"Of course," said Sean. "Don't you?"
"Never," said the princess. "They like to go on big trekking vacations to mountainous planets and they say my legs are too short to keep up. Plus, someone has to stay at the palace and be in charge of things."
Greta said, "My parents never take me on vacations, either.They're always going away for big work conferences and they say I'd be bored. So I have to go on vacations with my Auntie Bev, and all she does is knit and drink cups of tea! It makes me so angry!"
"I know! Me too!" said the princess with surprise.
"Sometimes," said Greta, "I'm in such a bad mood, I'm really mean to my Auntie Bev, and I make her cry.Then I feel guilty because it's not her fault."
"I know!"The princess looked really excited. "I make all my servants cry, too! I make them scrub floors even when they don't need scrubbing! Is that what you do to your Auntie Bev?"
"Ah, not exactly," admitted Greta.
"And when I'm feeling really cranky," continued the princess, "I do even BIGGER things, like I might just order the army to go and destroy some random planet--oh."
The princess stopped talking and suddenly seemed to remember where she was.Was she actually blushing? There was silence, except for the crackling of the fire and the crash of waves.
Interesting. Nicola thought about how sad and difficult it must be to have parents who don't even like you enough to go on vacations with you. She remembered how she'd convinced her mom and dad to take her and Sean to the snow last winter and what a fantastic time they'd all had, even though Nicola's mom really hadn't wanted to go in the first place. She'd thought it would be too cold. Nicola had spent ages convincing her to change her mind, describing all the parts she knew would appeal to her mom--like hot chocolate by the fire and beautiful mountain ranges and Sean and Nicola not fighting at all (which had nearly turned out to be true).
Actually ... that was an example of a time Nicola had convinced someone to change their mind when their mind was already made up!
So Georgio hadn't needed to change that last question after all. Her answer to that question should have been yes. She could do it! She was the right person for the job. It was all a matter of understanding the other person's point of view and caring about them enough to try to understand what mattered to them.
Nicola decided it was now or never.
She said, "Have you had a good time today, Princess Petronella?"
The princess lifted her chin. She said, "I think I've had the best day of my whole life."
YES! Nicola did cartwheels inside her head.
She stood up on the sand. She felt a bit stupid, but it seemed the right thing to do.
She said, "Princess Petronella, as the Earthling Ambassador, I would first like to apologize for kidnapping you.We didn't know what else to do.We just wanted you to see our planet for yourself. As you can see, although it's not perfect, it's beautiful, and it's our home, and we love it."
She took a breath.Tyler nodded at her encouragingly.
"I'd also like to thank you again for your help on Arth. We wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for you. So, I know I've already asked you this question once before, but I'm going to ask it again. Princess Petronella, will you please change your mind about turning Earth into a garbage can? Please?"
The princess stood up, too.
She said, "Okay, I must admit, I was planning to cut off all of your heads and place them around the palace walls as a warning to other kidnappers--ha ha!"
She stopped laughing when she saw the expressions on their faces.
"Sorry.Yes. Not that funny. Anyway, I was pretty mad at you, but then I don't know why--this has never happened to me before and it's unbelievable, considering that I'm royalty and you're all just ordinary people, not even nobility, and apart from Shimlara, you're Earthlings--but the thing is, I started to sort of ... like you."
"We like you, too!" said Katie generously.
"Sort of," added Sean.
"Plus," continued the princess, "I like this funny planet. It's fun capturing waves and being kissed by flying butters. That's why I've decided--"
BA-BOOM! BA-BOOM! BA-BOOM!
Suddenly, they couldn't hear a word she was saying. Everybody put their hands over their ears as a sound like a thousand firecrackers exploded above them.
They looked up.