Dan agreed, finally, to go and see her. He knew that the only reason Chaldez did not want her at court was because she would be an embarrassment to him, but he decided, though not for Chaldez's sake, to keep that from her.
When they met they were both on their guard: Dan because of what he knew about Chaldez, and Doo because of what she had heard. Draff, the queen's cousin in whose household she was staying, visited the court often, and he was a great gossip monger. His first gleeful accounts of Chaldez's exploits had made her wretched; she had felt physically ill and had cried. But by the time Dan came to see her she had accepted that there could never be anything special between her and Chaldez, and that she had been stupid and childish to have ever thought there could be; the gulf between them was unbridgeable. She had nothing to commend herself to him, not even her looks.
The certainty that her love for him was fruitless filled her with a sense of inner desolation. Chaldez was not "hers" in any sense. In her bleakest moments, the heavy thought that no one at all belonged to her and that she belonged to no one brought down a darkness which was numbing in its totality.
Dan's message that Chaldez missed her stirred up the feelings she had been trying to control, and she began to cry. Dan was embarrassed, which made her embarrassed. She dried her eyes and tried not to sniff and for a while they avoided any mention of Chaldez at all.
After some desultory small talk Dan said that he hoped to persuade Chaldez to move out of the stavista and in with Taigram.
"I hear the queen likes him and won't let him go," said Doo."
"What worries me is that he'll never want to leave this place. If we're not careful he'll forget he's got a kingdom to take."
For Doo the mention of a "kingdom" to be taken was discomforting; she was happy enough that Chaldez should be persuaded to leave the stavista and go to live with his grandparents, but the notion that he should ever attempt to take his father's crown frightened her profoundly. It could only be extremely dangerous, and she knew that once he left Theigia she would never see him again. She asked "You don't think he'll leave Theigia, do you?"
"He's got to," Dan said.
"Why?"
"We'll all just rot here. There's nothing for us in Theigia."
Doo was astonished and appalled to hear him say such a thing. "It doesn't have to be so bad," she said.
"Bad!" exclaimed Dan. "Of course it's bad. You and I, we're nothing here."
"We're alive. We're free."
"When Chaldez is a king I shall be at his side, and so will you."
"He won't want me! He'll forget I ever lived."
"He will not! You're special to Chaldez; no one is as special as you. Don't forget I've heard him talk about you. You'll be his queen."
Doo laughed. "Have you ever looked at me?" she demanded. "Do I look like a queen to you?"
"You will," was all Dan would say. "You will."
After he had gone, she thought about what he had said. She hated the idea of Chaldez leaving Theigia, but she became more and more certain that he must, and once again she was overwhelmed by the horrid feelings of loneliness which had become so familiar since her arrival in Jeggan. Slavery had been more endurable than what she was going through now, for at least her future had seemed secure. If she had married Keds, the man who had taken her as a slave, her life would not have been so very different from that of the girls in her own village at home. And she could have done worse than find someone like Keds. He had treated her gently and with respect, and his only reason for marrying her was that he wanted to. He would have looked after her, and she would have had his children, and there would have been certainty in her life.
After his death and she had been brought to Chaldez, she deluded herself that things had not changed so very much, and anyway, the novelty of her position as the favoured companion of a prince had tended to drive out uncomfortable thoughts about what might lie ahead. Only during the voyage, when she became aware of how vulnerable and alone Chaldez was, did she begin to have moments of unbearable anxiety. It was these that had prompted her to go to his cot.
He told her they would live with Taigram, and she was reassured: to be in the exiled king's household was a far less daunting prospect than having to live at court with the likes of Havil. As for the long-term future, she closed her eyes to it. She only knew that she wanted to be with Chaldez for as long as possible, and she was devastated when, on their arrival at Jeggan, she was taken away from him.
For consolation she turned more and more to the four children of Keds: little Hagar, her sister Chaddi, and the two boys, Ged and Deganz. While their father still lived the eldest three regarded her with a mixture of distrust and disdain; she was, anyway, only a slave, and they were confused when their father treated her as though she were one of the family. To them she was an intruder, and an element of resentment came into their attitude towards her. Then their father was taken away, and suddenly she was all they had. Deganz fought against accepting her, but to Chaddi and Ged she was something of an elder sister and to three-year old Hagar she was virtually mother.
If Chaldez left Theigia, what would become of them all? The future frightened her. She began to cry quietly.
Dan returned to the stavista believing he had won his case and that Doo would join him in putting pressure on Chaldez to pursue his destiny on the mainland. Chaldez, he knew, would not be influenced by him; but he would be by Doo. Somehow he had to get them together.
He began to visit Doo often, and he always talked to her about Chaldez and how he was wasting his life at Jeggan. And he began to drop hints about the girls he was playing around with. Doo, of course, had heard it all from Draff, but that made it no easier to bare.
When he was with Chaldez, Dan made no mention of Kroya or Sair; he spoke instead about Doo, partly to make him uncomfortable, because he knew he felt badly about her, and partly from the hope of bringing them into contact with each other again. He said she was unhappy in Draff's household.
"Why not get your grandparents to take her in with them?" he suggested. If that happened they would be bound to meet, and there was a chance then that she might remind him of his obligations.
Chaldez was shocked. "Draff has said nothing about this to me."
Dan retorted "Would he know? He just tells you what he wants you to hear. She's told me she hates it in his household."
Chaldez was puzzled, and a little angry. He considered that she had no right to be unhappy.

One morning soon afterwards he was informed that the queen was ill and would not require his presence that day. So he went to see his grandparents instead. They lived informally quite close to the stavista, in a spacious lodge given to them by the late King Beune. They had few visitors, and had let Chaldez know that he was welcome whenever he was able to get away from the stavista.
They had a meal together, and Chaldez mentioned Doo. Taigram, as usual, seemed not to be listening to anything he said, and Hiyo put on a show of being bored by the subject. Chaldez left feeling despondent.
The following day the queen was recovered, but subdued. She said little, and by way of conversation Chaldez talked about Doo, and he repeated Dan's suggestion that she move in with his grandparents.
Shortly after this conversation the queen was ill again, and Chaldez decided to visit his grandparents once more.
He was crossing the courtyard of the exiled-king's house when he saw a figure he thought he recognised. "Doo?" he called. She looked at him, and he could not have imagined how pleased he would be to see her.
They approached one another, and when she was very close he repeated her name, almost under his breath, and embraced her. As she clung to him he felt her body shaking with sobs, and he thought he might cry too. They said nothing, but after a while walked together towards the door of an ante-chamber. When they reached it they parted in silence.
Chaldez found out later that the queen had persuaded his grandparents to take in Doo; furthermore, she had brought the four children with her.
The queen's illness was again very brief, and Chaldez was soon at her side again. She told him, quite casually, that there had been a change of plan: Taigram, she said, was to be restored to the Kroyan throne; if Chaldez wanted the crown he must wait for him to die.