The Palace perched on a hill--the only hill, as far as Liya could tell, for miles and miles. Helly led her through a gate on the east side of the Palace, past the massive doors of the main hall, past a gigantic carved white stone statue of a serpentine dragon (whose coils had to weigh tons, but they arched over each other in open air without any trouble), past the four-story glass windows of the hall. Wide stone steps interrupted the green hillside beyond the gate, and Liya followed Helly down them.

"How big is this place, anyway?" she asked.

"Oh," Helly said blithely, "monstrous."

They reached a flat stone landing only to find several hundred more steps beyond it, descending sharply into another walled bailey.

"It's a nice view of Escalus, though, isn't it?" Helly said presently.

Liya paused, looking where Helly was. From here she had a clear view over the sharp hills and bailies of the Palace to the city below; it lay spread out like colored beads beyond the river, which snaked by bright-blue under the midmorning sky. It had to be miles to the outer wall of the Palace from where she stood, and maybe another mile across the water. A single massive bridge with red pillars spanned the waters from the Palace gate to a circular plaza just barely visible in the city.

A breeze was coming up off the river, gamboling against the hills and tugging Liya's curls off her neck. It smelled familiar--rotting vegetation and fish, but without the salt she was used to.

"I suppose I should ask Highness what I'm to do with you before you go running about down there, though," Helly said conversationally. Something clenched in Liya's gut.

"You know Cynn Numair?" she asked.

Helly finally noticed that she wasn't following them anymore and craned their odd face around to look at her. "Hm? Oh yes, quite well actually." Liya ran her fingers through her hair, brow furrowing; Helly turned towards her fully. "What's the matter?"