The group of four set out long before dawn, and the sun was only just now rising as they began to follow a stream that would lead them southwest in the direction of the moors. Brick straightened in his saddle as the warmth of the sun finally reached him. He had noticed with some annoyance that his brother had bundled up in a blanket about an hour before and passed extras off to the captain and Councilor Jojo. He had told his brother to pack lightly, which apparently translated to carrying three extra blankets and who knows what else. Brick had refused a proffered blanket for himself. He ran a little hot anyway and wouldn't need one if he just ignored the bite of the late-autumn wind.

Brick pulled at his horse's reins and swung off the saddle to lead it to the stream, not even checking to see if the others followed suit. He heard the thuds of feet hitting the ground just moments later and waited for the other horses to join his own at the water's edge as he called out, "Thought we would give the horses a rest for a bit."

"Thank the empire," Boomer said, the words slightly hidden by a yawn. "I'm soooo hungry. You wanna start a fire for breakfast? I would do it, but you're so much faster at it."

The older brother shook his head. "We don't have time for that. I want to reach Lord Morebuck's manor by tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow," the blond exclaimed in disbelief. "But we would have to ride all day for that!"

Brick turned to meet his brother's eyes, making sure to keep his own expression even and bored. If he just pretended like he didn't care what people were saying, they usually would accept what he told them without too much of an argument.

Usually.

Sure enough, the younger brother's shoulders slumped as he gave in to the idea. "Fine," the blond said with some force and began to mumble lowly to himself.

"I, Councilor Jojo, agree completely with his highness's sentiments. As the leader of this diplomatic mission, I too feel it is best to water the horses here, so we can continue riding and reach our destination as quickly as possible, as the journey may prove perilous, and I, Mojo Jojo, would be very inconvenienced by peril, as it would impede my ability to serve as Councilor to His Imperial Majesty."

A pack landed on the ground next to Brick with a thud and Captain Kaoru stood next to him as she looked for rations to eat. "Is he always like this?" she muttered, obviously irritated. Brick sent her a small rueful smile and replied, "No, sometimes he's worse."

His companion sighed and sat on the ground. "For the love of anything, please let me switch places with Prince Boomer. If I have to listen to any more of that knobhead rattling off, I'm going to knock him off his horse. At least you'll probably leave me alone."

Brick merely responded with a grunt and sat down himself as his horse drank from the river. Captain Kaoru waited until she heard Councilor Jojo begin fussing at Boomer for not packing something correctly before she gave Brick a cautious look and began talking. "So, um, your highness. Your brother - Prince Boomer, that is - mentioned that your other brother told you-"

"Your secret?" Brick cut her off and sent her a flat look. "Yes, indeed."

"Look, sir - um, sire? Your lordship? Whatever. If it bothers you..." she trailed off and looked down at her hands.

"Captain." Brick caught her attention once more. "I knew what I was doing when I promoted you. You've more than proven yourself, and furthermore, I trust my brother's judgment. Most of the time, anyway. Just consider it a nonissue. It doesn't require discussion." Buttercup glanced at the redheaded young man in surprise. He was being almost friendly, which was a first as far as she knew.

"Thank you, sir."

Brick nodded and stood. "Don't call me 'sir.' And I think we've rested long enough," he said, this time loud enough for the other two companions to hear. Boomer stopped his argument with Mojo and looked up in surprise.

"Wha- but we just got here! Can't we at least eat something?"

"We already did. You should have been eating while you prattled away with Councilor Jojo."

Boomer looked affronted. "I don't prattle!" Brick shot him a look with a single eyebrow raised, and his brother looked down and muttered sullenly to himself.

"Gear up. Boomer, I want you to ride next to Mojo this time."

It was just barely an hour after the group had left the camp, and Butch had finished most of his discussions with his officers to prep for departure. He felt more than a reasonable amount of relief over not having to pay a visit to the Morebuckses - he had met the man in court before and remembered being annoyed - but it wasn't enough to distract him from the twisting feeling in his gut. Rationally, he knew that his brothers would never allow anything to happen to Buttercup. But Butch wasn't rational, not like Brick was. If something happened to her, he would...he would...dammit!

There was nothing he could do.

