Nadine had not liked the fact that she had been kicked out of the Council Chamber. As one of the main people involved in the incident, she felt she had a right to be involved. But of course, it wasn’t allowed, since she was a girl. She had taken some amount of solace in knowing that her brother Paul had been kicked out as well, although he didn’t seem to mind it nearly as much. Paul didn’t really like being in there anyways, so he was always looking for an excuse to leave.

Paul accompanied Nadine to their rooms, which were the best in the Palace apart from those of the Royal Family, before rushing off to enjoy his freedom. Nadine smiled slightly, knowing that she was going to be left alone. However, she also knew that she wouldn’t be able to wander the corridors by herself due to the Palace being under high alert.

Nadine entered her family’s rooms and went straight to her room in the back. It was rather small, but since she hardly ever was in there, that didn’t matter much. The first thing she did was select a new outfit from her closet, before exiting her room and going to the communal bath located off the sitting room. The bathroom, which was reserved for her family only, consisted of a marble bath, a sink, and a toilet. The bathroom was cleaned every day at noon, when her family was usually away doing something else. Since it was just after noon, that meant that the place was the cleanest it could be.

Nadine had more than one reason for taking a bath. The obvious reason, of course, was to get the day’s worth of grime off and to make herself actually presentable. The second reason was so that she could sneak downstairs and eavesdrop on the Council. If she looked dirty, she might be mistaken for a maid by someone who didn’t know her and be forced to do something she didn’t want to. She had made a habit over the years of listening in on the Council for any information that was worthwhile, which was a lot since they managed all of the kingdom’s affairs, so she had had plenty of practice in doing this. She also knew that Industria was another world, and that the people that lived there were generally jerks and wore odd clothes. She had instantly recognized Steve as an Industrian, but since they had been forced to work together to escape, she’d learned firsthand that he was trustworthy, unlike most of their Industrian visitors who cared more for personal gain and instant gratification than for other people’s safety. She had been in a bit of a spot before when Steve had asked her about it, since technically she wasn’t supposed to know at all.

Once Nadine had bathed, she dressed, dried her hair as best she could, and went back to her room. Now her problem was getting back downstairs. She had noticed Palace Guards all over the place earlier, which ruled out her using the main corridors to get downstairs. She rarely used the corridors when sneaking around anyways, though, so it’s not like it really mattered. She’d just use the back-up route she always did.

When the Palace had first been constructed, the designers had left small ledges running along the exterior of the Palace walls. While a few of the tiny ledges had crumbled since then, most were intact, which allowed anyone with a good sense of balance to navigate them. Nadine, as it happened, was one of those people. Nadine stepped out onto her window ledge and began to slowly inch along the outside ledge, gripping the wall like a spider. As she left the vicinity of her window, the amount of footspace dropped sharply. Nadine was forced to stand on her tiptoes to stay on. She glanced down at the courtyard below and saw her father and Steve discussing something before returning her focus to the wall. The wall itself had large spaces between the stones where the mortar had chipped away over the years, allowing for perfect handholds.

Due to her having taken the route so many times before, it wasn’t long before Nadine was close to her destination. The Council Chamber itself didn’t have a window, so Nadine was forced to go in through the room next door, the Throne Room. A small door in the back of the Throne room led directly to the Council Chamber, so it was an ideal listening spot.

The problem with the Throne Room was that it was off-limits. Her own father, Chairman Chuck Jameson, had decreed that the room be sealed off until the Princess was of age to rule, out of respect for the late Queen. Nadine always got the shivers when she went in there, but at least there wasn’t any chance of being caught, unless you believed in ghosts.

Nadine glanced down at the ground again to see Steve being led inside by a maid. Hoping she wouldn’t miss anything, Nadine silently opened the first window she came to, dropped inside and then shut it, leaving it unlatched. The early afternoon sun streamed in through the stained glass windows, creating beautiful patterns on the floor. Nadine hurried to the back of the room and pressed her ear against a hole in the old wooden door to hear what was going on.

