The council room was eerily quiet as Sylvi entered. The feeling of all eyes on her was unsettling, but she drew herself up to full height before challenging the council members with her gaze. Lord Hightower met her gaze with a cold fury. The energy of the room made her feel relieved that she had left Kodlak with Farkas and Vilkas at the inn and sent Onmund to meet up with Serana and Marcurio. If things didn't go well, then they may need to leave in a hurry.

"So… Do you have something that you would like to share with the council?" Lord Hightower asked with disappointment and contempt clearly in his tone.

Aegon and Aemond watched her with curiosity. Lord Hightower had clearly not shared his information with his grandsons. Sylvi's eyes landed onto Lord Greyjoy. As he met her eyes, he tried to hide his smirk.

"I believe that Lord Greyjoy has already shared his report with you. I have no intention of playing this game. If you have an accusation against me, then speak up," Sylvi answered with a glare at the lords.

"A 'game'?! You allowed the son of our enemy to escape!"

"So that he could share news of the Thalmor with his mother," Sylvi replied in an even tone.

"Have you forgotten about their plot to harm… to kill the King's children?!"

"That would be difficult to forget… as I was the one who saved them."

Lord Hightower glared at her wordlessly for a moment before he retorted, "I could have you jailed for conspiring with the enemy."

"You could certainly try," Sylvi warned him. "As I have done nothing wrong if you try to jail me or my companions, then I will consider that as severance of my service… And I will act accordingly."

"Is that a threat?!"

"Only if you make it so."

Aegon quickly stood from his chair and said, "That is enough, Lord Hightower. If Sylvi believes that this was the right decision, then I will stand by her. The Thalmor have attacked my castle with dragons! We cannot fight two armies at once. Especially not one armed with dragons and magic."

The rest of the council murmured amongst themselves, but most seemed to be in agreement with Aegon. Lord Hightower threw Sylvi a scathing look before bowing his head to Aegon. As the mood of the room became lighter, Sylvi turned to check on Aemond. He was staring off into the distance, trapped deep in thought. After clearing her throat, Sylvi shared her story from the time they left Kings Landing to when she had returned. Lord Hightower's eyes narrowed as she spoke of sending Jaecaerys to his mother in the hope of gaining a momentary truce. As she finished, Aegon once again rose from his seat.

"Well done. We have much to consider. The council will meet again tomorrow to discuss our next steps," Aegon ordered with a calm air of confidence that surprised Sylvi.

The council members slowly trickled out of the room as Aegon gestured for her to come closer. Sylvi passed Lord Hightower, who gave her a look of scathing fury before leaving the room. Aegon put a hand on her shoulder.

"I did well, did I not?" Aegon asked with eyes clearly begging for praise.

Sylvi put a hand on his and replied, "Truly a sight to behold. Has Marcurio been giving you speaking lessons?"

"Yes and Serana. Speaking of…" Aegon checked the room to make sure that it was only them and Aemond left in the room. "She's quite…"

"Pretty?"

"Scary actually," Aegon whispered, giving Sylvi a look. "Even Ser Cristen's lessons were more gentle, and his lessons were taught with a sword."

Sylvi laughed and said, "But you learned well. Well done, Your Highness."

Aegon looked quite pleased with himself, and Sylvi turned to Aemond to see him watching her thoughtfully.

"My sister may only settle for peace if my head is the offering," Aemond said quietly from his seat.

"No," Sylvi said firmly. "That will not be a part of the deal. I will meet with her to discuss her terms, but that will not be on the table. And I will go alone."

Aegon and Aemond immediately started to argue with her about her going alone, and Sylvi waited for them to calm down.

"I am her son's rescuer. Hopefully, Jaecaerys put in a good word for me… Who else would you send? Ser Cole? Lord Hightower? No. I have ties to both parties, and Cannibal can take me to Dragonstone quickly. Marcurio, Onmund, and Serana can protect you and Helaena until I return. As for Vilkas, Farkas, and Kodlak… they can wait at the inn until I return."

"Who?" Aegon asked with a raised brow.

"Vilkas and Farkas are my shield-brothers. Kodlak…" Sylvi dropped her voice to a whisper and continued, "Kodlak is a boy I found with Jaecaerys. The Thalmor were using him for experimentation. I left him with the twins as I doubt that he would be comfortable here."

"Why would you think that?" Aegon asked defensively.

"Because your grandfather wouldn't take kindly to an Altmer boy in the castle. He would probably accuse the poor boy of being a Thalmor spy."

Neither Aegon nor Aemond had a retort for her words. The door opened, causing the three of them to flinch. Serana led Onmund and Helaena into the room. Sylvi ran to embrace Serana, overjoyed at the sight of color being back in her friend's face.

Helaena caught the end of Sylvi's sleeve. She welcomed Sylvi back as Serana pulled away from the hug. Feeling a judgemental look being thrown her way, Sylvi looked to the door to see Marcurio leaned against the now closed door. Now that they were alone, Sylvi quickly explained what had happened and her plan.

"I will go with you," Serana quickly said, less as an option and more as a statement of fact.

"I need you to stay here and protect Helaena. Assassins have already been sent for her once… and we look similar enough that the sight of you may give an attacker pause."

"It certainly should… then will you be taking Onmund or the twins?"

"The twins should stay with Kodlak… and Onmund, you have the best restoration magic. That would be more useful here if something happened."

"So it's up to me, is it?" Marcurio asked with an air of confidence. "Well, I can't say that I didn't expect you to come crawling ba–"

"Marcurio, you will stay with King Aegon. I will be traveling alone," Sylvi said and watched as the group tried to argue with her, and Marcurio looked put out. "I have the best sneaking skills out of all of us. If things don't go well, I can escape and hide. Aside from that, I will have Cannibal the dragon with me. I should be fine. Hopefully, there will be a message sent for me soon–"

"Quite the ego," Marcurio muttered. "To think a 'Queen' will send a letter for you specifically."