Butch growled and kicked at a helmet that had been left on the ground. The helmet arced upwards, but stopped mid-air as a hand shot out from the shadows next to a tent to catch it. A dark figure materialized behind it, and Butch briefly mistook the hooded person for Mojo, but that was impossible. The figure itself was somewhat taller and much more narrow than Mojo was, but they wore a very similar black cloak that seemed to swallow them completely and blocked any identifying features from view. Warily, Butch took a step back away from them and instinctively moved his hand towrads his sword.

The cloaked person exhaled - was that in annoyance or humor? Either way, Butch felt defensive of himself, and a little insulted.

"Your highness, Prince Butch, I presume," the figure spoke.

Butch blinked in surprise. Their voice was clear and distinctly feminine, and not at all what he was expecting. Somewhere in the back of his head he noted that this was the second time a person's voice had caught him off guard and that he should probably stop making assumptions about people based on appearances, but he wasn't a deep thinker and didn't want to dwell on that.

He saw the gleam of a silver pendant at their neck that was holding the cloak closed, and sure enough it had the symbol reserved for the Council of Five. He had heard rumors of his father bringing in a female councilor a while back, but he and his brothers had all dismissed that as impossible - their father was too prejudiced for that. But, apparently, here was proof that maybe the rumors had been true.

The figure cleared their throat, and the hood of their cloak shifted as though they had tilted their head to the side. Butch realized that he had been silent for too long, and he scrambled to respond. "I, uh, yes, that is I. I am...me." He winced at the words. Brick was so much better at this sort of thing.

The figure let out another short exhale, and this time Butch was sure that it was them holding back a laugh.

"I'm sure you were informed by Councilor Jojo that another member of the council would be overseeing the army's return."

"I was, yes," he said lamely. Hopefully he didn't sound as dumb as he felt he did.

"Good. Well, I have arrived, as you can see, and we may depart whenever you see fit." The hood of their cloak shifted forward in a slight bow, and the figure turned around to walk away. As they turned the light caught their eyes, and Butch saw a flash of bright, light pink there.

Strange.

For the next several hours, Butch continued his preparations. At times, he would pass the new councilor, who spent most of their time talking to some soldier or other. It was weird - unlike the other councilors he had met before, she (and he felt pretty confident at this point that it was a woman under the hood) wasn't specifically speaking to high-ranking officers alone, but everyone from the lowest footsoldier up. She didn't seem to mind the ranks, either, and all the men she spoke to seemed pretty comfortable with talking to her, even though she was obviously a member of the imperial court.

It was weird, and Butch wasn't sure he trusted it.

By midday the preparations were complete and the troops began to move as a slow, rolling force. Butch remained closer to the front of the processions where he could easily be reached by the leading officers as news came in from their scouts. He was leaning over in his saddle to speak to one of these officers just now, and straightened up to find the councilor had suddenly appeared next to him.

"Good afternoon, your highness."

Butch choked out a reply, trying not to show that he had been startled - again - by their arrival. "Yes, councilor...uhm….I'm sorry, but which one are you? I only really know Mojo and his brother Jomo."

"Is that so?"

Butch paused. Was that their answer? "So…?"

"Pardon me, your highness?"

"Which one are you?"

"Which what, my lord?"

"Which councilor?"

"Hmm," she paused. "That is a good question. I shall have to think about it."

"Have to think….what? What do you mean, 'think about it'?"

"Well, I'm not sure if it would be more beneficial to me to tell you, or to let you figure it out on your own. Surely you've kept up with your father's court, yes?" She said it in such a way that Butch was sure she knew that he really hadn't been paying attention to what his father did.

"So you're not gonna tell me?"

"With all due respect, sir, it isn't my fault if you're not familiar enough with your father's court to tell his councilors apart." There it was. Right there at the end, he caught the ghost of a laugh. He knew she was messing with him now.

He huffed and stared forward. "You're not at all what I expected."

"A comment that I receive rather often. Nevertheless, here I am, expected or not, and we might as well make the most of it."

They rode next to each other in silence for several hours, interrupted from time to time by officers approaching Butch. The councilor's hood never once moved, but Butch felt as though their were eyes on him often. He, in turn, often sent uneasy glances at the stanger. Dammit, now he wished it was Boomer that had been forced to stay behind.

