Angst and plot development. Understand that Zachary is reacting emotionally at first then drawing it back in.

A quiet whisper slipped into the relatively still and silent office, 'Captain. . .'

Laren froze at her desk when she heard the familiar timbre of his voice, and warily raised her eyes up to the doorframe. Her moonling stood, heavily leaning against the wood frame, his beard gone and his hair shorn. There was a harder edge, almost an imposing presence, to him as his amber eyes bored into hers; silently asking the question that she had dreaded for the past two days, but had known would come.

She cast her eyes back down, placing her quill slowly back into the inkwell, and drawing herself up, aware that his sharp eyes followed her movements. Looking back up, she sighed and shook her head, holding her hands palms up in slight repentance. 'I could not stop her.'

One question was tersely asked, 'Where?'

Laren's eyes held a measure of sorrow as she replied quietly, 'Headed for Corsa.'

Zachary drew in a haggard breath, quickly turning on his heel and disappearing towards the upper floors. Laren grabbed her coat off the hook by the door, running past Fastion and Donal, and grabbing the king's arm. 'What will you do?'

'Bring her home,' he said brusquely, wrenching his arm free and continuing on his path. Laren briskly caught up to him, her brow set into determination, and walked beside him, 'And then what? Drag her back to the castle?'

His voice rose in intensity, 'A possible course of action, has she forgotten who she is now?'

Laren tilted her head, 'And who's to say she cannot be both rider and your queen?'

Zachary stopped again, 'So she decided to leave without telling me and riding directly into the fray?'

The captain held out her hands beseechingly, 'She has only been gone two days, if that. She won't have made much progress in the heavy snowfall we've had. It still storms to the west even now.'

'Still, she heads for danger,' he retorted.

The captain furrowed her brow in perplexity, 'In Corsa? What have you discovered?'

The king sighed, his shoulders slumping forward with the heady mix of emotions, 'Not here,' he murmured, gesturing wearily with his arm for her to follow him. They reached his study, with both Weapons entering as well and closing the door behind them.

Zachary walked over to his desk, his eyes detecting the evidence of her presence; from the untidy piles of crumpled paper to the wool shawl thrown carelessly over the back of his leather chair. He reached out for the fabric, fingering the soft blue lamb's wool between his fingers as he spoke softly in resignation, 'What did she say to you?'

Laren kneeled next to the open hearth and began to stack wood into the grate, 'Not much. She seemed in pursuit of something, answers I think. We've know of the trouble that the city has experienced.'

He nodded slightly, folding the shawl and placing back on the desk, 'And she went alone?'

Laren added a small pile of kindling to her pile, striking the flint near the wood shavings, 'No, she took Brienne. Or rather Brienne attached herself to Karigan's side. She left me in charge of that pup, and consequently of the council while you are both away.'

'And her other Weapons?'

Laren shrugged, 'They will tell me nothing, but I suspect she pulled one over them. Not easy that is.'

Zachary groaned, sitting heavily into his chair and putting his head forward in his hands despairingly. 'So in addition to Karigan going out on a lark, the taint from Blackveil has extended out from the shoreline into the ocean.'

She looked up from the crackling fire, 'And is there a link between that taint, and the rumors?'

He shrugged, 'It is quite possible for those people who went missing. But that is not all of it.'

Laren's eyes regarded his in trepidation as he looked up from his desk and met her eyes gravely, 'Reports of a fleet of Second Empire ships, bearing the sigil, were seen by coastal residents in Arey and Coutre as late as the tenth month. The ice is beginning to break from the coast, and we do not know of their whereabouts now. But it is entirely within the realm of possibility that they could be sailing for the port of Corsa.'

The captain gulped, 'But what of Woodhaven? The creatures the army has been continually battling? And why Corsa?'

