The days before the coronation flew by and before she knew it, Alanna was standing in the Great Hall, the great glass doors opened for the commoners. Sunlight streamed in, making the gem encrusted crown glitter and radiate splinters of rainbows. As the priest placed the crown on Jonathan's head, blue and white magical fire combined in a flash and Jon was King. Later on, she could only remember one of the parties she attended. It was after midnight and Rob had retired for the night. Gary, George and Raoul were on their way into the City to attend a special, invite-only party. Seeing Alanna standing all by herself in a corner, Gary came to her rescue and insisted she come with them. The three men had already consumed too much alcohol, and were in the best of moods. As they gamboled down the darkened streets, Alanna realized that they were headed for the Dancing Dove.
The Inn was exactly as she remembered it, boisterous and bright. When George entered, all the occupants cheered, but none rose from their seats to discuss Rouge business with him. Looking around, she saw his sometime enemy and longtime friend, Marek, sitting on the throne-like chair. Raoul and her wove through the crowded room, him introducing her as 'Mariah, a friend from home.' She had already met most of the assembled thieves and it took restraint for her to not cry out when she saw a familiar face. When they made it to Marek, she had schooled herself to pretending ignorance.
"And this young man is Marek," Raoul said.
"Hello Marek, you are the King of the Rouge in Tortall?"
Marek turned wary, "Who wants to know?"
"I am Princess Mariah of Tyra with a message from my good friend Dan."
"Ahh. He did mention that he had spoken to someone pretty high in the ranking there. What is the message?"
Alanna handed him a piece of paper, folded and sealed with wax. Marek opened it, read it, looked at her and read it again.
"We need to talk." Alanna followed him to the suite of rooms that had previously belonged to George and pointed her to a chair. "Do you know what this letter says?" Alanna shook her head. "He claims to have found the missing Lady Alanna. In fact, he claims you are the missing Lady Alanna." Alanna felt the blood drain from her face.
"You don't look like Alanna. You don't act like Alanna. So I will only ask you once, are you Alanna?" The look in his eyes was slightly dangerous.