After some time, Butch looked at where the sun sat in the sky, sheilding his eyes from the glare with his hand.

"It's been five hours," the figure spoke for the first time in a while.

"What?"

"You were checking the time, correct? It's been about five hours since we left. I figure we have about an hour and a half, maybe two before sunset, since it's pretty late in the year. I'm assuming you want to stop for the evening soon, yes?"

She was right, but Butch wasn't going to tell her that. He looked forward and grunted, then motioned a nearby officer to share the information with the others.

Boomer and the others had continued to follow the stream, as it seemed to lead more or less in the direction they needed to go. True to their characters, both the younger prince and the councilor kept up a running commentary throughout the whole of the journey. Less than twenty-four hours after beginning their journey, right as the light of dawn was beginning to touch the sky, the group spotted a solid line of trees that marked the end of the moors. Just before the treeline stood a massive stone structure with several imposing towers, all of it probably heavily guarded. Lord Morebucks was pretty paranoid and seemed more than willing to use his extensive resources to pay for the protection of whatever it was he was guarding. Boomer wondered idly at what the man was so scared of losing.

The four horses picked up their paces, recognizing the change in the landscape as a sign that a well-deserved rest was near. Even so, the moors were still ruthless, and the wind whistled around the group relentlessly. From time to time a voice was carried to them with the changing of the breeze. Boomer looked around curiously - he longed for any distraction from the boredom. Within twenty minutes, the voice became somewhat stronger, and he was able to figure out the general direction it came from. He scanned the land ahead of him for the source and spotted a barely visible figure of a person running through the heather. He kept his eyes on them as they grew closer.

He found it particularly interesting that the figure appeared to be heading directly for the manor, just as they themselves were. He watched as the horses brought him ever closer, and called out to his companions, "I think there's someone out there, near the manor."

"What? At this time, an hour in which people are typically sleeping? Don't be ridiculous, boy," Councilor Mojo called over the wind with a huff. Brick, however, looked curiously in the same direction as Boomer.

"No, he's right. They don't seem to be a threat, though, at least not yet. I don't think they've even noticed us."

Ten more minutes of riding brought them within talking distance of the small figure, who by then had stopped to watch the group approach. Boomer unconsciously signaled for his horse to slow as he came upon the figure. Standing just next to the group was, in his opinion, an absolute angel. Without realizing it, his mouth dropped open as he stared down the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. The whole of his attention was caught by the sight of her, and he didn't register that his brother was speaking until the girl herself responded.

"Yes, sirs. I'll take you there directly. My name is Bubbles, my lords, and my father is Lord Morebucks. He should be ready to receive visitors shortly."

Her voice reverberated through Boomer"s skull like the chiming of bells, and, quite without realizing what he was doing, he slid himself from the back of his horse and faced her directly. She looked curiously at him, as did his companions.

"My gods, you're beautiful," he whispered.

The councilor had had a fitful few hours of sleep in her little tent. Sleeping was always difficult for her - she had too much to do, and sleeping just seemed like a waste of time. Really, she only needed to make sure that she was rested enough to not fall off of her horse.

Not to mention she was uncomfortably cold. She extracted herself from the makeshift nest she had made to sleep in. Two blankets and her cloak were barely enough to keep her warm. It didn't matter that she had been raised in the high north, nothing she could ever do would make her warm.

But her discomfort meant nothing when she had work to do. She groped around for her sack and, upon finding it, pulled a small, sturdy lantern out. She struck the flint next to the wick and the space was suddenly filled with a soft, warm light.

The newfound visibility made it easier for her to find her other supplies - in this case, a quill and parchment. She used a small board that she had also brought with her to back the paper, and began writing in her neatest, clearest script-

"Your most noble greatness,"

She couldn't hold back that small scoff at the officious title. Court rankings were ridiculous and elitist, but it was a game she had to play anyways.

"Per your request, I am writing following my arrival within your sons' camp. Both the eldest and youngest had left with Councilor Jojo prior to my arrival just as you instructed, so I was greeted solely by your second son. He fares as well as one would expect him to.

