"Careful, Ketil! Be careful." Kaia grabbed his bad shoulder as he lost his balance.

He let out a cry of pain and grabbed onto the nearest tree limb for support.

"Oh sorry! Sorry!"

"I'm okay," he limped forward a little, using a walking stick to steady himself.

"You should be at home resting up." She looked back at him, carrying the baby in a bag on her back. "Your ankle is in no shape to bear your weight."

"It will have to do. I have to learn to walk and run on it."

"You will make it worse, Ketil. You're going to hurt yourself." She took his hand as the well-packed snow turned to river rocks. "You're going to twist your other ankle and I can't carry you back to the house on my own, especially not with Kaspar."

"I will be fine Kaia. You remind me of Anubis in a way. If Anubis was actually externally nice, but I know deep down she's a good person. She's just very driven. Very driven and ambitious."

"Is she your girl?"

Ketil laughed. "No, no. Well...there was one time we had something like a relationship, but that didn't last very long. We were at each other's throats for a week or two and we eventually figured maybe that wasn't a healthy relationship. She is the leader of our group and a very powerful batræ. She's very smart and cunning—that's the only way she's managed to survive in Rajsend for so long. She's terrifying and I mean that in the kindest way possible."

Kaia let out a hmmm noise. "It's a very curious group you have. All of them are batræ?"

"We are all batræ."

She looked back at him. "You?"

"Yes?"

"The Prince of Polaria is blessed?" Her eyebrows furrowed. "Why have we never heard of this?"

Ketil shrugged, "the House of Østberg is not known for its mercy. Ever since I revealed my abilities, I have caused nothing but harm to my family. And upon my father's death, I was slaughtered because of them. It's a custom. Can't have a batræ sit on the throne. I don't understand it and would prefer not to."

Kaia shook her head, "none of us would have ever known." She stopped beside a small branch of the river that looked shallow enough to wade across, dropping the basket she carried on her shoulder.

Ketil shook his head, "I'm not very strong. I can maybe hold onto my ability for five or six minutes, but it starts to slip and I get sloppy. It all depends on the material of the statue too. Wood and clay are much easier to bend to my will, and softer stones are okay, but hard stones like granite? It's almost impossible to move precisely."

"I don't understand, why would Aslaug kill you? She's trying to gather all the batræ she can find. It seems you would be her biggest asset."

"She's preparing for war."

Kaia stopped, looking back to him with wide eyes. "War?"

"Against Rajsend."

She shook her head, "no." But in her eyes, there was a spark of realization. "When?"

"I don't know." He leaned against a tree, resting for just a moment. "All I know is the battle will last longer than the Rieusn Wars. People will die. It will be the bloodiest mark on our history."

Kaia halfheartedly lifted her skirt, tying it in a knot above her knees. She turned to him with furrowed eyebrows. "It will take my son. It will take Olve. It will destroy everything else I have in this life. War. Damn that idea."

Ketil nodded, watching as she took Kaspar from the bag on her back, holding him close to her chest. "He's no soldier. He can't be a soldier for a war that doesn't matter. He doesn't have murder in his eyes."

"I know."

Kaia shook her head, brushing a finger over the baby's nose. "I have work to do, hold Kaspar for me. He usually sleeps about this time."

Ketil sat down on the rocks, wincing at the pain across his body. It was a constant throb now, but it was better than the previous day. He could move a little more and he found that with his arm in a sling, his collarbone didn't hurt nearly as much.

Kaia knelt in front of him, carefully placing the baby in his lap. She smiled a little as he stirred, little hands reaching up to grab onto Ketil's coat.

"Kaspar, come on little one." She took his fingers away, eyes softened. "Alright now, you be good, yes? I'll be right here."

The child only stared at her and then at Ketil.

Kaia stepped away, tugging at her knee high boots. She grabbed the basket she dropped and slung it around her neck. She waded into the water up to mid-calf, stooping to search the water. She brought up a rock, covered in black and red streaked shells.

