Jonathan sighed heavily as he rode next to George. They had stayed mostly silent that morning as they put distance between themselves and the Tusaine Court, preoccupied with George's report but too scared to speak about it out loud.

"I hate this," Jonathan said finally, deeming them far enough away to speak freely. "Knowing they're planning something but not knowing enough to be able to take any meaningful action."

"Might as well get used to it now," George replied. "I felt that way more often than not about somethin' or other when I was king, even though I had excellent information."

"Comforting," Jonathan said dryly.

"I could usually sense where trouble would arise, but half the time, I couldn't guess the specifics well enough to stop it."

"So, how did you handle it?" Jonathan asked.

"It's all about finding your balance. If you choose to ignore your gut and live in ignorance, bad things happen. But if you do too much to try to prevent somethin', you become a tyrant, and even worse things happen. So you learn to be satisfied that you've done what you can and then focus on other things."

"That was probably the first lesson I learned as king," George continued. "The king before me never learned to strike that balance. He was so scared of young sprouts like me comin' for his throne that he became unpredictable and would punish people for lookin' at him wrong. I saw too many of my fellows suffer because of his fears." George turned to meet Jonathan's eyes, and a feral grin spread across his face. "So I made his fears come true."

Jonathan shook his head as he watched his friend's expression. "You're so affable that I sometimes forget how terrifying you truly are. Remind me not to get on your bad side."

"I swore an oath. My 'bad side' is reserved for your enemies now," George said evenly.

"And I'm grateful, but my statement stands. Help me not to make the same mistakes your old king made?"


Josiane looked out the window of the carriage as it rattled along towards home. The scenery had barely changed for the last two hours, so she watched Jonathan instead. He was downright picturesque on his black stallion with his hair blowing in the breeze and the mountains behind him. As she watched, he began what appeared to be a deep conversation with George, which confused Josiane. Perhaps he was just being nice, but this was not the first time she had seen other members of their group treat the up-jumped commoner like a valued friend and not the sullen lackwit he seemed to be most of the time.

Suddenly, George reached out and gently gripped Jonathan's shoulder. Josiane stared. It looked like a gesture of comfort or affirmation, and Jonathan looked back at the other man with respect. It should have been the other way around, if it happened at all.

She was pulled out of her reverie when she realized Alanna was asking her a question.

"What would you do as queen?" Alanna was asking. "If you did marry Jonathan."

Josiane rewarded the question with genuine enthusiasm. "So many things. I've thought a lot about this. First, I want to build pleasure pavilions like we have at the palace in the Copper Isles. The gardens in Chorus are beautiful, but they're places to escape gatherings, not experience them. I want to add large, ornate pavilions where guests can enjoy shade in the summer and blazing fire pits in winter. We shouldn't be stuck inside for every formal gathering."

"That sounds nice," Alanna said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"And then I want to invest heavily in a realm-wide magical message delivery network," Josiane said, too wrapped up in her own thoughts to notice Alanna's reaction. "With everything so spread out across the different islands back home, I've seen a dozen different ingenious ways that people use their gifts or charmed items to communicate, but it's always used only by a small group of people. I'm convinced that if I give a dedicated group of mages time and resources, they could figure out a scalable system."

"That would make sending out proclamations more efficient," Alanna said thoughtfully.

"Not just proclamations," Josiane said. "I'm talking about two-way communication. It would naturally start with just the nobility, but I don't see why it should be accessible to everyone eventually with some sort of hub in every fief and village. Imagine how much better our merchants could plan their wares if they had a means to quickly communicate with customers before they journeyed to them. And urgent news or calls for aid could travel so much faster and with greater accuracy."

"That could work," Alanna said, thinking through everything she knew about magical communication. "It would be tricky magic and complex infrastructure, but you're right - the benefits would be endless."

Alanna exchanged a sideways glance with Rispah, who seemed to be thinking the same thing: even spoiled princesses can surprise you.


The next day brought slightly cooler temperatures, but the sun still shone brightly. The travelers started off in high spirits as they felt the first traces of fall in the air.

In the early afternoon, Josiane and Melody had almost convinced Alanna and Rispah to defect to the Copper Isles by describing the vast array of foods available in their land. Melody was just finishing a mouth-watering description of her favorite food - garlic ginger cod - when George opened the door.

"Pardon the interruption," he said, inclining his head to Josiane.

"Not at all," she replied.

