Amusingly, Len’s speech in regards to Balar’s tantrum had actually done a fair bit to calm him down. He did keep throwing cautious glances at Taylor, what with it having been revealed that she was a professional killer and all. Still, whether it was because of Len’s own confidence, or the fact that she’d seemingly been able to bring this former enemy in line so easily, the new comrade seemed to give the merchant some cause for confidence. It didn’t do much to reduce the severity of what they still had to do, but it showed Len was good at thinking on her feet if nothing else.

They retired to their respective rooms to prepare for the night, with Taylor joining Len and Kes to help with the preparations. Balar had been rather surprised at how comfortable Len was with the situation, but had let it pass. Once they were secure in their own room, though, Keseryn laid into her own litany of complaints.

“Are you kidding me,” she hissed. “You walk into what you know to be an ambush, leave a half-assed letter that I can’t read for Balar, then instead of killing your would-be assassin, you recruit her?”

“Yeah,” said Len with a shrug. “What of it? Or do you seriously want to get into the concept of how I’ve treated would-be assassins in the past.”

“That was different and you know it! I was trying to kill you because I thought you’d had my parents murdered. She was trying to kill you for money!”

“Point of order,” said Taylor blandly. “I was trying to kill her because my livelihood and peaceful life was being threatened. The money was just added incentive.”

“Oh great, she was ONLY trying to kill you out of personal convenience. Doesn’t that make you feel so much safer to be around her?”

“Relax, Kes,” said Len, smoothing out the dress on their bed so she could look at it in admiration. “Seriously, Taylor, you’re damn good at this. You should stick with it.”

“I’d love to,” the assassin replied. “Problem is, people keep dragging me into court intrigue that has nothing to do with me.”

“Man, that must really suck,” Len said, casually ignoring the complaint. “Almost as inconvenient as having someone try to murder you. Truly, my heart bleeds for your suffering.”

“It might have. Hell, it might still if you keep irritating me.”

The two locked eyes for a moment, then burst out laughing. Len liked this one, for all her edges. She’d be fun to have around.

“Are you kidding me,” yelled Keseryn, managing heights of exasperation that only a fourteen-year-old child could achieve.

“I said relax, Kes,” said Len firmly, patting the girl’s head. “It’ll all work out for the best, trust me.”

“You say that like it’s such an easy thing. You just keep stumbling into problems and assume that it’ll all work out. That’s no way to live.”

“Oh, I’d say it’s a great way to live,” Len grinned. “Besides, if it doesn’t work out, I really won’t have any time to complain, now will I?”

Kes stared at Len as if she’d grown a second head capable of nothing but spouting madness. Len continued to grin in amusement at the girl’s frustration. Taylor, for her part, seemed equal parts amused and uncomfortable by the experience, not fully understanding the dynamics of the group. Still, she didn’t seem to actively be plotting murder at the moment, which was a plus.

“You know she’ll try to betray you eventually, don’t you,” whispered Cammie from behind her, causing her to jump slightly.

“No, in point of fact I don’t know that, shut up.”

“Huh?” asked Kes in confusion.

“Oh, right, neither of you really knows what’s going on there. I’d say don’t worry about it, but I should probably bring it up. I’ve got a couple shadow creatures that only I can see hanging around. This one’s Cammie, and she’s a real pain in the ass.”

“Uh…” said Taylor, a little unnerved. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” muttered Len. “Look, I don’t really have the time for the whole disbelief thing, so will you just show yourself, Cammie?”

“Sorry, no can do,” said Cammie with a shrug. “I’m not a master here, so all I can be is a figment in your head. You’d need Pitch to show them anything.”

“Well, get him then.”

The concerned look passing between Keseryn and Taylor did not go unnoticed, but she shrugged it off for the time being.

“Can’t do that, either. Like he told you, he’s busy adjusting to his new lot in life and it’s gonna take a little while.”

“Well that’s just great.”

“I can poison her again to show her.”

“No, you’re not gonna poison her again, I don’t trust you not to kill her this time.”

“Seriously, no faith whatsoever,” Cammie pouted.

“With good reason. Well, there you have it, folks.”

“Have what, exactly, Len?” Kes was looking more than a little concerned that her mentor was having a mental break.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. Look, you’ve seen a bit of the magic I use. It’s a tricky thing involving some rather sketchy pacts with dark forces. This is a part of that. As for you, miss cold-blooded assassin. You remember that part where you nearly died because of a poison that you didn’t see me use on you? Yeah, that was a little gift from Cammie. She’s also the one that sucked the poison out when I told her to, so I wouldn’t be too quick to disbelieve in her existence.”

“So you’re telling me that you just have some creature named Cammie following you around who randomly poisons people for you?”

