Tulip has been sitting eating loudly during this conversation, occasionally rolling her eyes.

“Your dear brother died but of course you’re perfectly happy!” she suddenly growled viciously at her meat, “You only bury your anger because you know you’re helpless. You still want revenge, somewhere in there, or you wouldn’t be here.”

Beln looked at her, alarmed at her mood but determined to stand up for himself. “I’m not angry,” he said with forced calm, “I wish it hadn’t happened but there’s no…you can’t be angry at war.”

“And would you feel like that if there was someone to blame?” Suddenly she was glaring at him her voice raised. “What if you could look someone in the eye and know that they were responsible for his death. What if I stood in front of you and told you – I killed your brother.”

Beln didn’t flinch but he was clenching his fists. “It’s no-one’s fault.”

Tulip leant in. “I joined up when I was 16. I lied about my age. I was thin, weak and we had no time to train properly. We lasted about four months in the hills until one night they ambushed us while we were sleeping. It was my watch but I was turned towards the fire, so I couldn’t see them coming in the dark.” Neither of them blinked. Beln was stony faced, Tulip seemed almost eager. “Then, when I realised they were there, my gun was out of reach and I couldn’t get a proper hold of it, and I tried to yell out but I couldn’t defend myself properly and they knocked me down easily.” She sounded scornful now, as if she were describing someone else. “It was so easy that only one person was killed that night. But not one of them survived the camp they took us to. Over 6 months, every one of those15 men and women was murdered.”

Beln shifted slightly and looked away. “So? What would you say, boy?” Tulip challenged. Beln glanced at Tom sitting opposite him but he was watching Tulip and offered no support. “What would you say if I sat here and told you that your brother was one of those 15…”

“He wasn’t!” Beln exploded.

Tulip’s gaze never wavered. Slowly, carefully, she continued “I killed your brother…”

“You’re lying!” Beln shouted.

“You don’t know that!” Tulip shouted back.

Beln sat back in his seat breathing heavily glaring at her expectant half-triumphant expression until he had to look away. Then suddenly he stopped and looked slowly back up at her. “What was his name?” he said quietly. Tulip frowned slightly, questioningly, but Beln didn’t repeat it, just sat looking at her. Expectation crackled. Tulip opened her mouth…then closed it again and looked away. Beln let out a breath. Then he stood up slowly and walked out of the door.

Tulip finally met Tom’s gaze with a half smile then sat back and returned to her food without a word.

Chapter 4

The girl in the tavern sat and moped over the prince, and the prince in his castle sat and moped over his princess, and the people avoided each other's eyes in the streets and snapped at their loved ones, and it seemed as though the kindom had been cursed.

Then, suddenly the girl got up. She looked out of the window and the street was empty. In the distance she could see the red castle on the hill but nothing moved there; the only life in the town was two black and white birds flying low overhead, calling to each other. The man who owned the tavern came into the room, straining to carry a heavy barrel and muttering to himself. The girl turned and smiled a radiant smile and the man was so suprised that he stopped and stared as the girl came over, took the barrel and put it away behind the bar. Then the girl fetched her coat and told the man that she was going out for a while, and the tavern keeper noticed that he had been smiling without realising it. The girl stepped out of the tavern and walked down the road. First she went to visit her friends and some of them joined her, and they walked through the kingdom together laughing gaily. And they would smile at the people they passed by, and people would come out to speak with them, and then they would see other people that they knew and instead of returning to work, stopped to speak with them as well. Gradually the streets filled with people again, and they remembered what good friends they had, and how much they enjoyed each other's company.

The sounds of laughter spread up the hill to the castle and the prince looked out the window, astonished. His servants were giggling in the corridors and they smiled fondly at him as he emerged, bemused, from his room. He went outside and people gave him a friendly nod as they passed, before continuing other conversations, and though they smiled at him, they smiled more at each other and the prince walked unhindered through the town. As he looked around at the smiling faces, he realised that he was smiling too, and seeing his subjects so happy made him forget all about his own sorrows. He turned a corner and there was the girl who polished the tables at the tavern; she glanced at him with sparkling eyes that matched his own, then came up to him and kissed him once on the cheek before walking away with her friends around her, leaving the prince standing and staring all around in amazement.

