Zach walked the familiar path in a daze. He'd been reasonably wealthy for a few days, but after investing most of his money in that gold mining expedition, he had less than 100 Harts to his name. He needed another source of income to get him through the month or two until the investment paid off. If it paid off…

Before he knew it, he was within sight of the castle's servant entrance. He approached the two guards standing by the door at the end of the alleyway.

"Ah, it's you again," said one with a deep, gravelly voice. "I'll go find a maid."

The man went through the castle's heavy door, leaving Zach alone with the other guard. Up close like that, Zach could just barely make out eyes through the guard's helmet.

Sparkling green, with long eyelashes, Zach thought. Is this guard a woman? It's always so hard to tell through their bulky armor.

"What's your deal, anyway?" the guard suddenly asked. The voice was definitely feminine.

"Oh, sorry for staring like that…"

"No, I mean, why do you keep visiting three times a week? And you always meet with the Princess's private maids," she said, her voice light and curious.

Zach blinked at her while he thought. She must have been stationed at this door often, to have noticed the patterns. "Ah, well… Sorry, but I don't think I can answer that," he started, then he got an idea. "But you can ask Alexia. She'd know what I'm allowed to share."

"Alexia," the guard said. "She's doing alright for herself, given her… issues."

"What issues? You mean how harsh she always is?" Zach thought that her harshness was actually an asset in her position. She had a lot of responsibility on her shoulders, protecting the Princess against possible threats.

"I mean her skew. Everyone in the unit suspected she wasn't normal, but it never got in the way of her work. Then instead of retiring and settling down, she went and caused an uproar. She's lucky she wasn't exiled."

"Retiring? Isn't she our age?"

The woman looked Zach up and down. "You're what, 18? I'm 20, so I've got a couple more years in the Guard to find a good man. At 23, Alexia should—" She cut off mid sentence as the heavy door creaked open again. The other guard had returned, along with Beebee.

"Hello again, Zach!" Beebee cheered. "How'd your meeting go with Stal? Sorry I didn't wait around. I was needed elsewhere."

"Hi, Beebee. It went well, but I need to talk to the Princess, if that's alright."

"Sure. She's in her room. Come on up." With a come-along gesture, Beebee turned back inside the castle.

Zach gave a little wave to the guard he'd been chatting with, then followed Beebee inside. As the door closed behind them, he overheard the other guard say, "What was that wave about, Jen?"

"Good afternoon, Princess," Zach said as he entered the Princess's tower room. Like always, the entire space was decorated with expensive luxuries and everything was perfectly organized and pristine. Beebee followed in after, then waited by the doorway.

"Just call me Evelyn, please," Evelyn responded from where she sat on the foot of her bed. She wore a cerulean dress with long lace-trimmed sleeves. Her vibrant brown hair was up in a complex weave held by numerous pearl hairpins, except for long strands framing her face. "And good afternoon to you, too. I hope your meeting with Stal went well?"

Zach took a seat at the empty tea table and said, "As good as it could have gone, I think. It will take a month or two to pay dividends, so I was actually hoping to talk to you for advice on what to do next."

Evelyn twirled a lock of hair around a finger. "Hmm, I'm sorry to say this, but I really don't have any advice to give you. I've never lived as a regular person here in New Albion, and I don't have many general skills either. I never got to attend any college classes, remember?"

"Ah, right. You just seem to have everything under control, so I thought…"

"My maids have everything under control. I'm just fortunate to have them around."

At that, Beebee smiled wide and bounced on her toes. She was always a pretty cheerful person, but being praised by Evelyn made her absolutely giddy.

Then Evelyn said, "I actually have something I need to tell you, Zach. I'm going to be traveling soon, leaving town for several weeks. I'll be visiting Okwata on a diplomatic mission, to strengthen our alliance with them. We need allies now more than ever with the city under attack."

"What?! We're under attack?!" Zach blurted so loud it echoed back down from the high ceiling.

Evelyn leaned forward. "Quiet. It's not to leave this room, but someone killed two guards and poisoned two water mains. A lot of people got sick, and six more died."

Zach turned to look at Beebee. He thought back to the equinox festival, when she refused to talk about the water supply or where Alexia was.

