"Thank you for the report, Alexia," Princess Evelyn said. She was seated at a small circular tea table in her tower bedroom, with Alexia on the other side. Evelyn was wearing a blue silk nightgown and her brunette hair was pulled back into an elaborate braid.

"You are welcome, Princess," Alexia said as she gathered up her maps and notes from the tabletop. She was dressed in plain farmer's clothes, with a white blouse and a dark blue skirt. Her pale blonde hair was in a simple ponytail.

While Alexia's official job title was Head Maid, her true role was closer to that of 'Lead Investigator' or 'Elite Operative'. She did perform some maid work for the King and his castle, but her true loyalty was to the Princess. Alexia had been unable to convince the overprotective King to allow the Princess to live freely, but she could act as Evelyn's eyes and ears in the city.

Alexia paused as she placed her notes in a leather bag. She had something else to add to her report. "I do not yet have a full understanding of that mysterious man, but I believe him to be both harmless and foolish. Regardless of where he came from, he will soon run through his financial windfall and be out of our hair."

To Alexia's surprise, the Princess shook her head. "No, I won't discount him just yet, and I still want to know more about him."

Alexia met the Princess's eyes and said, "Then what would you have me do? I've gathered all the information I can without alerting him to my presence."

Evelyn smiled and leaned close across the desk, never breaking eye contact. Alexia could smell the lingering floral scent of Evelyn's bath. Between that and the intimate eye contact, Alexia was overwhelmed. She looked down to escape, but her gaze fell on the Princess's exposed cleavage instead. Only when she'd looked further down, at the surface of the table, was she safe from her own impure desires.

"I'd like you to make contact with him," Evelyn said. "Don't reveal your connection with me, but talk to him and learn what you can. I especially want you to find out where he came from, since he does not seem to be from anywhere in New Albion."

Alexia nodded in acceptance of her new task, then looked back up and quietly asked, "Do you think he could be from the Old Kingdom?"

The Princess's expression darkened. "We can't overlook the possibility."

Alexia was waiting at a corner table in the Hard Fought Rest common room when the man called Zach appeared. He shuffled down the stairs wearing the same casual merchant-class clothes she'd seen him in before, but something about him was different. It took her a second to realize it was his jawline, which was in serious need of a shave.

The scruffy-looking man went straight to the front desk, ordered some breakfast, and paid for two more nights. Alexia thought it odd that he kept paying for two nights at a time, but she didn't dwell on it. She had more important things to deal with.

Zach turned away from the desk and sat down at a table in the corner of the room. A few minutes later, a waitress delivered a bowl of oatmeal and a small cup of some sort of coppery liquid.

While he was focused on the departing waitress, Alexia rose from her seat and approached. "Hello!" she said cheerfully as she sat down at Zach's table. "You're Zach, right?"

He nodded slowly, clearly caught off guard by the mystery woman who knew his name.

"My name is Alexia, and I have something I'd like to discuss with you."

Zach glanced down at his food and back up at Alexia. "Can I still eat my breakfast?"

Alexia forced a smile. She wasn't normally a very cheerful person, so she hoped her act was working. "Of course!"

"Thanks," Zach said. Then he lifted the small cup of liquid and poured it over the top of his oatmeal, drizzling it in wandering loops and spirals.

Alexia was actually curious about what he was doing, so she asked, "What's that you're adding to your oats?"

"Just some maple syrup I picked up from a visiting merchant and donated to the kitchen. I like my oatmeal sweeter than people around here seem to. I also asked for no lard in it because that makes it too rich."

"Oh, interesting…" Alexia replied. He was right about his tastes being different. In New Albion, oatmeal was usually made with lard and eaten as a hearty meal alongside meat. At least the unusual thing he had crafted smelled good.

Zach looked up from his oatmeal. "I assume my breakfast wasn't the topic you wanted to talk about?"

"Correct. I was curious about you, Zach. I heard people talking about the amazing story you told, and I just had to hear more."

"Ah. That." Zach sighed. "That was just a story. It's not like such a place exists in this world."

"Oh, yes, of course. But I still want to know more about you, because such an interesting story must have come from an interesting storyteller." She fought well to keep her negative opinion of him from showing through.

Zach blinked at her between bites of sweet maple oatmeal, as if trying to decide whether to humor her. Finally, he seemed to come to a decision. "Alright, what do you want to know?"

Alexia gestured at the open common room, which held only a few other patrons. "This is a nice place, but I'm curious about why you're staying here." She pointed at his finely made shirt and said, "It looks like you could afford a fancier inn."

Zach shrugged and said, "It was the first inn I found. And I extended my stay because I like the staff and the atmosphere. Having a lively common room reminds me of home."

"And where is that? Your home, that is." Alexia was taking a risk by being so forward, but she feared she might not get a better chance to ask the question.

Zach set his spoon in his bowl and said, "I feel like this conversation is awfully one-sided. Can I ask you some questions of my own?"

"O-of course," Alexia said, already scrambling for a cover story.

"What do you do for a living?" Zach asked.

