"Please can I go alone?" The princess begged as they walked toward Renat. "He does not know who I am yet, and I want to see what he is naturally like."

"I cannot let you see your boyfriend alone. Your parents would kill me outright." Brinn flatly refused.

"He is not my boyfriend!" Mairwen struggled not to scream. "I just want to talk to him. How about this: you can stay within earshot, but stay out of sight. Between your tracking skills and your wind magic, that should be easy."

The elf considered her words. "Fine, but no funny business." Brinn had an ulterior motive. She wanted to see how much this 'scientist' actually knew, and if he could be trusted. Aurora had sent her on a mission to check him out before the party, but she had not been able to complete the task at that time. Mairwen had no knowledge of the spymaster's thoughts. She was just happy to have a tad bit of freedom.

"Eira wait here!" Both the other ladies said.

"But!" Eira tried to find her words.

"You can watch from here." The princess told her firmly.

"I will keep her safe," Brinn assured the soldier.

The two ran off without waiting for a response. "I need to find a new job. Royals are too unwieldy," Eira muttered in desperation.

Out of nowhere a wind blew into Eira's ear with Brinn's voice. "I know! Isn't it exciting?"

——————————

Renat pushed the ox along as fast as he could. The animal was being stubborn, and no amount of encouragement would make it go any faster. The cart pulled by the ox held a store of wood that would keep the cookfire for a couple of days, and he needed to arrive before the cook got too angry.

In his field of vision, a figure took shape. He quickly gathered by her gait that it was a girl, and with a strange wind at her back, she seemed to be moving exceptionally quickly toward him. For a moment he thought perhaps she was an angel or some other heavenly being. His opinion of her only improved as she neared.

"Hello!" The girl said as she came alongside him. For some reason, she turned around and began walking the direction from which she came. It was if she had come out simply to meet him, but that was ridiculous.

"Hello," he responded politely, unsure what else to do. The girl was friendly and very pretty, so he did not want to offend her. "Were you not going the other way?" He asked at last.

"I saw you coming and thought I would join you. Your ox seems to be quite unhappy." The girl held out a some sugar cubes to the bulky animal. Within a few moments, the beast was already moving faster. Renat noticed the change.

"Thank you. I am not good with animals. Machines and experiments are more my speed. I am Renat."

"You are a famous scientist!" The girl said with admiration in her voice. For some reason, the tall boy wanted to impress her.

He puffed his chest out slightly. "I do not consider myself famous, but some people know my name."

"Who?" The girl asked with an innocent smile. The boy felt like he was being baited, but he pushed down the feeling.

"The princess knows my name," he announced, immediately regretting his words. He was digging himself a fantastic hole.

The girl's blue eyes brightened at his words, and she smiled broadly. "Ah, Princess Mairwen! Have you met her?"

Renat rubbed his hand behind his head. "I, uh…listen. You seem very sweet, and I want to be honest with you. I am not a famous scientist. I am just a kitchen boy who likes to experiment. I do not know the princess personally. I have only conversed with her via letter."

To his surprise the girl's smile only broadened. "That must still be pretty exciting."

He nodded emphatically. "Exciting and humbling. I am sure she has much better things to do than talk to the likes of me."

"You might be surprised." The girl blushed. They were quite close to the kitchen when the girl abruptly stopped. "This is as far as I go. We will talk again soon." Without another word, the girl flitted off.

Renat was not surprised; commoners rarely came too close to the fort. But she had come from this direction, and that confused him. "Goodbye, mystery girl," he called softly, unable to wipe the grin off his face.

———————-

Renat cleaned up from his trip to town. He was surprised that the cook did not chide him very much for his tardiness. She fussed for a moment and told him to look presentable because he would be serving dinner. Apparently there were some special guests, but he did not catch who. Not that it mattered. They were not there to talk to him anyway.

The dining hall was full of tables and benches to hold all the hungry soldiers. Even then, some extra tables were set up outside to accommodate the overflow. Renat was giving the outside diners their meals and drinks with a pleasant smile when another of the kitchen aides ran up to him.

"The General would like to see you. Now." The other boy looked worried. The General always had a purpose for the things he did.

"Me?" Renat was surprised.

"Yes, and I recommend you hurry!"

Renat carefully set down his tray of mugs as he made his way through the crowded room. When he finally reached the head table, he was winded. At the table, Beadu and Mund were facing him while a red-haired woman and woman with dark hair knotted up on top of her head had their backs to him. General Beadu saw him at once. "Renat! Come here, boy. Our guests would like to meet you."

Renat did not have time to process as the red-head turned around with a mischievous smile on her face. "This is Spymaster Brinn," the General introduced her. The boy was in such shock the he could only dip his head. The Spymaster! What an honor! "And this is Princess Mairwen."

To his astonishment, the woman turning around was actually the girl from earlier. She had changed clothing and changed her hairstyle, but it was definitely the same person. Renat fell on his face at her feet. The boy tried to recall what ridiculous things he had said to her earlier. He had claimed to know the princess when he obviously did not. What a fool he was! "Please forgive me! I did not know that you were the princess."

"Of course you did not know. I just now told you. What nonsense is this, Renat?" The General arched his brow and Mund gave him a forbidding look. Mairwen came to his rescue. "I am sure he meant no harm, gentlemen. It is a pleasure to meet you in person, Renat. Did you receive my response to your communication?"

The spymaster grinned. "You sent him another letter?"

The blue-eyed girl was unfazed. She looked squarely at Brinn. "I did." Then she turned a kinder eye toward Renat. "Did you get it?" The princess's formality helped Renat recover himself. He stood and brushed off his clothes.

"Yes, Your Highness. It was very kind of you to think of me." Renat bobbed his head.

"I am afraid we will be in need of your assistance. The glasses you sent me worked..."

"They did?! This is excellent news. It was only a theory after all." Renat realized from the astonished looks of those at the table that he had interrupted Her Highness.

"We need at least a dozen more. Can we convince you to make them?" The princess smiled and inclined her head, waiting for his answer.

Renat cleared his throat. "I can do that, Your Highness. It will take about a week."

Mairwen clapped her hands, "Wonderful! I will help you!"

"Wonderful! Wait what?!" Renat's mouth hung open.

"Wonderful…" Brinn repeated, her brilliant plan working better than she hoped. She covered her face with her hand. 'The Emperor is going to kill me…'