Beebee winced. "Sorry I couldn't explain earlier."

Evelyn said, "Wait, she said something about the investigation? Beebee…"

Zach quickly said, "No, not at all. The health inspector at the festival said some strange things regarding water, but Beebee refused to tell us anything."

"Hmm, alright," the Princess said, but she could guess that Beebee had let something slip through her body language. Evelyn looked at her and said, "Good work, Beebee. It wasn't your fault you overheard talk of the attack, so thank you for keeping it secret."

Just then, they heard the sound of footsteps outside in the stairway. The door opened and Alexia stepped inside. She wore a frilly black and white maid outfit and looked annoyed, even more than usual.

"Don't mind me," she said. "I just need to get away from people for a few minutes. I tried the bath, but Riley of all people was in—" She went silent as she noticed Zach for the first time. He was sitting in plain sight in the middle of the room, so Alexia must have been really out of sorts to have missed him.

"Ah. You're here," Alexia said flatly.

"Sorry," Zach said. "I can leave if you want."

Evelyn shook her head. "No, stay." She turned to Alexia and said, "We were talking about my plans to go to Okwata."

Alexia nodded, then sat down in a rocking chair in the corner, as far from the others as possible. She looked pretty frazzled and Zach wondered if it was related to the poison attack on New Albion. Given her absence the last several days, it seemed safe to assume she had been helping with the investigation.

Evelyn said, "I wanted to tell you my plans, Zach, since my absence could affect your ability to stay in this world. I can arrange in advance for a maid to stay with you, if needed."

"Oh, thank you. That's very thoughtful of you. But I have a question…" He paused while he decided on the phrasing to use, then said, "Are you traveling with an entourage? It seems like royalty would always travel with guards and officials and—"

Alexia interrupted, "You want to come along?"

Zach felt his face grow hot, "Only if it isn't an inconvenience. I do want to see more of the world, and make new business connections. Maybe there's opportunity waiting for me in Okwata…"

Alexia crossed her arms and said, "Good. I was going to ask you to come regardless."

The other three people in the room all stared at her in disbelief. Zach in particular was stunned and gaping, since Alexia seemed to hate him.

"Huh?" he started. "Why would you want me to come along?"

She answered, "If Princess Evelyn insists on going to Okwata, the more trustworthy people with us the better. And I want you around so that if Evelyn ever flips to your world, whether on accident or to escape capture, you can follow and find her there."

Zach blinked a few times. Alexia's reasoning was certainly well thought out, but he was still surprised to hear her call him trustworthy.

Alexia fixed him with a piercing gaze. "If you agree to flip on my command, you can come. And we'll fund the entire trip. I doubt you could afford it otherwise."

"Why do you say that, Alexia?" Beebee asked. "Zach made a lot of money at the equinox festival. We were really successful!"

Alexia scoffed. "Then he went and spent it all on funding a gold-mining expedition. By my estimate, he can afford his room at the inn for a while but not much else."

Zach swallowed. Alexia was making it clear that she knew everything that went on in the castle and that he couldn't hide anything from her. She was scary, but also the kind of person he wanted on his side.

He smiled and said, "I agree to your terms. The Princess's safety is important to me too."

Alexia gave him a strange look, wavering between accusation and satisfaction, then nodded.

Evelyn smiled as she said, "Wonderful! I still need to finalize the list of guards and other diplomats who will be traveling with us, but we should be leaving the day after tomorrow. Be sure to wrap up anything here in New Albion, because we won't be back for a couple weeks at the minimum."

"You got it," Zach said. Now that he thought about it, he didn't really have many loose ends to worry about. He would just need to let Stal know that he'd be out of town for a while, then check out of his room at the Hard Fought Rest. Other than that, his only close connections were Evelyn and her maids, and he assumed they'd all be coming along too.

"Oh, how long will it take to travel there?" he asked. Assuming Okwata was in the same spot as New Orleans, it was 1,300 miles from New Albion. During the trip Zach and Evelyn would need to make sure to sleep on solid ground, in case they accidentally flipped. It would terrible to fall asleep on a boat, then return the next night to the same spot over a raging river.

Evelyn smiled. "Faster than the TSA line at the airport. We'll be taking a Bridge."