- Katsa, Oll, and Giddon ride like the wind to get back to Randa City. (The Kings' home cities are all named for the kings. They're a humble lot.)
- Unfortunately, rain forces them to stop and hole up at an Inn for the evening.
- At the Inn, people go out of their way to serve Katsa, Oll, and Giddon, in part because they're all royalty (the king's niece, the king's captain, and the king's underlord, respectively), and in part because Katsa scares the bejeezus out of everyone.
- During lunch, Giddon takes it upon himself to let the serving girl know that Katsa would never hurt her, "but if someone else were to hurt you, Lady Katsa would likely hurt that person" (5.31). The girl shyly reaches over and shakes Katsa's hand, and Katsa tears up a little. It would seem that people rarely dare to look her in the eye, let alone touch her, and she's grateful to Giddon for explaining things to this young girl.
- Later that night, Katsa goes out to the stables to practice her exercises and scares a boy, who runs at the sight of her.
- At dinner, Oll informs Katsa that King Murgon has reported a robbery.
- Katsa is amused by the news that the robbery was reportedly committed by either a Graceling boy who was some kind of hypnotist or a Graceling man the size of a monster.
- Apparently the search for the true culprit was hindered by the fact that a visiting man who happened to be a Graceling fighter was found in the courtyard and questioned for hours.
- That's the first bit of good news. The second bit is that this Graceling fighter didn't say anything helpful to Murgon—a big relief for Katsa.
- In other news, Oll says he's heard that the Monsean queen is grief stricken over Prince Tealiff's disappearance. Katsa adds that she heard the queen had stopped eating, which, in Katsa's opinion, seems like a ridiculous way to grieve. Ah well. As Giddon says, the Monsean queen is Lienid, and "'they're known to be odd people'" (5.74).
- Katsa herself has never felt grief, "or if she had, she didn't remember" (5.75). Her mom died when she was a baby, and her dad was killed in a border raid before she was old enough to speak. She's pretty sure she wouldn't grieve if anything happened to Randa (neither would Shmoop), but maybe she would for Oll. Or her ladyservant, Helda. And definitely for Raffin, whose "loss would hurt more than a finger sliced off, or an arm broken, or a knife in her side" (5.77).
- Giddon stirs Katsa from her thoughts by telling her that the sky is clearing and they can go. They'll be at court by nightfall.