“Four suitors?” Freya exclaimed upon their return.

Still sat atop Freya the chicken, Captain Bell escorted her home to see a half-dozen pack cockroaches and four carriages waiting out front.

“It seems that you have lost this round, Miss Uki,” he said, smiling so his teeth were on full display. “But I’ll call on your friend this week, and had you won I would have owed you a favor. Alas, you did not.”

Captain Bell dismounted, untying his rope and loosening it as he stepped onto the ground. Coming to Iron Beak’s side,, he extended a paw to Freya, helping her down from the beast gracefully.

Freya had never been so thoroughly bested in a bet. She wondered, perhaps uncharitably, if he had told them to show up, though a voice in the back of her head that sounded a lot like Grandpaw’s suggested she was being a sore loser.

Bell followed as she led the chickens back to their pen. “I’ll tell you a secret if you promise not to share,” Freya said, bringing seed to the little trough Grandpaw had set up. Iron Beak and chicken-Freya pecked at it happily.

Captain Bell nodded, ears pricking up with interest.

“I’ll need your word, Captain Bell.”

“You have my word, I will never tell.”

“I’ve never lost a bet before, and I’m not sure how to take it.”

“Well, is this your first? Bet, I mean.”

Freya pondered that for a second, pretending to think deeply about it. “Nope. I think I made three bets about the ball we just had, none of which I can tell you of course.”

He paused as she latched the door behind them.

“Of course. Don’t make any bets with any of the mice or rabbits that call upon you then, or at least if you do, I would like a chance to get in on the wager. Now shall we make a scene, or do you actually want to meet some of these suitors?”

Freya considered walking arm in arm with Captain Bell, causing all the suitors to look aghast. The thought of turning each away made her realize that she finally knew how she felt about Bell. Just because he was a gorgeous rabbit with a fair purse to back up his family estate, didn’t mean she would swoon over him.

“If you’re offering, I believe that we should be conspirators in a different way. You said that you were in the scouts?”

“Indeed I was.”

Freya halted, stopping where they couldn’t be seen from the entrance. She could hear her mother laughing loudly at some suitor’s jokes, or perhaps Old Gran had cracked a few yolks.

“I don’t know who has called upon me and I don’t want to have to go in there and play the pleasant country maiden when I’m not sure if they’re up to my standards or not,” Freya said.

“Your standards? Are you looking for something in particular, or do you have a discerning taste regarding their demeanor?”

Thinking quickly, Freya remembered the lacquered cards that she had been keeping in her riding pack. She kept the top five prospects, the Lords among the eligible mice, or the Military officers that she’d liked the portraits of. She pulled them out of her pockets to show him.

“Lady Raina made us these for—”

“Ah, I see she’s putting her talents to good use. These are targeting cards?” Captain Bell said, examining them one by one.

“Targeting cards?”

“When you’re looking to engage with someone not yet an ally, sometimes you make these little portrait cards and then you put some information on them. It should be…”

He turned the first one over.

“Ah, yes she did this just the way I would have her do it for my scouts. A description of the target, and why they are important in society. And you say that my auntie made this?”

Freya stared at the ground.

“Yes,” she said quietly.

He checked them once again then nodded.

“You want me to sneak over, see if any of these are calling upon you right now, sneak back and then report in?”

Freya felt a tingle along her fur. He handed her the cards.

“Would you do that?”

“For you? I’d consider it an honor. Scout’s honor.”

He slunk off for two minutes, staying completely out of sight. He blended into the surroundings. Freya suddenly realized that beneath his charming exterior, he was masking some formidable skill. Freya was both amused and in awe of how quickly the aristocrat was able to turn into a footpad.

As swiftly as he’d vanished, Captain Bell reappeared. Freya hoped her startled flinch was not too obvious.

“Miss Uki, two of the mice here are of the five. The other three - some of them must have shared a carriage - are not. I’d advise you to engage with them gracefully, before your poor mother is at her wits’ end. If there is nothing else I can do for you, I will be off and I thank you for the experience today.”

“Thank you,” she said, and like that he was gone.