The smell of his own vomit made Kurt's stomach turn and he leaned over the cot he was on to dry heave into the bucket that had been placed beside the makeshift bed in the ballroom which Quinn had turned into a hospital. His throat burned from having spent the night emptying the contents of his stomach and his head felt as though it had its own heartbeat with the throbbing occurring in his temples.

"How's my favorite and dumbest patient doing this morning?" Quinn asked as she went to sit on the vacant cot beside his.

Kurt offered a groan in response and laid his head back on the pillow. "I don't remember coming here Quinn. Where did you find me?"

A bemused chuckle left her lips and she took a moment to wave a medic over to remove the used bucket before responding. "I didn't. Jake heard you moaning and groaning in your room and went to make sure you were alright. When it was very clear to him that you were not alright, he escorted you here."

Quinn offered thanks to the medic who responded and also asked him to return with a kudzu coffee. "Now what kind of bribery can I expect to keep this out of the ears of your family?" A smile playing across her lips.

Kurt turned his head on the side, looking at her and trying to judge what she knew. "Honestly Quinn, I don't remember much of last night so I wouldn't be able to put a price on what I don't know about."

The medic returned with the coffee and Quinn handed it to Kurt. "You'll need to drink this if you intend to work today."

Kurt sat himself up and started sipping the coffee. Quinn sat quietly and watched him until Kurt could no longer take it.

"Are you going to tell me what happened or am I going to have to drag it out of you?"

The blonde continued smiling secretly, "Well let's just say that I had to pay Jake to ensure he didn't say anything to anyone and I want the favor returned. You've been able to drink with the rest of the troops at their pace and volume for years now and I've never, ever seen you even close to as drunk as you were last night. How much did you drink?"

Kurt uttered a groan and shook his head, "Only some wine... But I took some skullcap before that."

Instead of berating him like Kurt expected, Quinn started laughing. "Well now it makes sense! Skullcap is hard on the liver and if your liver isn't at it's best, all the drink goes straight to your head!" She continued to laugh as she stood up, "Oh Kurt. It's a good thing you're so good to me, otherwise I would have to report to your father how his son was found parading in his underwear and having a conversation with the fibres of the rug, and then being brought here and declaring it the height of fashion to anyone who would come near him."

Kurt's face went pale and he gawked at Quinn, "I did not."

Quinn smiled sweetly and reached over to give him a pat on the back. "Oh but you did. There's a reason why no one is on the cots around you. I managed to convince Jake to bring you some of your clothes and then I had to fight to get them on you. My dear Kurt, it's such a shame you like boys because there's so many ladies who would be quite impressed with the... 'qualities' you possess in certain places."

The pale that had taken over his face was now replaced by a full blush. "Quinn, please... please..."

She grinned, "I won't tell your dad, or Finn, and you'd better just be thankful Carole wasn't serving last night - though she will be here within the hour so I expect you to finish that up and leave. Cost of service is a dress from one of the wardrobes in here, tailored to me. Oh, and the rest of that skullcap too. Once is funny, twice would just be sad."

Kurt moaned and nodded. This would haunt him for awhile.

Quinn walked across the room to her other patients and Kurt guzzled down the tea, leaving the empty cup beside the cot. He quickly left the room and quickly walked through the palace to his room where he found Mercedes now on duty in the hall.

Before she could speak, he ducked into his room and closed the door behind him. He could see that sun was already breaking over the horizon and knew he didn't have much time to get ready before he was due to escort Blaine around the city.

He vaguely recalled the dinner from last night, though the details were unclear. He knew that he had been angry, and simultaneously aroused - so much for the skullcap, but he felt that he had managed to eat supper with Blaine in the end so it couldn't have been bad.

Before he could worry about his clothing, Kurt first went to gargle and scrub his teeth over to get me taste of puke out of his mouth. He could put up with a lot of disgusting things but the taste of his own bile was not among them.

