CORRIDOR AFTER CORRIDOR, Lady Katsa took him towards the back of the castle, not far from where Po's room was. She finally stopped at a workroom filled with books and vials similar to the ones Prince Raffin was carrying a couple of days ago, and turned to said blue-haired prince who sat at one of the tables with his vials. When Katsa cleared her throat, he put his vial down and looked up at them.

Surprise went through him, then amusement. He smiled as he considered the dirt and ripped clothes on them. "I take it you've been getting to know each other. It must've been a friendly fight, if you come to me together," he decided.

Katsa ignored him. "Are you alone?"

Prince Raffin nodded. "Yes, except for Bann, of course."

"I've told the prince about his grandfather."

Prince Raffin's eyes went from Katsa to Po and back to Katsa again. Poor man. Did he try to wrestle the information out of her…? He raised his eyebrows.

"He's safe," Katsa said. Shame flickered through her. "I'm sorry for not consulting you, Raff."

Prince Raffin laughed away her apology, and it was then that Po decided he liked this quirky son of King Randa, so unlike his boisterous father. "Kat, if you think he's safe even after he's bloodied your face and rolled you around in a puddle of mud, then I believe you."

"May we see him?"

"You may. And I have good news." Prince Raffin caught Po's eyes. "He's awake."

Po had to restrain himself from kissing Prince Raffin's forehead like he had with Katsa's.

Prince Raffin set his stuff down and dusted off his trousers. He led Katsa and Po to the back in an unassuming storage part of the room. He pushed aside crates of dried herbs and other various materials from one wall. A dark stairway revealed itself, and Prince Raffin grabbed a torch from the other wall. As they climbed, it didn't take long for Grandfather's presence to appear in Po's mind, alive, safe, and… peaceful. He was sleeping. It was no wonder Po couldn't have sensed Grandfather around the castle. He couldn't have when he was this deep in it, far from the hallways everyone else used. How many more of these secret passageways were there? Was the rest of the castle filled with them?

"Has he said anything?" Katsa asked. Her voice carried, but she wasn't concerned for anyone hearing her. The walls were thick. Nobody would have suspected an old man was kept here, healing and recovering.

"Nothing," promised Prince Raffin, "other than that they blindfolded him when they took him. He's still very weak. He doesn't seem to remember much."

Grandfather, who was too warm, too kind, too gentle, and with far too little political gain to have benefitted anyone or anything. Po's heart sank. "Do you know who took him?" he asked. "Was Murgon responsible?"

Katsa shrugged her shoulders. "We don't think so, but all we know for sure is that it wasn't Randa."

At the top of the stairwell was a door. As Prince Raffin reached for his key, the events clicked together in Po's mind. It was all a ruse to keep Randa in the dark, that Katsa couldn't have possibly been in Sunder in Murgon's courtyard. It was the reason why Katsa was gone far longer in Estill. And here Po thought that Randa might have kidnapped his grandfather through Katsa. "Randa doesn't know he's here," Po concluded.

"Randa doesn't know," confirmed Katsa. She was dead-set on this. "He must never know."

The door groaned as Prince Raffin opened it to a tiny room just enough for a bed and four or five people to fill the room. The man that Po had met a few days earlier in passing, Bann, sat on a stool reading a book by dim candlelight. Next to him was the bed, where Grandfather Tealiff lay under a blanket, fast asleep.

About time he got here, Bann thought. He closed his book and turned to them. His grandfather was waking up again.

Po took that as his cue. Bann stepped aside and gestured for his stool to Po as Po rushed forward. He sat in Bann's stool and leaned to Grandfather. Grandfather Tealiff's mind flickered at the noise, but he was still too sleepy to form any coherent thoughts. And even if he couldn't talk, he was still here, and he was still alive. Po grabbed Grandfather's hands and brought them to his forehead. He sighed, thanking Lienid for this miraculous once-in-a-lifetime chance where things worked out well. The joy his family would feel... that was more than enough kindness from Katsa, Bann, and Prince Raffin, yet Po hardly knew anything about them.

Po glanced at the strangers behind him, grateful. Prince Raffin and Bann smiled back. Katsa, normally filled with frantic energy, was now too shy to look, feeling she was intruding on something private. And perhaps it was… but Po was too relieved to care.

"Your face is turning purple, Prince Greening," Prince Raffin said. He spoke like a true medicine man. "You're on your way to a very black eye."

Po shook his head. Not because Prince Raffin was right, but because, once again, his name bothered him more than the pain did. He couldn't be Prince Greening Grandemalion to the people who had saved his kidnapped grandfather, hidden him from their king, healed him, and trusted Po enough to let him see him. "Po," Po said softly. "Call me Po."

"Po," Prince Raffin repeated, warming up quickly to Po's name. "I'll get you some ice from the vault." He intertwined his hand with Bann's. "Come, Bann, let's get some supplies for our two warriors."

