Hi! I hope you've been liking the story! Did you guys catch my reference to the episode Dog Tags? There is another reference in this chapter to an episode, in season ten, I think (I can't remember the episode). Let me know what you think!

-owl

The previous night, Ziva had been talking to Tony about the dog that had gotten into the castle. She had laughed when he told her that Timothy was going to keep it and give it to Abby for a Christmas present. Speaking of Christmas presents, with today being Tony's day to talk to petitioners alone, she had the entire day to herself, and she was going to figure out a Christmas present for Tony.

"Ziva?" Abby's voice came through the door along with her knocking on it. "Can I come in?"

"Sure Abby," Ziva said, setting down her brush on the table in front of her.

"Are you excited for the party?" her sister asked after entering and closing the door behind her. "I was thinking that you should go down to the treasury and find a new necklace to wear for it."

Ziva shrugged. "I guess so, Tony did say I could use whatever I wanted to from there. Do you want to come with me?"

Abby grinned. "Of course!"

Ziva smiled at the enthusiasm of her sister, and, grabbing the key to the vault from the box where Tony kept it, followed her sister from the room. After that, though, Ziva led, and the pair went down three flights of stairs, across the castle from the north end to the south end and down another staircase to get to the treasury.

There were two guards standing outside the vault, spears in hand. They turned towards Ziva and Abby when they approached, but recognized their queen and didn't say anything. Ziva unlocked the door and she and Abby entered.

Inside the vault were piles of gold coins and various jewels along the walls and in the center. There wasn't much space to walk between the treasures. There were also shelves that held jewelry of all sorts, bracelets, brooches, necklaces, rings, circlets, and crowns. They were forged from gold and silver, had diamonds and sapphires and emeralds set in them.

"What are you going to wear?" Abby asked, peering closely at the shelves of jewelry. "What about this one?"

Ziva looked to where her sister was pointing. It was a simpler necklace, gold with deep green emeralds hanging off of it in golden settings. "It is certainly ornate. But I do not think that it is the style I am thinking of for the party."

Abby nodded. "Ok, so are you thinking of a different gem, or a different metal, or just less ornate in general?"

"I think I want something a little simpler, maybe a bracelet instead. Are there any sets of bracelets and crowns around here?"

Together the sisters turned and began to dig through the jewelry to find a crown and matching bracelet. They found things in every color combination and embellishment level. For nearly ten minutes they searched, until Abby finally held up a crown at the same time Ziva held up a bracelet that happened to match each other.

They were made of silver, and embedded with blue diamonds and pale sapphires. The crown was not large, in all fairness, it was more of a tiara. The silver was molded in a way that it looked like it was made of ice, and the blue stones helped that affect. The bracelet, meanwhile, was a cuff bracelet, with points on each end that stretched to nearly the middle of Ziva's hand and halfway to her elbow when worn.

"What do you think of this combination, Abby?" Ziva asked, modeling both pieces of jewelry.

Abby nodded enthusiastically, I think that it's great! You look so pretty in them, now you just need to wear a dress to match them!"

Ziva chuckled as she turned around from her sister, just to see what else was in the vault, as she had only been in there once before. "I should have a light blue dress, Abby. Do not worry." She then turned back to the treasures.

Then a glint of gold, duller than most of the shine of the treasure in the vault caught her eye. "What is that one, Abby?" she asked, pointing at the dull glimmer. "The one with the duller shine? I think it is a ring."

Abby looked where Ziva was pointing and picked up a ring made of gold, no gems or anything extra in it. "This one?" Abby responded, handing it to Ziva.

Taking hold of it, Ziva could feel that the metal had been worn often for a very long time. The edges were worn down and it seemed to have wax stuck to it. Taking a closer look, Ziva saw the leaping fox crest of the country. This was the ring that had gone missing during Anthony senior's reign!

Tony had recently been talking about the original ring of DiNozzo. Basically the seal of the country was embossed into a golden ring that had been forged for the first king of DiNozzo, Tony's great (to some degree) grandfather, King Aurelius. However, when Anthony senior was on the throne, it had mysteriously gone missing, and a new one had been made, this time out of silver and embedded with topazes.

Tony always wore the silver ring, though often lamented that he never got the golden one. At least now he would.

"Do you know what this is?" Ziva asked, holding the ring so Abby could see it better. When she shook her head in response, Ziva continued. "This is the original signet ring from way up Tony's family tree. It went missing while Tony's father was on the throne."

Abby's eyes widened. "Really? I thought that he had a signet ring."

Ziva nodded. "Yes, but it is a replacement, made of silver and with different embellishments."

"Are you going to give it back to him?"

Ziva nodded. "Yes, though it might be my Christmas present for him. At this point I think that he has given up ever finding it, so it will be a good surprise for him."

Abby grinned. I bet he'll love it."