Hi! I'm back with chapter six, I really hope you've been enjoying my story. Sorry for not posting yesterday. some things for this chapter, I made up another country, this one if based on the FBI (with Fornell being king) the name I gave it is 'investigation' but translated into Romanian. let me know what you think!

-owl

Kate was sad that her duties stopped her from hanging out with her sisters, but she knew she had to heed her father's summons. The servant hadn't told her why she was needed, as he had run off almost right away once she had responded to him.

Regretfully, Kate entered the castle, a slight chill running through her as she left the sunlight. Her father would be in his office, where he conducted his meetings with foreign rulers. Kate followed the same path she had taken to get outside and saw Sir McGee sitting outside the door where he had been earlier.

He quickly stood up, bowing. "Princess Caitlin. What are you doing here? I thought you were with your sisters."

"I was called into my father's meeting. Is Prince Tony still speaking to him?" Kate answered, her hand on the handle of the door.

McGee nodded. "Yeah, he said I didn't need to wait for him, but I don't have anything better to do instead."

"If you want to spar with someone, I'm sure Ziva would love to have a new opponent, she beats her regular ones too often for it to be a fun challenge for her," Kate said, smiling as she pulled the door open and entered her father's office. Behind her, Sir McGee's face had paled considerably.

There was a tall window directly opposite the door, letting plenty of light into the room and nearly negating the need for candles. One of the walls of the room was covered with bookshelves that reached the ceiling. The other wall had a map of the country and the surrounding lands.

Gibbs and Prince Tony looked up when the door opened and closed. They were sitting across from each other, Gibbs' desk in between them. On the desk was a sheet of parchment, and closer to Gibbs was an envelope.

"Kate," her father said as she approached the desk. "Come look this treaty over," he added, handing her the parchment.

Kate took it from him and skimmed it. It was a treaty asking for an alliance of some sort. "The country DiNozzo is asking us, the country Meadth, to assist them should the country Investigatii attack them?" she asked, lowering the parchment from her face.

The prince nodded. "We don't have the best army, and we know that you also have issues with Investigatii."

"Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but why isn't King Anthony here to discuss this with King Gibbs?" Kate asked, looking at Tony.

He shrugged. "My father has decided that I need to step up and start taking on the responsibilities of being king. He is also convinced that Investigatii is going to send an assassin after him should he dare leave the castle."

Kate couldn't quite imagine King Fornell doing that, but maybe the relations between DiNozzo and Investigatii were worse than Meadth and Investigatii. "Oh. I guess that is a valid reason to send you instead."

Prince Tony nodded and stood up. "I will leave you to discuss what we spoke about. Thank you for meeting with me." he bowed to Gibbs and Kate before leaving the room.

Kate turned to her father. "He certainly seems to be an odd prince. Was there anything other than the plea for assistance with Investigatii?"

"Not really. He spoke a little bit more about his father when I asked," Gibbs asked. "But I wanted to know what you thought of the treaty."

"I don't think it's too bad," Kate said. "But what are we getting in return from them? It's not like they can help us with military support."

Gibbs nodded. "Prince Tony brought my attention to the agricultural focus of DiNozzo. He suggested that we could get 10% of their harvest for the next three years."

Kate sat down in the chair the prince had vacated. "That sounds fair. How are we going to seal this treaty?"

Her father shook his head. "Maybe, but it needs to be discussed more before we can choose anything. Why don't you start looking over the last few years' harvest from our fields? Try to figure out what crops would be more useful from DiNozzo. I have an additional letter from King Anthony that was for my eyes only that I need to read." He waved the sealed envelope once.

"OK, I'll start doing that," Kate said, getting up and beginning to search through Gibbs' bookshelves. All the agriculture reports were on the second from the bottom shelf, as close to the wall with the window as possible. They were bound in groups of ten years, and they were going to be starting a new one the coming harvest season, so it was an easy enough task to find the right bundle.

She grabbed the most recent ten years' worth of reports and set to work. Next to the bundle, a sheet of parchment, quill, and ink sat, waiting for her to take notes. She hadn't gotten through three years before her father threw the letter he had been reading onto the desk.

She looked up to see his face full of anger. "What did the king ask for?" she asked her father.

He swore under his breath before looking at Kate. "He has suggested that, to seal the treaty, there be an arranged marriage between Tony and—" he stopped and picked up the letter again, reading directly from the letter. "—any one of the three beautiful daughters you keep hidden from the courting circles."

Though Kate could see kind of why her father was mad about the phrasing, she still had to ask about it. "And what is your problem exactly with the way he wrote it?"

"The way he seemed to think I would just give up any of you, and that it wouldn't matter to him who Prince Tony got as a bride, as long as he got someone."

Kate didn't know how to answer that so she shook her head. "I'm sorry the king is such an idiot. Maybe let Prince Tony stay for a while while you think of a better way to do things. Or, at the very least, a way to tell King Anthony that his idea is stupid."

"That sounds like a great idea, Kate," Gibbs said. "Once you finish those reports you can have the rest of the day to do as you please. I know you were planning to spend time with your sisters today."

