SING THE REVOLUTION ;;

Well, Lord Silas~ I really must commend you, this is quite the sending off! And a lovely birthday celebration, besides~ ♥

[Filter: My Friends]

I especially love the way I'm not allowed to eat or drink anything Mydra hasn't explicitly approved~ Oh, and that I'm wearing an absolutely frumpy dress -- Jaina would be so proud! -- because it has to conceal three different weapons. Who wears boots to a birthday ball? Well, apparently Fayre does, this year, just look at her. I can't even dance without an ill-concealed circle of guards, and I know Pandora is trying to be subtle, I really do, but subtlety has never been her strong point, has it~?

At least we'll be out of this city come morning.

I swear, next year I need two birthday balls to make up for this~

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting such a thoroughly uneventful journey! I think the most thrilling thing to happen was Lady Lindsay's bonnet blowing into the river, and that was more because of her reaction than the actual event ...

Hm, but here we are, and just as I suspected, Lord Wesley seems to have gone to a lot of trouble to ensure the grandiosity of our arrival makes up for the trek~

[Filter: Brittany]

I hope you have firewine, here~? It's been so long, and I think I need an entire bottle. Maybe two.

[Filter: Mydra, Britt, Chris and Julian]

We're leaving tomorrow. It will take us at least two weeks, as you know.

By then I suspect we will have all the evidence his Majesty requires to sanction a visit to Riva. Mydra, I do hope you have been working on a plan for that. I have several, but you'd hate them all.

I'm bringing a mage with me, as we discussed. Aoife. She's never been outside Kilia in her life, and I suspect she'll require ... support. But she's proficient in all the things we need her for, and has a journal as well.

[Filter: Scott]

What is this nonsense you are pulling with Lydia?!

If you know where to find Jack, and you need my people for help, you come to me. Directly. Do you think I'm too busy for my own friends?

[Filter: Scott]

I've gone back and forth on how to handle this, and you'll be glad to know that I've decided it would be silly to send a thank you through Christopher when I know perfectly well you can and will read this on your own.

So, thank you.

[Filter: Mydra]

If you let them kill my mother, I will destroy you.

[Filter: Franelcrew]

Well, dears, I have some news~ It's rather important, so I hope you're all paying attention! ♥

That lovely October wedding I'm sure you were all excited for has been moved up a bit. To tomorrow, actually~ A Festival wedding, isn't that adorable. And I'd really like you all to be there, so I hope you haven't made any pressing plans~

I'm sure you'll be wondering why, and the truth is, though the situation here in Norey has been less than ideal for some time, some ... information has recently come to our attention that necessitates Julian and I laying very low, for a little while. As in, leaving Norey. Now, I can't take all of you with me -- don't clamor onto this at once until you finish reading every last word, please -- but I plan to take some and the rest of you will be in very good hands, assuming you want to stay at all. I wouldn't blame you for a moment if you didn't. I'm sorry that I've been so awfully busy, I've hardly been the hostess I wanted to be, and this is not the Norey I wanted to bring you all to.

But things will improve.

To that end, I should say here and now that I will be traveling to Riva in the near future, as much of what is happening here is apparently rooted there, and as you all may remember, that's where the Seal is located as well. I regret to say that we have not yet found a mage capable of what we need, and we are running out of time to make this work. Lord Silas of Riva is not our friend, and the timing is going to be ... very tight. So.

Mydra has suggested that I return to Kilia while she prepares all of that in the hopes that you all might have some help for us in that regard. We have the dragons, after all -- I understand it's a dangerous journey, but it can be done, surely? We can take whatever measures are necessary. It's worth noting that I suspect Lady Westa and Lord Hasten are going to have similar difficulties.

So~

That's the situation.

[Filter: Jasmine, Elden, Jordan]

Obviously, you three are the ones that I am hoping will accompany us.

And I'm sorry you're finding out with the rest of them. Maeve discovered that Silas put half a million gold on my head and promised the Guild a hundred thousand each just for joining the attempt, and it's been rather a damned whirlwind ever since.

Oh, and I'd like to bring Korvin. He asked to go weeks ago, and since he's managed to put himself in possibly mortal danger since anyway, I may as well take him! At least then someone will be happy about the whole arrangement~

[Filter: Korvin]

If you're still keen to go to Kilia, I can hardly turn you down now~

[Filter: Mydra]

Silas is recruiting the Guild at one hundred thousand gold per operative with a bonus of five times that amount to the one who actually lands the killing blow.

Does that make me the most lucrative target in Kanemorian history? I figured you would be the one to ask~

The information he's circulating gives a date. The twenty-third.

[Filter: Jasmine]

The thing of it is, Mydra is right.

These people have a much larger goal than only assassinating her and Julian. They're convinced that this entire government has been hand-picked to be as hostile to them as possible -- and in some ways, they're quite right. They won't settle for anything less than a full revolution. But how to turn the people against a leader so well liked as King Reuben?

Certainly not by becoming even more well liked. Difficult to compete with that. But if you can shake the peoples' faith in their King's ability to keep them safe -- shake it so often and with such startling magnitude that eventually, the actual perpetrators of these crimes take less of the blame in the public consciousness than the man who, in their eyes, allows it to continue by being too incompetent or ineffective or whatever you like ...

And if that's their plan, Julian and I fleeing for our lives plays right into it. They'll jump on that. Look, the King protects his own by sending them off, because he knows that Norey isn't safe and there's not a thing he can do to improve it.

The moment the people go from grumbling about them to grumbling about us, our troubles become much more serious.

All that said ...

Did you know that Korvin has apparently been pining after Sawyer with such reckless intensity that the silly man actually wrote to me yesterday and begged me to fly him off to Kilia~? How funny timing can be, sometimes.

[Filter: Pillars in Norey]

Out of curiosity ...

Did anyone tell Christopher what was happening? Julian?

He wrote about it, warning people in the theater district. It occurred to me that you wouldn't be able to see the filter -- to performers only.

We really need to talk to him. Some of what he said -- honestly. If they hadn't suspected him before, they certainly would now. It's exactly what we thought. He has no idea how easy it is to say something dangerous.