I was seated on the left of Prince Tullon, who sat at the left of Lord Forlakent. Mariva sat across from me, next to Aiven, and the Abella's were seated one next to me, and one next to Mariva. Everyone smiled very politely at each other, nodding and mouthing compliments and greetings as we began an elaborate breakfast, far worse then the ones at Court. There, everyone was at least subtle in their attempts to gain favor from the rich and powerful; or at least, the few nobles I'd met were.

All right, I can count the Court breakfasts I've had on one hand, but it certainly seemed like they were less fawning.

Lord Forlakent was over-agreeable, and there was more food at that first-meal then at any of the others I'd had. Give me a roll, some fruit, and liquid chocolate and I was set. Those items were more luxuries then anything I was aquatinted with.

And although he served us four courses, the hot chocolate was watered down. It was downright insulting.

I barely had time to notice that the noble's drink wasn't as nice as usual before my attention was caught by the flirting glances from the twins to Aiven and Tullon. Mariva raised her eyebrows in amusement as I discreetly pantomimed flinging a spoonful of soup onto one of the ladies creamy velvet gown. It would probably stain, though, so I resisted. After all, the world would surely end if some rich noble's gown was ruined.

"Mariva," the Abella next to me said, "His Highness tells me you are interested in paintings from the Callaen Dynasty. We are honored to have two painting from then. Would you like to see them?"

Mariva and I exchanged glances. Mariva did love to see the rare painting from five hundred years ago, most of which had been burned for a reason that I did not know or care about. She nodded at the Abella, smiling politely. "I would love to see them," she said in a neutral voice.

When breakfast ended, she we stood together, ready to follow the Abella to the paintings. But the other twin turned to me and invited me to see the jewels her family owned in such a polite way that I just had to agree.

All right, maybe the reason I agreed was because Aiven sent me a sharp glare as I opened my mouth to decline.

Mariva followed one Abella from the hall, and I followed the other in the opposite direction. Our footsteps echoed quietly in the empty corridors as the Abella led me to the jewels. I wondered which one she was; the curious, rather empty headed twin from last night, or the girl in the garden.

We entered a small, yet luxurious room, where we stopped side by side. It was well lit by a wall of windows facing the sun. Across from the windows was a display of glittering jewels, strategically placed to catch the sunlight. My eyes drifted over them, carefully half shut and my expression politely interested.

The Abella began to talk about them in a cheerful, happy voice. I half listened, looking at the different jewels and wondering if there was a particular reasons the two Abella's had separated Mariva and me, or if I was just being paranoid. My gaze swept the jewels. It stopped at a particularly lovely pair of earrings and bracelets. Elven made, certainly. Tari would love them.

Would I ever see her or Dein again? I wondered, eyes fixed on the jewelry. I had not thought to see Johen, but I had. What had happened to Tari and her brother? Did they know what had happened to Johen and me?

I realized that the Abella had stopped speaking. I glanced at her to see her staring through an archway into an open hall. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "Would you mind terribly if I left you alone for a moment?" She smiled apologetically.

I nodded, and she darted through the arch. I returned to admiring the jewelry; there were three other elven made pieces, one by a famous sculpture. He had a new approach; the jade horses he had carved looked like it was rearing in the wind, mane whipping back and forth -

"I apologize for leaving you," the Abella said, re-entering the room. She noticed the direction of my gaze. "Do you like the elven jewels?"

I nodded. "They are beautiful. I especially admire the silver and emerald bracelets and earrings."

She smiled. "There is a pair of ruby earrings that compliment them. I would be honored if you accept the gift. They are not of elven craft, but they are still lovely." She went to one of the cases and drew out a box. Opening it, she offered the earrings inside to me.

They glistened, the tiny facets on them reflecting a thousand beams of sunlight. "They're a gift?" I asked, looking down at them. "You don't want anything for them?"

The Abella looked startled, probably at my unladylike question. I was too used to people only giving me things for a price to expect seemingly random gifts from unknown nobility. "No," she hurriedly assured me. "I do not want anything. They are a gift to you."

