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“Servant of the Lady Sorceress,” she answered.
Oh yes, of course. I could call her whatever I wanted and she would answer, as long as I meant her.
I decided to sit down, not a graceful endeavor on the slick pillows. Dragonfly Girl scurried over, trying to plump up pillows around me. I felt like swatting at her. Especially when one of the iridescent wings nearly poked my eye out.
“Sit,” I said, pointing an imperious finger at her, a la Starling. Amazing how quickly the lady-of-the-manor behavior came to you when you were surrounded by the obsequious. She obediently knelt in front of me, then remembered and changed it to a sitting position. Darling drifted over, sniffed at her, then eyed the wing hovering over his head. He batted at it and I tsked at him. Dragonfly looked frightened, though I wasn’t sure if it was of me, him or both.
“Darling, leave the girl be,” I said to his disdainful look. He settled down into meatloaf position, eyes bright on the wing. I decided to let it go.
“Were you born with the wings?”
“Oh no, Lady Sorceress. Our family magician made them for me so I could be a good servant for you.”
“Why do dragonfly wings make you a good servant?”
“Because the Lady Sorceress can’t have an ordinary girl!”
“I think I can.”
“You don’t like me? I’ve failed already?” Her eyes silvered with tears again. “I haven’t even heard your requirements and you’re sending me home?”
“Stop with the tears. That’s requirement number one.”
She sniffled a bit, but dried the tears.
“Can you use the wings—can you fly with them?”
Dragonfly looked astonished, with a nose-wrinkle for my ignorance.
“Never mind. Do you want to keep them? They seem…inconvenient.”
“Oh yes, Lady Sorceress. They’re way cool.”
The faerie version of Valley Girl patter—just what I needed. I blinked against the grittiness of my eyes. If I could just sleep, this would seem less like an acid trip.
If I could sleep without dreaming, I amended to myself. That meant dealing with that diabolical flower. And maybe an afternoon nap would keep me in slow-wave sleep rather than REM sleep, when dreams occurred. My own brain chemistry shouldn’t be any different than in the regular world. Hopefully.
And if it had changed, now would be a really good time to find out.
I set Dragonfly to clearing some of the pillows, creating a workspace and finding me something else to sleep on. A futon of sorts. I described the rolled cotton layers of a futon, watching Dragonfly’s terror of being unable to please me increase, and realized I could just transform some of the pillows into the kind of bed I wanted.
Note to self—magic can be a shortcut. Remember to use it.
On the other hand, sending Dragonfly on a scavenger hunt for various obscure items for the eccentric foreign sorceress kept her out of my hair. Not unlike sending a bored lab tech off for Erlenmeyer flasks of a certain color in my previous life. Though apparently napping, Darling pictured a few things he’d like to have as well, including a revised version of the spiked collar/breastplate combination. I let him know I’d make that, too. That way I could modify it whenever his whims changed. Which I expected to be often.
Once Dragonfly left, I smoothed some pillows and lay down for a nap in my own sunbeam. I didn’t want to tackle the flower while I was muzzy-headed. My trunks had arrived before me, so I packed the lily away in the bottom of one.
Darling curled up next to me in the curve of my body, a habit developed on the road. His purring warmth reminded me of Isabel.
With a last wish that the lily would stay put, I crashed into sleep.
Chapter 14
Armies and Navies and Dogs, Oh My
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“My lady sorceress?”