Indeed a warrior, thought Bann. I can see why Raffin was enamored by Po.

The talking had been enough for Grandfather Tealiff. As the two slipped through the doorway and Katsa gained the courage to look up once more, Grandfather stirred. Po gave Grandfather's hands a squeeze and murmured, "Grandfather."

Grandfather perked up at the sound of Po's voice. He blinked his eyes open slowly, his voice hoarse. "Po?" Is this another dream? It can't be... "Po," he said again, this time relieved. You've come to the Middluns. "Great seas, boy. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to see you." Your Grace must have proven useful. How did you find me?

"I've been tracking you down, Grandfather."

And you're dirty. Your shirt is torn. "Move that lamp closer, boy," Grandfather said. "What in the name of Lienid have you done to your face?"

"It's nothing, Grandfather." Po smiled sheepishly. "I've only been fighting."

"With what, a pack of wolves?" How I worry for you.

"With the Lady Katsa," Po clarified, though it may very well have been with a pack of wolves. He caught her eyes, and she moved to the foot of his bed. Po looked back to Grandfather, who flickered with anxiety. "Don't worry, Grandfather. It was only a friendly scuffle."

"A friendly scuffle," Grandfather snorted. Do you expect me to believe that? "You look worse than she does, Po." I haven't seen you this hurt since you were training as a child.

Grandfather was right, of course. Po had been unmatched on Lienid, but here on the Royal Continent Katsa had bested him in both of the fights they'd had. Po laughed at the irony of it. "I've met my match, Grandfather."

"More than your match, it looks to me." He turned to Katsa. "Come here, child. Come to the light." Shame went through Katsa, though Po didn't know why. Nevertheless, Katsa did not refuse him. She came around the bed and knelt. Grandfather studied her eyes for a couple moments before coming to a conclusion. "My dear, I believe you saved my life."

"Lord Prince, if anyone did that, it was my cousin Raffin with his medicines," Katsa protested.

"Yes, Raffin's a good boy." Grandfather patted her hand. "But I know what you did, you and the others. You've saved my life, though I can't think why. I doubt any Lienid has ever done you a kindness." Aside from you, Po?

"I'd never met a Lienid," Katsa admitted, "before you, Lord Prince. But you seem very kind." For this she was grateful.

Grandfather laid back into his pillows and sighed. Forgive me, Po. I'm so tired. He drifted away to sleep almost immediately, feeling lighter now that he'd seen Po and Katsa.

Prince Raffin appeared in the doorway, ice in one hand and the other still holding Bann's. "He falls asleep like that. His strength will come back, with rest." He gave Po the ice. "Ice," he prompted. Why did he think he could fight Katsa and win? His beautiful face looks as swollen as Bann gets when he eats lingonberries. "Hold it to that eye. It looks like she cracked your lip, too. Where else does it hurt?"

"Everywhere," Po confessed. "I feel as if I've been run over by a team of horses."

Prince Raffin turned to Katsa. "Honestly, Katsa, were you trying to kill him?"

"If I'd been trying to kill him, he'd be dead," she replied. Po laughed at her choice of words. She was right, she hadn't been giving it her all during that fight. It had been a test for her, and an entertaining one at that. "He wouldn't be laughing," she added, "if it were that bad."

It wasn't that bad; or, at least, Prince Raffin was able to determine that none of his bones were broken and that he'd sustained no bruises that wouldn't heal. Then it was Katsa's turn. Prince Raffin examined the scratch on her face that went from her jaw across her cheek. He wiped away the dirt and blood from it, and Po noted mildly that she didn't shy away from him.

"It's not very deep, this scratch," Prince Raffin decided. "Any other pains?"

Po felt swelling around Katsa's shoulders, where he had shoved her to the ground, but still it did not seem to bother her. "None," she said, and it wasn't a lie. "I don't even feel a scratch."

"I suppose you'll have to retire this dress." It must have been some fight they had. "Helda will give you a terrible scolding."

"Yes, I'm devastated about the dress," Katsa deadpanned.

Prince Raffin gave her an amused smile. He took hold of her arms and held her out from him so that he could look her up and down. Poor Po lost, but Katsa's never looked this bad before, even while growing up… Oh, I wish I'd seen it. Did Katsa flip him over her shoulder with nothing but her fingernail? The odds of that... He laughed at the thought.

"What can be so funny to a prince who's turned his hair blue?" asked Katsa.

"You look like you've been in a fight," remarked Prince Raffin, "for the first time in your life."


Back in his room, the stewards had drawn up a hot bath for Po. They insisted on washing him, as they did all royals, but Po had refused. The Lienid washed themselves when they could, the men even more so, given the sacred Lienid markings on their arms. Po dismissed his adamant stewards a last time and turned back to the water.

