Page 34 of The Princess Tied

With the well-heaped plate, she sat with them on a large log, picked up her one utensil, a fork with bent tines. She rotated it.

Clean, at least.

Not silver but did that actually make the food taste different? No. Po tucked in, and took a mouthful, chewing with her eyes half-closed. Heavenly. She was dreadfully hungry. Swallowing it, feeling her stomach fill as she ate more, was a mixture of amazing and awesome.

She leaned forward and looked past Ruth at Shades. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome.” He smiled at her, his half-metal mouth inclining upward, and she met his eyes and smiled back.

This too felt good, her chest was gooey with warmth, same as yesterday. Was this what friendship felt like, when there were no politics, trade, money, or expectation of influence involved?

Though little more was said, already this was… comfortable.

As she ate the food with some rather stale bread, birds twittered in the trees, hopping about swearing at each other in bird language, or swiveling upside-down to nibble on some yellow flowers. Ruth’s blue birds joined them, adding to the noise.

While Ruth and John collected the dishes and set off to the stream, Shades unpacked something from his handcart, then walked to her. In his hand was a roll of cloth tied with a brown cord. Sunlight bathed a nearby log with brightness, and he beckoned her there and sat.

“Here is my eye.” It lay on his uncurled palm. With the other hand, he offered Po the roll of cloth. “This is the tool kit. There are small screwdrivers, hammers, tweezers, rods, spare screws, connectors, as well as a magnifying monocle. The eye is robust, so I have hopes.”

“Okay.” She looked about. “You should sit on the ground so I can see into the socket. Lean your head back, if you can?”

“Yes.” He sat, leaned his back against the log. “Say when you want me to tilt my head.”

She laid the roll of tools atop a clean shirt, drew a deep breath to steady herself, and she set to work.

As she worked, she recognized this as a pivotal moment for her. She had never before helped anyone for such selfless reasons. Her ministers would be appalled.

She thought back over the last few days of grit and grime, and the somewhat filthy sex, even if John had not technically deflowered her. That required penis-in-vagina intercourse. Her biology lessons had their uses. She found herself smiling.

Yesterday it had felt good to be tired. Today she was happy to be full of cheap but tasty food, to have the diary to write in—a present given her by the largest person she’d yet met. She was happy also to be with others who were working toward a goal that was not merely in coin. Even Shades had no definite reward in sight. It was a maybe, when they rescued Xander.

This was ordinary life, with unusual people, and it had great merit.

Her mind shifted gears.

Though, actually, gears were pretty simple at the time and made of timber unless they were inside clocks, or a cyclan warrior.

Life now had something more undefinable, whereas before it had been defined down to the last minute of every day. Defined by rules and lines, no-go zones, schedules, and manners.

That was safer, but here, she had adrenaline.

Adrenalin hadn’t been invented yet, but Po could sense it even so.

That very second was when it truly began, when Po began to love ordinary adventure and the dirt, the grit, the mess of life beyond the palace.

With skill and much sticking out of tongue tip to the side of her mouth, with a lot of frowning and squinting, she screwed, clicked, jiggled, and slid his eye into place, all connected as it should be.

Then she sat back and wondered if she’d done something wrong.

Shades sat forward, blinked.

“Should it light up or something?” she said.

Then… it swiveled. The blue iris glowed with a blue she had only seen once before when an iris of extraordinary purity grew in the palace gardens.

“So pretty!” She clapped her hands. “Can you see?”

He climbed to his feet and slowly turned in a circle, then looked down and stared at his palm.