'One loud cousin, and suddenly my whole family history needs a royal witness.'
Hajin hitched the pack higher as Didi drew level with him beside the tenant farms.
"So, House Flint," she said, tucking the folded blanket higher, "talk."
"Technically not my family since I turned sixteen, their records are real firm about it."
"Exile, then, and Kenny finds it worth announcing to strangers," she drawled, sidestepping a cart.
He kicked a pebble out of her path and snorted, "Kenny announces anything that makes somebody else look smaller, thinking quietly would kill him."
"What do the records say?"
"No elemental talent, no seat in the main house, so as far as they care, some unranked commoner walked out and stayed gone," he grumbled, easing the strap off his cracked side.
'No pity on her face, good, I hate owing people for feeling sorry.'
"He seemed awfully eager to make it public."
Hajin leaned on a fence post as a wagon turned ahead, "Cousin gets five Shards and thinks they pay for his mouth, but the main house keeps people for quieter solutions."
Her fingers tightened on the blanket as the stalled wagon creaked forward, "What kind?"
"The kind that shows up without a letter and ties off the loose end." He watched the wheels roll on until their noise covered the rest.
"And if anyone at court hears this, I turn into a correction somebody important can request."
Didi stopped dead beside the post, refusing to take another step until he turned around.
He faced her across the cleared patch, both hands on the strap, "Promise it stays here, I'm not asking you to defend their honor, just to keep me breathing long enough to insult it."
"You carried me out while the men sworn to protect me lay dead on that road," she said, her voice cracking, her free hand pressed above the cloak clasp.
"I won't send you into more danger for the pleasure of repeating a name, your secret stays with me, that is my word."
"Thanks, a noble keeping something for me instead of taking it, that's new."
"Get used to it while walking, the palace still needs to hear about yesterday."
No promise could replace the escort she left with, and his own story could wait.
"Your records leave something out," she said, eyes narrowing, "a talentless exile shouldn't survive that thing while an entire escort fails."
"Records never list running under useful talents."
"Running while carrying another person," she huffed, one corner of her mouth twitching, "and knowing exactly when to start."
"Then add expensive judgment to my description, it comes with a blanket and a carrying fee." He tapped the blanket under her arm with a wince.
'Let her suspect the useful part, suspicion is cheaper than the whole palace poking my wrist.'
Juna drifted back until her shoulder brushed his sleeve while Didi rounded a wagon ahead.
She twisted the hem above her bandaged flank, ears flat, voice pitched beneath the creaking wheels.
"Master, I keep feeling hatred toward her, and I can't find a single thing she did to earn it."
Hajin froze mid-step, caught between the new title and the far worse confession.
'The warning's gone, unless something besides its words slipped across the bond with it.'
"Does it make you want to hurt her, or does it just show up where a reason should be?"
"It shows up," she muttered, nose wrinkling, "she shared our food and stood up for you, and it still comes."
"Maybe an old life owes us an explanation, if old lives left useful addresses..."
Juna grabbed his sleeve before he could step past, "Don't you dare joke, I choose who I hate, and this feels like an answer shoved in my hand before the question."
"Okay, no jokes, then keep choosing, a feeling doesn't get to command your hands, and we hunt down its source once we can ask better questions."
'Wait, she actually called me Master, and I almost missed it worrying about whose grudge rides this bond.'
Didi glanced from one face to the other at the next fence line, "She called you something back there, and my tutors drilled lip reading into me."
"Monster," he said instantly, raising one innocent palm, "a considered review of my cooking."
"Definitely monster." Juna stared hard at the road while both ears flattened against her hair.
"The cooking supports it."
"Obviously," she said flatly, rolling her eyes toward the gate, "such a difficult distinction."
A horn blasted twice from the parapet, and guards poured beneath the archway while merchants dragged their wagons aside fast. Shields closed around the folded blanket first, and the captain leading them dropped to one knee before Didi could speak.
He rose almost at once, eyes snapping from her ruined cloak to the sword on Hajin's hip, "Your Highness, where is the escort, what happened, and who brought you here?"
Didi opened her mouth, and nothing came out except one thin, broken breath.
Her fingers dug into the blanket, and her lips shaped a name she could not push past her clenched teeth. Hajin saw the same thing break her in the cave, when tears swallowed every question about the men left behind.
'Oh no, don't you dare read her silence as a confession, you armored idiot.'
The captain read the silence his own way and lunged, gauntlet reaching for the nearest stranger's collar, "What did you do to her, answer before I make you!"
He rocked back onto his rear heel, and the gauntlet snapped shut a finger short of his collar.
"Whoa, hands off, I bruise like a peach!"
Pain tore across his fractured ribs on the twist, and the second grab forced a smaller, uglier sidestep.
[ LurkerNoMore: two clean misses, maybe ask before trying a third ]
Juna bared her teeth with a low growl, and Hajin flung up a palm between her and the armor.
Three Shards flared around the gauntlet as the captain planted his feet, "Stand still, I will not ask again!"
"Stop!" Didi shoved through the gap in the shields before the raised hand could fall.
Frost spread beneath the captain's feet, freezing him mid-step on the ground he meant to claim.
"What are you doing to my saviors, Captain, in front of everyone waiting at this gate?"
"They're on no escort roll, Your Highness, we received no notice," he stammered, the Shards fading from his wrist.
Didi crossed the last step and slapped him hard across the cheek.
The crack silenced the drivers, leaving a handprint, and Juna covered her teeth while Hajin lowered his palm.
'Holy shit, she slapped a three-Shard captain in public, remind me never to annoy her.'
"Then write the roll," she snapped, jabbing a finger at the gate, "both enter the palace with me, both get food, hot water and thanks before another guard mistakes gratitude for an arrest."
"And send a physician and clean bandages to the royal wing, treatment comes before any interrogation."
"At once, Your Highness." The captain bowed low as the shield line opened toward the city.
[ CringeSlayer91: that captain just found the shortest possible route to a career review ]
[ ShadowMage44: saviors, both, the cave watch apparently counts even when the audience missed it ]
[ JunaFanClub: she almost bit the captain, glad somebody stopped the grabbing first ]
Hajin followed Didi beneath the portcullis while Juna kept to his injured side.
Rumor outran them through the market while Juna's nose chased roasted fowl and guards signaled for palace transport.
A carriage rolled up beyond the stalls, and footmen swung its door open before Didi reached it.
She set the blanket inside and glanced at his bent shoulder, "Keep your chin up when we arrive, the high lords examine weakness before they decide what gratitude should cost."
"My chin will manage, Your Highness, ask the physician to negotiate with the ribs instead." He lifted his chin toward the carriage and kept the smirk away from the guards.
Juna took the step up beside him rather than letting a footman's hand close around her elbow.
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