"I did save her son. And as for ego… you have me beat on that."

Marcurio rolled his eyes but couldn't hold back a smile. Helaena excused herself to check on her mother and the children, and Serana followed behind her. Onmund and Marcurio excused themselves to go talk with Farkas and Vilkas and share the information. As they left, Sylvi turned back to Aegon and Aemond.

"Could I speak with you… alone?" Aemond asked, and Aegon gave him an angry look.

"About what?!" Aegon asked.

"Yes, of course. We'll be back in a moment, Your Highness."

Aegon bristled as Sylvi led Aemond out of the room and into a storage room. Aemond followed her with a glance behind him to check to make sure no one had followed before he closed the door. Looking down at the floor, Aemond seemed to struggle with finding the words he wanted to say. Sylvi took a seat on a stool and waited patiently.

"I… It was an accident… what happened to Lucerys, but I'm still responsible. So if…"

"Come here, Aemond," Sylvi said, patting a nearby box. After Aemond awkwardly took a seat, Sylvi said with a sigh, "People aren't perfect. We all make mistakes. Some bigger than others. You let your emotions get to you, and someone died as a result… But did you learn from it? If you could go back and change your actions, would you?"

"Yes," Aemond whispered quietly. "I would."

"Regret is a powerful thing… It can either make you a better person or a worse one. I… Did you wonder why they accepted the fact that I could sneak in and out of a highly guarded castle so easily?"

"No… they are your companions. They would know your strengths."

"Yes… And they would know that I have a title that I left unmentioned to your council. Among many things, I am the Guildmaster of the Thieves Guild." Sylvi paused to look at Aemond's shocked face. "Yes, I was, and still am, a common thief. It's how I survived after my parents were killed, so I feel no shame for it. The world is cruel and cares for no one. People you trust can betray you, and people you love could die in front of you. However… I don't believe that people are simply good or bad based on a single deed. Everyone has their motivations, and sometimes our wants and emotions get the better of us. You did a bad thing, but you are not a bad person."

"And how do you know that?" Aemond asked with his head in his hands.

"Because you regret your actions. Because you wish to be atone and protect your family. My advice to you is remember your past, retain hope for the future, but remain in the present. There's nothing to be gained from staying stuck in your mistakes."

Aemond looked at her with a reluctant smile and said, "That's a lot of wisdom from 'a common thief.'"

"Well, one of the things I tend to steal are books," Sylvi admitted with a smile. "I even built myself a library for my horde of knowledge."

Aemond chuckled and hesitated for a moment. "Do you… Do you have any plans for after you defeat the Thalmor?"

"Go home to Skyrim," Sylvi said with a smile. "I have quite a lot to do. I was rebuilding the houses in Winterhold. Most of the town had been destroyed in an incident years back… It was blamed on the College, so as Archmage I felt a duty to rebuild the town… Plus they don't have a forge which is very inconvenient for me… Also restoring the Thieves Guild to its earlier glory. If I see Brynjolf peddling that stupid Falmer elixir ever again…"

"Who?"

"Brynjolf takes care of the Thieves Guild while I'm away. He's my right-hand man. Couldn't do it without him. Although… he needs to stop promising to teach Samuel 'tricks of the trade' ot I'm going to fight him in the middle of the Ratways."

Aemond was quiet and then asked, "Is Samuel one of your children?"

"Yes," Sylvi said with a proud smile. "He was the ringleader of the children in the Honorhall Orphanage, which is why I let him and Hroar stay in the Riften house. They already knew the town, and they can still visit the orphanage."

Aemond nodded and looked at her with a smile of his own. "What about the others? I believe Aegon said you have eight children."

"Yes. Samuel might grow up to be a troublemaker… He seems a little too interested in the thieves guild. Hroar… He's a very straight-forward boy. It's always fun to watch him try to help the court wizard keep track of her things. There's also Alesan. He's going to be quite the fighter when he grows up. His eyes lit up when I got him and Blaise wooden swords to play with, but Blaise seems more interested in making swords than using them. Everytime I visit I always catch him watching Beirand at the forge. Runa also loves learning how to fight, but she is a Nord after all. Sissel is going to be an excellent mage. When she gets a little older, I'll see if she wants to learn at the College. And my dear Sofie knows all about flowers. I'm thinking about seeing if Arcadia will teach her alchemy. And Lucia… I'll probably give her the farm when she gets older. I took her there once, and she's been asking to go back ever since… Sometimes though, I feel like I'm not doing enough for them. I adventure a lot, and most of the time my housecarls are doing the work of raising them. And even when I'm visiting one group, I know that there are six other children that I'm not with."

"My father didn't bother to learn anything about me… or Aegon or Helaena. He was so obsessed with Old Valyria and where we came from… He couldn't have told as much about three of his children that you told me about eight. I think that you're probably doing just fine. Better than an orphanage at least."

Sylvi sighed and said, "Constance has quite a lot to deal with at the orphanage. There were even more children left without parents after the war. That was probably the reason that they allowed me to adopt so many children… Well, me being a war hero and the Dragonborn probably didn't hurt. Thank you, Aemond."

"For what?"

"For listening," Sylvi replied with a chuckle. "I don't often get to talk about my kids like this."

"Then thank you as well. For listening."

"No problem at all… We should probably go check on Aegon. Who knows what trouble he's already gotten into."

Aemond smirked at that and stood up. He offered Sylvi a hand, which she took, and they left to find the King.

Author's note: Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. My landlord is selling the house I'm living in, so I'm looking for a new place to rent. So unfortunately, new chapters are going to be a bit sparse until I get a new place. Thanks for reading!