Soft beams of light from the full moon filtered in through the windows as the Queen fidgeted restlessly beneath the covers, an almost silent sigh passing through her lips is she stared at the canopy of the bed overhead and listened to the gently rumbling snores of the King laying close by. She often found herself coping with troubles sleeping, So it was not surprising in the least when she came to the conclusion that sleep would continue to be an elusive companion until she had had the opportunity to relax more fully. Which meant only one thing: a walk in her private garden.

Quietly as she could manage, the young woman slid out from between the sheets and rose from the downy mattress, fingers reaching instantly for a dressing gown she kept hanging from a peg nearby for just such an occasion. Stepping into a pair of silk slippers, Queen Ismari gathered her golden tresses back into a loose ponytail that trailed down one of her shoulders before she quietly slipped through The door in the bedroom, slowly closing it behind her, and headed towards a pair of rose colored glass doors that faced out onto the immaculate palace gardens awash in moonlight. Almost instantly, a soft smile of contentment spread across her lips as her gaze swept around the flowers and bushes, Immediately lingering on some of her favorites. Gathering her robe close to her body, the queen began to move among the carefully tended flora on silent slippered feet, her fingers trailing over the petals of blossoms, the leaves of The foliage.

She never saw the figure that slowly stepped up behind her.

The shadow reached out with both arms carefully, the left glinting with the reflection of the moon's light off a blade they gripped in a gloved hand. As the queen bent over a blooming rose to sniff at its distinctive fragrance, they closed strong fingers tightly around her mouth and chin, the blade of the knife sliding across her exposed throat, The skin parting easily and spilling Crimson over her neck and chest, droplets falling among the rosebush. The queen gave a small jerk of surprise at the contact, fingers flying fruitlessly to scrabble at the hand clutching her face, a muffled scream managing to escape. But her useless struggles quickly began to slow, Her body growing limp, and the black garbed figure quietly released their hold and allowed the dying woman to crumple to the ground, not making a sound as they watched her choking and writhing limply at their feet. As she finally grew still, eyes glazing over, their hold on the knife was released, dropping the blood spattered weapon onto the ground near the corpse of the queen. Without a word, the assassin turned away from the quickly cooling body, slipping back into the shadows and disappearing back into the night once more.

They found her body after several hours had passed, dawn light beginning to touch the world as the sun rose over the mountains. One of the palace gardeners, a diligent man who always appeared first thing in the morning to attend the queen's favorite plants, discovered the body soon after he began trimming the rosebushes, immediately sending up the alarm. Guardsmen swiftly gathered to investigate, the king notified, and the investigations commenced. But after one of the Younger recruits inspected the bloody knife that had been discovered by the body, instant recognition blossomed across his face and a look of true terror lit his eyes. It was shortly after this that the pounding on the captain's door began...

Jax Marchant opened his hard blue eyes upon completion of the morning's meditation. Loving the relaxed-yet-ready-for-anything feeling that followed his morning practice of sword forms and meditation, he looked deliberately around his spacious quarters to take note that everything was exactly as it had been when he had closed his eyes. Not that anything was likely to have been moved, as nobody else was in his quarters at the moment. That he knew of, anyway - you could hardly ever be too sure in his line of work.

Some thought his practice a little odd, but only because they'd never tried it. Sitting on the ground instead of in a proper chair, with one's eyes closed, remaining perfectly motionless for ten to twenty minutes, focusing on nothing but one's own breath, seemed a little quirky at best, and at worst a great waste of time. Jax found however, that learning to observe and ignore the unimportant sensations and thoughts that arose during such practice, and focusing entirely on a thing taken so utterly for granted, lent him a superior ability to focus on the important things, and the details that were so often overlooked.

A crucial ability, when the responsibility of keeping a queen safe rested on your shoulders.

Standing up, Jax Marchant, Captain of the Queen's Guard, was careful to straighten his gold-embroidered, white collared shirt into his cleanly pressed white trousers, and sat in the chair at his desk to tug his boots on, maneuvering his sword-belt so as to not catch it in the chair back. It was mid-morning, and he was in no rush; he still had a few papers on his desk to go over before the morning's report was expected. It would be given by Joatham this morning, the newest member of the Guard, who had been given charge over the queen's safety on the midnight-to-mid morning shift. Some thought it was a difficult shift due to the obvious tendency to be sleepy, but Jax felt it was the easiest shift - the queen wasn't interacting with anyone in her sleep. No need to look closely for hidden weapons on anyone, no need to watch their hands intently as they approached Ismari, just stand outside her door until she woke up. The only other way into her room was through her private gardens just outside the royal quarters, but of course those had high walls and locked gates with their own contingent of the Queen's Guard to watch them. Nobody was going to fall out of the sky into her gardens with a sudden murderous intent on the Queen. The only way to be more sure of her safety while she slept would be to stand at the foot of her bed, but that was unnecessary. Though sometimes, he almost wished that were standard protocol. It was actually, during times of war or otherwise obviously sensitive times for the Queen's safety, but these were not such times.

The captain turned in his chair to address the papers on his desk and tensed immediately when someone started knocking - pounding, really - at the door to his quarters. Either someone was a rude idiot, Joatham was here to give his report half an hour early, or something was urgent. In the royal palace, it was unlikely to be either of the first two options.

Springing from his chair, he made his way quickly from his study to the front room of his quarters. Halfway through the front room however, the pounding stopped and the door flew inward off it's hinges with a loud crunch. Jax's sword was out of it's scabbard and in a high ready-guard position before the door hit the floor, and instead of freezing timidly as an untrained man would do, he rushed forward ready to give a bold and violent surprise to whoever had the nerve...

...if the queen had been harmed...

...Jax froze, ten feet away from the now door-less doorway, looking past his sword at about two-dozen of his own men, Joatham at their lead. Their swords weren't bared, but seeing him with his out and ready caused every man's hand to reach for his own. Jax did the calculations without thinking and in the blink of an eye; his chances would be decent if this were a group of untrained thugs, but it wasn't. He had seen to the training of each one of these men. He may be able to kill four, six at most before he was overwhelmed. He could see them do the same calculation in the same moment. The ones in front knew they would die, but the looks on their faces were not of fear. They looked like men ready to die doing their job. They were good men.

Jax lowered his sword to a low ready-guard, but remained tense. Not to mention livid.

"What is the meaning of this!?!" He yelled.

Joatham answered, obviously nervous but resolute, "we found the queen's body in her gardens, sir." Jax's heart dropped into his stomach, his sword dropping completely to the floor as the tension in his arms melted entirely. Her body? "And this was found on the ground nearby" said Joatham quietly as he raised his left hand, right hand still on his sword, to reveal a bloody knife. The ornamental knife of the Captain of the Queen's guard.