Inside, Chairman Jameson had just arrived from talking to Steve. He dumped something on the floor with a thud before speaking. “In case it wasn’t obvious, I shall make it quite clear. My daughter’s rescuer, Steve, is indeed an Industrian.” There was murmuring amongst the other members, but they quickly went quiet. “However, I have spoken with him, and he has no interest in our affairs, only wishing to return home to Industria. I see no reason not to grant this, however if any of you wish to object, you are, of course, free to do so. There is a problem, though. While in the Goblin encampment, Steve came across an Industrian item that belonged to a friend of his, which was not in his possession when he left Industria. Specifically, it was this bag.”

There were gasps of shock from within the room. “With this evidence, the only conclusion is that his friend is somewhere within our borders, fending for herself. I recommend we send out the search parties again to try and find this girl before anything terrible happens. We CANNOT risk any civilians getting ahold of ANY Industrian technology. Are any opposed to this suggestion?”

There was silence in the room, which the Chairman took as an affirmation. “Very good, then,” he said. “Now, our next issue is how to deal with our current crisis. As you know, Goblins broke through all our defenses and attempted to kidnap the Princess last night, an attempt which failed due to bad timing on the part of the Goblins and the actions of the Industrian Steve. What we need to agree on is what to do next.”

Several voices spoke up at once, and it took a minute for them to quiet down enough for the Chairman to be heard. Nadine began listening even more intently at this point, hoping that she wouldn’t be confined to the Palace or something. To her, who liked roaming around and visiting the city, that would’ve been like torture.

Several men began proposing theories, but Nadine wasn’t familiar with the other council members, so while she could identify individual voices, she couldn’t match any of the voices to a face.

“We should take the army and snuff them out!” the first man who spoke suggested. This comment, however, sparked another argument, which eventually resulted in the Chairman having to bang on the podium to restore order.

“That, Mr. Jeffries, would be the last thing we’d want to do,” said Chairman Jameson firmly, which made all of the men go dead quiet. All twelve had been considering various plans of attack, which had prompted the arguing. “No, if we go in arrows flying, we might take down the Goblins, but we’ll never know for sure who was behind it. That’s why we need to set some bait. There’s no doubt in my mind that the people responsible will keep trying until they succeed. I have my suspicions as to who it was, but whether it was him or not, we have no proof. That’s why we’ll need to draw them out, so we will have the upper hand.”

“What do you have in mind?” another man asked.

There was silence for a moment before the Chairman answered, “I was thinking we could have a welcome home ball for Nadine tonight as a cover.”

That shook Nadine. A lot. She hated formal balls, mainly because they were really boring and she never knew anybody there. A ball tonight would be even worse because she would be at the forefront of everybody’s attention. She was still shaken by her ordeal, although Steve had helped her recover fairly well already. He’d treated her as an equal, like a friend. But then her father said something else. “Of course, the Industrian Steve will be attending as well.” This sparked more murmuring, but Chairman Jameson quickly shut them up. “Steve will be attending because he was instrumental in the rescue of Nadine. I see no reason to forbid him to come, especially since his friend is still missing.”

That quieted them. “In any event,” the Chairman continued, “at the present time there is another issue which we need to address. The Goblins managed to bypass Palace security too easily to be believable. It is my belief, therefore, that they are conspiring with someone who was within the Palace at the time of the kidnapping. Right now, I don’t have any idea who it is, but if any of you have any ideas, I’m open to them. However, until this person is identified, I am therefore forced to treat everyone coming and going from the Palace with equal degrees of suspicion. That includes you twelve as well, I’m afraid. Now, the ball tonight will include a feast and a dance which I will arrange as soon as this meeting is over. If someone is going to try something against the Princess, the dance would be the best time to do so. I will not be sharing any further details about the ball, in case one of you is conspiring against me. Are there any final remarks?”

“What does the Princess think about all this?” someone asked.

“I have not informed her of the aforementioned plan, nor do I plan to. In terms of her almost-kidnapping, she has completely recovered from what happened and is actively helping to take these scoundrels down. In fact, she was most adamant about being allowed in to view the proceedings today, but after learning that an Industrian was coming I was forced to deny her permission. We all know her feelings about them after all.”

There was a murmur of unanimous agreement, the first during the session. Nadine had been too young at the time of the incident to understand the full scope of what had happened, but she knew the basics: the late Queen had been murdered by Industrians in her own Throne Room, in full view of her seven year old daughter. It had happened just a little ways away from where Nadine was now sitting.

