Hajin walked beside Juna down a palace corridor that offered far more doors than useful exits.
'Portraits, guards, shiny tiles, and I never asked for payment outside, shit, genius move.'
Juna leaned toward his sleeve as they passed a guard beneath another portrait, her nose twitching.
"Soap, wax, nervous men," she muttered, "and one idiot who skipped breakfast."
"He ate, probably, just somewhere nobody important watches him chew."
"Covered pouch by his sword, the others brought rations and he missed his." Her ears flicked smugly as she eyed the guard's flat pouch.
"Through the plate?"
"Through a wall, if he stood behind one."
Elina stepped clear of a passing guard's halberd while Didi slowed to match their pace.
"Nineteen guards on this floor," she murmured, "and two seem determined to sleep through whatever arrives."
Juna counted shoulders with one flick of her eyes, "Seventeen awake, the two swaying ones are just admiring the ceiling."
"Your wolf reads a post better than some officers," she said with a tired little huff, "that tall one dozes before every meal."
Her ears flattened and her cheeks went pink, but she glared straight ahead, "Save the agreement for your father, I can smell an empty pouch without royal confirmation."
'Compliment rejected, supper accepted, somebody should write that court manual just to annoy her.'
He hitched the pack onto the shoulder that ached less after carrying Didi through the forest yesterday, ribs grumbling anyway. The core and tusk stayed wrapped beneath the notched sword, while his newer blade hung where guards could see it.
He slid onto the clearer tiles beside Didi before a servant could cut between them, "One question about the Gate, Your Highness, then I'll go back to pricing the walls."
"Ask, the walls get enough admiration without yours," she said, rolling her eyes.
"Kenny's detachment was already on the road, so why does the Patriarch still need a private chat about clearing rights?"
"The Gate opened two days ago outside the capital," she said, nodding toward the southern windows, "and the council spent the first day arguing whose soldiers go in before the survey."
"Royal knights right now, some said, while others preferred keeping those knights alive."
"Second option sounds way cheaper for the poor bastards in the front rank," he snorted.
"I volunteered." Her voice went flat and thin, scraped down to almost nothing.
"They barely let me finish, inexperienced, unready, better kept near a tutor, and Father agreed before anyone asked whether lessons ever leave the practice yard."
The next turn brought the throne doors into view, and her hand shot out and caught his sleeve.
"Two doors closed in one afternoon, and everyone called it concern," she whispered, "I'm starting to think concern means keeping a chair warm while other people ride out and die for—" She bit the rest off, and her knuckles went white around his cuff.
'The council saw a risk, she saw another locked door, and yesterday made both answers crueler.'
Juna slid her palm under the gripped sleeve, claws kept carefully clear, "Let go, he's not a stair rail, his ribs already explained what pulling costs."
"He's escorting me," Didi shot back, chin jerking up, "we're going to the same room."
Hajin peeled her fingers open with his free hand, "The room can survive us without another torn sleeve, so what did the council pick?"
"A noble army," she said, eyes on the distant doors, "the great houses want royal credit, and they can lose soldiers without emptying the palace garrison."
"So Father granted House Flint the clearing rights, the column got leave to deploy, and today settles the charter."
"Army first, terms later, cute." He glanced back over his shoulder, mouth twisting sourly.
"The crown approves the deployment, they don't march wherever they please, whatever you think of that crest."
"Two generations of buying salvage rights makes a family damn efficient," he drawled, hitching the strap higher, "and mine always knows which way to smile when something valuable cracks open."
'Somebody knew the answer before the council stopped arguing, but guessing a seller doesn't hand me a name.'
"Deals happen in locked rooms, then the carts roll, and my family loves being mistaken for the useful answer."
She studied his face instead of the strap he kept fiddling with, "Will the Patriarch recognize his son when we walk in?"
He kept walking a few steps, but that question left him nowhere comfortable to hide.
[ NewViewer_02: his son, wait, she means the patriarch is his father? ]
[ ashley(mod): that is what she asked, let him answer before the guesses run ahead ]
He rubbed the back of his neck, and the laugh came out cracked, "Oh, he knows me, he tossed me out personally, a son with no elemental talent stains a name worse than any crime my cousins pull."
'Great, now it's out loud, maybe the portraits will find it juicy enough to forget my posture.'
He stopped by a pillar and jerked his thumb back toward the stairs, "You're home, Your Highness, the reward can wait, I'll duck out the side."
"Too late." Didi caught the clean part of his sleeve, well away from the cracked side.
"My father meets the person who brought me back, and you collect the gratitude before anyone decides to send you away."
"That sounds suspiciously like an order with a comfy chair hidden inside." He eyed the second grip, then the stubborn set of her jaw.
"Run, and the cavalry spends the morning hunting you," she said, loosening her hold, "arrive politely, and nobody needs to pin your arms."
"Wow, so generous, one meeting now or a dozen guys dragging me to it later, hell of a menu."
"Sir, His Majesty smiled when the search reported your tracks this morning," Elina offered, drawing closer, "he's waited for good news through that door."
"Then I hope the tracks made a better introduction than the luggage."
She ticked points off her fingers, nowhere near the cheek pinched earlier, "Bow at the second step inside, stay down until he speaks, and don't look toward your father first."
"And eastern mining rights, whatever drifts there, let someone with a seal answer it."
"A practiced list, how many spilled cups of wine paid for that?" Hajin snickered.
"Enough to learn pouring matters less than listening," she sniffed, "the court remembers a stain far longer than whoever warned you."
"And my companion?" He tipped his open palm sideways, the question not nearly as casual as his voice.
Elina glanced at the ears she failed to greet politely in the courtyard, "Beastkin aren't presented at private royal audiences, the outer corridor may suit her."
"Then this corridor gets both of us, she came with me, she walks in with me."
Juna planted her feet beside his and bared a sliver of fang, "I choose where I stand, and explaining my teeth takes longer than opening the door."
"She comes inside," Didi snapped, stepping into the gap, "arrange the doors, not my guests."
Elina bowed to the order and turned her palm toward the guards waiting at the handles.
'Two cracked ribcages, one family disgrace, and a wolf who refuses to be luggage, what a royal procession.'
The herald beyond the guards waited until a signal came from the inner side of the threshold, allowing their entry. Hajin watched the latches lift while Juna pressed close to his belt, leaving no gap that any guard could exploit.
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'Polite eyes, steady hands, grab the reward before someone remembers how easy throwing me out felt.'
The doors swung open onto ministers turning from their interrupted discussion toward Didi and the folded blanket in her arms. Juna hooked two fingers behind Hajin's belt as the herald announced her return, holding them together while courtiers bowed low.
Beyond those lowered heads, the Flint Patriarch turned toward the son approaching beside his king's daughter.