Peerless

5. Impressions

Hoopoe stretched her back and looked at the time. She had been leaning over the cold case file in her work room adjacent to the kitchen. It was a broad space where Max liked to nap and a pair of wrens had made a nest in the window. She heard the back door open and looked up from reading.

"Greetings!" Doe Peerless swung herself into the room. Her deep gray skirts swirled along with her profusion of dark hair. "What do you think, Hoopoe? I've never really liked silk. A gentleman sent four bolts and I did not know what to do."

Hoopoe's eyes widened. "It's very nice."

"Why are you giving me that look?"

Hoopoe shut the folder. "Well...I just hope you do not give this man the wrong impression. Four bolts of silk..."

"He gave it to me."

"You accepted."

"They are always wooing me with things."

"You know very well you are not interested."

Doe sank into a chair.

"Why do you accept gifts from men you have no interest in? My father was keen to tell me to decline all but the one you really want. Give them the wrong idea and they never leave."

"Hoopoe, I am having fun. None of us are getting younger."

Hoopoe went back to the file.

"I'm traveling the country at the moment. There has been a lot of stirring in Little Okavango lately, so I've decided to shut up my palace and see the nation. My parents do not need me, and I've become more of a bother than a helpful daughter."

"Doe, please."

"Mother calls me a spitfire and it's worse with my father. He thinks I'll storm the palace smack the royals and steal back what is mine."

"That would be beneath a princess."

Doe rolled her eyes. "Is that what it is like to be a duchess? Always knowing what to say?"

"I've built up my vocabulary over time. Pa Peregrine is a great encyclopedia."

"Maybe I should have listened more and kicked and screamed less," Doe said. "Perhaps then I would have looked more fit to be a mother. Princess? At least you had time with Kanga. You know she loved you. I'm sorry, that must sound like wild talk."

"It is fine."

Doe stood. "I'm going to see Uncle Peregrine."

She crossed the yard with Buddy on her heels. Once inside, she hurried to Peregrine's office and rapped on the door before receiving permission to enter. His workroom was decorated like the rest of his home. There was a large clock in the corner that ticked very loud, and a hunting rug covered the floor. Spears lined the wall on either side of the door and a crocodilian skeleton swam on the wall behind the patriarch. Here and there were collections from around the world.

"Doe! What a surprise. How good to see you." Peregrine set aside his magnifying glass as she hugged her.

Doe perched on Peregrine's desk. "I am traveling at the moment, Uncle Peregrine, is there anything you would like for me to bring you?"

"I can never have too much ink."

"I mean something exciting."

"A lion."

"Uncle, there aren't any lions in Yellow Mountain." She looked at the map on his desk. "Are you looking for someone?"

"These are the suspected movements of Prince Bak Haneul, but we cannot be sure."