Come morning, Reid was still asleep when the princess returned. Having already taken care of her business for the morning, she sat down and patiently waited for him to awaken, listening to the medic's report and having the bandage on her wrist changed while she waited. When the medics finally left her alone, Grastian resumed earnestly praying for Reid.

The bed had already been adjusted to bring him back out of unconsciousness, the medic said, because he was out of danger from his injury and showing no organ damage from loss of blood. His lips were dry and his eyes still sunken, Grastian noticed, but his color was starting to improve. The fluids being pumped into his body were no longer red but had changed to light yellow, indicating fluids, nutrients and medicine.

Eventually, he blinked, struggling to open his eyes. "Good morning," Princess Grastian greeted him quietly when he was awake. "Would you like a sip of water?"

"Yes please, Your Highness." His voice was harsh and Grastian knew his throat must be dry. Having been trapped in just such a bed once with a childhood illness, Grastian knew how he felt.

A medic handed Grastian a cup for him to sip from. "Just a swallow or two though," she warned the princess. "His system won't be able to handle much more than that until the stasis paralysis wears off. After that happens, we will need to change the settings on the bed before he can drink or eat much."

"Why can't I move?" Reid asked when he'd taken a couple of swallows.

The princess sat his cup aside. "Because I had a stasis rod built in to the end of my weapon that would put you into a temporary state of suspended animation."

He raised his eyebrows. "So, you had a secondary weapon too. No wonder you didn't even blink when I threw my dagger."

"I had to make it look like I'd killed you without actually letting you bleed to death and that was the best way I could think of," Grastian explained, defending her choice of weapon.

"Unfortunately, stasis paralysis takes a while to wear off. Not only that, but infirmary beds have the capability to keep your body immobile while you heal, so even after the stasis is gone, you probably still won't be able to move much."

She paused in order to grin. "Fortunately, despite being annoying, these beds also have a nerve block function to keep you from feeling much pain."

He frowned a little. "I'm not in any pain at all," Reid objected in confusion.

She bent down to check the monitor under his head. "According to this, you're actually in a great deal of pain right now but the bed is blocking the signals inside your body from reaching your brain, so you can't feel it. As soon as the doctors are sure you aren't going to lose your arm, they'll let you up. As it is, they've only just decided that I didn't actually kill you, which is why they let you wake up at all."

Grastian bit her lip, remembering the tense time aboard the shuttle. Thank You for not letting me kill him, she prayed silently.

"And what will you do with me when I'm released from the bed?" he asked. Grastian could hear the unspoken ideas in his voice. Was he a slave, a prisoner for holding her and the twins as slaves?

"Don't worry about that right now. Just rest and heal, okay?" Grastian suggested, trying to reassure him without having to explain when he was so weak. "We're still nearly a week away from Axteryx, so you have time."

"I don't deserve to rest," he told her bitterly. "Because I lost, almost everyone I care about is descending into a hellish nightmare by now."

His jaw clenched and Grastian could tell that he was working to quell his emotions. She realized that his anxieties stemmed from the fears he held for his people. Her respect for him grew.

"Would you like to know what happened to those slaves after you left, Princess?" he asked bitterly. "As soon as enough of my blood hit the sensors, my master sent another to take over. I doubt that their new master will care about my people the same way I do, so you didn't free anyone. I tried so hard to take care of them without breaking the master's rules, and for what? Only . . ."

Princess Grastian laid her fingers over his lips and hushed his bitter words. When he was listening, she pointed to a screen on the wall. "I want to show you something," she told him. "Almost every room of this ship has security sensors, so I had this recorded for you last night."

On the screen, Reid watched her introduce herself and her family. "Grace?" he asked in wonder, staring at her. "Is it truly you?" She nodded. "Ben and Ryan too?" Again, she nodded, trying not to take his attention from the screen. "I've been so worried about you." Reid looked like he wanted to say more but the arresting images on the screen recaptured his attention.

Grastian could see him trying to count so she whispered, "they're all there, Reid. Please stop worrying."

He grinned up at her briefly then returned his attention to the screen. When he saw the former slaves learn of their new home and the images of Regula III, there was a yearning and sadness in his expression. After the screen went dark, he looked up at her face. "Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?"

"That my people are free; that you're taking them there."

"Yes, of course I did. As Oberon said, we're returning the favor."

"I have wished every day since I was a boy that they could all be free. I've tried my utmost to make them as free as I possibly could but no matter how many liberties I gave them, they were still slaves. No matter what happens to me, at least I'll know they're safe. Thank you for letting me see that."

He frowned a little. "You could have simply killed me and still freed them. Why did you do all of this, Grace?" His eyes rolled around the infirmary to clarify his question.

