“Thank you,” Hugo said and took the package. A servant had come with a small package from his mother.

She gave him a weird look and bowed and walked away. Hugo winced. He was being too polite to the servants, and they were noticing. It wasn’t just this person, he had accidentally thanked the family chef too. The older man had looked scared and unsure at the interaction. He needed to act like a noble, and it would get him caught out if he didn’t retrain himself.

Sighing, Hugo unwrapped the package and looked inside. It was a dozen rolls of ribbons attached to a belt. These must be the ribbons his mother said she would get him for the Lofty Leap. He was tempted to try them out, but he didn’t know how easy it would be to roll them back up afterwards.

He left his room and started heading towards the aphid stables. Just after he reached the junction he saw something that made him change his priorities.

There was a human in the riese compound.

The old woman was noteworthy in that she was the first human he had seen since he got here three days ago. He was reminded of how tall riese were. The woman’s head made it up to his waist, at best. Even his tiny friend, Yasmin, would tower over this human.

Without giving it much thought, he started following the stranger. She moved with a purpose, heading straight for the western branch. It was the same one that housed the banquet hall. As the woman climbed higher, Hugo thought about how long he could follow her. She seemed to be heading towards the top of the branch, the throne room. He couldn’t risk being caught somewhere he shouldn’t be.

On the other hand, he was royalty, and Yasmin had told him he was allowed in any public room in the grove. He decided to follow the human. If his guess was right, she had something to do with the hedge mages.

Even with a casual and slow walk, his long legs meant that he arrived at the throne room shortly after the human. Court was in session and the king was conducting business for the city of Ettel. The woman got in line, unconcerned about anyone paying attention to the only human around.

After listening to a dispute about water rights, Hugo’s attention wandered. The view from the throne room was magnificent. A sea of green stretched behind the king. He felt the beauty of the forest deep in his soul, it practically sang to him. By the time he refocused on the court in front of him, the human was already talking.

“... in addition to the three branches we discussed earlier. All told that makes less than a hundred members across seven cities on the wheel. We still don’t have a presence in Deva. There just aren’t enough wizards in our organization to accomplish what your prophecies predict. As the main representative of the Wizards of the Coast, I have to ask for more of your support. Please help us. I know your people are loathe to leave their groves, but without extra manpower, we don’t have a chance of achieving our mutual goals. We have provided one daughter, but we all know that is no guarantee. If you help us, we can provide a second daughter as insurance.”

The king sighed and motioned to the queen to talk. She looked at the human and said, “We have already provided much to your organization. Asking our people to risk our lives for a cause not our own... It's too much. Hedge mages, excuse me, wizards need to stand on their own two feet if you are going to have the strength to rule after this is all over. We will not provide any more assistance. The auguries have shown one Daughter is sufficient, we have no need of another.”

The hedge mage scowled, but didn’t respond. She knew it was a dismissal and simply bowed and left.

Hugo stared after her as she walked away. What exactly was going on? Who’s daughter were they talking about? Why were the riese helping the hedge mages in the first place? It was clear that there was some sort of cooperation between the two in the past, but not anymore.

The hedge mage said there weren’t a hundred people in her organization, but Hugo had personally seen more than that in Reval alone. Where did the extra people come from? He needed more information.

Too bad his only friend didn’t hang out in the throne room. He could use the services of a gossiping teenage royal right about now. Hugo turned around and headed back down the tree. There was no point in trying to cozy up to any of the royals in the throne room today. They played a deadly game and Hugo didn’t even know the players yet.

He wasn’t in a hurry anyway. He could afford to take things slow. He had sent a letter to Mia and the Dean, and he knew that they would mobilize the sentinels to stop the attacks on the walls. That gave him most of the rest of the year to slowly gain power and information. No need to rush into anything today.

It was late enough that he needed to get ready for the Lofty Leap anyway. He headed to his room and chose a dress that matched the ribbons his mother had given him. He thought it was more than a little silly that the women had to wear dresses to an event that involved jumping off a high height, but that was fashion for you.

His heart started beating faster, so he tried not to think about the evening’s events. He threw on a pair of shorts under the dress, just in case. He had practiced with Yasmin a lot over the last two days, but he didn’t want to land with his dress over his head and show everyone his underwear.

