Jax watched the thief leave his window and move silently into the night in the direction he had instructed, impressed at her confidence, and doubly impressed by her fervent declaration of intent to harm no one. For all the world she was a thief, she seemed both more disciplined and more honorable than some royalty he knew - and discipline and honor were hallmarks of good character, in Jax's book. He wasn't about to completely shift his attitude toward thieves in general, but this one... more interesting by the minute, indeed.

As he sat back down, wiping his map in the dust out of recognition, he realized he was conflicted about wanting this rescue mission to go well. On one hand, he hoped it worked fabulously because it would mean he could stay alive, it would mean he could investigate Queen Ismari's murder on his own terms, and, a little grudgingly, he realized he wanted to be validated in being impressed by Celinny. On the other hand, escaping the prison would make him an outlaw and a fugitive, and would certainly make it look like he had something to hide; as far as the kingdom was concerned, he may as well declare in writing that he had murdered the queen. Not to mention that if the escape was successful, it would be twice in two days that the security of the palace had failed, and he was loathe to admit that were possible. Jax would have to make new protocols, new orders to make sure this never happened again...

...he sighed, looking around his cell and realizing he wasn't in a position to do that anymore. He fought back the overwhelming sense of failure that had been making it so hard to think for the last day, and told himself again that he had to get this cleared up. This escape plan had to work.

His thoughts turned to what Celinny might be doing now, how long it should take her if she wasn't stopped on her way to his cell. Any number of things could happen to her on her way here. Palace security wasn't terrible, after all. The tragedy of Ismari's murder was a complete mystery and shock to him and the rest of the palace; nobody understood how anyone could have slipped past the guards at the gate to her gardens, or the door to her chambers. Someone would have had to have been able to actually climb the walls, and that was simply imposs...

... Celinny had just proven she could climb those walls.

How could he be sure of her intentions? But why would she frame him, only to break him out? Why would she frame him at all when they didn't know each other? Perhaps he was simply an easy target? No, none of that made any sense, and he thought back on the look in her eyes as she vowed not to harm anyone tonight. He believed her, but the palace obviously wasn't as secure as it had been thought to be. Damn, he felt like a fool, sure he had been doing everything in his power to keep the queen safe, and that very night, a common thief innocently shows him his ignorance. Perhaps there was some consolation in the possibility that she was no common thief.

As if on cue to prove exactly that, the lock on his door started squeaking and was nearly instantaneously clicked open. "Sorry to keep you waiting, I got sidetracked" said Celinny with the same casual air he may have told someone he got sidetracked on his otherwise uninterrupted way to dinner. "Help me get snorey in and you can switch clothes with him," she said, indicating the young man in cleaning staff uniform apparently sleeping on the stone floor behind her. It could've been the lighting but, were her hair and skin a little lighter than they had been fifteen minutes ago? So, not a common thief, then.

Jax regarded the young man with a frown, made sure he was breathing, then moved forward to quickly pull him into the cell. Nodding to Celinny to close the door behind her, he whispered, "if we're going out the same way you came in, I'll need some way of getting past that guard at the bottom of the stairs to the ground floor - without killing him, of course. I can knock him out if I have to, but if you can put him to sleep in whatever way you did to this poor sap, I'd prefer it." Jax hurriedly changed clothes with the young man - his clothes fitting quite loosely on the boy, and the boy's clothes fitting much too tightly on his more muscular body, then turned to Celinny and said "I'll follow your lead, but know that everyone in the palace will recognize my face in spite of this clothing. Oh, and don't expect me to climb the palace walls like you did, we'll need some other way out. So, what's the plan now?"