"I need your help and it seemed like a good way to get your attention at the time?" Grace tried to tease. Reid pursed his lips, not amused.

The mirth left her. "The whole time I was in your holdings, I watched you, watched the way you treated us. I knew how you managed your finances, how you made your little patch of that desert planet bloom and I knew you'd make a good general and an honest advisor for my father, my brothers and I; not to mention an excellent governor for Regula III."

"You could have just asked," he pointed out mildly, his tone faintly reproving.

Grace shook her head with a sardonic smile, not allowing him to treat her as he had when he considered her his slave. "Reid, if an off-worlder slave you just bought had come to you saying that she was a princess from a distant galaxy and her two little brothers were supposed to inherit four solar systems, that they'd been kidnapped and needed your help to get home, would you have helped her?"

He didn't reply but she could see the answer in his eyes.

"And barring that, if, after a period of several years, she'd come to you to explain that her brothers were ready to defend themselves and needed to return home to inherit a vast kingdom, would you have taken her seriously, or would you have brushed her off? My first priority has always been my father's heirs."

She paused for a moment to let him think about it. Still, he didn't answer.

"And if we had landed the shuttle yesterday afternoon, went into your office over dinner and asked you to come with all of your slaves, would you have?"

"So you need my help . . ." he prompted to change the subject.

Grastian resisted the urge to laugh. ". . . to help me lead the soldiers against smuggler and pirate strongholds on Regula III, yes. Father plans to offer you a commission as a general as soon as you're strong enough to get up. We're hoping you will be the commander of the armed forces garrisoned on Regula III, to protect the citizens from pirates and smugglers.

"If you accept, you'll come with us to Axteryx to train your troops before you follow the others to Regula III. Once you've taken control of the port city, I'd like you to serve as my governor as well."

"Why not one of your own generals?" Reid asked her doubtfully. "Surely your father has plenty of generals to go; why me?"

Grastian thought furiously. She could hardly tell him it was because she'd asked her father for him as a favor! "Because you aren't embroiled in politics like they are," she answered after a slight hesitation, "and because you will have a vested interest in keeping everyone safe, where Father's generals care very little about Regula III, beyond leaving it as soon as possible."

He grinned a little at her sarcasm.

Warmed to the subject, Grastian explained, "I begged Father for Regula III instead of the dukedom he'd planned for me because that planet is so special to me. It has so much potential but the people that are left have all but been abandoned by the people sworn to protect them.

'I've seen for myself how well you and everyone in your holdings can do with reclaiming land like that, how well you can defend yourselves. That's why I wanted everyone from your holdings to live there and why it has to be you to govern. Please, will you help me?"

Grastian fell silent, hiding a wince at her lack of stately comportment. She hadn't wanted to sound quite that desperate but the more she'd talked about her planet, the more impassioned she became. That hadn't changed since her initial report on the planet when she had been a girl of fourteen.

"I will do whatever it takes to keep my people safe, no matter where they live," Reid assured her with grim purpose, "as much as they were mine, I have been theirs."

Remembering the distance he'd put between himself and his slaves, remembering the times he'd seemed to want to join them all in some fun but had held back, Grastian began to understand.

The side of his bed beeped and a medic came to check the readout. "Your Highness, he needs rest," the medic warned. "Using a stasis rod when an artery is severed overly-stresses the heart."

The princess nodded, hearing the rebuke in his tone. "I'll be back later then. When can Reid have more visitors?"

"This afternoon perhaps, as long as it doesn't tax him too much. Why?"

"Because there are one hundred, eighty-two people who will want to see him." Knowing the number was a bit higher than he expected, she grinned at Reid's confusion without explaining the difference.

"I cannot promise anything, Your Highness," the medic told her gravely. "It will depend on how well he does between now and then. As it is, his stress levels are dangerously high. He needs rest. Now, we haven't seen to your own hurts lately. Come."

Grastian could feel Reid's interested gaze on her. "They are insignificant compared to the needs of others," she denied, ready to launch into a defense.

"If you keep walking on your ankle, you could permanently damage the tendons despite the brace," warned the medic. "Your wrist is in danger of infection and the cut on your abdomen is . . ."

"Is insignificant," insisted the princess.

The medic leveled a pointed stare, lips pursed. Grastian sighed, knowing the medic was correct. Reid had nearly disemboweled her with that injury; only a thin layer of musculature had prevented her death and allowed her to continue the fight.

"Cut on your abdomen . . ." murmured Reid thoughtfully, "ankle?" His eyes widened. "I remember! Oh, Grace! I could have killed you."

