Liaison

Katonah

The Earth Tribe princess faced the next few days with a positive outlook.

Having something to do, a project in which she could earnestly invest her time and attention, had a profound effect on her mood: with all of her focus on planning out the beautification of Castle Krakenburg, her mind had little room to think about Xander or that terrifying incident that had taken place in his bedroom not three or four days ago. Perhaps that's why she constantly kept so busy, and why she, slowly but surely, felt her energetic side bloom back to life: no time for thoughts of Xander to drain her, and so she felt like a new person.

The morning after visiting Nohr Underground, she skipped breakfast in favor of hauling her loads of mulch, seed, and plants out to the gloomy castle garden. Several servants, seeing her trundle under the weight of two saplings or sacks of soil, graciously offered their help, and soon she was being assisted by a company of castle staff.

The sight of them carrying all types of greenery down towards the base of the castle drew attention in the honeycomb hallways: chambermaids and couriers stopped to watch as the procession went by, and once Katonah spotted Camilla standing with her two retainers in the mouth of a side-corridor, watching expressionlessly as the line of servants trudged by. The older princess said nothing as Katonah gave her a wave, her lips simply rising into a half-smile.

There was no word — and no sign — of Xander.

Katonah wondered if he knew about — or cared about — her new task or, worse, if he knew about Leo and Katonah's midnight jaunt to Windmire. She prayed he didn't. He gave no sign that he did — surely if he had, she would have found him marching towards her, dark eyes cold and angry, sometime during the day?

It took most of the morning to transfer the garden supplies from their storage room down to the garden itself, and from there, the real work began. Katonah was pleasantly surprised when several of the house servants that had assisted her offered further help in remodeling the gloomy garden — help that she immediately accepted. She hadn't up to that point realized just how many supplies Leo had bought her — the extra help was surely welcome.

The remainder of the day was spent planning out and excavating the existing royal garden. She had an idea in mind, of course, for how to plant and where to put the young saplings and the flowers but, on impulse, she asked some of her assistants for advice on the matter. They gave her a few key insights, not the least of which was how the flowers needed to be arranged: around the circumference of the garden portico, where they might have the best access to sunlight, what little there was down here. Before the previous gardener had been fired, causing the garden to fall into disrepair and neglect, he had adopted this idea and had had a moderately successful garden for it.

One chambermaid, a girl two or three years younger than Katonah, suggested that they have a ring of colorful flowers around the circumference and leafier, greener plants in the center, and Katonah was immediately taken by the idea. Maybe even deeper, they could have a man-made glen, with perhaps a spring or a fountain in the middle... It was hard to conceive of such a thing down here in Krakenburg's dark abyss, but it didn't matter. It was something to do, so they set about doing it.

The first day was spent preparing the garden for fresh plant growth. There was nothing they could do about the trees — even if they'd had the proper equipment to take down the denizens of the Woods of the Forlorn, Katonah didn't want to. One of the trees, an old, black, squat specimen near the back of the southern swath of the garden, had spoken to her when she'd come out to be alone two or three days ago, and introduced himself to be Nixkamich. He was a kind old soul despite his ominous black bark, and his soothing, old voice had given her a much-needed comfort that day.

Instead, Katonah and her assistants set about clearing out the garden's overabundance of weeds, bracken, and creeper vine, and overturning the topsoil so that it would be ready for a fresh, heavy layer of mulch. It was long, backbreaking work, even with several helpers in tow. By the time dusk fell, they'd only managed to do a less than a sixth of the garden. But Katonah was satisfied, especially with the ache in her back. She was so tired that, after dinner and a long bath, she fell asleep immediately, and didn't even think about Xander.

The same line of work carried into the next day. Katonah was pleased when, after a couple hours of labor, the same staff that had assisted her the previous day came down, offering her their services. Together, they managed to clear out a quarter of the garden, and another quarter the following two days.

Around noon on the fifth day of work, Elise came down to join them. Katonah did a double-take when she saw the girl wearing a plain, long-sleeved sweater and black slacks, her mane of golden hair restrained to a braided crown atop her head. The rugged, conservative clothing made her look uncharacteristically tomboyish.

"What?" the girl said to Katonah's stare. "These are my work clothes. I wear them when I want to...you know, work."

"Work?" Katonah repeated.

"Yep! And today's work is helping you out with your garden." Elise meandered over to the tool pile and took up a hoe. "I was so glad when Leo said you wanted to do a beautification project. This dump seriously needs it. Sometimes when I go to Windmire and see a pretty red flower somewhere, my eyes start to hurt!" She laid the tool across her shoulders. "So, where do I start?"

Katonah glanced behind her, to where her helpers were hard at work hacking the soil and ripping the weeds from around trees. "Um, I'm not sure that this is work suited for a princess—"

"You let me worry about what's suited for me." Elise spun the hoe with a surprising amount of dexterity and pointed the shoveled end at Katonah. "So? C'mon! I live to serve, Kat."

Katonah couldn't help but smile. Again, it was impossible to dislike the girl's earnestness and enthusiasm. She would certainly make a lucky man very happy one day.

The two worked together for the remainder of the day, stopping around midafternoon for a lunch break. Elise had one of the kitchen staff bring them something in a picnic basket, and all of them sat down on soil they'd overturned with their own hands and consumed a very austere but hearty meal of bread, meat, and cheese. While they ate, the staff and Elise continued to help Katonah plan: after the garden down here was taken care of, Katonah planned on potting several of the saplings and bunches of tulips and lilies and placing them around the castle. Elise commented that the hallways definitely needed a splash of color, and some of the servants made suggestions for where to place them as well: such as inside the castle library, the Great Hall, and the royal suites.

"What about His Majesty's chambers?" a young chambermaid suggested.

Katonah stiffened, and Elise laughed. "Definitely there!" she said around a chunk of bread. "That place is like a dungeon — I bet his bed is actually a stretching rack, hidden underneath that fluffy mattress! It needs some color. I mean, no queen would willingly go to sleep in that..." She trailed off when she saw Katonah's face, pallid and pinched. She quickly changed the subject. "Leo's room, too, don't you think? He's in there so often I fear he doesn't get enough air. Maybe some flowers would provide him with some. What do you think, Kat?"

Kat coughed. "I think that's a good idea. What's his favorite flower?"

