"I'm back? And very sorry for the delay? But I'm here now and ready to give Eleni her adventures.

Irina was a menace to polite society. George had known that recruiting the Scanran could have serious ramifications, but she had been desperate to escape the north when he found her and the hedgewitch had pledged her life to him. Their complicated history aside, the sight of the blonde woman pouring Perci something that was decidedly alcoholic made him reconsider bringing her south.

"That's enough," he said with his hand on her wrist. Irina just gave him a wink and sauntered back to James at the bar. George looked down at his temporary ward and hoped the boy could hold his liquor. The drink had been poured so there was no point in wasting it. "That'll be your last for tonight."

Perci didn't give him enough time to change his mind and threw back the burning spirit. While his knightmaster had done his duty and warned him of the perils of drinking away his emotions, Perci had also seen Nealan of Queenscove crawl into more than a few bottles over the past three months. None of them had taken the attack well, but Nealan had lost the most. It had not been easy to remain at the old castle in Queenscove, and he had only a little regret for jumping at the invitation to leave his master's side.

"Are we going to bother staying the night if she won't go back with us?" he asked. Perci wasn't comfortable in the large tavern. There were too many shadowy corners and his gift kept making his hands itch. It was an old reflex that had kept him safe on more than one patrol. "I'd rather make the journey back to the palace."

George took a seat on the same bench and leaned into his elbows to get a better look at the squire. Alanna had taken a liking to him, but it might have been because of associated love for the boy's knightmaster. George didn't particularly care one way or the other, but he wanted to test his mettle. "We're staying the night." Not much of a reaction. "And Eleni is coming home with us tomorrow." Perci's shoulders dropped a little, perhaps with relief or acceptance, George couldn't quite tell. "So I suggest you make the best of tonight and learn from this opportunity."

"Learn, milord?" Perci knew the spymaster was more than he seemed, a genius some called him. The alcohol was making it had for him to keep up, though. "I think I've learned enough tonight."

"Like how to talk to women?" George couldn't help but needle the squire. He knew the boy wasn't in his element, but being a knight of the realm meant protecting the realm, and the realm was its people. For all the nobility traveled in their tight little circles and ignored the general populace, Tortall was its normal, everyday people. Perci was training to protect them, but how could the boy do that if he didn't know them? "Do you know how I got to be Baron of Pirate's Swoop?"

Perci reddened with shame. "Not the details, milord. But I know you weren't born to it."

"Exactly," George responded. "I came from the common people. I was just the same, if not worse than the folk around us tonight." George chuckled. "If a city guard upsets you, I would have paid good gold to see your reaction to the Rogue drinking with the crown prince of Tortall." Perci's neck cracked from how fast his head swiveled. "Easy there," George cautioned. "My point is that you need to make room for common people, for dishonest people, for suspicious-looking folk intent on flirting their way through life. If King Jonathan and the Lionness hadn't done that themselves, who knows where we'd all be today." Sensing that the boy had been lectured enough, he patted him on the shoulder. "Come on, lad. Best I show you to your room before you end up in Irina's."

Perci hacked a cough as he blushed at the notion. All he could do was nod in agreement. George made one last sweep of the room before going up the stairs. No one in the room was particularly important, but that was the beauty of the city.

Mornings were always calm at the Hart. The sun would wake Eleni and she'd dress before going down to a light breakfast with the staff. Today was an exception. She had left her door cracked open as she packed, in case her grandfather needed her before breakfast. There wasn't much to put away, mostly clothes, some of which Irina had purchased for her. There was a delicate wooden case that she would need help packing up later, but she would ask Avery how to best do that. As she began to pack up her trunk, she heard a loud crash from the stairs. She acted on instinct.

New sword in hand, Eleni looked down the steps of the staircase to meet Perci's brown eyes. Somehow he'd missed a step and slipped down the rest of the steps. It was a miracle he hadn't broken his nose with the fall. It was all so graceless that Eleni couldn't help but laugh. Perci had always been a bit of a stuffy caricature of the ideal knight, but here he was sprawled facedown on the stairs.

"Need a hand," she asked, but she was already offering it.

Perci smiled at the gesture as he took it. "Only if I can trade an apology for it." At peace once more, the two friends sat on the final step. "I shouldn't have been so - well, so much like Lord Paidrag. I hope you can forgive me."

"I can accept your apology if you can accept training me." Eleni really wanted to retort that Perci should be begging forgiveness at the district's nearest guardhouse, but bit her tongue. This truce was tenuous at best and there was no room for pride. Her hand was still holding her sword and the weight of it reminded her to be fair, like a knight should be.

"Have you two kissed and made up yet?" They Irina shout heard from the bottom of the stairs. It was quickly followed by a pained noise, probably Avery - or George - smacking sense into her. "I meant to say breakfast was ready," came a second shout.

Perci tried to fight back the blush on his fair skin and stood. "Hungry?" he asked.

"And ready to go home," she responded.

Eleni Crow had been in exile long enough. She'd fled the castle in her haste to hide from the whispers and accusations, but those were the actions of a child. At twelve years old, she was well past childhood. Dress up games and lies were behind her now. She was the child of war heroes, champions, and spies. She would continue her training and prove to them that she had nothing to hide. She'd face her foes head on and without fear.

The journey up to the palace was silent but comfortable. All three companions had reached a point of acceptance for their individual circumstances. Eleni had come to terms with the next few years of her life. Until she left as a squire, she'd be subjected to constant rumormongering from the palace's finer occupants. But it was her own fault for arriving at Corus in disguise. She would own up to her own mistakes and keep going.

Perci, for his part, was trying to take in the city. He was mildly ashamed of his behavior the night before, but he'd apologized to Eleni and was trying to make room in his habits for George's suggestions. Looking about the city, at the people walking the cobbled roads while he rode atop his mount, he suddenly felt even more ashamed. His upbringing as the sole heir to Port Legann had afforded him every luxury in the world, and it had made him liable to act like a child whenever he didn't get his way or couldn't mold the situation to what he wanted it to be. A little voice at the back of his head reminded him that it was why he would never be able to marry Cerid, but he quickly pushed it away. Cerid was betrothed and gone; it was pointless to think of his childhood love. He looked up at the palace gates and let out an almost inaudible sigh. He could only learn and grow.

George sent up a small prayer when they passed through the gates. It was a relief to have his granddaughter back at the palace. While he trusted his people at the Hart, trouble had been brewing, and George had wanted her out of the city before even more people came pouring in with early harvests. As the kingdom's spymaster, it was his job to consider all the ways things could go wrong. With word of weak harvests up north and whispers of unrest growing out east, George preferred to have his young grandchild under his direct watch. Although it was hard to say if she'd be any safer within the palace as a female page than out in the city as a normal girl. It seemed like the women in his life were bent on being in danger and all he could do was be vigilant./span/span/p