Alyss Mainwaring-Treaty stood at the helm of Stirling, a Skandian mercenary wolfship equipped with one of the new triangular sail designs. In her hands were several papers of written notes that she was focusing intently on, reading it as if she'd never touched the papers before. This wasn't true, of course. The courier had had these papers for nearly two weeks now, given to her in preperation for her current mission. She'd been set to the task of speaking to Clonmel's King Sean to see how his province was faring with the brewing war. She was to, if possible, clear any issues that he has with Araulen, as well as persuade him to stay neutral if a war does indeed break out. Seeing as this mission was one of grave importance, one was better safe than sorry, and she'd set herself to the task of memorizing her notes. The meeting was in two days and any mishap on her part could result in disasterous consequences. Everything she said and did had to be spot-on.

Her attention was distracted as a familiar green and gray cloak came into view. Why Will was wearing it on a warm day such as this was past her. The mischevious- and rather guilty- look on his face, however, was anything but surprising.

"What did you do?" she asked suspiciously. He was holding something behind his back, she realized suddenly, and she stepped away from him. Gorlog only knew what he could be up to. He shook his head fiercley at her reaction.

"No, no, wait," the young man said. He looked over her shoulder like he was searching for someone and she resisted the urge to do the same. After a moment, once he apparently decided that the coast was clear, he pulled out the object he'd been hiding. A saxe knife. What the hell?

Still grinning, he held it out to his wife. "Handir tried to take an arrow from my quiver when I wasn't looking, so I let him think that he did it. Then I stole his knife right off of him, and I'm afraid that he'll try to throw me overboard if he catches me with it, but he won't do that to you!" He said rapidly.

Alyss regarded her husband for a moment, then sighed and took the knife. Will and Handir, the skirl of this wolfship, had been playing pranks on each other since the day the Arauleners had boarded. Alyss had no idea why this had happened, but she had quickly found herself helping out both sides of this little war.

She put the knife in the concealed sheath of her dress. It was currently empty, due to there being no reason to be armed at the moment. The knife was a little thicker than her usual calvary sword but she managed to hide it well enough.

Will wandered over to the edge of the ship and Alyss followed. He was eyeing something on the horizon, she noticed, and she followed his line of view to see a dark line.

"Is that Hibernia?" She asked him. It was in the direction they were heading, after all. Her non-seaworthy husband shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm just an escort." He grinned up at her. She smiled back readily, then leaned on the bulwarks beside him. His expression darkened after a moment. Before she could ask what was wrong, he spoke. "It might be a storm." His eyes were slightly glazed, Alyss realized, as he thought of when he'd been heading towards Skandia with Princess Cassandra. He still had nightmares of that horrible storm...

She put a gentle hand over Will's own. "It's too cloudy for that. We'd know by now if a storm was coming."

He nodded and leaned against her. She knew that the weather had been bothering him in general, not just because of a storm. As was common during this time of year, the sky was overcast more often than not. Will was fine with that when he was home, but here in the middle of the ocean, the lack of direct sunlight toned everything around to the same drab shades of gray and brown. At least at home they had fires and trees to give out some sembalance of color.

Now that she thought about it, Will was never really himself when he was on ships. His first time on one had more or less scarred him for life, with the storm, homesickness, and fear for what the future was going to bring.

Suddenly aware of the impact his mood had on his wife, Will forced himself to brighten up a little. He was safe here, and there was a beautiful lady by his side. One that was incredibly observant towards other's moods.

He kicked idly at a pile of canvas and rope beside him. "Well, this wasn't the honeymoon that I was expecting." Their wedding had happened only slightly over a week ago, and while they hadn't planned a honeymoon, they were certainly hoping for one. They both suspected that their being paired on this mission was a bit of a joke made by Pauline, who had orchestrated this mission. After all, she had said 'Have fun, you two,' at the end of their mission briefing.

Halt had probably found that hilarious.

Alyss laughed softly at that. "Who knows? Perhaps this meeting will go better than expected and we can spend a few days exploring Hibernia."

Her husband made a face. "I was thinking of going to Seacliff."

"Were you, now?"

"Yes. It's quiet and quite pretty, I must say. There are lots of pine forests."

"We'll go there the day we get back home."

He tilted his head. "Is there anywhere you'd like to go?"

She smiled at him. "As long as I'm with you, I'd be okay with honeymooning in Hell."

