Free Fool's Errand by Maureen Fergus

no reason to trust me—or you, for that matter. For years his people have been persecuted in your name. They’ve been hunted and slaughtered and scalped; their infants have been bled like pigs for the healing power of their Gypsy blood.” The king’s face had gone grey again, but Persephone pressed on. “If I were Azriel, I might think that the wisest and safest course of action for me to follow upon leaving the imperial city would be to get as far away as possible and to never return. And that is why we cannot send him on this quest by himself.”
    â€œI will send soldiers—”
    â€œSoldiers committed the very atrocities of which I spoke!” exclaimed Persephone. “You cannot send soldiers, Your Majesty. It must be me who accompanies Azriel in the search of healing waters, and I am glad of it, for I cannot be certain of being able to frighten your cough away and now that I have found you, I could not abide losing you.”
    â€œI could not abide losing you, either,” said Finn, with feeling. “That is why—”
    â€œYou will not lose me,” interrupted Persephone with more confidence than she felt. “I’ve had an unusual upbringing for a princess and as a consequence I am unusually capable of taking care of myself. Moreover, Azriel has made a solemn vow to protect my life with his own, and while I must admit I’ve saved his life more times than he’s saved mine, his vow ought to count for something .”
    â€œHe’s a good wrestler,” acknowledged the king as he struggled to suppress a cough.
    â€œI suppose,” grimaced Persephone, recalling the lovely afternoon Azriel had ruined by foolishly provoking the king into a wrestling match.
    â€œEven so—”
    â€œAnd then there is this: if we find the healing pool, think of all the good you could do for your subjects,” said Persephone enticingly. “Think of the pain and suffering that could be alleviated by even a thimbleful of healing water administered at your command. And you would not have a thimbleful at your disposal but an endless wellspring! If you will not let me go for the sake of allowing me to honour my word or for the sake of your own health, Your Majesty, you simply must let me go for the sake of your subjects!”
    The king grimaced at her for saying the one thing he could not argue against. “Very well!” he said, flinging his hands into the air. “Though you’ve not exactly asked for my permission to join Azriel on the quest for the healing pool, I grant it nonetheless—provided you come back to me in one piece.”
    Persephone nodded and tried not to think about the many reasons she might come back to him in more than one piece.
    Or not at all.

    Her imminent departure agreed upon, the king sent a note to Azriel asking him to make adequate preparations for the journey and granting him permission to freely requisition whatever he required in that regard. He then issued a royal command that Persephone spend the entire day with him. Smiling fondly, she solemnly declared herself the most loyal of subjects and vowed to obey him even unto death.
    The two of them spent the rest of the morning lounging in the king’s inner chamber sharing stories from their respective childhoods. Finn told of what it had been like to be raised by servants. He shared how it had felt to be a very small child dining alone in silence at the head of a table that could comfortably have sat forty. He described his first pony, the topiary maze a favourite gardener had once fashioned for his amusement and the stuffed rabbit named Sir Wabbity that Moira had made for him out of a handful of velvet scraps. With a faraway look in his eyes, he recounted the first time he’d stood alone upon the Grand Balcony to acknowledge the throngs of cheering lowborn subjects beyond the palace walls. He told of how he’d had to stand on his tiptoes to see over the