The kingdom was always happy after that; even when times were hard the people remembered that they could rely on each other and that their friendships were strong and valuable. The prince went out less, he talked with his own friends, and they created something together that they could share through joy and sorrow. And when the prince did go out, he looked around and everything he saw made him happy and he was glad and grateful for the gift that other people gave him.

Chapter 3

Most days the prince would wander the kingdom and sometimes he passed by the tavern, and sometimes he went in, but mostly he would not. And when he did come the girl who polished the tables was ecstatic and when he didn't she was glum until he came again. And sometimes he would walk by and she wanted to run out to speak to him, but she didn't, she waited, and when he didn't come in she was crushed. The prince had so many people to talk to that he didn't always see the people waiting or didn't get a chance to talk to everyone around him and the people were sad because they loved him so but he didn't have time for them. And though when he did speak to them they felt special once again, when he didn't they felt rejected, and thought that he had never really cared about them at all, and they grew sad. And after a while they began to grow angry that they had been taken in so, and that a glance from him should still have the power to make their day or destroy their mood, and they began to avoid him so that they would not fall under his spell again. The girl who polished the tables still gazed at him from inside the tavern as he passed and though she told herself that she didn't want to see him, each time he didn't notice her, her spirits fell.

At first the prince did not notice. There were still new people in the kindom to meet, and while he gained some satisfaction from this, when he was alone he preffered to think about his princess, although she was long gone. But gradually the prince became aware of a change - the people were no longer cheerful in the streets, and each day less would come to speak to him. He didn't understand what had gone wrong - for still when he spoke people would smile, but now it didn't seem to really make them happy. A gloom of misery and simmering resentment crept over the kingdom. The prince began to go out less, for when he passed it just seemed to become worse, so instead he sat and dreamt about the princess.

Chapter 2

The years went by and as the prince grew he became ever more charming and all who saw him couldn't help but smile; for a grin they would do anything, and when he spoke to them people were indeed happy and felt honoured to have to themselves any small moment of his time. Only the princess did not fall under his spell and though they had been close, she left one day, and the prince cried. And though he was sad for a long time after that, his charm remained and he could melt the heart of anyone his green eyes rested upon.

The prince would often roam the kingom for he loved to meet people and talk to them, and he was glad that he had chosen so well and that he had such a power to bring joy to people's hearts. One day he came across a girl polishing tables in a tavern and he spoke with her as he did with many people and she gazed at him, amazed that a person like him would pay her such attention. She offered him a drink and he accepted and she was filled with such excitment by this simple act that for the rest of the day her spirits were lifted to the sky as she went about her work. And the prince went on and visited many people, and for a small time he would give each of them his gift and they too would be gleeful as they conducted their business.

Sometimes when the prince told the story of how he got his gift, his friends would shake their heads and remind him that magpies were tricksy birds and not to be trusted. But he could charm even them and he looked around at his kingdom and saw that despite life being hard in that place, each day his happiness spread to make even the most painful work more bearable for everyone.

Chapter 1

There was once a beautiful kingdom of stone and grass. In this kingdom on a hill sat a grand ivy-covered castle of red, and here lived a prince. One day when the prince was a small boy he came across a magpie with it's leg caught in some wire. Upon untangling the wire the magpie granted the boy a wish (for magpies have special powers over those who see them). The prince was very excited for he could think of many things to wish for! He could wish that he was less shy, or that he had blonde hair, or that he could know everyone in the whole kingdom and never be afraid.

But then he thought, "maybe I can change these things myself without magic. I ought to wish for something for other people," and he thought some more and then he made his wish. "I wish for the power to make people happy." he said firmly and the magpie gave a slight nod of its head and leapt up and off in a flash of black and white and was gone.

When the prince told his friend, a princess, what had happened she thought he must have fallen asleep and dreamt it. "Did you salute the magpie or raise your hat to it?" she asked him, "it's bad luck otherwise," but the prince thought that the magpie was so beautiful it must be good, and anyway what bad luck could come of such a selfless wish?