A/N: Chapter 3, up! I've GOT to hurry this story along -_-"
Disclaimer: I forgot the author's name, but she owns it.
Last on Limits:
"So who is Jin?"I asked lightly. Po turned to me, a soft smile.
"I am sorry for worrying you." He says instead, choosing to answer my mind rather than my question. "Jin is my old friend; she's a princess from the land of Andor."
"Andor?" I questioned. I had never heard of any land beyond the Seven Kingdom.
"It's a land far to the west. Lienid trades often with them." Po supplied. "Jin is Graced. She's almost as undefeatable as you."
This concerned me. I did not want to be bold, but I was powerful. "What is her Grace?"
"Telepathy," Po started.
"A mind reader?" I interrupted, disgusted. I hated those. Po raised his eyebrows. "You know I don't like them." I said defensively.
"Have you forgotten my Grace?" Po asked, a slight grin on his face. I shook my head, returning the smirk.
"Never. I hate it too much." I retorted. Po put a mock hurt face on and I moved to console him. It was just another excuse to hug him, anyways.
Chapter 3
A knock on the door startled us out of our tender moment.
"Prince? Lady Jin has awakened." A muffled maid's voice said through the wood. Po immediately pulled away, and went to the door.
"Show me to her!"Po demanded. The maid nodded and I quickly followed the two.
We went through a maze of hallways and rooms and doors. Another set of large wooden doors opened to a gigantic guest room, where Princess Jin was lying on the bed.
Her eyes were open, and one was gold like Po's, the other a sharp violet. They clashed together, even more abnormal than my own eyes. She turned her head towards us and smiled.
"Po!" her voice was soft, but not void of excitement.
"Shh, don't talk, Jin." Po said gently, walking over to her. They started staring at each other, sometimes randomly smiling or laughing out loud. Then their faces got sober, and Po's expression got steadily angrier.
Po? I thought in my head, tentatively. It took him a second before he blanked, and looked at me.
"Please don't think things to me at the moment, Kat." Po said. "It's difficult to distinguish."
"What?"I was stunned, hurt and embarrassed by Po's patient, lecturing tone, as if I were a child.
"I told you, one of Jin's Graces is telepathy. She's still weak, so we're conversing via mind." Po gestured.
"Oh." I said lamely. I tried to keep my thoughts blank, a white blanket of snow, as I always did when I didn't want to let my thoughts show. Even so, watching them stare at each other so intensely prickled the feeling of jealousy in my stomach. I knew that these thoughts would soon enough make their way over to Po, so I spun on my heel and left.
I didn't wait to see if Po would follow me, or notice at all. I just made my way back to our room, plopped down on the bed, and ordered myself to go to sleep for two hours. It should been enough time to let those stupid feelings settle.
I awoke, two hours later, to find Po lying next to me, one arm thrown over my shoulders, as if to trap me there. I turned sideways to see his peaceful, sleeping face. This was how it should have been—our vacation. Peaceful bliss and solitude.
I didn't understand the angry feelings I harbored toward Princess Jin. I didn't even know her, I haven't even had a proper conversation with her yet. And still, I did not like her.
Po stirred and opened his sleepy, entrancing eyes.
"'Morning, wildcat." He murmured, using my old nickname. I smiled and settled down to snuggle into his chest.
"It's afternoon, love." I reminded him. He chuckled; I could feel the rumbling in his chest. He drew his arm tighter around me.
"Doesn't matter." He mumbled into my hair. "Why'd you leave without telling me? I would've gone with you."
I winced. Ah, the touchy subject. "I didn't want to disturb you and the Princess." I lied. I kept my thoughts blank. He stared at me for a moment.
"That's okay. We were just catching up, anyway. I won't pry until she's well enough." Po said. "And don't call her the princess, that's just a title. She's not the heir, she just gets this small plot of land, barely the size of my own. There's twelve of them, you know, royal children."
"Hm." I made a non-committal noise to show I was listening.
"I've only met one other, Diamanto, Jin's older brother. He's second oldest." Po went on. "The oldest child is a woman named Reina. Andor runs as both a kingdom and queendom."
I raised my eyebrows at this. This land, Andor, gave females many rights, it seemed.
"In any case, it's time to get up, wildcat." Po smiled and gently untangled ourselves. I pouted, realizing that even our time alone had somehow connected with this Jin. I kept my mind continuously blank, however.
"What's wrong?" he asked, tilting my face and kissing my frowning lips. I kissed him back and threw my arms around his neck. He got into it for a while, but pulled back.
"Hey now, what's this?" he chided, grinning. "This reminds me of the days we were traveling to Monsea."
I kissed him again, but again, he drew back. "Now, now, wildcat. We have to eat dinner. Then I'm going to try and visit Jin, see if she's conscious enough to talk."
I didn't answer, instead flopped back on the bed and drew the covers close. I didn't feel like talking about Jin. Again, I kept my thoughts blank because I knew he'd be listening.
"What's wrong?" he repeated, this time more serious. He tried to pull back the covers but I held fast. "Katsa?"
"Nothing." I said, my voice muffled. "Go eat. I'll be down soon."
"Katsa." His voice was warning. "What's going on?"
"Nothing!" I insisted. "Just go."
"I'm not going until you tell me." He said stubbornly, and I felt him take a seat on the bed. I found myself wishing he would hug me, and a second later, he was. Damn Grace.
"What's wrong?" he asked my blanket-covered self. I sighed.
"I told you, it's nothing." I said, more calmly this time. "I suppose it's just the travel catching up with me." Po narrowed his eyes; the lie didn't even seem believable to me. But he realized that I wasn't going to elaborate, so he nodded and kissed me on the forehead, before leaving.
After I heard the click of the door being shut, I rolled onto my back, staring at the dark red canopy. I will train tomorrow, I decided. It will make me feel better, calm me. Yes, that's it.
With a clear plan in my mind, I went down to dinner.
Dinner was quiet and simple; only Skye joined us because the rest were busy. After the meal, Po went off to the Hospital Wing to find Jin again. I tried hard not to purse my lips, and instead asked Skye for a small sparring match.
"Nothing serious," I told him. "Just a bit of play."
He agreed heartily, and led me to a sort of indoor gym, where there were mats and weapons lined the far wall.
Skye stared at me with eager eyes, waiting for my comment. I smiled; it was hard to remember that Skye was actually older than me, and not a child.
"This is perfect." I told him truthfully. "I wish I had one of these. Maybe I can convince Bitterblue…," I thought of the young queen back in Monsea and felt nostalgia creep up on me. I was getting spoiled; in a real fight, you wouldn't have mats or weapons of your choice. But hey, it was my vacation.
"I'm glad you like it. All my brothers use it when we were children. It's well-worn." Skye squatted down and fingered the frayed edges of the mat with a frown. "I would ask father to get a new one, but hardly anyone uses it anymore, I'm afraid it's not worth it."
"It's fine." I assured him. "But take off your shoes." He stared blankly at me. "Boots are dangerous." I insisted, reminded of my adventures with Po. Skye laughed, and nodded, kicking off his short black boots. I took off my own slippers and we headed to the center of the mat.
"May the best fighter win." Skye said solemnly. I nodded, shifted into stance, and the fight began.