This is a series of Clary/Mattes drabbles, written for Goldenlake's 2011 SMACKDOWN. Since they're all related, I've decided not to give them each their own chapter. Instead, they'll be grouped with 10 drabbles per chapter to make it easier to read.

Check out my profile for more about Goldenlake, and also The King's Own, where I'll have more Clary/Mattes drabbles from SMACKDOWN (it's too complicated to upload them all here).

…

"What is it, Clary?" Mattes pulled himself upright. "You've looked troubled ever since you walked back in. What happened in Port Caynn?"

She nibbled at her nail, something she usually scolded him for doing. "Nothing turned out like it was supposed to. And they said it was for the best, but…I don't' know what to do. It's messy."

"But you're alright, aren't you?" Mattes asked, worried. "Except for your ear, but that's not so bad." He reached over and took her hand in his. "Tell me, Clary. You know I'll do whatever I can to help you, I swear it."

She let out a cynical bark of laughter. "I wouldn't swear anything until you know what you're swearing."

"Well if you just told me-"

"Mattes, I'm the Rogue of Port Caynn."

…

"You're the Rogue?" Mattes echoed, his voice full of shock and disbelief. "Of Port Caynn?" He watched Clary nod glumly. "How did that happen?"

"I'm not sure I know myself," she said wryly. "But Port Caynn couldn't be left without a Rogue, and the higher-ups decided that they couldn't trust anybody already in the Rogue there until they could be sure that they weren't involved with Pearl's plans. And then they decided that they'd make me the Rogue, and the people of the Rogue didn't really complain but I don't know if that's because they like me for some reason, or if they think it'll be all too easy to stick a sarden knife in my back because their last Rogue, pox rot her, managed to take a sarden chunk out of my ear, and –"

"Clary. Calm down, love." Mattes rubbed her hand gently. "Everything will work out, I promise."

…

"You can't just promise that everything will work out," Clary snapped. "I didn't ask to be the Rogue but I am, and I don't even want to go back to sarden, stinking Port Caynn. Nothing good for me has ever come from that pox-ridden place. And what am I supposed to tell Tom?" She drew in a deep, shuddery breath. "I told him when I left that I'd be safe and it was just another hunt, and now I'm the sarden Rogue and I'll have to go off and leave him and leave the Dogs and –"

Mattes smiled at her as he interrupted. "I can promise that you won't have to leave me."

…

Mattes had watched as his partner slowly grew more and more hysterical. He was fairly certain that she'd put up a tough front for the trip home (mostly by stubbornly refusing to let herself think about it), and waited until she was behind closed doors in his rooms before she fell apart.

He decided it was safe enough to tug her onto him and wrap his arms around her. "I've always wanted to go to Port Caynn," he murmured. He felt her tense up as she realised what he was saying.

"Mattes, you can't…this isn't your mess."

He just grinned into her hair. "There's always been a little part of me that wanted to be the Rogue."

…

Mattes grinned at his partner. "There's always been a little part of me that's wanted to be the Rogue."

Clary Goodwin, the reluctant Rogue of Port Caynn, stared at him for a moment. "I always knew your nob was cracked," she said finally.

"Mayhap so, but you're glad of it now, right?"

Clary stayed silent while she thought. "You can't, Mattes." She looked him in the eye, her face serious. "It's not that I don't want you to help me sort it all out, but it's my mess. I can't let you throw your life away too by being caught up with the Rogue."

Mattes just grinned at her. "You don't think you're going to get rid of me that easily, do you?"

…

"I mean it, Clary." Mattes squeezed her hand tightly between both of his. "No matter what happens, you can count on me to be right there beside you through all of it. We're partners, right?" He waited for a small smile to begin to grow. "You're never going to be able to get rid of me."

Clary's smile turned into a grin, one that reached her eyes. "What if I want to get rid of you?"

Mattes lifted an eyebrow, a trick he'd learned from her. "Then that'll be tough luck to you then, won't it?" he replied.

"I think I should just crack you upside the nob now," Clary said. She squeezed his hand back, her face serious again. "Thank you, Mattes."

…

"Mattes."

"What?"

"If you come to Port Caynn with me, you'll be leaving Sabine behind."

Mattes grinned at his partner. "Mayhap not. I don't know if you've noticed, but Sabine isn't really the type of mot that stays behind and waits."

"I know, Mattes. She's a noble and a lady knight."

"With a taste for adventure, so she'll probably come with us."

"Come with us? We'll be running the Court of the Rogue, you looby, she'll be tried for treason if she's caught."

Mattes just smirked at her. "No she won't. Gods, Clary, you'd be the most hopeless Rogue ever if you didn't have me to help you. See, all we have to do is come up with a clever and cunning plan."

…

"A plan." Clary eyed her partner skeptically. "You think that's really going to work?"

Mattes stuck his nose in the air and Clary fought a smile. "You haven't even heard the plan yet."

"I didn't know you had it already."

"I've had a plan for becoming the Rogue for years, just in case, you know. Although, that was more for a hostile takeover sort of thing, rather than having the title tossed into your lap. And I assumed it would be Corus, and not Port Caynn."

"Mattes."

Mattes smiled at her frustration; it was good to see she was still the same old Clary. "Anyway," he said. "This is a different plan. We'll run the Rogue together…as Dogs."

…

"You think we're going to be allowed to stay Dogs while we run the Court of the Rogue?" Clary crossed her arms and snorted. "Your nob has been cracked one too many times." She sighed. "Mattes, they're going to cut me loose from the Dogs, you'll see. They just want their mess nicely tidied away, they won't want anything to do with the Rogue. You should just stay here in Corus as a Dog."

"You haven't taken Ahuda into account," Mattes pointed out.

"Ahuda?" Clary narrowed her eyes as she realised that her partner's face had lit up like a child's at Midwinter. "Mattes."

Mattes couldn't hide his grin. "Promise not to tell Ahuda about you being Rogue without me there to see her face."

…

Clary groaned at the thought of Ahuda. "I don't want to tell her that I was made the poxy Rogue," she complained. She managed to hold her tongue and keep from asking if he could do it for her.

Mattes just shrugged. "You'd better do it sooner rather than later. If she hears it from anyone else, she'll come pounding on your door no matter what the time."

Clary sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I suppose you're right."

He clapped her on the shoulder. "You never know, you might be surprised by her."

"Let me guess, this is your sarden plan again. The one you still haven't told me anything of."

Mattes nodded, his eyes alight with enthusiasm. "This Rogue business is the best thing ever," he said, and Clary rolled her eyes.