He took a moment to gather her thoughts. “I’ve some ideas about that as well,” he said. “Once we’re in Monsea, would you consent to do what I say, and only what I say? Just until I have a sense of Leck’s power? Would you ever consent to that?”

“Of course I would, Po, in this case.”

“And you must expect me to behave strangely. I’ll have to pretend I’m Graced with fighting, no more, and that I believe every word he says.”

“And I’ll practice my archery, and my knife throwing,” Katsa said. “For I’ve a feeling that when all is asked and revealed, King Leck will find himself on the end of my blade.”

Po shook his head and did not smile. “I’ve a feeling it’s not going to be that easy.”

THE THIRD DAY of their crossing was the windiest, and the coldest. The mountain pass led them between two peaks that were hidden, sometimes, behind cyclones of snow. Their boots crunched through patches of snow; and flakes drifted onto their shoulders from the thin blue sky and melted into Katsa’s hair.

“I like winter in the mountains,” she said, but Po laughed.

“This isn’t winter in the mountains. This is autumn in the mountains, and a mild autumn at that. Winter is ferocious.”

“I think I should like that, too,” she said, and Po laughed again.

“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised. You’d thrive on the challenge of it.”

The weather held, so that Katsa’s declaration could not be put to the test. They moved as fast as the terrain would permit. For all his marveling at Katsa’s energy, Po was strong and quick. He teased her for the pace she set, but he didn’t complain; and if he stopped sometimes for food and water, Katsa was grateful, for it reminded her to eat and drink as well. And it gave her an excuse to turn around and stare behind them, at the mountains that stretched from east to west, at the whole world she could see—for she was so high that she felt she could see the whole world.

And then suddenly, they reached the top of the pass. Before them the mountains plunged into a forest of pines. Green valleys stretched beyond, broken by streams and farmhouses and tiny dots that Katsa guessed were cows. And a line, a river, that thinned into the distance and led to a miniature white city at the edge of their sight. Leck City.

“I can barely see it,” Po said, “but I trust your vision.”

“I see buildings,” Katsa said, “and a dark wall around a white castle. And look, see the farmhouses in the valley? Surely you can make those out. And the cows, do you see the cows?”

“Yes, I can see them, now that you mention it. It’s gorgeous, Katsa. Have you ever seen a sight so gorgeous?”

She laughed at his happiness. For a moment, as they looked down on Monsea, the world was beautiful and without worry.