The door suddenly opened at the far end of the room, which made Nadine freeze. As far as she knew, everybody who had the authority to even enter the Throne Room was currently in heated debate. She dove behind the late Queen’s abandoned throne and glanced around. A young woman had entered, carrying a vase of flowers that obscured her face. Then Nadine spotted the gold crown on top of the woman’s head and relaxed. She didn’t show herself, because she didn’t want to scare her, but Nadine was, at least, happy that it wasn’t someone random, like the spy the council was discussing.

Nadine listened, mortified, as the footsteps stopped in front of the throne and the vase was placed on the seat. Then she heard sobbing, an abrupt end to the sobbing, and then an update of what had transpired in the last day. Her heart jumped every time she heard her name uttered, but she wasn’t noticed and eventually the footsteps receded and the door was locked again.

Nadine put her ear to the door as soon as the main door was locked again, but there was only silence on the other side. She instantly began panicking; if her father reached their rooms before she did, she’d be in BIG trouble, to say the least. Then she remembered that he had to see about planning the ball. That gave her some time to get back to her room, but not a lot. Balls weren’t exactly a rare occurrence, so all he had to do was tell the scribes to issue invitations for guests and get an organist while also informing the kitchens to prepare food and ordering servants to set up the ballroom. That was it, and it would only take half an hour at most to issue those orders.

Nadine hurried back through the window and was startled to see how cloudy the sky had become. With the prospect of rain cutting off her only escape route, she doubled her pace, practically flying over the tiny ledges. Once, she very nearly fell, but she caught herself in time. From that point on, she went slower, taking great care to both not fall and to not attract any undue attention from inside.

Nadine finally reached her own window, which was a floor up from the Throne Room, and collapsed on the bed, exhausted. Not long after it began to rain, Nadine got up and closed the window.

There was a knock on her door, which made her jump. She opened it cautiously, but was relieved to see it was just Paul.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” said Paul, inviting himself in. He didn’t seem to notice Nadine’s disheveled hair. “I knocked earlier, but since you didn’t say anything, I figured you were sleeping.” He took a seat in the only chair in the room, leaving Nadine to sit on the bed.

“What do you want, Paul?” asked Nadine, a bit fiercely. She was still a bit jumpy due to her close shave on the ledges.

“Advice,” he said simply, taking a feather out of his pocket and twirling it between his fingers absentmindedly. He also balanced the chair on its back legs. “Word is that there’s going to be a ball later tonight,” he began, eyeing his sister.

“I heard,” she replied darkly.

“Well, I thought I’d use the opportunity to give it another shot. Rachel and I have known each other for years, so why not?”

“She doesn’t think of you that way,” said Nadine flatly, rolling her eyes. He’d been trying nonstop to gain her affections for months, but he was still having no luck. “You’d have better luck with Marissa.”

“She’s such a snob, though,” said Paul, waving his hand. “Rachel would be perfect. She’s kind, pretty, and we’re close friends already. Why shouldn’t we graduate beyond just being friends?”

“Well, for one thing, because she doesn’t want you for a husband,” Nadine reiterated.

“How do you know, though?” asked Paul, twirling the feather even faster now. “You’re only twelve; you wouldn’t know about any of this.”

“I asked her,” said Nadine simply, annoyed at Paul’s rudeness; it was quite out of character for him. “She doesn’t think of you as anything more than a close friend. Oh, and she asked me to pass on a message to you.”

“What?” asked Paul, looking eager.

“She said, and I quote, ‘I’m tired of all of his tasteless jokes. What is he trying to accomplish? It’s getting old.”

“She said that?” asked Paul. A gleam came into his eye. “So she wants me to do something different, then? I think I can do that.”

“That’s not exactly…”

That was when Paul got angry. “Nadine, you’re twelve, so I don’t expect you to understand the intricacies of courting someone. That’s the type of thing you won’t have to deal with until you’re my age. But don’t worry, I’ll chase off anybody annoying,” he ended hypocritically.

“So you’re saying I’ve got to wait four years? How do you know that?”

“Hmph!” muttered Paul angrily, leaving the room and slamming the door.

“Peace at last,” Nadine thought to herself joyously, lying down to take a real nap. She loved her brother, but recently he’d become incredibly annoying sometimes. Putting him out of her mind, she decided to rest in order to prepare for all the drama that was going to unfold that night.