There were more than one punishment though.

When I came back home my grandmother had passed away. The former lord had Shizu gift me some medicines to bring back home but I came back too late.

The feud between the First Blade and the cardinal made at least one victim.

The punishments for my friends were thankfully lighter.

We all got a good scolding from our families but Balout and Melodi the most.

Balout's family was horrified that their son trespassed in the innermost part of the palace and what's more, he could now no longer help at the family's shop. Melodi got scolded by her dad, which was rare enough for her to feel remorseful.

Gelcaria and I fared better. My family was mourning the death of grandma and they understood what I did when I was able to explain that the Shieldlord made our blade lower our taxes back. The relief came too late for my grandmother but it would help my sisters through this dire winter.

The Temple was more mixed in its reaction. Patiyar knew that I had little choice there and didn't scold me much, instead almost apologizing for the lack of support the Temple provided me with. Inner politics of the Temple was more complex than I would have imagined.

Nutusi was only partly satisfied with the outcome: her plan worked but my new assignment was taking me away from the hall of whispers. She reminded me of my obligations towards Shinpilo. I hadn't forgotten my deal with the god and wouldn't, those are the kind of dealers you can't cross.

Instead, it was the other member of our temple who admonished me the most. Gupta was offended that I infiltrated the castle. It somehow hurt his pride as a former army officer even if it wasn't his job to guard the palace... Orzhov understood I did it to protect my family which is a core value of Husnd but reprimanded me nonetheless.

Sansho turned red in anger, disliking that I took risks without asking for her help first. I doubt she would have been able to help us much once outside in the cold and had to spend much time calming her down. I had to open a shutter to let the cold gusts cool her down.

Gelcaria fared the best of us all. Her father didn't care much about her. I believe it is some kind of guilt that drove him away from her, her eyes were reminders of the ordeals his weakness had pushed his family and wife into.

She would never talk about it but I knew this troubled Gelcaria, she woke up in anguish more often during the following nights. I didn't feel up to the task but still had to comfort her. I was the closest thing she had to a fatherly figure to look up to.

Her mother did blame her but she understood why she did it. She knew how close we were and to be honest: the old lord was going to pay us during the next year and the salary of castle's servants was hard to look down on, especially with this winter's economic conjuncture.

My Grandmother's funerals took place on Otik's celebration daynight since it was the month of Frostire. Her body was burned down to ashes and they were put in an urn to be kept in a memorial room at our local temple.

Fewer people were attending her funerals than for my grandfather's one, mostly her co-workers from Ms Tarina's workshop and her former neighbours plus a few others like Gelcaria or Nutusi.

Patiyar was kind enough to preside the ceremony himself. Much to my surprise, it was my mom that cried over our loss more than my father. She was close to her mother-in-law, working with her, relying on her, and grew to like her as much as her own mother.

After the ceremony, we held a small reunion at the temple. When I discussed with Ms Tarina I had to inform her about how Gel and I were assigned to work at the castle. She didn't scold me. Instead, she looked almost impressed by our guts and even complimented Gelcaria for “making the right choices.” My former tutor even made a small offering to Fortan and Tamayoku in our stead to have us thank them for their benevolence. I'm not sure it was the best thing to do during the funerals, there wasn't much benevolence from the gods there.

I'm glad that at least someone understands how this could be a boon, especially a free citizen. She is more educated and has a better understanding of politics than the rest of my entourage, her approval means a lot to me.

* * * *

Although the drunk lord told us we were to come back on the morrow, Shizu planned otherwise. She learned about my loss and thus gave us all a week to tidy up our things, say our farewell to the places we were currently going to and give her the time to provide us with all the necessities.

The old lord had work attires made for us. From the look of them, we weren't going to be “simple” servants.

Mine and Balout were more scholars outfits: long-sleeved and with the tunic almost reaching our knees, made of light blue silk and with the crest of the Shield's ruling family embroidered on the front. It was the three waves in the horned circle but with the old lord's personal variation: our crest was embroidered in green and had twin bolts of lightning coiling around the horns.