Kate nodded and got back to work. The first three years she had already gone through held the same pattern as the next three years. Although, as she began looking at the last four years of the bundle, the pattern changed and became the opposite of the first six years.

By the time Kate had finished making sense of the agriculture reports, the noon bell had long since rung. Gibbs had also started something else, he was looking through the history books about Investigatii and its history with DiNozzo. He had also grabbed an old, now outdated, map from the section of the bookshelf that held maps.

"Here is my analysis," Kate said, placing her parchment of notes on her father's side of the desk.

"Thank you, Kate. The rest of the day is yours," Gibbs said, smiling at her.

She smiled back and left the room after returning the report bundle to the bookshelf. When she exited the office, the hallway was empty save for Ducky. He had a serious expression on his face as he approached the office.

"Hi, Ducky," Kate said, giving him a smile.

He smiled back. "Good afternoon, Caitlin. Is your father busy?"

Kate shook her head. "He is working on something for the treaty he and Prince Tony were discussing. You might be just who he needs right now, though. He was looking at history when I left."

Ducky smiled. "Well, I excel at history, I hope I will be able to help. The history of DiNozzo is fascinating. I have to say I remember the time that they first went to war with Investigatii…"

"As much as I wish I could hear the story, Ducky, I'm hoping to eat lunch, and I know Father would be happy to see you." If Kate didn't stop Ducky from starting a story before he got invested in it, she would be here all afternoon.

"I suppose you're right, have a nice day, Caitlin."

She nodded her head and made her way down the hall. Her mission was the kitchens, and a late lunch. When she passed a set of windows facing into the garden, she saw Ziva and Sir McGee sparring in the middle of the garden. It looked like Ziva was winning. Abby and Prince Tony were watching. As much as Kate wanted to join them, she was hungry and that won out, so she left the window and continued towards the kitchens.

The cooks in the kitchens, when she got there, were very kind. They immediately made her a meal when she explained that she had missed lunch. Kate ate in the kitchens, watching as some of the cooks were beginning to prepare dinner for that night. Others were washing pans and plates in a tub of water. The cooks, overall, were a cheery lot, and they waved goodbye to Kate with kind smiles on their faces.

Dinner had finished nearly an hour previously, and Kate had just begun to brush her hair before going to bed. Just as she set her brush on the table, she remembered that she was going to tell Ziva about King Anthony's suggestion of an arranged marriage.

That was how she ended up scurrying through the secret passage from her room to Ziva's two hours after dusk. The passageway was dark, and Kate relied on her sense of touch to get to Ziva's room instead of Abby's. When she approached the exit into Ziva's room, Kate heard voices. One was Ziva's, but the other, while masculine, Kate couldn't place.

She peeked through the crack of the door to see Ziva and Prince Tony sitting on the couch and talking to each other. It was a good thing for Tony that Kate was not the girls' father.

Deciding to get it over with, Kate left the passageway and entered Ziva's room, drawing the attention of both its occupants.

Kate looked directly at the prince. "What in the world are you doing here?"

He had a look of total shock on his face. Clearly he hadn't been expecting to be interrupted by anyone. "I came to see Ziva, is that ok?" His tone was permeated with annoyance.

Kate threw her hand towards the window, drawing attention to the darkness outside. "It is nearly midnight! Don't you know how much trouble you both could get into should you get caught?"

Ziva shrugged. "Mom and Dad sleep on nearly the opposite side of the castle, they won't know anything. Besides, Tony was just leaving anyway." Ziva finished speaking with a pointed look at Prince Tony.

He nodded and, after bowing to both of them, went out to Ziva's balcony and began descending into the garden.

Kate turned to look Ziva in the eyes. "It doesn't matter that their room is across the castle, you are lucky it was only me who saw him. Why was he even here?"

"He just wanted to say hello, and we were finishing a conversation from earlier. Why are you here?" Ziva didn't back down, stepping forward towards her, meeting Kate's gaze and not looking away.

"I thought you would want to hear about the meeting I was called away for," she said, and Ziva took a step back. "Prince Tony's father has suggested a possible arranged marriage of the prince and one of the three of us to seal a treaty."

"Is that why Tony is here?"

Kate didn't know if she should nod or shake her head. "Kind of. He was sent by his father, and I'm sure the king had a plan to get him to get to know one of us. However, I know that the suggestion of an arranged marriage was in a sealed envelope that only Father has read."

Ziva had a look of confusion on her face. "So he doesn't know?" she asked.

Kate shook her head. "I highly doubt he does. I just needed to tell someone, and, as much as I love Abby, I don't think she could keep this under wraps for very long."

Ziva laughed lightly. "I must agree with you about Abby."

"Alright, I'm tired," Kate said, giggling with Ziva. "I think I'm going to go back to my own room and bed. Good night, Ziva."

"Good night, Kate," Ziva said, waving as Kate got back into the secret passageway.

The passageway was just as dark as it had been earlier, and Kate navigated it the same way: her hand on the wall. When she returned to her room, she changed quickly into her night dress and fell asleep as soon as she laid down.