John wanted to run down the stairs and fly into Henry and Grace’s room. Only his good manners and his consideration for Aurora and Kolet prevented this. They needed him to guide them down the stairs carefully.
They were used to the concept of stairs. (The castle in the mushroom kingdom also had stairs.) But John was worried that in their new enlarged bodies they might not yet have their balance. Plus, the stairs down from the tower at Castle Tauna were longer than any stairs that had existed in the Mushroom Palace.
As it turned out, John needn’t have worried. Although they were now enlarged, they found their new bodies to have exactly the same proportions as the old, and they had no difficulty controlling their limbs or managing the stairs. Once John saw how easily they were handling the stairs, they went slightly faster.
When they got to the end of the staircase, John started walking very quickly. He was so excited to be back that he started calling out. “Grace! Henry! Robert! Are you there?”
Grace was the first to poke her head out of her room. “John? John is that you?”
Robert, who had been spending time with Grace, followed closely behind. And then Henry and Alicia came running. They all embraced each other in the hallway.
John noticed that Alicia was now part of their group, but this didn’t surprise him at all. He knew his brother Henry quickly attached himself to girls.
The others, however, were much more surprised by the giant walking mushrooms that accompanied John. “Everyone,” John announced, “this is Princess Kolet from the Mushroom Kingdom. We are in love.”
There was a momentary stunned silence that hit the rest of the group. Undoubtedly the reaction to this announcement would have met with more skepticism or hostility under normal circumstances, but as it was they were so overjoyed to see John again that they were determined that nothing would get in the way of this happy reunion. Henry was the first to speak. “Welcome. Welcome all,” he said. “Any friend of John is welcome here.”
“And this is her handmaiden Aurora,” John announced next.
“Welcome Aurora,” Grace said.
“So tell me all about your trip,” said Henry.
“Tell me everything I’ve missed while I’ve been gone,” said John.
“Tell us about your new friends,” said Robert.
“Is there anything to eat?” asked John. “I’m starving.”
“Yes, come with me,” said Alicia. “There’s plenty of food in the castle kitchen.”
They all went to the kitchen. And they talked and ate into the evening and into the night. It was a joyous time for Henry, Grace and John to be re-united. Although, late in the evening, when John finally did describe the journey into the land of monsters that Carlyle wanted to take with Midor, this did get Henry’s attention. “I must join them,” he said. “I’ve stayed safely inside these castle walls too long.”
The rest of them all tried to talk Henry out of it, especially Alicia. But in the end, there was no dissuading Henry.
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