Mercury hears a soft knock at the door.

"It is Grobian," a soft voice says.

The door swings open to reveal the slight figure of Mercury, a wooden peg where the bottom of her left leg once was. Her long brown hair is pulled back in a ponytail and her eyes are chocolate brown. She is wearing exercise clothing and her rapier is naked in her left hand, although the Prince recalls that she is naturally right-handed.

With a welcoming smile she steps aside, "please come in. To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"

Grobian took in his sister.

"I wanted to see how you were getting along and if there was anything I could do to help."

The woman favored Grobian with a smile and said, "that is very kind of you, but" she shrugged "I am as well as ever." She closed the door and walked over to a low table with a fluid grace that belied her missing leg. There must have been a rubber tip on the bottom of the peg, as it did not make the traditional thumping sound. She picked up a silver sheath and noiselessly returned her rapier to it.

"How about yourself? I was pleased to see that you assisted Dala, although, as I said, your information would not have changed my own plans." Her expression turned sad, "Mayhap this war will end soon . . ."

The room was plain and sparsely furnished, with a few paintings, chairs, a couch, and a couple of tables. A bookcase in the corner contained a number of books that seemed entirely for pleasure rather than knowledge.

Grobian surveyed the room. His furnishings tended towards the sparse and functional, with an occasional odd and glaring piece thrown into the mix. This was.....similar, yet different.

He regarded the largest of the paintings as he said, "Asterion is being stubborn. He cannot win, or even hope to win. Protracting this will only anger .....well, in the least Mother."

"Do you think he would listen to me?"

The largest of the paintings appeard to be of Chun Kwai, showing a beautiful landscape of farms with steep, jutting karst formations and terraced fields.

"Well, he believes in his cause and is unlikely to see the logic of backing down. I fear it will cost him -- and Y'Nobe -- as he has nowhere to go once he is removed from power in Y'Nobe." Mercury gave a shrug, "as to listening to you, I would not think it likely. He certainly was unpersuaded by my predictions a few decades ago. I suspect he is more committed than ever now."

Mirthlessly she concluded, "funny how that works."

"He has all of Shadow to roam in, should Y'nobe fall, and it would not surprise me if he has learned any of the lost lore of our realms."

The Admiral gave a dismissive chuckle, "yes, he has all of Shadow . . . except the Silver Rim . . . but it is just that, a pale reflection of reality. Eventually, the excitement wanes and the novelty wears off. It is like living a fraction of a life, haunted always by the knowledge that there is something far better but that you can no longer experience it. As to lost lore, I suspect he will regret the expenditures on such things when the prestige of being ruler is gone. He would have been better served to more wisely ration his power, but then, if he were more of a long-term thinker, then perhaps he would not be in the mess he is in."

Grobian moved to the next painting along the wall. "I didn't know you painted," he observed.

-- The painting was a seascape with the sun going down over a small island -- possibly on Croy. Assuming Grobian had some artistic background, he would recognize that both paintings are by the same artist and in an impressionist style.

"And what makes you think that I do?" the Princess inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Perhaps if an offer to surrender yields him a feeling of self-respect, he would accept. Should we have some sort of family consultation?"

As the Eldest royal spoke, she watched a black cat with green eyes slink over and rub its cheeks against the wooden peg. Mercury bent over and skritched the cat's cheeks absently as she responded. "I think that Asterion has gotten himself into a big hole. He never figured out that being King of Y'Nobe is not as prestigious when you take the throne instead of having Titania put you there. As it is he takes all the heat for the war and then gets replaced when the war is over." Mercury gave Grobian a shrewd look, "but then I suspect you figured that out a long time ago . . . or am I giving you too much credit?"

"Maybe I don't see you as a collector. Or," and Grobian looked away with a slight smirk, "are they gifts from a paramour?"

Titania's daughter gave a musical laugh, "no, as a rule I do not accept gifts from lovers, or anyone, really . . . although something someone created just for me . . . perhaps." She walked gracefully to a small table on the other side of the couch and picked up a small stone horse, showing it to Grobian. "Donovan made this, it is Shadowfax." Indeed it was the spitting image of Mercury's horse, masterfully carved. "But this is the exception. And no, I am not a collector, as you rightly surmise." The Princess placed the stone horse back on the table and turned around to look at Grobian. [OOC: The implication is NOT that she slept with Donovan.]

When their eyes met, it was as if Mercury looked not at his eyes but in through the black hole in the center and into his very soul. When she pulled her focus back to his face, a curious smile played across her lips and she noted, "we are very much alike, you and I."

Grobian smiled much as he figured the black cat did when it was presented with a fat bird.

"His actions do seem to have placed me in line for the throne. The funny thing is, we discussed the whole matter when I was.....temporarily inconvenienced. Neither of us wanted the job, and I only told him how to defend the place in order to buy him time and credibility to take the job. Since I knew I didn't kill Neptune, I figured I had to find the murderer. Tying him to Y'nobe kept him under watch. Still, I would like him removed more or less intact, and leaving both forces and cities intact. Hence my thought that we pool our collective imaginations."

A second cat, identical to the first, stalked up silently before pouncing on its brother. Lost in thought, Mercury was silent for a long time, oblivious to the cats fighting. Eventually, she replied, "if that is the case, then I am afraid that it rather muddies much that has gone on in Y'Nobe over the last century." She was silent again for a while before shaking her head and continuing, "it just doesn't fit though. Asterion was too prepared and too quick to react and he seemed too sincere about the job when I spoke to him shortly after he took the throne during my first visit to Y'Nobe."

After a moment she shook her head again as if dispelling a troublesome thought, "well, I am not sure that it matters. If you would like to gather people, I will come. However, Titania is the one who needs to approve some alternate plan. As it is, I do not think it will be long before she orders Dala and I to finish off the job."

Mercury's visage filled with sadness and for a brief time the centuries weighed down upon the diminutive figure, "I just hope she doesn't order me to finish Asterion if it comes to that. Let that be Dalatriene's job. Repayment for handing the Y'Nobians more steel than they could ever imagine possessing," she finished with a snort.

Then, almost, but not quite as an afterthought: "Speaking of credit and imagination, I was thinking that you need help running the fleet while you ...continue your....training?"

The Admiral gave Grobian an appraising look. "My job, for the most part, is mental and not physical. But I will think on your kind offer."

"If you need a man on the ground, to speak in mixed metaphors. It beats sitting around the palace eating bon bons."

Grobian turned to go.

"One last thing. Do you know where Vestige is taking the captured Y'nobians to?"

Mercury pursed her lips in slight disapproval, "No, I do not, although it is one of those things I was thinking about looking into. If you have an interest in seeing any of the prisoners from our sea battle, they are in a sheltered cove on Croy. Get in touch with Charles Langly, he has agreed to take charge of them. I have made every effort to treat them as I would my own soldiers, but perhaps you would be willing to look in on them and see if there is anything they need. I am not sure that they would confide in me."

The note of disapproval growing more pronounced, she finished, "you may wish to ask General 'Wrecking Ball' about their wherabouts, as they are his responsibility."

Grobian nodded. "Good health to you, sister."

He left.

Two days later a servant delivers a small charcoal sketch of Mercury at her window, looking out on the harbor.