Unable to sleep because he had slept half the day away, Davide knocked at the door that he knew to be Judith's. "Captain? Are you in?" He called, lightly. "Or if not.." He added, and tried the door handle. "I should like to talk with you."

Judith was not asleep. Judith never slept. Whatever she was working on at her desk involved a lot of paper, ink, sealing wax, and the need to hide all of the above as soon as Davide opened the door. "Gods, man! Do not walk in on a lady!"

That seemed to dawn on Davide and he grinned at her, sheepishly, shutting the door behind him and not moving any farther into the room. "Better than talking to a shut door." He followed the flutter of paper. "I'm sorry, I interrupted you. You needn't hide your work from me. I'm not going to steal them." He added, looking a bit put out. "Trust me."

"It's nothing much." She looked down at her desktop. "Just forgin' some invoices." She turned in her chair and braced her hands on her knees, looking up at Davide with a bit more cheer. "Problems?'

"Dumas got pranked by the Puck and recieved Renaud's sickness. Renaud now looks about Dumas' age and hasn't a trace of sickness in him. And it would all be in good fun if Dumas wasn't a prince of Aquitaine, and the Queen gave me a dressing down, although I'm allowed to stay on as Ambassador, and I need you to take Louis with you back to the Mainland." He raised his brows. "Also, my back hurts. Again. And I found three gray hairs on my temple."

Judith blinked. It took a lot at once to make her do that. "Who the hell is Renaud working for!" she demanded. "What's his mission?"

"I have no clue, Captain. Aquitaine, perhaps. He did not make a direct deal with the Puck. Just kept saying that it would be nice if it could do something to Dumas, not knowing he was who he said he was, I think." He scratched his head. "Of course, I'm thinking that wishing an illness down on a prince of Aquitaine is treason, so that's.. I think the boy is a cruel little shit, and he deserves it. Which is also treason." He looked down at her. "I quite want to run away with you."

"It's not treason if the Crown don't hear it," she replied. "Wait. The feckin' Prince is here, and none of you knew he was here? Do we know if the Emperor knows he's here? Because otherwise we're in a shitlode more trouble than treason, mate."

"Emperor knows, we have the papers that prove it." Davide replied. "He's the spare, not the heir. His father sent him here to see if they could make the Erins a place for a trading stop on the way to some other land farther southwest. Or northwest? I don't remember. Ah, and to marry the Queen, if she was interested. But now he wishes to leave the Tuatha to the Tuatha." He grinned. "Which at least means I did something right!"

"And you believe the Empire after all this shit?" Judith said, dead-pan. "This ain't sending out the Commandeur, this is feckin' imperial representation. In Erin. They're up to something. And now the little brat's comin' back with la belle dame. This is an invasion."