I caused something of an uproar when I entered the Summer Court after Eldest Gruff, naked as a jaybird with my head on fire. I heard an endless chorus of stage whispers as Sidhe nobles and fairy creatures gibbered and cawed - clearly discussing the open secret of the Goa'uld in their midst. The monster who'd engineered Aurora's death, come to face Titania's judgement of his own free will. I was reasonably certain that everyone in Summer had shown up to watch the spectacle.

Well, screw it, they wanted a spectacle - I'd give them a show they'd remember forever. I let my mantle into me as I crossed the ballroom floor of the Summer Court, my naked footsteps burning into the living wood of the Summer Fortress as I approached the Throne of Summer. Titania sat imperiously upon a throne of living birch, still wearing the ornate fairy armor she'd been wearing at the battle for the table.

I knew what she was. I'd seen her with my wizard's sight at that battle. She was something great and terrible and beyond my ability to comprehend. Whatever I'd become as a result of the ritual of Necromantic Ascension - I was still small potatoes compared to her.

And she hated me. Rage and spite were warring on her face as I approached her. As the crowd of nobles parted, I got a clear view of what was in front of her throne. A pale body, covered in bloody cuts, it was a girl who'd died a slow painful death. A woman who was little more than a child, it was the corpse of the Summer Lady, Aurora.

I froze at that, staring at the blue white pallor of death upon her.

I hadn't really looked at Aurora's body after she died. I'd been so tired that I'd been all but comatose when her mother took her. I'd seen her die, which had been horrific in its own right, but to stare at that lifeless remnant of femininity was horrible in an altogether new way that was only expounded and compounded by the utterly hopeless grief of the mother.

I had taken away Titania's baby girl. God, I'd known it - I'd known it ever since I killed her but I'd never associated that simple fact with the magnitude of how much I'd hurt the Summer Queen. I'd suffered no retribution as a consequence of my actions at that battle. Sure, it was the custom of Winter and Summer to treat agents as the weapons of the one who wielded them but there was nothing to say that Titania couldn't have decided go go scorched earth on the one who dared to touch her daughter. A Queen of Summer wouldn't have to stretch too far to justify taking action against me.

Which meant she hadn't, which meant something had stopped her. And in that moment I knew how I would accomplish that - I was going to twist a mother's grief for her child into a weapon against her and I hated myself for it.

But I couldn't afford to be a victim of Titania's righteous retribution. There were too many people counting on me to lead them, too many people who would die without me there to fight for them. Maybe one day that would be enough for me to forgive myself for what I was about to do.

I made my eyes flash with crimson lightning as I forced my voice to echo with the cruelest tones of Goa'uld fury and glee I could manage. "I see you have discovered my handiwork, Queen Titania."

"Yes." Replied the Queen and I staggered under the sheer weight of that single word. Titania's anger was a living force that rippled through the air and sent Sidhe nobility screaming from the room. Ears bled and eyes watered as that single syllable echoed through her hall.

Hells Bells - she could do that? Well - I needed her too angry to think straight for my plan to work, I just needed her to not kill me before I pulled it off. Who knows - I might even manage it.

"My Queen! Perhaps an interlocutor is in order." Suggested Eldest Gruff, shouting to be heard over the echoes. "It would not do to harm your nobles by accident."

The Queen glared at Eldest Gruff, briefly furious that he'd interrupted her rage before it occurred to her that there were people in pain. She picked a noble from the crowd, seemingly at random, and summoned him to her side. The lithe green sidhe danced across the floor, shimmering over to his Queen in moments. He knelt in a pile of leaves, moss, and pale green flesh next to her as she placed her palm upon his forehead. "Your console is, as always, wise Eldest Gruff. We have much to speak about with the new King of Nekheb. He who has seen fit to not only murder my daughter, but to come gloat about it."

An interlocutor? Well - that would at least save me from dying from her voice as I continued to piss her off. "Not gloat, Queen Titania. Aurora's death was necessary but not something of which I might be proud. I take no pride in killing the incapable."

"You have the unmitigated gall to insult my child at her wake?" Titania gripped the Sidhe's head so tightly that the interlocutor gasped in pain. "How dare you."

"We both know that whatever else happens as a result of your negotiations, you plan to kill me. At this point the best I can hope for is a speedy death." I shrugged disinterestedly. "You'll pardon me I I feel inclined to have your urge to kill me overpower your urge to torture me."

"I have the power to do things to you that would make the depths of Hell tremble, Lord Warden." Titania's interlocutor hissed with his Queen's rage, even as blood ran down his face from where she clutched his face. "And I will see my revenge fulfilled upon thee."

