Last time, some chatter and Katsa doesn’t understand people.

This chapter, she’s returned to the court – in fact, she’s literally riding her horse into his courtyard, with its shiny green marble floor. You know, marble wears out with extended use, and does so a lot faster if you’re riding horses across it, plus it’s slippery…

It was very grand, very impressive. As Randa liked it.

Katsa has mentioned this kind of thing several times, and she never goes further. There’s no bit about how his ruinous taxes starved farmers to pay for it or anything. Just that this place is pretty because Pandaman likes things to look nice.

Ragamuffin shows up for hugs and Katsa finds that his hair’s blue. He explains it was an attempt at a headache remedy.

Blue is a really rare color in nature. If you find something that dyes hair blue, it’d be kind of a big deal unless there’s some other plant in the area that already gives people an easy blue dye, and it’s unlikely you’d just stumble on such a recipe by chance.

Anyway, Pandaman is horrified by this and says he’s not talking to his son until the dye comes out.

Katsa asks if Teaprince has said anything, and Ragamuffin says the guy hasn’t even woke up once so far. That sounds really bad, it’s been several days.

She was disappointed.

How about worried? Both for the guy and the fact it’ll look really bad if they’re found with the guy’s body.

Katsa just asks about Katsa related problems, namely, hey, what about the other guy?

“You saw him, did you?” Raffin said, and she swung her eyes to his face, surprised. “As you came into the courtyard? He’s been lurking around. Hard to look that one in the eyes, eh? He’s the son of the Lienid king.”

Well shit. Better hope he wasn’t in on the plot. Or if he’s not, that he doesn’t end up thinking they were behind the plot.

She asks if he’s the heir. Nope.

He has six older brothers. His name is the silliest I’ve heard for the seventh heir to a throne. Prince Greening Grandemalion.”

Oh, like you have any room to talk, Ragamuffin. At least Greening already is based on a word, so I’m not distracted by what word it sounds like.

You know, how common are gracelings? This is now the third noble kid with fancy eyes, and all three of them have cool powers and not super tree climbing skills.

He goes on to say that the guy says he’s looking for his grandfather. But Ragamuffin hasn’t said anything because he was waiting for Katsa because……………nope, just because.

Then a steward shows up to tell Katsa to get dressed for dinner, and she helpfully informs us this means she has to wear a DRESS GOD so unfair ALSO JEWELRY life is suffering, because she’ll be sitting next to someone Pandaman wants her to marry.

She would ease the poor man’s fears quickly, and perhaps she could claim not to feel well enough to sit through the entire meal.

Why is it so uncomfortable to sit somewhere next to a person and wear a dress that you can’t even eat a decent meal?

Then suddenly, THE OTHER GRACELING!

His eyes. Katsa had never seen such eyes. One was silver, and the other, gold. They glowed in his sun-darkened face, uneven, and strange. She was surprised that they hadn’t shone in the darkness of their first meeting. They didn’t seem human. She couldn’t stop looking at them.

So he’s already out-sued Katsa’s own eyes.

This is the first mention we’ve had that people can get impossible eye colors (squash-yellow being inexact enough to potentially cover plenty of possible shades).

Also “One was silver, and the other, gold” reads terribly, it sounds like the way you sing that song about friends.

Katsa decides he’s an arrogant asshole and she will have nothing to do with him, so she stalks off. I stand by the love interest guess.