You do want something, I thought. You want me to mention this gift to the prince or the lord Seer so they'll look favorably towards you, whoever you are. "Thank you -" I paused deliberately, giving in to the urge to actually find out whom I was talking to.

"Oh, I'm Isabella," she told me with a laugh. "It is ever so hard to keep track of twins, is it not?"

Maybe, I thought, she was the twin from upstairs. She was using fancy sentences - but she didn't seem anymore empty-headed then either of the twins had at breakfast. Maybe they were really both deep and only pretended to be superficial to confuse people.

Right.

The earrings were pretty, however, and though I had no intentions of mentioning them to anyone but Mariva, I took them with a smile.

"Would you like to see the garden? It is beautiful, and has several rare plants in it. I think you would enjoy it."

So she was the Abella from last night, and Annabella was the one I met in the morning, who had warned me not to tell her sister that much. Well, I didn't plan on telling either of them that much.

"Oh!"

Both Isabella and I turned around to see the other Abella in the archway. Her eyes flicked from me to her twin and back again.

"Hello Anna," the twin with me said. She frowned. "Aren't you supposed to be with Mariva?"

"I - I just left her for a second. Father did, after all, tell us to give parting gifts and I need to get one." Her eyes fastened on the earrings in my hand, and she also frowned. "Oh, Is, you're not giving her THOSE are you?"

"I am," Isabella said steadily.

"Well, I won't let you dishonor the house with such a poor gift," Annabella sniffed. She wandered eerily over to the emerald and silver bracelets and earrings. "Wouldn't you like these instead?" she offered.

How about you just give me everything? I thought, amused as the sisters glared at each other.

"Well, wouldn't you like these better?" Annabella said again, taking the elven jewelry in her hands and extending it towards me.

"They are both beautiful," I murmured. Hah! My first diplomatic court saying!

The twins stared hard at each other, as if they were silently trying to wear the other down. It had never worked for me; but then, maybe it was because I got bored before my staring opponent did.

"Take these," Annabella said, thrusting he silver and emerald jewelry into my hands and taking the ruby earrings away as I watched in bemusement. "I think I'll stay with Lady Damslae, Isabella," she said to her sister. "Why don't you go see Lady Mariva?"

Isabella smirked, then curtsied to me. She flounced out of the room, leaving Annabella and I alone.

After a few minutes of fake conversation where Annabella kept sneaking sidelong glances at me, she finally said, "My twin - she is - well, as I said earlier, not very trustworthy."

I leaned back against the tables full of jewels. "Why not?" I asked.

Annabella hesitated. "She talks too much," she said finally, which told me absolutely nothing at all, and with that we went back to the main hall.

**********************

I think everyone was glad to get away from Lord Forlakent's manor. I certainly was - if I had to spend another minute with Isabella or Annabella I would scream. I was much happier to spend my days on horseback.

Mariva and I spent the first four days of the journey talking away every second. I hardly spoke to anyone else, as Aiven and Tullon were busy being deep in thought and the knights preferred looking at us to seeing if we actually knew how to converse. The maids and other servants were to awed by Mariva's status as niece of the king and betrothed to the Bastian Seer to approach her. I had absolutely no idea how they viewed me, but they left be alone as well. I didn't care; Mariva and I had more then enough to talk about.

She told me about being raised at court, about the jewels and servants, the intrigues and plots. She told me about meeting the Lord Seer C -, and about her parents' neglect. She filled in all the details I'd never known, fascinating things that I would never have guessed by just seeing the money loaded nobles of Cyri.

In turn, I told her about my life in Yvonhe's capital, about the hunger, the fear of rival thieves and assassins. I told her of the half elven Tari and Dein, and about Johen. One night I even, haltingly, told her about Prince Praithan, my banishment, and the guards. She listened silently, sympathy but no pity on her face. When I finished, she hugged me, tears in her eyes. Sitting back on our beds, we slept.

****************

On the fifth day, Aiven pulled me aside and to the front of our column early in the afternoon.