An expression of horror and fear overtook his face. The insistent beep from the bed grew in intensity until a medic went to tend him. She adjusted some controls and Reid went slack, having been put back to sleep.

"Was that absolutely necessary?" groused the princess. "He might lose the memory again."

"Better that than stopping his heart again," retorted the medic. "Bring them by family for five minutes at a time. We have to get his stress levels down and that might help. I'll let you know when he's had enough. Now, about you . . ."

From the infirmary, Princess Grastian headed below decks, to where the refugees had been berthed. The crutches she was forced to employ and the hard cast on her ankle impeded her stride. The first door she knocked on opened to Raza's family.

"Grace! Your leg!" Raza exclaimed then lowered her eyes. "I mean, Mistress. . . Your Highness." Everyone in the room scrambled to their feet when Raza admitted their visitor.

Princess Grastian studied the family before her. Everyone appeared to have been weeping and Grastian knew she was the cause of their grief. To a soul, she realized, every one of the former slaves felt she'd killed their beloved master and Raza had been there beside her master when he'd 'died'.

"Raza, you are free, remember? You have no master except the king. But as Princess Grastian, I have a surprise for you and your family after lunch."

"Does everyone in your kingdom eat three times a day?" blurted the former translator artlessly from behind her mother.

"It is our custom," explained Princess Grastian with a grin, "but some choose to skip it when the occasion warrants."

"This is our oldest daughter, Tike, even if her manners are lacking just now," introduced Draz with a scowl at the girl. "Thank you for finding her!"

"It was purely God's grace," admitted the princess honestly. Belatedly, she remembered that Reid had already told her the girl's name. "She was the only one on the slave block who could understand me."

"I've been a translator in the city for a few years now," explained Tike, "and your language isn't all that much different from ours if you know how to speak . . ."

"Drevanian," finished the princess with a laugh, finally fully understanding Reid's comment of the day before. "My brothers and I learned to speak that when we were children. No wonder we didn't have a problem when we were sold!"

Tike's gaze flew to her mother, who promised to explain everything. "Your surprise will be ready sometime after lunch. I'll be back then," the princess vowed, then left to go knock on the next door.

Her mission was one she'd taken on the spur of the moment and hadn't wanted to delegate it to the crew nor left to an impersonal, general announcement despite the other responsibilities that weighed heavily at her and the rest her body screamed for. Eventually, she'd spoken to all of the refugees and was returning to her parents' quarters for lunch.

Over the light meal, the talk turned, of course, to Reid and the princess' plans for him. He was to begin at the palace where he could heal and train a platoon of soldiers to take with him to Regula III. It would also give him a chance to learn more about the kingdom and get to know the royal family as a whole. As soon as he was ready, Princess Grastian would take over as lord of the planet, a goal she'd set for herself nearly a decade beforehand.

After lunch, the princess returned as promised to Raza's family cabin and led them down the corridor. "Princess Grace," Raza told her, "I have something I must tell you."

"Please do, Raza," smiled the princess, not caring to correct her friend for using a familiar name instead of her formal one.

Raza didn't smile back. "The master stopped eating after you and the boys left, and he didn't smile much either. No one can cook like you; the wrestling bouts were almost half-hearted without your boys egging the rest on. We didn't know what to do with the wounded. The entire compound fell pretty much silent without the three of you. We've missed you all terribly."

"He stopped eating?" The princess slowed her steps as she pondered it. Nearly forty of Reid's people had been missing at the duel. Did her absence account for the loss in numbers?

"It was like something was strangling him. He'd eat a few bites and that was it, no matter what we made him."

Princess Grastian thought about his words in the ring. "He didn't really fight me as hard as he could have, did he?" she asked. Knowing she'd barely won, Grace was almost grateful.

"No, he didn't. Like us, he thought his masters had sent you to kill him, so he had no reason to win." Raza's voice cracked. "I wish he could be here with us now, to see you and the twins."

"I'm so sorry," the princess whispered, feeling acute guilt over their misplaced sorrow.

They fell silent until she reached the infirmary door and turned to address the small family group. "There's someone in there you all need to meet. His name is Reid and he's very weak just now, so you only have about five minutes to say hello."

Princess Grastian opened the door and stepped back. Curiously, the refugees filed into the room. The princess grinned when she heard their exclamations of joy but she didn't go in. The doctors would herd Reid's visitors out at the end of their five minutes.

Group after group went to visit their former master, each for five minutes at a time. By the end of the day, morale had improved vastly 'below decks'. The attitude of the refugees transformed from that of grateful victims to adventurous celebration.

