Kheper was already talking to the woman Kem Mau had taken the Cat Ring from when he safely landed in Shimun's rooms. Her cat, whose blue eyes glowed with an ethereal light, hissed at him and planted itself between her and him, almost as if it was protecting her.

"Enough, Kheper." The woman held her hand up, her voice sharp, cutting the Ladybug Bearer off midsentence. "I will decide once I have spoken with him. You need to go and see what you can find out. Now. You made me a promise, after all."

"Yes, ma'am." Kheper shot an apologetic look to Kem Mau as he headed for the window. He paused next to his ally and gave him a rueful smile. "Good luck."

"You too."

At Kem Mau's nod, Kheper launched himself out of the window. The black cat bearer watched him go, then turned back to the woman who was watching him.

"I kept my word, Lady…?"

"Jie. My name is Jie." The tension in her frame told Atem that she was unhappy all too clearly. "And I think we need to talk."

"Might I sit and feed Plagg?"

"Sit, yes… but I would rather have this conversation without Plagg's input. Some of what I need to discuss with you involves his actions."

The Prince nodded and moved across the room to the seats, noting that the cat's gaze was following him, even as the woman sat back down on the chair next to her. He wiggled his fingers in its direction, attempting to lure it over to pet it. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty…"

"Here, kitty, yourself," the feline huffed, flicking its tail before leaping up into Jie's arms.

"You're magical…" Kem Mau stared in wonder.

"That's surprising?" the cat asked with an amused rumble. "After what you've seen and done today?"

"Maoyan." At the hand on its back and the slight scold to her voice, the cat's ears flattened and its tail flicked back and forth as it stared at the ring bearer. "Enough."

"Are magical creatures common where you're from?" Kem Mau asked, shocked.

"Yes and no." The woman shrugged. "That's not what we're here to discuss. Not that I would be discussing any of this with you if Kheper hadn't vouched for you."

"He's a good man. You made a good choice with him." Kem Mau wished that he could see the woman's face properly, without the bandages obscuring it as she twitched. "I would be honoured to work with him."

"If I let you keep the Black Cat Ring." He could almost feel the chill in the air at her words and Maoyan's eyes narrowed at him.

"What do I have to do to earn that right?"

"I have a story to tell you. If you react the way Kheper thinks you will, I will consider honouring his request, with my friend here," she ruffled the fur on Maoyan's head, "keeping an eye on you."

"And if I don't?"

"The Ring will not be staying with you." The Prince beneath the mask could hear the threat in her voice, suggesting that she thought, even injured as she was, she could take him in a fight.

"Then let's hear it."

"I come from a temple in a land far to the east of here. That's where the jewels I protect come from." The wistfulness in her tone suggested she missed her home. "The box you saw earlier was stolen from us, and myself and one of the Guardians went after it…"

She paused at the sounds of men running around outside, shouting. Maoyan jumped down from her lap and padded over to the windowsill. It leapt up and watched carefully, its ears twitching. "They're looking for the Prince. It may be advisable to have this conversation later…"

Jie's lips pursed as she rose to her feet. The cat turned to look at the pair of them as she crossed the room and stood in front of Kem Mau, who rose to his own feet, wary as he realised that she was somehow able to see him, despite her eyes being covered by bandages.

"A royal from Iberia stole and misused power, causing his people to suffer and dragging me and my betrothed far from home, so we could fix what he had done. Using Plagg's power, he hurt my betrothed so badly that he was still hurt when he entered your borders. One of your own people, using magic I have only seen someone from this palace wield, took my future husband and my kwami from me."

Atem let out a sharp breath, realising that was why she distrusted him so badly and why she did not want Plagg's powers loose in the world.

"Now the one who stole my Miraculous from me after murdering my fiancé is using MY powers against YOUR people. Shimun sent you to me and I want to believe he knew what he was doing. Kheper vouches for you and he has been nothing but helpful since I met him. You are the only unknown and I need to know I can trust you. The Butterfly might be dangerous, but Plagg's powers could decimate Egypt, or worse, the world, if he fell into the wrong hands. So I ask, can I trust you to help me recover the Butterfly Miraculous and protect your people? And to keep Plagg in line?"

"I…" Kem Mau's tail snapped back and forth and the cat ears upon his head flattened as he considered her question carefully.

There was no question that he would aid her in protecting Egypt. It was his country. One day he would be its Pharaoh and all the responsibility of looking after the people would fall squarely on his shoulders. It was his duty to be there when his people needed them. If the best way to do that right now was to bear the Black Cat Ring, then he would do so without question.

To that end it only made sense to help recover the stolen Miraculous so it could not be used against his father or anyone else in Egypt.

But Plagg had not seemed like he needed to be controlled. If anything, the way the Kwami of Destruction had been acting was more like a feline who had been kicked one too many times. Atem was certain that what Plagg needed was less a master and more a friend.

"I would do whatever needed to ensure the safety of this country," Atem promised the woman before him. "Even if you take the Ring from me, I would put myself between an akuma and the people of Egypt. If you allow me to keep Plagg with me, I promise you that I would only use his power for good, as long as it is within my control, and I will do whatever I can to help return your stolen Miraculous. This I swear as Prince of this nation."

