Of all the chapter names for this story, I think this one was the first I came up with. Is it really dumb? Yes. Do I care about that? No.
For whatever reason, this chapter was a really hard one to write, and it honestly ended up as more of a filler chapter than I had been hoping for. One other interesting piece of information is that, when researching for this chapter, I learned McGee's mother is never named in the show. As such she has now been given a name for the sake of this story.
We get a teeny tiny bit of Hetty lore here, which probably won't ever be touched upon again. Oh well.
A coronet is a small, simple crown.
-owl
Kensi
Kensi was glad when she rode through the gates of McGee Manor. The journey had taken a little over a day and she was ready to be done. When she arrived in the front of the manor, she was greeted by a man and a woman. The man was tall, and the woman only came up to his shoulders. They both wore expensive clothes and could only be Tim's parents, Lord and Lady McGee.
Dismounting, Kensi offered them a shallow curtsy. "I am Duchess Kensi of Bly, in Operacje. I have a letter for you from your son."
Lord McGee stepped forward and took the letter from Kensi. He began to read it.
Lady McGee also stepped forward. "It is very nice to meet you, Duchess," she said, dropping into a low curtsy. I am Lady Anna McGee. My husband is Lord John McGee."
"If I'm reading this right," Lord McGee broke into the conversation. "You need a place to stay for two days to keep ArchDuke Granger away from you, because he thinks you killed someone?"
Kensi nodded. "Yes. If you would be willing to let me stay here, I could never thank you enough."
Lady McGee smiled. "We'd be more than willing to allow you to stay. Why don't you come inside!"
Kensi was given a nice room with a view of the front of the estate. It was nowhere near as large as her and Deeks' room at home, or even the one they were placed in while visiting DiNozzo. That wasn't a problem, of course, as growing up, even as the daughter of a wealthy merchant, she had never had too much space to herself.
She was happy that Tim's parents had welcomed her into their home so easily. Or, at least, Lady McGee had. Lord McGee was amicable enough, though not truly friendly. Tim's mother had seemed ecstatic that there was someone for her to dote on.
The two days passed slowly. There wasn't much for her to do. In the mornings Kensi made use of the library of McGee Manor, getting the opportunity to read for pleasure for the first time in a while. Lady McGee would often sit with her, doing cross-stitch silently.
The afternoons Kensi would take her sword and run through her forms. She didn't come so close to being champion of day one of the tournament without practice, afterall. Though she got some odd looks by some of the guards, no one deterred her from practicing.
Meal times were odd. Kensi was used to a very calm, low stress meal environment. Of course, that was not the case here. The Lord and Lady of McGee Dominion were very formal, and were probably worse with Kensi there. They sat at either end of the dinning table, and Kensi sat in the middle.
The morning Kensi had to leave, Lady McGee was sad to see her go. The older woman had grown attached, while Lord McGee had not made any sort of attempt to get closer with the foreign duchess throughout her time there. Either way, they both waved her off as Kensi left the manor house.
Upon her return to DiNozzo castle, Kensi was shepherded directly to the royal treasury to meet with Tony and Ziva. The treasury was filled with 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.
Tony and Ziva were in the (somewhat) middle of the room, where a table sat, half covered with stacks upon stacks of coin. The other half of the table had a chest sitting on it. It looked old and some of the boards had copious amounts of mold on them. A chain was wrapped tightly around it, a lock preventing it from unwrapping and allowing the chest to open.
"Hello, Kensi," Ziva said, looking up when she entered.
Kensi grinned. "Hey, Ziva, Tony. What are you two up to?"
Tony held up a handful of keys. "We're trying to find a key for this damn lock. We've tried nearly every key in this room at this point."
"How did the decoy ruse work?" Kensi asked.
Tony started cackling. "It worked better than you could have imagined!" Granger was none the wiser, and I found him snooping in the castle so I had a reason to ban him from the country for the rest of his life…"
Ziva hit Tony on his shoulder. "I know you are thrilled with that, but honestly, Tony, I am sure Kensi is more focused on the plans for her."
"Is there anything else I need to know?"
"Not really." Ziva shook her head. "You will stay here, in your and Deeks' room, while Earl Adam and Countess Kono work with Deeks to clear your name, as planned before you went off to the manor."
Kensi nodded, turning to leave the treasury. As she did so her eye caught on a shelf right beside the door. She approached it, reaching out. There was a coronet forged from gold sitting there, one that looked vaguely familiar. When she picked it up, Kensi gasped.
"What?" Tony asked, moving to stand beside her.
"This is the crown that Nell told me went missing during her grandfather's reign!" Kensi exclaimed. "Nell says the story goes that his queen wore it all the time. One night it went missing, and hasn't been seen since. I've only ever seen it in the painting of Emperor Lange and Empress Henrietta, who Nell's mother was named after."
"Well," Ziva said, continuing to root through the pile of keys that was on the table in front of her, "We know that your father and grandfather were not the most honest."
Tony sighed. "You're not wrong." He turned to face Kensi fully. "When you go home, please, bring it with you."
Kensi nodded. "Ok. Oh! There was a key on that shelf as well!" She handed the new key to Tony.
As she walked down the hall and towards the upper levels Kensi heard a shout of joy from the treasury.
"That was it! Finally!"