Chapter 42

After some discussion with Kara, it was decided that I would go to meet this Princess Keitha alone. I wasn’t too happy with that, but there were two good reasons for Kara staying aboard - the first was Balder and second one was Kara’s background. Even if we could have used some ‘Hantaliel magic’ on her, the truth was that masking her black hair and features in a hurry might have turned out to be quite difficult. Once the decision was made, Kara looked almost relieved. I guess she still had some issues with what had happened to her and I couldn’t blame her for that. Besides, if somebody recognized Kara, that might provoke many unwanted questions. So, only Frode and I met a man the Princess had sent to meet us.

When the man saw us, he took a look at me and laughed a bit.

“I guess there’s no question which one of you has recently spent some time in warmer climate, even if didn’t know you, Frode.”

I shrugged. “If you ask me, I’d say that the warmer climate and the burning sun are quite overrated.”

“Parlan. Working for Princess Keitha.”

After telling me his name, the man offered his hand. I had no skills like Linnea, but everything about Parlan felt genuine to me.

“Stian. If you try to call me ‘Sir’ I cannot promise that I will not try to hit you. Our captain and boatswain already had their fun while putting a lowly ‘Sir’ second mate to work at all kinds of things.”

“Boatswain - he’s not an officer, is he?”

“Parlan, if you ever put your foot on a ship, my advice is to stay on good terms with the boatswain. Even the captain listens his boatswain very carefully.”

“I’ll keep that in mind ... Stian. Now, if you could follow me.”

I was not sure if I should have been relieved or disappointed that, instead of a palace, I would see the Princess in a house in Aston, a house much like Elise’s, just further away from the University and closer to the Great Palace.

Okay, I was really very relieved, since I really didn’t want to go near the Great Palace. The palaces at Sicels had not been that huge, but I had always been aware that there were some servants hidden in corners and behind half-closed doors, ready to react if needed. The warrior in me didn’t really like the concept. Now, in this building, there were only a few people when Parlan and I arrived. I was able to tell there was a carriage driver with two horses in the attached stable and maybe one cook and one servant inside the house - and, of course, the Princess Keitha. Most likely her husband wasn’t here - unless he was the one at the stable with the horses, which I didn’t really believe.

I turned to look at Parlan. “I assume that her Highness wants this meeting to remain secret and that suits me better than fine. I’m happy with my life as it is now.”

“Even if your wife is at Sicels?”

“I’m quite sure that she hopes to never see me ever again. Bad politics, I guess. Besides, they already managed to get their budget balanced.”

Together with a balanced economy, they also had an heir in that family line, even if wasn’t really evident to all the people yet, but I knew that Ignatia had already become quite popular among the people and being abandoned twice did not seem to hurt her popularity at all.

At least my internal warrior didn’t give me any warning when I entered the building. I couldn’t help wondering if lambs felt equally secure on their way to slaughterhouse.

“So, Mr. Elder, what’s your opinion? How come those new rulers at Sicels became so successful and so popular that quickly?”

Truthfully, I had not known what to expect when I had been asked to come to see this Princess Keitha. My experiences with the Nobles at Aston had been minimal. I had seen a few at University, been in a few business negotiations with Elise and then there had been those hunters after Frey. Not to mention Ignatia, to whom I had been the prey. Now, with Princess Keitha I was sitting in a sparsely decorated room sipping cooled white wine which I could have sworn to be from the valley. Too bad I wasn’t able to see the bottle.

As though that wasn’t enough, she was asking intelligent questions about my trip to Sicels. Which reminded me that I needed to be really careful with her. She already knew things she shouldn’t have known. Somehow I was almost sure that, just like Elise, this princess had some unexpected friends.

“Your Highness...”

Suddenly the Princess just raised her hand and stopped me. “Mr. Elder - or Sir Stianelder. Since we are about the same age and you now belong to Nobility - even if a foreign one - may I suggest that you call me Keitha. After all, as far as I know you had no issues in calling Princess Ignatia something other than ‘Your Highness’ and ‘Princess’ - even before you were married to each other. So, please call me Keitha.”

I guess I should have been a bit shocked, but it hardly was a secret inside that little palace at Sicels what I had done with Ignatia.

“Thank you for the honor ... Keitha. In fact, I already threatened to try to cause Parlan some minor bodily harm if he called me ‘Sir’.”

“I see. What kind of bodily harm had you planned for me, then? Something similar to what you did to Ignatia?”

Only my years of practice with the Elven women allowed me to drink my wine as though nothing extraordinary had been said. Like it was quite normal that the Princess teased me like that. I raised my eyebrows.

“I have no intention to cause any bodily harm to any woman, ever.”

Princess Keitha was about to say something but then we were informed that dinner was being served. The flash in her eyes told me that we probably weren’t done yet.

The dinner was good, not really extraordinary but very good, and the wine that was served with it accompanied it perfectly. When I complimented the food to the cook I could see that the woman was pleased and the Princess kept looking at me - silently. The dessert was a simple berry trifle, not too sweet but also very good.

During dinner, and while enjoying the dessert, our discussion had been about food and wine, nothing about business or what had happened in Sicels or what was happening in Aston or in Kingdom in general.

“There’s some coffee served in library - I have heard that that you might like coffee.”

“Thank you Keitha, I have to admit that I really do.”

Once the coffee had been served, the Princess started asking me more questions about Sicels and what had happened there. Why the local Royals had become popular among the normal people. How come they cared so much about the normal people, not just themselves. It was as though she was interested. Just as the coffee had been really good.

Finally it seemed that the Princess was happy with what she had been told.

“Your Highness - Princess Keitha. I think that I have now told you everything I can tell about Sicels. I also have an idea that you already knew most, if not all, about that. I have had a nice meal and good wine together with some great coffee. Now, are you ready to tell me why you really wanted to meet me?”