Morning came for Cloudy with a pair of forelegs holding her close and loosely, warmth spreading across her back where Collar had finally laid down to rest after being roused long enough to wash him of the myriad of fragrances that the ambush had left him peppered with.

He smelled of Cloudy, now. Her wings. Her body. Her kisses.

She opened her eyes and winced at the bright daylight filtering in. A guard stood at attention inside the bedchamber, long cudgel at parade-stance. It grew straighter as the guard saw Cloudy shifting.

“Ma’am,” he said softly, clacking hoof to peytral. “Lady Lace wanted to see you as soon as you woke.”

“I’m not awake,” Cloudy grumbled, twisting her head to get a look at Collar. He was still asleep, and seemed hardly likely to wake for anything shy of a full parade march. Circles under his eyes looked almost painted on, worse than he’d looked last night. At least there was color to the insides of his ears now, and his lips were warm to the touch. “Sleep.”

Collar’s ears ticked and his eyes twitched under lids, but he didn’t move.

When she glanced back, the stallion was looking away, his ears flattened to his mane. It was clear that this wasn’t a duty that he thought was necessary. But there were questions she needed answered before the pony who knew them recovered enough to resist her questioning or fall back into her old way of denying everything.

Slowly, Cloudy eased herself away from Collar’s embrace, waiting between each shift to see if he would wake or shift in his sleep.

He did not, and by the time she slipped to the ground finally, Cloudy was certain he would sleep for another few hours at least. If nopony woke him up.

“I’m going for a walk,” Cloudy said as she approached the door. She recognized the pony up close. He was one of the palace guard, but a lower rank. Tide Watcher. “Collar won’t be able to participate until he wakes anyway.”

“But—”

“I need a walk. After last night, I can’t stand being cooped up right now. Lace will… she will understand.” Cloudy didn’t need to act as she stared around the room, feeling claustrophobic. She’d been trapped last night, unable to fly, to flee. “Please.” She ruffled her wings. “I need to see the sky again, Tide.”

It was only a moment’s hesitation before he stepped aside from the door. “I can understand that. Where are you going? I have to let the Lady Lace know if she comes before you return.”

“I just want to see the sky,” Cloudy said, looking up at the ceiling. “I don’t know where my hooves will carry me, but I won’t go anywhere there isn’t a guard.”

“Alright.”

As soon as she stepped out of the palace, repeating her story to the other guards and not having to feign being increasingly agitated about leaving for a walk or a short flight. And it was a short flight. Just to the riverside from the palace.

It was too short of a flight to work out most of her agitation, but it was enough to at least take the worst of the edge off and calm her nerves somewhat. She would need to be calm to confront Rosewater, even if she had to channel her anger. She couldn’t let that anger get out of control.

As luck would have it, or timing, Rosewater was just stepping free of her house when Cloudy began circling for a landing at the listening post across the river. Instead of doing so, she skipped the landing there and diverted to the farther west watch post keeping an eye on the perfumery and a minor Rose house.

“Good morning, my lady,” Prim Note said, shooting her a smirk as she bounced off the hay pile for pegasus landings and came to a rest beside him. “Sorry I missed the fighting last night.”

“You shouldn’t be,” she grumbled at him. “Still on schedule this morning,” she noted, nodding towards the tall white figure making her way through the traffic walking along the riverside. Rosewater stood out, and would have even if she had tried to veil. The others of her sisters were more average sized and could pass more or less anonymously when they veiled in shadow in the daylight.

“Little late,” Note murmured, flipping through his notes. “By about half an hour, but she’s been more erratic the past week, too. Spending the night sometimes in there, too.” He shrugged. “She took some work home with her night before last and hasn’t been back till now.”

“Guess we know why now,” Cloudy said with a sigh.

“Yes, my lady,” Note said with a snicker. “I heard the after-action gossip from here.” He flicked his ears and grinned at her, though there was a slight darkness under his eyes. He’d been out last night, too. Of course, as one of the best spooks of the city, his skills were in high demand. “I wish I’d heard something earlier.”

“You did all you could,” Cloudy said softly, glancing at him briefly and surprised to see something like guilt on his features. “Something you heard last night, lieutenant?”

“No. I mean, that should have been my clue. The Rose Palace had been silent for a few days. I should have been more suspicious.” Note’s ears drooped and he looked askance at her. “I should have emphasized that more strongly in my reports, my lady.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” She flicked an ear at him and raised her scope to watch Rosewater’s progress. She was slower than usual, her ears drooping, her eyes half-lidded. The fight that Cloudy had been knocked out for had taken its toll on Rosewater. Cloudy pursed her lips as she watched, noting the way her forelegs trembled with every fifth step or so, no real pattern to it. Unless she hurt her leg somehow. She was vulnerable.

