#meadowroseswrites

Suddenly, Emma was lifted off the ground from under her arms and lifted upwards into the nearest treetop.

She tried to scream for help, but a hand was placed firmly over her mouth. Her stomach lurched at the abrupt motion as they came to a stop over a large branch. She could tell it was a rabbit now at least, as the orange buck whispered a gentle "shh" into her ear as he settled them back against the tree trunk.

Emma did her best to nod around his grip, then gingerly tried to pry his hand from her muzzle.

He shifted his fingers slightly in a way that made it easier for her to breathe, but that was all he would relinquish.

Before she had much more time to complain about her treatment, a large silver wolf stalked into the clearing below.

This was no wild wolf in tattered rags, but a well kept soldier dressed in armor and gear.

Emma's heart hammered in her chest with the jolt of adrenaline, but the slow, steady breathing of the buck behind her helped ease her tension.

The wolf stood in the space Emma had been just moments before and cautiously sniffed the air.

He seemed still uncertain, but motioned over his shoulder to the shrubbery behind him. Several more armed wolves stepped out from cover.

Emma swallowed heavily and wondered where Heyna and the others were right now. Perhaps whoever this was that had saved her had allies would have helped her friends as well.

There were now over half a dozen wolves in the clearing, and she could hear what sounded like more in the underbrush ahead.

The silver wolf let out a low growl.

"What is it?" The wolf standing nearest him asked uncertainly, cringing in submission.

"I smell rabbit. Fresh,” was the response.

Emma's heart skipped a beat. The buck tensed his grip around her. Please let Heyna be safe.

In answer to their captain, the wolves all lifted their snouts to smell the air again.

Without any further warning, the silver wolf crumpled to the forest floor with a strange gurgling cry, a green-tipped arrow quivering in the ground beside him.

Before the garrison had any time to react, they too were falling under a barrage of arrows from the trees. There came the sounds of a struggle out of sight behind the trees, but very soon that too went quiet. The woods returned to their heavy silence.

Emma swallowed again and tried to look behind her at the rabbit holding her so firmly.

"Apologies, ma'am," he said in a low voice in her ear as he released her. "There wasn't any time for explanations. If you'll excuse me -"

He looped his arm around the branch they were sitting on and swung down, landing neatly on the forest floor below. With his other hand he drew his sword from its sheath, and had its tip at the nearest wolf's throat within seconds of his feet touching the ground.

Emma watched as he went quickly through the clearing ensuring none of the wolves had been missed. Hopefully he realized that really wasn't much of an explanation.

Rather certain the threat was neutralized and not wanting to wait on the mysterious buck's poor communication skills, Emma also climbed out of the tree. There were no lower branches underneath her, and she didn't fancy trying to shimmy backwards in her silken skirts. Getting a firm grip on the branch, she slid off, dangling a moment with her paws several feet off the ground before letting go and landing in a crouch. She dusted the little bits of bark off her palms as she turned to face the clearing again.

The buck strolled up next to her, sheathing his sword.

"All clear!" He said with a smile.

Emma looked him up and down and smiled expectantly in return.

"May I ask to whom I owe the pleasure of this meeting?" She asked, forcing her smile broader.

She was beginning to feel nervous. Nothing in the buck's attire indicated he was a soldier from Blackstone, or even that he was from any citadel at all. He clearly was not allies with the wolves now lying around the clearing, but that didn't necessarily guarantee his alliance with Jupiter's heir.

His dark gray jacket looked like the collar had been ripped off it at some point, and his shirt was unbuttoned around the neck leaving his throat bare.

He held out his hand to shake.

"Percy Redfur, at your service."

Emma shook his hand.

"And the archers?" she asked, "are you their leader?"

"No," he said with a chuckle, "I'm not an archer. They're a group called The Warblers, I asked them to help me as an escort service."

"Escort? Escorting, what?" Emma pressed.

"Rabbits," he said, then added as an afterthought, as though that assisted in clearing up her confusion, "Slaves."

Emma nodded, trying to keep her face from revealing her alarm.

"You're escorting slaves?" she asked, trying to get more information without seeming suspicious.

"Where are you escorting them to?"

The buck tilted his head and looked her up and down.

"You know, I don't know if I want to answer that question, seeing as I don't know who you are. What are you doing out here, ma'am? Can I see your travel papers?"

Emma kept her face a cool mask as her mind scrambled for a response.

