They get to Casasha. Shara gets her cream puff and her fruit. Strangers incline their heads to her and call her "pennon"; a few recognize her personally or just know that there aren't any other Swanpennons her age and call her "princess". Casasha is pretty densely populated - there's farmland in parts of it, but the place the wilds spit them out in isn't it; it's a largish city by the source of the river they've been following, and after they spend a night in an inn there - and their horses are more thoroughly seen to than is possible on the trail - they'll be proceeding on a well-trafficked highway to the royal household.
"Terrible pity. Such a loss. Perhaps the world would be better off if you didn't keep to random promises made as a joke."
"Perhaps! But now I have to think of silly ways around the promises."
"Maybe you have mastered making promises but only Zeviana has mastered keeping them."
Adarin laughs. "If we were that bad neither of us would ever be able to function."
"Ah. Well, I don't think anybody but me heard you swear off writing. I could just release you from the promise."
"That's all right, I don't think I'd be much good at it. I'm more of a numbers person."
"But I guess if we every figure out a way to tell your story in a math problem, I am your man."
"I haven't the foggiest idea how you'd do that. Maybe I'm not mathy enough."
"Yeah, I've got no idea how I'll turn that into math, either. Sorry. You'll be the second to know."
Shara rides up to it, is recognized by the guards, vouches for "my rescuees", and hands off the horses and proceeds into the building proper on foot.
"Let's grab my parents, they'll want to watch me making my try," she says. "In case it takes this time."
Shara asks the nearest palace staff for the last known whereabouts of either monarch and follows their directions to the king's study.
There, in his study, is the king! He is wearing his crown and everything.
"Father, I'm back! I brought rescuees! There were more of them but only these ones wanted to come along. This is Adarin and that's his sister Zeviana."
"Some kind of raveler I don't even know what to call her - she was raveling people, their - liking for each other. She had a bunch of them kept more or less like pets in a house in the wilds. I noticed her casting a spell as we rode by, figured out which of the occupants was her, dropped my flashball to signal Kayam, shredded one of his shields to let her knife the raveler," she gestures at Adarin, "and then we just barely had time to explain instead of having to bail, they were really upset, it didn't wear off when she died."
"Of course we will," agrees the king. "I think she's in the aviary."
Off to the aviary!
Adarin's quiet on the trip there, he's not sure about what to say.
"Mother, I'm back, I rescued some people and brought two home with me, come watch me try the crown."
"Of course, darling!" exclaims Queen Auriny. "Hello, it's so nice to meet you both."