They fell silent. Will took one of Alyss's hands and kissed it lightly, then looked at the ring that adorned one of her fingers. It was a pretty thing, really, a pale gold band made of three small pieces that had been braided together with three small diamonds on the top. He knew that the inside of the ring had Mainwaring-Treaty inscribed on it, a simple testimony to their marriage. He'd wanted something that wasn't gaudy and overstated, nor did he want something plain. In the end, he'd decided on this elegant design. Its pale gold color matched the laurel pin she wore on her dress, which had been Lady Pauline's idea. His own ring was a plain gold band with Treaty-Mainwaring on the inside, though it was the same color as hers. He wore it on his necklace more than his finger because he was less likely to lose it, given his rather rough-and-tumble lifestyle.

Then the newlyweds went back to watching the land grow nearer, quietly enjoying a rare moment of peace.

"Oi! Ranger!" Handir lumbered up to the couple, sucessfully ruining the moment. Will turned to him, smiling readily.

The expression on Handir's face was somewhere between amusement and concern, Will thought. He could work with this.

"Hey! Whats going on?" He asked cheerily. Too cheerily. The skirl caught it and his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Where'd you put my knife?" He asked bluntly. Will smirked.

"Where'd you put my arrow?"

Handir's eye widened in surprise. "You saw me?" He asked, seeming to be genuinely surprised.

"I'm afraid so, yes,' Will drawled. "It was either that or a sea lion had knocked over my quiver."

Handir broke into a booming laugh. "You've got me, boy!" Then, he sobered a little. "I'll get your arrow when you give me my saxe."

Smiling, Will looked over at his wife. The blonde pulled the heavy knife out of her sheath and held it out for Handir, grinning a bit herself. The skirl broke into laughter again. "Your lady's in on it as well!"

"I'm already helping him with his next prank," Alyss said with a knowing smile. The Skandian regarded her cautiously. He had a feeling that Lady Alyss would be an even more brutal prankster than her husband if she chose to be.

Grinning, albiet reluctantly, Handir went to retrieve Will's arrow. As soon as he left, Will looked at his wife, still smiling but mildly confused. "What next prank?"

She shrugged, a smirk on her lips. "I have no idea, but now we've got to do one."

Will cast another look at Hibernia. It was closer than ever. "We may need to do it on the way back."

I forgot how to do a line break someone help me I'm on mobile la dee dah

Aideen pinched her wrist in a desperate attempt to stay awake in her embroidery class. Miss O'Connor, their ancient teacher, was currently telling her class of twenty girls how to thread a needle. Like we don't know that already, the princess thought to herself, she's probably forgotten that we've been doing this since we were five.

Her training as a princess, however, ensured that she appeared to be paying rapt attention to the lesson. O'Connor had no qualms about hitting the Crown Princess on the wrist with a ruler, and she hit hard. There was still a mark from last week, when she and another girl had been caught weaving rather crude words onto their fabric, when they were supposed to be weaving their names.

Her attention strayed to the classroom's window, where there was a clear view of one of Clonmel's several sword fighting areas. Aideen knew that there would be knife fighters there as well. Oh, what she'd give to be out there. She was better with her knives than she'd ever be with a damned needle. She was going to rule Clonmel one day, for god's sakes! How was embroidery going to help her have debates with other rulers, or help her fix this hellhole of a kingdom? If she were a boy, she'd be out there, learning how to fight with her knives- she was already rather good, but more practice never hurt, and-

"Oi! O'Carrick! We're weaving now!" Her teacher interrupted her thoughts, half-shouting in that nasally, frail voice of hers. "Leave the fighting to the men!"

Aideen rolled her eyes and, before she could stop herself, spoke. "Sorry, but I don't see how being able to use a needle is going to help me in the future, when I'm the ruler of this kingdom."

"If you don't shut your mouth, girl, someone will make sure you'll never get the chance!"

That was it. Aideen stod so forcefully that her chair clattered to the ground and startled the girls next to her. "You have no right to say that, not with what's been going on!" She yelled. "I nearly died several weeks ago, you ignorant asshole!"

"Aideen-" someone beside her murmured. She ignored them.

"This damn needlework is useless! I've got better things to do, like learn to protect myself!"

"That's true," a quiet voice behind her said. "But shouting at dear miss O'Connor isn't going to help this situation, is it?"

The princess froze, suddenly very aware of her outburst. "Father."

