It was decided.

Sam still didn't like it, but as Jewels said succulently, he didn't have to. They only had a few days, and there would be no better plan than the one they had now.

"We basically have a free ticket into the palace on the two days it's going to be the most crowded and chaotic." Jewels jabbed one finger onto the table top, as if to make her point. "There is never going to be a better chance."

"At least," Gwen said grimly, "not until it's already too late."

This pronouncement sent the room into tense silence for several seconds, before Edward groaned and put one hand over his face. "So I seriously have to hear Sam sing? I don't remember signing up for actual torture."

He said it with a completely straight face, which made it even funnier, and even Natalie joined in the laughter in spite of herself. She might not like Edward very much, but she had to admit, the look of long-suffering he cast about at all of them was pretty funny.

The next several days seemed to crawl by. Natalie was impatient to get to her mother, and on top of that, Sam insisted that all of them lay low until then, so the little suite above the inn was crowded, and they ended up getting on one another's nerves quite a bit. For some reason Edward became even more impossible in the days leading up to everything. He became more irritable, snapping at people, and Natalie often heard him pacing back and forth across the floorboards during the night. In the morning he would look pale and drawn, black circles beneath his eyes.

Things were only made worse whenever Sam ventured downstairs to meet some contact or another in the pub, and inevitably came back with grim news each time. The queen's soldiers were apparently restless, and becoming destructive in their idleness. Some of them were harassing local merchants, demanding discounts or free foods and services. One night Sam came back upstairs with a black eye, and from what the rest of them could gather, there had been a brawl downstairs with some of the red-coated men. He stomped into the backroom and shut the door after that, but Jewels, worried though she looked, said the soldier probably looked worse. Soldier or not, you didn't tangle with Sam.

Two nights before the feast, Kira came over. She had a fat brown satchel slung over one shoulder, and she cleared the long dining room table off before dumping the contents on top. It was more silks, much finer this time, than the scraps they had used before. There were pashminas, woven from colors that looked as vibrant blue as the sky on a clear day, and sunshine yellow. And there were fine silk gloves that felt buttery to the touch, and that Natalie longed to slip her fingers into. There were rich purple table runners, and slippery silk napkins, and several items of very fine clothing.

"Take one of the jackets." Kira gestured at one of the piles of fabric, a tangle of pink, blue and orange. "We'll need to look the part again."

"Where did you get these?" Natalie had to force herself to put a blue silk pashmina down to take one of the jackets from the pile. "They're beautiful."

Kira grinned. "I took them ages ago from dad. He has one of the best silk merchants in the land working for him, so he hardly missed them. I use the silk merchant disguise regularly enough, so they get some use." She shook out one of the pink jackets, holding it up for inspection. "Still looks perfect though. The woman does good work."

"I wonder if the queen will try to steal her away from your dad." Natalie thought about the poor silk merchant with broken arms, and shuddered. "Now that she doesn't have one anymore."

Kira's smile flattened. "Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised." She waited until Natalie had picked a purple jacket off the pile and then swept the rest into her bag again, looking over at the others. "You lot are hardly dressed to impress. Where's Devon?"

As if summoned by her words there came a tap on the door, and Sam moved to open it, pausing while Devon gave both sets of passwords. When the purple haired girl walked in, she was weighed down by two huge leather bags. She grinned, clearly relieved, when Sam grabbed one for her.

"Yeah thanks, these are heavy. Here, pick what you want, something easy for you, Sam. I know you've got no musical talent whatsoever."

Sam grimaced at her, but he shifted the bag forward and dumped it out on the table. An assortment of instruments made a startling clatter as they fell out onto the table top. After a second of hesitation, Sam picked up a small metal triangle with bells along the edges, glancing over at Devin, who nodded her approval.

"That's probably about your speed. All you have to do is bang it in some semblance of rhythm."

Edward snorted, but he did move forward to look down at the instruments, and Natalie thought he was trying to hide his curiosity. "What's this thing?"

He'd picked up a narrow reed with holes punched in the top, holding it delicately between two fingers. "A flute?"

"Penny whistle," Devon said. "Not hard to play. Go ahead and try."

Edward put the penny whistle to his lips and blew, and it emitted a high, clear tone. It was pleasant enough, but Natalie wasn't sure how he was going to pass for a musician.

"I'll have to teach all of you a couple basic notes," Devon said. "Just in case. Hopefully we can figure this thing out before we have to play, but if we don't..." she raised a brow at Edward, "then you're going to have to learn to play better than that."

Edward rolled his eyes and shrugged, but he didn't complain, just continued to turn the whistle around with both hands, smoothing his fingers over the wooden surface. He still looked closed off, but Natalie was sure she saw a flicker of something in his face.

Dubiously, Gwen picked out a little skin drum with a strap to wear around her neck, and Jewels, after hemming and hawing over the spread of instruments on the table, settled on a pair of finger symbols for each hand.

"Here, take two of these." Kira handed her a couple of thin silk scarves. "Tie these to your arms and dance a little bit while you do that. It will be more convincing."

Devon nodded approvingly, and Jewels sat down to attach a scarf to each arm. The others continued poring over the costumes, exclaiming over how ridiculous they would look, or trying out the instruments, which created such a cover of noise and chaos that Natalie was able to slip away into the next room. Her current costume didn't have any pockets to speak of, and she shifted the necklace from her jeans pocket, slipping the chain over her head. She was just tucking it under her collar when there was a gentle shuffle from the doorway, and she turned to see Sam standing there, brows raised.

"Oh, sorry." His cheeks flushed. "Didn't meant to startle you. It's just...a bit much..." he waved vaguely back in the direction of the noise coming from the kitchen.

"Yeah. I get it. It's a lot at once." Natalie tugged on her collar, hiding the necklace chain as much as she could. Sam's gaze drifted down to her throat, and now it was her turn to flush.

"It's weird to think it could all be over soon." Her voice came out slightly shaky.

Sam blinked at her. "What?"

She smoothed her fingers down the chain of the necklace. Her nerves were so on edge, she tried to concentrate on the texture of the chain beneath her fingertips. It would be okay. "When I find my mother, this necklace will take us straight back." She hesitated. "So, this might be one of the last times I see you."

She wasn't sure what she expected, maybe for him to look crestfallen, or disappointed. Instead, his expression faltered and then went dark. He folded his arms over his chest.

"So that's it, huh?"

She stared at him, startled. "What's?"

"I mean, your plan." He leaned against the doorway, frowning. "You've got the necklace so you can just vanish the second you find your mother."

Again, she felt her cheeks flush. That had been exactly what she'd been planning. And briefly she had wondered if it was selfish. Now that she suspected the soldiers had something awful planned for the entire town, she felt even more guilty. But...this really wasn't her fight. Was it? This wasn't her world. She hadn't asked to be caught up in all of this.

Sam's eyes flicked across her face, and his expression darkened for a split second, before he smoothed it out into blankness. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Don't say it like that." Natalie glared at him. "That's what I'm here for, to find my mother. You weren't even planning on helping me until me and Kira brought you information about the soldiers, you wouldn't even know there was something going on if it wasn't for me." She blinked in surprise at her own boldness. But it was true.

If Sam was angered by her reply he didn't show it, just shrugged his shoulders and pushed off from the door frame. "Well, like you said, I'm not in charge of you. You have to do what you think is right."

He moved back into the kitchen, and Natalie was left staring at the empty door frame, feeling irritation and guilt burn in her gut. Why did he have to be so good at making her feel bad?