"Is the information accurate?"

"My sparrows are never wrong," Quinn replies, turning to look at her eldest sister. She had no idea why Frannie was attempting to discredit her report. The moment that she had returned, she had asked for this meeting with the rest of the family. At the end of the day her father needed all the information he had.

"And yet," Frannie begins tossing the report onto the ornate desk, "They allowed for this to happen Quinn, you are the one that has your little Sparrows and dolls everywhere. How is this the first time we're hearing about this? As detailed as this report is, it's missing quite a bit of information. Such as who is behind this? And why?"

"My sparrows—"

"Excuse me if that doesn't inspire confidence," Frannie interrupts standing up and turning to her father. "It would be best if we followed the money, if the information is accurate and it was a Prime, then something like that would have cost Viscount Coleman. His financial records have indicated nothing out of the ordinary, but I have my people looking over his ledgers carefully. Hopefully your little birds haven't murdered everyone because your wife suspects you of carrying on a torrid affair."

Quinn flushes a deep red, as she bites her cheek, her jaw twitching in annoyance as she turns to Brittany hoping that she could have some backup here, even knowing that her sister preferred to remain neutral in these little back and forths. Brittany was adjusting the magic stone in the recording device that her sparrows had taken of the scene. "We've retrieved the remains, perhaps you could confirm—"

"Only Primes are capable of shifting into their animal form. If that is the form that it died in then Where is the beastcore?" Brittany asks.

Quinn immediately turned to her father, if Brittany started to do forbidden research on beastcores there would be no turning back. "We can still mitigate the damage father, we can pay reparations. Viscount Coleman wealth would be a good way to keep the treaty in place."

Russell tapped his finger on the table causing all noise to cease as he looked at three out of his four daughters. "Where is Charlotte?" When he doesn't receive an immediate reply, he sighed and shakes his head, one could not have a meeting without all the proper representatives, and his youngest represented the military might of his kingdom. The youngest swordmaster in history, it was a shame that his youngest was an irresponsible lout more often than not. "Her voice is needed if we are to—" The door to the chambers opened and he immediately scowled, ready to tear into the attendant who had just interrupted. This was one of the few moments that he got to spend with his daughters, teaching them the art of statecraft, testing them and he hated to have it interrupted. Instead he sees his youngest looking ridiculous, with her cheeks filled to the brim with food and her attempting to wipe the jam from her chin only for a splotch to land on her shirt. "Charlotte."

Charlie flinched at the sternness of her fathers voice, and her shoulders slump, she had already been lectured by her mother and the head maid after they had caught her pilfering food from the kitchens like some common thief. It wasn't her fault, she'd been starving and the moment that she had sent word to the palace of her whereabouts they had sent a carriage for her immediately and informed her that her presence was required. "Father," Charlie says with a deep bow hoping that her manners are enough to stave off a third lecture, she already knew that Quinn would have something to say judging from the sour look on her face.

Russell sighed, it was an ongoing fight to get his youngest to act like a royal, he wasn't sure where he had gone wrong. The royal tutor had stated that Charlie was capable, but it had become clear that if it wasn't a topic that Charlie was interested in she put in almost no effort to learn it, thinking that it was useless. Etiquette was one of Charlie's weak points, much to the chagrin of his wife. "And what's your excuse this time? Assassins? Fighting off a hundred undead?"

Charlie bites her lip, she didn't have a believable lie at the ready, "My apologies father, I spent the night with Hiccup in the lower quarters. It is my belief that we should invest money into the community and turn them into functioning members of the city. The orphans run wild and join gangs, I believe an increased guard presence, as well investing in education and giving the people options will only improve the quarter, and drive the criminal element out."

And then every now and again, his youngest surprised him. She seemed aware of what the people actually needed and where they should invest. He's about to simply let it go and get on with the meeting when Frannie decides to speak up.

"Is that what we're calling looking for a whore to slip your dick in?" Frannie questions her youngest sibling, a look of derision on her face.

Charlie rolled her eyes, "And what would you suggest to do about the poverty and crime that runs rampant in our lower quarter, we are one of the richest kingdoms and yet our people live in such poverty. New blood means new ideas, and haven't you been complaining about the lack of originality from the nobles? We should be testing to see which commoners have a talent for magic, and alchemy."

