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Man from Mundania 5

your mother was that age she had already landed your
father and trussed him up."

"And by the time my little brother was nine, he had
already landed two finacees," Ivy agreed. "I confess to
being retarded."

Nada and Electra grinned ruefully. Nada had been four-
teen when the young Prince Dolph had come to her father,
the King of the Naga, for help, and because the naga
needed an alliance with the humans, the King had agreed
to help if Dolph married his daughter. Nada had had to
pretend she was Dolph's age, nine, knowing that her real
age would freak him out. It was only a betrothal, of course;

they would have to wait until Dolph came of age for the
actual ceremony of marriage. But meanwhile the alliance
was valid, and Nada had kept company with Dolph while
her folk received sundry items from the Castle Roogna
arsenal to fight off the encroaching goblins. There seemed
to be more goblins in Xanth than there used to be; no one
was quite sure why, but it did make for trouble.

Then the Heaven Cent had brought Electra to Dolph.
She had to marry him or die, so Dolph agreed to be be-
trothed to her too. That had happened at about the time
Dolph discovered that Nada was five years older than he,
so it might have been an easy decision for him to make.
But in the end he had realized that he loved Nada, so that
betrothal had remained.

Thus their quandary: they all knew that Dolph had to
choose between the two girls before he came of age. If he
chose Nada, he would honor his word to the naga folk,
and as a prince he was bound to keep his word. But Elec-
tra would die. None of them wanted that.

Three years had passed, while Electra used her talent
to charge the Heaven Cent. The three girls had become
fast friends. So they accepted the situation as it was: un-
resolved. Electra loved Dolph, and Dolph loved Nada.
Nada didn't love Dolph, and Dolph didn't love Electra.
How was this picklement to be settled? No one knew, but
it remained a favorite topic for conjecture. Fortunately it
would be several more years before Dolph Came of Age,
so the matter wasn't pressing yet.