Itana, capital city of Tisiano 18th August, 2014

Seventeen days in Tirisano, and Dru was already missing Rhy'Din with a passion. She missed the freedom to do what she liked, when she liked; to be able to walk down a street without having security pitch a fit; to be able to see Josh whenever she wanted or needed to. Thankfully, her uncle had taken her announcement on the evening of their arrival very seriously, and by the next morning, a sheaf of invitations had been delivered to the Stuarts' townhouse in Itana, the capital, ensuring that Josh would be present at every ceremonial and social occasion of the Tirisano season if he so chose. He and his brother and father had also been invited to a private dinner with herself and her uncle the very next evening, allowing them all time to hatch a plan to introduce the concept of a love match in the royal family to the public in a way they would enjoy and want to support.

Out of deference to the traditions they couldn't yet discard, Dru had reluctantly agreed to move Josh's ring to her right hand while she was in Tirisano this time, on the condition that she wouldn't have to when she returned at Christmas. Of course, as soon as the press realized they had a real, live romance going on under their noses, it would be harder to keep the Princess Royale's location in Rhy'Din a secret, but the royal palace in Itana had a very firm grip on the newspapers and magazines in their country. It wasn't so terrifying as it could have been.

What was terrifying was the understanding that today had the potential to be earth-shattering for the small principality. August 18th, Independence Day. The one year anniversary of the death of three members of the royal family and two innocent aides in an act of sabotage that had shocked the nation. The arguments had gone on long and hard over the safety of the remaining members of the monarchy, but Dru felt some satisfaction that she had won from a position of very little strength. Her uncle could easily have put his foot down and pulled rank; instead, he had ordered that the pre-parade security checks be double- and triple-checked, and had put her life squarely in the hands of the young woman who had been sent to Rhy'Din by Dru's own family to make sure she was safe up close and personally.

Dru didn't have the first idea who Shen Lei was, or why she was so trusted by the Grangers, but if she was good enough for Des and Jon, then she was good enough for the royal family of Tirisano. The older woman wasn't exactly the most social of people, but she had the ability to completely blend in, to go utterly unnoticed, and she had obviously impressed Xoren and the princess' personal security team above and beyond what was necessary.

As the correct hour of the parade approached, the royal guard was on high alert. The car the Prince himself would be traveling in had been replaced at the last moment; Dru's horse had been under close guard for four days and nights. The route had been swept multiple times, highly-trained soldiers in position everywhere, and even the people lining the route, on the road or in the houses, had been searched meticulously by stone-faced members of the Prince's personal guard.

None of this, however, could prevent the butterflies in Dru's stomach from making her queasy, keeping her from eating much at breakfast. She'd longed to call Josh this morning, just to hear his voice, but her schedule had not allowed time for her to have any kind of weakness. She waited in the private hall of the palace with Shen Lei, her ladies-maid - Iora - and three other silent members of security, listening to Xoren repeat her instructions in the event of an incident, fidgeting with the long skirt of her ceremonial gown.

Since she was going to be riding, it had been decided that she would be dressed traditionally, rather than contemporarily, and the dressmakers had been delighted to discover that the somewhat gawky teen who had left at Christmas had blossomed into a woman in just a few short months. Pink satin embroidered with golden sheaves of wheat fell heavily to the floor, awkward when she was on her feet, but beautifully draped on her horse. The neckline was of white and gold lace, and her hair had been swept back, a delicate tiara in place. As though the people needed reminding that she was their princess.

Though Shen Lei had objected to being made over, she, too, had been dressed for the occasion. Her own gown was considerably lighter, and far easier for her to move in. It also concealed two deadly sais, tucked into thigh sheaths she could access through hidden slits in the dress. She would have to be in the parade to stay close to Dru, and apparently had acquiesced to the condition of being dressed up only when someone had threatened to call Miranda's husband for his opinion.

A commotion at the far doors announced the arrival of His Serene Highness, Prince Julius, and his own aide and security team. Dru smiled at the sight of her uncle, turned out beautifully in his ceremonial uniform, dripping with gold braid, his sabre at his side. She had a feeling that, if his health had permitted, he would have been on horseback beside her this year. Perhaps that was why he had finally allowed her to win that argument.