Brittany flicked her gaze over to Charlie, she hadn't thought her sister was listening to her complain about the nobles from the academy, they were all so by the book, content in simply making minor advancements. "That's not a terrible idea," she muses.

Frannie scoffed, "Before we start talking about giving the masses handouts, and taking from our wealth to waste it undesirables, we do have a more pressing issue."

Russell nods, this wasn't the time, though he would have his advisors look into such a plan, if he insisted that his daughter write a report, the project would never get off the ground. "If we went to war with the beastkin, what would our chances of success be?"

Charlie frowned and glanced over at Quinn for a bit of help but her twin shot her an irritated look, one that was enough to let her know that she was on her own. "We have a treaty with the Beastkin, and we have mutual defense interests. If we go to war then we run the risk of the taint from the badlands spreading into the beastkin territory."

"You didn't answer the question," Quinn says looking at Charlie.

"I did, there's a good chance that we would win a war with the beastkin, we have the technological advantage. But, both sides would suffer heavy losses but I believe that we would come out triumphant. In doing so we run the risk of famine and the corruption from the badlands spreading into beastkin territory, which would drive refugees into our lands, putting a strain on our resources and making the effects of the famine worse. In terms that even Franne can understand, a war might be good for profits now, but if we win it will empty our coffers to deal with the massive influx of refugees, and increase the military budget. It would also leave us vulnerable to an attack from the Holy Empire, and the elves. Not to mention any country from the surrounding continents." Charlie says moving to the table and touching it reveals a light projection of a map of the continent.

"We have diplomatic ties with the Holy Empire and I'm certain—" Frannie tries again.

Quinn turned on Frannie immediately, "You would allow those fanatics into our kingdom? Their inquisition was indiscriminate Frannie. They will burn the kingdom down, and they hate the use of alchemy; it would set us back to the dark ages!"

"I never suggested that we invite the inquisition, I said that we had diplomatic ties, food, weapons, people who are willing to fight. There are diplomatic levers that we have," Frannie shoots back.

Russell raised his hand, putting an end to the conversation they had given him his opinions, "I will have a discussion with my advisors, but while I do, Quinn, reach out through the backchannels and invite a delegation from the Beast Kingdom. Settling this through diplomatic means is preferable but I will be recalling our generals, and begin the preparations for war if it comes to war. Prepare yourself Charlotte, no more sneaking off to the lower quarter to drink and whore around."

Charlie nodded, placing her fist on her chest and bowing in front of her father as he stood up. Now wasn't the time to press him for more allowance, she glances over at Quinn and the rest of her siblings who were in the same position waiting for their father to leave the room. Once he does, Charlie immediately raises her head and flips off Frannie who scoffs in disgust and gets up to leave.

Brittany studied her younger sister for a moment, noting that she was missing the large coin pouch that was usually tied to her hip, and smiles, it was always so easy to get the materials she needed when Charlie didn't have any money to her name. "I have a request for you. It'll pay well given the difficulty."

Charlie brightened at Brittany, "That's why you're my favorite," Charlie said as Quinn stormed up to her and grabbed her by the arm. "I'll meet you in the tower after?" Charlie waits until Brittany nods and turns to look at her twin who looks positively incensed. "I'm sorry?"

Quinn inhales deeply trying to calm herself, at least Charlie had been on her side and could see the bigger picture. War was a last resort to diplomacy failing. "Viscount Coleman was trafficking in beastkin parts," when Charlie gives her a blank stare she takes another deep breath and exhales slowly. "You are aware that it goes against the treaty."

"I don't know who Viscount Coleman is," Charlie corrects. She wasn't much for the names of nobles, but knowing about the kingdom's military treaties had been drilled into her by Sue and Ra's, for whatever reason they both seemed to believe she was a diplomatic incident away from causing a national incident, something about an incident in the dwarven kingdom, which really wasn't that big of a deal. She had yet to cause a proper diplomatic incident, so she had no idea why anyone thought she was a potential problem.

"You would know who he was if you had bothered to show up last night," Quinn snipes at her twin, when Charlie shoots her a look she pinched the bridge of her nose, "It's a minor house, part of the anti-royal faction at least it was, I've dismantled the Coleman house."

