Kinshiro's heart was racing. He stared up at the facade of the royal palace and tried to fight down the urge to turn around and go home. What had possessed him to come all the way out here on such short notice? What did he think he was going to do? He hadn't thought this through at all, a decision he was now heartily regretting.

Arima set a hand on Kinshiro's shoulder.

"It's all right," he said. "This can just be a visit of state if that's what you want it to be."

Kinshiro gave him a grateful look. Arima was the only one of his retinue who had any clear idea what this trip was all about. The rest had only heard some blather about "urgent official business", but Arima was the one who had seen Kinshiro take the news that Atsushi was here in this kingdom and respond with "We're leaving, right now." He was smart enough to know what had brought Kinshiro this far.

Maybe I should ask him to figure out what to do next.

But no, this was something he had to do on his own. More than ever, he ached to see Atsushi again, to see his smile and hear his laugh, to know that he was well and thriving... and perhaps missing him? The tone of his last few letters had suggested that while he was sorry things had not worked out, he didn't blame Kinshiro for whatever had happened. He didn't know why Kinshiro had left him so abruptly, because Kinshiro had never told him. As far as he knew, Kinshiro was blameless. Kinshiro could pretend their meeting now was sheer accident. He could invent some excuse - claim that his great-uncle the king had intervened, perhaps. Atsushi would believe him. They could renew their old ties, and maybe this time...

Of course, Kinshiro would have to tell him the truth eventually, but not until they were on firmer footing. Say, for example, after they were safely married. He was almost certain Atsushi would forgive him. That was the sort of person he was. As for Kinshiro, he would willingly spend the rest of his life doing whatever it took to reassure Atsushi that he had learned his lesson and would never make so foolish a mistake again. They could have another chance.

Kinshiro looked up at his old friend and forced a smile. "No, I don't think so, but thank you anyway."

Arima smiled and gave Kinshiro's shoulder a quick, reassuring squeeze before letting go.

"You'll be fine," he said.

Kinshiro nodded and felt a tiny bit reassured. He gazed up at the palace again. Where was Atsushi now, he wondered? Was he relaxing in a room in there somewhere? Exploring the royal library? Deep in consultation with the king? Or perhaps someone was showing him around the city now, just as he had so often shown Kinshiro around his own city? And what was taking so long, anyway? A visit of state from a neighboring prince, even an unexpected one, should have accorded more respect than this.

At last, the doors opened, and King Io himself, flanked by his consort, stepped out, with a quartet of guards shadowing them. All of them looked grave and stern and not particularly happy to see Kinshiro on their doorstep.

"Your highness," said Io, taking a few steps closer. "I must say, I'm surprised to see you here."

"It was a spur of the moment decision," said Kinshiro smoothly. "I had an unexpected break in my schedule, and I decided it would be a good time to come and pay my respects in person."

Io's eyes narrowed slightly. "I see. Well, my hospitality is open to you and your people. Please, come inside out of the sun. We have much to talk about."

Kinshiro allowed himself to be led inside the palace. He had been there before, but that had been years ago, so he barely spared a glance at the decor. Instead, his eyes skimmed the perimeter of the room, hoping against hope that he would see a familiar face...

But Io and his retinue hustled Kinshiro off with almost unseemly haste to a consulting room. As soon as Io, Ryuu, and Kinshiro were sequestered out of the hearing of their companions, Io turned on Kinshiro.

"All right," he said. "Why did you really come here?"

"Ah..." For a moment, Kinshiro was completely confused. What did Io know, or care, about his relationship with Atsushi?

"You've got some nerve, you know?" said Ryuu, scowling at him. "Coming here, acting like this is some kind of visit of state when you know we just unearthed your spy last night. Do you think we're stupid or something?"

Oh. Right. That. In all the emotional tumult, Kinshiro had completely forgotten about Akoya. He supposed he should have given his old friend at least a passing thought.

"I think you have the wrong idea," said Kinshiro carefully.

"So this is, what, a big coincidence?" Ryuu persisted.

"Not exactly, but..." said Kinshiro, and stopped, because the king and his prince consort were both glaring at him in a way that made it clear that no polite formalities were going to cut any ice with them. He took a breath and tried again. "You can believe me or not as you will, but my presence here has nothing to do with Akoya. He's already made it clear to me where his loyalties lie, and as far as I'm concerned, he's yours to deal with now. I'm here on a completely different errand. You're more than welcome to pretend I'm not here."