“Because of last night. You kissed Lord Collar and woke him from a dream. Just like the fairy tale.” He chuckled. “They’re calling him the Prim Prince because of that, now.”

“Oh, please let me tell him,” Cloudy said, forcing a playful smile she didn’t feel. “I want to see the look on his face.”

“Of course. Nopony would take that from you.” She almost looked up, but Rosewater stumbled and shook her head, paused, and continued on at a more stately pace, her ears ticking erratically. It wasn’t going to be fun to ambush a mare she was almost certain had come to their rescue. But she needed answers. She had to protect Collar.

Distracted, tired, and soon alone. Cloudy twitched her wings. She had to wait until Rosewater opened her shop before swooping down, otherwise the few bystanders that wandered the streets would have more time to determine just who she was and report to Lace.

“Why are you here so early?” Note asked genially. “Not like you to be up and at-em before the sun finishes rising.”

She considered her answer for a moment while she watched Rosewater turn up the street to the perfumery. A careful survey of the area around the shop showed few ponies awake, and fewer paying any attention to Rosewater in any obvious way. The nearest Merrieguard patrol was busy at the Rosewine bridge, inspecting a cart.

There wasn’t a better time for her to tempt fate and hopefully get the answers she needed. “Unsanctioned action,” she said as she leapt from the rooftop and swooped in low across the river to land with a tap and flutter of wings just behind Rosewater.

“I was wondering when you would stop watching and come down,” Rosewater said, voice tired, weary. “Come to capture me in my weakest moment?”

What can I say? Cloudy hesitated at the question.

Rosewater turned to look at her after a moment, the weariness in her eyes even more apparent from up close. She was tired. Bone tired, and had been pushing herself far beyond what a pony could expect to do.

She must have seen some of the sympathetic pangs Cloudy felt shooting through her, because she smiled suddenly, and it washed away some of the shadows to show the beauty she had always been, but warmer instead of sharp and chiseled out of stone.

Rosewater opened the shop and walked in, pausing with the door still open. “Please, do come in. It appears we need to talk.”

The shop was as it had been when she’d taken away her perfumes she’d been preparing for the past week, most of which were now expended or stale, their volatile natures requiring them to be remade daily lest their potency drop.

At the front counter where Rosemary would handle most of the business, dust covered the glass displaying her specialty bottles and fragrances with outrageous prices attached. That was for the tourists that didn’t know or didn’t care because of time, that her perfumes could be bought from their home cities for far less from other merchants.

But ‘from the source’ held a certain appeal, and the bottles she commissioned from the city’s glass workers held up to the finest standards of beauty and elegance that her perfumes usually demanded. Those in the know bought one bottle from her direct, and refilled from local merchants.

“You charge that much?” Cloudy asked in a choked tone as she passed by the counter, her eye drawn to the unique shapes and colors of the fluted glass vials.

“Only to those desperate, stupid, or vain enough to want the designer bottle,” Rosewater replied with a smirk as she pressed open the back door, her magic flickering as she undid the complicated seals with the key-spells.

“And your custom fragrances?” Cloudy asked in a hesitant voice. “How much do you charge for those?”

“Favors,” Rosewater said simply.

Cloudy swallowed and jerked her eyes away from the counter. “Is it—”

“It’s not safe yet,” Rosewater said gently. “You have your friend outside who’s listening to us right now. That’s all at the moment, but Roseate’s spies will be arriving soon to listen. Unless they’re out of action.”

Cloudy swallowed again and followed Rosewater into the back room, letting the pegasus explore the room as much as she wanted as she gathered the magical strength to empower the charms hung about the empty space, watching as the gemstone dust sparkled and glowed to life in the patterns that represented the physical representation of the magical arcana that silenced the walls.

The effort left her drained, but Rosewater forced herself to pull out a bowl and the bag of cereal grains she’d kept for the increasingly frequent times she’d slept over in the workshop. Cloudy, to her surprise, waited patiently while Rosewater ate a few bites. Even the act of eating breakfast infused some warmth into her and drove back the ache behind her eyes.

“You put it together,” Rosewater stated, turning her head to briefly glance over Cloudy still looking around the workroom. It would be the first time a Dammer had been inside, and it felt strange to have a near-complete stranger in her private space. No less strange than the Baroness’s visit…

“We did. As soon as I was able to shake off the sleep, I figured it out. I don’t know how much Collar remembers.” Cloudy raised a hoof before the statement completely filtered through Rosewater’s mind, and waved it in a conciliatory gesture. “He’s going to be okay. You came in time.”

