“Traitorous.”

Rosewater stood silently in her mother’s study two days after the Commoner’s Gala, her expression neutral, her emotions boiling. Tomorrow, she was supposed to invite Collar into her home, and here she was today enduring her mother’s glare and tirade. “I fail to see it as such. I did nothing but adhere to the spirit of the treaty, mother. I did not invite rebellion, did not—”

“Shut up.”

Rosewater didn’t, and went on. “I invited the common pony that came across the river to celebrate the Garden’s hopeful festival of friendship to view myself as no more terrifying than their own lord. How is that traitorous? Explain it to me, please.”

Roseate glowered at her, then at the door behind her, as if she could feel the presence of Knight Captain Firelight Spark behind it. He was not there, nor had Rosewater thought she would need to involve him, knowing what was coming. If Roseate wanted to take the rope Rosewater was offering her, that was her own fault.

“If you cannot—”

“You weakened our position on the war! You’re—”

“Not a participant at the moment, by treaty stricture. I cannot engage in hostile action while I’m involved in negotiations.”

“You can,” Roseate hissed. “But you won’t.”

“Because I won’t jeopardize the progress I’ve made in reaching an agreement to release Rosemary. The law is clear. I don’t have to while I’m otherwise engaged in treaty business, and it’s not considered traitorous to negotiate and foster good will that will ease negotiations.”

“What did you discuss when you went off alone?”

“That is his and my business, and none of yours.” It shouldn’t have surprised her that the gossip had already spread so far, so accurately, so quickly, but she found herself surprised. Perhaps Crown had reported that much. She hadn’t seen her sister in the crowd since the near-disaster with Dancer, but that hadn’t meant she hadn’t been there. “If anything comes of it in negotiations, it will be duly reported to the treaty office and made public record in due time.”

“And if nothing comes of it? What accountability do you offer for your actions? I, as your sovereign, am due certain obeisances from my subjects. How am I to know you didn’t discuss defecting like your traitorous aunt?”

She was fishing. Looking for any sign that Rosewater was complicit with Carnation’s plans. “I don’t know what my aunt did. All I know is that she was exiled and you tried to take Rosemary from my care, despite Carnation’s wishes. Nevertheless, what I say and do in private remains none of your business. I have rights, even as your subject, mother, and especially as your heir.”

“Apparent,” Roseate spat.

“Is there anything else?” Rosewater replied coldly. “Or am I free to go?”

“You will report—”

“I will report everything I must to either you or the treaty office. You will not get one word more or less out of me, mother. That is all I owe you. That is all I feel is owed to you. You are my sovereign, and I will honor the laws to the letter as regards my duties to you.” Rosewater stood and pushed open the door abruptly to find Crown waiting outside, a look of surprise on her face. “As my mother,” Rosewater said behind her, “the only law binding us together is the succession.”

“Dismissed,” Roseate spat back as Rosewater was already striding from the room.

“She’s in a bad mood,” Rosewater told Crown icily and loud enough to be heard clearly. “Step lightly.”

Rosewater descended through the Rose Palace, guarding her heart against the pain that leapt out at her every time she passed the room where her father had died. It was the largest reason she hated this place.

The other was roaring two stories up, her voice echoing down the chamber after her in inchoate rage.

Dazzle was still waiting for her on the ground floor, his eyes wide and his ears flat as he stared up the hallway Rosewater had just come from. “Was that wise?”

“Was what wise?” Rosewater snapped, tail flicking. “Sorry.” She glanced at the Rose Guard standing at parade rest beside the entrance to the palace, his armor resplendent. One of Roseate’s personal guard. Loyal to her, and no doubt rutting her every chance he was given. “She… can get to me too easily sometimes.”

Dazzle only nodded and followed her, his ears flat for several strides, until they were almost to the spiralling streets surrounding the palace. “What are you going to do?”

“Follow the law,” Rosewater said shortly. “And… try to mitigate the splashback on the Garden.”

“You’re not going to leave again, Rosewater, you promised you wouldn’t hide.”