"I have no idea." Elise stuffed a piece of cheese into a wad of bread and popped the whole thing into her mouth. "He hasn't told you?"

"Why would he tell me?"

"Because you're, like, his closest friend! Doesn't he tell you everything?"

Her eyes widened at that. "What...me?" His closest friend? "That can't be."

Elise snorted. "Do you see him bothering to give anyone else the time of day?"

Katonah felt a slow blush creep into her cheeks. The proclamation made her tingle—You're, like, his closest friend! Was it true? Surely it couldn't be. She couldn't be the only person he voluntarily graced with his time or attention. Didn't have other friends? Noble boys that he discussed tactics or politics or music or swordfighting with?

The lunch break ended, and they went back to work. By the time night came about and the abyss's temperature plummeted to freezing, they'd overturned the last patch of soil. They celebrated with a raucous cry and punctured the air with their shovels and hoes. Katonah thanked them all for their help and announced that tomorrow they would begin planting.

"Coming to dinner tonight?" Elise asked after the assistants were dismissed.

Katonah gave her a brittle smile. She was still not ready to face Xander yet. Hard work had flattened that bad memory of his chambers, but it was still there, and still felt a little too fresh. So she said, "I think I'm too tired to endure the table tonight."

Elise pouted, but didn't argue.

Dinner had already been delivered to her room when Katonah finally reached her chambers, exhausted. A couple of maids were there, tidying things up, and she had one fetch some hot water for a bath. Her throbbing muscles let out a sigh of relief when she sank down into the warm liquid, letting it come up to her chin. A heavy drowsiness overcame her, and she lazily thought about the garden, thinking about how oddly colorful and lively such a thing would look at the bottom of a castle suspended in an abyss.

Soon, though, her thoughts turned to Leo, more specifically, what Elise had said about him earlier that day. She realized, rather abruptly, that she hadn't seen the prince in a while — days, in fact. She'd been so involved in her work that she'd failed to notice that he hadn't come down to see the garden, or run into her in the hallway to ask about it in passing. In fact, she'd seen neither hide nor hair of him since the trip to Nohr Underground.

Why hadn't he come to see her? He'd gone out of his way before, and now... She wondered if he was honestly busy with some task or another, or if he was deliberately avoiding her. The former was certainly possible since he was a prince — no doubt, now that he was back home, Xander had an assortment of tasks for him, most of them geared towards dealing with rebels. And there was no logical reason that he could be avoiding her, seeing as she'd done nothing to offend him...

Then, she remembered: the recall hit her like a slap to the face, and she sat up, sloshing water over the rim of the tub. She put a hand to her mouth, heat diffusing into her cheeks. Oh gods! She'd kissed him! How could she have possibly forgotten that? After leaving the Underground, she'd thanked him, and she'd felt that burning in her chest, that warm, painful, impulsive urge and she'd just...

No wonder he's avoiding me! In his eyes, she had overstepped her boundaries, kissing the prince of Nohr when she was betrothed to the king, even if it had been just a harmless peck on the cheek. Worse, she'd now, no doubt, rendered the amity between them awkward. His absence must've been a polite amount of space that he'd put between them to allow her to realize her mistake and for things to cool down where they'd, inexplicably, heated up. He was just being courteous. He no doubt had her interests at heart.

She sat back against the lip of the tub, suddenly feeling sad. Had he been that offended at what she'd done? He had cause, of course, but... She looked down at her nails, now pink and clean thanks to the soap and water. Some part of her had hoped, but... Hadn't he felt it? That strange electricity between them? Perhaps she'd generated it and, therefore, only she had felt it.

But she couldn't have helped it. When she'd realized that him taking her to Nohr Underground had been entirely for her sake, she'd felt a powerful wave of affection for Leo, so strong and hot that it had made the inside of her chest constrict and ache. No one had done anything of the sort for her before — no one had ever had cause to. And yet, this young man from enemy country had, behind his brother's back, taken her away from her domain of pain and to a secret place that had made her laugh and smile and speak freely, and she had never felt so grateful for anything in her entire life. A thank-you wouldn't have been enough. A hug wouldn't have been enough. Neither expressed just how deeply his abnegation had touched her, how deeply he'd moved her.

And before she could have stopped herself, the ache in her chest made her moving to kiss his cheek.

Yet, now her impulsive behavior had put a wall of coolness between them, and Katonah couldn't imagine their friendship devolving to a more detached form of formality. I'll apologize to him, she decided. Maybe that will help things to go back to normal.

(/\)

The next day, Katonah, Elise, and their faithful assistants met back down in the garden once again to begin planting. Elise, proactively, recruited a few more members to their cause: several hall boys, a couple of kitchen maids, and Selena and Beruka, Camilla's bodyguards. Apparently, the vixen could spare them.

With the extra manpower, the planting went quickly. They emptied cases of flowers and carnations, planting them in staggered patterns around the circumference of the garden ring until they had a complete circle of vibrant color. After a break for lunch, the rest of the day was devoted to the saplings, which were tied in to place by lengths of rope until their tap roots were fully formed and could anchor the individuals into place.

Unfortunately, the next day, they were all met with a surprise: the ring of flowers had practically wilted overnight, their stems and leaves drooping wearily to the ground. It was a sorry sight, though hardly surprising.

"What did you expect?" Selena said grumpily as she gave the wilted flowers a beady-eyed stare. "Plants need sunlight. No sun, no flowers."

"Maybe we should set down the mulch," Elise suggested. "That'll give them some nutrients, right?"

Selena snorted before Katonah could reply. "That won't do any good! Look! These are full-sun flowers, and you're putting them into the gloom. All the nutrients in the world won't make them perk up."

The girl was right. Sunlight was what they needed, and, this far down into the abyss, it was little wonder they'd flopped overnight. Katonah had expected this, of course, but she hadn't quite figured out how to deal with it. She'd been hoping that the flowers would surprise her with some resilience and prove her wrong. It was obvious that further planning needed to be done.

She sent Elise and her helpers away, claiming that she needed some time to think about the next step for the garden. They all reluctantly headed back up the stairs, returning to their normal tasks, leaving her with a pitiful circle of flowers. Thoughts churning, she sought out Nixkamich, settling down against his bowled trunk, wondering at what to do. But a half hour passed leaving her cold and without an idea. Sighing in frustration, she decided to leave it be for now.