How do you know? Rosewater bit her lip before she could ask it and closed her eyes. “Good. Are you angry at me?”

The sound of hooves coming closer didn’t tell her anything about Cloudy’s disposition, and she braced herself for a slap.

Instead, Cloudy pressed a hoof to her cannon and stroked slowly along the bone. “I was. At first.”

Rosewater opened her eyes, and found Cloudy sitting and looking up into her eyes. “Why aren’t you now?”

“Because I’m not an idiot.” Cloudy chuffed and shook her head. “I had time to think about it all the way back to the palace, and all the way here this morning. What I don’t understand is this.”

It was fascinating to watch the way Cloudy controlled her emotions. There was still anger there, and it showed in the way she clenched her jaw, the way her ears set back, then twitched forward, quivering.

“Why did you let her escape? You were right there. All of them were right there. All of them! The war would have been over if you hadn’t let them go!” Cloudy had advanced throughout the questioning, her eyes blazing, until she was nearly chest to chest with Rosewater. “You would have been advanced to the heir, Rosewater.”

Before the last statement was over, Rosewater was already shaking her head. “No. I wouldn’t have. A captured leader is allowed to negotiate their own release. Even demand it if there’s no legal heir. There’s precedent for both Merrie and Damme.”

“You!” Cloudy spat. She reared up and set her hooves on Rosewater’s shoulders, almost nose to nose. “You would have been the heir.”

“No. I’m the presumptive heir. So long as I have children by the time Roseate steps down or dies. Or, as seems increasingly likely, gets accused of a treaty violation so heinous Celestia herself will need to step in.” Rosewater shook her head but didn’t back away or back down. “She can’t remove me as her heir, either. But once she’s removed from power, the laws of Merrie take hold and the succession branch starts counting down. Me first. If I have no heir able to carry on after me, then it falls to Rosary. She has heirs. After which… the war continues for another generation.”

Cloudy stared at her. “Then get rutting pregnant! You must have some lover willing to declare for you?”

“None. I have no male lovers at the moment.” Rosewater smirked and shook her head. “I was hoping for Collar. He’s the only one that mother can’t scare off.”

That got a different reaction. Cloudy backed off, staring at her with her mouth open. “That’s your reason?” Cloudy worked her jaw for a moment, her ears flat. “You terrified us for weeks. No, months, and it was something you could have just come out and told us?”

“Would you have listened?” Rosewater shot back. “I’m the Rose Terror! I eat babies and steal husbands and lovers!”

“Did you try?” Cloudy stamped her hooves and curled a forehoof, the shod tip grinding against the wood floor. “Did you even think to be open? To trust somepony?”

Did you trust Rosemary? The unasked question slapped her across the face. “No.” It came out as a whimper. “I didn’t trust her.”

Cloudy, mouth already open to shout again, hesitated. “Trust who?”

“Rosemary,” Rosewater whispered. “I didn’t want her to know. Not until I knew.” Rosemary couldn’t handle losing another loved one. I’m not sure I can. Keep him at a distance until she knew. That was the plan. Don’t fall in love until he fell in love.

“Why?”

“Because I’m… an idiot.” After that, the rest wanted to flow out. All of her plans and ideas. The reservations she had about acting like Roseate wanted her to act. It was always Roseate’s want when Rosewater had been young that she would follow the corrupted way of the rose. “I-I thought… if I behaved like Roseate wanted me to, even on the surface only, that she would leave me alone.”

When no answer came immediately, Rosewater shook her head. “It sounds so stupid saying it aloud. Of course she wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“No, she wouldn’t.” Cloudy drew a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. “And after the first time she tried to capture Collar? Why not then?”

Rosewater chewed her lip. “I told myself… I told myself that would be the end of it. That I’d won.”

Cloudy’s ears flattened and she nodded. “I… thought sort of the same thing. Not that you’d won, but that at least Roseate was going to not be insane.” She shook her head slowly. “Why would she try?”

“She almost succeeded. That’s why,” Rosewater said. “If it weren’t for somepony sending me a warning—I never would have known, and I would have woken up to hear the news that Roseate had raided Damme and almost certainly won the war.”

“Or… she’d have been captured.”

“And Collar?”

Cloudy flinched, the insides of her ears blanching. “It didn’t happen.”

That gave her some idea of the aftermath of the fight. “Tell me what happened.”

“Tell me the deal you made, and I will,” Cloudy replied immediately. “What did you promise her?”