“I’m not leaving, Dazzle. I couldn’t. I couldn’t do that to Seed and Petal again. But I do need to spend some time at the Rosefire estate. Just a few days. Until some other new, shiny reason to be angry works its way into her line of sight.”

Dazzle nipped her cheek, sighed, and leaned against her. “What can I do to help?”

“I need to do a little shopping. Would you like to help with that?”

“For food?” Dazzle’s ears perked up. “Maybe you and I can have dinner tonight at your estate?”

“I would like that.” It would give her a chance to tell him that she hadn’t had in the last two days. They’d been too busy, and she had been called away more than once to meet with a pony with Petal to discuss some small bit of business. “Shall we?”

Collar leaned against the wall in Rosemary’s room, looking out over the city of his birth, his attention towards the eastern end, towards the river, where he thought he could barely make out Rosewater’s estate. Or one of its chimneys, trailing a thin thread of smoke.

He knew about her movements, even though he didn’t want to. He had to. It was part of his duty to always know where his ‘enemies’ were and what they were doing. She was having dinner with Dazzle that night after a visit with her mother.

“I should be there to comfort her,” Collar said softly.

“You will be,” Rosemary replied beside him. She wasn’t close enough to touch him casually, but she flicked her tail to cross his. “Just another day, Collar. And thank you again. For telling me.”

When he glanced at her, she was looking out the window, too, the ribbon already worked into her mane, her blond locks captured into a wavy tail, the blue bow tied loosely so the loops rested against her ears when they perked up. It was fetching, beautiful, and yet another sign she wanted to be a part of his life, his city.

She turned to face him, her ears dipping as she smiled. “And for the ribbon.”

“It looks very nice—” Collar coughed, closed his eyes, and sidled a little closer. “Stars, Rosemary, you look beautiful. The ribbon and bow accentuate your ears and your eyes.”

Her cheeks seemed to glow as she leaned up to place a light kiss on his cheek. “Thank you. It looked good in your mane, too, you know.” She closed the distance between them with a slide sideways. “I’m glad you told her. She needs the stability, Collar. She needs to know that there’s a future beyond my freedom to fight for. A family. Love.”

“I only wish that I could go to her freely and in the open and tell her that I love her before everypony.” Collar looked down to see Rosemary looking outside again. She wasn’t small, but she was slighter of frame than Cloudy. Wispy almost. And her coat against his was warm. “I worry, sometimes,” he said, returning his attention outside, “that I should also be worrying about you and I. What we’re going to do, Rosemary. I know Rosewater is concerned about it, and Cloudy’s been pushing me gently towards you.”

“I know.” Rosemary’s warmth increased as she leaned into him, resting her cheek at the middle of his neck. “I want to share the same things with you, Collar, because I do love you. I want to kiss you. I want to hug you. I want to have a night with you where we do… whatever we want to. Anything we want.”

“Play a game of Petals?” Collar asked, blank-faced.

Rosemary laughed and nipped at his jaw. “That’s one idea. If I get to choose the prizes.”

“Next week,” Collar said gently, turning to look at her, offering her a smile. “But do please keep it… gentle. I’ve only just admitted that I love more than one mare, and accept that. I still need to make the leap to…” He flicked an ear at her, then glanced out the window. “To sex.”

He wanted to have sex with Rosewater. Cloudy had helped him with that realization last night. Coming against the bed while she told him how Rosewater would feel while he masturbated to the sound of her voice, the mental image she built for him, was eye-opening. He hadn’t even intended it, but he’d let her talk him into it.

“Collar,” Rosemary murmured. “I know sex, for you, is different than it is for us. It’s important to you in ways different from our view.” She hesitated, grumbled under her breath and tapped her cheek against his neck a few times. “Stars, I never thought I’d be so bad at trying to talk about sex.”

“Just say it, Rosemary. Don’t dance around it.”

“If… if you feel like you want to make love to Rosewater when you’re at the estate, don’t hold it in. Ask her.”

