Silas walked Gringe to the Palace door. “See you later then,” said Gringe. And then after a moment's thought: “We don't have no chickens on the drawbridge. Not even one.”
“No. Of course you don't,” said Silas, soothingly. He waved Gringe good-bye; then he and Maxie set off in search of Jenna.
Silas had as little luck finding Jenna as Marcia was having. Marcia strode down the Long Walk with Alther in tow. She threw open each door in turn, yelling,
“Septimus? Jenna! ” and then slammed the door with a crash, until Alther felt he could stand it no longer.
“There's something going on here, Marcia,” he told her.
“Too right, Alther. Septimus? Jenna?” Crash!
“It's odd that Jenna is not around either.”
“Quite. Very odd. Septimus? Jenna?” Crash!
“Well, Marcia, I'll be off for a while. There's someone I want to talk to about it.”
“Talking is not going to do any good, Alther. I had enough talking this morning from that wretched Hermetic Scribe to last me a lifetime—and it's all a load of rubbish. I have to find Septimus now. Septimus? Jenna?” Crash!
Alther left Marcia to her doors and flew off along the Long Walk. When he got to the end, he floated through to the turret on the east end of the Palace; then he wound himself around the spiral stairs and stood for a quiet moment on the top-floor landing, gathering his thoughts. Alther looked a little nervous. He brushed down his robe, which of course made no difference to its appearance at all, and tugged at his beard. Then he took a deep breath and, in an unusually respectful manner for Alther, he walked slowly through the wall into the Queen's Room.
The Queen jumped up.
“Please excuse me, Your Majesty,” said Alther, rather formally, bowing his head slightly.
“I might do, Alther, I suppose,” replied the Queen with a half smile. "If you tell me what it is that brings you here. And for goodness' sake don't call me Your Majesty.
Just Cerys will do. I am only a Spirit like yourself. No more majesty for me, Alther."
She sighed.
“I am wondering if you have seen your daughter this morning, Cerys?” asked Alther.
The Queen smiled fondly. “Yes, I have indeed,” she replied.
“Ah. So she went to Zelda's, did she?”
“So you know about the Queen's Way too, Alther? It is no longer the secret it was.”
“Your secret is safe with me. Did Jenna take the young ExtraOrdinary Apprentice with her by any chance?”
“He was with her. A nice-looking boy. How much you know, as ever. I always was in awe of you. You seemed to understand ... well, everything.”
“So she did take Septimus with her? Well, that explains it. Thank you, Cerys. I shall go tell Marcia to stop driving everyone mad.”
“Dear, dear Marcia,” mused the Queen. “She saved my Jenna, you know.”
“I know,” said Alther. They were both silent for a moment, remembering the day when they both entered ghosthood, until Alther shook himself out of his reverie. “I'll be off then. Thank you.”
Alther turned to go and then said, “You know, Cerys, you should get out more. It's not good for you being stuck in this turret all the time. And you could think about Appearing to young Jenna. I know it's a big decision but...”
“I shall Appear when the Time is Right, Alther,” the Queen said, a little severely. “It is important for a Princess to discover things for herself and to prove herself worthy of becoming Queen—just as I had to. Meanwhile, I stay here to guard the Queen's Way from harm, as my mother did for me. And as Jenna will do for her own daughter.”
“Goodness, Cerys. That's a little way off, I hope.”
“I hope so too. But one must be eternally vigilant. Good-bye. Until we meet again...”
The Queen drifted back to her chair by the ever-burning fire, and Alther knew that the audience was over. He floated through the wall with a vague feeling of dissatisfaction—but it was only later that Alther realized that the Queen had not given a straight answer to any of his questions.