He paused for just a moment to look her over, a faint smile on his face telling her all she needed to know - she was acceptable. "Well, come along," he declared, resuming his advance toward the courtyard, where horse and cars waited. "We're already close to running late, we can't keep the people waiting too long."

With help from Iora, Dru gathered her skirts and followed after him, suppressing her smirk at her uncle's implied insistence that he wasn't the reason they were in danger of being late to the parade. In the courtyard, as the Prince entered his car - custom-made and secretly reinforced with a certain amount of magic, so that the people would at least be able to see him as he drove by - she mounted her horse, a beautiful chestnut stallion she had named Thunder. Iora arranged the princess' skirts to disguise the sturdy boots on Dru's feet, draping the heavy satin over Thunder's rump to show off the beautiful embroidery to best effect.

Testing her seat, Dru looked around, assuring herself that Shen Lei was mounted close behind her, and that her uncle was comfortable in his specially built car. She could hear the sound of the crowds already, smiling to know that they seemed happy and comfortable, looking forward to the celebrations of the day. With the final checks done to everyone's satisfaction, Colonel Henry Varner - the man ultimately responsible for their security on a daily basis in the capital city - nodded to allow the gates to be opened.

Staring at her own personal death warrant was the most frightening thing Dru had ever done. But looking into the eyes of the man who held her life at his fingertips, she knew she was missing something. He wasn't a murderer, not at heart. So she did the bravest thing she had ever had to do. Gently, she raised her hand to the barrel of the antique pistol and stepped forward, setting it to the center of her forehead, all the while looking into the eyes of a man who had known her all her life.

"What have I done, Arthur?" she heard herself asking him very gently. "Why will killing me make everything all right again?"

There was a wildness to the man's eyes that she had never seen before, a wildness that flickered into a moment of actual fear when she put herself irrevocably in his hands. He stared at her, seemingly as shocked as she was, wetting his dry lips before answering her.

"Georgie," he croaked, and Dru was unsurprised to see tears in his eyes. She knew who Georgie was - his wife, who had died eighteen months ago, wasting away with a terminal illness in the hospital not so very far from where they stood. "My Georgie's gone. Didn't have the money for the medicines until it was too late. Your uncle wouldn't give me an advance to pay for it. I lost everything. I have to make it even."

Dru took a moment to absorb this. She highly doubted her uncle knew anything about this - requests for an advance on salary were decided by the housekeeper and the chief of staff here at the palace, not something to bother the Prince with. She felt her jaw set with a momentary flash of sympathetic anger. They had obviously not put a priority upon Arthur's request, and by doing so, could very easily have contributed to his wife's death. If she got out of this one, she promised herself she was going to have words with those responsible.

"How does this make it even, Arthur?" she asked, still quiet, still gentle, as though she were talking to a skittish horse that might bolt at any moment. "You've known me since I was a child. Do you really want to kill me?"

The man's expression crumpled. "Have to," he choked out painfully. "My Georgie, my Sean, both gone, because of your family. Only way to make it even is to take it all away from him, like he took it all away from me."

Sean ....Dru frowned for a moment, putting the name to a face. Arthur's son, Sean, whom he hadn't talked about for over a year. What was she missing here" "What happened to Sean, Arthur?" she inquired as gently as she could. "I used to like playing with him, and hearing your stories about him. He was my friend when I was little, do you remember?"

Somehow, she was getting through to him. With each reminder that she knew him, that he knew her, she was somehow breaking down the barrier he had built to allow himself to go through with what he had been planning. She knew that security would be aware of what was going on by now, but she hoped no one was going to burst in and start shooting. If Xoren was in control - and he had better be - they'd wait to know what was happening before they decided to respond with force.

Arthur seemed to sag a little as the Princess Royale in front of him morphed back into the little girl he'd taught how to ride in the back of his mind. The little girl who had played with his son when they were small, who had always had time to stand and talk to him even when others were trying to hurry her away. A little girl he was holding a gun to, for the sake of his sanity ....or perhaps because of his insanity.

