I found Roden in his office, nearly an hour later, bent over some papers. He looked up when I entered but immediately went back to studying the letters, almost grimly.

"Can't spare a second glance for your king?" I said with a smirk, and plunked myself into the chair in front of his desk.

He finally shuffled all his papers into a pile, and sank into his own chair, looking exhausted.

"What's wrong?" I asked, genuinely concerned.

"There was a large fire in eastern Drylliad. It took nearly all my men and the townsfolk to put it out. I only just got back," he replied.

"Ah, that explains why a common street thief managed to get into my castle this morning. Probably would've gotten away with some very nice doilies if I hadn't seen him."

Roden's head shot up. "You caught a thief? Where?" Leaned his head over the back of the chair and rubbed his hands over his face.

"I should have left some guards in the halls and at the entrance. I didn't sleep well last night. Guess I wasn't thinking straight. I'll deal with him as soon as I've finished these papers."

"Oh, I've already seen to the boy. He's with Fink in the stables."

Roden raised his brows, and then shook his head, smiling.

"Always so merciful. I swear it will be your downfall one day."

"Oh, I don't know about that," I countered playfully. "I don't envy him the ear-talking-off Fink is bound to give him. Besides, kindness goes farther than punishment. You of all people should know that."

Roden smiled sadly, likely remembering when I had offered him the position of captain, even as he was trying to kill me. "You really are the greatest king to ever live, Jaron. Of course, I'm sure you already know that."

I spread my arms out and grinned. "I remind myself everyday."

"Speaking of reminders, I just recieved an interesting, if not disturbing letter from someone in Gelyn, warning us their monarch may be sending spies to observe us. Perhaps they haven't entirely forgiven us for winning the war."

I scoffed, leaning back and crossing my arms. "Gelyn is a third the size of Carthya, and I thought they weren't recovering their loses as well as us and our other neighbors. They wouldn't dare take such a risk. Besides, we made peace."

"You only made official peace with Avenia and Mendenwal. And the trade routes between Gelyn and Carthya leaves extra opportunity for spies to slip through."

I grinned. "I trust it won't be too big a job for you to keep thieves out of my castle as well as spies?"

Roden returned the smirk. "Well, I guess we'd have to find a new king, considering the current one is a thief himself."

I feigned mock hurt. "But who else would make your life so interesting?"

Roden pretended to think for a moment. "Let's see, there's people who start fires in the city, spies and bandits to be caught, a niece who never fails to invite me to her latest doll tea parties... I think I have quite enough to keep me busy."

I shrugged and stood up. "Well, I should be going. Imogen will be wondering if I've been assassinated, and I can see you have a lot of work to do."

He nodded and I left.

Okay, I'm sort of running out of ideas for this particular fic, but I just wanted to provide something of answer as to why thrre were no guards around when Jaron found the thief. If I think of more plot for for this story, I'll try and post it. TTFN!