Impulse told her to forego the sharing of information, to keep her conversation with Roseate private, and what she’d done secret. She’d freed her mother, when she was on the cusp of being captured in a reversal of fortune, and all because there was uncertainty about what would happen afterwards. More than likely, Rosary would have been captured as well along with all of the other of her sisters that had children.

Likely. There was a good chance that Powder would have still escaped, and her son qualified her for the heirship. While Powder wasn’t as objectionable as Rosary, she would still continue the war with the intent of making Damme the subjugate city-state, something Collar wouldn’t allow.

That new ability of his put the weight squarely in Damme, especially if Lace made a point of persecuting the war more aggressively and put herself into the front line. The Merrieguard was ill-equipped to handle the organizational power of a Dammeguard that had had thirty years to recoup and train. And she might, despite the Reforms, if it seemed like the war was going to go on for who knew how many generations.

Here, Cloudy was offering her a chance at collusion. Information only, for now, but it was so much more than what she’d been able to do with either Collar or Cloudy before. A small hoof in the door. Maybe that was all she needed.

No. Rosewater shook her head sharply. She would have to play boldly if she meant to take advantage of the deal she’d made with Roseate and the fear of reprisal from the Sun Throne.

Cloudy was backing away, her eyes hard.

“Deal, but not right now,” Rosewater said before the mistaken assumption could go further. “And I would ask a favor in turn, but one I think you, Collar, and Lace will find intriguing and advantageous.”

“What kind of favor?” Cloudy asked, suspicion in her eyes and the set of her ears.

“The kind where you take a message to the Prim Palace, along with a gift to demonstrate my intent.” Rosewater turned away and rose to all four hooves, shaking briefly as she heaved her hindquarters off the ground. The rest and breakfast grains had helped, but not enough. She would need to have another few bowls and rest more before she could embark on the next part of playing her trump card.

The seals on her inner sanctum took far more work to undo than even the estate’s wards, and while she worked on managing the magical flows she’d managed to recover, she was aware of Cloudy watching her carefully. The other mare was a curious pony, full of contradictory impulses and surprising depths that nonetheless sat out in the open, waiting for a companion to unwind them and find her heart.

Once the last seal unlocked, Rosewater hobbled closer, then shook her head. “It’s there on the desk. The book. I have a sack you can carry it in if you need it.”

Cloudy hesitated, then took a step forward. “This isn’t a trick?”

“Would I honestly tell you if it was?” Rosewater asked with a roll of her eyes. “It’s no trick. I’m tired. And tired of hiding.”

It was apparently the right thing to say, because Cloudy snorted a laugh and moved to open the door all the way, cautious still, and stood in the doorway for a few moments looking inside without going in, then back at Rosewater. A sensible precaution, considering.

“The paintings are…”

“Carnation, Rosemary, and I. The one on the left is Rosemary at one month old. The one on the right is for her tenth birthday. We couldn’t risk any more commissions after that.” Rosewater smiled lightly, her eyes brightening as she recalled the day, almost eleven years ago now, when the painter from Canterlot, Bottle Brush, had come down to paint them in front of their estate. “She couldn’t sit still for long, despite her mother and I coaxing her. Friends came and went, watching as we sat still as stones, waiting for him to finish the outline and choose his colors.”

Apparently satisfied that it wasn’t a trick, Cloudy advanced inside and surveyed the desk. Everything was neat and orderly, scrolls tucked into their cubicles and inkwell and quills neatly arranged on the writing surface.

“Is this it? Is…” Cloudy trailed off, her hoof on the cover of the translated Principes van Vrije Liefde that Rosewater had been working on. Just beside it was the tatty original, its cover almost flaked into dust. “Stars… Is this…”

“It’s his personal journal. It’s what became the Principes in later copies, removing a lot of the personal anecdotes as it was translated and reinterpreted through the centuries.” Rosewater allowed herself a prideful smile. “But that’s neither here nor there. I need to set some things in motion today, before Roseate can move.”

Cloudy grunted, giving her a seriously skeptical look that almost shouted, ‘you look like you couldn’t set a marble in motion.’ “You want me to take the translation?”

“Yes. It’s not done yet, but Lace will understand what it means about my intent.” Rosewater let herself smirk at Cloudy. “And, I suspect, a little of that will be influenced by the fact that I suspect you’re here without orders.”

“Just give me the damn bag,” Cloudy growled, all but confirming her suspicions.

It wasn’t until Cloudy was standing on the stoop of the Rosewater Perfumery that Cloudy realized that she liked Rosewater. Without the fear of her, and a new, growing certainty that she was on their side, everything that she’d done up to that point had a new angle. She wasn’t a would-be tyrant like her mother, but a lonely fighter hoping for a better world. Maybe.

