[b]Aery[/b]
Aerienna had only been a couple minutes late; at the last moment she had run back to the urchin's camp and grabbed Silly and Ame. "I gots an idea." She told them seriously. "You guys know tha' I've go' a secret. Well, here i' is. I'm a princess. And tonight, I'm supposed to go to a ball, and I want you to come with me as my guests. I've got dresses for you, but we've got to hurry."
With her urchins in tow she sprinted back to the castle, going in through the servant's door so that no guards would stop her, and brought the girls up to her room. The maid shrieked at the sight of the girls.
"Oh, please, Ilani, don't fuss. Can you draw up a bath, and hurry? I need to be in the ballroom in fifteen minutes." Ilani the maid scuttled off, and she turned to the girls. Ame was staring at her with those unsettling purple eyes. Silly was staring around the room.
"Yer a princess! Why'd ya ne'er tell us?"
"Because if word got out that I was a princess, I'd never be able to go on the streets again. Now, Silly, this is really important. Tonight, your name is Silenia, and you are a niece of Lillian Gordania, who is a merchant and owns every single store in the less affluent side of town. If you can mimic my speech, great; if not, just be silent. Same for you, Ame."
After scrubbing the girls down quickly in the tub, she went fishing in her closet for her old dresses, before emerging triumphantly with a green one and a purple one. She quickly towel dried the girls, dressed them. Ame's hair she braided and coiled, as long as it was (Down the girl's back, and she was only four!) and after a moment's hesitation, used her magic curling balm (which she never used, her hair being naturally wavy) on Silly, leaving her with bouncy ringlets. Then she herself hopped through the bath, scrubbed the dirt off, came out, toweled dry, yanked on the silver and blue gown the maid had left out for her, and then groaned as she realized she had to wear her hair up. It took her five minutes to comb it out and another five to braid it. The front sections braided and pulled together with a jeweled clip behind her head, then the rest left loose. Let her uncle yell at her. It was a perfectly formal style.
She checked the clock, gasped, yanked her shoes on. Beckoned Silly over. Took a tiny sheathed dagger on a jeweled chain, hung it around the girl's neck and tucked it into her dress. Tucked another stiletto knife into a sheath in the inside of the girl's shoe. For herself she tucked a knife down the front of her dress, tucked sheathed needles inside her gloves. Then she grabbed the girls' hands and pulled them down into the ballroom.
Of course there was a brawl. Celaena had been wearing a gown, which meant she was going to be attending the ball, which meant of course there had to be a fight. As the guards started rushing in, Aery had a dilemma. Help Celaena and risk a flogging or worse, or make an escape and leave the assassins to die. It wasn't much of a decision, really.
"Silly, go for their legs!" she said softly. Then she herself, after thinking about it, took her needles and started dropping guards right and left with them. No blood on her fancy clothes.
[b]Silenia[/b]
"Lookit us, we be all done up like gooses for midwinter." Then she remembered what Aery had told her, and tried to mimic her speech. "Excuse me. Look at us; aren't we all dressed up as if for a festival?"
In the ballroom, she totally forgot her manners, once the charming young courtiers decided to leave her alone. Then Aery told her, "Go for the legs!" and she forgot all about the ball and about the sparkly dress she was wearing and went around, hamstringing guards. Ame yelped; she spun and tackled Ame's assailant. Someone grabbed her, picked her up in the air. She stabbed his hand hard, and got unceremoniously dropped to the floor. But she got back up again, and continued wreaking havoc. The guards, there were too many of them. But her reflexes were sharp, better than the ones of these fat, lazy grown men, and she managed to stay just a little bit ahead of them.
[b]Amethyst[/b]
Ame was in trouble. She was cornered, and three guards were smiling evilly at her. She looked from one to the other. They reminded her of the bullies that had tortured her when she was little, before Silly had found her, before Aery had found Silly and given them all food and water and hope. Hope.
She could hope, right? Even though she wasn't fast, weak from hunger and the limitations of being a toddler, she could hope. She made eye contact with the leader of the guards who had her cornered, made eye contact with him and [i]willed[/i] him to never hurt her again.
She didn't think it would work. But the man gasped, his throat working but no sound coming out, his eyes bulging. Then he fell over, dead.
The other two looked at her, looked at the dead man, and ran, to be cut to pieces by Silly with her tiny daggers.