He wished he could see the woman's expression properly as she stood before him, wringing her hands, tension evident in her ramrod straight posture.

"Alright, Kem Mau," she finally spoke, her tone uncertain as the tension in her frame released, her whole body slumped and she reached out and grabbed the edge of the nearby table, needing to support herself. "I will give you this chance. Do not let me, or your country, down."

"I won't." He stepped towards her, offering his arm. When Jie hesitated, he let out a soft sigh. "I'm not going to hurt you. No one should have attacked you for just passing through Egypt's borders. I'm going to find out who it was, and they will face punishment for attacking you and killing your companion. I promise."

"I thank you." Jie reached out and took his arm, making Kem Mau smile. He could not but hope that it was a sign that he had earned himself a little trust.

"Which room is yours?" he asked gently. "Let me help you there before I join Kheper."

"Go straight to your father, so he can see you're safe." Jie shook her head, even as she pointed to her room's door. "Before he decides you two are part of the threat. We can discuss details later."

"Alright."

He helped her to the bed and headed for the window, pausing as he crouched on the windowsill to look back at the woman. "Where were you when you were attacked?"

"The people of the village called it Nekhen. It was run by Lord Kames."

Kem Mau nodded, turned around, and leapt from the window, using his staff to propel himself across the courtyard. As he landed next to the main entrance to the dining hall, he let out an irritated huff. Lord Kames had been advised to leave the palace a few months ago because he had been caught accepting bribes to let people through palace security.

Lady Jie had said that the magic used by the one who had attacked had come from the palace. It was possible that Kames had been working with an insider to seize the magic for themselves. Kames had been proud enough that Kem Mau could see it far too easily.

"Plagg, Claws In." With a burst of black and green light, Atem was left where Kem Mau had been stood moments before. He reached out and caught Plagg, before glancing down at himself and grimacing as he realised he had nowhere for the feline to hide.

"If you get me a snack, I can stay out of sight," Plagg reassured him, "if… if you trust me."

Atem paused to consider the magical cat, Jie's warning about how dangerous Plagg was bouncing around his head. "You promise me that you'll not use your powers without my permission? And that I can trust you not to reveal yourself to anyone who doesn't know about you?"

Plagg purred at the questions, preferring them greatly to the harsh orders of the Iberian King. "I promise, I'll only talk to other kwami, Miraculous holders, and those you introduce me to. And don't worry about me sharing your name by accident, all kwami are enchanted so we can't tell anyone else who's our current Bearer unless they already know."

"Thanks, Plagg." Atem slipped into the restored dining hall and paused as he realised that all the food was back on the table, in perfect condition, and the instruments were as good as new.

Seeing the room was empty, he headed for the table. "You said you preferred cheese?"

Plagg's ears perked up at the word 'cheese', and he eyed the table rapidly before pouncing on a nearby brick of the dairy product. Atem straightened up as he heard his father's voice coming down the corridor, backed up by his uncle, and he shifted position to hide the kwami.

"…swear, my brother, if they don't return my son, I'll have them arrest…" The Pharaoh trailed off as he walked through the door and saw Atem. Within milliseconds the man crossed the room and pulled his son into a tight hug. Atem quickly hugged his father back, able to hear Plagg squeak behind him, though he did not know that the kwami had phased through the table.

"I'm okay, Father," the Prince promised as the Pharaoh pulled back and checked him over. "Kem Mau protected me until he could get me to my rooms safely."

"I still think he and Kheper are a threat," Akhenaden grumbled. Atem was not having it though, and he wheeled around to glower at his uncle.

"How would you know? You weren't here until after everything was over. You didn't see Kheper risk his safety to protect us when that thing attacked the dining hall."

"I came the moment I heard about the attack, my nephew." Akhenaden's eyes narrowed at Atem's question. "I haven't heard the full story yet. I just heard that those two dared to disobey your father's orders."

Atem grimaced, unable to deny that Kheper had told his father, a demi-god and the representative of the Gods that blessed Egypt, 'no' and unable to tell the two men the reason, that Kheper and Kem Mau's power timers had been running out, without them getting suspicious about how he knew as much as he did.

"If they bring back information about the man who sent Khafra against us, I will give them leeway." The Pharaoh waved it off. "It was time-sensitive for them to go. I am not so proud that I can't accept that occasionally I don't know the full details when I issue orders."

"I still think we should be questioning the boy that attacked you more," Akhenaden huffed. "He could be hiding something."

"He was questioned in front of the Millennium Scales. He does not remember what happened to cause his mutation into Hasad, just that he was really upset and ashamed of his actions and that there was a voice in his head. He doesn't even remember what the voice said." The Pharaoh waved it off. "The Scales verified that he was not lying, and he's in enough trouble for what happened in the training yard as it is without punishing the boy for being the victim of a malicious mage."