The medics assigned to evaluate, treat and vaccinate the refugees reported improvement in their patients' overall health after the visits. Mentors from Regula III reported a vast rise in interest about the planet and her inhabitants. Also, the women's 'head' in the barracks was almost overwhelmed as single young women suddenly found new reasons to preen in front of the mirrors and improve their appearances.

****

The injured man was exhausted by his constant stream of visitors so, despite the vast improvement in his vital signs, he slept through the evening and didn't wake up until late the following morning. Wisely, the princess stayed away until medics told her he was awake.

"Grace, that was one hundred, seventy-seven people," Reid told her with a grin when she walked through the door. "You said 'one hundred, eighty-three'. Unless you can bring the dead-and-buried to life as well, I think you might have miscounted."

He'd raised his head off the bed to watch her approach but as soon as she was seated, he rested it back against the bed. In response, the mattress pushed it forward a little as if he were resting on a pillow.

"I didn't miscount," she assured him with a grin. "I, myself am one hundred, seventy-eight just now and there are four more people after me who want to see you but you were so tired, they thought to wait. My brothers are anxious to see you again and you have yet to truly meet my parents. They want to thank you for taking the boys in hand, among other things."

"Thank you for bringing everyone to see me. I saw you through the door a few times," he told her awkwardly. Grastian could see that he didn't know what was expected of him. She wondered if he considered himself her slave.

"I would never keep you from the people you love, Reid," Princess Grastian assured him, "and now you can tell them how you feel, since there are no slaves in my father's kingdom."

He smiled widely. "Oh, I did tell them. I have never been hugged more often than yesterday. I can't wait until I can return those hugs!" Reid tried to raise his hand but the bed prevented it beyond the twitch of his fingers. After a moment, he gave up with a frustrated sigh.

"The stasis paralysis has worn off," encouraged Grastian. "As soon as your arm is healed a bit more, the doctors will let you up." She frowned and her voice turned apologetic. "I understand I scraped bone, so they had a lot of arterial repairs to make from the damage. Most likely, you're going to be in a good deal of pain for a while, not to mention being weak and tired from the loss of blood. Reid, I . . ."

"So they tell me," he agreed before she could actually apologize again. "It's worth it though, if it means freedom for my people." Between them lay his unspoken fears for his own future. "At least your medics are letting me eat now," he finished hopefully.

"Are you eating though?" Grastian asked with a sharp expression despite her teasing tone. "Raza tells me you quit eating after we left."

"I missed you and the boys so much it hurt," he explained with gentle accusation. "When I saw those three pendants, it was a knife in my heart to know you'd run away instead of being stolen. You'd left my hovercraft with the pendants so I could get it back instead of selling it, so I knew you hadn't been kidnapped. None of my people ever wanted to run away before. Why did you leave us? Did I do something wrong?"

Grastian laughed off his hurt. "I had to leave in order to get the boys home so they can be king one day. Tell me you never noticed the boys weren't ever wearing pendants or that I never called you 'master'? I always thought of you as my guardian and a host."

Reid frowned thoughtfully. Grastian could see he knew it was true. She'd always cleared her throat to get his attention or addressed him as 'Sir' when the occasion warranted.

"No I didn't notice, not really. The boys never hit seventeen, so they didn't really need the pendants. I just assumed you wore all three so the boys wouldn't lose them." He sighed tightly. "Grace, there's so much of your life I don't know about. How did you come to be on Styxe to begin with?"

Grace told him the story of their abduction and of the Aileron's demise. "It was as if we woke up to a nightmare," she concluded. "If not for you . . ." Grastian wanted to continue but she could see he was tired, so she shook her head a little. "We'll talk later, Reid. You should get some more rest."

"You're the first person in nearly ten years to ask about my name," he reflected. "You were the first person to want to know. Now, even though everybody knows, I like it best when you say my name." Still, he closed his eyes and relaxed with a sigh. His head sank into the bed a little further. "Will you stay until I fall asleep?"

"Of course, Reid." Grastian stayed where she was, telling him how she'd schooled the boys in secret and of their adventures escaping until the bed's readout told her that Reid was truly asleep. She stayed a few minutes longer then, praying for his recovery and thanking God for sparing his life.

After speaking with the doctors, she went to confer with her family. The boys wanted to visit with Reid that afternoon, so Grastian decided to work on the language barrier problem that the mentors were reporting with the refugees. That problem was neatly solved by Tike, who was computer savvy and volunteered to teach the refugees and mentors to communicate better.

With only a couple of days before reaching their destination, Tike busied herself immediately with the monumental task of teaching everyone a new language. She decided to start with the mentors, in order to give herself a few more translators. The princess was pleased with Tike's ability to delegate.