- The errand Randa has sent Katsa, Oll, and Giddon on this time is particularly detestable. He wants Katsa to force a lord to marry one of his daughters to a Nanderan underlord who's had trouble finding a wife because his desolate home is in an extremely dangerous area.
- Needless to say, the lord isn't keen on this idea, and Katsa isn't keen on the idea of making him hand over a daughter, either. Oll and Giddon find the mission distasteful too, but what can they do? Randa's the king.
- Since the lord they're going to see lives near Giddon (he's actually one of Giddon's neighbors), Katsa, Oll, and Giddon will be staying the night at Giddon's estate.
- When they arrive, Katsa realizes the truth of what Po told her: that Giddon is in love with her. He's always instructed his servants to treat her with extra care and kindness, though she never realized it before—and now that she does, she feels weird being there.
- The next day, as they head to Lord Ellis's home, Katsa decides she's going to find a way around Randa's orders. She has to. Neither Oll nor Giddon want to complete this task either, but she realizes that they don't have the power she has to refuse Randa.
- When they arrive, Katsa puts on a show, making it look like she's going to hurt Lord Ellis and demanding that he banish his servants from the room lest they get injured in the fray.
- Once the servants are gone and it's just Katsa, Oll, Giddon, and Lord Ellis, Katsa reveals her plan to openly defy Randa. She says she believes his orders are unjust and she won't carry them out.
- Lord Ellis is shocked, but thankful. Oll and Giddon are shocked, but supportive. Thing is, Katsa won't let them support her. She tells them it has to look like she has acted alone and that they tried to make her see reason. She's going to have to make it look like she smacked Oll and Giddon around a bit so they won't get in trouble. As she explains, "If he knows you disobeyed him, he'll imprison or kill you. He can't hurt me the way he can hurt you. I don't think his entire guard could capture me, and if they did, at least I don't have a holding that depends on me, as you do, Giddon. I don't have a wife, as you do, Oll" (13.63).
- Katsa makes a lot of good points, then she tells Lord Ellis she'll kill him and his daughters if he breathes a word of this to anyone.
- Later on at the inn, she cuts Giddon's neck with a knife and bruises Oll a bit, all of which ultimately prompts Giddon to finally do what everyone's been expecting him to do for ages: propose to Katsa.
- He tries to convince her that marrying him will protect her, but she doesn't buy it. Plus she really doesn't want to marry him. Or anyone. Ever.
- Giddon gets a little petulant when she refuses him, telling her she won't get a better offer, and if she's hoping the Lienid is going to pop the question, she's out of luck. Furthermore, she'd be a fool to marry him. He's not trustworthy, "Nor is he honorable. […] A man who fights you as he does is no better than an opportunist and no worse than a thug" (13.123).
- Sour grapes? Maybe. But Katsa is struck by his words. They're the exact words Po once used to characterize Giddon's opinion of him. When Katsa realizes that Giddon has never spoken these words aloud to Po, only thought them in his presence, she realizes something that knocks her boots off: Po is a mind reader.
- She's miffed, to say the least, because Katsa values truth above most things, and she feels that Po "misrepresented himself, misrepresented his Grace. And that was the same as if he'd lied" (13.139).