"I'm afraid that we're going to have to table this discussion for later, dear, because I'd like you to come with me."

The small woman sighed, set her chair back into an upright position, and walked towards the door. She was very aware of the twenty-two pairs of eyes focused on her, although she gave no sign of it.

She looked up at her father and was mildly surprised to see that he wasn't angry with her. What was he here for, anyway? Once the door shut, she opened her mouth to tell him what had happened, but he raised a hand wearily. "We'll speak of this later. For now, we've got a meeting to go to that I'd like you to be a part of."

"What-"

"I'll explain on the way there. Put on something semi-formal, please. It's an international meeting."

Aideen nodded and began the short trek to her room. She hoped that semi-formal meant that she didn't have to wear a corset, because there was no way on earth that she was going to. Not on such short notice as this.

Ten minutes and one loose, floor length, blue dress later, she stepped out of her bedroom to see her father waiting. "What's the hurry?" She asked.

"It's international, as I said. One of Araulen's finest couriers is here and I don't want to keep her waiting."

"Why is she here?"

"To ask about the possible war." Her father smiled thinly. "Clonmel is so busy fighting amongst each other that we haven't really become a part of it. I suspect that she's really here to ask us to stay neutral."

"Will we? Why is there a war forming, anyway?" Were the girl's next questions.

Her father smiled patiently at her. "I don't know, honestly, and putting it as simply as possible, it's due to the fact that Araulen's been watching our coasts for years. We're afraid that they're planning an attack."

"What's my part in the meeting?"

"To observe."

She nodded at that, then opened her mouth to ask another question. He pointed at a door- one that lead to a council room, Aideen knew- and spoke before she got a chance. "Ah, we're here. It's just us for this meeting, thankfully. None of the nobles felt like attending."

Aideen heard a note of annoyance in his voice, but said nothing. It was probably for the best that the pompous, power-hungry assholes weren't there. At the same time, her mind whispered, father could demand more from them. He was a rather weak King.

The guards opened the doors for the two royals. They stepped in, Aideen murmuring her thanks as she usually did, and they took their seats at the middle of the long, council-sized oak table. Less than a minute later a different door opened and two people came into view.

The first was a young man that was likley to be in his twenties. Aideen's keen eyes saw the knife at his side, however, and the calculated look in his eyes as he eyed her and her father. He looked fit as well, and Aideen decided that this was the diplomat's guard, and a man to be wary of. He saw Aideen watching him and nodded in recogniton, smiling kindly at her. She had no reason to be hostile towards this man, so she nodded in return, though her smile was smaller. He didn't seem to be bothered by this, however, and he turned his attention towards the woman that was entering after him. The diplomat was young as well, although she was blond and half a head taller than her escort. She was graceful in her movements and she held herself with an air of quiet confidece. Aideen decided that she liked her.

"King Sean," the blonde said smoothly, reaching out to clasp the man's hand. He responded readily.

"Lady Alyss Mainwaring, yes?" He said in return.

"I am," she responded, the gestured towards her escort. "And this is my escorr Ranger Will Treaty. I heard that you two met several years ago." Interesting.

"That we did," the king said, shaking Treaty's hand. The man smiled readily.

"How have you been?" He asked.

"As well as I can be, considering the state of the kingdoms," he responded with a weary smile. Then he turned to Aideen. "This is my daughter and the Crown Princess Aideen," he said. She shook both of the Araulener's hands as her father said, "she's here to watch, mostly, since she'll be taking my place one day."

Unbeknowst to the two travellers, the O'Carricks knew that any day could be the day that Aideen became Queen.

Lady Mainwaring flashed a brilliant smile at the girl. "That's good. Actually, Will is here to watch and learn a bit himself. He does international work for the kingdom regularly, but diplomacy isn't quite his strong point."

"The last time I was here, Halt and I tied up King Ferris and hid him in a changing room," Will said with a ghost of a smile. "I've been taught to take action, so my diplomacy skills aren't exactly perfect."

Aideen leaned forward, smiling a little herself. "I'm sorry, but can I ask why that happened? That sounds like a hell of a story."

Smirking a little, her father spoke. "It is, but it's a story for another time. We've got business to do."

With that, Lady Alyss took out a folder full of papers and the meeting started.

I'd like to thank Ali0523 for telling me that King Sean's name is, in fact, Sean. I had put it as Thomas. Thanks, love.

Anyways, please review!