As winter came, the food shortage was starting to become noticeable. Starvation was a fact in the city. The sickness also kept spreading. For the first time, some of the more affluent households became ill. Never had the sickness come so close to the heart of the city. Panic spread through the castle. There was talk of isolating the castle. The castellan had his work cut out for him and was kept busy, and so was Zerden. The panic needed to be contained and an outright rebellion to be avoided at all costs. There were rumours the king had sent word to the Lady and in desperation had invited her. Mary felt her heart flutter the first time she heard the rumours. Would the Lady come? But soon her joy passed when she realized the Lady probably wouldn’t remember her. Even if she and Kopa came to the castle, Mary probably wouldn’t meet them. Still, it felt nice to know that maybe, if Mary was lucky, she could at least get to see them from a distance. Just knowing the Lady would be in the cast

“Sit here with me, my friend,” said the Lady, patting one of the pillows in the window. Mary carefully went forward and sat as far out on the edge as she could. “Mary, I have to apologize,” the Lady began, and Mary was so surprised she forgot about being careful and looked up at the Lady. “We shouldn’t have left you the way we did when we went back home. I trusted the king, but that’s no excuse. I should have made sure you were okay before we left,” the Lady continued. “I thought you’d be taken care of and get to grow up at court.”“At court?” said Mary in amazement.“Yes, my friend, that’s what was decided. I thought you’d be best off staying here, where you felt at home. I was wrong. Can you forgive me?” Mary didn’t know what to say. The thought of growing up at court was so strange. She thought of Lady Sarah and couldn’t imagine growing up to be like her. Mary suddenly realized the Lady was waiting for an answer.“There’s nothing to forgive,” she said. The Lady smiled faintly. They

Mary felt a little strange leaving the security of the tower. But at the same time, it felt wonderful to get some fresh air and walk around again. Many of the people who walked across the yard greeted her while looking at Kopa with questioning looks. Mary steered their steps towards the gate and then down the street. As they walked, she kept telling Kopa stories about the different houses, about the streets and about the places they could see in the distance. They walked around for hours before finally getting back to the castle gates. Mary was happy and felt like she had spent most of their walk laughing. Even Kopa seemed unusually cheerful, and she had received several smiles from him during the day. Together they entered through the gate and started towards the tower. "Mary?" Mary stopped when she heard her name. She turned around and saw Zerden standing among a group of soldiers on the other side of the castle yard. He said a few words to his friends and then hurried towards her.

"Of course, come in." Mary entered the small house and followed Ida into the kitchen where Mrs. Korpi was stirring in a pot. "Well, look at this. Mary, it's nice to see you," the woman said. "Thank you, Mrs. Korpi. Do you think Erik's going to be able to talk to me soon? I need to talk to him. It’s urgent or I wouldn’t have come in the middle of the day," Mary said. A small pensive wrinkle appeared between Mrs. Korpi's eyebrows. "Well, the men will soon have their food. You are welcome to wait and join us." “Thank you very much," said Mary. She had hardly sat down to wait when the back door opened, and Erik and his father entered the kitchen. They looked at Mary curiously before greeting her. "Here, take your bowls of stew and go and sit in the garden, you two. There you can have a talk," said Mrs. Korpi, giving Mary and Erik each their bowl of food. They thanked her and went out into the garden. It was still a bit chilly, but they found a place where the sun warmed them and sett

Mary sat in the carriage, feeling somewhat depressed after leaving everything and everyone she knew behind. That wasn’t entirely true, she thought, she was, in fact, surrounded by people she knew, and she was with the Lady and Kopa. It helped a little, she just needed to look at this as an adventure. Like when Erik and she would explore the city when they were children. After a while, the carriage stopped, and Mary looked at the Lady questioningly."We have to wait for the wagons with our luggage," the Lady explained without Mary having to ask. Mary nodded and realized they couldn’t travel without storage wagons. The procession with the grey riders and the lonely white carriage, was only to create an impression, to maintain the vision of the Lady and her company. Mary thought she should have figured it out earlier, she, if anyone, should know how much food it took to feed all these people. As they waited for the waggons to catch up with them, Mary thought about the journey ahead of he