“I do want to make love to her. I just—”

“Collar,” Rosemary stood and reared up, planting her forehooves on the window sill to meet his eyes levelly. “You’ve already told me how much you regret not telling her sooner. Don’t let this be another regret. You love her. You want to be with her. Be with her.”

It wasn’t that easy, he wanted to say, to tell her that it wasn’t so cut and dried. But when he tried to anticipate her question of why it wasn’t so easy or so cut-and-dried… nothing but ‘because it’s how things work in Damme.’ He wasn’t dating her only in Damme anymore. He was going to Merrie. He was going to her.

And tradition? He’d already shredded and flushed every measure of ‘traditional’ romance in Damme down into the river. He was in love with her. Had shared kisses with her, and his only other lover had made him come from whispering to him about what it would be like to be with Rosewater; what it would feel like mounting a mare his height.

What she could do with her tongue. What she looked like when aroused. What she smelled like.

Rosemary’s eyes widened briefly as she sniffed at the air, and glanced down. “You want to. Don’t deny it, Collar. Don’t—”

He kissed her. Briefly, but on the lips. A little peck to get her to stop talking. He could have used a spell, could have tapped her forehooves with his own, turned away.

Why did I do that?

Rosemary answered him by pulling the curtain closed calmly, her ears nearly quiveringly erect. “Collar.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You kissed me. I wanted you to kiss me, but…” Her eyes flicked down again, and he didn’t need to look to feel the cool air on the tip of his cock. Didn’t need to look to feel his erection stiffen and grow as she looked, as he felt her regard like a caress.

“I was thinking about Rosewater. What Cloudy told me about her. About the times they’ve had sex, played with each other, what she looked like, smelled like.” The words came out in a rush, his private thoughts no longer so. “Stars, Rosemary, I want to have sex with her.”

“That’s natural, Collar,” Rosemary said softly, dragging his eyes up to his, the flush in her cheeks no longer subtle, and the cant of her tail no longer a hint. “And I want to have sex with you.”

He’d forgotten, somehow, how forward she could be in private, and her frank admission only added to the fuel. “I know. Let me work through this, Rosemary. I find you attractive. Beautiful. But I need time. I’m still reeling from Rosewater.”

“I know. I’m making my interest plain, so there’s no misunderstandings between us, and I would like… um.” Her eyes flicked down again. “I would like your permission to use your image when I masturbate. I’ve never seen your penis before. I want to feel it, Collar, and I promise it won’t be you, but a mist faerie. It’s like a dream when—”

He kissed her again, both to quiet her, to calm his libido’s desire to have her, to make love to her, and to feel her lips against his again. Slower. Warmer.

She broke away first with a sigh. “I understand, Collar. May I?”

“Yes. You may use my image.”

“Thank you, Collar. I know it’s strange, but…” Rosemary rolled one shoulder and cast a cooling spell over his erection. “I don’t like to masturbate with no emotional connection. I always like to come to a dream of another pony that I love. It feels better to me.”

“I can absolutely appreciate that,” Collar said with a smile and a nod. “I… apologize for—”

“Nothing, please. Collar, you have a beautiful erection.” For a moment, her cooling spell took on a physical aspect and stroked his flesh briefly before fading back to only a sensation of faint chill. “Thank you for not trying to hide it from me, and for feeling comfortable enough around me to tell me why. I hope your night with Rosewater goes beautifully, and I hope you’ll feel comfortable enough to tell me how it went. Perhaps even over a game of Petals. With Cloudy and I.”

He wanted, in that moment, to let her do more than help his arousal subside. She was a beautiful soul, and gentle with his emotions, loving, and… he wanted her. As his wife. As his lover.

He closed his eyes briefly, telling himself that he needed to work on one emotional conundrum at a time. “I will promise to tell you both, though you may need to sacrifice some salacious bets for truth-tellings.” He winked, forced down the last of his arousal, and stood, collecting the small bead of precome that trailed down from his limpening head, and hesitated with it hanging in air.

