A young girl wrings her clammy, pale hands. She enters one of the castle’s dining rooms after the queen voiced her allowance. “Your Majesty,” she greets softly. The queen finally places her silverware down to face the princess's new lady in waiting, a young Friedenan girl. “I went to retrieve the princess, as ordered,” she remarks, slightly accented, “however… Well, she is not in her bedroom or the washroom nearby.” Summer glances toward Blaze as she continues to eat her breakfast, gauging a reaction. She appears composed, save for her sharp, fiery eyes. Call it a mother’s intuition, call it paranoia, but Blaze feels something’s amiss, and Summer can tell. “I-I was just wondering if there was somewhere else I should look,” She follows-up when there’s no response. Being recently shipped in, it makes sense she isn’t aware that Cloud typically needs to be dragged from her bed to be up on time. 

“No, you do not know the castle well enough yet,” Queen Spark responds. “For now, just go prepare her dress for today. I will find her.”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” the girl smiles weakly, bowing before she leaves. As the door falls shut, echoing throughout the room, Blaze turns to her husband and adoptive daughter.

“Would either of you happen to know where Cloud is?” She questions.

“I do not,” Starlight comments, as if he’s ever aware of where his child is.

“Have you told her about Garden, yet?” Summer asks, cutting her food with nonchalance. “She’s probably just sulking somewhere.” That much is true, if you were to call screaming into a bathtub “sulking” in place of “raging.”

“I have not.” Blaze taps her fork a few times against her plate in thought. She turns to face one of the guards lining the room. “Gather a small party to search for her. Should you not find her within the castle, search the grounds and the northern forest. If she remains unaccounted for after that, report back to me.” The soldier salutes and leaves the room in a subtle rush. Summer chews her food and wonders how long it will take for Blaze to start panicking. After all, her precious little heir is missing. It must bring up some sour memories.

After breakfast, Summer heads out to do some digging. Soon, Blaze will find out Cloud is missing. She'll want to gather a discreet team to find her. She wouldn't want the citizens to know Cloud is out there, that she vanished under her watch. It'd look bad on her part. Anyway, when she calls for soldiers to retrieve Cloud, Summer will be sure to already know where she is. Summer will present the elder princess, proving herself to be more responsible and reliable than her neurotic older sister. Perhaps it won't sway Blaze quite yet, but it'll leave an impression. Now, off to find out where that lieutenant general lives.

✦✦✦

In said dwelling, a silent room gawks at Gushiken in disbelief. Cloud, fists clenched in her lap, braces herself. Flinching is a poor habit of hers and won't bode well should any of them attack.

"And you brought her here?" Tailor asks, stunned. 

Gushiken begins his response, "Well, Miss Garden had-" However, just then, everything processes through Red Wood's head. He thrusts himself from his seat, hands glowing scarlet. The fierce light reflects off Cloud's face when Wood lunges forward. Cloud manages to bite back the jerk, internalizing it as a bitten tongue and an anxious hot flash. Outwardly, her eyes merely narrow at Red.

"I mean no disrespect, last night must have been shocking," Red directs at Gushiken, "you must not have been in your right mind allowing the queen's hellhound into your home."

"Wood, that is enough!" Nicolas snaps, shoving himself from the couch and snatching his arm. Red yanks it away, his other hand only reaching closer to Cloud's head. "If she wanted us dead, she would have tried something already!"

"Don't underestimate her! She's Blaze's daughter; she must be as cunning as she is!" His heated glare shifts back to Cloud. Gushiken sighs, shaking his head. Red seethes, "She's biding her time." Cloud gestures loosely to his hand as if to say go on, then. Red's nose wrinkles in angered confusion, a dangerous combination.

"I understand why it would be in poor judgment to assassinate the queen, but no such rules apply to me," she explains, blood pumping audibly through her ears. "If anything, it'd help, right? Robbing Blaze of her first in line? And yet, you’re hesitating." Red's eyebrow twitches. The glow of his hand flickers. "You know I'm valuable," she reasons. He scours down at her, buying time to put reasoning behind his lack of action.

"I know killing you could prematurely invoke the queen's wrath," Red replies, squaring his shoulders. "But who said I was going to kill you here and now? Who said this wasn't a precaution? A threat?" Satisfied that she's in no more danger than usual, then, she sits back and crosses her arms.

