We left Rose in a pretty spotty situation last time we saw her, didn't we? Let's check up on that.

I.O.N.

Enjoy!

The bandits whirled around at the sound of her voice, blades out and ready to murder whatever idiot that decided to interrupt their meeting, before relaxing at the sight of what they assumed was a defenseless girl. With renewed confidence that they would remain a secret the leader of the bandits sauntered up to Rose, "Why don't you tell us what you're doing out here first, little lady."

Swallowing the comeback she so desperately wanted to throw out, Rose painted a surprised expression on her face at how close the leader was and gave her best dumb blonde impersonation, "Oh! I'm terribly sorry! How rude of me!" As she spoke, Rose moved subtly so that her back was to a tree, "You see I came out here to pick some flowers from a hidden clearing close to the castle, when I heard your voices. I was worried something bad had happened so I came over here to see if anything was wrong."

Rose was prepared to make her stand right then and there, when one of the smarter men piped up, "A hidden clearing close to the castle?" he asked.

"Oh yes! It has the most beautiful view of the castle at sunset." Rose said, playing up the obliviousness. It seemed that the head of the group had caught on to what his companion was thinking when he sneakily asked,

"Do you think you could show us this clearing?"

"Yeah! It sounds just divine." One of the others said, trying to convince her.

Rose gave her cheeriest, dumbest smile, and said, "Oh I would just love to share the clearing with you gentlemen!" she turned and walked a few paces before turning around and asking, "Do any of you mind if I spray some of my perfume? I've had such a long day, that I just know I smell absolutely horrible, and it would make me feel oh so much better." The six men shrugged and said that none of them had a problem with it. "Thank you so much!" Rose said, as she pulled the small bottle out and sprayed enough that she was sure they could all smell it. Then she started walking again.

As she led them farther and farther from the cliff, Rose would subtly spray a little more of the perfume, and the more relaxed the men became until one of them said, "That sure is some lovely smelling perfume you've got there."

"Why thank you!" Rose giggled, "I made it myself!"

"You don't say." The man replied amicably.

They walked for a while longer, every once in a while someone would ask if they were almost there and Rose would always assure them it was just a little farther, before one of them finally asked, "Say, what did you make that stuff out of anyways?"

From in front of them, Rose smiled, and slowed her pace just a fraction, "I am so glad you asked! Personally, I prefer flowery smells so when I made my perfume, I used a bit of my favorite flowers. You know, rose, lavender, jasmine..." As she spoke, Rose continued to slow down until she was completely stopped. The bandits were so grateful for the stop that they didn't even question it before sliding down to the forest floor. Two even started snoring before they landed on the ground. Rose just stayed still and waited.

The leader of the group didn't know what was happening, one minute he and his men were plotting to sneak into the castle and steal whatever they could, and the next they were all laid out in a haze by a single girl. Managing to collect his thoughts for a moment he managed to ask, "Who are you?"

Rose turned to smile at him, still overly happy and kind, as she stalked slowly towards him, taking her time. Her perfume making it harder and harder for him to stay awake, and just before he too joined his companions in sleep he heard her whisper in his ear, "You can call me Princess Fragrance, and you will regret deciding to steal from the castle." Rose smiled as she watched his eyes widen briefly at the mention of her name before he slipped into a deep dreamless sleep.

Taking the hilt of her dagger, Rose walked around and made sure that all six men would stay unconscious until she could come back and collect them. After she was done, the happy young poisoner looked around the clearing before staring up at the sky between the trees, to see how long she had before dark arrived and she had to be back. Since it was summer, Rose figured she had a least an hour or two left.

Turning back the way she came, the sweet young lady mumbled to herself, "I wonder if I should try and get Max and Nathaniel to help me or if I should just go straight to the guards?"

Standing at the dock Ivan and Mylene handed over the carefully written letters to the three mail ships that would hopefully take the invitations to their intended destinations. The first two had no problem with the places they had to go, but the third (who held the most) had some concerns.

"So you mean to tell me that my crew and I are just supposed to aimlessly travel around hoping that we run into this one particular ship, at which point we are supposed to give them all to one person?" The captain of the ship asked skeptically.

"Sir I know it seems ridiculous, but your ship is the only one that will be crossing the Liberty's usual trade routes, so you should pass by them at least once." Mylene pleaded with the man, who for his part rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"It's not that I don't trust you two, you've kept my kids entertained on more than one occasion. And we have had our encounters with Liberty before, and they have always been polite. But Ivan, Mylene, I'm a mail carrier, my entire job is to make sure your letters get to where they're going, and a moving ship is kind of a hard thing to track down." Mylene lowered her head in acknowledgment of his point. Then he smiled "But since this is for your wedding, I guess it should be just as unorthodox as the two of you. We'll try to do it."

Ivan smiled and patted the captain on the shoulder as Mylene did her best not to tackle hug him. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!" The mail captain laughed and gave them both a quick hug before boarding his ship and setting sail.

As a silent good luck charm, the happy couple stood on the docks until all three ships were completely out of sight. It was then, and only then, that the two of them headed away from the docks and further out on the beach. When they were sure that no one would bother them, Ivan took a glass bottle from his pocket. Inside was one last sealed invitation and the last of their hope for their missing friends.

Hand in hand the two of them walked slowly into the waves until Mylene was hip deep. Ivan gave the cork one last good shove to make sure it would stay in before passing it to his fiance, who gave it a kiss for good luck and threw it even further out to sea.

"I hope they find it."

"Me too Ivan. Me too."

So this one is longer and a whole week ahead of schedule because next week I will for sure definitely not be able to update. I know by this point you're like "yeah and?" but it's also an apology for taking so long to update new chapters. So take of this what you will.

Comment what you thought!

Hope you enjoyed!

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this. Have a nice day!

See ya next time!