The rescues were enough, along with her friendly repartee and willingly letting Cloudy inside her inner sanctum. Less a sanctum and more of a vault than the Bank of Damme’s, the spells laden in the door had set her feathers on edge just being close to them, and it was clear why it was that way. The journal of one of the founders of the two cities was a prize far beyond priceless.

Glancing around, Cloudy tried to make it seem like she was only a satisfied customer with a custom bag from Rosewater’s Perfumery as she made her way to the bridge, the straps bouncing against her neck as the book, bound in twine, jostled against her shoulder with every step.

It would be best not to bring further danger to Rosewater, or attention from the Dammeguard, if her actions had gone unnoticed.

Nopony paid attention to her. She had the look of a Rose, the mane and the cutie mark both, and most commoners weren’t so caught up in the war that they knew who all the major players were.

The danger was the Merrieguard at the bridge. She’d been one of them for a time, before she’d turned ‘traitor’ because of Roseate’s greed and hatred.

In the end, she decided to take a turn down the street towards the docks, carefully settling her wings so her primaries obscured most of her cutie mark and settled into a purposeful trot. The bridge at the docks was always the least guarded of all the bridges on the Merrie side. A bribe or a distraction would do well enough for the guards on the Merrie side.

More than once, she considered just taking off and winging it to the palace, but being so conspicuous after leaving Rosewater’s place was sure to get the mare in trouble. As it was, she was almost certain she hadn’t been followed by any of Roseate’s goons. Most likely, they were holed up in the Palace, waiting for doom to fall on their heads after last night’s debacle.

The thought cheered her as she made her way through the early morning throngs, just one more pony looking to get across the river and set up shop in the lucrative docks market, one of the few ‘free’ trade zones that catered exclusively to foreigners. It was lucky, for her, that it was near the end of the sailing season and ponies were trying, desperately, to get their wares out and sold before the long drought of trade over the winter.

She managed to attach herself inconspicuously to a large entourage of merchants and pass by the lax guards without incident. They only gave a cursory look over the others and Cloudy, not even looking her in the eye.

Lazy gits. They probably didn’t even know what had gone on last night, though. They might just be as tired of the war as the rest of the common pony.

Once she was on the other side, she was recognized immediately by a startled Private Starburst.

“L-lieutenant?”

Several of her erstwhile companions startled away from her and hurried to their business dockside, not eager to get caught up in Dammeguard drama.

“Yes,” Cloudy said with a sigh. “Sorry to startle you, Starburst. Go back to checking the crowd. I need to get to the palace.”

“Er…” Starburst held up a hoof and turned to fish a scroll from his bag. “This arrived just a few minutes ago, ma’am.”

Stars above. Cloudy unfurled the scroll on the private’s back and read quickly, grimacing more with each word. Lace must have sent orders to each bridge detachment to get it to her. Getting back to the palace was even more important now.

Collar was awake, and Lace’s orders, while brief, promised a scathing reprimand when she got back. Even more scathing than the talk she’d gotten for hurting Glory.

She probably thinks I went to go attack Rosewater.

Without another word, she tucked the scroll into the open neck of the bag around her neck and leapt for the sky. Rosewater would have to watch over herself.

Platinum, looking haggard from last night, but still doggedly standing her watch-shift, saluted when Cloudy touched down. “Prim Lace is on a tear, Cloudy. You might want to re-defect.”

“Haha,” Cloudy grunted. “I’ll take my licks, thank you.” In fact, she hadn’t more than slipped into the open side-door to the main gate that she heard Lady Lace’s voice chiding her son over his insistence on walking with her.

“You’re more than half-dead,” Lace was saying, her voice muffled by the door that still separated them from her. “That mare has got more than a little of the Rose Spirit in her.”

“And that’s what I love about her,” Collar replied in a weak voice, so weak that Cloudy had to press her ear to the door to catch it at all. “She’s spirited, mother, and she’s not afraid to tell me an idea’s a stupid one.”

“Then I should think she’ll tell you getting out of bed in your state is a very stupid idea,” Lace muttered.

If that isn’t a perfect invitation… Cloudy smiled to herself despite the trouble she was about to get into, and pulled open the door to step out into the entryway. Collar and Lace were standing a little distance away, Collar more leaning against one of the few couches that dotted the long entryway where petitioners would sit and wait for their time to speak.

“I agree with the Lady Lace,” Cloudy announced. “It’s a stupid idea to be out and about after last night.”