Jax's heart went from his stomach to the floor as he fell to his knees. He had failed. How? How had someone gotten to the queen in her own gardens? How had anyone been able to pass the sentries? Who would do this? Why? Why was he being framed? How could his own men possibly believe he could be responsible? How had he failed? How?

How?

His mind filled with questions, for once in his life Jax was speechless as his own men escorted him to the palace prison for an interrogation. Unable to respond to questioning, completely absorbed with the questioning he was giving himself in his own mind, the Queen's Guard shut their own Captain in a cell under the palace for the murder of the queen. As they left, they told him they would return the next day to resume the questioning and they would get answers the hard way if they had to. He would be put to death if he couldn't convince them he didn't kill the woman he was honor-bound to protect.

Alone, Jax sat on the floor of his cell, closed his eyes, and started to meditate. He was going to figure this out.

And someone - some murderous coward - was going to pay.

The sheer immensity of the height of the outer wall of the palace grounds was rather daunting, especially to one Who stood at the base and had to crane their neck to glimpse The top of such a structure. But for Celinny Windwood , the impossibility of climbing over it simply made her grin. Flexing her slender fingers within long black leather gloves, she slid a pair of climbing daggers from her belt, testing the weight of them in her palms for a brief moment, and then began the slow ascent of the brick edifice by slipping the blade of each knife into the grout between the stones and pulling herself up, balancing the tips of her boots against the same lines to keep her balance.

Celinny was a long lithe woman, with wiry muscles and a caramell complexion. Her hair was a deep black in color and usually hung to just between her shoulder blades in loose curls, but it was currently pulled back into a partial bun at the nape of her neck. Her cheekbones were high and proud, but were gentle and softened by rounded edges, as was her chin, complementing her heart shaped face. Set above a long nose that turned up very slightly at the end and below a set of slender arching eyebrows were A pair of almond shaped light blue eyes, A starburst of gold around the right pupil. Currently, these were widened with excitement, her full lips parted in an eager grin. Never before had one of her order dared to enter the palace grounds before this and the very idea had adrenaline pumping through her veins.

Reaching the top of the wall after several minutes had elapsed,The young woman paused for a moment to dig her daggers deeply into the stonework before reaching up to the top of the battlements. Gripping with her fingertips, Celinny pulled herself up just high enough to place the balls of her feet on the hilts of the blades, making sure her footing was stable before she hooked a length of corded rope up from where it had been slung over her shoulder and began to tie it securely around one of the brackets where a torch could be placed. As she was working, a tiny Chickedee fluttered down onto the top of the wall, hopping a few inches closer and tilting its head quickly from side to side and blinking beady black eyes at the woman. Celinnycast a brief glance at the little bird, a knowing smile twitching her lips

"instead of sitting there and giving me the eye, you should make yourself useful and find out where he's being kept." She teased gently in a softly lilting voice, tempted almost to laugh as the bird fluffed up its feathers and released a single chirp of acknowledgment. She knew that he wasn't offended, they had been working together far too long for that,but was rather playing along with her teasing by acting like a rookie soldier that had just been given his first order, even bending one of his wings in a mock salute before taking off with a soft rustling of feathers. She watched the path of his flight for a moment before focusing once again on the knot she was working into the rope.

The Chickedee circled carefully above the inner section of the wall, gaze sweeping over the palace itself briefly before turning towards the barracks where the guardsmen slept and finally to the prison stronghold. Tilting his wings as he angled his trajectory towards the ground, the little bird curved around the edge of the intimidating structure, heading around towards the back. With barely a whisper of sound, he alighted on a meager strip of grass at the rear of the building, blinking calmly for a moment before beginning to inspect the wall. With barely a thought and a momentary shimmering around his body, the bird suddenly became a short haired bob tailed Silver house cat which twitched long white whiskers briefly before beginning to saunter along the edge of the building, pausing only to sniff intently at each low window. The prisoner cells here were kept below ground level, tiny slits barricaded buy steel bars serving as the only source of light for each room. From an earlier scouting mission, the cat knew that it was in one of these rooms that the captain had been placed in, but he had yet to discover exactly which one. Reaching the second to last window, his pointed ears suddenly perked with interest, amber eyes glowing with satisfaction as he peered through the opening and spotted a man sitting in the middle of the floor in a meditative state. He released a soft meow of confirmation before syncing to his haunches, rolling his shoulders before lifting a paw and beginning to wash his face as he contented himself in waiting.

He didn't have to wait long, the gentle sound of approaching footsteps alerting him to Celinny's arrival, and he turned his head just in time to see her slink around the corner of the building and head in his direction, eyes crinkled in a smile that was hidden behind the black veil she had pulled up over her face. He purred as she reached his location, crouching down and giving him a scratch behind both of his velvety ears.

"good job. Going to keep watch for me?" She whispered, earning a gentle bump of his head against her fingers before the light gray cat padded away with a determined air about him. Approval strong in her eyes, Celinny turned her gaze onto the man inside the small cell and studied him carefully for a moment before lowering onto her belly and propping her chin on one hand. "Looks like you've gotten yourself into a lot of trouble Jax." She commented lightly, watching curiously as she waited for his reaction to her voice.

It was hours after sundown, but Jax still had light from a beam of moonlight shining into his cell from outside. Not that he needed it to see anything while his eyes were closed. He still sat on the floor in the middle of his cell, back to the moonlight, facing the door to his one-man prison. He had been unable to remain in his motionless meditative state throughout the entirety of the day of course; he had stood up a few times and moved through several empty handed fighting forms, as his sword had been taken from him. All fighting forms had the capacity to be a form of meditation, but he had done them mostly to keep his body from becoming unbearably stiff and sore from being in a seated position for so long. He had never gone for more than thirty-five to forty minutes before tonight. But tonight he had to think, and clearly. His life and honor depended on it, not to mention the safety of the kingdom.

Queen Ismari had been murdered and somehow he had been framed for it. He was still reeling from his failure, but he had to keep trying to push aside his disbelief and shame in order to figure out the truth of what had happened, and how.

He'd kept vacillating between who could have done it, and what the motive could have been. He'd quickly come to a relatively certain conclusion that whoever had done it, he didn't know them personally. The only people in the course of the Queen's reign who had tried to harm her had been the few mentally unstable men who had attempted to throw their misguided romantic interests at her through constant inappropriate letters - which she never read, of course, queen's had no time for such nonsense - and then decided to wait outside the palace walls for her, hoping to catch a glimpse of her, or talk to her when she ventured out of the palace. When they felt rejected for lack of response, their already unstable minds worked them into such a frenzy that they became angry with her, and they'd either try forcing their way onto the palace grounds to find her or they'd wait outside any number of the palace gates hoping to catch her on her way out.