Eventually, the time came, and the event was about to start. He secured the ribbon belt and followed the collection of girls to where they were holding the Lofty Leap. They walked north from the royal tree and followed a series of suspended walkways to their destination. Girls in their fanciest dresses chatted with each other as the walkways swayed hundreds of feet above the air. Hugo didn’t say a thing, partly because he didn’t know the political landscape, mostly because he was concentrating on not freaking out about the height.

Eventually, they made it to their destination, a branch that stretched over the party grounds. Everyone else was already on the ground, eating and chatting atop enormous leaves arranged in a beautiful pattern. It looked like the entirety of the riese nobility. Soft music played, drum and dulcimer making innocuous melodies. There was a reason the music was played low. The ground was outside of the protection of the riese tree magic. A ring of guards stood facing out in case of monster attack.

The girls slowly lined up on the thick branch. The organization seemed haphazard, but they kept glancing down at the party and rearranging themselves in line. Hugo guessed that they wanted certain boys to catch them.

The king made a short speech to kick off the event. It was a reminder of the events of the first Lofty Leap and that they would have true freedom soon. Hugo didn’t catch the whole speech, they were too high up for the girls to hear everything.

Then it was time for the girls to jump. There were three groups of boys down below, and the girls jumped in groups of three down to the ship sails below. Some of the dresses had ribbons built in, some had ribbon belts they unfurled before they jumped. The fall was more than seventy feet, but because the boys held the sail tight, most of the girls walked away laughing.

A few of the girls misjudged their jumps or landed funny. The injuries were immediately healed though, the stationed healers doing their jobs with alacrity.

The presence of the healers did nothing to assuage Hugo’s fears. It only served to highlight the fact that you could be seriously hurt when falling, and there was almost nothing you could do about it. You were just at the mercy of gravity.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. There was a right way to fall. When it was Hugo’s turn, he ran through the process mentally. With measured steps, Hugo walked forward, not allowing himself to stop.

With a careful jump he leapt off the branch and aimed himself to the middle of the leftmost sail. At the apex of his jump, he shot his hands out, releasing the ribbons there. From the ground it must have looked like a firework of colored ribbons. The fabric trailed behind him as he continued to fall, rustling and vibrating as the wind rushed by. He completed a single summersault and presented his back to the canvas just as it rushed up to meet him.

His breath was driven out as he landed and bounced slightly. It was over.

Rolling to the side, Hugo got off the canvas to subdued cheers. He thanked the young men surrounding him and stepped off to the side. He did it. He didn’t do a fancy jump like some of the other girls, but his mother was sure to be happy with his performance tonight. Begrudgingly, Hugo found himself grateful for the practice Yasmin had forced on him. He wouldn’t have been able to do it on his own.

Dropping from the tree over and over again hadn’t cured him of his fear of heights. If anything it was worse. He was pretty sure that the constant falling and helpless terror had scarred him for life. But the practice did help him work through his anxiety and fears. Instead of freezing up when he was presented with the impending doom that was heights, Hugo was able to make himself move.

He still hated it with every fiber of his being, but his fear wouldn’t be as debilitating anymore. That was something.

“That was a nice jump,” a voice said softly.

Hugo turned to see his former boyfriend, Bijan. Hugo said, “Thank you. Luckily I didn’t embarrass myself. I’m not fond of heights.”

“I know,” Bijan said and looked away awkwardly.

Lina and Bijan had a lot of history, and Hugo was privy to none of it. It was good that he had broken up with the boy, but now he made things difficult for him.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Hugo said and messed with his braids. Yasmin had helped him with the braids, but he wasn’t sure if he looked good. She had said she wasn’t that good at them, but Hugo couldn’t braid at all so he still had her help. Braids were the only hairstyle that wouldn’t get ruined in the jump.

“Your hair looks nice. Different, but nice,” Bijan said.

“Thanks,” Hugo said. After an unpleasant silence, he continued, “Well, I guess I will mingle a bit.”

Before he could go anywhere, Bijan said, “Stay, please. They are going to start the dance soon. We are paired for the first dance. I don’t want to have to track you down when the music starts.”