We only lacked one of the strange black pointy hats that officials sometimes wore and we would look like kids disguising themselves as officials rather than servants.

The girls' outfit was even more different from what one could expect for servants-to-be. They were provided with short martial robes of green fabric and with the old lord's crest in a deeper shade of green on it.

The skirts were a bit short if I might say, especially for winter, stopping at knee length and split to each side. They also had leather bracers and forelegs coming with it. There was little doubt that he intended to have the girls join the guards rather than pour him tea.

We all met at the bottom of the lord's mountain on the morning of our first day there. The girls were babbling about their new outfits. I understood how Melodi could endure the cold since her short grey fur must have insulated her legs a bit but how Gelcaria was managing to not shiver and turn blue in the freezing winds was a mystery to me.

This time we had to walk our way up along the road circling the mountain. This was far more tiresome and time consuming than the crane's lift. It took us at least an hour and I was exhausted when we finally made it to the main entrance. It was already third morning bell.

On our way up we were stopped at no less than six checkpoints with guards searching us for weapons, vials, containers, or any other suspect items.

Our identities were asked and they checked in their ledger to make sure we were allowed in the castle. Kids claiming to work there were suspicious even if we had the old lord's crest under our mantles and I even had his token.

Luckily for us, Shizu did her job well and our names were already on the guards listing.

Once arrived at the castle we had to wait more which gave me time to catch my breath.

There was only one main gate to the castle. An entrance large enough to let a plane through. Two carriages could go in or out at the same time. The thick stone doors could only be operated by strong Chi users and there was a metal portcullis. This was a luxury as iron was rarely seen and even less often in this amount. It was on par with decorating the walls with gold leaves, a show of wealth rather than a practical one: any strong magician should be able to blast the iron portcullis.

A servant checked on us and led us to the innermost part of the castle: the palace. We had to cross through the administration wings and had a glimpse of some of the many small courtyards around. Some were training grounds but others were gardens, either for pleasure or for market gardening. One was even a barnyard.

The total acreage of the castle was more than I could fathom. The mountain had its top cut and the area was larger than I thought. I also knew that the castle extended in the mountain too, meaning it was an anthill: like icebergs, there was more than the tip on the surface to be seen.

Once we reached the entrance of the inner palace Shizu appeared out of thin air to take over and lead us to the garden we knew. Her presence was enough to have us pass the guards on duty without more checks.

The old lord was already far immersed in his drinking even though fourth morning bell hadn't rung yet. He welcomed us with a gloomy and foggy gaze.

“I heard about your grandmother.” he presented his condolences. “Otik's red poppies...” he sighed. “I also lost someone this way.” This surprised me, who among the people he knew couldn't afford to have a priest or healer tend to them? He shook his sorrow away, “Anyway, I'm sorry the medicine couldn't work. Talking about work it is time I decided on your assignments.” His green eyes gained a bit of lustre back, he was enjoying this more than sorrowful memories, “You girls will follow Shizu. Obey her as if it were me.” He first dismissed our two friends. Gelcaria parted from me with a reluctant but decided look, she will do what must be done.

“Now, for the two of you.” Balout and I were left alone with the old lord. “I must say that I'm quite happy you came back.” Like I had room to say no... “The princess was quite enthusiastic about your writing technique. As you might have noticed she isn't that fond of studying. She'd rather spend her whole day sparing with our masters-at-arms. Even then this wasn't enough against your two friends.” He added with suspicion.

I didn't know what to tell him, I was as surprised as he was.

“Shizu will take care of that. What I want you to do is make sure the princess can read and write. When you are not teaching her, I'll have the both of you copy some books I've selected in your writing system for her to read later on.” This was his true goal: have the princess learn more.

This was fine with me, it wasn't much different from when I was helping Mekas at the temple. I'll just have to help Balout when he'll stumble across an ideogram he doesn't know.