The Queen's Guard had only had to kill two such men, but such men did exist. They were however, the only people Jax could think of who'd openly displayed ill-will toward the Queen. None of the lands in their country were contested, nor were the lands of the capital contested by any of the other noble houses, and Jax could think of nobody of known significance who would dare murder Ismari. Attempt to manipulate her for political gain, certainly, but not murder her. Jax had given a moment of thought to the possibility that the King had murdered her, but had dismissed the idea almost immediately; Kaltriel had adored Ismari, and had always bowed to the Matriarchal tradition that in Nahlreli, the Queen held the rule.

All of this lead Jax to the idea that someone unknown to him was responsible for this, and for reasons he was unclear of. It was incredibly frustrating, but it left him with the possibility that the whole thing had something to do with that peculiar medallion Ismari had taken to wearing the last year or so. She had worn it constantly; as soon as he'd noticed the thing, it seemed she never took it off. The few times he'd asked about it, she'd responded either coyly or dismissively. There was little he hadn't known about the Queen, as body-guarding didn't lend itself to allow for much if any privacy, but that medallion had been a mystery to him, even though it was obviously important to her.

It didn't seem like much of a lead, but it did seem like his best shot at the moment. He started recalling all the details of the medallion in his mind; the ruby in its center, surrounded by what seamed to be a sunburst, and didn't it have...?

Footsteps outside his window, he was certain he'd heard them. Just as he was about to dismiss the sound as a likely passing guard on patrol, he heard the barest hint of a whisper. Guards didn't whisper to themselves. Mumbled to themselves sometimes, to keep themselves awake, but never whispered. Whispering meant more than one person, and both or all of them trying not to get caught. He was about to be either the object of an assassination attempt, or of a rescue mission. Given everyone's love for the queen...

...he thought assassination much more likely.

Just as Jax was about to dive roll directly under the barred window so as to create an impossible angle to shoot him with a bolt or an arrow, an unfamiliar feminine voice nonchalantly said, "looks like you've gotten yourself into a lot of trouble, Jax."

Confused, Jax hesitated in his movement to roll, deciding to stand and turn instead. There on the ground outside his cell's window was an apparently lazy thief, laying on her stomach and not seeming at all like having broken onto the palace grounds was a reason for her to be nervous. If not for the cloth obscuring everything on her face but her eyes, he would have thought she looked... amused!

"Who are you, who is with you, why do you know my name, and why are you here? Answer quickly before I call for a guard - I have no time or inclination for games on this night!"

Heart quickening a little as the captain of the guard swiveled around to face her, Celinny almost released a bubble of laughter that threatened to burst forth from her throat. She hadn't expected him to be so... grumpy. Not letting this dampen her feeling of growing success, she instead lifted both of her eyebrows and lilted,"Not one for beating around the bush, are we." Giving her head a small shake as if that didn't matter, the young woman lifted her chin from her hand and instead crossed her arms in front of her. "I suppose that comes with the title..." She murmured, giving her head another small shake and fighting off the temptation to roll her eyes.

Partially lifting one hand, she began to tick off his questions on each finger. "my name is Celinny, The pleasure is mine I'm sure. The only one out here is myself, unless you count the cat that was here a moment before. I'm surprised you didn't hear him yowling." She exaggerated, teasing her partner from a distance.

Taking a deep breath, she hadn't been trying to say everything in one shot, she continued on with, "I was given your name personally by my boss, big fan of yours. as for the reason why I'm here, I thought that would have been obvious, but I don't mind filling you in..." Quite suddenly, Celinny rolled away from the window, completely vanishing from site. The reason behind this action was not immediately obvious until the sound of tromping boots sounded in the hallway outside the door, signaling the passing of a patrol. But as soon as the sound began to grow distant, the thief was back in the window, continuing on as if nothing had happened by lifting another finger. "I was asked to come and help perform a jailbreak." She announced grandiosely, grinning despite the fact that it couldn't be seen behind her mask.

"I was asked to come and help perform a jailbreak."

A rescue mission, then. Curious.

Jax was tempted to ask her why he should trust her, but knew that was pointless; having no prior experience of her trustworthiness, or anything about her at all, she could say he should trust her for any reason she could come up with, real or invented, and he would be just as in the dark as if he hadn't asked the question. She was obviously adept enough at breaking into the palace grounds, he figured he could trust her to be able to get them out, hopefully without hurting any of the palace guards or, heaven forbid, his own men.

The only thing left to consider was whether or not he wanted to be taken from his captivity. Discomfiting as it was to be in prison on a false charge, and even though his life hung in the balance, his duty was to the Queen - and even though she was dead, his duty was still bound to her wishes. She deserved to have her murderer found and punished, the people of the kingdom deserved the same, and if he was broken out of prison, he could no longer communicate to the Guard what he discovered. But he was so limited in his investigation while he was in this cell, and of course, if he were put to death before he could convince them he didn't murder Ismari, well then, however far his mind got him in its investigation of the murder would be worthless. That made his decision for him.

Jax regarded Celinny with a hard focus. "I'll allow this on one condition" he told her. "Once I am free, you will either aid me, or not stand in my way, in my attempts to discover what truly befell Queen Ismari. I don't know why you're getting me out, but even if the Queen is dead, my duty to her is not. My life will be dedicated to finding her murderer and stopping their plan from moving forward." Then he looked down and added, almost to himself, "surely their intent was not merely to kill a queen."

Looking at Celinny through thick steel bars, suddenly his disposition altered. Jax raised an eyebrow and said with a grin, "now I'm very curious to know how you plan on getting me out of here."

Regarding his serious demeanor as he spoke of his dedication to the queen and his desire to hunt down The individual that had put blade to her skin bolstered a feeling of respect that Celinny was beginning to consider, feeling that it was an emotion that she could relate with easily, having had ironbound determination about former situations she had been thrust into on numerous instances. And although she hadn't been specifically ordered to tagalong and see the Mistry out to its conclusion, something about the expression on the captain's face gave her serious pause and a blossoming consideration to throw herself into the puzzle alongside him. With these thoughts beginning in her mind, her head gave a very slight tilt to one side, threads of choices and consequences silently unraveling and creating a spiderweb of plans within her head.

"now I am very curious on how you are planning on getting me out of here. Jax then intoned, surprising her with a wide smile. She had been under the impression that he was the sort of man that was incapable of such an expression. She was happy to see that she could still be proven wrong about things like that.