"Mussels?" Ketil asked, shifting Kaspar so his head rested against Ketil's good arm. The baby was quiet, just staring up at him with large eyes. His hands still grasped onto Ketil's shirt, despite Kaia telling him otherwise

"Yes!" She answered, scraping them from the rock and into the basket around her neck. "They're a pain, but there are plenty of them this season. It's an easy meal," she struggled with the knife for a moment before managing to pry the muscles from the rock.

"Olve will be home soon," she struggled with another mussel. "I hope to get enough for the next day or so." She let out a sigh, "the damned things."

"Can I help with something?"

"You're helping with Kaspar and that's enough." She threw a rock into the water angrily. "Drass! Have your stupid rock!"

The baby startled at the noise, letting out a cry. Kaia looked back with a tired sigh, "I have made a mistake."

Ketil carefully lifted the baby up against his chest, his arm in the sling trying to help support the child's bottom. "Come on there, don't cry. Don't cry."

That didn't work.

"Oh come now, I don't know anything about children."

"He'll stop crying, just hold him tighter for a while. He'll be fine." Kaia struggled with the mussels again.

"Here," Ketil held onto his tiny hand, the small fingers wrapped around his thumb. "I don't usually do this, but you're cute. You can be the exception. Let's see....how does it go? Ah Anubis would die if she saw me right now."

He thought hard about songs, his brain empty except for the hearty ballads that were belted out across beerhalls and bars in both Rajsend and Polaria. And maybe the beerhall songs weren't the type of song to soothe a baby.

"Oh, okay, let's see. Sing a song for your muse, young wanderer."

Kaia looked back at him with a smile. "That song, really?"

"It's the only one I could think of. It's not like I've sang or heard many lullabies in my time. Rajsend has some very crude songs, all of which involve some very unsavory things."

"No, I just think it's funny which song you began. I haven't heard it in years."

Ketil paused, looking down as the baby continued to scream. "Anubis would die if she could see me. I'd never sing in front of her. Where were we?—Sing a song for your muse. Paint it with gold, with fine fine silver. Then you can be again. "

He started on the second verse, but Kaia joined in, singing in a hearty voice. "Play a song for your lover, young traveler. Play a song for her. Play with flutes and lutes and your heart. Then you can love again."

The baby was beginning to calm now, his screams turning into soft cries.

Ketil sang the last verse alone."Dance a dance for your heart, young stranger. Dance a dance for you. Dance until your tired feet grow weary. Then you can live again."

The baby let out a coo, reaching out to touch his nose as he leaned his face down. He shushed him, "there you go. See? That wasn't so bad. I think you would like my friend Vasco, he would know exactly how to handle a baby. Maybe you'll get to meet him, he's a good man. They're all good people at heart."

Kaspar looked up to him, something like a smile across his features. He stuck his fingers into his mouth before reaching up to touch Ketil again.

"For someone with no experience with children, you seem to be pretty good at it." Kaia stepped out of the water, slipping the basket strap across her chest. She gave him a smile, kneeling beside them. She took the baby in her arms. "Ever think about having one of your own?"

Ketil laughed anxiously, "I don't think that would be a good idea. I don't think I'd be a very suitable father."

Kaia shrugged, "just a thought." She slipped the baby back into the bag on her back. "Come on, Olve should be home now."

She grabbed his arm, helping him to his feet. He limped forward with the use of his cane, following Kaia back to the cabin.

"Go sit down and rest now. Can you get your boots off?"

Ketil sat down on his bed, wincing. He bent over a little, stopping when the stabbing in his ribs became too much. His good hand worked at the laces and Kaia dropped the basket full of mussels by the sink.

"Bless your soul, let me help." She knelt, carefully untying the laces and slipping the boots off. "That's a bit better, yes? Your ankle is swollen."

Ketil stared at his ankle. The skin was swollen and bruised. It was a thousand wonders Kaia had managed to take his boot off without causing him much pain.

"You're not going to walk on it nearly as much, understand? You need to heal and rest." She stood back up, laying Kaspar back in the bassinet.