"Of course," she nodded her head respectfully, “they're in my bag with the rest of our travel supplies. It should be around here somewhere."

The buck seemed unimpressed.

“You didn't have a bag earlier."

Emma swallowed down the rising sense of panic. She just needed to buy enough time for the rest of her team to arrive, but she was beginning to grow more certain something had happened to them the longer they delayed reuniting with her. Either the wolves or the archers, hidden in the trees around them.

They may be champions, but they were only three rabbits.

"I wasn't the one carrying it, the bag was with my handmaid," Emma said, turning around.

She looked him directly in the eyes.

"You haven't seen her, have you?"

"Maybe."

Emma held her gaze steady in an unspoken challenge that the orange buck cooley returned.

The staredown was interrupted by Jo unceremoniously tumbling out of a tree on the edge of the clearing.

He careened towards them, getting his feet underneath himself and his balance back as he went, placing himself in the space between the two auburn rabbits.

A collection of pine needles was tangled in his fur, although the tree he had dropped out of had not been a pine.

Emma found herself actually impressed at the fierce look he had summoned onto his face.

With his hand curled around his undrawn sword, Jo meant business, although it was Percy who spoke first.

“A handmaid and a bodyguard I see,” he said, taking a step backwards but making no move to his own weapon, “you must be someone rather important, Lady Emma.”

Jo's scowl deepened.

“Why don't you show us your travel papers?” Emma asked.

She needed to take advantage of the disruption caused by Jo’s arrival to regain control of the situation and prevent this from escalating into a sword fight. Jo could shoot a bow like nobody's business, and while he had improved considerably under Helmer’s instruction, she still wanted to make sure they didn't have to rely on Jo's skills with the blade. Surely Cole and Heyna would be arriving soon.

Percy grinned in response to Emma's challenge.

“You know, I like you,” he said.

“Thank you, but you're changing the subject.”

Percy laughed.

“If memory serves, you redirected the conversations first, my lady.”

Jo's shoulders slumped as he rolled his eyes.

“Could you just answer the question?”

“I was going to say ladies first, but since you insist-” he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a folded slip of paper. Smirking, he handed it over.

Emma accepted it coolly as Jo shifted his stance, relaxing just slightly.

Percy sniffed.

The paper was thick and expensive, folded in thirds. An image was stamped on the outside- a swooping falcon wreathed in flame.

Dread building in her stomach, Emma unfolded it to read the contents.

It was… it was an official document, authorization to transport a shipment of slaves from the Red Bleaks to… to *Ackolan*.

“Everything look in order, Miss?” the red buck asked, tilting his head.

It took a great deal of self-control not to sock him in the face, and even more so not to let him see her glare.

“Yes, thank you,” she said curtly, folding it up after she was sure Jo had a chance to read it too.

It was held out for him to take, and the buck slipped it back into his jacket pocket.

He looked at her expectantly for a beat.

“You don't have any travel papers,” he stated dryly, looking at her leavely.

Jo's grip tightened on his sword. Still, Percy made no move towards his own.

Emma stood up straighter. The bluff was up, but she wasn't going down without a fight. One rabbit against two? Maybe he didn't know how to use that sword.

Just then, another archer dropped from the same tree Jo had come from a moment ago.

It was a doe, small enough to be a child, but with the face and demeanor of a well disciplined adult.

Her fur was silver-grey, freckled through with black, white around her muzzle and black around her eyes and ears.

Percy seemed unsurprised by her arrival, and nonchalantly observed her approach.

Surprisingly, Jo seemed unconcerned as well, noting her arrival but immediately turning his glare back on the swordsman.

Emma watched her, tense but unafraid, eyeing the dozens of daggers sheathed on her person, the quiver full of green-tipped arrows. They matched the arrows struck through the bodies of the wolves strewn around the clearing.

“You must be a Warbler,” Emma observed.

“Their captain,” the doe replied, coming to a stop in front of her.

"You must be Princess Emma," she continued in an unemotional tone. "The heir chosen by the lords."

The doe's face was so intense with some kind of barely contained emotion Emma instinctively took a step back, bumping into Percy who was standing behind her.

"*Princess* Emma?" Percy asked, looking down at her with both eyebrows raised.

"Yes," Emma recovered herself quickly and drew herself as straight as possible. "I am the heir."

