When his favorite retainer asked, the Crown Prince admitted he was not disappointed with his day at the matches, saying, "Our team is making a good showing."

"As should be expected, Highness," the man nodded.

"Madame Min and her granddaughter were amusing company this morning. What do we know about them? I mean beyond the obvious connection with the Queen Dowager."

The man gave the prince a closer look before responding. "Court Physician Park moved to Ilidan shortly after your sister-in-law's passing and had not been heard from until he petitioned to have your second-cousin's widow and her child added to their family registry. The application was disputed but a marriage resolved the issue. Should we take more of an interest, sir?"

"What? No. It's not what you are obviously thinking. It was just so pleasant to spend time with someone who didn't seem to want anything from me. Before I could even invite her to spend the rest of the day in my box, she was off with her grandmother."

"The protocol office will have more on the family. They would have done a full check when Park Junseo's training contract was registered so it will be easy enough to get more information," the prince's man offered.

"Good heavens, no! The gossip will already be bad enough to put my wife into a temper," the prince shook his head. "Still, there is something about that boy. I mean beyond the Moon Temple skills. I can't quite put my finger on it. Where is Rainbow-maker Mein? Send him to my office will you." The Crown Prince strode down the hall without a second glance.

Upon his return to the palace Rainbow-maker Mein first reported to his superiors. It had been uncomfortable to admit he was no-longer sure his assessment of Park Junseo should hold. He had to remind his colleagues that none of them expected the boy to recover the ability to use stones but it was possible he reacted to the full spectrum. Their entrench skepticism about the possibility of unmediated energy work caused them to reject the need for another review. "If the boy is old enough to compete in the championships, his affinity, or lack thereof, must be settled. We don't need to go chasing after your hunches," The King's man announced his decision before Mein could finish his explanation.

The Prince had more patient curiosity, asking, "Why did you say reading the boy was challenging?"

"I'm fairly certain Park Junseo sensed the crystals in the sand we used for the test. I caught a flash of sorted colors in the jar before he shook it up," Rainbow-maker Mein looked pained.

"What difference would it make?"

"It could have been accidental, or he could be trying to hide the scope of his affinity."

"You want him to serve the Palace? I thought after your friend..." The Prince's voice faded and he struggled to find the right words to describe the no-so-distant tragedy.

"It is not a question of want. It is just the order of things. The Dragon calls her own but that can be hard for someone not raised to it." Rainbow-maker Mein nodded to himself, crossed his arms, then added, "The crystal round would have made everything clearer but the boy probably won't make the final six."

"You know if you want to see him with his own stones, we could adjust the final team challenge to give it an energy dimension. If we do that, I won't be able to attend that part but I am sure you can devise a fair test. We can ask one of your colleagues to help adjudicate." The Prince acted like this should be easy to accomplish.

Rainbow-maker Mein swallowed hard and looked around the room before admitting, "It would be most helpful to see each contestant with their own crystals. The affinities should be pretty obvious."

"How about making it a security inspection. After all, we still have the mystery of the crystal detonators to solve. Any progress?"

"Most of the shards were too small to read. The one from the back of the Moon-temple dobok had the best integrity. There are still more tests to run but it is most likely from the north."

"There you go. A perfect reason for the security inspection. I will leave the details to you." The prince dismissed the man with a wave.

Rainbow-maker Mein returned to the headquarters of the city guard for another look at the pieces from the detonator. More than one type of stone had been involved and he wanted to double check their harmonic spectrum. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced there had to be more than one person involved in triggering the mechanism. The man in charge of the evidence lock-up eyed him closely before asking, "Do we need to worry about setting anything off?"

"Oh, I can't imagine an accidental combination could spark anything. No, this was deliberate and took some skills both to create the device and to trigger it," He smiled just enough to look reassuring.

"I'll have to take your word on it," the guard frowned as he glanced around the room before whispering, "You have heard the rumors from the north?"

"There are always rumors." Rainbow-maker Mein shrugged.

"Well, some saying there is a change coming. A big one. Big enough to call up a Guardian. Bound to be others trying to put a spike into anything that won't keep lining their pockets." The guard nodded to himself but was soon distracted by arrival of the heavily guarded leader of the Slack-harbor gang. He crowed, "Lookie, Lookie, broken cookie. Who do we have here now. About time you learned you are not a law unto yourself."

Kal Chul exchanged a pained glance with his lieutenant but saw little sympathy as they were dragged off to separate cells. The reek of singed flesh mixed with a pungent combination of blood and urine spoke of the methods he might expect during questioning. Loud screams turning into whimpers followed by a more ominous silence from the neighboring cell, had him praying his contacts would come through before too long.

He did not know if his sponsors would be generous enough to extract his lieutenant or what the man might say in the face of torture. No doubt, it would be whatever the guards were after and they both might end up lower-class scapegoats for aristocratic machinations. This was not his first time in a lock-up, but it was the first since Lord Sun-Gye's conspiracy had been uncovered. There was no telling whether the remaining Council-of-Five might regroup or just crumble into separate factions supporting their respective principalities. He stayed still, pulling his energies into himself, to prepare for the worst.