Cloud tilts her head. "Threat of what?" Her eyes narrow, a dent in her blank face. “You think I value my life?" Red's eyebrows draw together slightly as Nicolas turns from him to Cloud. "A threat only works if I care about what you want to take." Cloud raises from her chair, slowly so as not to startle the young man, making no moves to avoid his aimed hand. "I may not value my life," she reiterates, "but that doesn't mean I don't value yours. Or Tailor's, or Strong's, or Farrow's, or that of the Frithian people. Blaze is my mother; I have to deal with her, but that doesn't mean you all have to. I only know a fraction of what she's done, I'm sure, and I know from that alone that it's not right. The people need her gone just as much as I do," Cloud insists. "If I work with you, it could be beneficial for all of us. I hate what I was born into, but I can use it. I can help end this; I can finally do something about her. I don't even care if your rebellion or whatever picks someone else to succeed Blaze! I don’t even want to be queen."

"What do you mean you don't want it?!" Red snips. "Do you know how naive you sound?! You don't even know what you have!" The magic around his hand fizzles in his anger.

Cloud retorts, throat threatening to close up, "You know nothing about me."

"I know enough. We all do!" Red jeers. "You're a conceited, complacent-" he jabs his ember-red finger against her chest- "puppet of the queen, and you will never be anything else!"

Cloud's eyes alight as she finally snaps, "Get your hands off me!" She smacks his hand aside.

"Oh, what?" Red snickers. "Pretty princess doesn't want my filthy middle-class hands to dirty her thirty-thousand sinc robe?!" The accusation is accompanied by a shove. Cloud’s eyes darken.

"Both of you stop it, right now!" Gushiken commands, standing from the couch.

Cloud ignores him and snarls, "What's the point of it all if I can't even protect one woman?!" The room falls silent once more. Red's shoulders loosen. Cloud glares at the ground.

"What I was about to say," Gushiken states, finally pushing Red's hand down. Its warm light flickers out. He continues, "Was that Miss Garden had previously informed me that the princess would not only be likely to be cooperative, but enthusiastic about our cause. That’s why I attended the party with her." 

"What?" Red murmurs. "Why—what?" He shakes his head. "Did you not think that information I should be aware of?"

"That was not my intel to share," Gushiken responds, terse. "Besides, did you truly believe I would be so sensitive to the sight of a corpse that I would endanger our entire operation on a hunch about a stranger? A clean hanging is tame by Blaze Spark's taste. I am a Lieutenant General under the queen. I've seen battle, Mr. Wood. I was a foot soldier when I was younger than you are now. The only one here displaying a severe lapse in judgment is you." Sake clenches his jaw. Red shrinks. "Sit down." The young man sulks back into his seat. Tailor gives him a look that screams, "you deserved that." "And you," he levels his stern eyes on Cloud. "I never want to hear you speak of yourself like that again. You are a part of 'the people' you claim to care about. I don't know you-" he side-eyes Red as he says that- "but I know Tulip. You don't make it long in the espionage business by being a poor judge of character. Her love and trust are proof enough that your life is worth living." That's when Cloud flinches, her mind retreating to somewhere old, dim. She falls back into her chair without prompting, bringing her knees up to her chest. Gushiken takes a deep breath, picking out the exasperation from his demeanor. "We are grieving," he acknowledges. "We have all lost a part of ourselves. I understand that, and I don't hold it against any of you. Unfortunately, though, the world will continue to spin, and we must keep going with it. The princess presents a high risk-reward situation we must take. Wood, as head of intelligence, you'll have to learn to deal with that." Cloud raises her eyebrows. He's young for that kind of responsibility. Well, it's not like she has a leg to stand on there. Wood is head of intelligence and still below some people here… interesting. "Our first public move is fast approaching. Princess Spark, how involved would you say you are with the military?"

"That depends," Cloud answers. "My mother pushes half her work onto me under the thin veil of preparing me for queenship. I get what I get. I have no way of knowing what she'll hand to me on what day. I might be able to do some digging if you want something specific, though." She straightens up some. "Should war break out, however, I'll be in the war room."

"Alright. Wood, draft up what information is useful and should be reported as well as how we'll establish contact with her. While you do that, I'll give her a crash course on the Cerinthe Rebellion." Sake and Nicolas join everybody else back in their seats. "First off, I understand why you're calling me Ale Strong. You've been brought up thinking Frithian names are the respectful way to refer to people. I much prefer my Heiwanese name, though. My name is Gushiken Sake." Ah. Makes more sense as to why his maid was calling him that, then. 

"Gushiken's the last name, right?" She asks. She barely knows Gushiken. Calling him by just his first name as a near-stranger is still rude, especially in Heiwanese culture. 

"Correct."

"Alright. On that note, please don't call me Princess Spark," she says. "It's probably best to refer to me using an alias, anyway." Gushiken nods. She uncurls herself to sit properly.

Gushiken sighs, "Now, I'll try to explain this as quickly as I can."