'Those creatures have no master, although they are lethal in nature, and I suspect are following their instincts in the middle of winter: forage and hunt,' he replied with a grimace. 'As for Corsa? It is a logical choice for it has a distinct tactical advantage. They can seize the contents of the warehouses, blockade the harbor, and effectively halt our own offensive operations because we cannot feed our own soldiers.'

Laren growled, stood, and walked agitatedly towards the window, 'If the creatures do not answer to a being, does that mean Mornhavon is not behind the attacks?'

Zachary watched her with a fatigued countenance, 'He has not been seen or heard of since Karigan shattered the mirror. It is likely that these events move independently of each other, but we know at least a few are a direct result of the weakened wall.'

She whipped around, 'He could, though, be leading the fleet into Corsa.'

Zachary pinned her with a steady gaze, his words weighted with sense, 'In whose body exactly? There were either none that survived or those that did, returned to their homes.'

She visibly deflated and returned to her seat, 'Then what are we dealing with?'

'A good old fashioned army and a couple of new species with a taste for human flesh,' Zachary responded despondently.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Fastion ventured to speak for the first time, 'Sire?'

Zachary turned his head slightly to regard the equally exhausted Weapon, who stepped out of the shadows to approach the desk, 'If what you suspect comes to pass, we'd be left vulnerable to our west and south lines.'

The king nodded, 'This I know.'

Fastion inclined his head, 'If I may make a suggestion?'

Zachary indicated for him to proceed. Fastion then drew one of the charts from the stack on the desk out and laid it in front of the king, signaling Donal to bring forth a candlestick to illuminate the heavy vellum. 'Sire, if you were to split the army, and keep one half in Sacor City, you'd be able to meet a force anywhere from Blackveil-,' his index finger traced along the shore, '-skirting along Ullem Bay, Hillander, and finally if the fleet were in fact to land in Corsa.'

Zachary leaned back and glanced up at Fastion, 'It is your opinion that D'Yer should be weakened in force?'

Fastion winced at the king's wry tone, 'Many of the refugees have come into Penburn, Majesty, and they cannot rebuild until the spring as it were. It is best to look to other threats.'

Zachary took pity on the Weapon's discomfited look, 'I agree completely, that is why I gave the order to the commanding general to send a portion of his force back to Sacor City. They have their orders should they meet with any sort of trouble.'

All three looked at him in slight surprise, to which he lifted one shoulder, 'I had considered it, but admit I had doubted my decision since I began my journey back. It is a relief that others, besides my military leaders, are of a similar mind.'

Laren curled her lip, 'That is why you have a council here, moonling. To get a consensus on an idea.'

Zachary rolled his eyes, 'Not the most experienced of individuals, are they?'

'They'll never learn if you do not engage them,' she argued.

'Neither will Karigan if she does not participate as their queen,' he ventured wryly with a lift of his brows.

Laren sighed and lifted a hand sketchily in the air, 'I suppose that is true, but I admit, at times, there was not much for her to do here. She attended your meetings and held audiences, but they were nothing that she could not truly manage. But I knew just by looking into her eyes at times-,' she paused hesitantly.

Zachary narrowed his eyes, 'Yes?'

The captain pursed her lips and continued, 'At times it was not enough. Her brooch, her magic, was not satisfied with her remaining here. She needed to ride, and I chose to ignore the signs. But this time around, she did not.'

He exhaled slowly through his nostrils, 'I had thought she would be released.'

'That is not necessary how it works, moonling,' Laren said softly, 'She can't just stop being who she is.'

Zachary frowned and looked away, 'We never spoke of this before we married. I had just assumed she'd be done-,'

'You assumed that queen trumps rider,' she said curtly, 'Or perhaps you thought she'd sit here and pine for you?'

Fastion coughed and moved back into the corner with Donal, their faces averted to hide the contained smiles as they folded their hands quietly.

The king bristled at the implication and challenged his big sister with a glare, 'Do you defend her actions?'

