We reached Enid City around midday. Enid City looked like most of the other cities on the Istansada River, log cabins, dirt streets, and a gray stone castle on a high hill. This one was built on the southern side of the river.
King Karl was everything Edgerton said. A short rotund man of around forty with a thick brown beard. His wife was just as short and just as plump. His teenage son was also short and plump. All three of them greeted me with open arms, and by the end of the day, I had learned three things about them. They loved to eat, drink, and laugh. Edgerton didn't seem to like King Karl nearly as much as he liked King Linus. That only made me like King Karl more, since Edgerton was in my opinion, a poor judge of kings.
"You're still mad at me," Edgerton said, when we rode out of Enid City and headed for Vassa.
"Not mad, disappointed in your judgment. Any man that admires King Linus over King Karl is a fool. From what I've been told, Queen Catlett is aware of your foolish preferences. Which is a good thing."
By the end of the day, we reached the border between Enid and Vassa. Vassa looked identical to Enid, a small country centered around the wide and slow moving Istansada River. Most of the country's population lived in villages that bordered one or both sides of the river.
The people in the villages turned out to cheer our party as we passed through, going so far as to toss flowers in our path, while shouting, "Welcome."
I was wearing another one of my new gowns, the one patterned after the gown I saw Queen Catlett wearing in my vision. The gown had a high collar, long sleeves with belled cuffs, and a belled ankle length skirt. The dress had a silk lining topped by several layers of chiffon. It was pale rose in color with the cuffs and hem turning a deep red. I was also wearing the Ruby Crown, as well as my cutlass.
My hair was down, rather than pulled back in a ponytail. The choking device I used to keep my hair in a ponytail was wrapped around my left wrist, its carved bone handles making it look like a barbarian bracelet. My boots were calf high, laced up the front, and had a low heel. A black velvet cloak with a red silk lining topped everything.
"Everyone seems to know about your trip to the other side of the world," I said to Edgerton, as yet another village cheered and threw flowers at our feet.
"Vassa is a small country. Rumors travel fast."
"It's nice to meet people that don't want to hurt me, unlike your King Linus."
"Would it do any good to say I'm sorry? For not wanting to believe what you told me."
"The damage is already done, Chancellor. Your blind adoration for King Linus, and your decision to question the veracity of what I told you, will from here on out influence the weight I give to your opinions. Perhaps that was what Jarvo was talking about when he told me that there were things he could teach me that you couldn't, that there were things he knew about the people that ruled this part of the world that you don't.
"You want to divide everybody into two classes, good and bad. What you fail to understand is that nobody is all good or all bad, that most people are shades of gray. Some are darker than others, but no one is a paragon of virtue or a pillar of evil."
"Does that include you?"
I laughed. "That especially includes me, Chancellor."
It was late afternoon when we reached Vassa's capital city of Ranetown, the only city in the entire country. Queen Catlett's castle reminded me more of the high sage's palace than the castles in Holt and Enid. It was made out of yellow brick instead of gray stone. Orange domes topped its towers instead of red cones. It rested on the river's bank rather than on top of a hill.
As we entered the city, large crowds gathered along the side of the road, cheering and laying flowers at our feet.
"I suspect Queen Catlett knows we've arrived," Edgerton said. The knowledge that he would soon be reunited with the love of his life seemed to cheer him considerably.
"You've missed the queen," I said.
"This is the longest I've ever been apart from her."
"Was it worth it?"
"My opinion isn't the one that matters."
That much was true. It didn't matter what Edgerton, or anyone else, thought of me. The only person whose opinion mattered was Queen Catlett, who at long last, I was about to meet.