On the evening before the final battle, a page comes to Mercury and informs her that her father, the King, wishes to speak with the Princess tonight, before the battle.

"Inform the King that I will be there," Mercury replied.

As soon as the page left, the Captain gave orders to the crew and her first lieutenant before taking a hot bath. While bathing she contemplated what she should wear, Captain's uniform, Ebon uniform, or Princess garb? In the end, she thought her Captain's uniform the most appropriate. However, she did change her hair to black, and her eyes to green, in honor of her father, as she often did, and even her complexion matched Cymneo's.

The two guards at the entrance, dressed in the black and green livery of their master, barred Mercury's way momentarily to announce her arrival.

Cymneo embraced his daughter as she entered and held her tightly for several long moments before he releasing her with more reluctance than usual.

Mercury melted into her father's arms, losing all track of time in his comforting embrace. Memories of hunting trips, late-night card games, and family dinners flooded her mind and she realized how much she had missed him and how much her long years at sea at cost her. She was as reluctant as her father to break that connection.

He smiled, but it was a troubled smile. "So, tell me, Captain. Is your crew ready for the battle tomorrow? Is Ross?"

Reverting to her official posture, the Captain replied crisply, "they are both as ready as I can make them, Sir."

Cymneo nodded, but his satisfaction seemed a purely formal thing.

He sighed and shook his head. "Knowing how important your personal reputation is to you, I was planning to speak with you under the pretense of military communication. I fear, in the moment, that my strategy has deserted me."

"We have not discussed this before, Mercury. There has never been a need." Cymneo pulled at his nose, pausing to find the words.

"Tomorrow will be as terrible a thing as any of us has ever seen. Any except, mayhap, your mother's magus . . . although I suspect even that one might wonder at the devastation I foresee. Our enemy knows that we are coming, daughter, and he knows the that way we must come. He will be ready for us, aware that his only hope will be to break us in the battle. If he can do that, then . . . then he will come for the rest."

At her father's words, a chill went down Mercury's spine. She had always assumed that she would have a lifetime to spend with her father and a few years in the Navy would be a small period away in the vast expanse of time they would have together. The thought of her father's possibly imminent death struck the young woman like a hammer to her chest. Her throat tightened and she felt close to tears. Only the very limits of her will prevented her from breaking down in front of the King.

"Dalatriene must be in the battle and Vestige at his mother's side. I am glad, then, that you will be safe aboard your ship. If we fail, you may be the only one of us left."

"Stay out of the fighting, tomorrow, if it comes to the fleet. If we fail I want you to go, Mercury. Take your brothers and your mother and as many others as you can and go. Leave Ebony and Y'Nobe and find a place in Shadow where they cannot find you."

Despite her disappointment at not being allowed to fight at her father's side, Mercury understood what her father was doing and would never go against his direct command, even if it meant protecting her loathsome brothers for all eternity. In response, the Princess nodded curtly. She then pulled a small silver knife from a sheath at her belt and pricked her left index finger, before returning the knife to the sheath and pressing the blood to her lips. She then intoned, "I swear on my blood, if y'Nobe is victorious tomorrow I will not allow mother or my brothers to come to harm."

With her oath completed, Mercury looked up into her father's eyes, her own now brimming with tears. She rushed forward and buried her face in Cymneo's chest, sobbing uncontrollably. After a couple of minutes she regained her composure and pulled away. In little more than a whisper she said, "Good luck tomorrow, father. I love you."

Cymneo regarded her sadly for a moment, and then: "Luck to you, daughter, and your father's love."