Collar smiled weakly at her. “And I think it was a stupid idea to…” He trailed off as his eyes settled on the bag around her neck, the Rosewater Perfumery logo and title prominently displayed. “Oh my stars…”

Lace caught up a few seconds later. “You didn’t—”

“I talked with her, I didn’t burgle her shop,” Cloudy said with a huff and a roll of her eyes. “And there’s much I need to share, but not here,” she added with an exaggerated look around the grand hall. Servants on the ground dusted and straightened or carried burdens to and from the various storage vaults inside the old fortress, and a pegasus above watched those below with a careful eye. The watchmare’s position. It was a boring, and often disciplinary position, used for those who couldn’t follow orders.

Lace’s eyes blazed with heat, but her voice was calm as she nodded. “Very well. We shall retire to my offices. Collar, please consider returning to bed. She is safe and returned to us.”

“I will not,” Collar stated with as much vigor as he could, and tottered over to Cloudy to press his cheek against hers. “I’m so glad you’re safe. When I heard Note’s report…”

“Shh.” Cloudy gently began guiding him after Lace, openly letting him lean against her on the way up the stairs and around the corner to the wide administrative hall surrounded on all sides by the offices and machinery of the city, already in full bustle even that early in the morning.

The high windows were thrown open, letting in the breeze from the bay to fill the hall with salt chill water with an undercurrent of seaweed and fish—at least to Cloudy’s more sensitive nose. To most Dammers, it was little more than a cool, refreshing breeze that only occasionally played havoc with scrolls.

To her nose, it was more. Much more.

There, too, was another scent that prickled a familiar tingle along her spine. “Collar?” she asked, sniffing loudly. “Why do I smell Rosemary?”

“She’s inside,” Lace said coolly. “I was having a talk with her before I was informed you had gone on a foolish errand. Now. Inside.” She opened the door and ushered them inside with a glance at the guard to the side. “Nopony comes in unless I allow it specifically or there is an emergency.”

Rosemary was there, laying full out on the rug in front of a chair, her chin resting on her crossed forelegs. She only looked up briefly when Cloudy came in, then caught the look on Lace’s face, stormy with a chance of shouting. That chance increased when Lace closed the door and cast a silencing spell on the walls, igniting similar, but different glyphs than Rosewater had used in her perfumery.

The thought passed away as Lace settled down in the chair behind her desk and crossed her forelegs over the edge of the desk. “Rosemary, please sit up. I know you were up late, but this is important for you to attend as well. I expect that Cloudy, despite her frankly idiotic, not to mention insubordinate, flight this morning, has news.”

“I-I had reason, my lady,” Cloudy said, feeling nervous all over again and glancing at Collar. He sat near Rosemary, seeming to show a bit of solidarity for the other tired pony. A pang of guilt shot through her. She hadn’t even thought of what Rosemary had gone through. Lace had briefed her last night, but the pieces hadn’t stuck until just then. “How did you know to come at all?”

“A patrol caught up to Stride and managed to talk him into landing and straight into Poppy’s care. They sent word to the palace, and we roused everypony to come. I wish, now, that I’d only taken a token force, but I’d no idea what we were facing.” Lace tapped a hoof on the desk. “I will debrief him once Poppy has given him a clean bill of health. He’s resting at the moment. As the two of you should be,” she added, giving Collar and Rosemary a stiff glare that lasted only long enough for Cloudy to feel sympathy for what was coming for them.

“Now, you.” Lace turned her attention back to Cloudy. “I expect a full report. Now.”

Cloudy snapped to attention and began rattling off her report of the events that transpired, leaving nothing out and only pausing to take breaths and gauge Rosemary’s reaction to the mentions of her… sister didn’t seem right. Those paintings hadn’t been framed as sisters, side-by-side. What she was to Rosewater remained to be seen.

Once she was done, she felt drained, and the book sat on the table in front of her, the tea set having been cleared away as soon as she said what it was and how precious and rare it was.

“Mother, please. She’s…” Collar side-stepped to stand beside her. “She’s very protective.”

“As are you,” Lace said more gently. “I am upset with you, Cloudy. Though not yet in an official capacity, as I don’t know all of the details. As my son’s lover, I—”

“Mother!”

“Please, Collar. You were impudent enough to begin courting her when I advised against it, you will suffer the consequences of being involved with a follower of the Principes. That includes frank and open talk with your mother about your love life.” Lace’s cheeks colored briefly, but she did not back down. “Your lover, and I would hope future wife, must learn that there are consequences to her actions when she is known to be your lover.”

Cloudy fought to keep her smile hidden as she stepped forward. “As his lover, I am also bound to protect him from threats. As a Rose, I’m very well aware of the threat posed by so many. It’s my duty, and not just as a Dammeguard.”