“Well, she’s not supposed to, and I’ve had to be a bit firmer on that detail of late, but that’s the gist of it. Look, it’s a very strange time in my life right now and I don’t expect you to follow all of it but trust me: I’m not insane.”

“Isn’t that one of the first things someone who is insane would say?”

“Nah, they’d deny the premise entirely, duh.”

“This is not encouraging me,” said Taylor, though she did sound less overtly nervous.

“Eh, you’ll get used to it,” said Len with a shrug.

“You most definitely will not,” said Kes.

* * * * *

They emerged a short time later in their assorted garments. Len’s deep navy blue gown was a sleek affair, running almost to the floor and hugging her curves. It had a slit along the side that would leave her some options if running became necessary, and didn’t look too bad to boot. She’d gone with a simple black belt with gold fastenings to pull the look together, and had opted for large hoop earrings. All in all, she was quite satisfied with it, even if she hadn’t had much time to do anything impressive with her hair.

Keseryn had been put in a decidedly poofier pink dress with entirely more frills than she was comfortable with and a hoop skirt to add insult to the injury. She was glaring daggers at Len, but Len remained intentionally oblivious. She’d also been given a porcelain mask to more effectively hide the brand of Banishment that had been placed on her face, but she was refraining from using it until she left the house.

Taylor, well she’d changed out of the plain clothes she’d been wearing and into a nondescript catsuit that hid away most of her features. She’d assured Len that she’d be at the feast, but had a different approach to things that would work best on her own. Len had allowed it, but only barely managed to keep from tossing out an ominous ‘don’t think of crossing me’ line that would’ve been a little too on the nose for the situation and was also completely uncalled for. If the assassin really was looking to betray her, she’d have to deal with it, but seeming unduly concerned about it didn’t do anyone any favors in this situation.

“Well, are you ready for this,” asked Balar nervously. The weight of what was coming was beginning to hit him.

“As ready as we’re going to be, I think,” said Len. “Man, we’re really doing this, huh.”

“A bit late to be getting cold feet.”

“Not cold, just a bit cool. I’m good, I’ve got this… probably.”

“Your confidence overwhelms me,” he said dryly. “I trust you’ll be able to do this when the time comes.”

“Yup, it shouldn’t be a problem… probably.”

They made their way to the carriage that Balar had arranged for him, a proper two-horse thing with a coachman and everything. Len supposed that it was nice to finally have SOME sort of fairytale moment in this fantastical world that she’d been sucked into. That moment was somewhat tarnished by the fact that she was on her way to pick a fight with the leader of a nation state and also openly work against a commander within her own military. Still, that commander was the one who’d picked this fight by trying to have her killed, so she didn’t feel too bad about it.

They rode in relative silence, each pondering the trouble that was heading their way. Len still didn’t really understand all of the intricacies of the government here and felt a bit bad that she hadn’t spent even more time studying what she could of the etiquette of the event, but she had the gist of things and could wing it from there. Frankly, she was most worried about Claymar’s agent in the city. The exact nature of his relationship with the Head was unclear, but he’d obviously been able to get close and bend the man’s ear. That could make things trickier if he tried to stop the Challenge. It’d be a thing to worry about when it came up.

After about ten minutes they arrived at the entrance to the pavilion. The massive tent that had been erected at the center of the city was far grander than she’d expected. Where the rest of the city had been relatively lively, with a good number of people milling about, this was a mass of bodies, crammed together, celebrating in a fashion that felt almost opulent in comparison. Jugglers, fire eaters, exotic animals, any distraction that one could imagine could be seen in one corner of the tent or another.

Len had only ever been to one circus in her lifetime, and it had been a mostly disappointing experience, but this made up for it. The only thing that struck her as different was the layout. Most circus tents she was aware of were arranged with the ring at the center being the main attraction. Here it was almost the opposite. Sure, there were seats and feasting areas in the crowd, but the focus mostly seemed to be about entertaining those gathered at the center. It was somewhat bizarre to observe as Balar led them through the crowd and into that revered circle. Somehow, even after some of the grand public events she’d already been a part of, this made her feel infinitely more uncomfortable. All of this, the decadence, the debauchery, it was being put on for HER amusement. Well, not technically hers. It was all for the Head and, to a lesser degree, Claymar’s agent who was here to sign some sort of treaty that wasn’t worth the parchment it would be printed on.

The whole thing got more disgusting as she took her seat. She could actively see the other feasting tables, for all the elaborate decorations on display, the actual food at the tables was rather paltry and uninspired, while the stuff on the table in front of her was the most impressive spread she’d seen in her life (though she knew from experience that the techniques used were less than what she could’ve gotten from half the fast food joints back home). Still, though she had every intention of being rude later in the meal, no sense in giving away the game just yet.