I hope you like this chapter! What did you guys think of the 'Newborn king' inspired chapters?

-owl

The next morning Ziva woke up with her hand hanging off the bed, holding Tony's. He had, at some point in the night, offered to take the floor as there wasn't enough room for both of them on the bed.

The sun was coming in through the tiny, grimy, and coated in frost window. Gently nudging Tony, Ziva sat up and began pulling on her furs. They needed to begin the journey back to the castle soon if they wanted to be able to get through the snow from the night before in a timely manner.

"Tony," Ziva asked. "We need to get up."

With a groan, Tony rolled over and looked into Ziva's eyes. "I know, Sweet Cheeks. If you go down to the stable and want to start getting the horses ready, I will get the men up and meet you down there."

"Ok, sounds good."

After wrapping herself in her cloak, Ziva exited the room and made her way through the tavern and to the stables where their horses were. They were huddled together, covered in snow. As Ziva began to brush the snow off of them, a group of kids came running up to her.

"Good morning, Your Majesty!" Edgar said, chorused by the three other children with him. "This is Mary, Helga, and Thomas. Can we help you get the horses ready?"

Ziva nodded. "Sure. I would not mind the help," she said as she let the kids closer to the horses.

As they removed the snow from the backs of the horses, they began a snowball fight with each other. They would scoop some of the snow off of the horses and throw it at the others. Meanwhile Ziva had gotten the first horse saddled and tied to the fence.

Eventually the snowball fight petered out and the kids returned home at the command of their mothers. As doors closed behind the children, Tony and Timothy joined Ziva. They were both in thick cloaks and had scarves wrapped around their heads.

"Goodmorning, Ziva," Timothy said as he and Tony began to help Ziva finish brushing the horses and getting them saddled up.

She nodded to him in greeting, though she didn't say anything and continued with her task.

The three of them worked in silence for ten or so minutes until the knights joined them. Then, finally, the last saddle was secured and they all mounted their respective horses. Some of the village people came out to see them off, but they left with little fanfare.

It had snowed quite a bit overnight, Ziva noted, and the roads were covered in nearly two feet of snow. The trees above them, when the road curved through forests, were weighed down by the weight of the snow, and occasionally a small animal would run across them and knock the snow down onto the group.

Because the snow was so deep, they rode single file, with Arthur in the front of the group. His horse was the largest so had the easiest time making a path through the snow. Following him in order was Tony, Timothy, Ziva, Favian, and Reynard bringing up the rear.

What had been a three hour journey for Ziva and the knights, and an almost four hour journey for Tony and Timothy, took the group of six nearly five hours until they reached the capital city. It was now noon, and it looked like it was going to snow again, dark clouds were on the horizon.

As the group dismounted and handed their reins to stable boys, Abby came running out of the castle towards them. She was wearing a black cloak, embroidered with roses and the crest of Meadth. It was a gift from their mother, when Abby got married.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" she exclaimed, crushing Ziva into a hug, nearly knocking her over. "Why are you so cold?" she added in shock as she stepped back from her sister.

"The wind was very strong today. We have also been riding for the last five hours, Abby." Ziva responded.

"... you three are free for the rest of the day thank you for volunteering to accompany Ziva," Timothy was telling the knights before he turned to Abby, Ziva, and Tony. "Was there any issues here, Abby?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, but a messenger from Operacje arrived today. The letter is in your office, Tony."

He nodded. "Thank you, Abby." Then, with a quick kiss for Ziva, he added. "I will go see to that now." As Tony walked towards the castle, Timothy broke away from the sisters in the direction of the stables, likely to check on the horses.

"So," Abby asked, as she and Ziva returned to the castle, "what did you end up doing in Eareg?"

"There was a pregnant woman who could have been carrying a challenger for Fornell's throne, someone had hired mercenaries to get the baby should it be a boy," Ziva said as she closed the door behind her.

Abby was in shock, it seemed. "What happened? Is she ok? Did she have the baby?"

"Calm down Abby," Ziva tried to appease her sister. "I killed the two men that were after her. Yes, she is fine, both her and her baby girl."

Abby nodded. "I'm glad everything worked out well."

Ziva smiled. "So am I."

That night Tony and Ziva took their supper in the outer area of their rooms. Abby and Timothy were spending their time together anyway, and it had been a long day. They ate in silence for a while before Tony broke it.

"So," he started, "the letter Abby said was in my office was the response from Operacje about the Christmas party. The whole group will be arriving, if they don't run into bad weather, they should be here on the fourteenth."

Ziva grinned. "I am happy their message finally got through, but did it say who 'everyone' is?"

"Empress Hetty, Princess Nell and her husband, the Duke and Duchess of Bly, the Earl and Countess of Hana and Sir Callen."

"It will be a true party, then."

Tony laughed. "That it will!"