Io gave him a cool look. "You'd like us to conveniently forget that you sent a man to spy on us and just let you have the run of the palace?"

Fat lot of good he did me, Kinshiro thought. Struggling to keep his cool, he said, "I regret that my behavior has given offense. You understand that under your grandfather's rule, our nations were at peace with each other. You were a new element, and I had no way of knowing whether or not the peace between our kingdoms would be threatened by your decisions. I deemed it prudent to have a watch set on you for the safety of my people. I apologize for the intrusion."

Ryuu rolled his eyes and muttered, "I don't believe this," under his breath. Kinshiro decided to ignore him.

"If you would like," he said, "we can discuss the matter at greater length later. I'm willing to make restitution if it will help to ease relationships between our people."

"Fine," said Io, still dubious. "So if you aren't here about Akoya, why are you here?"

"I'll be honest with you," said Kinshiro. "The only reason I'm here is because I heard that Prince Atsushi of the Arborian Empire is here, and I have urgent business with him."

"I see," said Io. He regarded Kinshiro with a measuring look. "Well, he's not here at the moment. He went out to explore the city and see the sights, and he hasn't come back yet."

"I see," said Kinshiro. He didn't bother to hide his downcast expression. He'd already allowed as how he was only there to see Atsushi, so there was no point in trying to cover it up now. "When do you expect him back?"

"Who knows?" said Ryuu. "Soon, probably. He's been gone all day, and it's getting pretty close to dinnertime. Actually, I'm surprised he isn't here already."

Something about those words gave Kinshiro a momentary qualm. Some small, paranoid part of him was saying that somehow Atsushi had known he was coming and had conveniently taken himself away - probably all the way back to the Arborean empire. He squelched that thought as hard as he could. Atsushi was just out indulging his curiosity about a new place. He'd be back soon.

"What would you like me to do until then?" he asked.

"We have rooms prepared for you," said Io. "You may wait there for him. I have other matters to deal with today, but I'll make sure Prince Atsushi knows you're here waiting for him as soon as he gets back, which I'm sure will be any minute now. In the meantime, I can have someone show you to your..."

He was interrupted by a guard bursting into the room. The soldier immediately dropped to one knee.

"Sire!" he said. "I have news!" He cast a dubious glance at Kinshiro, and Kinshiro surmised that the man was uncertain whether or not to speak in front of an outside.

Io and Ryuu, however, looked suddenly and keenly interested.

"Speak," Io commanded.

The soldier swallowed hard. "Yes, sire. It's about Prince Atsushi..."

Kinshiro felt the world go cold.

"Yes?" he snapped. "Spit it out!"

The guard looked faintly irritated at being commanded by someone other than his king, but he went on grimly.

"The prince," he said, "has gone missing."

Kinshiro stared. "You don't mean..."

"Prince Atsushi was observing the entertainment arranged for him in the city center," the guard elaborated. "A hooded man attacked when the crowds began to disperse and the guards were distracted. The attacker and the prince both vanished, and we haven't been able to locate either of them."

Kinshiro felt himself grow cold. Atsushi, missing...

"Keep looking," Io snapped. "Let us know the instant anyone finds out anything."

"Yes, sire." The guard bowed and retreated. As soon as he was gone, Kinshiro wheeled on Io.

"This is your fault!" he snarled.

Io stared at him. "Excuse me?"

"This is your fault! Atsushi was a guest in your kingdom, and it was your responsibility to keep him safe!"

"He had his own personal guard..." Io began.

"I don't care," said Kinshiro. "You rule this kingdom, it's your responsibility to protect your people, and you've failed. Now Atsushi is in danger, and I am holding you personally responsible. If he doesn't come back here unharmed, I will ensure that my kingdom will declare war on yours, do you understand me?"

"You can't do that!" Ryuu blurted.

"I assure you that I can," Kinshiro replied. Actually, he wasn't entirely certain that he could. After all, he was only the prince, not yet a king. He couldn't just go around declaring wars whenever he felt like it, or he would have done so a long time ago. Well, never mind. In the mood he was in, he was almost ready to deal his ailing great-uncle a mercy stroke himself if it would get him what he wanted.

And if Atsushi didn't make it back – soon, alive, and in one piece – someone was definitely going to die.

Atsushi vaulted across one of the narrow alleys and landed unsteadily on the roof. His arms pinwheeled wildly for a few seconds before he found his balance.

"Ha! This is kind of fun," he said, flashing a smile at Akoya.

