Ciara—Rude Awakening
	Ciara woke some time later with Niamh's taste still in her mouth.  She was stiff from sleeping on the floor and her left leg was numb because of how she'd had to curl herself around Niamh, but her earlier lethargy was gone.  Some of her anger had dissipated, too.  She sat up, taking care not to wake Niamh, and stretched until her shoulders popped.  The color of the light in the room suggested that dawn wasn’t too far off and once the sun was up she would have to try the window again.  Even this thought didn’t dampen her mood.  She felt grounded now, and her mind was clear.  Having Niamh sleeping beside her was almost as good as being back home.
	She had just decided to give herself until a little after sunrise to get up when a key clicked in the door.  It swung open and Sabia came in, still dressed in her leather cuirass from last night. The old cat went over to Deirdre's pallet and kicked the vixen in her ribs.
	“Get up.  I want some answers from you right now, or you will be the first fox to die today,” she said.
	Deirdre, tumbled from her pallet, and still half asleep, did nothing but clutch her side and blink up at the old lynx.  Sabia kicked her again and she grunted in pain, but she didn’t do anything to protect herself.  Ciara jumped out of bed, still naked, and launched herself across the room at the Queen.  Alana, who was standing in the doorway behind Sabia, caught Ciara as she passed, just as Sabia pulled out a knife.
	“If you kick her again--”
	“There's nothing you can do to me,” said Sabia.
	“I'll kill you,” said Ciara.
	Sabia's mouth twisted into a smirk, but the old cat lowered her knife a little.
	“You said you wouldn't hurt anybody,” said Alana.
	“Why shouldn't I?  They knew how important it was for us to have Oseille.  It would have made a good first defense,” said Sabia.
	“You’d do just what she did, if it was someone you loved out there,” said Alana.
	Sabia sulked and grumbled under her breath.  Ciara squirmed out of Alana’s grasp and squatted beside Deirdre.
	“She thinks you want to kill her.  I would have betrayed you, too, if I were her,” said Ciara.
	This brought Sabia up short.  She looked over at Alana, who nodded, and then back at Ciara.
	“Does she really think that?” she asked.
	“She isn’t blind,” said Ciara.
	“But that’s stupid.  Why would I have hired her if I wanted to kill her?  I could have done that the first time she came into the city,” said Sabia.
	Sabia stooped to pick Deirdre up off the bed and Ciara flashed her teeth in warning.
	“I don’t care what you want.  We’re finished here, and we’re all going to go home,” said Ciara.
	Deirdre sat up, still holding her hands against her side, and she was able to hold herself steady without Ciara’s help.  She looked badly hung over but Ciara thought her head must finally be clearing.
	“Connor told me about you.  About what you'd planned to do to me,” said Deirdre.
	“He just wants you for himself,” said Sabia, and she spat.
	“Maybe, but he’s not going to get me, either,” said Deirdre.
	She got to her feet and only needed to grab onto Ciara once to stay up.  Ciara got up anyway and she took hold of her mother’s arms, but Deirdre pushed her away.
	“Nobody gets to have me anymore.  I’m going to be forty years old next month. I've spent half my life as a soldier and  I’ve lost count of how many people I’ve killed.  I never thought I’d get used to it, but I did,” she said.
	Deirdre took off her sword and threw it in the fireplace.  Then she took Ciara’s hand and squeezed it.
	“It’s time for me to keep my promises,” she said.
	Sabia growled with frustration and grabbed the sword out of the hearth.  She threw it at Deirdre, who made no effort to catch it when it bounced off her chest.
	“I don’t have time for this kind of stupidity.  When you sober up you’ll come back.  We both know that you can't quit now,” said Sabia.
	The old cat yanked the door open and stabbed a finger into Alana’s chest.
	“You can waste your time talking to her if you must, but don’t take too long,” she said.
	After Sabia was gone, Niamh came out from behind the screen.  She was wrapped up in their blanket, and she put one end around Ciara to keep her warm.
	“Everyone gets so excited.  Would it have hurt anything to give us another half an hour to sleep?” she said.
	“It might have.  Everything’s happening too fast, and I need your help,” Alana said.
	“You've already gotten your answer.  Why would we help you if we aren’t going to help your old whore of a mother?” said Deirdre.
	“Because, I don’t want you to fight anymore, either.  I want you to help me stop the war,” said Alana.
	She reached inside the collar of her jacket and pulled out a roll of white cloth.  She held it in front of her for a time, like it was something holy, before she let it unfurl.  It was a plain, white flag.  Deirdre snorted and turned to look out the window.
	“Why should we trust you?” said Deirdre.
	“Who else have you got?” said Alana.
	“We’ll help you,” said Ciara.
	Niamh gave her a doubtful look, but then she nodded.  Deirdre didn’t give any sign that she was listening except that the tip of her tail twitched back and forth, just once.
	“It’s probably a long shot.  But at this point, what else do we have?” said Alana.
	She had perched herself on the windowsill and had turned her body so that the early morning sunlight would warm as much of her as possible.
	“I’m not asking you to come.  Nobody else has to do this.  I've done everything my mother ever asked of me, but now I’m going to live like my father would have wanted me to,” said Alana.
	Deirdre chewed on her claw and watched Alana for a long minute while Alana looked right back at her.  Neither of them blinked, until Deirdre looked down and scratched the side of her muzzle.
	“I’m with you.  I just want you to be ready for what’s going to happen,” said Deirdre.
	“I'm with you, too,” said Ciara.
	She caught Niamh's expression, and felt the shiver that ran down the girl's back.  But then, Niamh slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her close.
	“You're taking me with you, this time,” said Niamh.
	“You're taking both of us,” said Fiachra.