Deti had skilfully avoided any talk besides breakfast once he'd seen it come through the door, having grown some convenient selective hearing that allowed him to attack it without concern for anything else.

Riku, in lieu of any further requests – requests, he had noted, never actual orders – from Deti had begun to examine the various tapestries and bits of paper tacked to the board while he waited. It was a strange contrast from the ageing woven fabric and the amount of effort that seemed to have gone into each tapestry, only to find next to it were drawings, sketches even, all uncoloured but clearly much more recent works. Each of them seemed to depict a person or a landscape he'd seen from the battlements the day before. Perhaps Deti thought himself somewhat of an artist?

Then there had been the pictures littering the two chests of draws on either side of the door to what was not, as he had suspected, the Queen's room, but a room that was meant to be shared between the King and Queen. Riku privately suspected that the two seldom used it – at least not at the same time.

The various pictures were not of Deti though. They seemed to be a relic of the previous King, as he recognised both him and the woman with him from the portraits in the long corridor. Perhaps another thing this Queen did not want Deti to change. Why was it so hard for her to move on and let go?

There was one that had been given pride of place among one of the collections that did not fit. Not a painted picture, however small, of the old King or his Queen, but one of Deti's sketches. Not one of his better ones, perhaps an earlier one he'd done but decided not to replace with a more recent and better one. It made it hard to make out who it depicted, but it seemed familiar. Perhaps-

"A legacy from my predecessor," Deti murmured, interrupting his thoughts. He'd come up behind Riku without a sound. "Except that one," he added, noting Riku's glance. "That one... is special."

"One you did yourself?" Riku asked, though he knew the answer.

"One of the first," Deti replied. "A memory frozen in time, in a way."

There was silence for a moment, then Riku got up nerve to ask the question weighing on his mind. "Before you were King... you were the same card I am, weren't you? The one before the Ace that left the game the other day."

Deti turned away, moving to lean against one side of the window that showed the ocean view. For a long moment it seemed like he wouldn't say anything, looking somehow smaller as regret washed over his face, almost seeming to diminish what little royal bearing he showed.

"I was once," he said finally. "Tried to turn down the throne, but Knight wouldn't have any of it. Page either. I was happy as the Ace. I didn't have a rank high enough to need to order others around, not like Ten. But Aces are high and low see – one and eleven at the same time – so I rarely had to take orders either, except from Page or sometimes Knight. Oh, I missed the outside world, to be sure," he went on. "But I had found happiness here."

"The Four of Staves," Riku murmured, voicing his suspicions.

"The Four of Staves," Deti agreed in a quiet, distant voice. "Yet imagine what would happen were that to have come out into the open, more so once I became King. It would not do for me to be... associating with anyone other than her." He almost spat the word, as if it were curling his tongue at the very thought of it.

"Just imagine Page's reaction," Riku said.

"He'd have had apoplexy," Deti smiled. "He's terribly old-fashioned, dedicated to tradition. He looked ancient when I first came in, some three years ago now, and hasn't changed since."

"The Sword card down in the kitchen said something similar," Riku told him, then spotted an opportunity. "She implied it could be why the other suits are all so surprised that we managed to get the last Ace out."

"True, he does tend to be somewhat rigid."

"If you told him to change, would he?"

"Only of she agreed to it too. One of the inconveniences of having both sides of royalty, whether we associate or not. A joint rule... anything one of us orders, the other has to agree to. She'd reject it out of hand just because I want it, to spite me."

"What if it meant getting more of our cards out?"

Deti glanced over to him, once more appraisingly.

"I remember when I was that naïve too," he sighed. "Let me put it this way, my boy. The Queen was in power when I first took the same rank you now hold. She'd been in power for a number of years, after she'd been selected to replace the last Queen on the day before the weekly game. Her chance to leave was stolen from here at the last minute, and that left her bitter. Since the Page, the Knight, her and I are not permitted to take part in that game, we can never leave save only by death. She cares nothing for the cards themselves except that they do the work assigned for them without question, and it was, and I assume still is considered an undesirable chore to be assigned to her."

"So both the Queen and the Page could both be why we're having trouble getting our cards out," Riku concluded. "Two possible obstacles-"

"Be careful what you say, Ace," Deti stopped him warningly. "That could be seen as open insurrection against the crown. Her crown, anyway," he amended quickly. "She'd certainly see it that way."

"But there has to be something," Riku protested. "The game happens once a week, the other suits could be ignoring the normal rules and educating their cards about it, and we sit here unable to do the same because the Queen doesn't care, and the Page is a relic!"

