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Heidi seemed to calm, her exuberant smile fading to something almost serious.
“I understand, Selene,” she replied. “Anyway,” she paused, looking back at me, “are we ready to leave? Assuming Selene, that you do not require to eat?” she asked.
“I’m finished,” I confirmed when I looked up to see the Princess looking at me.
“We’re ready to leave then,” the Princess answered, and I stood from my seat.
“How exciting. Percy, what do you think of the town so far?” Heidi asked me as we walked towards the entrance foyer.
“I didn’t know the Academy was close to a town. I haven’t been before,” I replied.
“You haven’t taken your pet shopping yet?” Heidi asked Selene incredulously.
“No, we hadn’t had much time while at the Academy before now,” the Princess replied, “I prefer to introduce Percy to new experiences slowly.” She turned to me, her arm circling my waist and pulling me closer as we walked. “Sanguis Town is much larger than what you may have experienced in Maria. There is less space and far more people. It’s almost large enough to be classified as a city,” she told me.
“I hadn’t thought of the possibility that you weren’t familiar with such metropolitan bustle. Do your kind entirely regulate yourselves to your little villages?” Heidi asked, and I wasn’t sure if she was mocking or curious.
“We travel into the local town to trade when necessary and sometimes to pay taxes if we were behind when the collector visited,” I answered her. She turned to me with a surprised look on her face.
“House Maria allow the outskirt communities to be late with payments?” the Princess asked me, sounding almost as shocked as Heidi looked. I closed my mouth tight, worried I had gotten my home in trouble unknowingly.
“You’ve scared her,” Heidi accused.
“How?” the Princess replied.
“Your tone was all wrong, Selene. Look at your poor girl,” she said and turned to me as we descended the steps to the awaiting car. “Don’t worry, Percy; I’m sure our Princess will not interfere in how House Maria collects taxes,” she reassured.
A guard held open the car doors, and Heidi walked around to get in the other side while the Princess took her seat. I was confused for only a moment about where I would sit until the Princess reached her hand out to me and pulled me down into her lap.
Her nose brushed against my neck. “It is true. It is not my place to dictate to House Maria how they choose to comply with tax mandates. So long as they pay the crown what is due on time, I have no issue with their practices,” she told me softly.
“Why did you seem surprised?” I asked her, trying very hard not to be embarrassed by my position in her lap while sharing a car with Heidi. For her part, Heidi did not seem remotely interested in my place on the Princess's lap.
“It is unusual to be lenient when it comes to tax collections,” she answered.
Heidi scoffed. “Unusual! There was a time when the outskirt communities would be burned to the ground for the offence of owing taxes.”
“Heidi, watch what you say. Such practices are in the past,” the Princess told me. “Nothing of the like would ever happen to your home now.”
“No, all it took was driving out all the communities like yours from the north to the south where they found sanctuary,” Heidi said.
The Princess growled in warning.
“Selene, you can’t hide the past from her. History is often bloody and unjust. The kingdom, as we know it now, was new. Outskirt communities were a threat to a newly founded system. They were not treated kindly. Join or die was the motto. Percy, your people must speak of that time,” Heidi said, undeterred by the growl that vibrated against me from the Princess.
“We don’t speak of it much, but I know we once had to move a lot before settling in Maria,” I replied.
“Why do your people not share their history with the young?” Heidi asked me. I didn’t have an answer. I didn’t know why I was never told of such horrible times.
“Sometimes people like to forget,” the Princess answered for me, and I supposed that was probably true. “Remembering times of persecution means to remember the fear; too much remembering of the past can hinder the present,” she explained. Maybe she was right. We did not live in fear now. We lived peacefully. I never worried about violence when we couldn’t pay the tax collector.
“Forgetting history allows it to repeat,” Heidi countered.
The Princess only hummed in agreement. I knew she valued history extensively and often looked to how the past was reflected in the present for answers. It was why her bookshelf was full of histories, why the stories she told me were often of people in the past and how their problems were similar to ours.
The town was much larger than I was used to. The streets were wide, and yet still they were full of people. The Princess held my hand, her fingers laced with mine, and I walked close to her side. Others gave us more space. People noticed her and bowed their heads as we passed.
“Can I take your pet to the Enchanter’s?” Heidi asked as we walked, and she pointed to a forest green storefront with a purple potion bottle painted above the door.