He turned to Alanna as his horse kept pace with the carriage. "Hawk's Ravine is just ahead. That's the place-"

"From the stories!" Alanna gushed. "Where the last true mage battle was fought in Tortall!"

"That's the one," George said. "And I glimpsed it when we passed this way last week. Looks just as pretty as you please. Want to ride with me to get a closer look?"

"I'd love to, but…" she gestured to the full skirt on her dress.

"I'm sure we can figure it out," he said with a wink. "Willin' to give it a try?"

She hesitated for a second, then nodded. Would she ever be able to resist that mischievous twinkle in his eye?

She moved to the door, and George lifted her up in front of him onto his horse. Alanna let out a surprised yelp and then laughed as he settled her in a side-saddle position across his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and welcomed his kiss as she relaxed into his embrace.

Josiane watched them and turned her attention away just in time to see Rispah smile fondly at their antics. The woman didn't seem at all surprised by her lord and lady's display.

"We're going up to the ravine. We'll catch up with you in a bit," George called to Jon and Raoul.

"Have fun," Jonathan replied.

"Don't fall in!" Raoul added helpfully.

A few minutes later, the door to the carriage opened, and Jonathan slipped into Alanna's vacant seat.

"Mind if I join you ladies?" the Prince asked.

"Of course not," Josiane said. "In fact, I was just hoping that someone could explain something to me."

"I'll do my best."

"George isn't a useless idiot, is he?"

Josiane smiled triumphantly at Jonathan's shocked expression. She also didn't miss Rispah's stifled laugh. "And they love each other, don't they?" She said with a nod toward the direction George and Alanna had ridden off. "And you don't just tolerate him. You actually like him."

Jonathan's stunned silence was again answer enough.

"So why have you all been acting otherwise?" She pressed.

"You are as observant as you are beautiful," Jonathan said in his most charming voice, trying to buy himself time to think. Josiane's expression remained unchanged.

"Yes, you're right on all counts," he said finally. "Alanna's brother Alan and I met George when we were quite young and became friends. He was our guide to what lay beyond the palace walls. After Alan's accident, Geroge visited him at Trebond and fell in love with Alanna. I owed him a favor, and I believed he would make her happy, so when the opportunity arose, I pulled some strings." And that's almost the truth, Jonathan thought to himself.

"After you slept with her?" Josiane pressed.

Again, Jonathan gaped in surprise before continuing. "If Tortall's spies were half as good as you, I'd never have to worry about a thing! But yes, after I slept with her. I wanted Alan back very badly, so I went hard after the next best thing, which wasn't fair to her. I was just a little slow to see that."

"So why the deception?" Josiane asked.

"As you know, the Tusaine are not our friends," Jonathan said, choosing his words carefully. "George is actually quite capable, and it seemed valuable to have someone they would underestimate should the need arise. Fortunately, it didn't. That, and there are some secrets about my younger days that I'd rather keep."

Josiane raised her eyebrows in question.

"Just some activities in the Lower City that princes aren't supposed to engage in," Jonathan said mischievously. "I'm quite sure I'm better at dice than any other prince you will ever meet."

"You're full of surprises, Jonathan of Conte," Josiane purred.

"I'm glad I haven't bored you yet, Princess," Jonathan flirted back, pleased to be back in safer waters.


George and Alanna soon rejoined them, and they continued to make good progress and enjoy the nice day.

But as the evening approached, the winds suddenly picked up, and grey clouds began to form ahead of them. It grew dark a full hour before it should have, and their leisurely pace suddenly turned into a dash to the nearest inn.

"'Tis All Hallows, and the weather saw fit to mark the occasion," the innkeeper remarked when they finally reached a town big enough to house them. By that time, they were all cold and a bit spooked from the suddenness of it.

The wind blew even harder, and the darkness seemed unnaturally complete as the night wore on. Alanna tried to go to sleep, but a sense of wrongness kept her awake. Finally, around midnight she heard - and didn't hear - a boom, a loud crash that made her every nerve quiver in alarm.

Alanna and George sat bolt upright, and Faithful let out an anguished howl before leaping into Alanna's lap. The ember stone around Alanna's neck burned hot for a moment, and she could have sworn that the crystal in her sword lit up for a split second.

"What in the Trickster's name!?" George exclaimed. "Are we under attack?"

Alanna shook her head as she cradled Faithful against her chest. "I'm not sure how exactly, but I can feel Thom behind this. He and I are going to have a long chat when we get home."