A lone carriage rolled through a world of ice and snow.
Annan held the reins and endured Joan's chatter beside him:
"I helped show the way too, so I get a share of that Gold Coin! You owe me twenty... ten Silver Coins!"
"I'll give you fifty Silver Coins."
"What!" Joan covered her mouth with a glove that had a hole in it. Her eyes widened beneath Frost-covered lashes. "Saying something like that... are you trying to become my guardian Knights?"
"I'm so skinny I can't even lift a lance."
"Then you can be my coachman."
"That's how you repay a favor?"
"Hmm... how about my butler?"
"That could work. Does it pay?"
"Isn't serving a princess reward enough? It's an honor!" Joan tipped up her chin, her thick Northern Frontier accent almost begging to be imitated.
"You mean I work for you and pay you for it?"
Annan suddenly thought of a new way for Magic Film to make money besides tickets and advertisements: why pay actors when he could make actors pay him?
A pair of hands patting around his chest interrupted the thought. "What are you doing?"
"Where did you put the Gold Narl?"
"That's my money!"
"Do you have fifty Silver Coins?"
Annan shook his head, dug the Gold Narl out of his pocket, and handed it to Joan.
Delighted, Joan cupped the Gold Coin and sniffed it. She was about to bite it when she remembered she was a princess. She opened her patched purse, which had a pattern sewn onto it, but managed to pour out only twenty-odd Silver Coins. She climbed into the carriage and soon returned with a heap of crude Jewelry, which she shoved into Annan's hands.
"You could sell these for another thirty-something Silver Coins!"
"I don't need this stuff...