I hope you have been liking the story! Did any of you place the reference to season one episode six, High Seas? It was the way Tony gave Kate directions around the castle.

-owl

"That letter you got, when we returned home from Eareg," Ziva asked. "Did it say when in the day Empress Hetty was planning on arriving?"

"No, it didn't," Tony answered, picking up the letter from the table in front of him. "Though I would think that they would be here before dark."

Ziva set down the arrow she was working on and picked up another one. "That makes sense. Are the rooms for them ready? Is there going to be enough room in the stables for their horses as well? Father and Mother's horses fill it more than I would have thought."

Tony nodded. "Yes, the rooms are ready. The stables might be full for the next few days, though I can't imagine that there wouldn't be enough room."

Ziva didn't get the opportunity to respond before there was a knock on the door. Tony nodded in agreement, and Ziva called out, "enter!"

Gibbs walked into Tony's office, a small smile on his face. "Good morning, Ziva, Tony," he greeted them.

Ziva smiled, happy to see her father. "Morning. What are you planning on doing today?" she asked him.

"I was thinking that we could go out for a ride, catch up. It's been too long since we've spent time together."

"Go ahead," Tony put in, standing up and pulling Ziva up with him. "There isn't anything major that needs to get done today, and if something comes up, I can deal with it."

"Alright," Ziva said, nodding. "I just need to go get my cloak and scarf."

Gibbs nodded and the father daughter pair left the room together, leaving Tony to do whatever needed to be done.

Ten minutes later, Ziva met her father in the stables, where he had two horses saddled up. Her black stallion and one of the horses that had pulled the Meadth carriage. Gibbs had put on a thick cloak, with the Meadth crest on the back, on since he had separated from Ziva. Ziva herself was in her cloak, scarf, trousers, shirt, boots, and gloves. She had also grabbed her bow, which was on her back.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked.

She nodded and mounted her horse in one graceful movement. Her father followed suit and they left the courtyard side by side. As they passed through the town, the children waved at them in between throwing snowballs at each other. The adults bowed or curtsied.

No new snow had fallen since Gibbs and the others had arrived, so the pair rode in the wheel tracks from the carriage. They rode in silence for a while. That was one thing that Ziva and Gibbs were always able to do, be together and not need to worry about talking.

"I heard you were the one to stop the siege of Investigatii." Her father said out of nowhere.

She nodded. "Yes, I went through tunnels that are underneath the castle and took King Fornell hostage."

"I bet Fornell was surprised to see you," Gibbs said, chuckling.

Ziva laughed as well. "Yeah. He was."

"How did it go getting a treaty signed?" He then asked.

"Not too bad," she answered. "We found out that Tony's father owed Investigatii a large sum of money, and had told no one."

"What did you guys do about that?"

Ziva gestured to the forest around them, where the outside edge of the Investigatii camp during the siege had been. "So much of our land was damaged during the war, as almost the entirety of the war was fought here. We came to an agreement that they would not need to pay reparations in return for the debt from King Anthony II to be forgiven."

Gibbs was going to answer when a squirrel skittered across the snow in front of them. Ziva whipped out her bow and nocked an arrow. Taking barely three seconds to aim, she loosed the arrow and it struck true, killing the small animal.

Half an hour later, Ziva and Gibbs were sitting around a small fire, roasting the squirrel. It was good timing, too, as it was noon. Father and daughter shared the meal before riding back to the castle.

Operacje had not arrived yet.

After eating dinner with her family, Ziva excused herself to see if Operacje had arrived yet. The courtyard was empty, and the stables were full from the DiNozzo and Meadth horses. Operacje still had not arrived.

Ziva was starting to get worried. The Operacje delegation was supposed to have arrived by now. As it stood, it was after dusk and they were nowhere to be seen. She was standing on her balcony, much like two days prior, when waiting for her parents and sister. As she stood, watching, a tiny light appeared in the distance.

Over the course of an hour, it got bigger and bigger, until Ziva could tell that it was a lantern on a carriage. As it continued to get closer, she could see that it was indeed a carriage. In fact, there were at least three people who were riding on horseback rather than in the carriage.

Once they were close enough to the lower town, Ziva went out to the courtyard to wait for them. She also sent a runner to the guards at the gate to the town so they would know to let the Operacja delegation pass.

Their carriage was pulled by seven horses, the one in the lead with a more ornate bridle and harness. Duchess Kensi, Earl Sam and Sir Callen were on horseback, bundled up tightly in cloaks and scarves. Kensi grinned as she dismounted.

"Ziva!" she greeted, pulling her in for a hug.

"I'm sorry we're so late," Callen put in, bowing to her. "Hetty decided that she needed a cup of tea, and we had to stop for that. Then as we got closer to the town, the coachman got lost."

"It is alright, Sir Callen," Ziva reassured him.

No one else said anything before the coachman opened the carriage and Ziva got a glimpse of Empress Hetty sitting facing the front of the carriage, draped in furs. A cup, presumably full of tea, was in her hands. Then Ziva's view of Hetty was obstructed by Prince Consort Eric and Duke Deeks exiting the carriage.

They then helped Princess Nell, and a woman Ziva had never seen, but knew had to be Countess Michelle. Then Hetty got out of the carriage and curtsied to Ziva.

Ziva curtsied back and turned to the coachman. "There are stable boys who you can have help you unharness the horses and move the carriage."

The coachman nodded and left the group.

Then Ziva turned back to her guests. "Let us all go inside and you can settle into your rooms."