"Hello again," I said brightly. I hadn't really spoken more then five sentences to him we'd left Forlakent's manor.

"Hello."

I waited a minute, but he didn't add anything else. "Didn't you want to say something?" I encouraged, looking at him expectantly.

Aiven glanced at me, then stared straight ahead. "We are going to be at war," he said, jaw clenched.

I swiveled my head and stared at him in mock astonishment. "Really?!" I exclaimed. "So *that's* why everyone's so edgy!"

He glared at me. "I am TRYING to explain what is going on. Unless you don't want to hear?" I rolled my eyes at him, but nodded. "Well. We are, as you know, going to Bast, where the Council will meet. The Council is a gathering of the younger Seers, the High Nobility with mage-blood, the Highest nobles, and the strongest mages. There are about five hundred members of the Council. There is then the High Council, which consists of the twenty Seers attending, ten mage Nobility, the strongest ten Mages, and ten members or representatives of the highest courts in the land. The Council will be the soldiers of this war, along with other all the other mages and Seers that will join us. People without magic will have no need to fight. The battles we fight will be on physical battlefields, but our weapons will be our minds more often then swords."

"And . . ." I hesitated when asking this question. "If it comes to normal people and soldiers, how many will fight?"

He didn't answer for a moment; instead in stared off into the distance, reminding me of a hero in the ballads Mariva had convinced me to read. His eyes seemed to glaze slightly, and I jerked Dewdrop to a stop, afraid he would prophesize.

"Whoever can fight," he said, his voice still normal, if grim. "They have thousands who will fight completely for them, willingly or coerced, and weapons we do not understand. If it comes to ordinary people fighting - hopefully it will not. We also have thousands who will fight for us; mages and companies of kings' soldiers. If we need to pull ordinary foot soldiers, peasants and anyone other then the most elite of forces - then the entire world will be turned into a battleground. Perhaps," he said in a speculating voice, looking at me again, "we will even have the fairies and the elves to help us."

I didn't heat that last part; I was too busy concentrating on the battles he had spoken of. "Will you fight?" I asked in an embarrassingly small voice, eyes focused on a patch of moss below me.

"I should be in the first battles," he said in an unexpectedly angry voice. "I should be in the first wave that goes up against the enemies. I have earned that right with my visions and my knowledge. I should raise my sword on the first battle on the field of Canora, or at least See the armies movement there."

I looked at him in surprise. He wanted to fight in the first battle? To be one of those most likely to die? And even though he was willing to do this . . . "You don't get to," I stated. "Why aren't you allowed to fight?"

"Why do you think, *Princess*?" he asked bitterly. I was startled; I didn't think I had ever heard him bitter before. "I found you, I discovered you, so now I have to stay with you. Since I found you, I am trapped with the job of looking after you every second and making sure you don't do something incredibly stupid, which many of the Great Seers agreed you would try to do if you were allowed to. If you die, are captured, disappear, run away, try to be difficult -"

"What happens if I decide to be difficult?"

"Then I will persuade you not to," he said harshly.

That sounded cheery.

"If ANYTHING happens to you at all, it makes this war much more . . . difficult."

"How difficult?" I asked curiously.

He dealt me a hard glare. "We lose the Eternal Lah'nayin's daughter. We lose the protection, the healing. We lose the assurance that no matter what happens there will be some safety. We lose everything that comes with the daughter of the Eternal Lah'nayin, the powers, the edge over the other side. Not to mention the fact that we would lose the *Princess Laeliena of Lahtorli* who is not even supposed to EXIST for another several hundred years. If you die then Lahtorli will never be united, and the elves and fairies will be strewn throughout the land. They have waited for you for thousand of years, waited for your rebirth. And Lahtorli's princess is the Shien, who definitely should not exist now. The only way for that to be possible would be for the Shien to be the Saint and NOT Laeliena, though we have already proved that is impossible. So you must be the Shien, and you must be kept alive to restore Lahtorli, or the course of history that we plan for will completely be changed -"

"That you plan for?" I said sharply. "What, do you manipulate time so that it works to your advantage?"

