Down the castle steps Raquelle glided like a fairy, a wide smile on her painted lips and a happy glimmer in her eye. She'd been awake since the darkest hours of the morning in preparation: her hair shimmered like the sunlight, and her long laced gloves and perfect green dress (simple by her standards, exotically expensive but appropriate for travel because there were no hoops in her skirt) had been neatly fitted by several pairs of skilled servants' hands. The emeralds in her earrings set off the brilliance of her eyes.

When she spotted the carriage she lighted the last few steps and hurried daintily to Liam's side. "Liam, I'm coming along to offer my support," she stated firmly. "It will look terribly for you if you arrive without a lady in your company. the Verinian king and queen might interpret hostility in a dozen armed men at their door. The two of us together would make a more courteous visit of it, don't you think?" She turned to Will without waiting for a reply. "Is the carriage ready?"

----

Dorothea's ear twitched, and she lazily opened one eye when Sam stirred -- but the princess, assuming that Sam only wanted the outhouse, merely repositioned herself in the pile of pillows, sighed deeply and fell back to sleep. She would take every precious moment of rest she could afford, for she couldn't be sure when she would have another chance.

Outside, the trees were gray with the first light. Florian was still snoring in his tent. Coralie was managing the food supply, packing up what they would take with them while she set eggs and hash and coffee over the fire. She chewed while she worked, tying off bags and stuffing backpacks. It wasn't a terribly long journey, but it was best to be over-prepared.

"Well, he's alive," Alphonse called from the Marshal's tree. The dwarf had found the Marshal motionless and barely breathing: he held one of August's eyes open and peered in. August, in return, glared hatefully at him and bit at the gag. He was paler than before, having spent the night fully awake -- but at the dwarf's suggestion that he was in any way weaker than before, he sat up straighter and a fiery determination came back to his eyes.

Alphonse, rightfully, took a step back. "What do we do with him?" he asked Coralie quietly.

Coralie didn't answer right away, but focused on a knot she was tying around a food sack. "We're thieves, not murderers," she said without looking up. "But we can't take him with us."

Alphonse removed his hat and scratched his fuzzy head.