"Can we really do that?" Mayree asked. "I mean, is that the only option?"

"No, it's not the only option." Oris said, her mind already made up, "but it does the least damage, at least where it concerns Andrea."

"What do we have to do?" Seline asked, her voice low and steeled. "I will do whatever you say, Mistress."

"It's a simple really," Oris smiled. She made it a reassuring smile despite knowing that they wouldn't see it. "You just have to follow my lead."

"What are you going to do?" Mayree asked and leaned forward. "I cannot allow, no, I will not allow you to do anything that will endanger your safety, even for Andrea's sake."

Keziah reached toward the older maid and patted her twice on the knee. "Trust our Mistress."

Mayree held the girl's gaze then nodded in agreement though the action still had a hint of reluctance. "We will follow our Mistress' lead and when we get Andrea back, I will give her a proper scolding."

"You don't have to," before she could stop herself, Oris immediately defended her youngest maid, "this might be a good thing."

"What does Mistress mean?"

"Thinking about it now, my previous plan might have been to passive." Oris adjusted her veil and sat up straighter. "Wait for the people's cry of injustice? How long will that take? Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part that all this would go down peacefully."

"Then now? How will we get into the palace?"

"Defend the people."

"Defend the people?" Both Mayree and Seline echoed in confusion while Keziah's eyes lit up.

"Brilliant," she cried.

Turning to Oris, she said, "Mistress, you are brilliant."

In that instance, Oris felt something change. It was almost imperceptible and it could as well have been her imagination but in that moment she could have sworn that Keziah's words held a deeper meaning that she couldn't interpret.

"Come," she told the three maids, and Keziah took hold of her hand.

With her mind still considering the consequences of what she was about to do, Oris moved to descend the carriage along with the silent girl, the door big enough to accommodate two people exiting are the same time. Much different from the one she and Faeradaigh at travelled to Asharath in.

It was when she and all three maids had gotten off the carriage that Faeradaigh was finally made aware of her presence.

"My Lady," the head eunuch started and Oris held up her hand to stop him. She did not unleash the aura of a queen but that of a spoiled consort, not that she had much experience to source from-she had seen enough of her adopted mother's rich customers to glean an accurate description of how the average snob of a woman behaved.

"I do not like to be ignored," she began, remembering that this line was more popular than the rest. It could make the most unimportant people seem dignified.

"My Lady-"

She cut him off again. "I told you that my maid was missing and you did nothing about it. I will not inconvenience you further. Move your horse, take the guards, I shall find her myself."

"My Lady, the mob-"

"What you are so afraid of are people!" Oris made sure to raise voice now as Mayree and Seline crowded around her and urged her to calm down. "They are people," she repeated, and noticed that some of the peasants were now looking in her direction.

Good. She took a step forward with Keziah's hands still in hers. "They are hungry and starving and poor yet you brought guards to beat on them."

When no one spoke to contradict her words, Oris continued, though she could tell that the guards were getting agitated. Exactly what orders are they acting on?

"They did nothing wrong," she concluded.

"My Lady," she was not surprised to hear Faeradaigh's voice again, he was the only one with the authority to speak at the moment. "They are threatening your safety."

"Nobody was harmed due to their presence."

"The fact that they have caused such a ruckus by the palace gates is already a crime worthy of death."

"Did they come for no reason?" Oris took another step forward and the circle of guards around her spread outward to accommodate that movement. It looks like they won't let me go that easily.

She took in a breath. So be it. "If I did not have the supplies they needed would they have come? If I hadn't been scared of this very eventuality, would there be so much blood coating the road to the palace? Milord, you know the answer to all these questions. I beg of you, let them go."

Faeradaigh squinted at her and tightened his grip on the reins of his horse. "I am under orders to protect you, My Lady. Your maid will be found, rest assured."

"Orders? Whose orders?" she asked, despite already knowing.

"Who else's but The Emperor's?" he said.

Oris admired the slick tongue of the eunuch. He had been the one to ask the question but no one would dare doubt whether or not it was Hermes' orders or not. She couldn't very well say that it was the Empress Dowager that ordered for the soldiers to protect her.

Where was the proof?

"This subject thanks His Majesty for His grace," she lowered her gaze to the floor, clasped her hands by her left side and bent her knees slightly to curtsey.

She heard sounds of surprise coming from her maids and remembered that they had not gotten round to teaching her palace etiquettes. It would be a pain to come up with an excuse if they asked about it later.

Oris rose to full height and snuck a glance at Keziah, finding the girl's face as expressionless as it always was. Even Mayree couldn't hide her shock. . .this girl is not as simple as she looks.

She was beginning to find that her four maids were not as average as they first seemed. It made her wonder if her initial prediction was wrong. Would they remain loyal when they discovered that she wanted nothing to do with Hermes?

"Forget about my maid, milord. She might not be here after all," she returned her attention to Faeradaigh. Maybe Andrea managed not to get caught up in everything. Maybe she was tucked away in a shop hiding till things cooled down. "I just remembered that I had sent her on an errand just before the guards arrival."

Before Oris' words could fully dissipate into the air, shouts started from within the mix of guards and peasants, shouts she couldn't deny belonged to Andrea.

"No! Stop!" she heard the girl scream and her mind already imagined the worst.

Oris moved towards the sound but the guards had formed a barricade between her and the rest of the road. She looked into the eyes of the guard directly in front of her and didn't look away until he flinched.

She turned around and glared at Faeradaigh. "What is the meaning of this? Am I being held prisoner?"

"Your presence is required in the palace to begin the selection, My Lady. No harm can come to you," he said stiffly, making Oris wonder if he was under orders as well.

Who do you really serve, The Emperor or his Queen Mother?

It was now obvious to her that the Empress Dowager was using her as an excuse to delay the selection.

"My maid is clearly screaming for help." Oris argued. "If I wait here any longer, you might bring me her corpse!"

When the eunuch stiffened, she knew that she had hit the nail on the head.

Kill Andrea. Blame her for the peasants flocking to the palace gates. Delay the selection while claiming that she had tried to catch Hermes' attention-or start a rebellion.

Oris didn't know which accusation was worse but it was clear that someone intended to dispose of her today.

"Mistress, what shall we do now?" Seline whispered.

Keziah's grip on her hand tightened while Mayree said nothing.

They trust me, she thought, only now coming to the realization, even though this might get them killed.

"There is only one thing we can do," she replied quietly, hoping that she wasn't overestimating her abilities. "We have to break out and protect Andrea. No matter what happens we stick to the same story."

"Andrea was getting supplies." Mayree said.

"And we," Oris began, her eyes searching for a way out. "We are defending the people."

~