"Thank you both for coming. It... means a lot to us." Salem smiled.

Blake shrugged. "You needed help. We aren't going to just say no for no reason, Salem."

"I do not know if I can assist, but I will do my best!" Penny nodded with a smile, and they were led through the door into the room. Veve was there, leaning over a table with a map of the area spread across it. Guards came and went, depositing and rearranging reports by some system Blake couldn't immediately identify.

It took a moment for Veve to look up, and when she did her eyebrows rose. "Blake. It's good to see you again. And this is... Penny, correct?"

"Correct! Can you direct me to your incident reports? I will require data to perform analysis."

Veve gestured to the pile of papers. "They're here. Mostly sorted by date, although not perfectly." As Penny moved towards the stack, the elder princess turned fully to face Blake. Her face was drawn, and there were dark circles under her eyes that made Blake inwardly cringe. "Blake. I... thank you. For coming back, and supporting us like this, considering the W - the circumstances."

Blake just barely let out a sigh, then smiled. If there was a twinge of sadness to the smile... nobody commented. "Both of you helped me, when I needed it. You didn't ask for much in return - but that doesn't mean I'm not going to be here when you need me."

Salem gently touched her sister's shoulder, and the weight pressing down on Veve seemed to lessen a bit.

"The dates on these reports... How quickly does news travel from the Watchtowers?" Penny's voice interrupted them, and they spread around the table.

"It depends. Typically we receive a report once per week, unless something major happens. Why do you ask?" Veve stepped closer, reading over Penny's shoulder with a frown.

"These times... so many Watchtowers stopped reporting in close succession. The interval of reports determines several things."

"Such as?"

Penny's eyes flicked rapidly across the papers. "Please wait. I am correlating reports. Any conclusions I drew now would be guesswork!"

When they turned to her, Blake merely shrugged. "She knows what she's doing. I trust her completely."

After a moment, Veve nodded. "Fair enough. How long do you think it will take her?"

Blake approached the map, leaning down and examining the marks on it. "Hard to say. Can you give me an overview of what's happening while she works? I have a bit of experience with... this sort of thing." For a moment, she remembered sitting in a White Fang encampment and listening to others plan.

Veve gestured at the table. "The only pattern we've identified is that they've targeted a large number of Watchtowers." The moment her sister spoke that word, Salem made eye contact with Blake. Her eyes were tight, and she frowned sharply - and a moment later, schooled her expression again. She found something. I'll have to talk to her soon. "There doesn't seem to be any correlation between which Watchtowers or when, as far as we can tell. Other than that, they've relied largely on raids - setting ambushes at Bridges and Waystations and striking when we're resupplying. They did a lot of damage before we had a chance to reinforce; it's been a long time since we had to actually defend them."

"Hmm... They're not targeting Watchtowers near their territory first?"

Veve shook her head. "Not as far as we can tell."

Blake drummed her gauntleted fingers against the table. According to the map, they'd lost visibility across large regions near Ciel - large numbers of Watchtowers that no longer reported in. "Have you ramped up how often the Watchtowers report in?"

Veve nodded. "Yes. Once we realized what was happening, we moved them to daily check-ins. There haven't been any losses since we did, but..."

"...but that's worrying on its own. Either they accomplished what they were aiming for and have a new goal in mind, or they somehow found out..." Blake chewed on her lip. These tactics... they're just like -

"I have come to a conclusion!" Penny nodded firmly. "If all the data is correct, the goal of the enemy has become clear to me!" As everyone turned to her, she stepped forward to the map and begin pointing out Towers. "The Towers are confusing because they are multiple different objectives. I believe some of them were attacked to limit visibility, while some were attacked for some unknown goal. Possibly to confuse and disorient the defenders, or to retrieve supplies or equipment, or another purpose."

Veve tapped her chin. "The Wilder we've confirmed encounters with were poorly equipped..."

"A question. How reliant on outside supplies is the city of Ciel?" Penny slowly traced a line on the map with her finger.

"You mean... food?" Salem was hesitant when she spoke, obviously deep in thought.

"Food, mineral resources, space. Anything that must be imported from outside the city!"

"Not very," Veve answered. "Most things can be produced here in one fashion or another... you're talking about a siege, aren't you?"

Penny nodded solemnly. "Removing visibility of the area would be useful for such a maneuver. However, if they have knowledge of the city, then another possibility exists: they may attempt a direct assault." As the princesses gave her incredulous looks, she noted the various destroyed towers on the map. "With such a wide-ranging fog of war, and with the tribes being nomadic in nature, it is entirely possible that they may quickly march a force directly to the city! This is especially likely if they know that Ciel is not reliant on outside materials."

Veve leaned over the table again, frowning. "...That makes a disturbing amount of sense. Damn. We'll have to step up patrols of the area, try to keep intelligence working... and shore up the defenses as well. I hadn't considered that they might attack the city, but with how brazen they've been so far... I'm sorry, but I have quite a bit of work ahead of me. I'll talk to you later? I'd like to meet your team at some point, Blake."

Blake nodded, and Penny smiled. "I hope you are successful in your defenses, princess Veve!"

The princess cracked a small smile. "Just Veve is fine. Thank you for your help."

As they turned to leave, the flow of guards and couriers increased significantly. Penny strode out through the door, but as Blake was about to follow a hand gently touched her arm.

Salem stood there, face drawn into a frown. "Blake. Um... tonight, would you keep me company? I have some work to do, and I'd like someone to... talk to."

Blake's eyebrow rose, but she nodded. "Of course, Salem."

"Um. Alone, if you could. I just... need someone I can trust." Her eyes flicked to her sister for just an instant, and Blake found herself with an odd, suspicious weight in her chest.

"Of course, Salem. Whatever you need."