groundedness, to balance out Raffin's abstraction. Perhaps they could make a king together.
Helda walked into the room and opened her mouth to speak; then paused as the outer doors were heard to creak open. Moments later, Giddon surprised them all by yanking Saf into the room by one arm. Giddon looked bleary-eyed and rumpled.
"What did he do now?" Bitterblue asked sharply.
"I found him in your father's maze, Lady Queen," said Giddon.
"Saf," said Bitterblue, "what were you doing in the maze?"
"It's not against the law to walk through the castle," Saf said, "and anyway, what's his excuse for being in the maze?"
Giddon backhanded Saf across the mouth, grabbed him by the collar, looked straight into his astonished eyes, and said, "Speak to the queen with respect or you'll never work with the Council in any capacity."
Saf 's lip was bleeding. He touched it with his tongue, then grinned at Giddon, who released him roughly. Saf turned back to Bitterblue. "Nice friends you've got," he said.
Bitterblue knew that Giddon had almost certainly been in the maze because Po had sent him in there, to find out what Saf was up to. "Enough," she said, angry with both of them. "Giddon, no more hitting. Saf, tell me why you were in the maze."
Reaching into his pocket, Saf pulled out a ring with three keys on it, followed by a set of lock picks Bitterblue recognized. Without ceremony, he deposited both into Bitterblue's hand.
"Where did you get these?" Bitterblue asked in confusion.
"They look like Fox's lock picks, Lady Queen," said Helda.
"They are," said Bitterblue. "Did she give them to you, Saf, or did you steal them?"
"Why would she give me her lock picks?" asked Saf blandly. "She knows exactly who I am."
"And the keys?" asked Bitterblue evenly.
"The keys came out of her pocket when I nicked the lock picks."
"What are they the keys to?" Bitterblue asked Helda.
"I couldn't say, Lady Queen," said Helda. "I wasn't aware of Fox having any keys."
Bitterblue studied the keys in her hand. All three were large and ornate. "They're familiar," she said vaguely. "Helda, these keys are familiar. Come, help me," she said, going to the blue horse hanging. As Helda took the hanging in both arms, Bitterblue began to try each key in the lock. The second one successfully unlocked the door.
Bitterblue looked into Helda's eyes, sharing with Helda the question of why Fox would have had Leck's keys in her pocket. And why, having them, she would have made a show of using the lock picks. "I'm certain there's a satisfactory explanation, Lady Queen," said Helda.
"So am I," said Bitterblue. "Let's wait to see if she volunteers it to me when she discovers Saf took them."
"I trust her, Lady Queen."
"I don't," said Saf from the other side of the room. "She has holes in her earlobes."
"Well," Helda said, "that's because she spent her childhood in Lienid, just like you did, young man. Where do you suppose she got a name to match her hair?"
"Then why doesn't she talk to me about Lienid?" Saf said. "If her family was alert enough to send her away, why doesn't she talk to me about the resistance? Why tell me nothing of her family, her home? And where is her Lienid accent? She's trying to make herself into nothing, and I don't trust it. Her conversation is too selective. She told me the location of Leck's rooms but didn't say a word about there being a maze. Was she hoping I would get caught?"
"Did she instruct you to go snooping?" retorted Bitterblue. "You're complaining about the mistrustful behavior of someone you stole from, Saf. Maybe she doesn't talk to you because she doesn't like you. Maybe she didn't like Lienid. Anyway, the list of people you trust is shorter than the number of keys on this ring. What do we have to do to make you stop behaving like a child? We won't always go into contortions to protect you, you know. Has Prince Po told you that the day he saved your life in my courtroom and you rewarded him by stealing my crown, he spent hours running through the rain in pursuit of it, then fell gravely ill?"
No, Po hadn't told him. Saf's sudden, silent chagrin was evidence. "Why were you in my father's maze?" Bitterblue asked again.
"I was curious," Saf said in a defeated voice.
"About what?"
"Fox mentioned Leck's rooms," Saf said. "Then I picked her pocket and came up with the keys, and thought I could guess what