"He died," he said finally, each word heavy enough to thump hard into the silence that surrounded them. "Always was a wild boy, always trying new things, pushing to see how far we'd let him go. He calmed down while Georgie was ill - didn't want to worry her. But when she died ..." The tears that had threatened were back, spilling down his cheeks as he related his tale, the gun in his hand shaking with every breath. "I couldn't get through to him. He took up with the wrong crowd, started doing things I couldn't stop. We argued, more than we should. He said ....he said he wished it had been me that had died. Georgie could have brought him back, but she wasn't there anymore. He went dark and lonesome, and I couldn't help him. Blew his brains out just over a year ago. With this gun."

Oh gods ... Dru was horrified. She remembered Sean Sturgess as a happy, laughing boy who had never seemed to mind playing with a little princess seven years his junior. She couldn't even begin to imagine how he could have changed so much, but she did know what it was to lose a mother. Without the Grangers, without Josh, she could easily have gone that way herself. Arthur, lost in his own grief, couldn't have coped with Sean's reaction to that loss.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, truly shocked and pained to hear about such tragedy in the life of a man she had always respected and liked. "Is that ....is that why you sabotaged the cars last year?" Please, please, let someone be recording this conversation, she begged in the back of her mind. Don't make him tell it all over again if he survives this.

Arthur swallowed, nodding. "Your uncle took everything from me, for want of two hundred gold," he said, his voice harsh with grief and anger and confusion. "All it would have taken was a little extra money, and Georgie would have lived. Sean would never have killed himself. I wouldn't have lost everything."

"Arthur ..." Dru dared to finally make a plea for her life, hoping he wouldn't hate her for the way she intended to phrase it. "Would Georgie approve of all this" Would Sean' I can understand a little of how you feel; I would never insult you by saying I know, because it's your pain. But I've lost a mother, and an uncle, and an aunt. I feel that ache inside me every day. And I know they would never forgive me if I allowed that ache to cloud my judgement, or make me do things that would cause harm. You're a good man, Arthur, deep down. This isn't the way to help that pain ease."

"Never forgive?" Those words seemed to shock the man standing before her more than anything she had said thus far. "But ....it was for her. For Sean. They ....I ..." But for the first time, it seemed that he was realizing the consequences of actions driven by grief and anger. He had almost destroyed a family, for want of his own. Quite suddenly, he broke down, throwing the gun into the straw, falling back against the wall of the stall, and abruptly, they were no longer alone.

Six guards burst into the stable with Shen Lei at their head, moving to surround Arthur with guns aimed and ready to fire as Dru was gently but firmly drawn away from the sobbing man who had killed her family. The gun was retrieved and emptied, but there was no sound from anyone but the tears that bubbled from Arthur's lips. Dru scowled up at Shen Lei and Xoren, daring them to escort her away before she had a chance to put at least something right.

Shaking off their hands, she turned to the security team surrounding her would-be killer. "Take this man into custody," she told them, giving the order as though her own life had not been hanging in the balance just moments before. "He is not to be harmed or mistreated. He is not to be interrogated until he has been seen and assessed by psychiatric doctor. Is that clear?"

To their credit, there was no hesitation in the agreement that came to her from the team keeping watch over their captive. Satisfied that she would be obeyed - and already planning to make certain of it as soon as she could - Dru nodded herself, and turned to march out of the stables, Shen Lei and Xoren close at her heels.

"I want to see Mrs. Arno and Major Previti in half an hour," she told Xoren, cutting off his reminder that she had other duties to attend to with an impatient flick of her hand. "This is more important," she insisted. "Send a message to my uncle apologizing for my lateness and assure him that I will join him and our guests not more than an hour later than planned. But I have to deal with this."

Heads might not roll for the events that had set in motion a year of fear and heartbreak for the royal family, but Dru would be damned before she allowed the two responsible for the catalyst of those events to think they were not being held culpable for it. She had a duty, not just to her own family, but to Arthur's, to make absolutely sure that a mistake like that one would never be made again.