Ketil nodded, his head rested against his fist. He watched her stoke the fire, taking water from a kettle and poring it into a basin. She went about her business of cleaning the barnacles off the mussels, humming to herself as she worked.

"Can I help with something?"

"Unless you can feed Kaspar—which I don't think you can."

Ketil sighed. "I just feel useless. I want to help you."

"You need to rest first and foremost. After you heal a bit, you can help around the house. Wait—I've got something for you to do."

She opened a cabinet, pulling out a burlap sack. "Potatoes. You can peel and slice them."

"I can do that." She took a knife from the counter, grabbing a bowl. She handed him the sack of potatoes, the knife, and the bowl with raised eyebrows.

"Peel and cut three potatoes and don't throw out the peelings, they can be cooked later."

Ketil got to work, carefully peeling the purple potatoes in a somewhat decent way. He'd never been great at cooking and when peeling vegetables, he tended to make a mess of things. But he would try his best for Kaia.

Ketil started on his second potato as the door opened with a gust of wind. "Kaia!" A man yelled, "give me a hand, I can't carry him any longer."

She immediately dropped her knife, running to the door where an older man carried a half-conscious and bloody Olve.

"Olve! What's wrong? What happened? Elder Sjei, what's wrong?" She quickly took half of Olves weight, carrying him into the other room of the cabin—their bedroom. Ketil stood quickly, shutting the door and hobbling to them.

Kaia carefully laid him on their bed, looking to Elder Sjei. "Would you get some water and a rag for me? Oh Olve, you're bloody. You're getting blood on our bed."

Olve looked to her, his face colored with purple bruises and dried blood. "Kaia, I'm alright. Calm down. I'm okay." He took her hand as she brushed thick strands of bloody hair from his face.

Elder Sjei returned with a basin of water and a towel. Kaia went to work cleaning away the blood.

"What happened?" Ketil interrupted, leaning on a doorframe.

"Thugs, they beat me up. Kept asking where you were. The one hit me with a cobblestone," he winced as Kaia dabbed at a spot on his forehead.

"Someone asked for me? What did they look like?"

Olve shook his head, "I can't remember, but one spoke with a Polarian accent and knew Elder Sjei's name."

"They threatened us, Prince." The elder said, his arthritic hands wrapping around the bedpost.

"Wait, you know who I am?"

"I'd be blind if I couldn't see the resemblance." He shook his head. "Olve told us when he pulled you from the river who you were. I didn't believe him, but after all of us got a good look at you, we knew you were the killed Østberg Prince. Olve agreed to shelter you and that has proven to be a dangerous thing."

"What did these people look like?"

Elder Sjei paused, "one was blond and tall, he spoke Polarian and knew how to throw a punch. The other one had dark skin and short hair, he remained silent."

Ketil shook his head, it couldn't be the Order. Lio would have threatened him by shadow walking, Raziel wouldn't have been allowed to go on a mission like that, and Vasco wouldn't have remained silent in that situation—besides, neither of them had short hair.

"I think it's time you tell us why you're here," Olve muttered from the bed. "Why did you return to Polaria?"

Ketil stared at them and they stared back, waiting for an answer. He cleared his throat. "I have returned to assassinate my sister."

Silence filtered through the room.

"I am part of a group of batræ working under orders of the Rajsend Tsar. My sister, the Empress, is planning on declaring war on Rajsend and as much as I hate Rajsend, who knows how many innocent men will die in the crossfire. So the Tsar issued me to kill her and take her place, in exchange he will abolish the Inquisition and end the persecution of riesun within the empire. All I have to do is kill Aslaug and take her place, then the world will fall into balance. Or at least, that's what's supposed to happen."

"This is treason," Elder Sjei whispered. "But it is necessary."

"I know." He couldn't meet their eyes. "And I hate it."

"The men that beat me, are they part of your group then?" Olve said, sitting up a little.

"No, I don't think they are," Ketil whispered.

"Then Empress Aslaug knows you have returned," Elder Sjei whispered. "She knows and she plans on killing you and everyone who aids you."