She sat there for a while, in the cold depths of Castle Krakenburg's royal garden. After a while, she acknowledged, with some astonishment, that her thoughts were quiet, calm, more so than they'd been in days. It had been a while since she'd felt this still. No, not still...empty, almost, as though she'd banished all of her troubles from her core, leaving an easy serenity behind. Not that the problems were no longer there. They certainly were — they smoldered at the edge of that emptiness, threatening to flood back in at the slightest provocation and snatch away her peace. She shook her head a little, trying to forget her troubles before she had a chance to remember them. She wanted to drift like this, worry-less, for a few moments longer.

Closing her eyes, she felt her breathing slip back into that easy, familiar rhythm, the slow pattern she adopted when speaking to the earth. It had been so long since she'd last meditated, up on that lonely cliff top with Leo. She missed those days dearly, she realized, as much as she did Leo's company. She missed him, and Tormod, and Iseabail...the sweeping plains of the moor, the playful tease of the wind through her hair, the low chatter of trees as they swayed in the breeze...and the sun. Oh how she missed its light, its kind warmth, illuminating the Moorland Scythe, the blue sea on the far coast...

Katonah?

A voice entered her mind, a ripple disturbing her still sea. Nixkamich. She must have sought out the old tree's heartbeat without noticing, drawing herself into him. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you.

On the contrary. I'm glad to see you. I see this day sees you better than the last time we spoke.

She flinched, not wanting to remember how suffocated she'd felt the day she'd fled her room and hurried down to the garden, seeking solace in the trees.

Yes, much better, she admitted. She quickly changed the subject. Do you see the work we've managed to do with the garden?

A feat, to be sure. No one has shown us such care in decades.

She remembered similar words coming from another old, decrepit tree and smiled. I know — it's a pity. Though some might wonder who was crazy enough to conceive of building a garden down in this hole in the first place.

Indeed. They could have spared us the trouble. It's been eons since I've tasted real air.

How is it you survived so long down here?

We are from the Woods of the Forlorn. We are used to dwelling in darkness. We are hardy even by hardy standards. Nixkamich paused. Something is on your mind. Speak, Katonah.

He was right. Thoughts of the moor wove through her mind, disturbing that fragile equilibrium she'd established inside herself. Homesickness rent her stomach, hot and powerful. It felt like such a long time since she'd spoken to Iseabail. Tormod even longer. Sitting down here in the guts of the earth, she felt trapped in a prison of sorts, one more isolated than the Northern Fortress, unable to see the sky or feel the sun.

There's someone I'd like to speak to, she said. Ch'idzigyak. She's an old tree located far from here. Can you send me to her? She was unsure of whether Ch'idzigyak could see into the Northern Fortress to tell her of Iseabail's well-being, but if not, perhaps Ch'idzigyak could send her to the moor to Commune with her father again. Her chest suddenly tightened with the unbearable need to do so.

Nixkamich considered. I can try. It's been long since I've Communed directly with another tree. We are displaced from the earth, you see, though I may be able to send your essence through the rock walls to which this castle is connected. It may take a moment.

Katonah nodded and stilled herself, feeling Nixkamich gather her soul in his and project it away, sending it twisting like a shooting star through a grid of cold channels and corridors that Katonah somehow knew to be the stone pathways and rock walls surrounding the abyss.

But, too soon, she felt herself slow, some kind of ethereal friction causing her to decelerate. Soon, she was ricocheting back, and found herself back in the void of Nixkamich's heartbeat. Disorientation and psychic pain rippled through her — she'd been snatched back hard.

Katonah, I'm sorry, Nixkamich told her, sounding saddened. My connection with the earth is not strong enough. Somewhere there is a disconnect and I can't...

It's all right. Disappointment made her chest tighten even further, but she could hardly blame the old tree for it. The location of this fortress, indeed, protected it from infiltration, in more ways than one. It's fine. I just wanted to check on my foster mother.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to help. Nixkamich paused, peeking into her memories. But you've sent her a letter?

Yes, a few days ago.

Will she be able to respond?

I doubt it. That's why I wanted to speak to Ch'idzigyak, to see if she knew for sure whether or not Iseabail is all right.

I'm sure she is.

I know, I know, I just... She thought of the old days, of her and Iseabail sitting in their shared mound in their village, sorting through herbs, hiking into woodland, visiting the coast for local remedies... The homesickness in her became caustic, causing her actual pain. I miss her so much. And she's so old. I can't stand the thought of her—

Keep her in your prayers.

I will. Right now, there was little else she could do.

A sound suddenly pulled Katonah out of Nixkamich's heartbeat — opening her eyes, she straightened in time to see Leo step out from behind a tree, stooping next to the wilted flowerbed. He delicately stroked a shriveled stem, frowning.

Her heart beat against the inside of her ribs, filling her ears with a pounding. She scrambled to her feet, righting her skirts before she spoke. "Hello, Lord Leo."

Leo whirled. The instant he saw her, his cheeks filled with color, turning his entire face red. Gods, he's so pale. Katonah might've found the deep red of his face amusing had she not been so nervous.

For a moment, they stood like that, staring at each other, not exactly sure of what to do. Slowly, Leo straightened, locking one arm behind his back while the other wiped at his face, as if trying to rub away the chagrin in his cheeks. When he spoke, his voice was gruff.

"You scared the daylights out of me," he growled. "I thought you were a vagrant looking to do me harm."

Katonah raised a brow. "In your own castle?"

"One can't be too careful." He kept rubbing at his cheeks, before giving up. "What are you doing down here?" he asked, a little heavily.

"What do you mean? This is my garden, isn't it?"

He raised a brow. "Your garden?"

"Well, having done so much work on it, I can't help but lay claim to it." She took several steps closer. He turned stiffly, his ears still blazing. When she reached his side, she said, "So what are you doing here?"

He huffed. "I was just coming to check on your progress. Or is that not allowed?"

"It is. I just wish you'd come earlier. You missed everyone. Elise was—"

"She's the reason I didn't come earlier. She'd been pestering me to come down and see you all work. I can only tolerate so much of her complaining per day."

Katonah blinked. "She's been bothering you? Why haven't you come down then?"