Lifting her light blue gaze to the wall of the prison as she pushed herself into a kneeling position, Celinny was again struck by the feeling of disappointment at the lack of any windows that were wider than her hand along The entirety of the edifice. Plan one that she had formulated on the trip out here was out the window, in a literal no pun intended sort of sense. And she couldn't picture fighting her way into such a place, so plan two was a no go as well... Casting her mind out towards where her companion sauntered in the form of a cat, she instructed him to focus on the nearest soldier, picking out the details that he relayed. "Well," she murmured thoughtfully, "step one would include you telling me where I could get a uniform, a helmet, and a change of clothes. And then I was thinking of asking someone to open the door for me." The idea forming in her head provoked a soft chuckle to escape her lips, mind jumping to inventorying The supplies she had on her.

Celinny wanted to sneak in as one of the guards? Impressive, if she could do it. She had proven her capacity in stealth, but this venture was almost pure personality. She was getting more interesting by the minute, a feeling some part of him wanted to rebel against, as everything interesting about her so far would have made her a threatening adversary a mere 24 hours ago. But 24 hours ago beheld Jax in a completely different context of life.

Well, if anyone could tell Celinny how to do this successfully, it was Jax. He knew the palace like the back of his hand - and as a swordsman, Jax knew his hands better than most people knew their own faces.

"Follow the curve of this edifice to your right, and pass the first door, the second, and the third, until you come to the fourth - it is never directly guarded, aside from the rounds the guards walk that take them past it, but it will probably be locked from the inside, so hopefully you have means to deal with that. This fourth door is the outside door to part of the servants' quarters, closest to the storage rooms for most uniforms worn in the palace - cleaning staff, cooking staff, personal servant staff, advisory staff, and of course, uniforms for the palace guard and the Queen's Guard. Don't take a Queen's Guard uniform; there are too few of us and everyone knows who all of us are. There are no helmets there, but you won't want one; nobody wears them inside the palace, and you'd draw unnecessary attention to yourself by wearing one. In fact, you'll draw the least amount of notice as cleaning staff.

"Once inside this door, you will be in a straight hallway; the first door on your right is the uniform storage room. Turn left at the second intersection with this hallway, then right at the end of that hallway - it's long. About 20 steps down this new hallway is a door on your right, which should be unlocked, which opens to a spiral stairway leading down to the palace prison cells. The door at the bottom will be guarded by one of the Palace Guard, but it is a normal door for use by the cleaning staff and if you're convincing enough he'll just nod and let you on your way.

"Turning left once you exit this door with the guard, turn left again almost immediately with the intersecting corridor, and you will be in the passageway that my cell is at the very end of. Please do your best not to hurt anyone if you can get away with it - they have me in prison, but they are good, innocent people. Do you have any questions?" Jax had been drawing in the dust on the floor of his cell as he gave all these directions, so that Celinny could see a rough blueprint of the parts of the palace he was describing while he was describing them to her. Crystal clear directions were crucial if this was going to work...

...and he found himself hoping more and more that it worked.

As Jax spoke, outlining the details of what she needed to know, Celinny's gaze was intent on his every movement, carefully memorizing his instructions and the map his finger was tracing in the dust. Her thoughts briefly flickered towards the cat patrolling the front of the building, gently touching his mind and requesting he look towards the doors, counting them out as she looked through his eyes. A thrum of amusement coursed through their connection as he picked up the thread of her plans,and she grinned in response, the expression carefully hidden behind her mask. A moment later however, the jubilant expression faded as the Captain offered up a plea for the safety of the inhabitants of the palace and she gave him a steady stare, eyebrows angling down into an expression of complete seriousness.

"...Captain, you might not know me, but I would never bring death upon another being unless they deserved it first." Her eyes momentarily blazed, becoming two spots of blue fire. "I vow to you that none shall die by my hand this night." After several heartbeats had gone by, slowly, her stony expression of conviction faded, replaced by her more natural amusement, the corners of her eyes crinkling. "Now... You should erase that map of yours and sit tight, or loose if that is more your preference. I have a job to do." Pushing off from the ground in a silent fluid motion, Celinny took a long, deep breath of cool night air, held it for a few seconds, then released it in a nearly silent rush as she loped forward gracefully into the darkness like a hunter stalking her prey, mind sharp and determined. One way or another, Jax was getting out of this prison.

The silvery bobbed tailed Tom was sitting perfectly calm in front of the fourth door of the building, kneading his claws methodically into the ground as he waited, looking expectantly towards the corner of the structure as a figure moved in the shadows. He didn't need to taste the air to know that it was Celinny crouching there, he recognized her outline far too easily to mistake her for any other human. He purred loudly at her approach, arching his neck and shoulders into her fingers when she reached down. Then he twitched his long whiskers expectantly, muscles tensing as she crouched down to his level.

"Time to test your size limit Mist." She breathed, quickly casting her gaze to either side to check for approaching guards. "Slip past that door and see if you can unlock the bolt. And try not to take all night about it." She teased, giving his neck another scratch.

Releasing a reassuring meow, Mist leapt confidently forward, a silvery haze forming around his body as he rapidly shrank in size, replacing the sleek body of a cat for something a little more convenient. Wings vibrating with a gentle hum, a tiny fruit fly zipped quickly through the air, sliding into the key hole and coming out on the other side. Hovering in place for a moment, Mist carefully studied the inner hallway, paying close attention for any sign of movement. After a long minute, the little shifter decided that things were safe enough for the time being and drifted down to the knob of the door, turning his scrutiny on the locking mechanism above it. With another silver pool of mist forming around his miniscule body, The fruit fly swelled in size, rapidly transforming into a small black monkey with a white and grey face. Blinking dark brown eyes several times as he adjusted to the new height, the capuchin reached forward with deft fingers and grasped the knob in both paws, twisting it until he heard a definite click. Satisfied, Mist gave his long tail a twitch before leaping down onto the stone floor and scampering to one side as the door swung in word

"maybe you should become a monkey more often. It rather suits you."

Celinny had waited as quietly as she could just outside the door, barely even breathing as she lay in the shadows at the base of the building, watching carefully as a patrol moved past with a soft clinking of armor and weapons. Huffing with relief as the trio moved by with barely a glance at the door leading to the storage area, she quickly rose to her feet as the lock gave a quiet but distinctive click. Reaching out, she twisted the knob in her hand and swiftly pushed it inwards, stepping inside and glancing around for her companion. That was the point when she had made The playful comment about his monkey shape, receiving a toothy grin in response before Mist sprang nimbly onto her arm and climbed swiftly to perch on her shoulder, Twining a tiny paw into her tresses to keep his balance.

"You can stay there, just see that you don't pull too hard." Celinny breathed, tugging gently on the tail trailing down her chest, receiving a chirp and a flexing of fingers in her hair in reply.

