"

"How is your ankle?" I asked, changing the topic.

"No complaints," she said. "Stopped feeling any pain a few weeks ago."

"That's good!" Eden said.

"Now if I could just get rid of these blasted dizzy episodes," she said.

I paused in thought. "About that... could you describe the symptoms?"

"Hm, well, sometimes when I tilt my head the wrong way or get up too fast, the whole world just starts spinning," she explained.

"So vertigo then," I said.

"Vertigo?" She asked.

"Yeah, that's what it's called. Has anyone, maybe Edgar, mentioned any rapid eye movements when you're exhibiting your symptoms?" I asked further.

"Once or twice he might have brought it up," she said.

"It's probably just benign paroxysmal positional vertigo," I said. "It's really easy to fix if you want me to give it a go."

She looked uncertain, "and how exactly do you know how to fix this?"

Well, I couldn't very easily say an internship in college at a physio clinic. I bit my lip. "Well, books I guess, but the procedure is very simple. Some calcium crystals in your ear that help you keep balance have fallen as debris into the wrong part of your ear. They're probably triggering sensors in the semicircular canal which are causing the dizziness. There are maneuvers to jostle things back into place."

She looked at me for a moment and sighed. "Well you certainly sound like you know what you're talking about. I guess we could give it a shot. Let me just finish getting this last basket inside."

Eden looked at me skeptically, "Briar, where did you learn this?"

I shrugged. "I have a ton of quasi-medical books in my room. You've seen them." I mostly got them to compare this world's knowledge of the body's musculoskeletal system to my own. Unsurprisingly, I know more, but I also knew that small bookshelf of texts would give me credibility for anything medical when needed.

He nodded. "Wow, we all thought you were just interested in the pictures. The fascination kind of freaked some of the maids out, to be honest."

What's wrong with a little girl looking at diagrams of skinless bodies?

We headed inside.

Edgar glanced up at us from the table. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Saving the day, again," I said in fake exasperation. I turned to the baker and sat her down on the sturdy-looking kitchen counter "This will be quick. Do you know which side causes the worst vertigo?"

She gestured to her left and I nodded. "Okay then, so face a bit to the right..." I paused. I was too small to do this next part. I called Edgar over. "I'm going to hold her head in the right position. I want you to quickly lower her onto her left side." Edgar nodded and I turned to the baker. "Since we're moving things in your ear you will get dizzy but this should set them in place."

She nodded.

Edgar lowered her to her left side.

"There it is," the Baker said nervously.

"Just bear with it for now," I said. After thirty seconds I instructed Edgar to moved her all the way to her right side. We held that for thirty seconds too and then brought her back to upright.

"Great!" I said. "I'll check in next week to see if it worked!"

"Uh, thank you dear?" The baker said, still disoriented, and we headed back out with cookies for our troubles.

"You know what would be good?" I asked Eden, glancing down at the little bag.

"What?" He asked.

"If we made ice cream and then stuffed it between two cookies."

"Like an ice cream sandwich?" He asked, "that's the craziest thing I've ever heard."

"I guess," I said.

After a few moments pause, Eden chipped back in. "Well, we could give it a go."

Victory.

I paused at the feeling of something tugging at the hem of my skirt and turned.

The most doll-like girl with big blond curls was looking back at me with sparkling teal eyes. I blinked, a bit dazzled.

"Excuse me," she said. "I'm lost." Her lower lip trembled as if she was just holding it together.

"Uh," was all I could say. She looked so out of place in the street with her expensive-looking red overcoat. Well, I guess I wasn't one to talk.

Eden bent down and smiled. "Were you out with family? Where did you last see them?"

"One of the wheels on our carriage broke so we stopped, and I saw a cat a little bit away so I followed it..." she whimpered.

"Aww, don't worry, they should be close by. What does your family look like?" I asked, taking her little hand.

"My big brother's probably looking for me..." She said.

"Well, what does he look like?" Eden repeated my question.

"hmmm, he's got eye my colour," she said, "and he's taller than you," she pointed at Eden.

"Okay, well, I haven't seen eyes like yours before so this can't be too hard," I said uncertainly. I offered her a cookie and we went on our way.

We talked to her as we wove up and down streets, trying to keep her calm.

Ten minutes in, Eden got anxious. "I'm going to run ahead and try to scout out some of the side streets."

"You? Running?" I asked sarcastically.

He gave me a humoured nod and then rolled his eyes and shook his head before running off down the street.

I bent down next to the girl and trained her eyes on his retreating form. "What a rare sighting, you might not see that again in your lifetime."

She giggled, even her laughter sounded like bell chimes.

A voice in the distance said, "Wait, I know that laugh."

An older girl came bursting through the crowd. She was unmistakably her sister, with the same teal eyes and golden hair albeit cropped shocking short, giving a Scarlett Johanson pixie cut realness that was impressive for this world. I dug her style.

"There you are," she said. "We've been looking everywhere for you!"

The little girl let go of my hand and clutched her sleeve. "Sorry."

The sister then noticed me and smiled kindly. "I'm sorry, who might you be?"

I wasn't going to blow it with my possibly new chic best friend. "Hi! I'm Briar! Your little sister asked for help from my brother and I, he's actually still out looking for you... or I guess your brother. Are you all travelling through town?"

The two looked at me in confusion. When everything I said clicked the little girl pouted. "I'm not a girl!"

I held back my disbelief... terribly.

"My name is Lucas! I'm a boy!" (He?) said, "and this is my brother!"

"ET TU?!" I blurted in shock. "Sorry you've got some beautiful genes working there..." I was definitely disappointed.

The boy held out his hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you Briar, my name is-"

"Prince Luther!" Eden stood a ways away in shock.

I looked back at the princes who I'd just called girls. Our family was gonna get hella beheaded.