*Drip* *Drip* *Drip*

Kay watched a small bucket catching a slow stream of water coming from the roof outside her cell. She had been stripped of her suit and was in a dark orange jumpsuit. She sighed softly then stood and walked to the bars. Opposite her, she could see two cells and a desk, the cell opposite her contained a small orange haired woman, also in a orange jumpsuit. She was lying on a bench, softly crying. The other cell lay empty.

At the desk, a woman in a red jacket sat reading a news paper, Kay could just make out its title and headline, "The Gloriana Times" and "President Kay Missing!". Above her, a sign hung from a pin, "GCPS Dove in Holding" was stenciled on it.

Kay bent down, and picked up a small stone, before throwing it at Pekoe. "Psst... Pekoe!" Kay tried to be subtle.

The guard looked up from her paper, glared at Kay, then back down.

"Psst! Pekoe!" Kay said, slightly louder.

Pekoe looked up at her, softly wiping a tear away. The guard also looked up and shouted "For goodness sake, you are allowed to talk you know... We're not monsters in here" before returning to her paper, "great, now i've lost my place" she chuntered.

"Oh" Kay said. "I'm sorry Pekoe" She continued.

"No, i'm sorry Kay, I overreacted" Pekoe replied, slowly sitting up.

"Well, I guess we're in for the long haul" Kay joked, trying to lighten the mood.

*Clunk*

Everyone turned to look at entrance to the cell block.

"I TOLD YOU IM INNOCENT" A woman shouted as she was being dragged in by two security officers, "Just you wait until Kay hears about this!"

"Prisoner 47 being checked in to cell three" one of the officers calmly said, as the other lead the woman to the spare cell, before putting her inside.

"Name, Arisa. Charges, Espionage and damage to public property" The guard said, bending over to sign the documents.

Kay looked at Arisa, who's face turned white as a sheet. "What did you do Arisa?".

Arisa panicked, stumbling for words. The guard stood up from signing documents, chuckling, "Turns out your secret service, ain't so secret, she was caught trying to hop the prison wall, after getting stuck on the fence!" The three guards laughed, as Arisa turned bright red, Pekoe covered her mouth trying to hide her laughter as well.

"Could this day get any worse" Kay muttered to herself, resting her head on her hands as she sat back down on the bench in her cell.

"Rosehip here to see Kay!" a cheery voice echoed down the corridor. A Woman with crimson red hair appeared at the bars of Kays cell, she wore a dark brown suit and a pair of glasses. In her hand a small briefcase overflowing with documents. The guard followed closely behind, "Looks like you have a visitor Kay", she said unlocking the cell, "Meeting room A" she said, leading the two of them down the corridor.

They entered a small tiled room, in the middle was a steel table, three chairs sat dotted around it, in one was Assam, Kay and Rosehip took the other two.

"I feel, I should explain why i'm here" Assam said, pulling out a small stack of documents. Rosehip fumbled trying to open her briefcase, spilling her documents and laptop onto the floor. Assam placed her hand on her forehead, as Rosehip tried to get her things together.

Several pages were visible to the whole room, with guides on how to question someone, hastily scribbled translations of law jargon, and a small good luck letter from her mum, advising how proud she was to hear she was becoming a lawyer.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed, finally sitting back up. Kay had a clear look of panic on her face.

"I'm Assam, head of Gloriana's intelligence services and GCPS, Gloriana Central Police Services" Assam calmly said.

"Ok, but why is Rosehip here?" Kay replied, slowly picking up a cup of water that had been placed in front of her.

"Allow me to explain!" Rosehip exclaimed.

"I'm your publicly appointed lawyer!" She beamed. She pulled out a small card and handed it to Kay, on it was a photograph of Rosehip, and her name followed by an assortment of letters. "grand treason is a helluva offence and everyone else didn't want to do it!" Rosehip continued.

Kay looked up from the card at Rosehip, "Rosehip, Hon Dr Bar Tea..." Kay said with confusion. "What do the letters mean?"

Rosehip chuckled "I've no idea, I saw them online and all the lawyers had them!" She smiled "and the tea bit is because I'm a member of the Tea Club!"

"Oh god" Kay let her head fall to the desk with a thump. "Have you ever even worked a case before?" kay mumbled through the desk.

"Well..." Rosehip thought, flicking through her documents "Teeee-chnically... No." Rosehip, twisted her hands together uncomfortably, "Psst... Assam!" she whispered. Assam looked up from her keyboard, "My laptops dead and I forgot my pen, can I borrow a pencil?"

"I'm screwed" Kay mumbled through the desk.

In a small adjoining room, Darjeeling sat, looking through a small one way mirror, Pekoe next to her.