The hallway wasn't as long as she had been expecting and for a moment , Celinny hesitated, gaze sweeping across the walls. Walking over to the closest door, she twisted the knob and peered inside, only to withdraw again when she was only met with crates of what looked to be food stocks. Stepping to the next room, she was relieved to see shelves of folded cloth and racks of glittering chainmail. Slipping inside quickly, she closed the door behind her and took a look around in the storage area with an air of caution. Nothing immediately jumped out to snatch her, obviously, so the young woman began poking around through the different uniforms, enjoying the soft texture of the cotton against the skin of her fingertips as she finally removed her gloves.

"...Cooking staff... We don't want one of those, I'm not trying to burn down the building." Celinny murmured softly as she read a neat paper label stuck to one of the shelves beneath several stacks of white tunic uniforms. "And we definitely don't want one of these." She stated to the next shelf stocked with tidy piles of blue colored garments worn by the serving staff. She couldn't exactly picture herself taking orders from anyone, let alone the royalty or higher ups of the place she was trying to break into. The next shelf looked more promising, the label indicating that it was the attire for those who busied themselves cleaning the palace. "Cleaning staff it is then." She decided as she began sorting through the stacks of female uniforms in search of one that was her size.

As Celinny untied the mask from around her face, Mist leapt from her shoulder onto the floor, scampering over to the door and shimmering briefly with silvery vapor before shrinking down into a tiny lime colored lizard which flicked its tongue in her direction before poking his head beneath the door to keep watch. Smiling fondly at her companion and briefly wondering, not for the first time, how she had gotten so lucky to earn his trust, the thief then proceeded to remove her belt, pants, shirt, and boots. Folding her clothing together neatly, she then tied the pile together with a leather cord, setting the bundle aside as she reached for the gray tunic and leggings, shivering slightly in nothing But her white shift and her socks. The clean new cotton Felt good against her skin as she quickly stepped into the pants, pulling The tunic over her head and tugging it into a comfortable position. Retrieving her belt from the floor, she buckled it into place around her waist and allowed the hem of the shirt to fall down over it , smoothing out any odd looking lumps until she was satisfied. Casting a last glance over the shelves to see that she didn't miss anything, she retrieved one of the white handkerchiefs next to a stack of socks and tied it over her hair before pulling on her boots and tightening the laces.

"I'm going to have to use a bit of your magic for this next part Mist." Celinny informed her partner is she stepped over to him and sank into a cross legged position on the stones nearby. The lizard's only visible response was a brief flick of his long tail, but she could sense the feeling of approval through their mental connection. Taking a deep breath, the woman closed her eyes and began to concentrate, reaching out towards the shape shifter through there link and pulling on a small thread of his magic as she had learned to do once. Gradually, changes began to appear in her visage, her hair lightening to a honey blonde, the curls flattening out, her skin lightened several tones,and when she finally opened her eyes again, their vivid blue had changed into a light brown. Blinking quickly a few times as a lingering tingling sensation coursed through her body, Celinny retied her hair into a simple braid, unuse to the smooth texture.

She wasn't entirely sure how she had discovered the ability to tap into Mist's powers, granting her the very slight ability to change the color of her skin, hair, and eyes, but it had been a few years ago when she had discovered the little trick, desperately frightened as she had been infiltrating a rival thieving crew, The animal shifter at her side for the first real mission. She had desperately wished she could change her appearance Beyond the simple make up she had been using at the time and somehow, much to her surprise, her hair had become a light brown, her skin the color of caramel. Mist had been almost as shocked as she was, the body of the rat he had been using fluffing up. Together, they had perfected the ability, strengthening the bond that held them together and helping her become one of the best thieves in the history of her family.

Retrieving a small stick of light brown clay from one of the pouches and her belt, Celinny proceeded to run her thumb over the end of it after licking the pad of her finger and polished of her disguise by dotting several freckles across the bridge of her nose and the tops of her cheeks before getting to her feet and spreading out her arms. "well, how do I look?" She asked the little lizard as he tilted his head up at her curiously, smiling at the image of a stranger that she perceived from his thoughts. "good. I don't look a thing like myself. Now, you better get into something a bit bigger so that you can hold onto my things." She went on to say, collecting the bundle of clothing from the floor and turning back to find a lean bodied Black Labrador blinking up at her and giving his tail a wag. Smiling with approval at his choice, she looped the extra length of cord around his belly, tying it off with a knot when it was secure.
Giving the dog several scratches behind his floppy ears, she then straightened up and once again smoothed out her tunic, briefly running her hands across her hair to check that every strand was in place before she opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, glancing both directions to make sure that she was still the only human in the vicinity. Satisfied by the lack of movement, she jogged over to the door leading to the outside of the building and cracked it open, allowing Mist to slip past her and out into the night.

"You know what to do. Keep watch. And don't let the magic fade from my appearance."She whispered, receiving a steady look from a set of big brown eyes and a resolute nod. Then The dog was gone, vanishing into the darkness and leaving her alone with in the doorway. Taking a deep breath, Celinny quietly shut the door, twisting the lock back into place and turning to face the hallway once more.

"There you are!" A clear voice suddenly rang out, causing Celinny to start painfully and widen her eyes as A middle aged woman rounded A corner further down the hall, her gaze as severe as the tight bun she had pulled her salt and pepper hair back into. Her expression didn't improve in the slightest as she marched down the hallway, stopping inches away from Celinny, even becoming a touch more stern perhaps. Planting her hands as fists on both of her hips, the woman frowned with obvious displeasure. "Don't just stand there gawping at me like a fish just been caught Lassy!" Celinny immediately closed her mouth with a snap. "Molly said you'd be down this way, waitin' for your first assignment, but I wasn't expecting big eyes and no manners."

The look on her face must have been one of confusion, because the woman proceeded to then snort in frustration and give her head a shake. "What are they teaching you younglings these days?" She growled, rolling her eyes and giving her head yet another shake. "I'm Doulah, I'll in charge of your duties under Molly, The head of the cleaning staff. She hired you and the lad here," she jerked her thumb over her shoulder at a rather intimidated looking young man with a head of dark curly hair that Celinny noticed for the first time, "as part of the night shift in the prison block. Starting to ring a bell?"

Finally managing to swallow and give her eyes several blinks, Celinny Felt her stunned mind quickly leap forward and grasp comprehension of her unexpected situation. She hadn't been planning on running into anyone else on her way to the dungeon, but she couldn't of been given a more perfect scenario then the one that had just landed in her lap. Adopting an air of timidness and folding her hands together in front of her, she gave a jerky uncertain bow, hoping to play up the mild sense of stupidity the woman had assumed of her. "Y-Yes Ma'am. I didn't mean nothing by it. Never been inside such a big castle before."

Doulah waved One of her hands through the air to cut off anything else she might have said. "Fine, fine. Mercy me. What's your name child?"

