When the knock came upon the cellar door, Cecilia had just finished getting herself together. She had awakened early. For once, it was not because of the gruff voice of the jailer, or Malcolm banging on her cell door, or even because she had not slept the night before. No, the princess awakened early that morning because she was excited for the day. It was a foreign feeling... having something to look forward to. She had awakened with crowing of the roosters, and instead of rolling back over in the bed and sleeping away as much as the day as she could (since time went faster when you were sleeping, of course), she had crawled out of the heavenly bed in the cellar and started to clean herself up.

"Come in!" she called in response to the knock. She straightened the chairs at the table beside her bed before returning to the bed to fix the sheets one last time before her guests could arrive. Once her cellar was presentable, she waited with her hands clasped at the front of her skirts for the Loyalist Coalition to arrive.

It was hard to believe that the young woman waiting inside the cellar was the same person that had been ushered down the stairs the previous evening. The clothes that had been provided for her were far from courtly or fashionable, but they were fresh and clean. She wore a simple white shirt tucked into a light green skirt that ended just at her ankles. On her feet (which had been bare for so long that she nearly forgot what shoes felt like), she wore brown shoes that were just a little too large but comfortable and sturdy, nonetheless. Her hair had been untied from its braid and now fell in soft, chestnut waves around her shoulders that perfectly framed her round face. While she looked far from a princess, she no longer looked like she had been dragged out of the sewers.

"Good morning, Baron Monticourt," she said cheerfully at the sight of the man that she had met the night before. "And you two must be Lord Cromley and Sir Harper." She bowed her head respectfully to the two unfamiliar men. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."