Leo's mouth opened, then closed. He rubbed at his lips, looking anywhere but at Katonah. She wrung her hands together, suddenly uncomfortable at the charged silence, but more so at the awkwardness that permeated the air. She hated it, and the thought of their friendship devolving into this awkward, clumsy, formal thing made her stomach turn. She wanted what they'd had back at the Underground: amiable, if scathing, banter, easy talk. She despaired to think that she might have ruined it all with one impulsive kiss on the cheek.

So, clasping her hands together, she took a breath and said, "L-Leo, listen, I'm sorry about what happened at the Underground."

He looked down at his boots, not saying a word.

"I know I crossed the line," she continued, feeling embarrassed and clumsy. "And I probably offended you too, so...I'm...just...I'm sorry. It won't happen again, I promise."

Stems crunched underfoot — she glanced down to see that, distractedly, Leo had ground one of the petals of a flower to dust. His face was still red, and the lines of his body were coiled tight.

"It's all right." His voice was deep, gritty. He finally straightened, looking out into the black trees filling this part of the garden. "You don't have to apologize for that, it's already forgotten. I know you didn't mean it. You were just being nice...right?"

He finally turned to her, his eyes the color of a clear riverbed, his cheeks still deep red. There was a question there, in his eyes — the force of it unbalanced her, and she suddenly found her own cheeks warming. For a moment, she didn't know what to say. She didn't know what he was asking.

"Um...right," she said finally. "Right, I...yes. Yes."

Leo looked away, but not before she saw the disappointment in his eyes. She'd made a mistake. She'd given the wrong answer. But how could she have, when she didn't know the question?

Before she could work up the courage to ask, Leo took a breath and said, "So. Tell me about these flowers."

Feeling awkward, Katonah obliged, explaining how they'd planted them around the edge of the garden and why they had wilted overnight.

"Not surprising," Leo said, gazing down at the drooping flowers. "Even in the summertime, this level of the castle doesn't get much sunlight." Katonah was relieved to see that he was looking less embarrassed and more rigid, the academic side of Leo she was used to bantering with.

"I can't figure out a way to fix it," Katonah said. "Elise suggested laying down the mulch, but Selena said that these were full-sun flowers and that the mulch wouldn't do any good."

"I disagree," Leo said. "Nutrients may not fix the sunlight issue, but they can't hurt. I'd plant some fungi too, for good measure."

That completely threw Katonah. "Wha...fungi? You mean mushrooms? Why?"

Leo crossed his arms. "A couple of years ago, I read a volume on botany, one written by a Hoshidan monk. In his own garden, he'd discovered an unusual phenomenon: a very close association between the roots of mushrooms and some of the tulips he'd been growing. The roots were so thickly entwined together that it was like a lump of white hair underground. He couldn't be sure, but he posited that these two organisms formed a unique symbiosis which allowed them to transfer nutrients between themselves."

"Symbiosis?" Katonah's mind was reeling with the information.

"A close association or relationship," Leo explained. "A mutual one in this case. Anyway, fungi could help in this way as well. Whatever nutrients they don't get from the soil or mulch can be transferred to the flowers via their mutualism with the fungi."

"Will that make them...perk up?" Katonah asked.

"I can't say. I'm not an expert. How did you make that old tree bloom in the middle of winter back in the Northern Fortress?"

Katonah gasped. A wave of excitement overcame her and, suddenly, she wanted to kiss Leo again. The Dragon Vein soil. Of course. Of course! She still had the sack, loaded with some of her other things in the storage trunk in her room. There wasn't much, of course, but perhaps it would be enough to give her wilting flowers a boost.

"Leo! You're a genius! The Dragon Vein soil! I can use that to..." It took her several fevered moments to realize that she'd wound her arms around Leo's torso, and that he'd stiffened inside them. Horror drowned out her excitement. Oh no! Gods, had it even been five minutes since she'd promised to behave herself? She quickly released him, reeling backward, and found that his face was just as red as hers felt.

"I'm sorry," she stammered, embarrassment making her ears burn. "I just...you suddenly reminded me that..." She turned, suddenly needing to hide. "The soil's in my room," she said, face burning. "I'll be right—"

He grabbed her wrist. "Wait," he said. Turning back, she saw him rub his mouth before saying, "I forgot to tell you. I spoke with Xander this morning. He wants you to attend supper tonight."

Katonah felt her body go cold — the blush drained from her cheeks like red paint. "Why?" she whispered.

"I don't know. He didn't tell me." She must've looked frightened, because his eyes softened and he squeezed her wrist reassuringly. "You're not in trouble. He doesn't know about our outing a few days ago. He probably just..." Leo shrugged. "I honestly don't know."

He dropped her wrist, and she felt colder. She wasn't worried about Xander knowing about their outing. She was worried about seeing him again, period. The memory of being dragged to his bed flashed through her mind, gray with age, but still sharp in the fear coating it like a web. Turning, she hurried up the garden steps, having now another reason to hide.

(/\)

The trip back up to her room was quick, and soon she was hurrying back down to the garden, half-empty sack of Dragon Vein soil pinned under one arm. Disappointment washed through her when she finally reached the garden pavilion — Leo was gone. He must have retreated back inside. Remembering her impulsive hug, she despaired that she'd made things between them even worse.

She tried not to think about that as she moved about the garden, emptying her bag of Dragon Vein soil into the freshly churned soil. She had less than she'd originally estimated — barely enough for a single rose bush, let alone the entire garden ring. She was forced to sprinkle the soil about like bread crumbs for a flock of pigeons. She felt foolish doing it, but remembered how well the soil had done for Ch'idzigyak, returning color to her bark and causing her canopy to burst into bloom. Surely even a little bit of this soil could help in straightening these sun-starved specimens up?

She emptied the bag and then checked the ropes on the saplings before finally returning to the upper levels of the fortress. By then, it was around noon. Nowhere near time for supper, yet her anxiety was only worse for it. Xander wants you to attend supper tonight. She felt sick at the thought of seeing him again, of sitting near him and being forced to endure his company. She thought about feigning illness, or just refusing to go outright.

But that would be disobedience. And what would happen to Iseabail and the remaining three Earth Tribe warriors at the Northern Fortress if she disobeyed Xander's commands? The disaster at the cathedral had already cost them food and comfort. She didn't want to add anything else to their hardship.

