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You'll have to be careful about how you present your reasoning, or the conversation could turn perilous.

"I think it's for the best if we all go into this at full strength, yes," you say.

"Of course it is," Alvis says with a decisive nod.

"And I'm sure the chance to get magic of your own has nothing to do with your decision," Letha says. Alvis narrows his eyes, and everyone in the room is paying much more attention to them than they are to you.

Most of the tension in the room has lessened, but Min is shrinking further back against the wall, jaw set.

Princess Despina exhales briefly, noticing. "Min, you aren't my subject and I can't restrict your actions," she says. "But I advise you to consider them very carefully, and certainly not to make any particularly rash decisions before my wedding."

Min nods distantly. "I don't intend to cause offense, Your Highness," they say.

Next

The princess looks briefly out her window toward the crowded streets, then shuffles the papers on her desk again. "Well, I have several meetings to get through before the feast tonight," she murmurs. "I'll need to speak with you again before you depart for Elith, but I'm afraid I have some preparations to make just now. And it's nearly time for that business on the tournament grounds, Letha, isn't it?"

Letha nods, straightening. "I'm offering open combat lessons during the festival," she explains. "Make people more confident in the face of the prophecy's return. And hopefully come off like more of a valiant defender and less of a murderer."

"Do you know what Chancellor Aton is speaking about in the city, Your Highness?" Alvis asks.

"Treason, I imagine," Princess Despina mutters darkly. "And speaking of the mess politics have been recently, did you have to include the crown disappearing in your blighted prophecy? As if I needed anything else to call my position into question. You know how much people make of that bauble, all the stories they tell about it. I'm starting to think I ought to start making public appearances with it. There's no law against a regent wearing it. And I'm starting to think that if I don't, Aton will just steal it from the vault and parade Evander around in it as some sort of coup. The attachments people have to the thing, it might even work."

"Well, someone ought to keep an eye on him, then," Alvis says, smiling to himself.

"I confess I'm curious about those plays about the Realm-Warden," Min remarks. "Some of the actors I know in town have been rehearsing for months."

"They're about killing demons," Alvis points out. "Won't you hate them?"

"Oh, yes, I imagine so," Min says, recovering some of their cheerfulness. "But I'm interested to find out how much."

Min gives you a quick nod and opens Princess Despina's door for you. You proceed past the guards at the end of her hallway and down the stairs, heading back to the great hall.

"The owner of one of the theaters where I sing is sponsoring a performance just north of the river," Min explains as you emerge back into the city. "I've been curious since I first heard of it. I'm pleased we made it back in time. Though I imagine you must have seen the Realm Warden's story performed countless times."

"Do you think you can imagine some other way to amuse yourself than testing my abilities? Perhaps we could play some kind of word game." Min looks amused, perhaps despite themself.

If anything, the streets are more crowded than when you arrived in Archa, but Min weaves through the masses with ease. At one point, you're fairly certain you see them duck under someone's arm. "I grew up in Chenshou, the capital of Sienha," they say with a laugh when they catch you staring. "This is nothing, in comparison."

Under Min's expert guidance, you eventually reach a wooden stage constructed not far from where the River Timio bends through Archa. The throng of people is concentrated particularly closely around it, but Min catches sight of the owner of the theater company, and after a few moments of conversation, he somehow maneuvers you to a place fairly near the front.

The stage is draped with a painted background that you immediately recognize as the hills outside of Pasema. As you get settled into the audience, a couple of members of the group drag out an enormous wooden frame covered in black fabric, which you realize after several moments is intended as a representation of the portal.

Min smiles, but lifts a hand to shush you. "Don't heckle."

While perhaps Min is right that heckling would be impolite, it occurs to you as the actors first take the stage that you're in a unique position to influence the performance in another way. If you're careful with your illusions, you could use them to change what the audience sees on the stage. The play will undoubtedly be intended to promote Ilias the Realm-Warden and condemn the demons, but you could turn that message on its head—or strengthen it.

The actor playing Ilias takes the stage with a flourishing bow, and the first twirling black puppet representing a demon bursts forth from the "portal." One of the actors is mostly concealed within the puppet, manipulating the tendrils with long wooden sticks the costume also nearly obscures. The audience gasps as the fabric tendrils twist across the stage, and you contemplate your options. A couple of illusory strategies come to mind almost at once, though each would require a different sort of touch in addition to your magical skill. Of course, there's no need to use magic at all.