“Your duty,” Lace said sharply, “is to follow the order of the liege you swore an oath to.”

“Please,” Rosemary cried, leaping from her chair. “Calm down, everypony. I know last night was hard, and terrible, but this is what Roseate would want. She would want us to be at each other’s throats. Please. My… my cousin and I have been working against her for so long. That’s how she works.”

Lace blinked. Rosewater had hitched on the same phrase. “She’s… not just your cousin, is she?” Or your sister.

Collar cleared his throat. “Sisters, right? Under Carnation.”

Rosemary looked unaccountably guilty as she glanced up at Cloudy. She was lying, too, and letting Collar lie for her because he didn’t know.

“Yes. Rosewater is… complicated.” Lace’s stern mien softened. “It’s why I wanted to talk to you first, Cloudy.” She took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. “It seems you saw her in the same way I hoped to see her after all these years. How did she seem?”

Cloudy stared at her liege lady for a long moment before Lace coughed and waved a hoof at her to continue.

“Ah… she seemed lost. Tired. Until the end. She had some plan that she made it sound was a last resort.” Cloudy smiled wanly. “And it involves coming to us under the treaty flag.”

“Mmhm.” Lace pursed her lips and turned to her son. “I think your revelation of her being a sister figure is close to the mark. That leaves what to do with you, Cloudy.”

No, not sisters. I saw those paintings. She was on the edge of the revelation, she could feel it. It was right there in the painting. “I know I made mistakes, my lady, and I’m prepared to face the consequences for them, but I also believe that I was right to face her, to get the story before she arrived. To get the news that she was arriving before she startled us all.”

Collar suppressed a grin as he nuzzled her cheek. “You’re not wrong, but you also disobeyed orders.”

“But I’m… I’m… you’re training me, Lady Lace. What do those lessons in forward thinking mean if I don’t use them?”

Lace didn’t quite smile, but there was a twinkling in her eye all the same. “Did you think far enough ahead to where your actions would lead? Much of what I tried to teach you was to temper your… well, temper.”

“I didn’t go angry,” Cloudy protested. “I was seeking the truth. She’s been cagey, but never openly hostile toward us. Her words alone could be measured as hostile, not her actions.”

“And if you’d been caught?”

“It was a risk, but she keeps the same routine every morning, Lace. What is that if not an invitation for us to make a surprise visit? Why not change her patterns after Collar confronted her a month ago?”

Lace furrowed her brow. “Collar?”

Collar coughed. “Er… yes, mother?”

“Please don’t take this the wrong way, but you are becoming much more like Cloudy than she is like you.” Lace rubbed at her temples with both hooves as she leaned back in her chair. “Like you were. You’ve changed, Collar, being with her.”

Collar bristled, his ears flicking back.

“Lord Collar, she’s teasing,” Rosemary cut in before he could say anything.

“Of course I’m teasing,” Lace said, smiling at the younger mare. “I’m proud you’ve been able to see past the prejudices that the hardliners push and act more like a Rose. More than I would have liked, if I’m being honest, but there’s a reason I fell in love with your father, Collar, and I see more of him in you every day.”

“Mother,” Collar sighed, glancing aside at Rosemary. “Just how much have you talked to our guest?”

“Quite a lot, actually,” Lace said calmly. “She’s a fascinating mare, Collar, and deeper than you might know just now. I quite approve of her as a companion for Cloudy.”

Cloudy squeaked. “What?!”

“What I said, young mare, doesn’t leave this room. I am far more progressive than my peers in the Manes and Primfeathers believe. I have to maintain a stern facade for them, or it all falls apart. At least for now.” Lace lowered her hooves to the arms of her chair and sat more regally. “For now… Rosemary, please enlighten us all to what your… sister is going to bring to us.”

“Are you sure this is necessary, my lady?” Sir Firelight Spark of the Knights of the Sun was an imposing pony and the leader of the Treaty enforcement offices of both cities. More than his clout as Princess Celestia’s personal representative “If you think it is, then I’m happy to lend my presence, but…”

“I promise I won’t be wasting your time, Sir Spark. I have been their boogeymare for nigh on six years if not longer,” Rosewater said, nodding to a contingent of Dammeguard standing rigidly, scowling at her as she walked beside him. But none of them made a move. Assaulting a Royal Guard, or a pony under the guard’s protection, was grounds for immediate exile not only from the city, but jail time in Equestria. “I have important business to attend.”

“Agreed,” he said with a sigh. “I hope you get her back. I don’t know what I’d do if my…” He trailed off at Rosewater’s glare. “Apologies.”