She realized that she had absolutely nothing to do when she returned to her room — with Leo keeping his distance and Camilla assuming that she was down laboring in the garden, her schedule was, ironically, despicably free. And that wouldn't do — with supper hours away, if she didn't keep busy, she would worry herself into a state.

She busied herself with taking a bath, doing a little bit of sewing, and even scratching out another letter to Iseabail. It worked, a little - before long, dusk fell, and soon it was time for supper. A knock came at her door as her maids dressed her in her blue dress — Elise, cheerily waiting to escort her down to the dining room.

The girl chattered endlessly as they made their way down to the Great Hall, mainly about what they should do about the garden and when they should start setting up plants inside the castle itself. The conversation did little for Katonah's nerves — by the time they'd entered the Great Hall and moved down into the dining room, she was as stiff as stone, her heart pounding in her ears.

They turned the corner...and there he was, standing at the head of the table. Every muscle in Katonah's body went taught, and her heartbeat droned on even faster — dangerously fast. She felt the color leech out of her cheeks as she remembered being thrown onto Xander's bed, being forced into that disgusting, violating kiss. Black spots popped into her vision — for a moment, her hearing warped, and she couldn't hear Elise.

"...okay, Kat? Kat?" Elise tugged at her arm, finally drawing Katonah's attention away from Xander; she looked down to see the girl staring up at her worriedly. "Are you okay?" she asked again in a low voice. "You're pale as death."

Katonah sucked in a breath, trying to steady herself. Stop it, she snapped at herself. That's over and done with. Stop thinking about it. It would do her no good to cripple herself like this — she still had a long hour of Xander's presence to endure. "I'm fine."

Elise threaded her fingers through hers and squeezed her hand. "Relax," she told her. "I told Xander yesterday that he was to be nothing but kind to you. He won't be mean. I promise."

She tried to take comfort in the girl's words as she was led forward.

Xander didn't notice them at first — he was standing between Leo and a red-haired young man that Katonah didn't recognize, speaking to them both in hushed voices. Camilla was nowhere to be seen. Elise guided her over to her seat before moving to her own. Leo looked up suddenly, his eyes settling on Katonah — she wanted to smile at him, but found that she couldn't. He nodded at her, though, and that gave her a modicum of comfort.

Finally, Xander took notice. "General," he said, ending the conversation between the three men, "thank you for coming."

She nodded meekly, unable to force her eyes above the collar of his high-necked shirt. Her stomach turned.

"Milady looks pale," the unknown young man commented. "Are you all right?"

Katonah cleared her throat. "I'm fine," she said, voice low.

Xander snapped his fingers at one of the footmen lining the wall. "Bring the General a glass of water," he commanded. A minute later, a goblet of cold was placed before Katonah, and Xander said, "Let's sit down. Tankard, you may sit beside Leo. Where's Camilla?"

"Doing her hair, probably," Elise said with a roll of her eyes. "We aren't going to wait on her, are we?"

A few minutes later, Camilla appeared in a stunning violet gown, her hair wound up in a sultry beehive. She raised a brow at Katonah, not unkindly, before taking her seat to Xander's left. Xander turned and nodded to the footmen, who marched smartly out of the room, no doubt to retrieve their meal. The king of Nohr then steepled his fingers and leaned onto the table.

"I'm sure the rest of you have noticed that we have a guest dining with us tonight," he said, nodding to the red-haired man. "May I introduce Briarus Tankard, son of Lord Noran Tankard. He's here today at my request."

"It's an honor to be here," Tankard said with an earnest smile; his grin was boyish, making Katonah suspect that he was one or two years younger than she was. Yet, he didn't seem overly overwhelmed at sitting at the dinner table of the king of Nohr. If anything, he looked excited at the privilege. "Thank you all for having me."

"Noran Tankard," Camilla mused. "Why do I recognize that name?"

"My father is one of His Majesty's many foreign ambassadors," Tankard explained readily. "Before that, he served many years in King Garon's court as an assistant to Lord Iago, mainly in drafting legislation and organizing the royal army."

A stiff silence followed the young man's words, and Katonah wondered why, seeing Elise shift uncomfortably and Leo's jaw tighten. Tankard himself seemed oblivious to the sudden tension in the air.

"Lord Tankard," Xander continued, "is a renowned speaker, well-known for skillfully using words rather than force to swing a crowd to his way of thinking. A trait that he seems to have passed on to Briarus. I have seen him deliver several speeches and found his verve to be nothing short of extraordinary. And I believe that such a talent can be of great use to the crown, particularly in regards to managing the rebels."

"Oh?" Leo straightened, interested.

"After much thought, I've realized that many of the serf class are so resistant to my new farming policies because they don't understand them. They simply believe that I am trying to take away their means of making a living by imposing such commands on them, and cannot conceive of the eventual growth that with rise from their labor in the fields.

"So, though there are many ways to go about bringing their unrest to heel, I have decided for the benefit of all involved that it would be criminal not to first attempt at patience and diplomacy. That, and the population deserves to understand all aspects of my plans for future growth. And I can find no better candidate to deliver the message to the lower castes, in their own language." Xander nodded to Briarus, and Katonah was surprised to see something approaching approval in his stony eyes — no wonder the boy was beaming. "So I have decided to hire him as the crown's official People's Liaison to aide in containing the rebels."

Camilla's brows puckered; Elise clapped, looking excited. Leo's expression, on the other hand, was sour.

"I thought I was your People's Liaison," he said to Xander.

"You are," Xander said. "Were. And I'm not saying that you haven't done your job, but I've heard more than one complaint stating that you come off as cold rather than genteel."

To her surprise, a smile came to Katonah's lips — after all, hadn't she told Leo the same, more than once? She blushed when he noticed and directed a scowl at her. Xander's eyes flickered from Leo to Katonah, but he said nothing.

"In the meantime," he said, "I would like for you to supervise Tankard's efforts."

"And what efforts will those be?" Leo asked, voice probably a little sharper than was necessary.

Xander gazed up at the ceiling. "I have ordered the production of little under twenty tons of farming equipment: plows, tools, harvesting machinery, and the like — everything that will be needed to give all of the farms of Nohr an overhaul twice over. Tankard's job will be to not only speak to the population of the intricacies of the farming policies, but to deliver these goods to the farmers that need them. They will not purchase them — they are absolutely free. It is a gesture of goodwill that I am willing to make if it will placate the masses."