"...Heather." Came the timid reply.

"well then Heather, you'll be working with Dugan here to clean the dungeons. Look sharp, I'll show you where to get cleaning supplies and water" Doulah said, snapping her fingers and turning quickly into the same room that held all of the work uniforms, the pair of young people following after her. The older woman immediately went to a second smaller door on the other side of the shelves, pulling it open with a sharp yank to reveal several mops and brooms, a stack of buckets, and a multitude of blocks of soap. She pulled out a couple of the mops, two buckets, several bars of soap, and a handful of rags. Dividing the supplies between the two, she then lead them over to a trough with a hand pump, instructing them both to fill their buckets and then waiting quietly as they hurried to obey. When both buckets were full, Doulah let them from the room and down the Corredor, following the exact instructions that Jax had given earlier as she took them to the staircase that would take them both into the prison. As she got to the door, the woman unceremoniously yanked this port ajar as well, squinting down and nodding briskly at a guard standing at the foot of the steps, looking almost board with himself. "These pups are on their way to clean the dungeon. They shouldn't give you much trouble." The way she said it made it clear to the pair of apprentices that she would skin them if she found out that they had done anything else. Nodding with understanding, the soldier simply opened the door and allowed the two to pass through, shutting the door behind them without a second glance.

A nervous little laugh suddenly escaped Dougan as he readjusted is mop and bucket. "Don't worry too much about Doulah. She's more bark than she is bite." He said reassuringly, offering a friendly smile.

Celinny released a small giggle herself, blinking several times and shaking her head as if coming out of shock. She smiled shyly at Dougan, adding a few more blinks for good measure. "I sure hope you're right. That was scary." She squeaked, biting hesitantly at her lower lip. She blinked again and began to walk towards the left, saying as she did so, "We'd better get started though, before she decides to actually follow through on her threats. Let's start over here and work our way forward." She suggested, relieved when the young man followed after her without question.

Immediately turning down the hallway to her left, Celinny hurried as fast as she could manage with a full bucket of water in one hand to the end of the Corredor. Setting down her bucket and mop, she reached into one of her pouches and began acting as if she were unwrapping a bar of soap, instead withdrawing a short needle, the sharpened end enclosed in a glass vial filled with a orange liquid. Uncapping the needle, she waited patiently as Dougan approached, watching him as he set down his own bucket and mop and began to unwrap an actual block of soap. Quick as thinking, Celinny's hand shot out, sticking the end of the metal into A rather surprised looking Dougan's throat, smiling sweetly as he blinked several times at her stupidly. Without warning, his eyes abruptly rolled back into his head, his body collapsing onto the stone floor with a rustle and a smack as his head hit the hard surface. Not envying the headache the man was going to have when he woke up in a few hours, Celinny calmly washed the tip of the needle in her bucket of water before resealing it in the crystal vial and slipping it back into her belt. Reaching into the other side, she withdrew a couple of lock picks and turned around to face the door to the Captain's cell, working for only a few heartbeats before the lock clicked and she was able to twist the knob, pushing the door in word.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. I got sidetracked." She said cheerfully to the man inside, stowing away her pics once again. "Help me get snorey in and you can switch clothes with him." She said, indicating the snoring man spread eagle on the floor behind her with a lifted eyebrow.

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?"

Pushing lightly against the door until it clicked into place, Celinny focused determinedly on the grains running through the heavy wood, tracing one of her fingertips along a few of the veins as she focused her thoughts on the guard she was about to be dealing with instead of the state of undress of the men behind her. Her not looking was not due to any shyness or lack of curiosity, she was itching to catch a glimpse of Jax in such a vulnerable situation, but she wasn't entirely sure how the Captain would react to her sneaking a peek. So instead she studied wood grains and planned the next step in their escape.

When the rustling of fabric finally quieted down, Celinny glanced back quickly over her shoulder once before turning around and leaning her back against the door, hand surreptitiously falling to the hilt of a dagger tied to her belt. She gave Jax and his skin tight clothing a scrutinizing look from head to toe before being unable to restrain a soft bubble of laughter, a grin splitting across her face. "You... You look ridiculous." She just managed to get out before allowing herself to be momentarily overcome by silent laughter that shook her slender shoulders. Catching her breath, she was just on the point of committing to a concerted effort in finding a set of larger clothing when Jax dropped an unforeseen problem into her lap. Her laughter cut off abruptly, light brown eyes blinking twice quickly as her brain caught up with the situation.

"You can't climb the wall?" Celinny looked slightly aghast at this revelation, a completely silent explosion going on inside her head and destroying the careful plans she had already set in place. The rope coiled at the top of the wall now seemed like a pointless effort... Slowly closing her mouth that had fallen open, the young woman bit briefly at her lower lip as she quickly reorganized her plans.

"Well, I'm not going to abandon you now just because of a detour..." Grimacing playfully, Celinny pulled up the edge of her tunic and unbuttoned a pouch on her belt, withdrawing a dark folded piece of fabric from within and holding it out. "take this and tie it around your face." She said softly, shaking out the cloth to reveal a woven dark grey scarf. "Since we can't let anyone get a good look at your face, covering up the majority of it is essential. What is left exposed, I'm going to ask you to wrinkle up as much as possible, appear as much in pain as you can. You are going to pretend to be my very ill brother, coughing will help this appearance, and I will be taking you to see our equally ill and perhaps dying mother in the village across the river on the north side of the castle."

She was going to have to be especially convincing if they were going to get past the guards at the front gate unscathed. The idea made her want to sigh, But she held the temptation back and instead made herself smile, a simple quirking up of the corners of her mouth. "where would the stables be located?" She asked, reflecting on the scant calculations in her mind of the distances she had been able to map out of the building earlier. It would take them out of the way in escaping, put them at risk, but they needed an easy way out. "We're going to need horses if we're going to look convincing. Their size will be useful if we end up needing to force our way through the gate." Reaching to the middle of her lower back, she slipped free an extra dagger, holding it out hilt first. "But just in case things take a turn for the worst..." Her expression clearly stated that she sincerely hope that bloodshed would not end up being necessary, but if it came down to his and her life at the cost of another's, she would fight.

Jax tried to shove down the feeling of embarrassment that welled up at Celinny’s reaction to his matter-of-fact declaration of inability to climb the walls of the palace - until he reminded himself that everyone knew climbing the walls of the palace was impossible. If Celinny really had scaled those walls it was completely mind-blowing; he made a mental note to ask her later to teach him that particular skill. His mind was beginning to comprehend how useful it would be, even if it was a thief’s skill. For now, he listened to her makeshift plan… makeshift, he realized with chagrin, because she had assumed he had the apparently elementary skill of an impossible feat.