It was pointless trying to hide it. She could tell that the doe knew.

Something almost broke in the doe's stiff face, but the emotion was quickly hidden as she fell down to one knee, her head bowed.

"Your majesty, I am at your command."

Both Percy and Emma blinked in surprise.

"Oh wait, what am I doing," Percy gasped, quickly joining the doe on the forest floor.

"At your service

Emma curtsied graciously, more confused then anything, but trying not to let it show.

"Thank you. If you would like to do me a service I have several questions I would like answered."

“What?”

“Dauntless. He was there in the warehouse with me. He said he'd think about it- about joining us.” 

His free hand went up to cover his mouth. After how much he'd tried to convince her it'd never happen, it was nice that he actually had a reaction, but she hadn't expected him to be this upset about it. 

He bent over the bed, pressing his face into the mattress.

“I'm so sorry-” he forced through the bedding.

“About not believing me?” Grace asked in confusion. It seemed the only explanation, but she felt like there was something more obvious she was missing that she just could not reach because of her painkiller dulled brain.

He lifted his head but didn't meet her gaze. The wave of remorse seemed to have calmed. “No, no, I- I'm sorry you got hurt.”

“It's not your fault,” she replied softly. 

“But I am worried about Dauntless. He was with me when the building went down. Do you think- do you think he's okay?”

“I'm sure he is.” He gave her hand a squeeze in return, still avoiding eye contact.

Grace smiled and shifted her shoulder to a more comfortable position. 

She couldn't remember anything between blacking out and waking up again in her bed. 

“Felix- how did you guys find me? How did you know where to look?”

Felix sniffed and shook his head. “We didn't. Dauntless brought you home and told us what happened.”

He looked down at their hands resting on the bed, fighting back the tears building in his eye.

“Did he really?” Grace said with a smile.

“I thought you were dead,” he said quietly. 

She felt the droplet land on her wrist and he quickly used his other hand to wipe across his face with a muttered apology.

She wasn't sure what to say to that. He was always so calm and reserved. It felt like this reaction had come out of the blue.

Before she could begin to respond he continued.

“Please, Grace, please be more careful.”

He gave her hand another squeeze, then released it and stood. He said softly, “I'm sorry, I need to go blow my nose,” then turned and left the room quickly.

Oddly enough, he realized after a moment's thought, it had actually been only a little over two years since it had all started. Strange how much could fit into such a small amount of time. 

"Well, here we are," Grace said, gently easing down on the brakes as she turned into a cracked asphalt driveway. 

The car shuddered and lurched in protest until it finally came to a stop. Felix made a mental note to remember to take a look at her rotors. 

Grace turned the key in the ignition and shot him a grin before jumping out the door. An exceptionally wide grin, Felix thought, as he opened his own door. She must be really excited for me to meet her grandma. 

Felix slammed the car door shut and took a look around. 

He had been here before, to the house next door. He stood for a moment staring at the faded lawn flamingo with its plastic santa hat. Someone had added sunglasses and drawn a mustache over its beak. That was… weird.

"You coming?" Grace called from halfway up the walk. 

"Uh, yeah!"

He caught up to Grace at the front door. She looked *really* happy now, practically bouncing on her heels with excitement. 

"I forgot to mention this earlier," She said, overemphasizing her hand gestures. "But Grandma invited over some extended family for a quick goodbye party and because they wanted to meet you too. I hope that's okay?"

Felix tried not to express the sudden twist of apprehension he felt in his stomach. They were Grace's family. He *did* actually want to meet them- maybe with a bit more time to prepare himself- but surely it would be fine.

"Oh yeah, that's fine," he said. 

"You sure?" Grace asked, her hand on the doorknob.

"Yeah! A little more warning would be nice, I'm not sure if I'll have enough cookies," Felix laughed nervously. "But I would like to meet your family."

Alarm bells were going off in the back of his head, but he ignored them. If this was an ambush why would she have warned him ahead of time?

"Great!" Grace grinned. "Let me know if you want to leave, sometimes they can be a little much."

Felix grimaced internally and wondered what exactly that meant as Grace turned to knock on the door. Maybe he had enough time to text the address to his mom, but it was already too late. Grace had skipped the knocking step altogether. She punched a four-digit code into the lock- too fast for Felix to catch the combination- and threw the heavy front door open. 

"We're here!" She announced loudly as the door banged against the opposite wall.

