• That night, we pitched camp near the edge of a clearing. There were trees all around us, except for the clearing. It didn't look happy.
    Our camp fire was in the middle of the clearing. I was delegated the task of cooing even though I was terrible at it. We had bottomless canteens, thanks to Eohu's magic, so I just dumped a bunch of water into the pot and put in some vegetables that Eohu conjured out of nowhere at my request, along with some tofu. I'm a vegetarian, if you haven't noticed.
    Garrett took one look in the pot and said, "What is that?"
    "Soup," I said. I didn't know what else to call it.
    "Where's the protein?" he demanded. "The meat and stuff? And what's that white stuff?"
    "It's tofu," I told him. "that's your protein."
    "Does it really matter?" Simon wondered.
    "Yes, it does," Garrett insisted. I glanced at Eohu. He conjured up a bag of nuts and threw it at Garrett.
    "There's your protein," he said to Garrett.
    "You can avoid the tofu if you want to," I told him. "But if we keep it for a few days, it won't taste gross anymore, I swear."
    "Tofu isn't protein," Garrett said. "and neither are nuts, for that matter," he added, looking in the bag.
    "Actually, they both count," I snapped. "And there are beans in here, too. But I don't eat meat, and if you don't like it, fine. You can make dinner tomorrow, and I'll make up random excuses not to eat it."
    We were all hungry, and it showed. When I dished out the food, Simon and Eohu accepted their bowls with thanks and had swallowed half of their bowls in thirty seconds. Garrett took his without saying anything, and sat there glaring at it while the rest of us ate.
    "Look," I said, "If you're not going to eat it, you're not gonna have any energy tomorrow and you're still going to be in a bad mood, regardless of the protein content of whatever you've been given. Just try it, all right?"
    Garrett looked up sullenly.
    Come on, you've got to eat something," I insisted. "You don't have to like it. You just have to eat it, that's all. It's not toxic or anything, I swear." I looked at him pleadingly across the fire. "Please?"
    Garrett sighed.
    "What's up?" I asked.
    "You remind me of my other," he said finally. "She always had to talk me into eating whatever she made for dinner. She's with the others now. A prisoner."
    "If you want to save her, you're going to have to keep up your strength," I told him. "Which means you're going to have to eat some of those," I nodded at the bag of nuts, "and then get some sleep, all right?"
    Garrett reluctantly put his hand into the bag.
    "Lily, we need to talk about your magic," Eohu said.
    "What about it?" I asked. I wasn't aware that I actually had any magic, but then, I wasn't aware that I was a fairy until last night.
    "Well, you need to learn to use it," Eohu said. "You're a fairy, remember?"
    "How about we work on it tomorrow?" I said. "When we actually have time."
    "All right," Eohu agreed.
    I took the flute out again. I don't know why I had the sudden urge to play it, but I did. I was about to put it to my lips when Simon said, "What was that noise?"
    I put down the flute and listened. Something big was coming our way, crashing through the trees, very fast.
    Simon reached for his bow and quiver as he rose. Garret pulled out his sword as he got to his feet. Eohu just stood up. I followed suit, unsure what else to do. They were all staring at the same spot towards where the sound was coming from-across the campfire from where I had been sitting. Next to me, Eohu sprouted wings. If I hadn't been scared about whether or not we were going to die, I would have looked at the cool brown-and-orange pattern more closely, but now wasn't the time. All I had time to think was that color combination like that of a monarch butterfly.
    Then a troll stamped into the clearing. Twenty feet tall, with mottled gray skin and only a loincloth around its waist and a club in its hand, it paused when it saw the four of us on the ground below it. Cocking its head, it crouched down and peered in to the pot that held the dinner leftovers, disregarding the still-hot coals around it.
    Then it said, in a deep voice that made the ground shake, "Is that vegetable soup that you've got there? Can I have some?"
    We all stared at the troll in disbelief. Since when did trolls like vegetable soup, vegetarian style?
    "um...sure," I said, unsure. "Go ahead."
    "Thank ye kindly, miss," said the troll, in a kinder voice than one would expect to come out of a troll. I thought I heard a bit of a British accent in his voice, but I wasn't sure. Who would have thought that a troll would be British?
    The troll picked up the pot and poured the rest of the steaming soup into his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp. Putting down the pot, the troll said, "Ar, that's better. I suppose I'm supposed to do you lot a favor. So what'll it be? Restored thrones? Enemies dead? Powdered hen's teeth?"
    We kept staring in stunned disbelief. Clearly, none of the others was expecting anything like this at all. I, for one, had never been aware that if you gave food to a troll it would grant you a favor. I thought that it would eat the food and then just club you whenever it felt like it just to keep things simple.
    "Well, don't all say something at once," the troll said.
    "Uh... can you give us a second?" I asked. The troll nodded.
    "Let's get him to piggy back us to Maldan's stronghold," I suggested as soon as the boys had turned their eyes away from the troll and the troll's back had turned.
    "No, let's get it to make a fool of itself," Garrett sniggered.
    "Very funny," I said sarcastically. "Let's get a tutu to match, and you can take it to the ballet."
    "How about-" Simon began to say.
    "Hey, I know!" Garrett said suddenly. "Let's get it to carry us there!"
    "That's what I said, dumb butt," I said sharply. "And Simon was about to say something, by the way."
    "Oh, right," Garrett said.
    "Anyway, my idea was that maybe-" Simon began again.
    "So how about my idea, you guys?" Garret interrupted.
    "Garrett!" I yelled, so loudly that the troll turned around.
    "You done yet?" it asked.
    "Not yet," I told it.
    "What?" Garrett protested.
    "Shut up while other people are talking!" I told him. "And that includes Simon. It's basic respect, for your information. I thought they taught you that in chivalry training."
    "I didn't hear him," Garrett complained.
    "Shut your mouth and listen, then," I snapped. "Go ahead," I said to Simon.
    "Well, I was thinking that we could have the troll piggy back us to Maldan's stronghold, and then give it more food, and then have it fight with us or for us or whatever, if we need it to," Simon said in a rush. It seemed that he was scared that he'd be interrupted if he talked at a normal pace.
    "I like that," Eohu told him.
    "Same," I agreed. Simon beamed We all looked at Garrett, even though it didn't really matter whether we got his consent-it was already a majority vote.
    "Why's everyone looking at me?" he wondered, looking up from his intense study of his boot's laces.
    "Didn't you hear what Simon said?" I asked.
    "No," Garrett said unabashedly. "Who's Simon?"
    Simon bowed his head, all delight gone from his face.
    I slapped Garrett right across the face.
    "Ouch!" he cried.
    "Next time pay attention," I ordered.