He reminded himself there was no reason to be embarrassed. It was a feeling he was unused to.

Considering her idea to pretend he was her sick brother, he took the dark cloth she handed him and started tying it at the back of his head to cover his face from the bridge of his straight nose down, tousling his hair while he was at it to look a little less like himself. The Captain of the Queen’s Guard always looked impeccable, and everyone knew it. Looking like a sick mess was a good idea.

He paused almost imperceptibly as she quickly and casually reached behind her back. Jax had spent decades of training becoming hyper-aware of such movements but, context of the moment considered, he was mostly certain there was nothing threatening about it. Indeed, she did pull out a small dagger, but nothing about her body language suggested mal-intent, and he appreciated that she held it out hilt-first.

His eyes stayed on the dagger for a moment as she explained why she was offering it, and then he stared at it for a bit longer, thinking. He was a deadly weapon with his bare hands of course, but the idea of taking a blade with him to help him become a fugitive, even as a last resort… he didn’t think he could do it. Finally he shook his head, looking back up at her. “I understand why you have it, and I understand the offer, but I can’t take it. If we get apprehended, I will do my best without any weapons, but I will not draw the blood of the good people here doing their job. I will either be killed or brought back to prison.

“Now about me being your sick brother, if anyone inquires, it will beg the question of why a girl from the palace cleaning staff brought her sick brother into the palace, and why they are leaving in the late evening. You must answer that you brought me in to see your favorite palace nurse - Nurse Merina - whom you trust over the medical help to be found in town. We are leaving when we are because you had to bring me in after hours, not being part of the palace staff, and Nurse Merina was kind enough to see us late. You must do all the talking, I’ll just moan and cough.

“As for the stables, there are several. We will want the servants’ stables, and not because it makes more sense for servants to use the servant’s stables - in fact, horses are a good idea, but getting them does present a problem. Palace protocol dictates that anyone removing their horse from a palace stable must report to the groom of that stable, who will ask one of the stable hands to fetch it while he himself reports to the guards at the gate we tell him we will be leaving through. I fear we will need some… quietly violent stratagem to get any horses out of the stables. Besides, most of the palace staff lives in the palace, and few servants have need of a horse, so the groom and stable hands will know who every horse there belongs to. We won’t want the servant’s stables because it will be any easier to get a horse, but it will have fewer armed guards close by, it is closest to the north gates, and frankly I’d rather not steal a royal horse. The horses of the Queen’s Guard are kept with the horses of the Palace Guard in the Stables of the Guard, but that is too heavily guarded - luckily, it is by the east gates at the front of the palace. Unfortunately, that means I won’t be escaping on my own horse, but that may be for the best anyway. Everyone will recognize my horse.” Jax paused in his explanations to give a brief sigh that he would have to leave his horse, a beautiful white stallion named Nirodha.

He continued, suggesting his thoughts on the best course of action to get out of the palace grounds. Without simply climbing the walls, of course. He decided it really was embarrassing, then decided to ignore it. “We can’t just walk out of the dungeon without alerting the guard you passed at the bottom of the stairs, so I’m hoping you can put him to sleep like you did this young man,” he said, gesturing back at the boy now wearing the uniform of the Captain of the Queen’s Guard. “Then I’m hoping we can get out to the stables without attracting further notice. Once the stables is in view, I should be able to sneak in the back while you approach the groom. There shouldn’t be more than two stable hands inside; I will take care of them quietly while you take care of the groom quietly. If you need to, just keep him distracted long enough for me to sneak up behind him and dispatch of him myself.

“That gets us to the north gate with horses, but it will be closed and guarded… the mechanism to open it is just inside the gate itself, but the palace guard is not going to simply let us saunter through without the ok from the stable’s groom. If only there were some way to hit the opening mechanism as we approached the gate, then we could surprise the guards and rush through… any ideas there? Keep in mind, we have to do all of this as quickly as possible, starting now - we’ll be leaving a trail of unconscious bodies and untrue stories behind us, all of it likely to raise an alarm as soon as any of it is found.”

Jax really hoped Celinny had a miraculous idea for opening that mechanism. His plan to that point was risky but plausible, but that north gate would put a quick stop to escaping...

In response to him finally declining the offer of the dagger she held out, Celinny outwardly gave her shoulders a shrug before she slipped The small blade back into place. "Suture self." She murmured. Inwardly, she was intrigued. She had grown up with and had been raised by people who had had such opposite standards from Jax, She was staggered by such a concentration of goodness in one person... Not that she was openly going to admit that to him. Not unless she got to know him better. And the chances of them getting the opportunity to know one another better was slim.

Again, she found herself quietly, but intently, listening to Jax begin to lay out and even strategize a little with important information, detailing information about the stables, the people who worked in them, and the security of the gates. Tilting her head slightly as she listened, picturing herself heading back to the guard at the foot of the stairs before she and the former captain worked on securing themselves a pair of horses. She wanted to snort Saufley at the idea that she wouldn't be able to handle the stable Master alone, but quickly dismissed the instinctive reaction. She would just have to show Jax that it wouldn't be a problem.

Quirking up her lips in a smile as he then asked her if she had any ideas on opening the gate without alerting the guards, Celinny gave her head a brief nod. "I think I've got just the thing to get that gate open. No offense, but I don't trust you enough to detail that exact plan. Perhaps if we can get out of here safely and you don't betray me at the next opportunity, I'll let you in on that particular secret." She explained, not unkindly. Mist was her ace, More than capable of getting into the guard house and pressing the switch before the guards could react. But he was her best kept secret, she didn't want to risk his identity being divulged by preemptively telling Jax about him.

Giving one last cursory glance over his appearance, Celinny then opened the door once again, peeking out and glancing down the hallway. "wait here. I'll go take care of that guard and then whistle for you when we are in the clear." She said back over her shoulder before slipping out of the room and jogging down the Corredor, fingers already reaching into her belt for the necessary vial.

She paused for a moment as she reached the door to the staircase, rearranging her expression into one of sheepishness, before cracking open the door and peering timidly through the gap. As she expected, the guard immediately turned his head in her direction, though his expression was somewhat bored. She ducked her head, as if embarrassed.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She mumbled at the ground. "I am supposed to go and get some more water..." She explained in an uncertain voice, casting a quick look up at the guard from beneath her lashes

"is that all? That's fine lass. Hurry up, will you?" The guard responded, relaxing back against the wall where he had been leaning, lifting up a piece of parchment he had in one hand to return to his reading.