“Once you've demonstrated that the princess can read fluently we'll see about your next assignment.” His tone was carefree and lazy but his green eyes shone with a foxy sparkle of mischievousness meaning he already had plans for us.

* * * *

Our days at the palace were busy.

The girls were having some martial training with Shizu in the morning while Balout and I were copying books. The bunch of books selected by the old lord were covering a surprisingly diverse array of themes: ranging from poetry to treatise on history, followed by botanic's compendium or martial epic stories. There were more unusual books like an economy textbook on taxes or a romantic novel on a love story between a dark Elf of the southern archipelagos and a Beastkin noble from the empire.

On the more technical books, there were many words I couldn't decipher. We had to wait for the old lord to be there and sober enough to have him read those words to us.

The girls were tested by Shizu. This confirmed what I knew, none of them had training in Chi but she suspected both of them had potential in it. And a good one. This delighted us all.

Even if it meant they were going to tread on the dangerous path of a fighter, it also meant they would become strong ones.

What surprised Shizu and the fat lord the most was how the girls managed to defeat the princess without Chi? The princess was training a lot and had some talent in the martial field. She was already at the third level of chi mastery in the empire's measurement scale. This put her in the second half of the first quarter, which was impressive for her age. She would turn ten springs old in a couple of months and was already stronger than most footsoldiers.

In the end, it was pinned on the element of surprise and how she didn't know how to face multiple foes and Beastkins.

Shizu also praised Gelcaria and Melodi for their body awareness and agility. This I could take some credit for. I imparted their daily training regimen on them from our earliest day together and insisted on their balance a lot.

The girls were training with the princess in the morning, they were her sparring partners. In the afternoons the princess was to study under me and Balout.

Most of the time I would have Balout take care of Gel and Mel, either by smothering them with maths and geometry, he had a heads up on the matter, or by telling them about the books we copied earlier in the morning.

In the meantime, I was making good progress with the princess.

She was hot-headed and lacked the ability to focus on a task for a long time. I often had to change her exercises and keep her on trail when she was starting to daydream or get impatient.

The fact that the girls already knew more than she did also drove her to work harder.

She accepted them as rivals and was slowly forgetting the difference in status. Fists were talking more than birthright and for her martial prowess were more important than anything else.

After these few days with us her attitude shifted greatly. She wouldn't wear her “princess' mask” around us and act more like a girl her age, giggling and playful. But only when there was just her grandfather, her bodyguard: Hamy, and Shizu probably hidden somewhere. As soon as a servant or any other official or guard would come to visit her grandfather she would don her princess' persona back on. I must admit her ability to switch composures at lightning speed made me re-assess her smarts. She just didn't like studying but was far from slow up in her head.

After three weeks of this regimen, she was able to read on her own the simple texts we translated with Balout. She was a slower learner than Gel and the others but it was still a commendable feat. Especially if I were to compare with how long it took for kids on earth to learn reading. She was older and had some teaching from scholars since her youngest days so it was more like learning a foreign tongue but it was still not an easy thing to master in such a short time.

Festire was somewhat milder than the previous months. The weather got nicer and the blizzard recessed and roiled back to the mountains from whence it came. Not that it mattered much when we were at the castle. The whole palace was warmed with heat crystals or small fires everywhere and the magic barrier atop the garden made it as warm as a roofed room even in the gardens.

The old lord was generous with us. Although this was supposed to be our punishment he still paid us a salary. And quite a good one. I received a large iron coin: a hex of small iron coins... This was more money than I ever handled. It was also a game-changer for my family: never would we face hunger again and my sisters would have access to better clothes or even better working places or training positions.

My three companions only received half this sum: eight small iron coins each. This was still a huge sum. It definitely silenced the complaints Balout's parents could still have. Gelcaria was the proudest of all, with this sum she was able to support her mother. I just hope her father won't drink it all.

So far our “punishment” looked like a reward.