And so, Cloud joins the dance floor. The first person she spots eyeing her is something of a family friend, a young man by the name of Olive Grove. In truth, Cloud despises him, but their parents are friends. She feigns not seeing him and continues sweeping the crowd. In her peripheral vision, however, she can see him creeping toward her. She desperately attempts to find someone else, someone nearby whom she knows. The only person sticking out, however, is Leo, who returns Cloud's panicked look. His eyes dart from her to the direction she slightly juts her head. Leo's eyes widen and he immediately evacuates the refreshment table to recruit a friend of his that ranks higher than Grove. Before Grove can arrive at Cloud's side, Leo sends out his plus one to the rescue, one of his many brothers.

"Princess," Prince Adde Martin greets knowingly. "May I have this dance?"

"Certainly," Cloud exhales, offering her hand. She adds, "Thank you."

"Of course," Adde replies, taking her hand. "Olive is… well. You know."

"Too well, yes," Cloud answers.

Cloud spends hours dancing and conversing with any who asks. She also spends hours avoiding Olive Grove. In both respects, Cloud is rather successful. Not once does Olive slither his way before her outstretched hand, and Cloud's awkward social slip-ups are kept to a minimum. Things are going… well. Unexpectedly so! Cloud hasn't even run into her mother's burning gaze since the sword fight! She's beginning to believe this birthday will be one of the better ones when the Lieutenant General appears before her.

"Have you seen Miss Garden lately?" He asks. No greeting, no 'pardon me,' nothing. Something icy slips down Cloud's back.

"I have not," she replies, the beginnings of anxiety bubbling in her chest. "When did you last see her?"

"About twenty minutes ago," he replies, hushed, "speaking with a member of the castle guard." Cloud folds her hands before her, clenched above her skirt.

"Did you get a look at his badges?" She questions. Ale's brows furrow.

"I didn’t," he admits. "I didn’t think much of it at the time. Why?" Cloud casually glances around them. Too many people. 

"Would you care for a drink, Lieutenant General?" She asks. Without hesitation, Ale nods and follows her to the less crowded refreshment table. "Have you seen the same guard since?" She inquires.

"No," Ale answers. Shit. Shit. Hold on, hold on, don't panic yet. Reaching the table, draped in a wine-red cloth, the pair grab their drinks. Cloud surveys the room for the billionth time that evening, this time attempting to spot the specific, six-pointed sun pins. Normally, they dot the walls, subtle among the castle guard. Not a single sun pin in sight.

"Show no sign of panic," Cloud comments, outwardly collected and calm. Inside her chest, though, a beast rattles against her ribcage, screaming her pulse into her ears. "Are you familiar with the Yellow Jackets?" Ale's cup hesitates in its path to his lips, but his face remains unperturbed. Of course, he knows of the Yellow Jackets. Who doesn’t? "Do you see any of them? Any at all?" Who knows, there could be some blended into the crowd. Maybe he’ll recognize some. A few moments of Ale sipping some wine later, he lowers his cup with a vice grip.

"We have to find her," he utters, confirming her fears. The truth of it is that it's been twenty minutes. At best, they have minutes of precious time to find her. If what Cloud thinks is happening is happening, that is going to be the least of their problems. So what if they find her if she’s already been…

That said, she must be exaggerating. She has to be. Cloud always jumps to the worst conclusions, it's what she does. She must have simply freaked Ale out. They'll find out Tulip merely forgot to say goodnight and have a laugh about it later. Yeah. Yeah, that's going to happen, it has to. Cloud raises the half cup of wine and downs it quickly. "Let's go for a walk," she offers, slamming the cup down like a gavel.

Where is a place nobody would go right now? That's where they'll be. Never in the same spot, but always the last place you'd think to look. A party, where would the guests never go? Not just them, though. The thieves only in attendance in an attempt to swipe something, the spies only trying to steal information, the servants trying to find the suspiciously absent queen. And Cloud. Where would Cloud not go? She leads Strong through the hall, but she halts suddenly, letting him step just in front of her before processing that she'd stopped. "Lieutenant General, how familiar are you with the castle?" She asks. Following a brief moment of thought, he shrugs.

"I was never strictly castle guard, so fairly average."

Cloud continues, "Are there any rooms you've never given thought to? You've never been in them, but they've never intrigued you."

"Why do you ask? Don't you know the castle better?" He responds. "All its nooks and crannies? Where's the most hidden place."

"That's the issue," Cloud clarifies. "My mother's not stupid. She knows I'm most likely to notice Tulip's absence. She'll be hiding from me. She'll also be somewhere nobody is likely to stumble in. Do you have any ideas?" Cloud's hands tremble where they're clasped together. Strong taps his finger on his katana's hilt, equally unsettled.

"Would you think to check the maids' quarters? Since it's too obvious?"

"No, that's a busy area, even on a night like this."

"Temple?"

"Risk of guests entering."

"The garden in the back, then?" He offers. "The only people who go back there are your family and the groundskeepers, who won't be working this late."

"Worth a shot," Cloud decides. "It's better than standing here doing nothing. Pitch any ideas you have on the way. Let's go." On they go, down flights and flights of stairs, weaving through the labyrinth of Frith Capital Castle. Eventually, Cloud leads Strong to a door to the courtyard. She pauses, hand on the doorknob. "Let's try to sneak a look before waltzing out there, alright? We'll go from there?" Strong gives the princess a silent nod. "There's an arch around the door that should hide us," she provides as a heads-up before slowly testing the door. Since it proves to not be squeaky, she slides it open and slips over to the wall formed by the large arch of brick. Muttered voices resound from around the corner.

"Thank you, gentlemen," the queen murmurs. Even in her low tone, there's power in her voice. Cloud—closest to the wall's edge—anchors her fingers on the cool, numb brick and peeks around the corner.

She freezes down to the marrow of her bones. The spastic creature that had been rapping its knuckles against her brittle ribs falls still. She'd been staring into a cold void since Ale Strong had pointed out Tulip was missing. It had been a quick, jittery denial, but with the image before her, currently searing itself onto her unfortunately fully functional retinas, it cannot be denied. Her stomach falls. 

Cloud sees a body dangling from a rope against the moonless night.

Cloud sees red.