'Lady Katsa found it in the mountains to the east, Thiel,' said Bitterblue.
'To the east! Nothing lives to the east. The mountains are uninhabitable.'
'Lady Katsa found a tunnel, Thiel, under the mountains. It may be that there's inhabitable land beyond. Katsa,' said Bitterblue, 'did it act like a regular rat?'
'No,' Katsa responded firmly. 'It marched right up to me. I thought,
'It mesmerized you,' Bitterblue said grimly. 'That's how Leck described them in his stories.'
'It was something like that,' admitted Katsa. 'I had to close off my mind the way I might do around'—a quick glance at Thiel, who still shook his head back and forth ponderously—'a mind reader. Then I came to my senses. I'm dying to go back, Bitterblue. As soon as I have the time, I'll follow the tunnel all the way through.'
'No,' Bitterblue said. 'No waiting. I need you to go now.'
'Are you going to command me?' Katsa asked, laughing.
'No,' Po said, tight-mouthed. 'No commanding. We need to discuss this.'
'I need everyone to see it,' Bitterblue said, not listening. 'I need everyone's opinions, everyone who knows the stories and everyone who knows anything about anything. Darby, Rood, Death—Madlen, might she have some knowledge of animal anatomy?—Saf and Teddy and all those who know the stories from the story rooms. I need everyone to see this!'
'Cousin,' said Po quietly, 'I advise caution. You're spinning around with a sort of a wild gleam and Thiel is sitting there like a man lost inside himself. Whatever this thing is,' he said, running his fingers over the pelt with mild distaste, 'and I agree that it doesn't seem normal—whatever it is, it has a powerful effect on those who knew Leck. Don't just go flinging it at people. Go slow, and keep it secret, you understand me?'
'It's where he came from,' Bitterblue said. 'It's got to be, Po, and that means it's where I'm from too, a place where the animals look like this and cloud your mind, the same way he did.'
'It might be,' Po said. He was hugging her, his shirt smelling faintly of Katsa's furry coat, which comforted her, as if she were being hugged by both of them at once. 'Or it might just be a thing he knew of and made up crazy stories about. Take a breath, sweetheart. You can't figure it all out right now. We need to go a step at a time.'
PO AND RAFFIN were leaving the next day to take Giddon's tunnel into Estill and talk to the Estillan people about their plans for replacing King Thigpen. Katsa and Po spent the better part of the day snappish and irritable to everyone but each other. Bitterblue supposed it would be late before they could be alone together, and Po needed sleep if he was to spend the next day on a horse.
Then Katsa began to talk about accompanying the princes to Estill. Hearing this, Bitterblue called Katsa to her tower.
'Katsa,' Bitterblue said, 'why would you go with them? Do they need you, or is it a wish for more time with Po?'
'It's a wish for more time with Po,' Katsa said frankly. 'Why?'
'If you're considering going, then you mustn't be needed here. Right?'
'There's a lot I can do here with Bann, Helda, and Giddon. There's a lot I can do in Estill with Po and Raff. My presence isn't crucial right now in either place. I think I know where you're going with this, Bitterblue, and I'm afraid it's bad timing.'
'Katsa,' Bitterblue said. 'It matters so desperately to me where you were and what you saw, but even forgetting my personal reasons, even forgetting the rat, it matters that a passage has opened and we don't know where it leads. If there's a part of the world that we don't know about, nothing is more important than finding out about it. Not even the Estillan revolution is more important. Katsa—Leck told stories about a whole other kingdom. What if there are people over there, on the other side of the mountains?'
'If I go,' Katsa said, 'I could be gone a long time. Just because the Council doesn't need me now doesn't mean they won't need me in two weeks.'
'I need you.'
'You're a queen, Bitterblue. Send the Monsean Guard.'
'I could do that, even not trusting the Monsean Guard at the moment, but a company of soldiers doesn't move as fast as you, or as discreetly. And what'll happen when my soldiers get there? They won't have your mental strength or your Grace when they're beset by a pack of colorful wolves or some such. Nor will they be able to move without being seen, as you can, and I need someone to spy on what's over there, Katsa. You were made for this. It would be so neat and easy!'
'It would not be easy,' said Katsa, snorting.
'Oh, how hard do you think it would be?'
'Not hard to follow the tunnel, face wolves, poke around, and come back,' said Katsa, her voice growing sharp. 'Hard to leave Po just now.'
Bitterblue took a breath. She focused for a moment, centering herself around her stubbornness. 'Katsa,' she said, 'I don't like to be cruel. And I know I can't make you do anything you don't want to do. But—please—add it to the possibilities you're considering. Think about what it would mean if another kingdom exists on the other side of the mountains. If we're capable of discovering them, then they're capable of discovering us. Which would you rather happened first? Couldn't Po and Raffin delay their trip just a little bit longer?' she suggested. 'What's one more day? I'm sorry, Katsa,' she said, alarmed now, for big, round tears had begun to slide down Katsa's face. 'I'm sorry to ask for this.'
'You have to,' Katsa said, smearing the tears away, wiping her nose on her sleeve. 'I understand. I'll think about it. May I stay with you for a few minutes until I've got hold of myself?'
'You don't ever have to ask,' said Bitterblue, astonished. 'You may always stay as long as you like.'
And so Katsa sat in a chair, shoulders straight, breath even, scowling into the middle distance, while Bitterblue sat across from her, glancing at her worriedly now and then. Otherwise pushing her eyes across finance reports, letters, charters, and more charters.
After a short while, the door opened and Po slipped in. Katsa began to cry again, silently. Bitterblue decided to take her charters downstairs to work on them in the lower offices.
As she left the room, Po went to Katsa, pulled her up, sat himself in her chair, and drew her into his lap. Shushing her, he rocked her, the two of them holding on to each other as if it were the only thing keeping the world from bursting apart.
THEY SENT HER a note later in the day. Ciphered in Katsa's hand, it read:
'Is it always like that?' asked Bitterblue at dinner.
Giddon and Bann, her two dinner companions, turned to blink at her, puzzled. The others had dined with them too, but then they'd all run back to their plans and preparations, which was as Bitterblue liked it. Giddon and Bann were the people she most wanted to ask about this, though Raffin would also have been welcome.
'Is what always like what, Lady Queen?' asked Giddon.
'I mean,' said Bitterblue, 'is it possible to have a—' She wasn't sure what to call it. 'Is it possible to share someone's bed without tears, battles, and constant crises?'
'Yes,' said Bann.
'Not if you're Katsa and Po,' said Giddon at the same time.
'Oh, stop it,' Bann protested. 'They go long stretches of time without tears, battles, or crises.'
'But you know they both love a good blowup,' said Giddon.
'You make it sound as if they do it on purpose. They always have good reason. Their lives are not simple and they spend too much time apart.'
'Because they choose to,' Giddon said, rising from the table, going to bank up the dying fire. 'They don't need to spend so much time apart. They do it because it suits them.'
'They do it because the Council requires it,' Bann said to Giddon's back.
'But they decide what the Council requires, don't they? As much as we do?'