Rosemary answered what to do with it by sniffing, then licking it away and swallowing.

It was an effort to force his libido back down again.

Cloudy lounged on a cloud high above Damme, her spyglass dangling from her neck half-forgotten as she watched the ponies below going about their daily lives as if nothing had happened recently.

From so high up, it was easy to imagine that nothing had disturbed the even flow of traffic from one side of the river to the other, but Cloudy knew better than most just how much gossip was passing back and forth, and how many lips carried the names of two of her lovers.

She was supposed to be up here watching Rosewater, but her lover had been cloistered in her home, with smoke curling from the kitchen chimney for nearly an hour by then, with Primrazzle Dazzle. They’d spent the afternoon following Rosewater’s visit to the Rose Palace shopping for enough food to feed four ponies for a week and making it look like she was getting ready to cloister up and ride out whatever storm of hornets she’d kicked up.

And a storm it had been, for almost a half hour after Rosewater left, ponies had been seen running to and from the Rose palace both under veil and not, and caught the entire watching corps off guard for just how many runners there were.

To every one of Rosewater’s sisters’ homes, to the homes of known and prominent members of the squad of goons Roseate employed to harass troublemakers like Rosewater and the Gardener ponies.

So many that even those not connected to the intelligence apparatus in Damme had felt the tremors in the web of spies as informants and gossipmongers were questioned, bits paid for bribes, and soldiers given marching orders.

The watch on every bridge save the Rosewine had been doubled in the hours since Rosewater’s visit, and while they didn’t harass the merchant traffic, many of those that joined the regular bridge guard weren’t the familiar and friendly faces they were used to, the ponies that sometimes looked the other way for a misplaced or missing permit.

It was, to Cloudy’s eye, a reflex action. A twitching of authoritarian muscle in reaction to being poked in the ass by a nettle.

She turned over and stared at the sky above, at the high level cold currents of air turning the moisture into frost banding. Still too warm at sea level for snow, but higher up, it would start out that way and transition to sleet where she was in a few days. Maybe even down to almost street level.

Ponies might need to break out their ice shoes soon.

Bored. Cloudy puffed out a breath and rolled over again, watching the traffic once more. She wished, so much, that Collar and Rosewater could be open, so she could be, and so could Rosemary.

But she had her duties and expectations to hold to, just as he did. Just as Rosemary and Rosewater did.

I hate acting.

And the worst thing… her shift watching wasn’t half over yet. And, down below, a single figure approached Rosewater’s house, and a quick look through the spyglass told her who it was.

“Rut me.”

I don’t want to do this. Silk steeled herself on the step of Rosewater’s estate, glanced at the covered dress form at her side, and wished that Vine hadn’t been sent off on her own mission at Roseate’s practically frothing command.

Crown had gotten the worst of it, being closest to the ignition point of their mother’s legendary temper.

But, she had a job to do, and one that Roseate had determined she was the only one with a reasonable chance of success because she was making Rosewater’s rutting dress.

Two knocks. Silk waited, trying to present herself to the outside world as a businessmare visiting a client and not the spy she was being forced to be.

‘Find anything you can about Collar tempting Rosewater to betray us.’

Rut you, mother. She’s not an idiot. She tapped her hoof on the stoop, waiting, and raised her hoof to knock again, hesitated, and put it down again. It wouldn’t do to seem impatient, or her guest would be suspicious. If he wasn’t already. All she knew about Dazzle was that he was canny enough and good enough to rise through the Dammeguard ranks, and highly enough placed that they could get decent concessions from him if they captured him.

His moving to the Garden had neatly derailed that line of Roseate’s planning. It wouldn’t look good, and would raise all kinds of hate, if she started abducting ponies that moved to Merrie voluntarily.

“Silk?” Rosewater’s voice behind the door. “What are you doing here?”

No click or whisper of spells being released or wards being reset. Rosewater was being cautious. Intelligent, after her visit with Mother that morning. “I wanted to show you the final dress after the adjustments I made and the changes you requested.”