"It is our -" he broke off, mouth tightening, and he looked away. When he turned back, though, he was reluctantly grinning at me. "You probably know more then any other mor - normal human about Seer's and our prophecies. You don't need to know more."

"So you DO try to control time," I concluded thoughtfully, gazing at Aiven.

He refused to answer.

"You have to stay with me," I said, backtracking. "So I suppose you and your Seers are planning to control my life forever? I suppose you'll be at my side my entire life?"

Despite my slightly joking tone, his face was completely serious. "Until one of us dies," he answered solemnly.

Well, that certainly answered the question.

"And I have no choice?"

He groaned, as if he was tired of being the Seer and just wanted to go be a young, irresponsible lord. "Do you really WANT the world to end up in complete darkness and horror?"

"Only if it will annoy you," I said brightly, and to my surprise, he grinned.

"Almost anything you do will annoy me somehow," he agreed. "You seem to delight in -"

"Aiven!"

Both of us glanced over to where Prince Tullon was. He was riding toward us. "Have you forgotten about lunch?" he asked once he had reached our side.

Aiven looked surprised for a moment. "Oh. Lunch. Of course."

Tullon laughed. "Unlike you, SOME of us need to eat." He turned to me and made a bow, which was one of the most impressive things I had seen him do, considering we were in horseback. "Would you honor me with your presence, my lady? I've been meaning to ask you about your magic, but my cousin's been monopolizing your time."

I looked at him quizzically. "My magic?"

"The rain," he explained. "In the garden a week ago. The Princess Laeliena is supposed to have some unusual powers, after all."

"I am?"

He nodded.

Sometimes, I thought, I felt like shouting, Surprise! I'm really NOT the Princess of Lahtorli or the Eternal Lah'nayin's daughter, I'm just a thief! Life would be so much easier . . . Mariva and Aiven had explained to me what they knew, or felt I should know, about my position in things, but it felt like they were talking about someone else. The daughter of the Eternal Lah'nayin and the princess of Lahtorli had so many prophesies concerning them that it gave me a headache trying to put them all together.

Sometimes I wished so much that I was still on the streets of Cyri, darting my hands into nobles' pockets and laughing with Johen, Tari, Dein, and the rest of our group.

And then other times I wanted to be everything I was told that I was, live up to these nobles expectations and more so, prove I was worth more then a kid off the back alleys . . .

Most of the time, though, I was happy. It startled me to think about that; we were on the edge of war, I was forced into being two people I knew nothing about, yet I was happy.

I also would have a bleeding brain if I tried to puzzle out my life anymore.

"Damslae," Aiven called as I began to follow Tullon back to the main column. I turned Dewdrop back alongside Aiven, and looked at him inquiringly.

"I -" he began, then looked away from me, seemingly at a lost for words. I swallowed a smile. There was probably something mean about being amused when Aiven didn't know what to say, but it happened so rarely to him that I felt it was practically my duty to enjoy it when it happened.

"I know how much you liked the jewelry Lord Forlakent gave you," he said with a smile. "And I know you must be suffering from stealing things withdrawal -"

"You think just because I'm traveling with nobility that I've given up stealing?" I said indignantly. "Don't be ridiculous." I fingered by newly acquired silk ribbon in my hair and grinned.

He rolled his eyes. "All right, I WISH you'd given up stealing - and you will within a month - and so I got you something.

I was too interested in what it was then arguing about his pathetic idea of me giving up stealing in a month. He reached into one of his riding coat's pockets and drew out a package wrapped in silk. I unwrapped it slowly, staring down at the necklace in my hands. Strands of silver were woven with perfect, tiny pearls in am unusual pattern.

"Thank you," I said softly, forcing the unfamiliar words out.

Aiven shrugged. "It's been sitting around for awhile, and I certainly can't wear it. I had to give it to someone."

I smiled slightly, watching him. For something that had been "sitting around for a while," he was watching me very carefully to see if I liked it.