eth gently roused Kat from her slumber when the evening meal was ready.
"Hello," she yawned. "I believe I've been asleep."
"Yes, and Seth has no feeling left in his legs," Kali teased, placing the bowl of potatoes on the huge table.
Kat stretched and stood, helping Seth to his feet a moment later.
"I'm not complaining," he said. "I had a nice nap too."
Kat smiled at him, then went to help Kali and Anastasia bring in the bread and meat from the kitchen. Once again, Jade noticed the size of the table, and was puzzled at it. It seated them all with room to spare, but that much room wouldn't usually be needed.

Over the course of the meal, Kat and Seth outlined their plan for the next two weeks. They would enter the city with the rest of the Kumpania, then Kat, Seth, Erick and Marc would somehow find their way within the palace. Revenge would be had, and they would return to the homestead. No mention was made of how this would be accomplished, or what would happen after that, and Jade exchanged an uneasy look with Darryl.

***

"I've been thinking," Kat said as the horses weaved their way through the trees.
"Yes?"
"About who will rule, after we extract our vengance."
"Oh. I hadn't thought of that."
"I didn't think you had. Who is next in line for the succession? Is it still Antonie?"
"I'm not sure, to be honest. I know there was talk that he was trying to discredit Antonie, saying that his appointment as next in line for the throne was nothing more than a childish whim on the part of the Kralisi."
Kat snorted.
"Bullshit. He knows as well as we do that she considered all his children to be just as incompetent as he is. It was only a shame that she couldn't overrule his claim to the throne."
"None the less, he was trying to get Antonie dropped to below his children."
"If only Antonie had been twenty-one!"
"I'd say that he planned it that way, Kat. If Antonie had been 21, he would have been crowned. It was only because he was still underage that the bastard managed to steal the throne."
"Is Antonie at the castle?"
"He will be."
"I'm surprised he's still alive, to be honest."
"The priests haven't denied his application, yet. I expect something bad will happen to him as soon as he finds out that the priests won't overrule the Kralisi's decision."
"I still find it had to believe that he could so easily kill his own nephew and niece."
"He'd do anything to get and keep the throne for his line of the family."
"So we are agreed that we will find Antonie and prepare him for what is to come?"
"Uh, hang on a second. What good will that do?"
"Antonie needs to be prepared to take charge as soon as the news spreads, and address the people to show that he is a competent ruler."
"Every additional person who knows, Kat, is a risk to us."
"I know. But it's necessary."
"Alright, but only Antonie! Nobody else!"
"Of course."
"Good. Let's ride, we're falling behind."