As to the rumors that you have sent me to address-"

She paused once more and stared at the wall of the tent. Her next words would have to be chosen carefully. She considered this a matter of great delicacy - after all, if the reports that had reached the capital were true, it could potentially condemn the young prince and everyone else involved, to put it lightly. There were whispers of treason as she left. In regards to the prince himself, she had detected no malice in him, and certainly no outward signs of those...flaws his father possessed. In fact, she found him rather amusing. She had no wish to cause him any harm - not yet, anyway. There was still more she needed to observe. She began writing again.

"-As a matter of safety on the chance this letter should fall into the wrong hands, I will make no written statement as to the nature of the allegations which so concerned your greatness. However, I must remark that at this time, I have seen nothing in the behavior of your son that would garner any concern on your part, sire. Jojo may analyze the situation differently, but I see no threat of treason here.

"I intend to seek more information from the contact today and will send word should any new information come to light.

"-Councilor Utonium"

She carefully folded the parchment and scripted out H.I.M.'s full title on the front, then rose to bring the letter to a messenger hawk at the command tent.

After ensuring that her letter had safely taken off into the still-dark skies, she turned and began following a line of tents away from the command center. The tents themselves slowly devolved from the stateliness that was afforded by imperial officers to the humble canvas lean-to's of regular soldiers.

It was still dark enough that she could pass the tents largely unseen, not that many people were awake at this hour beyond the obligatory guards on duty. There was one guard in particular that she was seeking out, and her conversations with some of the other soldiers the previous day (as well as a poorly placed piece of paper with the guard schedule that she happened to come across) had told her that the informant she was looking for should be on duty around this time.

Sure enough, she found a group of young men doing a rather poor job of guarding anything as they passed a bottle between them. They were standing near a small fire, and the councilor stepped out just barely into the edge of their visibility to call out "Ace."

The group froze, and one - presumably the man in question - turned in her direction. She saw him flinch at the sight of her. With a single gesture, she motioned for him to follow her and began to walk away. There was a moment of silence, and then footsteps began to follow after her as the group began murmuring to themselves once more.

She walked the two of them beyond the line tents until she was sure they were out of general earshot from anyone in the camp. When they were far enough afield that she could see the gnomes scurrying away into the brush, she finally turned around to face him. He was a younger man, most likely not too many years older than herself. It was possible he had some orcish blood in him, given the green pallor of his skin and extreme angles of his jawline. That may have been why he was desperate enough for money that he would sell out his own companions - not many people would hire someone they considered to be an 'outsider.' There were too many prejudices dividing the kingdoms.

Her analysis was made in the space of a few seconds, and she tucked the information into the back of her head for later use. Before she could speak, however, Ace launched into a tirade. "Look, Oppressa, councila, yah grace, whateva. I know that I sold ya the info, but please, I'm begging ya, let me retract it or somethin'. Please, don't let it go any further. I'll pay ya the money back, just -"

"I'm not the Oppressor."

Ace paused. "Wha'?"

"I am one of his . . . colleagues, if you will. My name is Councilor Utonium. I'm afraid that the Oppressor has already shared the information you sold him with the rest of the Council, as well as the Emperor himself. I have been sent to thank you for your. . . keen observations. They have been most enlightening."

She saw the panic cross his face as she spoke. "Wh- no! No, please, I take it back. Please, tell them-"

"I'm afraid that's impossible, lieutenant."

"Buttahcup is a good person! You can't hurt her!"

"And I agree - at least, based off of the information I've found on her so far. I don't think she's a threat in the slightest."

"So you'll leave her outta this?"

"I'm so sorry, but it's too late for that. She became irrevocably involved the moment you sold that information on the princes, not to mention that she knowingly broke a law when she joined the army." The councilor paused and placed her hand on his arm in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. "I think you and I both know that there's no taking back what you told the Oppressor. I'm sure it wasn't easy for you to talk about your friends like that. You did it to protect your brothers, didn't you? How many do you have? Four?"

"Yes, I - how'd ya know?"

"I know a lot more than I get credit for."

"I promised my father that I would protect them, but...I can't. Selling out Buttahcup isn't worth the money I'll get for it. It was a stupid thing to do in the first place. I was jealous, see, and I-I…"

"When you sold your information to the Oppressor he brought what he had directly to the Emperor, who then sent me here to confirm it. I've been able to convince him that it's likely all hearsay at this point, but I promised that I would observe the situation carefully. You must understand that he expects the utmost accuracy in my reports."