Leo stared at Xander as though he thought he'd gone mad; Katonah, too, gazed at the Nohrian king in surprise. Camilla sat back, examining her nails.

"Are you...sure that's wise?" Leo said with what sounded like barely controlled outrage. "You saw the reports last week: the treasury is struggling. And we're still making war reparations to Hoshido."

"It's already done," Xander said, voice hard and uncompromising. "And you all know Emperor Ryoma's view on the war reparations: they're merely a formality that he doesn't even want."

Leo sat back, running his hands up through his hair. Xander gazed around at Camilla, then Elise, waiting for further objections; finally, his eyes came to stop on Katonah, and she straightened nervously when they didn't move away.

"General," he said stonily, "this is where I require your assistance."

She swallowed. "Me?"

"I would like for you to accompany Master Tankard and Leo on their mission," the king said, eyes still narrowed in on her. "I think that this will be an excellent opportunity for you to see more of Nohr."

The request drove the air from her lungs: she sat back, stunned. What... A journey across Nohr? Why? And why the sudden request...?

She found herself glancing at Leo, who met her gaze, equally surprised by the announcement.

"Oh wow!" Tankard said with genuine enthusiasm. "How delightful. I'd be honored to have you join us, Lady Katonah."

"But, I...what would I be doing?" Katonah stammered out.

"I'm sure that Leo and Tankard will find something for you to do," Xander said off-handedly. "But if you're uncertain of whether or not you're up to the task, then you could always start with a smaller journey. Elise and I will be heading off in a week or so for a diplomatic meeting in Cyrkensia." His eyes became calculating, gauging. "Does that interest you?"

Katonah turned pasty. A journey with Xander? Her knees went weak at the thought, even as Elise said, "Yeah, come with us, Kat! There are awesome dress shops in Cyrkensia! They've probably got the perfect gown for you to wear at the Ball in the fall!"

"Elise, the Ball is months away," Camilla said with an eye-roll.

"Um, no, that's all right," Katonah said weakly. "I'll go with Mister Tankard and Lord Leo."

Xander nodded, eyes emotionless. "Excellent," he said. "Leo, you and Tankard can begin planning a route immediately. Once it has earned my approval, we can begin making preparations for the journey." He straightened suddenly as the footmen returned, laden with trays of food. "On that note," the king said, "let us eat."

(/\)

Katonah left dinner feeling overwhelmed. Elise and Camilla escorted her back upstairs while Leo and Tankard stayed behind for some additional cups of wine with Xander. Elise complained the whole way up, giving Katonah a list ten-thousand reasons long for why she should have agreed to come with her and Xander to Cyrkensia, but Katonah could scarce pay her chatter any attention.

A journey around Nohr. Why did the notion both scare and excite her? When she thought about it, she was surprised to find that she was actually more excited than frightened. Perhaps it was because Xander wouldn't be with her. Or because she was going to get out of this lonely, cold castle and go see places.

Or perhaps...because Leo would be going with her.

She took another bath after reaching her room, but felt immensely restless afterwards. The urge to speak to Leo was strong, and soon, it got to the point where she couldn't ignore it. Slipping into her shoes and wrapping herself in a thick robe, she took a candle into the dark hallways and sought out a servant to tell her directions to Leo's chambers.

Soon she had them, and was escorted down several floors until she reached a long corridor with hardy suits of armor standing at attention at one side, and windows giving a view of the black abyss on the other. Leo's door, tall and wooden and rectangular, stood at the very end.

She knocked twice, and, upon hearing Leo call, "Enter," pushed the door open, stepping into a massive chamber that appeared, at first glance, to be a miniature study — or library. The candelabra sitting on the large mahogany desk illuminated cases and cases of books jammed into shelves along the wall, sitting in stacks in corners, on the edge of chairs and sofas, and even in the window carved out of the back wall. The gigantic, roaring fireplace suddenly made Katonah nervous — it was only logical, seeing as there were several piles of tomes sitting dangerously close to the eager flames.

Leo was sitting at the desk and, to Katonah's surprise, Briarus Tankard was beside him. They both appeared to be poring over a stretch of parchment, but they rose when Katonah entered.

"Lady Katonah!" Tankard's grin was blinding — Katonah was vividly reminded of Elise. "Isn't this a treat! What brings you down here?"

"Oh, uh..." Katonah glanced at Leo, and saw that he looked thoroughly annoyed with the duke's son. No doubt he was reminded of Elise's overbearing cheer as well. "I just came to speak with Lord Leo. I'm sorry if I'm interrupting."

"Don't be! In fact..." Tankard beckoned to her. "Why don't you come take a look? Lord Leo and I have been planning out our route for the past two hours, and we could use a fresh set of eyes."

"Oh, no, I couldn't," Katonah said, even as she found herself stepping forward. "I don't know much about Nohr. I wouldn't be of any help."

"Oh. A pity." Tankard cocked his head. "So it's true. His Majesty mentioned that you were a foreign princess. If you don't mind my asking, from where do you hail?"

Xander had been talking about her? She didn't know how to feel about that. "The Earth Tribe."

"The Earth Tribe!" Tankard laughed. "Wow, imagine that! From what I'd heard, you lot had ceased to exist centuries ago. How amazing it is that I'm standing before their beautiful princess."

Katonah's cheeks reddened, and Leo snapped, "Tankard, if you wouldn't mind? The princess and I have things to discuss."

"Oh, of course." Tankard stepped away from the desk before taking Katonah's hand and lifting it to his lips. Katonah's mouth parted in disbelief when he kissed her hand. "Milady, it was a pleasure to meet you today. I look forward to enjoying your company on our journey."

"Thank you," Katonah stammered. "And I as well, Tankard."

"Briarus, please." He turned to Leo. "Lord Leo, when would you like for me to call upon you again?"

"Tomorrow morning, if you don't mind," Leo said stiffly. "I've no more patience for planning out routes tonight."

"As you wish." Winking at Katonah, Briarus ducked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Katonah turned as Leo sat back, digging his hands through his hair again.

"So?" he asked. He pulled the chair Briarus had been sitting in close to him before tapping the back. "What do you make of tonight's development?"

