Caroline stared at the letter in her hand, torn between panic and shock. It had taken two days to reach her - faster than usual - having been through the usual checks for various unpleasant methods of death or mutilation first. Brynne had put it on the top of her pile as soon as it had arrived, and it had been the first thing she opened this morning. She was beginning to wish she hadn't.

For the attention of Mr David Granger

David,

If you're reading this, then our daughter, Drusilla, has run away from home looking for you. I gave her this letter when she turned fourteen, drawing a promise from her to deliver it and wait until you contacted her if she ever came to Rhy'Din. However, you and I both know she cannot stay there. She is her uncle's legal heir, the only heir to the Principality of Tirisano as of the date of this writing, and given that my brother refuses to marry, she will no doubt still be so when you get your hands on this letter.

I respectfully request that you contact my brother, Prince Julius, and at the very least let him know that she is safe and protected in Rhy'Din. I daresay something will have happened to have spurred this latest example of her rebellion, possibly involving me, but she has a duty to uphold, regardless of personal preference. There may be some political wrangling to be worked out in order to return her to Tirisano without too much press interest.

I know we did not part as friends, but for your daughter's sake, be kind to her. She has her life laid out before her; rebellion is a natural side effect of such things. I have tried to raise her as best I could.

Wishing you health and happiness, Livia

Re-reading the letter did not help Caroline's peace of mind. Nor did the other reading material she'd asked for. On the desk in front of her were two Tirisano newspapers, dated the 4th and 18th of August respectively, and a newly printed copy of Quirke's Peerage, the oft-updated book of who was really who in the various small countries, baronies, and principalities that littered the landscape around Rhy'Din proper.

According to Quirke's, Livia was in fact Julia Minya Livia Felicia, Princess of Tirisano, and only sister to the current ruling king. It was bad enough to find out that David's philandering had extended to royalty, but that was compounded by the entry immediately below Livia's. Claudia Amelia Drusilla Regina. The only child of Princess Julia and an unknown gentleman, she had been acknowledged as the legal heir to the throne of Tirisano when she was ten years old, a move that many people had taken as proof that His Serene Highness Prince Julius had no intention of marrying and begetting an heir himself. And dear gods and bunnies, she's a Granger, too. Des, Jon, and Lena are going to freak.

What made this knowledge worse was the headline article on the first newspaper that had been scrounged up from goodness knew where. TRAGEDY STRIKES AT INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE, the front page declared above a picture of the wreckage of several cars. Caroline's slightly shaking hand picked up the paper to re-read the section that had very nearly stopped her heart for a moment.

"....knows how the sabotage could have been performed. Investigations have shown that the exhaust on the leading car, containing His Serene Highness Prince Julius and Her Highness, the Princess Royale Claudia, had been lowered by several inches. When the debris on the road caught on the tampered with exhaust, the car flipped, trapping our monarch and his niece and heir beneath. However, the braking mechanism upon the second and third cars, containing the rest of the royal family, had also been tampered with, which resulted in all three of the leading cars ending in a pile up on the main street of Itana, the capital city. Emergency services were on the scene in record time, but due to the nature of the crash, they were unable to save His Serene Highness' brother and sister, Prince Tiberius and Princess Julia, nor the aides traveling in the second and third cars with them. It is understood that only the reinforced chassis of the leading car prevented His Serene Highness and the Princess Royale from being crushed beneath the weight of the following vehicles. A state funeral is expected to be announced within the next day, and we are sure that Tirisano mourns with our monarch and the young Princess Royale for the tragic loss of their loved ones ..."

She could feel a headache forming. Caroline lowered the newspaper, glancing at the other newspaper. It was a tribute edition, printed to commemorate the funeral of the two royal persons who had died as a result of terrorist action on Tirisano's Independence Day. So what did she have here" She had a runaway teenager, looking for a dead man. Ordinarily that would have been bad enough, but it was getting more complex by the moment. A runaway teenager, who just happened to be the sole legal heir to a tiny principality south of Rhy'Din. Who just happened to be yet another unexpected result of David Granger's inability to remain faithful to one woman through his lifetime. Who just happened to have lost both her mother and uncle in tragic circumstances very recently. And who just happened to be in the city, right now, doing gods alone knew what, with no one to keep an eye on her.