Ace's shoulders slumped and his face fell. "I understand, Councilah."

"Fortunately," she began again, this time unable to keep the smile out of her voice, "I get to choose what is accurate or not in my reports."

"What d'ya mean?"

"I don't want to hurt your friend, and I don't want your brothers to be hurt by your mistake either. Furthermore, my loyalty is to the empire, which means I must do my utmost to protect the interests not just of the Emperor, but of his heirs."

"I don't understand."

She sighed. "I must request - please, any information that you haven't sold - let me buy it now. All of it. I will choose only what is necessary to be shared to protect your friend as much as possible, but I cannot leave her out completely. The rumors have already taken root in court."

"You would lie for her?"

"I never lie. But I can control how much the others learn about her."

"But why? What could you possibly gain from it?"

"My colleagues believe in only protecting their current interests. I, however, believe in creating a better future for the empire and its peoples, and we won't get that by hurting any of those brothers. I don't think we can afford to create another ruler like their father has been."

"So what d'ya want from me?"

"Everything you have. The Oppressor bought your information, but I get the feeling he didn't buy it all. If you sell the rest to me, your contract will be fulfilled, your brothers cared for, and you will be under no obligation to share any more information. Just please, let me handle it."

Ace stood staring at the ground for several long moments, then nodded slowly.

"Thank you," the councilor said sincerely, then withdrew a large bag of gold from her cloak to hand to him. "Just start from the beginning."

"My god, you're beautiful." Boomer's words rang through Bubbles's ears, and she felt an unfamiliar flush spread through her entire face.

"Oh...um...thank you, my lord..."

The other young man, the one who was still on his horse, seemed to notice her discomfort and spoke up, much to her relief.

"Boomer, for the love of the empire, get over yourself. We're here on business."

The blond young man, however, appeared to not notice the other one - was it his brother? - speaking. "What did you say your name was, again?" Was he addressing her? The flush now spread to her ears, and she looked everywhere but at the young man before her. "It...uh...My name, sir, is Bubbles. Bubbles Morebucks, sir."

"Bubbles..." the blond whispered to himself, and his eyes seemed to spark as he spoke her name. She, on the other hand, felt all the more uncomfortable with the attention. In her experience, any attention that went beyond what was necessary only boded trouble and ill-will. He was ridiculously attractive, but she knew better than to trust a good-looking face by now.

Again, the brother of the blond seemed to notice her distress and tried, once more, to change the subject. "Yes, and she was just about to lead us to her father's house, was she not?" The young man with the crimson eyes sent her an expectant look. It wasn't unkind, but she felt the unmistakable authority in it.

"Yes, my lords. Forgive me. If you'll just follow me."

The other riders dismounted as well to follow her on foot. Bubbles saw the smallest member of the group approach the young man who had talked to her first and lean in. The voices were hushed, but Bubbles had always had good hearing and couldn't help but overhear their whispers as the wind blew them towards her.

"It's not my place, your highness, but I don't believe she appreciated your attention"

"But look at her. Have you ever seen anyone more perfect?" The awe in his voice made her heart flutter.

"Sure, sure, she's lovely. But you're gonna scare her off. I'm just saying."

"Do you really think so?"

Bubbles pushed her attention onto the manor looming above them as they approached it and tried to not pay any more attention to their group. The less they focused on her, the better. Her sisters would never forgive her for taking a chance at flirting with a young nobleman away from them.

Soon (but not soon enough, as far as Bubbles was concerned) they approached the already opened front doors of the manor to find the household in near chaos. The scraping of moving furniture and overall cacophony of a house caught unawares by guests echoed in the cold stone chamber that served as the entrance, and Bubbles awkwardly pulled herself away from the group.

"Um, pardon me, but I shall see if my father-"

"Councilor Jojo!" The booming voice of Count Morebucks, Lord of the Moors and her father, called from the stairs as he descended in all of his portly, velvet-clad glory. The flush went down her neck. Her father preferred to make an impact on his guests, and he would soon notice how underdressed she was by his standards. She steeled herself for the verbal assault she would surely receive later.