***

Jade stood in the kitchen, stirring the pot full of soup. It was a huge pot, and Jade had laughingly joked to Anastasia that there was enough soup to feed them all for a month in that pot. Anastasia had laughed and replied that the soup would last barely one meal, when one considered that she fed all her workers as well. It had been that comment that left Jade puzzled. The comment indicated that there were close to 150 people somewhere on the farm. She knew of the five of them, and she'd seen the two stable boys when she first arrived, and the three house maids cum kitchen hands, but that left another 140 people that she hadn't seen, or heard of. And it didn't explain the table, which had been puzzling her from day one, because although it was big, it wasn't big enough to seat that many people.
"What are you thinking about so deeply?" Anastasia asked, dropping extra potatoes and onions into the pot.
"People," Jade replied, thoughtfully. "There must be close to 140 people living somewhere other than in this house."
"There's nearer 350. And they live in the workers huts, which are built within the woods."
"I don't understand."
"Well, let me explain. Catie," Anastasia summoned, "come and stir the soup, please."
The maid hurried over, and Anastasia produced a small stick of charcoal, then began sketching on the table.
"This is the road, these are the woods, this is the house. There is a village of sorts here. We own and work all this land."
Anastasia gently shaded a large section.
"Goodness, I can see why you need that many people working for you. But not even all that soup would feed 350 people."
"The soup is for lunch, dear. The women and children will have their lunch in the village, and the men will have the soup in the fields."
"How does it get there?"
"It gets divided up into 15 smaller cauldrons, and some of the women will take it out to the eating areas."
"That's quite an elaborate set up."
"Yes, but it's important to keep people happy."
"How do they get into town? That looks like solid trees there."
"They don't need to get into town. There's everything we need right there."
"You mean it's a completely contained town, hidden away where nobody knows where it is?"
"That's quite correct."
"But why?"
"There's another village on this side of the mountain, but they have their own cook. They have about 250 people there."
"But why so isolated?"
"I'm sure if you think about it, you'll come up with the answer, Jade. Why were you left here?"
"Because I'm a canan..." Jade replied thoughtfully.
"Indeed."
"But when we met Seth, he said it had been many years since a canan walked amongst them."
"That's true. We do not walk amongst them. They come here, if we are needed."
"So I'm not the only one."
"Of course not, dear. There's almost 260 of us, that we're aware of."
"Gosh."
Anastasia began polishing the charcoal marks off the table.
"Catie is a canan. Her gift is similar to yours and mine. But there are many others, with gifts like Kali and Sol's, some can produce illusions, others are simply wonderful with animals, others speak to metal, others speak to plants..."
"They speak to metal and plants?"
"Not literally," Anastasia smiled. "But they seem to be able to commune with the metal or the plant, and convince it to do what they want."
"That's amazing."
"There are a lot of wonderfully gifted people in this world. We few have found each other, and built a community where we can support each other, and nobody is maimed or tortured because of their wonderful gifts."
Jade thought suddenly of Sol, and nodded sadly.
"That sounds wonderful."
"I thought that I would take you to meet some of the women before you decide if you really do wish to stay here."
"We do," Jade replied, quickly. "Sol told us, through Kali, that there was plenty of free land where we could build ourselves a life."
"Indeed there is. But wouldn't you like to meet your neighbours before we begin construction?"
"That would be lovely."
"Very well. Kali and I will take you this afternoon. Sol has said he is taking Darryl stream fishing after lunch, so we will be free to move around."
"I cannot tell Darryl of the village?"
"Of course you can. You can tell him that the workers all live together in a small village, with their husbands and wives and children, and what a wonderful place it is, and what a wonderful place it would be to bring up your children, where they can play with the other village children and be completely safe."
"But I cannot tell him about the other gifted people," Jade said, intuitively.
"He will notice himself, in time. It is our policy that every new ungifted person gets to know everyone as people before we tell them they are gifted. They usually work it out for themselves after a short amount of time."
"How do you know that they won't run screaming once they find out?"
"Kali and Sol can tell if that is going to happen. If it is, we simply do not let them know of the village's existance."
"So by telling me about it now, you have already established that Darryl and I would live there quite happily without freaking out?"
"What an interesting phrase," Anastasia smiled. "Freaking out. I like that. Yes, we know that the two of you would fit into the village life most satisfactorily."
"I can't wait to go there."
"Then we shall go immediately after lunch."

"All those women were gifted?" Jade asked as they walked through the trees towards the house.
"No, not all. Some were simply the wives of gifted men."
"How can you tell who is gifted and who isn't?"
"You can't. That's the beauty of the place."
"It's so beautiful, and friendly, and such a wonderful atmosphere. I can't wait for our house to be built."
"I'm so pleased that you'll be staying," Kali smiled. "Sol and Darryl are getting along so well already, I can tell that they will be off fishing every Saturday together!"
Jade laughed.
"I have no doubt."
A loud honking noise greeted them as the house came in view, and Kali stopped, and placed a hand on her stomach.
Jade looked alarmed.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. There is my swan. My baby will come in three days."
"Well, there's lots of preparations to be done!" announced Anastasia. "Come, we have a lot more work to do now!"

***

Kat walked through the market, examining wares as she moved in a seemingly aimless fashion through the stalls. After a night's camp and a day's travelling, they had entered the city in the evening as planned, and the Kumpania had secured a five-day trading pass. The Romani people were setting up their stalls today, and laying out beading, fabrics, blankets, home-brewed drinks and other saleable items. Happily, they hadn't had any problems on the journey so far, and they would begin trading as soon as they were set up - after all, the five-day trading pass started the minute they had entered the city, and it hadn't been cheap. The Romani people would have to sell a lot of items to recoup the cost of this journey. Luckily, Seth didn't think this would be a problem. Erick, weaponless, save for a knife in his boot and a garotte twined around his wrist (with some Romani beads for decoration) walked at Kat's side. She was to make contact with the Kralisi's cousin, Antonie.