Katonah scooted around the desk and took a seat beside him before saying, "I certainly wasn't expecting it... Did you know about it?"

"Know what?" Leo grunted, bearing his elbows down in the table. "That Xander would be snatching my job from under my feet and giving it to a high lord's son? No, I certainly didn't."

"Is that what you did before?" She gestured. "Before, you know, I was in the picture?"

He nodded. "I wasn't officially called the People's Liaison, but that was essentially what I did: deliver Xander's edicts to the people, explain them, and then facilitate their enactment. I suppose I did a bad enough job to warrant replacement."

"I'm sure you weren't that bad," Katonah said with a smile. She tugged her robe around her a little more tightly — despite the fireplace, it was chilly in the room. "But like I've said before, you are sort of intimidating."

"I suppose more people would flock towards a happy-go-lucky fool."

Katonah laughed at his annoyance. "You're jealous!"

His eyes blazed. "How dare you? I'm not jealous."

"Why wouldn't you be? Briarus has Xander's favor, after all."

"You really think I'm as shallow as that? I'm just annoyed." He sat back, crossing his arms. "What the hell am I supposed to do now that he's doing my job?"

Katonah thought about it, putting her head on one side. "Perhaps...you could babysit a sightseer," she suggested. "A certain princess who has no knowledge of Nohr. Show her around. That sort of thing."

Leo snorted. "This isn't a sightseeing tour."

"Isn't it? After all, with Briarus doing all the work, what else will we have to do?"

"In my case, a thousand other things that involve my duty in maintaining the realm. I don't have time to be distracted by women."

She smirked. "Are you admitting that you find me distracting, Lord Leo?"

He huffed. "Right now, I'm finding you irritating."

"How odd. The feeling seems to be mutual."

That coaxed a smile out of him, one that took her breath away. He was so handsome — she had been blind not to see it before. Perhaps it was because he genuinely smiled so rarely. Or... She lost her train of thought as he shifted in his seat, and the scent of leather and stone washed over her. That and the strong tang of soap — he'd recently taken a bath. How was it that she found the mixture of scents so intoxicating? Suddenly, sitting so close to him made her feel a little heady, almost.

"Katonah," he growled suddenly. "You're staring."

She started — gods, she hadn't known that she'd shifted closer to him, as if drawn by magnetism. "S-sorry," she stammered.

"What is it?" he asked — was it a trick of the light, or was his face turning red too?

Fearing the awkwardness that had been between them for the past several days, she said, quickly, "I was just thinking about something. Elise mentioned a Ball, in the fall. What was she talking about?"

"Oh, the Societal Ball," Leo said. "It's hosted in Castle Krakenburg once a year, for Nohr's highest socialites."

"Socialites?"

"Lords, ladies, dukes, duchesses, and nobles of all kinds." Leo's voice became snide. "Camilla refers to it as a simpering parade where nobles cluster into cliques and gossip about who's the richest and most powerful."

"Oh." Katonah could think of ten thousand other ways to spend a perfectly good afternoon. "And I'll be going?"

"Of course. After all, it's..." Leo looked away, clearing his throat. "It's where you'll come out to Nohrian society as Xander's bride."

Oh. Dread formed a cold, suffocating ball in Katonah's chest. Now that he mentioned it, Katonah remembered Camilla warning her of such protocol during her etiquette lessons back in the Northern Fortress: a betrothal ceremony in the Dusk Cathedral, an announcement at a ball, and finally, one more announcement back at the Cathedral, all for the purpose of giving anyone who opposed the marriage time to speak up.

An uncomfortable silence spanned between the two. Leo stared off towards one of his bookshelves, his jaw tight. Was he as uncomfortable with the thought of her being paraded around at a Societal Ball as Xander's future wife as she was?

She glanced down at the table, where a length of parchment spanned from end to end. There was an odd, irregular shape drawn onto the paper — a shape she recognized. She distinctly remembered such a picture tacked to the wall of Leo's bedroom back in the Northern Fortress.

"What's this?" she asked, tapping the paper.

He glanced down. "Oh this? This is a map of Hoshido and Nohr. Tankard and I were using it to plan out our route."

"Oh." She straightened and studied the shape.

"You do know what maps are?" Leo said with some amusement.

"Yes, Lord Leo, I know what maps are! I've just never had cause to study one before. Does Nohr really look like this?"

"Actually, only about half of it is Nohr." Leo plucked a quill out of an ink bottle and drew a ragged line across the shape. "See this dark rift here?" he asked, pointing to a thick line on the map. "This is the Bottomless Canyon, a continental divide that separates our two nations. Everything west of it is considered Nohr. Everything east is Hoshido."

"Oh... Where's Windmire? And the Woods of the Forlorn? And the Moorland Scythe?"

"Slow down! Here's Windmire." He pointed to a spot on the map and, sure enough, if she squinted, Katonah could see that the word W I N D M I R E was written near the point in neat script. "The Woods of the Forlorn are down here..." He indicated an area three inches or so from Windmire. "As for the Moorland Scythe..." He drew a curved line along the southwestern coast of Nohr. "Everything east of this is considered the Earth Tribe's domain."

Katonah was shocked at how small the Moorland Scythe was in reality. Having lived there her entire life, she'd always assumed that the Earth Tribe's land was incomprehensibly vast, yet it barely took up a sixth of the Hoshido-Nohr continental landmass.

"I never knew that Nohr was so big," she said breathlessly.

"A bird's-eye view does tend to surprise one," Leo agreed. "And our size is why planning this journey is proving to be a headache."

"Why?"

"Because there're so many places we need to go! Xander wants Tankard to spread the word about agricultural reform, and there are thousands of people to give that message to, dozens of city centers we need to hit. Not to mention twenty tons of farming equipment to deliver. This entire thing is going to be long and exhausting, and just planning it has been..." He trailed off as he glanced at her. "What are you grinning about?"

She hadn't realized that she'd been smiling. She tried to stop, but couldn't. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm excited."

"Really." He sounded skeptical.

"I never thought I'd have the slightest interest in seeing Nohr after this entire thing began, but now...I don't know." She shrugged. "The thought of going out and seeing your country sounds like an adventure."

He huffed. "I suppose it would, to the woman who doesn't have to plan our route." He flicked her nose, surprising her.

"Ow! How dare you!"