"Don't you think this is a bit harsh?" Pekoe inquired, slowly tying her hair up, she was in her blue, ministerial suit.

"She wouldn't be honest unless she's scared" Darjeeling replied, between sips of tea. She was still in her hospital robes, an IV tower nearby. Next to her sat Naomi, Kay's secretary and vice president, sighing in disbelief. "I told her to be honest with you and now look what she's gotten herself into" Naomi apologetically said to Darjeeling. "I know, I know..." Darjeeling replied, "It's not your fault" She continued reassuringly, placing a hand on Naomi's shoulder. "Excellent acting by the way Pekoe" Darjeeling complimented her.

"Thank you ma'am", Pekoe said, sitting down. "Kay wasn't suspicious at all. When I was lead into the cells several hours after her, I thought she'd click. Though I was still terrified of what you'd do until i'd explained what happened".

Darjeeling chuckled. "I see Rosehip is playing her part well as well"

"Oh, she's not acting... she really wanted to be her lawyer..." Pekoe said, pouring a cup of tea.

"Ok, the sentence for Grand Treason is 76 years" Assam said handing a small book of Gloriana laws to Kay "now we can look to reduce your sentence, but you have to be honest with us" Assam said typing away on a small laptop. "What exactly happened on that day"

Kay looked at Assam, then Rosehip, who smiled back at her, giving her a small thumbs up below the desk, "With her as my lawyer, i'll need every break I can get" she thought to herself.

"Ok, I recall, that on the day of the final, as we were fleeing, we came away from Oarai, down a small dirt road..." She said pausing to think. "We saw her, at the side of that road, she was injured..."

"Ok" Assam nodded "Then what happened".

"I recognized her, as Rukuriri" Kay continued "We pulled her onto the jeep, and drove her back to our carrier, we cast off as soon as i was on board" Rosehip, furiously scribbled notes, looking over her glasses at the paper, her face in a wide smile.

"What happened to her?" Assam challenged.

"Well, we had refugees from other schools on there" Kay mulled slowly.

"Was Marie on there?" Assam interrupted.

"Yes!" Kay exclaimed "she said she was coming to your carrier as a hopping off point to get to hers!" Assam nodded slowly, tapping away at her keyboard. Rosehip was currently sharpening her pencil as she'd already managed to snap it.

"So what happened to Rukuriri?" Assam stopped typing.

"Marie offered to take her with her!" Kay looked Assam in the face "She swore she'd bring her home!" She pleaded.

"Then why did you say that in the corridor?" Assam challenged.

"She said that there had been an accident on the way back! That Rukuriri had been lost I swear" Tears were almost dripping from her eyes. Rosehip continued scribbling away.

"Hmm" Assam hummed softly, tapping away at her keyboard.

"She said, that her she couldn't find her!" Kay bawled. "I told her to deal with it and find her! I SWEAR!" Kay cried. "I know i've let you all down, but I swear I didn't do it on purpose!"

"Ok" Assam softly closed the screen of her laptop, "But why did you tell Pekoe it was state secrets?"

"I didnt want to let her down!" Kay pleaded, slamming her hands on the desk and knocking Rosehip's pencil on the floor. "I knew she'd be furious so I tried to hide it!"

"I'm Sorry!" Kay cried.

"Apology accepted" Kay jumped in a start. She turned to see Pekoe, Naomi and Darjeeling stood there, Naomi supporting Darjeelings arm.

"Assam, arrange for Kay to be moved to the Diplomatic suite, ensure she has a hot meal and some clean clothes". Assam nodded, before getting up and leaving the room.

"I saw it all Kay, I've known you long enough to tell when your lying and that wasnt lying" Darjeeling slowly walked towards her.

"Sorry for the show, your stubborn, I had to scare you to make you talk" she reached her arms out to Kay. Kay burst into more tears as she ran and hugged her.

"I'm sorry!"

"I know, I know" Darjeeling comforted her. "We're still allies and most of all, friends" Darjeeling said. "All i ask, is that you help me to get her back and defeat Kuromorimine and Pravda"

"Of course!" Kay said wiping a tear from her eye.

"I've arranged for Arisa to be sent home, she has spirit but needs more training" Darjeeling chuckled.

Rosehip sat there, confused, as Darjeeling, Kay, Pekoe and Naomi walked towards the door.

"Pekoe summon the BC Republique diplomats" Pekoe sprinted off ahead.

"Wait, so i'm not gonna be a lawyer?" Rosehip called, folding her arms on the desk placing her head on them, sighing softly.

"No, but your still the head of research and development" Darjeeling called back.

A beaming smiled returned to Rosehips face.

Darjeeling pulled out her phone and dialed. "Launch operation Excalibur" she calmly said, a nod of acknowledgement came from Naomi and Kay, bewilderment from Rosehip.