[b]Adila![/b]

“Whatever Adila wants to do,” the Captain says, with a shrug. “I came with her this far, after all. And before you get to grousing over whether it’s really her... the Queen took the last spell she ever did and wrung her out of it. So it’s her. And this time...”

The Captain looks off into the distance, an island of pensiveness in the midst of the last hurrah of the Watch. “It’s funny. This time, I’m the one looking after her.”

You are suddenly struck with the near certainty that if you leaned across the table and pulled back her eyepatch, you’d see falling stars and night.

But what kind of weirdo would do that!!!

***

[b]Alina![/b]

The embarrassment knocked you off your groove. That’s why, when Shazari doesn’t go straight up but at a diagonal, driving her shoulder into your tummy, you don’t see it coming. She lifts you like a bull, and now you’ve got a faceful of Shazari’s cloak and her arm clamped around your knees and that shoulder making out with your breakfast.

“Excellent! Now that we are even, we can discuss the location of my mother’s royal jewels with a clear conscience!”

She wouldn’t possibly keep you here, right? She understands how dangerous Oberon is! So, um, really, all you need to do (assuming you can’t figure out a smart way to escape) is to hold out until she has to let you go! You can handle the decadent tortures of the Jedadi court! No matter how you are tickled, you just need to refuse to give in!

But also it would be much better for you if you figured out a way to escape. Especially if it’s before she spirits you away.

***

[b]Kazelia![/b]

“You’re really good at speeches,” Rita says, putting the kettle on. Being gagged is thirsty work, and she is an excellent captor. Her room is a cozy single-bed number on the third floor (and you are very impressed with how she managed to carry both you and the chair up the stairs). She’s got an Askaian sun mat laid out near the window, a scratching toy sitting on the bedside table, and a hairbrush sitting in plain sight on the bed.

“If I weren’t an innocent and law-abiding princess,” she says, her tail twitching happily, “I could only hope to have a big sister like you, you know? Someone who cared about me. Who didn’t give up on me, no matter what.” She looks at you over her shoulder and smiles, before hopping up and sitting on the counter. “But I am the most innocent princess in all of Hyperborea! I am just a simple kitten without a devious bone in my body!”

She dramatically presses her hands to her chest, giving her hypothetical audience a show-stopper of a lip quiver, and then breaks into a devious little giggle and boops your nose with her big toe.

“I’m sure if you disagreed,” she adds, smiling like the cat that got into the cream, “you’d say something, wouldn’t you~?” That’s so very Hyperborean of her! Next thing you expect her to say is—

She hops off the counter and cradles your face in her hands. “Awww. Cat got your tongue?” Aaaaand [i]there[/i] it is.