Staying in the Queens tent brought a new kind of comfort, that Lavinia had not experienced yet. It was always heated, and there was a real bath she could use, rather than the river. Every piece of fabric around was expensive-looking and unbelievably cozy and there were more pillows than she could count. More than that, there were also several books, most of them about the history of the Fourth Kingdom, some about war and one some kind of religious piece and while she could not read the strange letters they were written in, she certainly could admire the thousands of little illustrations, decorating every page, and even some letters in the books. They depicted not only the Fourth Kingdom, with red castles, wide stretches of what looked like golden earth and all it‘s Queens, Queenfathers and Noblefolk, but also fantasy creatures, with bumps on their body, unbelievably long necks and horns that could kill a human and very tiny birds that drank blood. They fascinated Lavinia to the point where she told Kebé about her finds, and was surprised when she broke into her characteristic booming laughter again.

„Those animals are not a fantasy, I’m afraid. “, she told her. „They are the Fourth Kingdoms fauna, along with some others.“

„You’re doing it again! You are lying to me! “, Lavinia accused her, but she denied it, crying tears of amusement over her, and insisting on her tale. Lavinia refused to believe her, mainly because these animals being real would make her seriously rethink whether she could go to the Fourth Kingdom.

Regardless of those comforts, however, Lavinia was not as happy as she could have been. Zoya, taken in completely by her new duties, had been visiting less and less, and the Queen was called back to her responsibilities as well. Since Lavinias health had improved enough, to not need tending to anymore, but not enough for her to get up or leave the tent yet, she was alone most of the time, silk walls separating her from the rest of the camp at all times. She was not sure, if she would actually have liked it better of, she was outside. The resentments against her had probably not ceased, maybe even gotten worse after this show of weakness, and she did not miss the atmosphere of impending war. Yet somehow the thought that all these negative things still existed and she was simply not able to see them clearly made her feel even more defenseless than standing among them. She might be a slug between snails, but at least she could sense the danger. In here, she was lulled into a false security, that could shatter anytime with her recovery.

She was torn. One second she resented her sickness, for disabling her in that way, the next she admitted to herself that she did not look forward to leaving and that maybe, it would be better for her to stay sick a little bit longer, sometimes even wishing, to be sick a little bit longer.

The conflict plagued her every waking hour she spent by herself with no one to snap her out of it. The only break she got from herself occurred during her dinners, which she took with Kebé who would distract her, by bringing news from the world beyond silk and baths.

She told her jokes, or anecdotes, or gossiped about the soldiers’ lack of discipline, or her Generals unbelievable amount of the latter. And now, finally, Lavinia felt like she was learning about the troops. When before she had barely been touching their shells, Kebé revealed their insides, from a place of understanding that Lavinia could not dream of reaching on her own.

She also looked at the books with her, giving her feathers and ink, so Lavinia could write the letters she taught her in the margins, insisting that this would not ruin the book, as Lavinia feared. And she was learning, slowly but surely. Not enough to read on her own, enough to read along while Kebé read to her, translating single passages and summarizing the rest.

She learned about the Fourth Kingdoms inner working, it’s royal family, it’s seventeen noble tribes and complex administrative system, it’s workers and troops and local delicatessens. She listened when Kebé talked about infighting among nobility, or described the ancient temples up in the mountains or in the depths of the desert, that was what they called the golden parts, and she accepted her suggestions, of visiting this or that place together after they returned.

And during all that her condition changed for the better, just a little every day, so she hardly noticed it until it was too late. The night before she was officially declared healthy again she cried herself to sleep.

She returned back to her own tent the next morning, after taking one last bath. It seemed cold now, even though the temperature was objectively fine and the interior seemed small, and scabby compared to what she had gotten used to. After the resounding failure, the Queen had decided to put a stop to her former routine, asking only that she attended meals and meetings with the officers. She still dreaded contact with the warriors, but it was thousand times better than the last plan, so she was grateful.