"Not before hearing my terms, Queen Titania." I replied sitting Indian Style on the ground in front of Aurora. "We must agree to the terms of my surrender."

"Speak your terms, Lord Warden. And I will consider their value." Titania's interlocutor spoke the words as though they were a spiteful joke. "I'm sure we can come to an arrangement that suits all parties involved."

The collected Sidhe laughed in utter malice, the people of Summer united in their hatred of me. "Firstly - I do not want your troops to use the death of Aurora as an excuse to betray my forces. The terms of war against Chronos stand. He is a menace that need to die and my men need to be able to rely on the honor of your armies. Even if I die or am imprisoned, I expect those Summer Fae who are involved in the war to be allies to my troops against Chronos."

Titania considered the matter, tapping her index finger on the man's head. "I have no agreement with you, my forces fight as guests of Winter simply because it suits their mood."

"Which is precisely why they would become an easy weapon against my men." I shook my head. "The Jaffa bear no responsibility for my actions."

"This - term, is not beyond reason." Titania conceded. "And Chronos is owed retribution for past wrongs to my court. I would not see innocents harmed."

"Along those lines - the humans, Goa'uld, Unas, Jaffa and other species living in my dominion have no knowledge or responsibility for my actions. My choices are mine and mine alone. If I am to suffer for what I have done, so be it, but there will be no actions taken against them for what has happened to Aurora." I lifted a single finger. "This is non-negotiable."

"Nor need it be." Titania's servitor sighed in exasperation. "Do you intend to discuss every mundane possible factor in an effort to extend your life?"

"The thought had occurred to me." I joked in reply, actually earning some laughter from the Sidhe noblilty around me for that. "What with the plan to kill me and all, it seemed fitting."

"This will do little to save you from pain in the long run." Snarled the queens intermediary as literal fire flicked out from Titania's nostrils.

"Nothing will save me." I replied calmly. "Being saved isn't the point."

"Oh?" Replied the intermediary in a voice of contemptuous curiosity. "Then what pray tell are you here to do?"

"The right thing - obviously." I shrugged. "That's all you can hope to do before you die."

"That is an odd sentiment for a Goa'uld." The interlocutor replied in a voice that clearly told me that Titania thought I was full of shit.

She was right but not about how. I snapped my fingers as though trying to recall something. "The Mortal Wizard in Mab's service - the one she used as an actual weapon. What was his name?"

"Dresden?" Replied the interlocutor. "You are referring to Harry Dresden?"

"Yes - Wizard Harry Dresden of Chicago, the one Mab used as a tool. I do not want him harmed as a consequence of what has happened tonight. I will have your word that the forces of Summer will do no harm to the Wizard or any of the creatures in his service as a consequence of the events leading to Lady Aurora's death, either through action or inaction. Any knowledge learned about him today cannot be used to his detriment by anyone in Summer nor can it be traded or given to those who aren't bound by Summer Law." I considered that for a moment. "Oh - and for the next twenty four hours Summer will give Harry Dresden their pledge of safe passage back to his home if he asks for it."

Titania arched her brown but nodded once, her interlocutor speaking in exasperation. "As is our custom Warden. I tire of discussing terms already covered by Summer Law."

I held in the urge to do the Snoopy Dance of joy as the Summer Queen effectively agreed to let me go once we finished talking, and then realized that anything else I discussed was just bonus at this point. Given that I'd already won, lets see if I could actually profit from this interaction. I smiled as a thought occurred to me. "I want you to help sneak women away from Moloch to places of safety."

Titania actually titled her head at that. Her interlocutor seemed actually confused as he asked. "What?"

"It was something I never quite figured out how to do, not reliably anyway. I want to get at least some women away from his core worlds and to places where they can be happy." I gestured to the body of Aurora. "I would have been able to save at least a few of them. I want your people to steal women who Moloch kidnapped."

"How many?" Titania's interlocutor replied in curiosity.

"As many as your people are willing to save." I replied calmly. "As many as Aurora would have wanted you to save."

"Done." Titania's interlocutor grinned malevolently. "It would have pleased her greatly to vexx Moloch."

"I have a number of children in my care. They require a governess who will see to their education, love them, and protect them from harm. I worry that I will be unable to see to that role." I gestured to the girl in front of me. "I want them to know that I loved them. That I cared for them as you cared for your child. From tomorrow onward I want the Sidhe lady best suited to care for them and protect them from my enemies to serve as my governess until all children in my care are old enough to care for themselves."

