The first thing Raivis saw when he opened his eyes was the sky, dimly lit by the sunrise. It took his sleepy mind a few seconds to remember why he'd be able to see the sky from within his cozy bed.
There was a hole in the roof, from last night's attack by those two wooden puppets.
When he and Eduard had fled into the house last night for shelter, it proved to be of no use. One of the puppets had followed Lukas onto the roof, and smashed the hole big enough for them both to fall through. The three dwarfs then had to keep dodging the mallet, which destroyed all their beds on the second floor. Just in the nick of time, Natalya had shown up and sliced the puppet down to save them.
Judging by the light in the sky, Raivis estimated that it must be early in the morning, perhaps just past dawn. The cottage was quiet, which wasn't too surprising as last night's attack had exhausted all the dwarfs and provided them with a reason to sleep in late this morning. Having a hole in the roof also allowed the cool night air to fill the cottage, giving them all the more reason to nestle snugly into their blankets and mattresses on the floor.
Raivis tried to shut his eyes again and relax, only to hear what sounded like the front door of the cottage shutting.
Curious as to who would have already woken up and left the cottage, Raivis sat up and looked around. All the dwarfs were still in their makeshift beds and fast asleep except for Lukas, who was also sitting upright in his bed and looking down at the bottom floor.
"Lukas," Raivis whispered, "Did you hear the front door shut?"
"Natalya's not downstairs," Lukas replied, "She must have gone outside to get some firewood."
Raivis shrugged at the reasonable explanation, and took a glance at the door before turning back to lay down. He stared up at the hole in the roof, and tried for a second to get himself back to sleep for a little longer. However, he immediately felt that his throat was now a bit scratchy, and he realized he was a bit thirsty.
He climbed up from his bed, and shuffled quietly past the others to reach the stairs. He tried his best to keep quiet as he descended to the ground floor, before heading over to the table where some cups and a pitcher of water were sitting. It was just before he could grab a cup that Raivis noticed it.
At the end of a table was a sheet of paper with writing on it, which had not been there last night.
Ignoring the water for now, Raivis walked to the far end of the table instead and picked up the letter. There was one paragraph of text with Natalya's signature at the bottom, and all their names at the top. Hearing Lukas following him down the stairs, Raivis waved the letter at him before he started to read it.
Dear Mikkel, Berwald, Tino, Lukas, Emil, Raivis and Eduard,
I truly appreciate your friendship and hospitality, but I must leave you now while I still can. As long as Erzsébet knows I am here, my presence can only cause you harm. I thought I was strong enough to do this, but I am not. I am not my brother, as much as I wish I was. I'll go someplace far away where I can be safe from my sister-in-law, maybe south to Vira or west to Ixaidel. I know I will forever cherish our time together.
Natalya
"She's leaving us," Raivis muttered to Lukas, who had approached and was reading over his shoulder.
"I'll wake everyone else up," Lukas said as he took the letter from Raivis, "You get outside now, stop her before she gets too far!"
Raivis rushed for the front door, hearing Lukas behind him shouting at the others to wake up. He quickly pulled the door open and bolted out, looking in every direction to figure out where Natalya must have gone. Not seeing her directly east or north, Raivis ran around the right side of the house to look south.
Not too far away, still within shouting distance, Natalya was walking away towards the south, having just reached the next clearing and about to cross a few logs.
"Natalya, wait," Raivis called out, "Don't leave us!"
As Raivis ran forward to catch up to her, Natalya paused and turned to look back. She stood still there, allowing him to close the distance, as she removed the hood of the cloak from her head.
"I'm sorry, Raivis," Natalya apologized as he reached her, "I can't stay here."
"You can't give up now," Raivis pleaded, "What about the prince?"
"He's marrying Erzsébet, he chose her," Natalya explained, "I never stood a chance with him, just like I never stood a chance against her. No matter how many times I see what she's planning next, I will always be powerless to stop her."
Before Raivis could respond, Natalya's name was called out repeatedly behind him. They both turned to see that Lukas was just reaching their side, with the other five dwarfs close behind.
"Natalya!" Tino spoke first, "You can't give up now to the Queen's whims now!"
"You do have the strength to fight back," Mikkel insisted, "You took seven thieving dwarfs, who all thought they had no other choice in their lives, and showed them that their fates can be changed. It's your determination and strength that did that."
"We don't see a naive little girl when we see you, Natalya," Berwald clarified, "We see a princess, a leader, and a future queen."
"Stulikya needs you," Raivis added, "We need you."
"If you're going to let that arrogant witch of a queen ruin your life," Lukas criticized, "then you're not the princess I thought you were."
Natalya took a deep breath, before she sat down on the log beside her, lowering herself to their level.
"You all really think I can take her on?" Natalya asked, "After everything she's already put me through?"
"You sure can," Emil reassured, "Better yet, you have us on your side."
"Emil's right, have you ever seen her take on seven dwarfs at once?" Eduard supported, "We can do more damage than any army you can muster!"
"I'd like to see you try," Natalya chuckled, "Then again, a small group like ours certainly could cause some trouble."
"That's the spirit," Mikkel cheered, "Now tell us, if we wanted to deliver the Queen a nasty, usurping blow in retaliation for these puppets she sent to kill us, where would you strike?"
"In the coinpurse is where I usually aim," Natalya answered, "She's bankrupted the Royal Treasury, the only reason the court hasn't had her deposed yet is that they have not caught her. She just keeps taxing the people of Ivrark, not knowing that I've been helping them out with Treasury funds. Not that this is going to last much longer, with -"
Natalya suddenly paused in her spiel, frowning as she thought of something.
"With what?" Raivis prompted.
"She's marrying Prince Ludwig for Ixaidel's money," Natalya continued, "If the wedding goes through, she'll have access to the Ixaidellian Royal Treasury, which she can use to restore Stulikya's."
"So she needs the wedding to go off without a hitch," Lukas figured out, "What would happen if there were a big hitch in those plans?"
"Depends on the hitch, I'd say," Natalya schemed, her sad expression now replaced with her signature smirk, "Would you fellows like to help me ruin my sister-in-law's wedding?"