By now, the steam and bubbles were more enticing given his exhaustion and his sore muscles. The noise of the servants faded as they walked away until the only thoughts Po heard were his. It was exhausting sometimes how noisy his Grace made things. It made Po appreciate the silence. He laid his head back against the basin and sighed. For what was the first time since Po had stepped foot on the Royal Continent, he could afford a moment to relax. These moments were becoming fewer and farrer in between.

Po stretched his arms out in the water. This had been an arduous month, and he'd spent so long riding through Wester and Sunder. He'd snuck into Wester and was interrogated in Sunder. He'd met and had the honor of fighting the Lady Killer of all people twice, and only now could Po breathe and take comfort in the fact that Grandfather was alive and healing well in the Middluns.

Not only that, but Katsa and Prince Raffin worked with the Council—a secret group that fought back against the tyranny of the Royal Continent kings to help the people. Po's grandfather was one of many that had been kidnapped and targetted. Like Po, they still didn't know who did it and why, but at least he was safe…

Warm and content, Po laid like this for several more minutes. He was dozing off when Prince Raffin appeared in his mind, maybe twenty feet from Po's door. It couldn't have been an hour already, could it? Katsa and Prince Raffin had told Po the Council meeting would begin soon, but he hadn't planned on falling asleep in the bath! Po propelled himself out of the water, dried off as best as he could, and began dressing.

Prince Raffin's knock came in no time. "Po," he called. It's been an hour, I hope he didn't fall asleep.

Po snorted at the irony. "Who is it?" he called back, because it gave him more time to put on his boots, plus he couldn't have known who was knocking on his door.

"It's Raffin. My father the king would like to speak with you. I'm to bring you to him." He spoke the codewords Po, Katsa, and Raffin had decided upon. The Council meeting was starting soon.

Po swore to himself, then turned to the door. "Excuse the wait," he called. He combed his hair with his fingers and looked one last time at himself in the mirror. When he was satisfied with his appearance, he went for the door. Prince Raffin was about to knock again when Po opened it. He lowered his hand then, suddenly embarrassed. "Lead the way, Lord Prince," Po said.

Prince Raffin gestured for Po to follow, walking slow through the empty corridors. "The titles are for the king." He caught Po's eyes, hesitant for a moment. Are those eyes always so bright at night? Or maybe it's the lighting? He blinked a couple times to remember his words. "I'm not King Randa. Just Raffin is fine, Po."

"You refer to your father as king?"

"Yes. Do you not in Lienid?"

"No." Po grinned. "Do people in the Royal Continent dye their hair often?"

Raffin's nerves calmed as his laughter echoed down the hallway. Images of Raffin meeting Po two days ago ran through his mind. "Do you remember my headache cure from the other day?" Po hummed his approval. "It turned my hair blue. My father has declared me not his son unless it's blonde."

"Ah, the burden of being a prince. I would have been in your situation had I not been born Graced."

That's right, Gracelings are free where he comes from. "I imagine your brothers envy you."

Po shrugged. "Sometimes. I imagine Katsa envies your blue hair."

"Perceptive, aren't you?" Raffin asked, and Po laughed.

You have no idea, Po wanted to say. "She made a scene at dinner today."

"That's Kat for you. Any day she attends King Randa's dinners is a day that will give you dinner and a show. She doesn't get along well with King Randa, so Bann, Giddon, and I usually eat dinner in her rooms with her. Turn left here." They turned into the next hallway. "That's where we're going now," he explained.

"Nobody would suspect the Lady Killer," Po said.

"Exactly." Great hills, he keeps up better than Kat does. "Are you sure you're not Graced with intelligence?"

Po laughed again. He wondered if that possibility was why Raffin was attracted to him. "I'm positive, Raffin. If I wasn't, I would have been a pile of broken bones and blood in Randa's courtyard."

"Sounds like Kat. You don't know how many years she has been wanting a real opponent. She hasn't gotten scratches practicing against men since she was a child."

"I haven't either," Po admitted. Something in Raffin told him he could confide in him, this prince with an interest in medicine and good humor. "As a Graced fighter, I could best my older brothers when I was eight. I was unmatched on Lienid."

"You two have a lot in common than you'd think. Kat is probably itching to break your bones right now. Actually—" Raffin raised his hand and stopped them at a worn-down door, scratches around the knob. "Mind the state of the door; Kat doesn't take good care of it. Here we are," he said. He then lowered his voice. "Friendly word of advice? Council meetings are safe. You can speak freely and without fear. We won't use your words against you in the future, nor will King Randa know. But we do have one rule: you can't tell anyone else about the meetings."

"One question," Po said. "Would an exception be made for me if my hair were blue?"

Raffin huffed. "Come on, or we'll be late."