Akoya smiled back, amused by his antics. It was nice to be spending an otherwise trying experience with someone who was such pleasant company. The two of them were winding their way through the city now, jumping from roof to roof, making detours and doubling back whenever the way ahead became too wide for them to cross. Atsushi was panting and slightly flushed - Akoya could tell he didn't spend a few hours a day dancing and leaping about - but he was still as game as ever. That was good, because of the two of them, he had the best idea where they were going.

"Are we almost there?" Akoya asked. He wouldn't have liked to admit it, but it had been a long day, and would probably be a longer one before this was all over. A rest would have been welcome.

"I think so," said Atsushi. "It's hard to tell. I didn't exactly come this way the first time through, but I remember that building over there with the blue trim around the windows, and that temple over there with the copper spire, so I know we're close."

Akoya nodded. "And you're quite certain this friend of yours is going to be willing to help?"

"Oh, sure," said Atsushi. "He'd do anything for me. I mean, when he feels like it. It's kind of hard to know what will motivate him."

Akoya stared at him. "Is it too late to find another ally?"

"It's fine, it's fine," said Atsushi. "You'll understand when you meet him. Besides, who else have we got?"

Akoya was forced to admit that this was a point. He stopped arguing and continued following his guide across the rooftops. Eventually, Atsushi recognized the building where his retinue was staying. He was a prince, and was welcome in the king's palace, but the lower ranking members of his entourage were staying at a nearby inn. That was good. Akoya didn't quite feel up to trying to sneak back into Io's palace with a kidnapped prince in tow.

Invading an inn, however, was relatively easy. Atsushi helped him figure out which window they wanted, and Akoya used his borrowed scrap of rope to scramble down to the window ledge and let himself in. He was slightly dismayed to find the room occupied – only slightly because the room's only occupant was fast asleep. Akoya moved quietly out of the way, not wanting to wake the man before Atsushi was there to vouch for him. Atsushi, on the other hand, didn't bother trying not to make noise. The sleeping man never so much as stirred. Akoya wondered if perhaps he was drunk, to be so sound asleep so early in the day.

Atsushi didn't seem surprised at all. He walked right up to the sleeper and shook his shoulder gently.

"Come on, En, wake up," he said. "Something's happened."

The man made a protesting noise and tried to wrap himself up more tightly in his blankets. Atsushi shook him again, and this time the man groaned and sat up.

"What do you want, Atsushi?" he mumbled. "I was in the middle of something."

Akoya regarded the man with an interested gaze. So, this was the En who had given Kinshiro so much grief. Akoya supposed he could see where the jealousy had come in. Even just roused from sleep, the man was attractive, with his strawberry blond hair, sea blue eyes, and smooth complexion. Nevertheless, Akoya thought he was fairly skilled at reading the lines of attraction between people, and he suspected that Kinshiro had never really had anything to worry about. These two didn't have the energy between them that would suggest they had ever been lovers.

None of this ever would have happened if I'd been there with him. I'd have cleared all this up in five minutes, tops.

"You looked like you were in the middle of a nap to me," he remarked.

En looked quizzically at Akoya. "Who's this guy?"

"This is Akoya," said Atsushi. "He's kidnapped me. Want to come along? It's kind of fun."

"Is that what everyone has been so worked up about all afternoon?" En asked. "I was wondering."

"You were asleep," Akoya pointed out, in case anyone had missed it.

Atsushi smiled, looking amused. "En is an oneiromancer - a dream-magician. He can do more sound asleep than most of us can do while we're awake."

"Ahh," said Akoya, with more appreciation this time. He had heard of such skills, but he had never actually met someone who had them. Oneiromancers could walk outside their bodies when they were asleep, to stroll through other people's dreams if they cared to, or walk invisibly in the outside world and even affect things in it if they were strong enough. If this man En could do any of that, then he might be a useful ally, after all.

"I guess everyone's heard I'm gone by now, huh?" Atsushi asked.

"Everyone's going nuts," said En. "I've been trying to find you for the last fifteen minutes. What'd you have to go and run off for?"

Atsushi shrugged sheepishly. "I didn't run off, I got kidnapped. It wasn't my fault."

"Yeah, well," said En, "it's going to be your fault pretty soon if you don't get back to the palace before someone declares war."

"Our people wouldn't declare war over this, would they?" Atsushi asked. "I mean, I haven't been gone more than an hour or two."

"It's not them," said En. "It's White Sands. Prince Kinshiro is here."

"He's here?" Atsushi's face lit up with eagerness.

