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“—a menace.”
“I like it.” This last was from a painfully thin lad in the back. If not for the curved horns poking through his wildly curly black hair and the dusting of pale-brown fur covering his face, I might’ve mistaken him for a young human male.
All the rest of the group stared at him.
“Gibbon,” growled Master Bower disdainfully.
He blushed so deeply it peeped through his peach-fuzz fur. “Well, I do,” he protested.
“Better to be honest,” I assured him with a smile. “I am glad to hear I am not alone in my opinion.” I surveyed the rest of them. “One at a time, I would like to hear your reasons that you wish the hedge maze to be removed.”
“Eyesore,” a particularly grim-looking brownie volunteered.
“Matter of opinion,” I responded.
“Drain on the resources of the garden,” a wizened faun argued.
I regarded him a moment as I considered that possibility. “How so?”
“Water.”
“From my understanding, the hedges require little extra watering. Correct me if I am wrong, but they help a great deal with erosion.”
“We don’t have erosion issues,” a dwarf protested, his voice a deep rumble. “Haven’t in years.”
“And how long have you had the hedge maze?”
Master Bower responded. “For fifty years, it was down by the river. King Emrys ordered it moved next to the castle to prevent the visitors from wandering into the castle.”
I nodded. That made sense. “Was the moving a laborious process? I assume Emrys wasn’t able to assist with the process because of his disconnection with the land.”
Master Bower’s bushy eyebrows lowered. “How do you know that?”
I met his dark glare with a mild smile. “I guessed, Master Bower.” I shuffled through the plans until I found the one that I wished to reference. “In a matter of a week, the festival reopening court will take place. The grand event of the festival will be held in the ballroom. Is it possible we might have the gardens prepared for the guests to wander through on the east side of the castle?”
“The ballroom opens out onto the topiary and statuary gardens that lead down to the river,” the faun pointed out. “We couldn’t possibly move them in a week’s time and plant a new vista-worth of flora before then.”
“I figured as much. No matter how much magic is involved, most flowers would die after such a radical transition.” I unfolded the paper plan I had sketched out the day before. “This is what I was hoping for instead.” Kneeling on the ground, I spread the paper out so they all could see. “I took some ideas from the submitted plans and combined them. What do you think? Is it doable?”
“You can’t plant azaeil bushes next to hortooth vines. They will kill each other.” The dwarf pointed at the plot plan around the base of the unicorn topiary.
The curly-haired Gibbon indicated the beds next to the chimera statue. “And the shotzion and the lionsbreath will smell awful together. Lionsbreath needs to be next to lilies.”
“Drainage is off in some sections, but a bit of rearranging will solve that.” The faun frowned.
“Where?” demanded the dwarf.
“There.” The faun motioned to the first beds at the top of the garden near the ballroom doors.
As the group descended into good-natured bickering, Gibbon produced a pencil and began making alterations to the designs. I sat back on my heels and then rose to my feet with a smile.
“You wanted this?” my assistant asked in a whisper from next to me.
I nodded. “By the time they finish, the plan will be their joint project, with everyone equally invested in it succeeding.”
“If it works.” Master Bower grunted from my other side. I startled slightly. I hadn’t heard him move. He didn’t react to my sudden movement. Instead, he continued observing his underlings’ argument. “Effective, Your Majesty. Handled like a master manipulator.” He snorted. “Doesn’t mean I like you.”
I considered him gravely. His bushy eyebrows had lifted. Whether in surprise or appreciation, I couldn’t say. “As long as it works, and the hedge maze stays, I am content.”