The Prince let out a relieved sigh at that. He had not yet gotten a chance to discuss with Kheper or Lady Jie what was up with akumas, and it was good to know that anyone who unwillingly got transformed was not going to be thrown in the dungeons.

"I suppose you know best, brother." Akheanden grimaced. "I just regret that I was not here to fulfil my duties. If I had not been so tired from my journey…"

"You cannot help what is out of your control, brother. Perhaps you would consider taking an assistant, in order to ensure that this doesn't happen again? That way if you're off at one of Sobek's temples and an attack happens, someone can organise the guards faster than they mobilised this evening."

Akhenaden paused to consider the idea, his eyes narrowing and his lips pursing as he ran over options. "Not a bad idea, brother. That way I could be of more use to my temples, because you would not require me to be at the palace as much."

"Hopefully this is a one-off event, but we will have to see." The Pharaoh sighed, his shoulders sinking.

"How certain can you be that those… hooligans will be back to report in?" Atem had to hide a pout at how he was being described, despite him having been helping the palace.

The Prince had to hide an amused smile when his father shrugged. "I have no idea who they are, so I can't order them in. Isis has already confirmed that they're not visible in the Necklace's gaze, so I can't find out that way. They could vanish into the night and we would never know who they are and we would never get answers. Even if they do come back and turn out to be a threat, the magic of the Millennium Items doesn't work on them, so we would be in for a fight."

"I don't think Kheper and Kem Mau are threats, Father." Atem shook his head, trying to herd his father away from that line of thinking and noting Plagg had taken residence in the rafters to listen. "They didn't have to stop Hasad, and if they wanted to hurt me, Kem Mau had every opportunity."

"I'll be more willing to give them the benefit of the doubt once I know more about the situation, but I do see your points," his father acknowledged. "In the meantime, do you think any of this food is still good?"

When Atem's stomach rumbled in agreement, the Prince chuckled.

"Let's hope so."

"…embarrassed me in front of the whole palace! And worse, you let yourself get transformed into some sort of monster?! AND you dared to attack me?!"

Kheper winced as he landed on the roof nearest to where Lord Khufu was reaming out his son. While Khafra had screwed up earlier in the day, Jie had explained that once someone was akumatised negatively, they were not completely in control of their actions. It was like someone switched off most of their moral compass and if they were angry at someone, they would lash out at them.

Plus the one doing the akumatising could force them to act the way they wanted if they truly wished. Jie had said she had never needed to, but it was possible to 'punish' your akuma to bring them back in line.

There were many reasons why Khafra could have acted the way he had as Hasad, and Kheper wanted to believe that it was because he had not known what he could do, rather than because he had wanted to hurt others in the palace.

"I should send…"

Kheper decided to stop the tirade before it could start again, and he threw out his yoyo, which wrapped around a balcony post above the arguing pair, allowing him to swing down into view. "Excuse me."

"Who are you?" Lord Khufu demanded, glowering down at him.

The Ladybug Bearer did not back down, staring straight back. "My name is Kheper. I need to talk to you and your son regarding what happened."

"The guards have already questioned my son." The Lord shook his head. "You can get any information from them."

"I was hoping to talk to both of you." Kheper held in an irritated huff, remembering who he was dealing with and how proud the Lord was. "I was hoping that 'Hasad' said something to or about the one who changed him."

The Lord paused. "You're not just here to accuse my son of treachery? Or to suggest we should leave the palace."

The teen beneath the mask had many reasons why he would want the pair out of the palace, but, as he reminded himself, he had to hide any distaste so he did not out his identity. "No. I know he wasn't completely in control of his actions. I'm looking to find out who the puppeteer was."

Lord Khufu paused and Kheper saw his entire frame relax. "I don't know how much help we can be. My son remembers nothing and he was already transformed when he attacked my men and me."

"The person who did this has hurt people before and they will hurt people again. Anything you can remember at all will help me find and stop them."

"Him." Khafra's voice shook as he spoke up. "The voice in my head was a him. I don't remember anything else though."

"That's a good start, thank you." At Kheper's smile, the other teen relaxed a little bit.

"After Kha… Hasad attacked us, I remember him talking to someone," Lord Khufu offered, "possibly the voice in his head. He called it 'Farasha'."

Farasha meant Butterfly. It was as plain and simple a code name as Kheper or Kem Mau, but confirmation that Hasad had been the creation of the stolen Butterfly Miraculous.

"Thank you, it's good to know who we're up against. If you remember anything else, please, leave me a message at the foot of the statue to Ra. I'll find it there." Kheper bowed.

"We will. Good luck."

The Ladybug Bearer just nodded and turned to leave, only to pause and look back over his shoulder. "Lord Khufu?"

"What?"

"Remember this, your son was a victim of Farasha, yes, but he could not have fallen to his spell if he had not been flooded with fear and worry about what was going on around him. The only way to prevent it from happening again is to support each other, because until we can find and stop Farasha, he'll keep using people for his own gains. Including your family."

Lord Khufu stared at him for a moment or two, then nodded. "I'll take it under advice."

"Please do."

With that Kheper swung himself up and onto the roofs before heading for the Pharaoh's chambers.