“Today?” Finally came the subtle pressure of the doors’ wards as they flexed and withdrew, then the door cracked open and Rosewater peered out, then past her and to either side before she opened it the rest of the way and the pressure vanished. “No arrest squad?”

“What?” Silk startled and glanced around herself, then shook herself and her head vehemently. “No. I’m not here to do that, Rosewater. I have your dress. I’m here on business.”

Rosewater met her eyes, sighed, and backed away from the door. “Maybe I’m just jumping at shadows. I let my temper get the better of me after meeting with mother today.” She ushered Silk into the sitting room, still just as warm and inviting as her last visit, still without the familial portraits. And with another pony.

“Oh. Hello. I wasn’t expecting—”

“You knew I was here,” Dazzle said simply. “You didn’t startle when you saw me.”

“Excuse me?” Silk growled, her own hackles getting up as she met the eyes of Rosewater’s current lover.

“Silk,” Rosewater said, silencing the room. “You can drop the act. I know you’re here only because mother wants you to spy on me again. And I’m sorry, but I’m not, and neither is Dazzle, in the mood to play games today. Not after this morning. What does she want?”

“Can I trust him?”

Dazzle’s eyebrows shot up.

“You haven’t told him, then.” Silk felt something settle and click into place in her mind. A new certainty that she had only just become aware of. “You didn’t tell anypony?”

“I told Crown at the Gala that you knew about Rosemary and I.”

“And he knows?”

“Stars, sister, he’s my lover. I don’t keep secrets, many, from my lovers. It feels wrong.” Rosewater settled back on the couch with Dazzle and floated in another teacup set from down the hall. “I was half-expecting one of the three of you. You made the most sense, but I wasn’t expecting you until later.”

“You really stirred it up, Rosewater.” Silk hooked the dress form to a hat rack and took the couch seat opposite. “She’s angry.”

“I know.”

“Wait, wait,” Dazzle sat up straighter and tapped a hoof on the center table. “You’re both in cahoots?”

“What a curious word to use,” Silk murmured. “No. We’re not in cahoots. We’re…” Vine’s words crawled up from the back of her mind, past the scheming and plans. Rosewater trusted Dazzle, and Vine wanted to be family again. “We’re family, Dazzle. Trying to be family. I… Vine and I, are trying to find the common bonds of love and trust between sisters again.”

“Neatly said,” Rosewater agreed, and nodded to her companion. “She speaks the truth. Small moments of trust, Dazzle, building up to a more unified and stronger whole.”

He was a fine stallion, too. Sturdy, strong. Coppery coat not unlike Collar’s, and bronze mane and tail, and eyes that stood out almost as much as the rest of him in the green and blue decorated sitting room, deep blue with flecks of what looked like sunset orange.

“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Primrazzle. I’ve heard much about you,” Silk said politely, reaching across to offer her hoof. “And in case you were wondering, I am serious about my commitment to reuniting what of our family can be reunited.”

“And you’re here to spy on her.”

“With my permission,” Rosewater replied, winking. “I already decided what I’d let slip. But in due time. How are you, Silk?”

“Frazzled.” She let out a breath. “Do you want to see the dress? I want to go and check on Vine. Mother has her trying to dig up what she can from a few garden ponies. She intends to fail and take the punishment.”

Dazzle opened his mouth, glanced at Rosewater, then at Silk. “What’s the punishment?”

“Renewing the charms on the sewer decomposing gems.” Silk winced. “She’s… I know you don’t know her, Mr. Primrazzle, but trust me when I say going down to the sewers is one of the worst punishments short of exile that mother can come up with for her.”

“She’s a clean pony,” Rosewater explained gently. “And one of the gentlest souls of all my sisters. All she wants to do is tend to her plants, be with her loves, and live a quiet life. She never wanted the war, or her place in it, or the talent that Roseate finds so useful.”

“Nor do I,” Silk admitted, glancing to the dress still shrouded. “I want to make dresses. Hats. Scarves.”

“Collars?” Dazzle raised a brow.