Caroline sighed. As if that wasn't bad enough, there was business to think of. Tirisano, while tiny in population and general land mass, was the producer of the best silk, and had long had strong ties to the GrangerGuild as the only company outside the little principality with the right to buy and sell Tirisano silk. It was a major money-maker, and if she got any of this wrong, they could well lose that whole side of the business. Seriously, David, a princess" Couldn't you have kept it in your pants just once" She didn't like to think badly of a dead man, but the more skeletons came out of David Granger's closet, the less she found that was good to remember him by.

She needed help. Her finger pressed the button for the intercom, and Brynne answered promptly. "Brynne, could you send my apologies and cancel my appointments for this morning" I need to see Humphrey about this - it's a mess."

And once the Old Man had got over the shock, he could deal with it, Caroline decided as Brynne offered up her affirmative through the intercom. Humphrey liked his family; he could deal with the fallout when family overlapped with business, and gods help them, politics, too.

"....of course, I do understand the difficulties inherent in such an unforeseen circumstance, coming as is does so soon on the heels of what is such a terrible tragedy," Humphrey was saying as he sat at his desk, his phone held close against his ear. "My dear Minister Mazet, I am as eager to come to an amiable agreement as you on how we are to handle this situation, but we must keep in the forefront of our minds that in the middle of it all is a young lady of sixteen years old, who has just buried her mother and uncle in tragic circumstances ..."

It had taken four hours to finally reach someone within the hierarchy of the Tirisano civil service who was authorized to speak with him about the situation they found themselves in. Caroline's rather frantic appearance yesterday, bearing the letter that had sparked off her panic, had lasted well into the day, with Old Man Granger finally persuading her to leave the entire thing in his hands. He had a good rapport with those members of the Tirisano government who were involved in the business dealings they had with GrangerGuild, and he was the uncle of the deceased Granger this young princess was looking for. He didn't think he would have too much trouble with it.

"Naturally, Minister, we will do our best to convince Drusilla to return to Tirisano as soon as possible," he smiled as he spoke, hoping at least some of the charm he had accumulated over the years was getting through on the phoneline. "However, I feel it may be useful for His Serene Highness' people to make enquiries here as to the possibility of her continuing her schooling in Rhy'Din. This is an act of rebellion, yes, but there is nothing to say that such an act cannot be turned to the advantage of all."

He had yet to meet this young girl who had caused so much trouble, but thankfully Correy's rather panicked text message had borne a photograph of her. Hence, Humphrey had been able to set a couple of the GrangerGuild security detail to keeping an eye on her discreetly, able to tell the Minister of the Interior for Tirisano that she was protected and under surveillance as they spoke. There was, however, one point he was refusing to budge on.

"Minister, with respect, it is not just the royal family of Tirisano whom we are discussing here," he pointed out as calmly as he was able. "It is also my family, and more importantly, a branch of my family that has seen a certain amount of uproar in the past few years. It must be handled carefully, and I am afraid I am going to insist that I am the one to handle it. The young lady has siblings here, siblings of whom she is completely unaware, and who are as oblivious as she is. Equally delicate is the matter of informing her of the death of her father, some five or six years ago."

And what an interesting conversation that might turn out to be. Humphrey wasn't looking forward to it, at least. It was one thing to be a part of the network that sent out tragic news as it occurred within the family; it was quite another to be the sole bearer of such bad news, to a young teenager who may or may not be crushed by it. Still, it seemed as though Minister Mazet was coming around to his way of thinking, or perhaps he had just battered the poor man into the ground.

"Of course, Minister," Humphrey's smile now was genuine with relieved pleasure. "We will await the arrival of the young lady's aide and be certain to provide all he requires. I intend to meet with her myself tomorrow, and begin the process of involving her in these details. Naturally, Minister. Please do convey my sincerest regrets to His Serene Highness for any trouble we may have caused, and assure him his niece is in good hands. Thank you."