"I'm failing to see why my presence was needed last night Quinn," Charlie pointed out patiently. "Your Sparrows are quite capable, Ra's trained them."

"I needed you because of the amount of time you spend in the Lower Quarter getting into bar fights. You do consort with criminals in your spare time."

Charlie narrowed her eyes, "I spend time with mercenaries, and petty thieves Quinn. They are hardly the hardened criminals you think that they are. Besides, none of them would dare traffic in beastkin, not only because there are quite a few of them that are beastkin, but there aren't a lot of people who can kill a bear prime let alone capture one. Ra's, Sue, Nyssa, Talia and myself are probably the only ones that could do it—"

Quinn tossed Charlie the magic stone and watched as she fumbled with it before the picture of the beastkin appeared on the screen. "Something like that doesn't appear out of thin air Charlie. It's a bear prime, we need to find out who is behind this and present their head to the Beastkin delegation. There is nothing in this country that I'm not aware of, so I don't understand how something of this magnitude managed to get by me."

Charlie studied the photo carefully, there was nothing that she could discern from the picture, and she doubted that she would find anything on closer examination. "How did you find out about this?"

"Viscount Coleman's son, attempted to have his way with one of my dolls. He attempted to bribe that doll with a beastcore. The core is locked away in a safe location and we will return it to the beastkin. If Brittany attempts to bribe you—"

"If you're offering me money—"

"You realize that if you stopped gambling, or at the very least became a better gambler, mother would probably allow you to manage your budget. The fact that you haven't started managing your own household is problematic Charlie." Quinn shook her head. When Charlie shoots her a hopeful look she sighs, "This is the last time."

Charlie nodded, Quinn always said that it was the last time, it was never the last time. "You can just take a few of the royal guards, or the city watch and just break down the doors of the anti-royal faction and look for more beastcores."

"The thought has crossed my mind, it's not as if many of them aren't corrupt," Quinn stated. "Natasha and Yelena—"

"Inform Ra's. If this was kept out of your sight and my hearing, then there is a very good chance that this was done by someone who had inner knowledge of your spy network."

"You think one of my Sparrows did this?" When Charlie hands back the magic stone Quinn swallows, it wasn't something that she had considered. But it certainly made some sense. "Keep your ear to the ground."

Charlie nodded and raised her arm, Quinn doing the same they bump forearms, "I'm off to see what Brittany wants, and then mother has requested my presence for tea."

"You should put on a shirt that has sleeves before you see mother," Quinn calls out, a smile darts across her face as Charlie turns and gives her a look like she was making an impossible request. Which may have been true, but if Charlie wanted to avoid getting lectured by their mother, then finding a shirt that had sleeves should be high on her priority list.

~ O ~

Santana yawned, it was a big yawn and her tongue rolled out as her tail swished back and forth in a steady rhythm. For hours the clan heads had put forth their thoughts on going to war, and as she had expected most of her people thirsted for revenge. Truthfully she couldn't blame them, Shannon was quite a popular clan head, the bear faction had been a stalwart part of their defense for generations. She couldn't think of any clan that had a problem with the bear clan, and even if they did, losing a prime was a problem that every clan could agree on. It was one thing to lose regular clansmen, certain clans such as the rabbit clan and the mouse clan had hundreds if not thousands of members and they had tens if not hundreds of primes running around. For a clan such as the bear clan with Shannon aging, losing a prime was considered the end of a particular branch of a clan. It wasn't generally something that affected the panther branch of the cat clan.

Yawning again she's about to roll over and try to sleep through the noise, when a familiar scent causes her to flick her attention to the next speaker. She scowls when she spots the young prime of the Deer clan heading to the lectern to speak. One of the richer clans, and equally as respected as the bear clan. They were the most pretentious people she had ever personally had the displeasure of dealing with, and they were absolutely awful in bed.

"Shannon, let me begin by expressing my deepest condolences, he had such a bright future ahead of him and to be taken away—to have his body desecrated as it was, dressed up as a cheap trophy."