He quickly got undressed and then redressed in some very low key and plain clothing. The point of today was not to draw attention to himself or Blaine. A dark cloak went around his shoulders with a hood he could pull over his head as necessary.

He left the room and went across the hall, knocking on Blaine's door and taking in a breath as he prepared to take on the aloof disposition once again.

It took a moment, but finally Blaine opened the door, looking tired and still in a night shirt and pants. Kurt frowned and shook his head. "Dawn. You needed to be ready."

Blaine grumbled and pulled the door open all the way, stepping back into his room and letting Kurt follow, "Just give me a second..."

Kurt folded his arms over his chest and scanned over the room. The bed was unmade and clothing was all over the floor in a mess. Cat seemed to have made a nest out of a pile of shirts and was currently burrowed into it. The fire had gone out and the wash basin was half empty and its contents were dark. In the span of a day, Blaine had become messier than even the laziest soldier he had ever known.

As his eyes moved back to Blaine, they grew wide and his breath caught in his throat. Blaine had taken off his night shirt and was about to pull on a day shirt. For having been limited to the castle, Blaine has a stunning physique, lines drawing out his muscles and little trail of hair leading down into his slacks. Kurt snapped his head away rapidly, but it seemed Blaine had caught his look.

"I may not be a match for your warriors, but I spar with practice swords in my room regularly and try to keep up my overall strength. It gives me something to do, and gives boys like you something to look at."

Kurt looked back to Blaine and cocked an eyebrow, not expecting that kind of insinuation out of the sweet boy he had just met. His glance was met with a wink from Blaine who was tying on a cloak of his own. "I'm ready now."

Kurt swallowed and turned to head outside. He stopped outside of the room with Blaine as his shadow and looked to Mercedes, "Why don't you find Sam and have a little one on one time while you can. I'm taking him out and I want to keep it low key."

Mercedes looked from Kurt to Blaine and back again, assessing the situation. She was about to give her opinion on the matter when Blaine spoke.

"Are you a woman or am I just seeing things?"

Kurt's jaw unhinged and he couldn't get a word in before Mercedes responded.

"Oh hell to the no. I am not starting my day off with this kind of nonsense. Look little boy..." She took a step towards Blaine, who, to his credit, didn't back away. "In the real world, women fight as well, and in some cases better than you boys. We're not all happy housewives as your daddy might have you thinking."

Blaine lifted his hands, palms out in surrender, "Apologies. My experience has been limited to my sisters, step-mothers, and servants."

Mercedes pressed a solitary finger to Blaine's chest, "That's better, and I better not hear about you letting my boy here get into any trouble or I will get my sisters Brittany and Santana here with me and we will show you personally just how tough we ladies are."

Before Blaine could even think to respond, Mercedes had turned and walked quickly off, making sure she had gotten the last word in. As usual, Kurt thought to himself with a smirk.

"Well. Let's grab something from the kitchen then and we'll be off." Kurt led the way there and Blaine followed silently, taking a roll when offered to him from Kurt who had emptied a whole basket of them into a pouch he was carrying.

"Planning a picnic?" Blaine asked as he took a bite of the roll.

Kurt shook his head. "They're for later. You'll understand."

They went into the courtyard and Kurt walked to the gate, still open. Kurt watched as Blaine stepped to the edge of the courtyard at the gate and paused before following after Kurt into the streets of Westerville.

"Nervous?" Kurt asked, pulling his hood up over his head.

Blaine pulled his own hood up, mimicking Kurt. "I'm done being nervous."

Kurt led Blaine through the streets, casting sidelong glances to him to gauge his response to what he was encountering. It was evident that Blaine was trying to hide his disgust of the conditions people lived in, biting his lip when he saw people pouring their night buckets out onto the streets in front of their houses and then letting their animals drink from the collected pools of rain and urine in the streets.