Putting the receiver back in its cradle, Humphrey leaned back with a low sigh, one hand dropping down to scratch the head of the curious Collie who was sitting beside him. He looked down at Cosmo with a rueful smile. "Well, Master Cosmo, it seems as though we should expect a guest," he told the dog. "Let us hope that he is as agreeable as Minister Mazet was."

Home again. It was such an odd word, home, conjuring images of a warmth hearth and a happy, laughing family ready to welcome you back. For a long time, Helena hadn't been able to tie that image in with the reality of what her family was. So many years wasted, trapped by a misplaced sense of duty to man who cared little for his offspring, quietly resenting Jon's freedom after he had made his escape. Perhaps she shouldn't have held those resentments in for so long - they had all come bubbling up at once, exploding out of her in bursts of angry rebellion, in thoughtless risks and trusts placed without considering the consequences.

But she'd needed it. She had needed to take back some control over her life, however foolishly she'd done it. She had lost what felt like years to an illness she had not shared with anyone but her father, a man whose method of supporting her had been to put her into an asylum until she snapped out of it. She'd given years to looking after the same man as he slowly slipped away into his own addictions. And still, she'd tried to model herself after the good girls in the family, after Gabrielle and Caroline, never realizing that they, too, had had their moments of rebellion in years past.

Unconsciously, she had channeled everything she felt was unjust in her life toward Jon, the child inside her accusing her brother of abandoning her when he had left to forge his own path. And suddenly that Jon had been gone, forgotten, destroyed by a stray bullet, and she hadn't been able to cope with the sudden innocence of the man she loved as a brother when it came to those transgressions. So she had rebelled, when one foolish mistake of his had trespassed into what should have been the safety of Maple Grove - she had begun her campaign of moving away from being the good girl, the quiet girl, the sweet little sister. She had visited biker bars, rowdy locations across the city; she'd gone further than that, even. She had gone to Earth, backpacked through the countries of South America, and when she had returned, Jon had moved on. He had found someone to love who loved him as he was, not as he had been, and she'd been pleased for him. But there was still a little jealousy there for the fact that he was not alone, and she, his little sister, felt her own loneliness keenly.

Yet the arrival of Vicki into Jon's life, their marriage, the announcement of their pregnancy with little Emily, these had been turning points. Slowly but surely, the rift that had grown between brother and sister had begun to heal, with a certain redhead bullying them into sharing a meal once a week, no matter the other commitments they might have. Oh, there had still been those road trips Helena had taken to going on, always seeming to return to Earth to explore the countries that never seemed to make it onto travel programs. But those trips had become shorter, this last not more than a month, and she had returned home, surprising herself with the old, much-missed feeling of anticipation when it came to thoughts of her family.

Jon might be in Vancouver, but he was only a phone call away, as was Desmond, the unexpected bigger big brother who had made himself known almost a year before now. Helena knew she had to drop in on Old Man Granger before news of her arrival filtered through to him from other lips. The big house at Maple Grove, with its curious mix of the welcoming and intimidating, awaited her as she made her way across the grounds and into the house itself, barely sparing a glance for the unfamiliar man standing patiently in the wide hallway. She let herself into the study with a wide smile for her great-uncle, laughing as the ever-exuberant Cosmo - left behind while Jon, Vicki, and Emily were on Earth - came bounding over to greet her.

As she knelt to hug the excited collie, her eyes drifted to another unfamiliar face ....a teenaged girl, sat awkwardly in the corner of one of the wide couches, watching her with wary curiosity. There was something about her; something in the set of the eyes, perhaps, or the line of her jaw. Lena's blue eyes traveled to Humphrey, one brow rising in a manner so reminiscent of her famous brother, inquiring without words.

The Old Man smirked, nodding, and gestured toward the girl sitting near him. "Helena, welcome home after your ludicrously long holiday," he greeted her, warm and gruff as usual. "Have you met your sister?"