"You ask much Warden." Titania's interlocutor growled.

"Grant that, and I will ask for no other terms." The crowd of Sidhe erupted into excited whispers when I said that. The mad god of Nekheb had killed the Summer Lady, waltzed into the summer court, seen to his affairs and requested seemingly no protection against her retribution. It was the sort of thing that the courts would gossip about for centuries to come - and they didn't even know the twist yet.

Titania blinked in apparent confusion. She considered the terms I'd spoken, trying to find the trap in them, but I knew she would find nothing that wasn't already effectively custom of Summer Law or the reasonable requests of an honorable ruler. She could deny them to give herself a chance to find the trap but only if I gave her the chance to think rationally.

So I didn't give her that chance. God forgive me. "A pity she had to die. She was almost pretty enough to join my clergy - but I doubt she would have made a worthy sacrifice."

"Your terms are law - so mote it be!" Titania bellowed, not bothering to make use of the interlocutor as she pulled a glittering blade from her waist. The elegant fairy blade unfurled into a glittering leaf of fairy metal, singing through the air as she swung it towards my throat. It stopped a fraction of an inch from my flesh as she struggled to drive it into my flesh.

I stood up slowly, stretching my arms and legs as the Queen of Summer failed to stab me. I grinned at the collective fairy nobility as the infuriated Queen bellowed in apoplexy. The hottest fires of summer scorched the ground around me, a corona of power hotter than the sun - unable to touch me thanks to Summer Law. As the supernova of summer heat abated, I looked back to the horrified Summer Queen and calmly asked. "If you would be so kind, Queen Titania, I would like to go home to Nekheb."

Titania's eyes bulged as she tried to resist what she'd agreed to, her nature as the Queen of Summer waging war against a mother's love.

Summer won.

It would probably have been kinder for me to just kill her along with her daughter. Titania's eyes welled with tears as she opened a way through the Nevernever to Nekheb. Her nobles fled her sorrow, scattering in every direction as the living palace shook in sympathetic sorrow - an earthquake of utter grief as I looked at a clear view of the grounds in front of my palace. Before I walked through the way I pointed to Aurora's corpse and said. "Titania - for what it is worth, I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt her or you."

Then I fled before I suffered the further wrath or sorrow of a grieving mother. I had just hurt a woman more deeply than any I could have ever hoped to hurt - but I could see no alternative that didn't end in greater death. The oppressively hot air of Nekheb hit my face as I walked out into the courtyard in front of my palace, nearly tripping over a familiar leather sack as I did so. Apparently the Erlking had made good on his promise.

I felt the familiar presence of Traitor's Bane in my mind as my foot hit the sand - blinking as shock as she gave me a report of what she considered to have been important over the past week. I groaned as she showed me the highlight reel. "Bob, when you get back - I'm going to kick your bony ass."

I kneeled down, resisting the urge to be mad given that everything seemed to have turned out for the best as I fished through the leather bag for the glass bauble. It took me a while and I made sure to repeatedly assure Traitors Bane it wasn't a threat before I tossed it into the air. She was likely to react poorly to the sudden appearance of a city in her airspace.

As the bauble soared into the sky I watched it expand into a massive snowflake, looming over the city of nekheb with it's long spires and iron surfaces. I rarely noticed when Traitors Bane summoned a soldier to give me a status report on what had transpired over the past couple days. It was common practice for her to do so. Less so for her to send a human auxiliary than a Jaffa Officer, but it made sense given the complications of the past week on Nekheb.

I turned around as two figures entered the room, a smartly uniformed man and a woman who'd been stripped naked and bound with thick iron shackles. She was a fair haired woman with hard eyes and a proud face. Her discomfort at what appeared to be her forced nudity was nothing in comparison to my discomfort at the uniform her compatriot had elected to wear.

I was barely able to recognize what he was saying as words as my brain struggled to reconcile the fact that I was looking a fucking Nazi, SS uniform and all. "Mine Zaubergottkaiser, I am Dieter Hermann of the Schutzstaffel. I have brought General Winter to face your judgement. She is guilty of conspiring with the Tau'ri and allowing them to escape justice. I await your wisdom, oh noble Lord of Nekheb."

I looked at the naked and beaten woman in utter shock for all of about ten seconds before punching him in the goddamn face. He went out like a light, apparently swastikas come complete with a glass jaw.

I looked down at the woman and asked, "Are you a Nazi?"

"Not any more." She replied diplomatically.

"Good enough."

Today had really been a remarkably strange day.