Celinny gave an awkward curtsy before starting forward with her head down, watching the guard out of the corner of her eye. At the last moment, she pretended to trip over her own feet, stumbling forward with a squeak of alarm. As she had hoped, the guard reached out instinctively to steady her, catching her around one arm. At the last moment, Celinny righted herself, moving quickly in close to the man and suddenly snatched out her hand, completely covering his mouth and stifling any noise he might've made, her other hand reaching up to prick a needle coded in her sleeping solution into the soft skin at the side of his neck. After only a moment, the man's eyelids fluttered, Dropping closed sleepily. She carefully levered his body weight to allow her to quietly lower him to the floor before she stepped back to the prison door. Poking her head inside, she gave a short whistle to alert Jax of her success.

As Celinny hurried out of the prison cell to handle the guard at the base of the stairs, Jax was suddenly overwhelmed with the reality of what he was doing - breaking out of jail. Breaking the law. Turning against his own men. Turning against the will of his entire kingdom. Breaking form with the dictates of his own conscience, his own soul.

Becoming a criminal.

How could he do this? He had been born in the upper echelons of Nahlrelian society to a father who had been in the Queen’s guard and a mother who had been an attendant to the Queen. He wasn’t royalty, but faithfulness to country and Queen had been inculcated at his mother’s knee, drilled by his father’s disciplined hand. His entire world had been a study of the all-important hallmarks of proper character as displayed by the royal court and the systems of law and order which the Queen oversaw and administered. He wasn’t naive; of course life in the courts held its share of corruption, backbiting, and conspiracy. In fact, everything happened on a larger scale in the world of royalty. The petty theft, the adultery, even the occasional murder that happened among the populace of the kingdom happened in larger terms among the royalty, with greater negative implications for more people, ripple effects that reached farther and lasted longer. Indeed, Jax believed as his father had, that the moral nature of the kingdom was a reflection of the moral nature of the court.

But law, order, and moral straightness was still the overwhelming majority among both the royalty and the people - and for the most part always had been, as long as Nahlreli had been a kingdom since The Sleeping. Jax had made it his personal agenda to exemplify what was right in the kingdom, and he saw his duties as Captain of the Queen’s Guard as both a manifestation and a tool of that agenda. He took great pride in bringing or even seeing any criminal element brought to justice, and he especially took pride in his role as chief protector of the embodiment and symbol of the Kingdom’s goodness, Queen Ismari.

Jax could not do this.

He should never have even begun to conspire with this thief, and he certainly should never have smiled at her. He stepped toward the door to his prison with the intent of taking her from behind, choking her unconscious and tying her up for the guards to find. Then he would come back to his cell and abide by the laws of his Queen and his kingdom. He would do his best to convince his men of his innocence. His face took on a steel-edged hardness as he pushed open the door and resolutely moved down the hall. That dark woman was about to feel the quick and efficient wrath of the Captain of the Queen’s Guard.

Just as he was about to round the corner he heard her open the door at the bottom of the stairs and give a whistle. He turned the corner, came face to face with Celinny, and… stopped.

She was so light, so youthful, so cheerful, so friendly, so… not innocent, but neither was she dark. She was nothing he was working himself up to believe. Jax knew what dark people felt like, and this was not it. He realized that from the moment she rolled in front of his little prison window, she had felt like… a natively good person. How was that even possible? Could such a well-practiced thief really just be a misguided, unfortunate result of difficult circumstances? What else could explain the good feeling about her in the face of what she was and what she represented?

The stark contrast of her present reality and what he had convinced himself she must be came crashing together, and for the second time in her company, he was completely unused to what he was feeling. He was hesitant, unsure, unconfident.

And then his father’s words echoed in his mind, an old lesson in combat: “It is always honorable and right to be clear about your intentions Jax, “came the grizzled but warm old voice, “but when it comes to fighting, you must understand that deception is often a necessary tool. If your opponent - whether an individual or an army - has taken it upon themselves to gain control by violence, they forfeit their right to receive honor from you, or to expect you to follow honorable rules. Fighting is brutal in its very nature. So long as you stand in opposition to darkness, there will be times when you will be forced to break from otherwise honorable actions. If it were not so, you would not be excusable in learning combat in the first place.”

Jax was processing his thoughts faster than rationality usually allowed - his gut was taking him from point 1 to point 10 and skipping all the points in between, and a soldier learned to always trust his gut. Queen Ismari was dead. Whoever had murdered her was his opponent - not those who imprisoned him, and not this unusual thief - and if his opponent knew him at all, they expected him to play by the rules, sit in his cell, not discover anything, be executed and go away nicely. But fate had handed him a thief that he somehow found himself trusting and a way to continue this fight.

It was time to break from otherwise honorable actions.

Suddenly he realized he was still staring at Celinny. “Hi” he said quickly. Hi? What was wrong with him? By the Queen, was he blushing? “I just…” he sighed, relaxing his shoulders and standing up straight, closing his eyes as he tilted his head back for one last meditative breath before the night continued on in its unprecedented departure from Jax’s typical evening. If he was going to do something, he was going to do it right. “I’m ready” he finally said, looking back down at Celinny.

What a night this was turning out to be. What a crazy, moonlit night.

Only a heartbeat after her whistle had faded, Jax stepped around the corner, a rather intense looking expression on his face, causing Celinny to start with surprise. She found herself scowling for a moment, opening her mouth to chide The man on carelessness of showing up too early, when something in his countenance had her stopping. The look on his face wasn’t quite angry, but her instincts were screaming about danger. She froze.

He stared at her and she stared back, heart pounding against her rib cage without seemingly any cause, while wildly, but completely silently, flailing around in her head at the cause of her sudden alarm. Why was it now, when she needed logic an understanding the most, that her brain suddenly felt empty? It abruptly made her feel like a mouse that was staring down the snake that wanted to eat her... She almost blinked with comprehension, a look of wariness replacing the initial surprise. Was that what she was feeling? That Jax was about to kill her? Before she could unravel the mystery of his expression, do much more than tense her muscles to take a step back, the look slowly melted off the captain‘s face.

“Hi.” The Word finally burst out of him abruptly, quite unexpectedly.

Hi? Celinny finally did blink, eyebrows drawing together. Hi hadn’t been what she had been bracing against that expression turning into. And even more surprisingly, a moment later, color started flooding Jax’s cheeks before he tilted his head back, taking a deep breath.

“...Good.” Celinny responded to his statement of readiness a moment later, somewhat hesitantly. Then, like a duck shedding water, her outward discomfort fell away, replaced with a grin. Mentally, The young woman tucked her suspicion into the back of her mind, not completely eliminating it, but not focusing on it at the moment either. “Good,” She repeated in more of her usual tone. “I’ve put The guard to sleep, so we’ll just need to sneak out the side door and start heading towards the stable.”

With one last brief look over Jax’s face, the thief then pivoted on the spot and started briskly up the stairs, steps almost silent.