The market in the castle courtyard was the perfect excuse to enter the castle grounds, but it didn't get them where they needed to be. Luckily Kat's familiarity with the palace led them unerringly towards the stables.
"Alright. From here, I go alone."
"No."
"What?"
"No. I will not permit it. Where you go, I go. End of story. No discussion."
"You don't know how to behave."
"Then I shall just pretend I am your foreign cousin, and I don't know any better. I promised them both that I wouldn't let you out of my sight, and I won't. Now carry on."
With a sigh of exasperation, Kat walked confidently into the stables. She knew from long experience that it was near impossible to get your horse saddled while the market was on - the kitchen maids were all our buying and looking at things, and the stable hands were all out looking at the kitchen maids. Kat led the way through the stables and entered into the servant's quarters, near the kitchen. From there they made their way into the servant passages, and Kat walked purposefully through the passages towards the noble bedrooms, with Erick following silently. After a time, she stopped, and peeked out into a passageway. With nobody else around, she slipped into a corridor, opened a door, entered a bedroom and closed it gently behind them.
"Where are we?"
"My old bedroom. Shh, let me check if the Kralisi's room is in use."
Kat moved to a panel and pressed on a stone, then peered through the hole that appeared.
"Did she know that you could spy on her like that?"
"Of course. If she didn't want to be watched, she'd put a candle in front of it, and I wouldn't be able to see. We're in luck. It doesn't look like it's been touched since we moved out 13 months ago."
"13 months? That doesn't add up, Kat."
"These rooms were the rooms for heir to the throne and bodyguard. When the Kralisi became queen, we moved into the Royal rooms."
"Well, shouldn't Antonie be in here?"
"No... He was next in line for the thone, but he wasn't the heir apparant. The Kralisi's oldest child would have had this room, after he or she came of age."
"And before then?"
"Before then, they live in the childrens' quarters."
"Talk about complicated."
"Indeed. I'm hoping that with all the upheaval the past 6 months, Antonie hasn't been moved from his child's room to an adult room. He came of age 4 months ago, and so should have moved, but I'm betting the bastard didn't want to draw any extra attention to him. I guess we'll see."
"What's our next move."
"Well, I'd like your opinion on that. We can either write him a note and ask him to meet us here, or we can go to his room, hide, and wait for him to turn up."
"Right. Dangers?"
"The childrens' quarter is obviously far more populated, and the children are all heavily guarded, but Antonie's room is right across from a passage, so if we time it right, we won't be seen. If we get him to come here, there's less risk of being found, but he might not believe us, and bring guards, or just ignore it."
"What about a combination, then? We write him a note, then go to his room and hide, placing the note somewhere he'll find it. We'll see his reaction, then decide if we're going to reveal ourselves or not."
"You know, that's a good plan. Let me think about what to write."
Kat paused for a moment, then removed a charcoal stick from the desk, and a scrap of linen. She wrote for a moment, then handed it to Erick.
"What do you think?"
He looked at the page, and smiled.
"I can speak your tongue, Kat, not read it."
"Oh. Of course. It says:
'Bug,
The small pink flower was cut and tossed in the sea. If you value your life and wish to speak with us, wear her flower at your breast.
Snow.'
What do you think?"
"Bug?"
"It was the Kralisi's name for him. Antonie is easily shortened to Ant, but she called him bug."
"And snow?"
"That's me. It has two meanings, both because of where I was raised, and because Katerina apparently means pure in one of the countries we studdied."
"And all of the middle."
"Does it help if I tell you that the Kralisi's true name was Erika?"
"Not at all."
"Erika is a cognate of Erica, which is Latin for heather - ie. the small pink flower."
"Ah. Good. And you think he'll understand all that?"
"I hope so."
"Well in that case, it's a wonderful letter."
"Great. Let's go then."