Count Morebucks swept past her, physically pushing her aside to get to the guests, and her sisters practically flew the room after him in a swirl of fine linens and glittering gemstones. Her father had reached the small cloaked man that she had overlooked earlier and was greeting him like an old friend. Introductions were being made, and she slipped farther into the corner as she heard the names 'Crown Prince Brick' and "Prince Boomer' announced to the room. The other two strangers were apparently one of the Imperial Councilors and a military captain. She could see her father eating up the glory of his illustrious guests.

"An honor, your highnesses, truly! Please, allow me to introduce to you my glorious daughters, Berserk, and Bratina, and the sun of my life, Princess. Oh, and I suppose you've met the other one already." Bubbles's face heated at the lack of care her father referred to her with, but it was better than some of the other things he had called her. The blond shot her a look, and she could see the group shift uncomfortably as her father continued. "I beg of you to make use of my home - and my daughters" he mumbled with a wink, "however you see fit. And of course you must join us for dinner this evening. I'll have the butler show you to your rooms. Carmichel!"

The overbutler stepped forward at the sound of his name, but the leader of the group - Prince Brick, she believed was his name - waved him back. "Forgive me, Morebucks, but we do have some serious matters of business to attend to that I would rather not have to wait until tonight for."

"Nonsense, nonsense, you must relax after your journey! I'm having the finest rooms aired out for you as we speak."

"Finest, you say?" Brick ran a hand along a nearby sofa and looked at the rest of the furniture in the room. Her father had bought it very recently and was quite proud of how 'luxurious' everything was. Bubbles thought it was disgusting that he spent so much money changing the house when they had starving tenants, but there was nothing she could do about it. The prince continued speaking with, "Yes, this all looks quite new. Is it a Citiesville production?"

"Of course, my boy," she saw the prince make a face at the name. "Only the best for my home!"

"Yes well, that rest sounds wonderful now that I think about it. We'll see you at dinner, Morebucks." the group shared a look with Brick, who was apparently the leader there. Bubbles couldn't tell what the look on his face meant, but it didn't exactly seem happy, and she forced down a shiver at the look in his eyes. She hadn't realized just how intimidating the red-eyed prince looked until that moment.

"I didn't know you cared about furniture," Boomer halfheartedly joked as the group climbed the stairs to their assigned rooms.

"Are you looking to redo your own castle, your highness," Buttercup drawled sarcastically. Brick saw her and his brother exchange an amused look, and pushed back the urge to roll his own eyes.

"No, it's just strange that he has it at all," he told them.

"Why? Lots of lords decorate their homes like this," Boomer asked.

"Citiesville furniture is some of the most expensive in the Empire," Brick told them.

Buttercup scoffed. "So what?"

"So," Brick turned to give her a serious look, "if he can afford two estates worth of furniture, then how come he's too poor to pay the taxes or fix the moors' farmland for his tenants?"

Brick saw his brother stop to think about it, but Buttercup was apparently quicker at coming to a conclusion with the new information. "Tch, what an ass," she muttered as she looked at the extravagant hall with newfound disgust.

"You said it," Brick agreed.

"Be that as it may," Mojo interrupted, "he is still a dangerous ass. Which is not to say that his behind itself is dangerous, as very few bottoms can do much damage, but rather he is an ass, as you say, who also happens to be dangerous, due to his connections and -"

"You know what Mojo," Boomer interjected himself into the tirade and threw an arm around the short councilor's shoulders. "Let's get you put down for a nap, yeah?"

Brick sent his brother a grateful glance and mouthed 'thank you' as the blond propelled Mojo forward into the first room offered by the steward.

I'm just going to set this chapter down right here and pretend like it hasn't been nine months since I've updated anything on this site.

Speaking of which, I have an update for Blaze coming out later this week, as well as one for both Peace and Quiet and Broomclosets. I might been fixing stuff in the earlier chapters of all of them just for the sake of my own sanity, so be warned. But at least I came back prepared this time! I even have another chapter for this story all ready to go when I have everything else updated. I might even have a little surprise story that I'm really looking forward to as a treat for when everything else has been taken care of.

Quick side note, I am also posting this story on Archive of Our Own just to see how that goes, so if you see it on there under the name Icton, that's me.

Thank you so much for all the patience! I appreciate everyone who has stuck around despite my flakiness. Thanks so much!

xoxo

-ICantThinkofanOriginalName-