"If you're going to be all screechy and cheery like Elise...there's the door," Leo grunted, pointing his quill towards the door. "This grownup has work to do."

She rubbed her nose. "Why don't I help you plan the route?"

"Didn't you just tell Tankard that you have no knowledge about the layout of Nohr?"

"I'm just trying to help. Why don't you show me what you have so far, and I'll tell you if I like it or not."

Leo snorted. "Right. Because I'm dying to get your seal of approval."

Nevertheless, he showed her some plans that he and Briarus had sketched out on the map. The route seemed to flow in a loop around the center of Nohr, starting out in the outskirts of Windmire. The loop would take them around the Woods of the Forlorn, into the Ice Tribe's territory, around to Cheve and Macarath, up through the foothills of Mount Garou, and then back towards Windmire.

"I've thought of sending messengers ahead of us to deliver announcements to the town criers of major city centers," Leo said. "News will spread to neighboring villages that will hopefully bring them to major city centers like Macarath. Hopefully, that will prevent us from having to journey to every minor village from here to the Bottomless Canyon."

"That sounds like a good idea," Katonah said helpfully.

Leo rolled his eyes. "One town I'm worried about is Cheve." He pointed to the town on the map.

"Why?"

"The citizens here have a history of being troublesome and unpredictable. Do you know that they sided with Hoshido during Anankos's War?"

Katonah straightened. "What? Anankos's War?"

Leo paused. "Right...you wouldn't know. Anankos's War. It consumed both Nohr and Hoshido five years ago. We were at each other's throats nearly every day for ten successive months. We — Nohr — came very close to wiping Hoshido off the map."

Katonah sat back. "What?" She couldn't comprehend what Leo was saying. "What do you mean? Why would Xander do that?"

Leo's mouth twisted. "You aren't listening. Five years ago. Xander wasn't king then. It was still—"

"Garon," Katonah breathed. "That's right. But why...?"

"There was no logical explanation for why my father invaded Hoshido," Leo said. "He did it under the auspices of financing Nohr, but the truth was far more complicated. Have you ever heard of Anankos?"

"No...who is he?"

"Who and what. He's a god, a dragon god, just like your Earth Dragon."

She sat up. "Really?"

"Yes. The Silent Dragon."

Katonah wondered if she was the only one who felt the sudden chill in the air when he spoke the dragon's name. "So what are you saying? Anankos, the Silent Dragon, did what...? Started the war?"

"He was ultimately behind it, yes. He sponsored my father, simply put: demonized him, gave him strength and power, and poisoned his heart. Shortly after, Garon invaded Hoshido in Anankos's name."

"I don't understand. I thought the Twelve didn't interfere in earthly affairs."

"As far as history is concerned, they don't. Anankos was a special case. The eons changed him, demonized him as he demonized my father. Something happened that made him detest mankind, and so he used my father as an instrument of death against those that lived on the Hoshido-Nohr continent."

"But...you stopped him. Right?" When Leo nodded, Katonah said, "How? How did you stop a god?"

"It was a matter of first discovering that father was being manipulated, and then finding out who was pulling the strings." Leo sighed. "But it wasn't easy to do that. Anankos had tarnished my father's soul, turned him into a demonic puppet, but it was a quiet change, a quiet, cold change. Looking back, we all noticed it of course: a gradual increase in his brutality, in his mercilessness, and his chill, and his rather sudden worship in a god we had never heard of, but we all attributed it to age, and didn't dare question it — we may have been his children, but he was king, and to question his actions was to invite pain and suffering."

Katonah struggled to conceive of such a relationship with a paternal figure and couldn't—she could never imagine Tormod turning into such a brute. "Who finally realized that he was a demon?"

For a long moment, Leo didn't speak — he gazed off towards the shadows of the room again, and Katonah saw his throat churn as he swallowed thickly.

"Corrin," he finally said, voice a low whisper.

She didn't understand the change in his tone: his voice was chilly, yet something about the way he said the name conveyed a reverent sort of respect. "Corrin?" she repeated.

"My sister."

"Sister?"

"Adopted," he said hastily. "Her story's an odd one. In actuality, she's Hoshidan by birth, born to the late empress Mikoto, but during an international conflict decades ago, my father adopted her into our family. She was so young at the time that she was unaware of her original lineage."

Katonah shook her head in disbelief at the incredible story. "So...what? She's both Nohrian and Hoshidan royalty?"

"In our eyes, yes. When Nohr first invaded during the first days of the war, an early conflict caused both royal families to fight for her. She was pressed to choose a side, either Nohr or Hoshido, and she shocked us all by choosing neither. She, Azura, and their servants ducked away from the war, running and hiding in the country."

"Azura." Katonah struggled to remember where she'd heard that name in passing. From Elise. "Your...sister?"

"Yes."

"How many other sisters do you have?"

"That's the last," Leo said, mouth tipping up. "I promise. Anyway, while Xander and Ryoma were trying to slit each other's throats, Corrin and Azura discovered my father's demonization and Anankos's hand in it. From there, through an exhausting series of events, we wound up banning together against both my father and Anankos." His gaze dropped down to his lap. "Corrin was the one who drove a sword through my father's chest."

Katonah took in a sharp breath. "Oh... I'm sorry." It felt odd to apologize, considering all that Tormod had told her about Garon's brutality. Coupling that with what Leo had just told her, it seemed only right that someone had put the cruel king to the blade.

Leo was along the same lines: shrugging, he said, "It's all right. He was too far gone at that point: just an empty king animated by Anankos. I don't recall feeling any remorse when Corrin put him down. Just relief that his bloody reign was over."

"It seems that the world owes Corrin a lot," Katonah said kindly.

"More than a lot. If she hadn't done all that she had, Garon would have driven this entire continent down into hell with him. She saved countless lives: millions..." Leo trailed off, his gaze returning to the map. Something about the way he spoke made him seem sad. Katonah searched his words for something that might have upset him, but found nothing. But she remembered that Corrin and Azura weren't here right now: maybe he missed his sisters?

"Where is Corrin now?" she asked.

Leo looked away from her. "She's free," he said, his voice so low it was almost a breath of wind. "She's living in a faraway land...with the man she loves."

^ I've seen other people using banners for their works, and I thought I'd try it too!

Anyway, who do you think Corrin's husband is?