When they saw the castle, Fern and Ivy nearly dropped dead. It was white and glistening as the other capitol buildings were, but it was absolutely enormous. It was far fancier and taller than the fanciest and tallest church Fern had seen in the city and its miles of elaborate surrounding gardens were more beautiful and intricate than the most beautiful and intricate park Fern had seen.

But as she got closer she came upon the realization the garden entrance was a maze. A strange but interesting choice.

There was a straight pathway to the guarded castle entrance just beyond a golden wrought iron gate. Fern was about to enter the home of the most wealthy and famous of all earth elves. And she was posing as the most rich and famous water elf to top off the cake of absolutely sickening anxiousness.

"So...we go inside...and then what?" Fern asked.

Thorn rolled his light brown eyes.
"It's a garden party. It's outside."

"We won't have to go through the maze, Will we?" Ivy shuffled her hooves anxiously.

"Maze?!" Thorn shrieked in surprise, he turned towards the green hedges in front of them and let out an exasperated sigh.

"This is why the steward should never ever be on the welcome committee! They go wild without someone to tell them what not to do."

Thorn put a hand on the hedge next to the entrance to the maze and growled
"Who the heck even made this- Sage?!"

Carnation shook her head.
"As much as I love that boy he couldn't do this. Not yet. Looks like Oak's work."

Fern gasped at the very mention of his name. This was the first time anyone had mentioned Prince Oak when it wasn't directed at her. He honed in on his power, huh? Enough to make this thick wall of green.

Unfortunately, discussion of the young man didn't go much further as Thorn ended the conversation by mumbling
"What a way to welcome his bride...how on Earth do we even find our way through?"

This was party a rhetorical question but everyone wanted someone else to come up with a plan. After a while of waiting for an idea Carnation spoke up.

"Maybe we should split up? You know just...two people..."

When nobody gave an opinion Carnation added
"Whoever gets to the welcome party first can use their powers to make...like a trail of flowers or whatever that the others can follow!"

Ivy took a few steps forward
"To do that we'd need an earth elf in each pair."

It was true, though Carnation clearly hadn't thought of this.
"What?"

"I don't fall under an element. And Princess Tsunami is a water element. So one of you two goes with her and one with me."

Carnation paused to think and then nodded slowly.
"Yes."

Ivy grabbed Fern's shoulders and softly turned her to Carnations direction.
"Should anything come out to attack us the princess should be with her bodyguard."

Fern was about to object how unlikely that was in a heavily protected area but decided against it. She would rather be with Carnation than Thorn.

Carnation, Thorn and Fern all nodded in synch.

Without any more conversation Thorn and Ivy went into the maze and turned down a path on the left, whereas Carnation and Fern went to the right.

Since neither of them knew where they were going one or the other stepped up at every crossroad to impulsively pick a direction.

Fern noticed eventually that the last four turns had all been her choices, come to think of it, Carnation didn't look like she was in a mood for talking. Of course, Fern decided it was the best opportunity to do just that.

"What's it like being a guard?" Fern asked, but Carnations eyes remained fixed on the ground in front of her.

"Low class, low pay. I'm pretty much a glorified peasant." She said under her breath.

Fern opened her mouth to speak but found no words.
Peasant.
Of all the things Carnation could have said peasant was one of the worst things she could have possibly chosen.
Fern herself was a peasant of course but her first thoughts were on Rose and Cliff, two wonderful people who could not be stigmatized this way.

And...Fern had thought that words like that were Thorn's thing, never Carnation's.

"Is something wrong?" Fern asked after she realized how long the silence between the two had been.

Carnation waited a long time to answer. Eventually she said quietly but with a a certain grim hatred in her voice.
"I wish things were just simple and easy."

Fern wondered what was bothering her, she had been so cheerful before but now...

Fern nodded grimly
"But...they aren't...and we have to live with that, as adults."

Carnation looked to Fern, scanned her up and down. Fern supposed that she looked younger than she really was. While she in fact qualified as a young adult it may have been strange for her to refer to herself this way.

"You're getting married."

Fern quietly answered
"...Yes." Which caused Carnation to laugh a grim laugh.

"Man-"
She looked Fern in the eyes and shook her head in disbelief.
"That really sucks, kid."

Fern shrugged nonchalantly, even though she was absolutely terrified by the thought.
"Don't worry about this. It isn't your problem."

Carnation looked sympathetic despite Fern's words.
"Me and Thorn..." she locked eyes with Fern.
"It's our job to worry about you."

Once again, Fern's first thoughts rushed to Rose and Cliff which shocked her because she supposed it ought to be her parents, but as someone who had never met them it was easy to replace them with the people who had played the part her parents never did.

"Thank you."