“Granted. Thank you for doing this. I know you didn’t have to.” She smiled at him as they passed from a side-street to the main thoroughfare towards the palace. A contingent of Dammeguard stood to the side of the way, eying Firelight and Rosewater with equal displeasure. “But…”

“I see your point.” He coughed and raised his voice. “Clear the way. You are impeding a representative of the Treaty in a bonded negotiation.”

The street cleared precipitously fast, not only of Dammeguard, but of commoners and minor nobility alike, all whispering and murmuring as she passed. The last night’s battle was on everypony’s lips, it seemed, and all of them were watching her with veiled hate and distrust.

“Will you need an escort back?”

“I hope not. Once the negotiations are concluded for the day, I can teleport back to my home from the palace steps.” She flicked an ear as a particularly loud individual denounced her, quickly echoed by others in close proximity. “I daresay even with official escort, I may find myself overwhelmed by their good cheer.”

“There was some kind of fighting in Damme?” he asked. “Do I need to take official notice?”

“Perhaps. My mother attempted to take Lord Collar. It would have gotten about my right to freely associate with him. She’s also barred me from contacting the palace. I have a letter from her for proof.” Rosewater allowed herself a cold smile. “She was not any more successful the second time.”

Spark chewed his lip for several seconds. “I can put it in my report. I’ll need the letter, of course.” He sighed and nodded. “I see I’ll need to accompany you to the palace in any regard to have a discussion with the witnesses to the attack. Her highness likes to know of any major actions.”

“Several exist in theory, but they were in various states of panic, subdued, or otherwise charmed away from being reliable. Or they were my sisters and mother.” Rosewater shrugged one shoulder. “I have no doubt they would not lie to a Royal Guard, but please keep my name out of it if you go calling on them. Family dinners are tense enough as it is.”

“You’re teasing me.”

“Of course,” Rosewater said with a tired chuckle. “I’ve not had dinner with any family but my niece and her mother in near two decades.”

He sighed. “I hate family feuds.”

“As do I.”

The rest of the walk passed in near silence, aside from the murmurs and shouts that occasionally came from side-streets. Damme during the daytime in fall had hardly changed in all the years that had passed since she had walked its streets during the Harvest festival with a pregnant Carnation at her side.

Even then, Rosewater had been tall enough to pass nearly for adult despite the fact that she’d still had to fill out the rest of the way to fit her gangling legs. Any who talked with her tended to assume she was a young adult, and Carnation her elder sister. They had not been far wrong even then.

One day, I’ll walk these streets and be greeted by friends. It was a dream of Carnation’s that she held close. One she hoped to one day share with her again. Exile didn’t have to be forever.

Prim Palace in the daytime looked much the same as it had during the night, its dark gray granite outer walls glittering dully in the sun as it did in the lamplight at night.

A stronger knot of Dammeguard waited out front, these drawn up in parade formation rather than as a part of a greater rabble filling the streets. Captain Pink, she recognized, but the rest she did not. Captain Pink was hard to not recognize.

“I’ll be quite alright from here,” Rosewater told Spark. “If you wish to return to the Treaty Office, I will report to you on the morrow with the next steps I wish to take.”

He eyed the burly captain and blew out his cheeks briefly. “If you’re sure. I think I might have trouble taking her.”

“As would I. Captain Prim Pink is quite the formidable earth pony,” Rosewater agreed quietly.

The captain approached stiffly, ears erect. “State your business, Lady Rosewater Rosethorn.”

Rosewater eyed Firelight Spark and nodded, then spoke, “I have come as a bearer of the Treaty’s flag as a representative in the prisoner of war negotiation on behalf of my charge, Rosemary Rosethorn, as her legally appointed Guardian.”

Prim Pink’s eyes widened briefly, then shot to the Royal Guard. “You have the paperwork, Sir Spark?”

“I do, Captain. Sealed, signed, and witnessed. It has been on file in the Treaty Office for nine years.” He held out the courier pouch containing the guardian paperwork that would be needed to make a claim. “Lady Rosewater had this all prepared months ahead of time.”

“I also have a sealed envelope for Lady Lace’s eyes only,” Rosewater added, showing the large envelope embossed with the sunburst of Princess Celestia’s cutie mark, and a large golden glob of wax on the flap flickered and glowed in the sunlight, showing itself to be still intact and untampered with.

Captain Pink eyed the envelope, then Firelight Spark, who nodded. “Acceptable. Please follow me, my lady. Baroness Lace has been expecting you.”

Rosewater smiled. I have played my card, mother. Let us see what you have to say to that.

Author's Notes:

We're getting so close to the end of this book! Two more chapters to go!