Santana rolled her eyes at Dani's pontificating, she just needed to get to the point and tell the clans what she wanted to do. There was no need to pretend that she gave a shit about Shannon. The deer clan only cared about their precious reputation and their fortune, she was mildly curious to see which desire would win the day. If Dani was speaking then it was probably the latter, war was always good for short term gains and with the profits and that was all Dani cared about.

Dani looked around the room, her head held high as she studied the faces of each of the clan leaders, every prime that was currently in the room. "The Deer clan wants to see blood spilt for horrors that were inflicted on the bear clan, but think about the message it sends to our clan members. Shannon's son was not the first beastkin to disappear, he was only the first prime. It's an escalation and if we—"

"Bullshit!" Santana snapped loudly causing more than a few people to turn to her, but she didn't care as she transformed into her human form and hops down from where she had been attempting to sleep. "Don't try and pretend that you're above it all Dani, and that you actually give a shit about all the non-primes. You don't."

Miguel sighed and slumped in his chair, when a few members of the cat clan turned to look at him, amused by his daughter's outburst. He had yet to say what needed to be said, and while he agreed with his daughter, they weren't savages; there were ways to push back against the deer clan that didn't involve open hostility. But the moment that Dani started to speak he should have gone and found his daughter and forced her to keep quiet.

Dani narrowed her eyes, ever so slightly, "Are you accusing me and the rest of the deer clan—"

"Sure am," Santana interrupts haughtily. "The deer clan doesn't want to fight because they're afraid that it'll hurt their bottom line, and now they're trying to save their reputation."

Dani immediately raised her hand, this was a sacred place and the spilling of blood here was forbidden and she needed to regain control before Santana ruined everything yet again, "The only one in danger of ruining their reputation here is you. This is sacred ground Santana, and I have no idea why you're upset, we're on the same side. There is no winning a war with humans, even if we were to defeat the Agron Kingdom, such an action will only bring about a war with the Holy Empire, the deer clan will not have our people turned into trophies for those—fanatics. Despite what you may think about me, San, this isn't about you and me."

"I'm not making this about me, I'm asking that you spare the audience your fake platitudes and pretending that you actually give a shit about the bear clan—"

"What has the cat clan done to support the bear clan?" Dani interrupts. "When Shannon asked us for help, the deer clan spared no expense. So how dare you accuse us of not caring and only thinking of profit, the spider clan does not come cheap."

The admission is enough to catch everyone off guard and even Santana hesitates, members from the insect and arachnid clan never came to these events. To go and attempt to make a deal with the spider clan, meant that the deer clan had quite possibly sacrificed to get this information. When Dani smirks at her she knows she's been played and she can't help the rage building inside her.

"It is due to the information from the spider clan that we know that this injustice has been brought to the royal family of Agron, and even though they assumed that there was a member of the rat clan they let the rat escape in case it was a prime. This pointless death wasn't sanctioned by their government, I believe that is why we must send a delegation to investigate things further. War is a failure of diplomacy, and if the royal family is willing to help us root out the reason why our people are missing then I say that we need to remember our history with them. They have been good allies in helping defend our borders against the corruption and the monsters to the west, by going on annual monster hunts." Dani said, looking at the various primes they needed to agree to at least that. It would help buy them some time to investigate further.

"Are you volunteering?" Santana asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

Dani's face froze for a second and she turned her attention back to a woman she had once held dear to her, "No." It was such a simple response, "We need to remind the Agron kingdom that we are a force and they need to take us seriously. That is not to say that a member of our clan won't be attending."

Santana scowled, she could hear the whispers from various members of her clan and others as they looked and pointed at her, as if this was her fault. "I'll go."

Dani blinked, "You're volunteering?"

"I'm not all talk like you are," Santana snaps back, pleased that she had managed to stave off the rumors.

"Thank you Santana for volunteering. We need to use this as an opportunity, the Kingdom of Agron is strong and we need to find out all the information we can about their defenses, if there is to be war we not only need to be faster and stronger than the humans but smarter as well," Dani announced to the cheers from the hall she had managed to turn the clans from a pointless and bloody war, or at the very least managed to bide them some time."

Miguel looked at his mate who was trying to hide her embarrassment, there went any attempt at trying to remain neutral. Now he could only hope that his daughter didn't cause an international incident that would affect their standing in the clan.