Kurt saw when Blaine flinched at the man who had no teeth, and again with the girl who only had one of her hands. Blaine hesitated when they walked into the market area and merchants tried to push their wormy apples on him and cracked plates.

They had been out for an hour, in silence, and just walking when Blaine spoke up, "This isn't what I thought was out here."

Kurt nodded and led Blaine to a bench beside a chapel. He sat down and Blaine followed suite. "I know it wasn't."

Blaine looked over at Kurt, "What's wrong with everyone here? Why haven't they tried to make things better for themselves?"

Kurt shook his head, "They would if they were able. They are just trying to survive."

Blaine looked out across the street to where a beggar was sitting, palms out and together as he begged for change. "Why doesn't that man get a job? He'd do better for himself then just asking people for their money and hoping they take pity on him."

Kurt sighed and stood back up, "Well let's go find out why..." He crossed the street and went to kneel by the beggar. Blaine took a moment, but finally followed him, choosing to stand behind Kurt instead of kneeling with him.

Kurt pulled one of the rolls out of his pouch and offered it to the man, "I brought too much for lunch and was hoping you'd let me join you if I shared."

The beggar took the roll and smiled almost toothlessly at Kurt, "Well thank you son." He patted the dirt beside him. "Take a seat. Name's Bry."

Kurt smiled and sat down beside the man, pulling out a roll for himself, and one for Blaine. He held the second roll up to Blaine who remained standing for a moment before he must have realized how awkward he must look and sat beside Kurt, carefully tucking his cloak under him.

"I'm Kurt. How's your day been?" Kurt asked before taking a bite of his roll and looking to Bry.

Bry finished a bite of his roll before answering, "Been alright. Got a few coins for later."

Kurt and Bry continued their conversation while Blaine sat there quietly, listening in and eating his own roll. Bry had been a soldier and gotten a good gash in his left leg, leaving him unable to walk or stand for very long. Since he was no longer of use, he was dismissed. He couldn't find a job that didn't require him to be on his feet as all sitting jobs had been strictly limited to those with noble bloodlines. His wife tried to work as much as she could as a laundress, but very few people had the money to launder their clothing and she, as a woman, was prohibited from doing a lot of other jobs. Bry had a son, but he had been drafted to fight with one of the Anderson boys far in the north and he hadn't heard from him in over a year.

As they finished their rolls, Kurt patted Bry on the shoulder and offered him a small emerald from his pocket. "Not much. But I hope it can help you for a bit."

Bry took the emerald with a shaky hand looked at Kurt in shock, "You're sure?" Kurt nodded. "Oh my...thank you so much son." Bry rubbed a tear from his eye. "You'd better be on your way before you see me blubber."

Kurt nodded towards Blaine and stood up, continuing the trek down the street in silence for several minutes.

"Where did you get the jewel?" Blaine asked in a hushed tone.

"It was on a comb in my room. I removed it. Didn't make the comb any less functional." Kurt replied and turned into an alley.

Blaine followed, but kept a farther distance from Kurt as they moved into the darker, narrower space. "That comb was my sister's..."

"I'm sure her hair will survive without it. She didn't bring it with her so it couldn't be that important."

The alley got darker the farther they went down it until they reached a small collection of haphazard tents, made of old clothing and torn blankets.

"One of the citizens told me yesterday that there are no orphanages established in Westerville. Did you know that?" Kurt asked, taking the pouch of rolls and setting it down on the ground.

Blaine looked around at the miniature tent city. As if on cue, a little girl came out from one of the tents close to them and looked hesitantly at the men and then at the pouch Kurt had put down.

Kurt smiled to the little girl, maybe only five or six. "Hey sweetie. I know you're probably afraid. I'm just leaving you with some bread rolls here. You can take them and share them with the others here when I go alright? I won't make you come to me."

Kurt stood back out and started walking back out the way they had come, and for the first time that day, Blaine seemed to have to pry himself away from the filth he was immersed in.