When Lady Calmi returned the following day, I was already feeling much better from a morning walk outside on her ingenious crutches. It had been years since I'd had time to explore the palace gardens on the western side, and I'd spent several hours walking and resting and admiring the how fast the gardeners must work to keep the perfect forms of bush and shrub when they grew so quickly in the midnight sun.

I was eating a late lunch of wild rice and mixed curried beans when Calmi's knock alerted me to her presence. I was halfway across my quarters when she entered with her basket, her shawl drawn well over her head, hiding most of her face. All but her glacial blue eyes.

'You are up?' she said.

'Yes, it seems I have stopped moping like a worm.'

She raised an eyebrow and for a moment I thought I saw the slightest trace of a smile touch her lips.

'All thanks to these,' I said, lifting one of the walking sticks I'd used to cross the living area.

'In that case, today will be my last visit.'

I frowned as she set her heavy basket on the low table by the settee.

'But whatever it is you're doing, it is working. Unlike my father's physicians. Besides, you must return,' I said, trying to keep my voice light, though the thought of Lady Calmi disappearing alarmed me, 'You're the only person in the Ruby court who's still talking to me.'

'If you wish someone to talk to, I will send you a Rainbow parrot.'

I snorted, but my smile faded as I realised she wasn't joking.

'I know I've not been an easy patient, and you have taken exceptional risks to keep coming here... I truly appreciate everything you have done for me. But why, might I ask, have you decided today is your last visit?'

'A healthy mind will heal your body far more efficiently than anything I can do.'

'A healthy mind?' Her unorthodox idea pushed my thoughts towards all the unresolved questions I had about Lady Calmi. Her medicinal practices were unlike any in the Ruby Court, or Lyndonia. When I'd spied her following the Etean Emissary the night of my sister's departing ceremony, she had been speaking to a man in a strange language. That same night she'd told me she dreamed of freedom. Not a wealthy husband, or a powerful position in the court. Not romance, children or extravagant possessions. And certainly not a Prince.

She crouched down and stoked the fire I'd built in anticipation of her arrival. 'It is your desire,' she said, 'your will that will determine the speed and success of your recovery.'

'Have you observed this?' She did not answer. 'Where did you learn your healing skills?'

She stopped prodding the fire and stood up, an inner iciness seeping out through her voice. 'When you are surrounded by sick people, you learn as fast as you can. As fast as anyone will show you.'

'I thought you lived with your grandfather...'

'Exactly.'

My heart beat seemed to slow down, as though I was slipping through freezing water, sinking into whatever frigid stillness possessed Calmi. Why would her grandfather, one of the richest men in Caruca, surround himself with sick servants and slaves?

'I would ask one last service of you.'

She twisted to look up, straight hair falling a little down one side of her face, softening the sharpness of her jaw and cheekbones. 'I would like you to show me this Caruca you say I know nothing about. I would like to see your grandfather's lands.'

Something flickered across her expression, like a distant flash of lightning.

'You are not fit enough to ride.'

'I am fit enough.'

'A disguise as a hobbling foot soldier will not get you as far as the palace gates.'

'I will take care of that. All I ask is that you meet me in the city.' This morning was the first time I'd left my chambers since the tournament, and Captain Resnit had been nowhere in sight. My father's physicians believed I was still bedridden, so instead of escorting me for my "protection" Resnit had to be off on some other assignment. Getting out of the palace would be difficult but not impossible.

'Why go to such an effort? I thought the plight of Caruca was of no interest to a Prince who would never become a King.'

I clenched my jaw and hobbled back to my dining table. 'You accused me of being ignorant,' I said, pouring a jug of water, 'and now I wish to learn more about the world you have come from, the world you suggest is being ignored by my father, you object. You cannot wish it both ways.'

'I have no preference in the matter.'

I took a sip from the crystal stemmed glass. 'Never mind.'

I muttered. She had already done so much for me. I would not insist.

'Never mind?' she echoed. 'Well I see you are easy to dissuade.'

'Nothing has dissuaded me. I will go alone.'

Lady Calmi rolled her eyes. I'd never seen her so demonstrative. 'You couldn't possibly go alone.'

'Nothing could be simpler. I have a dozen maps in my possession. I had to copy the Carucan districts and regions so many times when I was young I could navigate my way there by the sun.'

Lady Calmi sashayed towards me.

'You,' she said, holding up the fire poker and pointing it at my face, 'have no business visiting Grandfather's lands.'

I gazed at her stunned. This was not the Lady Calmi I knew, but a different creature altogether.

'Are my words clear to you, Your Royal Highness?'

'I do not take orders from anyone but the King, My Lady.'

She retreated, dropped the fire poker and without a look back, strode through the suite towards the reception hall.

'Lady Calmi, where are you going?'

She opened the door to my quarters.

I hobbled after her. 'Wait, Lady Calmi. Will you not even say–' She slipped into the hall and vanished. 'Goodbye?'

I watched the empty space left by her departure and wondered at her behaviour. It was not long before I grew uncomfortable as I realised the empty space was both internal and external.

Still, I could live without Lady Calmi. And she was better off keeping her distance if she wanted a future in the Ruby Court. But she had been there when I was most in need, and for that I was forever grateful.

I spentthe rest of the day pondering the significance of her sudden departure, andscheming how I would leave the palace.     

****

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