Wow, three chapters in two days! Woo hoo! Happy reading! Star x

Po was back in his cell. After Viper had made his shocking revelation Panther had run below deck without waiting to hear another word, and Po had been dragged back to his cell by Boar. Now he lay in his hammock, thinking about what this would mean for Skye and Karla. The tragedy of course was that Maylin's mother would never know that she was alive – she'd died only three years after Maylin was taken of a fever that had killed two of her maidservants as well, without ever seeing her youngest daughter again.

Po felt Maylin's thoughts up on deck turn to him, and a few seconds later he heard her feet on the floor above then coming down the ladder. Her intentions towards him were far from clear – anger, hate, curiosity, new-found affection... All she was sure of was that she wanted to talk.

"Prince Po?" she asked cautiously, standing at his door. "May I come in?"

"Of course. You've got the key, not me." Panther/Maylin came in and sat down on the floor by the door and put her head in her hands. There was a pause, then she said, slightly muffled, "What was I like?"

"What?" asked Po, taken aback.

"What was I like?" she repeated, raising her head. "Was I cute? Funny? Smart? Could I fight? Did you know my Grace? Or was I nothing special at all?"

"No" said Po. "No, you were something special. Someone special." He paused, wondering what to tell her. He decided on the truth.

"You were the most determined little girl I've ever met. Only 5 years old, and there wasn't a horse in the stables you didn't ride. Not that you stayed on all of them, but you tried." Panther smiled. "You gave your tutors hell. You never sat still for more than ten minutes at a time – you had to be running around, climbing trees, falling over. I don't think your knees were ever without cuts and bruises." He paused. "We didn't know your Grace yet when you were taken. We suspected it was something to do with not being seen, for you could sneak out of every state dinner, or steal anything from the kitchens."

Panther smiled. "My Grace is Shadows" she said. "I can drape shadows around myself and take on their characteristics. Its hard to see me, everything I do is muffled, and I become lighter, light as air. I can drift over wall and through windows, but only if I'm not thinking about it. I have to let my mind go blank; then I can do anything shadows can do." Po's eyes widened.

"That's unlike any other Grace I've ever heard of" he breathed. "Can you show me?" Panther said nothing, but held out her hands. The shadows in the corners of the room flocked to her, and to anyone looking she would have suddenly become almost impossible to see. Of course, to Po, this made no difference. Her thoughts towards him however suddenly took on a very mist-like, a very shadowy quality, as if it wasn't just her body that was being changed but her mind too.

"Fabulous" he breathed, and the shadows fled back to their original places. "I assume that's why you're called Panther."

Panther nodded. "Black and silent as the night." Po was silent, so she said "how old was I when I disappeared?"

"You were only 5" said Po, and now there was pain clear in his voice. "You were playing on the beach with Karla one afternoon. It was a clear, cloudless day and everyone was happy. The kingdom was well. There were supposed to be two guards watching you, but as usual you gave them the slip and ran off. No one was unduly alarmed, you often ditched your guards and there was nowhere you could really go. Besides, you were both strong swimmers, but when by evening you hadn't returned your Mother sent servants out to fetch you. You were nowhere to be found. After almost three hours searching we found your sister, Karla, bleeding and unconscious on the rocks. Everyone was relieved to have found her of course, but you were still missing. When Karla woke up she told us what had happened. Your mother was... inconsolable. She fell in within days and never fully recovered. She had a relapse into the illness three years later and... I'm sorry Maylin. She died."

Panther was silent. She knew she should feel something, but nothing came. She felt numb inside, no emotions, just a kind of pure, silent agony for a woman, a mother, whom she'd never know.

"Carry on" she croaked, and some detached part of her wondered what had happened to her voice.

"You Father, Prince Skye, didn't rest. He was hardly ever home, travelling the seven Kingdoms looking for a young Lienid Graceling. Of course, no such girl was ever found. He refused to believe that you were dead, even when the rest of the family gave up. We had a funeral for you, even there was no body. He didn't attend." Po's eyes were wet now, remembering his brother's grief.

"Even when he was home he was not the same. He paced the castle, and ate next to nothing. The only person he spoke to was your sister, Karla."

"What is she like?" asked Panther, and was glad to hear that her voice was back to normal.

Po smiled. "She's lovely. Smart, charming, beautiful... Half the men at court are in love with her. She rejects them of course. She spends most of her time out riding or pouring over maps and charts with her Father. Your Father" he corrected himself. "They've transformed one of the unused rooms on the fourth floor into their study. The walls are covered in reports of sightings, maps and possible suspects. They're still trying to find you Maylin."

Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, Panther was furious. "My name is not Maylin!" she yelled. "It's Panther! I grew up without you, without court, without my family! I am Panther! I am a killer, a trained assassin! We all are! You know nothing about us, nothing! You never found me! For all their efforts, my Father and my sister never found me!"

"Maylin-" began Po, but Panther yelled "my name is not Maylin!" and launched herself at him. Po had a spit second's warning, but it was enough. He rolled out of the way, and punched Panther in the stomach... but his hand simply glanced off her. She'd invoked her Grace. Panther pulled the shadows around her and launched her second attack. Most opponents were felled by this combination of speed and near-invisibility, but Po seemed to know what she was doing before she did it. Not only that, but he seemed to have no trouble seeing her. The more they fought, the more she became sure that he knew where every finger and toe on her hands and feet were. She swirled the shadows around him in an attempt to confuse him, but her momentary lack of movement only gave him the opening he'd been looking for. Seemingly unaware of the shadows that would have driven most people mad, he caught Panther's wrists and bodily slammed her and pinned her against the wall. Panther looked into his eyes... and something clicked. The way he didn't seem to quite focus on her, the way her shadows didn't seem to bother him...

"Po" she said softly. "Are you blind?" And suddenly the fight went out of him. He let go and slumped against the wall.

"Yes" he said simply. And then she was in his arms and they were both sobbing, Panther for the life she'd found, Po for the little girl he'd thought he'd lost and the secret she'd discovered. They slid down the wall onto the floor and still Po held her tight, tears running down his cheeks, while she cried away the sadness of a life in exile.