I hope you've been enjoying this! I'm sad that there isn't snow yet where I live, though it is certainly cold enough for it.

-owl

Early the next morning, Ziva and the knights rode out of the village, their horses' hooves sending snow flying as they moved. Ziva was in the lead, Favian and Arthur side by side behind her. Behind them was Reynard, finishing the diamond formation.

They rode for nearly an hour in silence before they came to a tiny hut in a clearing. There were no windows, and the door was not a door but an animal skin draped over the opening. There was a well with crumbling stones, its bucket laying on its side with a dent next to it. As they slowed to take in the hut, Ziva heard a soft gasp from inside it.

"Hold him," Ziva said, dismounting and handing Favian the reins of her horse. "I think someone is inside." Favian nodded and took the horse's reins as Ziva approached the hut. Carefully she pulled the animal hide away from the entrance and entered the hut.

Though the sun was already nearly at its peak, inside was almost too dark for Ziva to be able to see anything. There was a scuttling sound from the corner, and Ziva looked in that direction blindly. After a few seconds her eyes had adjusted to the dark and she was able to see from the little light that came in from the cracks in the roof.

In the corner where Ziva had been looking was a girl that was maybe one or two years older than herself. She was wearing a dress that, while caked in mud and various debris from the forest, was a well made and expensive dress. And she was pregnant.

She had terror in her eyes as she stared up at Ziva. "Who are you?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"Queen Ziva of DiNozzo. Who are you and what are you doing here? Your dress betrays you as a woman of status."

"Lady Emma, Your Majesty. How did you find me?"

"The village Eareg found a body, from clues on it we were able to track you down."

Emma's face paled. "Jacob is dead! He was just trying to help me. He said there was a good midwife in Eareg, he was going to bring me to her."

"Ma'am?" Reynard's voice wafted through the walls. "It's starting to snow. We should be getting back to Eareg."

"The people who killed Jacob are going to get me!" Emma wailed. "I can't leave here."

Ziva nodded. "I am going to go talk to my knights, I will be right back." Once Emma nodded in agreement, Ziva exited the hut.

Indeed it was snowing, the flakes coming down thick and steady. The knights were still on their horses, waiting for Ziva.

"Who is in there, that you were talking to?" Favian asked.

"Lady Emma. She is pregnant and we are going to need a midwife. It sounds like there is a good one in Eareg. I want you three to return to the village, one of you will bring back the midwife. I will stay here with Emma. Leave my horse here."

Reynard nodded and once Favian had handed Ziva the reins of her horse, he led the way from the clearing, Favian and Arthur riding side by side behind him. Ziva watched as they rode, until they were swallowed by the gray brown hue of the leafless trees. Then she tied her horse to a tree and returned to Emma.

"Why are you in danger?" Ziva asked, sitting on the ground next to Emma.

"My father is said to be descended from the family that used to rule Investigatii. If I am to have a boy he can make a claim against King Fornell."

"Ah, that is definitely a reason to want to kidnap your baby."

Nearly three hours after Ziva had sent away the knights, the sound of hooves crunching through snow to the leaves beneath made itself known. Peering out of the doorframe, she saw Arthur approaching on his horse, the midwife sitting behind him.

"The midwife is here," Ziva announced to Emma.

"Well that's good, because I think the baby is coming now."

Ziva, after a second of pure panic, nodded and ushered the midwife into the hut and stepped outside to speak to Arthur. "What took so long?"

"We had to search the entirety of Eareg for the midwife. Once we found her we had to convince her that yes, she did need to come with one of us. She only relented when we told her it was an order from the queen."

"Was there a reason that she did not want to take the journey?"

Arthur shrugged. "I think that it was mostly because she is quite old. But, anyway, after she had agreed to come with me, it was slow going because of the snow."

Ziva nodded. "We might be getting company soon. It sounds like her child could challenge King Fornell for his rule. I want you to take your horse and keep a patrol on a perimeter. You will be the first line of defense."

"Alright." Arthur nodded and mounted his horse, riding off to start a perimeter.

Meanwhile Ziva grabbed her sword and bow from her horse and stood outside the door frame.

Ziva had slipped into an almost trance-like state, which she was broken out of as the sun was going down when she heard a horse scream. Immediately she nocked an arrow and scaled a tree. Looking down, she saw two men sneaking towards the hut carrying crossbows, behind them was Arthur, lying prone on the ground. Releasing the arrow, Ziva hit the smaller man right between his eyes.

The second man looked around and ducked behind a tree as his companion fell to the ground. While he tried another way to get to the hut, Ziva climbed down from the tree and shot an arrow at the second man. It missed, and he turned his crossbow towards her, letting loose an arrow of his own.

While it didn't hit Ziva, it did manage to catch the edge of her quiver and rip it from her. Her bow now useless, she tossed it aside and drew her sword. What was that old adage? Never bring a sword to a crossbow standoff? At this point Ziva didn't care, she didn't have an option anyway. It was either use her sword or die.

She tried a few times to get a hit on him, but he was able to dodge them. A gust of wind blew snow into their faces and Ziva's hood off of her head.

"You're a woman?!" The mercenary exclaimed. "I can't be bested by a woman!"

He continued to avoid most of Ziva's attacks, though she dodged his as well. At least until Ziva launched herself off of a downed tree trunk and the fight became a scuffle on the ground, both desperately trying to incapacitate the other. Then the cry of a newborn split the air and distranced the mercenary long enough for Ziva to grab her dagger from her waistband and stab the man through his heart.

His eyes grew huge, surprise filling them. A low gurgle escaped him, sounding suspiciously like a curse word before he dropped.

Pushing his body off of her, Ziva saw a paper drift down from the man's cloak. Opening it, she read a quick message that confirmed her suspicions that the men were trying to undermine King Fornell's sovereignty.

With that done, she ran over to where Arthur was laying. He was awake now, and seemed to have no lasting damage.

"What happened?" he asked, rubbing his head.

Pulling him up, Ziva answered quickly. "They knocked you out. I killed both men, and Emma has delivered her baby."

They approached the hut together, though only Ziva went in. "It is dusk," she said. "It is only going to get colder from here. We need to get back to Eareg."

"It's a girl," Emma said as she nodded and the midwife helped her to stand and exit the hut. When they were outside, Ziva saw that Arthur had tracked down his horse, and was already astride it. The midwife got on Arthur's horse again, and Ziva helped Emma and her baby to get on her own horse. Then she also mounted and the group of five people began the trek back to Eareg.

They did not make good time, the journey taking two hours as the snow kept coming. When they arrived in the village, they saw Tony and Timothy on horseback, talking to Favian and Reynard, both of whom were on foot, their swords in hand, bloody.

"Tony? What are you doing here?" Ziva asked as she approached them.

They both looked at her, Tony breaking out into a smile as he spoke. "We were worried about you. You had said, after all, that you would be back by noon today at the latest. When noon came and went with no sign of you Abby started freaking out, and we told her we'd come check on you. Then, when we arrived, the bandits we had been told about came back and we were able to get rid of them."

"Everything is as it should be here, then. Do you think we should stay the night here at this point, though?" Ziva asked Tony.

Tony looked up at the dark night sky. "As long as there is room for us, I think we should probably stay, we rode through a snowstorm on our way here anyway, and should let the horses rest."

Ziva nodded. "The room I have in the inn is small but I think that we should both be able to fit. Timothy can bed down with the knights."

Timothy shrugged. "Sounds like a plan."