Felix heard shouts and the sound of chairs squealing across the floor and footsteps thundering down stairs. It sounded like a few more than just "some" extra people. 

He clutched the container of cookies closer to his chest as Grace beamed in expectation. 

He was prepared to be assaulted by an exuberant crowd of loud, running people, but instead they filtered into the room from the various hallways and down the staircase completely silently. This he found was almost more intimidating, especially paired with their curious, friendly smiles. 

Not a single person entering the room looked like they could be directly related to Grace, or even to each other for that matter. 

The alarm bells in the back of his head took this as an opportunity to remind him of their presence. 

Once he was thoroughly surrounded, Grace put a hand on his shoulder and gestured wide to the crowd.

"Everyone, this is Felix! Felix, this is my family!"

Felix made his best attempt at a smile and waved to the group with his free hand. 

"Uh, hello. I brought… cookies." He held out the tub of cookies to the crowd as though it were a peace offering to a group of uncertain natives. 

The crowd of people made no move to accept this offering.

 Felix threw a glance in Grace's direction to find her practically glaring at the group of people arranged in front of them. 

She mouthed the question, "*What are you doing*?" 

The members of the crowd smiled broader in response.

Felix threw another uncertain glance in Grace's direction, but the moment he took his eye off of them the situation changed. 

The two people standing directly in front of Felix stumbled to the side with shouts of alarm, attempting, and failing, to shield their heads from the cane waving wildly in the air. 

The lady on the other end looked particularly fierce, glaring at the startled assembly behind wisps of unruly curls.

"What in the world are you all doing?" She shouted, making a point to catch a tall blonde man over the top of his head with a solid thunk. "Are you trying to terrify that poor man?"

Felix was feeling like the old lady with the walking stick was far more intimidating than the silently smiling crowd.

Huffing, she slammed the cane down on the floor in front of her and threw one last glare around the room.

Grace made a wide gesture around the room. "What the heck are you guys doing?"

"I don't know," the blonde man said, wincing and rubbing the top of his head. "We were told to not be intimidating, so I suggested we try being quiet and friendly. Like making friends with a cat."

"Seriously?" A woman towards the back of the group asked as she crossed her arms.

Grace threw her hands in the air in exasperation. 

The man shrugged apologetically in Felix's direction.

"That was, not what I was expecting for sure," Felix said, choosing his words as he spoke. "But I do appreciate the gesture."

This situation was nothing like the one he had been imagining and mentally preparing himself for. 

None of the people in the group seemed like they could be secretly malicious as they all chimed an apology and the old lady nodded approvingly. 

He realized how tightly he was holding the container of cookies and loosened his grip, allowing the feeling to rush back into his fingers.

"Um, I made cookies," he tried again, hesitantly offering the tub to who he assumed was Grace's grandma. 

"I wasn't expecting this large a group so I'm not sure there will be enough but-"

She cut him off with a smile and wave of her hand.

"Don't worry about that. You're our guest here and we made plenty of food. You can hand that to Lyra if you'd like and she can take it to the kitchen, or I suppose you could continue hugging it like a teddy bear."

Sheepishly Felix handed the tupperware to the girl that stepped forward.

She had long, silky, black hair and amber-gold eyes set in a completely expressionless face that seemed familiar somehow. She accepted the tub and was gone the next moment, slipping between two people and through the doorway into the kitchen.

With the tub of cookies relinquished, Felix awkwardly shoved his hands into his pockets.

"So you're Felix then," the old lady said, taking several steps closer. 

Grace beamed.

"Uh, yeah." Felix held a hand out to shake. "Nice to meet you."

"My name is Kate," she said, giving his hand a strong but firm shake. "But most everyone calls me Grandma. You're welcome to do the same." 

"Thank you."

"Well," she said with a sharp inhale of satisfaction. "Make yourself at home, ask a lot of questions, tell a lot of stories, and have a good time. Don't let these wackos strange introduction bother you too much."

Felix gave an awkward laugh, unsure of how else he was supposed to respond.

Kate gestured down the hallway towards an open doorway. "Go on everyone, to the den. Let's not make things weird by just standing around in the doorway!"

Grace grabbed Felix's hand and led him at a brisk, excited pace to the indicated room.

“Come on guys, I want to do introductions!" She called over her shoulder to the others. 

Kate took up the rear with a well pleased smile on her wrinkled face.