"Yeah, and he's pretty ticked off that you aren't, by the sound of it," said En. "He's told the king that it's all their fault you got kidnapped, and if you don't turn up safe and sound before he loses it completely, he's going to declare war and have this place torn apart."

"Then we've got to get over there!" Atsushi exclaimed.

He started for the door, but Akoya seized him by the arm and turned him around.

"Wait, wait, wait," he said. "As happy as I would be to see you and Kinshiro reconciled, have you thought about what you're going to say when you actually get there?"

Atsushi colored slightly. "Well, no. I just sort of figured I'd tell them I'm all right."

"That's all very well for you," said Akoya, "but what about me? With all due respect, your highness, I have no intention of letting you leave me out to dry. You seem to forget that quite a lot of people around here want my head on a plate."

"Oh, right. I forgot," said Atsushi, looking abashed.

"Well, I don't plan to," said Akoya. "Remember, you're still kidnapped. And I told you what went wrong with Kinshiro the first time. That's got to be worth a little something."

"I guess so," Atsushi agreed. "So what do we do? I don't want to get you in trouble, but I do want to see Kinshiro, and I really don't want to start a war."

"Give me a minute, I'm thinking," said Akoya, waving a hand. He hadn't reckoned on Kinshiro showing up at just this moment and spoiling things. Having him around, angry and spoiling for a fight, made the situation more delicate, and he didn't think that just sending Atsushi into the palace to ask if they would please not have a war right now was going to help. Kinshiro might accept Atsushi's safe return as a reason to call off the fight, or he might just decide to take his prince and declare war anyway. Akoya did not care to be executed for his crimes, but he really didn't want anything to happen to Io and Ryuu, either. He needed to find a way to get himself back to the people he loved, get Atsushi reunited with Kinshiro, and stop this war before it could get started.

Rather a tall order. Ah, me, my work is never done...

"I think," said Akoya slowly, "what we need is something that will make it clear that you getting kidnapped was not Io and Ryuu's fault - in fact, we need to put them in a position where he owes them for saving you, ideally, so he can't possibly justify a war. On the other hand..." He glanced at En. "Do you think they know I'm the kidnapper, back at the palace?"

"Let me work on that," said En.

He lay back down on his bed again and closed his eyes. The tension went out of his body, and his breathing became slower, then slower and slower yet, until he hardly seemed to be breathing at all. Akoya glanced at Atsushi with a look in his eyes that asked, "Is this normal? Atsushi gave him a small nod in response. He looked calm enough, anyway, so Akoya found a comfortable place to sit and leaned back to watch the show.

At first, there wasn't much to see. En slept away, so deeply that he might have been dead save for the shuttling of his eyes behind his lids and the gradual rise and fall of his chest. He didn't seem to be taking more than one breath a minute.

"I can see the palace," En murmured. "People talking... worried... I can see King Io and Prince Ryuu... saying..." His voice changed suddenly, becoming a near-perfect replica of Io's. "...Had to have been him. He knows he can't go back to his home country now that he's turned on Kinshiro, and he has every reason to think we'd never take him back. Of course he'd go to someone who isn't part of this mess and try to strike a deal with him any way he could." A long sigh. "This is getting out of hand. At this point, even if we can find him, I don't think we can pardon him without provoking Kinshiro into war. If only we hadn't jumped to conclusions, we could have stopped this before it started. Now I'm starting to be afraid it's too late..."

En began to cough, and after a second or three of that, he opened his eyes and sat up.

"That's all I could get," he said. "Was it any help?"

"Yes," said Akoya, with feeling. It didn't really clear up the matter of the impending war, but he had gotten one important fact from the conversation: that Io and Ryuu had realized he was innocent. They wanted him back. If he had been alone, he would have sobbed with relief. He hadn't let himself think too hard about what he was going to do if the two of them refused to ever give him a second chance. If they had realized somehow - heard it from Kinshiro, perhaps – that he really had gone over to their side, then maybe there was still hope for reconciliation.

But not, apparently, if there was a war going on. Io was right to say he couldn't afford to forgive Akoya for starting a war, no matter how much he might have liked to.

So, I need to find a way to call all this off in such a way that Kinshiro absolutely can't pin anything on me or on Io and Ryuu. Hmm...

"Wizard En," he said at last, "have you any skill with illusions?"

En gave him an irritated look. "Well, sure. That's beginner's magic. Anyone with an ounce of skill can do illusions."

"Good," said Akoya. "In that case, I think I know someone who can help us..."