- The next day, Randa comes to watch Katsa and Po fight, which kind of ruins the whole thing for Katsa. She knows Randa wouldn't be there unless he needed something from her, and if he needs something from her, it probably means he's about to send her on another ghastly mercenary mission. Bleck.
- As Katsa expected, Randa interrupts to (a) gloat about her prowess as a fighter, and (b) tell her to come see him later because he has a job for her.
- When Randa leaves, Katsa demands that Po fight her, but he refuses, saying he won't fight her when she's angry—that's not the point of their practices.
- Katsa is disappointed. The fights always help her to relieve stress and feel more like herself. Still, she kind of gets it. She just wishes Randa didn't have so much power over her.
- Later, as she and Po eat dinner, he suggests to her that she's the one with the power. She has a choice. She can refuse Randa's demands. Doesn't she realize how strong she is? Who could possibly force her to do anything she didn't want to do?
- Katsa gets angry and rears back to smack Po. Hard. She expects him to defend himself, but he doesn't and she ends up nearly breaking his jaw. Yikes. Katsa is sorry—really sorry—and vows that she's learned her lesson. She can't strike out in anger. She knows it and she won't do it again. Ever.
- Po presses her again, asking her what she thinks would happen if she refused Randa's orders, and Katsa says she's afraid she'll kill him.
- Po forgives her, which Katsa thinks is strange. She tells him the Lienid are weird people, mentioning the strange way that his aunt, the queen of Monsea, is grieving Tealiff's disappearance. Po asks what she's talking about and Katsa tells him what she heard about the queen locking herself away with her daughter and refusing food.
- Po seems to find this information particularly interesting, though he doesn't say why. He says he needs to work something out and tells Katsa they'll need to talk when she gets back from the errand she's running for Randa.
- Katsa agrees, thinking to herself that Po has been a true friend to her.
- He tells he not to think of him too kindly, and Katsa gets an "eerie sense that he had just answered something she'd thought, rather than something she'd said" (12.92). Dun-dun-dun…