Laren crossed her arms and sniffed, 'I was not very pleased when she strode into my office and informed me she was leaving in the middle of that night, but I can certainly understand her position.'

Zachary snorted, 'You do take her side then.'

Laren made a noise of frustration and threw her arms up, 'I take no one's side, and I endeavor to do what is best for you both. She needed to go. And you need to accept it. What you do from here is up to you,' she spit out, hands going to her hips.

His face darkened as he looked away from her irritated face, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. She deflated a little when she saw the worry etched in lines upon his face, his hand coming up to rub at reddened eyes that had not seen much sleep as of late. The shawl now rested in his lap as his fingers tangled in the fringe, worrying the thread as he stared blankly ahead.

Sighing in defeat, Laren grabbed the secretary's stool and dragged it over next to Zachary's chair. 'I can give you the usual stops for the route she likely took; you can catch her if you ride light, probably before she hits River Town.'

Zachary looked at her tentatively, 'And the weather?'

'It will be clear for the next few days leaving from Sacor City, or so Mara tells me.'

He regarded her for a moment, 'You know I would never force her back, '

Laren softened her gaze, 'I know you wouldn't. You married a fighter, moonling, not a wilting flower. And I imagine there will be a terribly impressive row when you two meet again.'

'Oh you can count on it,' he muttered, standing to rub at his shoulder, then gathering a few needed materials off the desk and placing the shawl on top to take back to their rooms.

She glanced back at his Weapons, 'Who will you take?'

Zachary looked up and considered them both as he moved for the door with his burden in hand, 'Fastion. Three would be too inconspicuous. Donal, I would have you help Laren while I am gone.'

Donal bowed his head respectfully in acknowledgement while Fastion wore a slightly troubled expression, 'And how would we travel sire?'

The king looked at Laren questioningly, 'Have you any Rider uniforms lying about without a home?'

Karigan keenly felt the biting edge of the bitter wind go through the thickness of her coat and through the numerous layers she wore. She hunched her shoulders tightly and clenched the reins in her slightly numb hands, squinting ahead in the blinding darkness to search for the flickering light of the next outpost on the drifted in road. The weather had been rather bizarre in the last twelve hours, alternating between freezing sleet, and driving snow that blew across the plains like desert sand.

Together, she and Brienne had only managed to cover a small distance in the two days they had been gone, stopping once at a roadside inn for the first night while the snow was still light upon the air. Now she could barely make out the normally distinguishable landmarks of the terrain during the day, and had settled for keeping to the road at night, praying for the weather to break. The thick crust of ice that covered the snow crunched and broke under the weight of Condor's hooves, jarring her uncomfortably as her tightened muscles protested the movement.

Shivering with an intensity that trigged a slight warning in her brain, she peered over at Brienne who held herself similarly as she leaned forward in her saddle, urging the poor mount forward. As her eyes wearily scanned her surroundings, Karigan soon recognized that they were approaching tall dark shapes in the near distance and straightened a bit in the saddle. Trees could offer something of a wind block and a reprieve from the snow accumulation on the open roads.

Her breath drawing a bit short as they continued into the stand, she was a bit unsure of the time that passed as they trod along in silence. Her sluggish brain indicated to her that they had traveled a few hours into their haven, and slowly registered the fact that there were vaguely familiar buildings in her periphery. She made to speak to Brienne but no words were forthcoming as her lips moved in silence. Her own movements felt heavy and cumbersome, as she reached out a hand towards her Weapon, a small part of her brain panicking as the edges of her vision turned black.

Brienne peered at the young queen as she swayed in the saddle and leapt from her own mount when Karigan suddenly slid sideways off of Condor, into the snow and remained motionless.

I referenced a particular map that a fan had made. So as I write, that is what I go by. It might be wrong but I needed something to track progress on. For someone of Karigan's build and athletic level, her body gets cold fast thus her rapid health decline is not unheard of. Building for better times and more levity (see what I did there Ms Urania ;) in the next few chapters.