Hugo was a bit irritated that no one had bothered to tell him that he was expected to dance with his ex-boyfriend. That and he had no intention of dancing tonight, he hadn’t learned any of the forms. Still, he didn’t want to break the poor boy’s heart more than he already had, so he just said, “Alright, I will stay here.”

There was another awkward silence. Bijan started to say something and then stopped himself. A few moments later he said, “Was it something I did? Was it some weakness I was ignoring?”

“No, it was nothing you did. You are great. I’m the one that changed. I know that is hard to hear, that there was nothing different you could have done. It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness; that is life,” Hugo said.

Bijan nodded slowly, “I was afraid you were going to say something like that.”

After another pause, Hugo said, “Do you have any gossip while we wait? For example, do you know what was up with that human that visited the royal family a few days ago?”

“You mean the hedge mage? I haven’t heard much. Just that he asked for help again and the king refused for once. Honestly, it was embarrassing that he ever helped the human. I don’t know what we got out of that deal, but it never sat right with me. Too bad they never ask me what I think about policy, huh?” Bijan said with a self deprecating smile.

They were spared more awkward conversation with the music starting up then. Bijan led Hugo out to the dance floor and confidently placed his hands on his waist. Lina and Bijan must have done this before.

Dancing with him wasn’t all that hard. It was a simple three step dance and Hugo let himself be led around the dance floor by Bijan. A combination of a competent leader and plenty of dexterity made up for a lack of experience on Hugo’s part.

He guessed that this would have been something exciting for the two of them, a public place where the two lovers could finally be together. But Hugo had messed all of that up. Or rather, the ritual had. He didn’t need to borrow blame, he had enough of his own.

After the dance, Hugo gravitated towards a group of girls standing and talking. There were enough of them there that he figured he could hide amongst them for the rest of the evening. They were standing in front of a snack table, and Hugo grabbed one while he was standing around. It was a honey nut. After he ate a bite, he realized it was very spicy. Lina’s tastebuds weren’t used to that level of heat, and Hugo had to concentrate on not coughing.

“Hello Lina, so good to see you here today. You were so brave today,” a girl with curly hair said. Her tight curls must have been strong enough to handle the fall. Hugo wondered if the style would have worked with his own hair.

“Thank you, I am proud of myself for making the effort. And my ribbons are so pretty,” Hugo said and gestured down at his dress. After he had landed, he tucked the ends of the ribbons in his belt so he wouldn’t be stepping on them. He rather liked the colors, they reminded him of a dire wolf. Well, maybe a very colorful dire wolf.

She giggled, “Yes, I see that. You must be very proud of your ribbons.” As she said that, two girls behind her giggled as well.

Hugo narrowed his eyes. They were making fun of him for some reason. He glanced down at his ribbons, they looked nice. What were they harassing him for? He looked at them to see if there was a specific way to tie the ribbons. They didn’t have any on.

No one had any ribbons on their dresses anymore. Apparently Hugo had missed the que to take off the ribbons. He looked around and saw some of the servants at the edge of the party holding bundles of ribbons.

He smiled up at the giggling trio and said, “Oh you. This must have been your cute way to remind me to take off my ribbons. I am so glad you mentioned it before someone made fun of me for it.” Hugo unclipped his ribbon belt and bundled it up. He tossed it one handed towards an empty handed servant. It soared through the air and impacted the servant in the chest, causing her to oof and take a step back. “Oops. I guess I don’t know my own strength anymore. Anyway, come here and let me give you a hug for being so nice to me,” Hugo said with his arms wide.

Stuck up girl took a step back and said, “No thanks is necessary.” She disappeared into the crowd. There were only twenty girls standing there, so it was actually kind of impressive.

Hugo snorted and looked away. Every so often a boy would approach the group and ask one of them to dance. Every time someone looked like they were heading his way, he ducked behind another girl. Towards the end of the dance, Hugo was too slow to hide. A commotion on the edge of the dance floor distracted him until a young man was right in front of him.

“Lina of the Brambled Woods, may I have the honor of joining you in dance?” the young man said.

Hugo was spared the necessity of answering when a cry pierced the air. Looking up, he saw the source of the sound. Dozens of monsters were attacking the party.