He had certainly noticed that Alexia wasn't dressed like a noble or merchant, so he likely assumed she was a laborer. She went with a half-truth. "I'm in the guard, but this visit isn't just for guard business." In reality, Alexia had left the guard over a year prior and she held a much higher position now, but Zach didn't need to know that.

"Ah, I see," Zach said, sounding a bit more defensive. "How is it, working in the guard?"

"Not bad. It's a solid job for young men and women, and I've learned a lot." Then she tried to steer the conversation back to where she wanted it. "So going back to my question from earlier: where are you from?"

Zach hesitated in a way that Alexia found eerily familiar. It was just like her own pause just a moment ago while she'd been making up a cover story. Then he said, "A town called Denver. Have you heard of it?"

Alexia shook her head. She knew most of the towns in New Albion, but not all of them, and she still wasn't convinced he was from inside the kingdom.

"Well, it's pretty different from here, but it's got the same climate and a great view of the mountains."

Alexia went over what he'd just said in her head. He had pronounced the word 'mountains' unusually. He dropped the T entirely, leaving an empty gap and making it sound like 'moun-ins'.

"You have an interesting accent. Is that how people sound in Denver?" she asked.

"What accent?" Zach's eyebrows raised. "I didn't think I had an accent."

Alexia smiled. "It isn't significant, but you pronounce some things differently, especially 'mountain'." Unlike Zach, she clearly enunciated the T sound.

Zach paused in thought, then said, "Huh, I guess I do say it oddly. I do the same thing to 'kitten' and 'cotton'. I never noticed it before, and I think most people back home pronounce them that way too."

Then he pointed his spoon at Alexia. "Now that I'm thinking about it, you have a bit of an accent to me."

Alexia blinked. "Do I?"

"Yeah. Your Rs are very soft, for example. It sounds kind of British."

"What is British?"

"Uh, how about English? Do you know of a place called England?"

Alexia shook her head slowly. She didn't like not knowing about these places he kept mentioning. Was he just making them up, like the crazy story that had earned him all his money? Or had he really come from another kingdom?

Then a memory surfaced, from when she had studied history at the Grand Library in her youth. "Wait. I think England used to be the name of a place. It has a new name now."

That got Zach's attention. He scooted forward on his seat and said, "Oh?"

"It's the largest human kingdom, but we broke away from them hundreds of years ago. That's when it changed its name to something else, but I don't know what. Maybe it's petty of us, but the people of New Albion refuse to call it anything except the Old Kingdom."

Zach smiled at that, then he said, "You said the Old Kingdom is larger than New Albion. So how many people live here in New Albion?"

Alexia hesitated. If Zach was a spy, he wasn't a very good one, trying to get information from a guardswoman who was already suspicious of him. But, it wasn't particularly sensitive information. A quick visit to the Grand Library would have answered that question and more.

She answered, "Just over two million, if you include the entire territory." She didn't mention that the population had been substantially higher before 2005. Between the storm that destroyed the city of Okwata and the King's decision to abandon the coastal territories, the kingdom had lost nearly 200,000 residents.

Zach swallowed a bite of oatmeal, then said, "Oh, that's all?"

"That's all?!" Alexia blurted in surprise. "How many people live where you're from?"

"Hmm. I think my state, which is kind of like a small kingdom, has five and half million."

Alexia flat-out didn't believe it. Even if Zach was from the Old Kingdom, she'd been told they had barely over three million people. For his story to be true, it meant one of two equally terrifying things: either Zach was from an unknown human country that was somehow larger than New Albion and the Old Kingdom combined, or he was from an equally unknown multi-race land and he had included non-humans in his population estimate.

Before she could inquire further, Zach stood up and said, "Sorry to bail on you, but I have a lot to do today, starting with buying a shaving razor. I bet I gave you plenty to report back on, and I learned a bit too. Maybe we can talk again another time."

He started for the door of the inn, calling back, "Seeya, Alexia."

Alexia briefly debated tailing him again, but decided it would be better to report back to the Princess while everything was still fresh in her mind. She took a carriage to save some time, then ran up to the Princess's tower. She passed other maids in the hall, all of whom bowed and made way for her.

She found the Princess idly gazing out the window again, so Alexia launched into a report of the morning's findings. After Alexia recounted everything, Princess Evelyn wore a very intense and inscrutable expression.

Evelyn carefully said, "You're sure he said his so-called 'state' had five and a half million people?"

Alexia nodded. "I am sure."

Evelyn jumped to her feet and grabbed both of Alexia's hands. As Alexia's face reddened, Evelyn said, "I need to meet this man. Bring him here tomorrow. No, the day after that."

At the door of the room, two other maids looked at each other with wide-eyed expressions. The Princess had never shown interest in a man before, and the King would be thrilled to hear of it. In hushed whispers, the two women argued over who would get to be the one to tell him.

Eventually the younger one, a girl of perhaps 16 with curly brunette hair, gave in. She whispered, "Okay, Riley. You can tell the King. I'll be in the kitchen, saying nothing in particular to anyone that'll listen."

The taller maid with long red hair and a freckled face grinned. "You've got a deal, Beebee."

Meanwhile, Alexia was in a sour mood. The Princess wanted to meet face-to-face with a man who was some combination of an idiot, a liar, and a spy. There was no way it would end well.