"Bit of a quandary, no?" Deti agreed lightly after that outburst. "Don't think you're the first to notice, though it has to be said you're the first to do so without leaving the lower ranks, and certainly the first to be so quick to pick it up."

"Isn't there anything we can do?"

"You mean aside from share what you learn about the game quietly on days when Judgement isn't around and hope that Knight doesn't find out? Not really. And don't ask me either," he added, holding up one hand. "I'm not allowed, even on the day, to say anything. Though it was once discovered that while the game is taking place, disqualified cards can be told by their royalty if they're careful about it."

"It's just... just so..."

"I know, dear boy, I know," Deti agreed. "You have to work with it best you can."

"I could do a bit better without Four being... distracting."

"Is he still up to that?" Deti chuckled. "I guess he's managed to move on then, even if I haven't."

"It's not that I mind his being friendly," Riku said almost defensively. "That got me through yesterday and I learned a lot from him, just..."

"Just that his advances bother you, right?" Riku just nodded. "Let me put it this way, Ace. It's not easy to find the kind of happiness he and I had when you're trapped in here. Unless someone you know happens to stumble into the world while you're here, no one outside will know what happens here, so you can do almost anything you want. Think on it a bit, maybe you'll decide to embrace that – and maybe even him – while you work toward getting out again."

"I don't know if I can," Riku replied. "I guess I just need time."

"That's the nice thing about this world. All the time in the world. Now, why don't you take a seat somewhere, and I'll find a pencil and something to draw on. If you don't mind, of course. I like to sketch all those who come up here at least once."

"Me?" Riku asked, startled.

"If Four is still interested in you after the first day, then he must see something in you. Maybe I'll spot it too. Besides... do you really have anything better to do?"

"Guess not," Riku conceded.


Aside from bringing Deti his lunch, and later his dinner before he finished his assignment for the day and could get his own, his time with Deti had not been strenuous. Deti had made several sketches, all the while listening to Riku talk about his own outside life – royalty, it seemed, were allowed to make exceptions to the normal rules when it came to outside.

After the time he'd spent here though, he'd started to grow used to being called Ace, and it had seemed odd to hear his own name again.

As he, unlike the other cards, had not had to return from the Pentacle Castle or the battlements, he was the first to get to the dining hall today. Five joined him slightly later, followed by Two and Nine, who'd been up on patrol. Five did not seem too happy, but given what had been heard about the Queen, Riku wasn't surprised. The others filtered in not long after, though with one conspicuous absence.

"Where's Four?" Riku asked when everyone else had gathered.

"He was right behind me when we left the stables," Ten said. "I was the last one out, besides him. Why do you ask?"
"Oh... just something the King mentioned to me earlier," Riku replied quickly. "It can wait."

Two nudged him in the side to get his attention. "Did he draw ya?"

"Yeah. Didn't turn out too badly, I thought."

"Shoulda seen mine. He won't show anyone them ones, 'cause he thinks they came out bad. Not good at drawing children, see."

"It's not that different," Three said, already setting down a third helping.

"Oh yeah? How'd you know, huh?"
"I used to be a bit of an artist myself outside," he replied.

"That's enough of that," Ten said curtly. "You know we're not meant to talk about outside."

"Hey, Ace," Eight said then. "Found out something for you. The Eight of Pentacles was working with me today, and he let slip. He pretty much confirmed your theory – they tell their cards about the game."

Riku hesitated, glancing over to the two Swords in the kitchen, then said, "I heard something suggesting the Swords might too, so I guess it's looking likely."

"I don't think we should take it before Page or Knight until we know if all three are doing it," Ten said.

"You just don't want to admit you could have thought of this yourself," Nine grinned. "Instead of being my idea."

"Your idea?" Riku objected. "Who brought the theory out in the open yesterday?"

"Our idea then," Nine amended.

Riku held back as the others sought their quarters, hoping Four would turn up. When there was no one left but him, and the two Sword cards had left for their own castle, Riku gave up and started back, wondering what had happened to him.

"You took your time," Four's voice noticed as he left though. Riku turned to see him leaning against the wall beside the door.

"I was waiting for you. You could have had someone tell me you were waiting."

"I thought you were just hungry," he shrugged. "Deti told me about your day with him, by the way."

"So that's where you were. Did he..." he trailed off, not able to finish his sentence.

"He didn't go into detail on what you talked about, if that's what you mean. He did say he thought you could be the one to get us onto a new streak of getting cards out if you're persistent, though I'm not meant to tell you that." Four paused then with a smile added, "I'm also not meant to tell you he told me a few little things about you too."

"Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know," he replied, the smile growing more mischievous. "Maybe you'll persuade me to tell you, Riku."