Rose’s first morning AA (After Awakening)

Dear Grandmamma,

Most admired and beloved of those whom I love and admire,

When we met for lunch, my client, Rose, was wearing navy slacks and a navy silk shirt, and had a smart bag slung over her shoulder. Her mane had been cut into the same sort of neat curly nimbus that McLaren and Polly wear. ( Pearl doesn’t grow a proper mane at all; when it gets longer than her selkie fur, she gets it trimmed back.) The young women did the sort of greeting ritual, full of squeaks and giggles and body contact, that indicated that they were happy to together, and had accepted my client as a friend.

Broad also accepted her immediately. He wanted her to tell her story for the Archives, and so that he might use it in his story-telling. He made a great deal of friendly eye-contact with her through lunch. She accepted his invitation to the evening’s story. “How providential it is that you will be speaking about what people did after all us royals went to sleep. It’s just what I most need to know, to understand the time I’ve woken up into.”

Of course everyone asked her questions. No, she had no idea what was happening in the Castle, but she was worried about her mother and hoped to be reunited with her soon. (Polly produced a pen and paper and a pigeon from her bag, and helped Rose prepare a brief message. “It will be delivered by this evening, if they are accepting messages,” she said.)

Shopping was fun, Rose said, but they hadn’t had much time. “McLaren said we should go to a different jeweller to sell each piece – I grabbed some of my birthday gifts before I ran away, as well as the stuff I was wearing for the party – McLaren said I would depress the market if I sold it all in the same place. But we didn’t sell anything in the market; we sold them all in the most luxurious emporia.

“In between selling we went to the bank – I have a bank account now. From what Father and the Bailiff said about banks, I thought they were terrible rude places where you go to borrow money. But it wasn’t rude at all; it was a huge handsome building. The staff explained politely that they would keep my money safe and pay my bills according to my instructions. I said that I expected they would, and if they didn’t my lawyers, HE&A, would eat them. They seemed very impressed, so I guess it was the right thing to tell them.

“We did go to spa where I had my hair cut, and a clothing emporium, where I bought this outfit. What do you think? Do I look like a woman of the future, and not a silly princess a few centuries out of date?”

They told her she looked lovely, and did the greeting ritual and giggling all over again. They tried to explain the menu in the middle of the squealing and giggling, but naturally they just made Rose more confused. Finally Minsky told them all to shut up, and Broad ordered something for her. She liked it, and she waved her eyelashes at Broad as though she liked him too.

Then the head-waiter came, and apologized for interrupting, but Allo Jo’s was keen on knowing the were forms of their customers – could he please know the new lady’s were form?

Rose had no idea what he meant, so Broad explained. “Many of us have a second form, that we can change into to give us an advantage in another milieu. Pearl, for instance, is a selkie – she can live in the sea as conveniently as on land. McLaren also has a marine form; hers is a mermaid. My other form is a bear – extremely useful for cutting short arguments, for instance. Polly has a bird form, very beautiful and also versatile. She can travel quickly and easily through the air; she can exchange information with whole flocks of birds at once; she can communicate with our messenger birds with skill and precision that the rest of us can only dream of.”

“Daddy will have caniptions; he hates that sort of thing. He’s not going to like the future at all. But it’s not the future for you, is it? Nor for me, if I’m to live in it; it will be my new present. What do you call this time of yours?”

“The Century of the Snail-Darter, the Decade of the Water Moccasin, the Year of the Monkey Climbing a Tree,” said Broad. “That’s for chronicles and poetry. For business and day-by-day things, it’s the year 250 ATS – After The Sleep.”

“Oh,” said Rose. She looked at the head waiter. “I don’t think I have a were form,” she said apologetically. “My daddy wouldn’t allow it.”

“That’s all right, then,” he replied. “Lots of folks don’t. But I rather expected you might, sitting at this table. And where might be you working, miss?”

“Maybe waiter should mind own business,” said Minsky. I raised my hackles to second him, and the waiter quickly excused himself.

“Working?” Rose asked. “What did he mean? Oh, I feel so confused and tired. Could some one take me home?” She did her cute thing, dimples and fluttering her eyelashes and flushing her cheeks pink. All the more-or-less humans at the table started to say comforting things at the same time and reach out to help her, but mainly they got tangled up with one another.

When they sorted it out, Poly said, “See Rose, you do have a were form. It’s the cute princess! You can turn it on whenever you need it, just like I can turn into a bird.”

“But this morning Ever said I’d never have to be cute again.”

“Better advise client, Toby,” said Minsky.

So I did. “He said you don’t have to – he didn’t say you shouldn’t do it when it’s useful.”

Rose looked at me. “Do you have a were form, Toby?”

I was startled at the idea. “I’m a dragon,” I told her. “Think about it. What would I want with another form?”

Sometimes clients are so silly, Grandmamma – but I guess if they all knew how to manage their affairs moderately and effectively and within the law, they wouldn’t need lawyers. And then I wouldn’t have my splendid tower home at HE&A . . .

With greatest love and respect,

Yours, Toby