“If he asked me to make one, I would do my best. It’s my passion, Mr. Primrazzle. Working with silk especially is something that I enjoy more than almost anything else in the world.” Some of the longing she felt for such a simple life bled into her voice, and for a moment she wanted to take it back. “It’s more than my talent. It’s my soul.”

“An artist,” Dazzle said. “I can understand that. Please, call me Dazzle. Rosewater seems to trust you.”

“A mistake, I assure you,” Silk said with a wry smile. “Between her and Vine, I would choose Vine. It’s the leverage my mother has over me.”

“I understand that, as well, and I am careful with what I give you, Silk.”

“Vine,” Silk went on with a sigh, “would rather take the punishments and be exiled with me than let another pony be harmed by her action. I’m selfish.”

For a moment, Dazzle seemed to consider that, then nodded and glanced at Rosewater. “I’m in love with Rosewater. If I had my choice, I would offer her my hoof in marriage. Give that to her. It won’t hurt me or Rosewater, but it will be a tidbit your mother wants.”

“You surprise me, Mr—” Silk halted, coughed, and finished, “Dazzle. You know that will put you in my mother’s attention in the worst way. She’s done her best to make sure Rosewater remains childless, and you are a wrinkle in that plan.”

“It bothers me not one bit. She can't exile me. She has no jurisdiction over my life and how I live it. I am free to visit Rosewater, and I am free, if she decides to banish me from Merrie, to petition the Treaty Office to grant her a chance to visit me for the purpose of sex.”

Silk felt her brows rising to her forelock. “You planned this out?”

“Stars, no. I’ve been thinking about how I could help her, how I could keep showing her how much I do love her.”

“Dazz…” Rosewater’s voice was pained, and the look she gave him told her more than either of them was saying.

“I want to, Rosewater. This is my war, too. If my helping a mare you say is one of the kindest, gentlest souls you know will help end it sooner, then I will suffer the indignity.” Dazzle leaned against her and reached up to nip her cheek. “I do love you. Whatever else happens.”

“And I do love you. If things were different…”

“I know.” He kissed her cheek, then glanced at Silk. “That should tell you enough to get your sister out of trouble.”

“And me. Stars. You really are in love with her, aren’t you?” Silk could hardly believe herself.

“I am. She keeps me from falling too far. She still hopes Collar will return her advances and offerings.”

“Then he hasn’t.”

Rosewater met her eyes, nodded, then shook her head, and said. “He hasn’t.”

A lie. But what was the truth? Are both of them lying? If so, about what? “Thank you. I trust you know that Roseate will direct her attention against you when I tell her that you are more than ‘merely’ friends?” You don’t have to give them a second chance.

“Are you sure, Dazzle?” Rosewater asked.

“I am. I would like to meet your sister some time, Silk. She sounds…” He cocked his head, eyes locked on Silk’s. “You’re very protective of her. She must be somepony very special. Especially, and forgive me for saying it, for your family.”

“No forgiveness needed. We’ve been close since we were foals.” Silk glanced at Rosewater and tipped her head at her sister. “She can tell you more. I trust her to tell it right. But I daren’t tarry here too long, else Roseate will get suspicious of why I had tea and biscuits and spoke for an hour.”

“And I trust you to know my tastes for the dress,” Rosewater replied. “I do trust you, Silk, and I hope you consider my offer if something does loom over Vine.”

“I have considered it, dear sister, and I can’t see how it can work. But I thank you all the same.”

“It doesn’t expire. If you need it, you know how to ask.”

Dazzle, Silk was amused to see, was bewildered by their circumspect talk, and he was handsome even then. If he weren’t so attached to Rosewater, he might be a treat to pursue, and he had shown some interest in her and Vine. At least on the surface.

“I should go, then,” Silk said after a moment’s open consideration of Dazzle and his frank return look. Even more intriguing that he wasn’t bothered by her regard. “I’ll go with what we discussed, but I have to warn you that the dye may not be exactly the right shade. Getting that color here raises the wrong sort of eyebrows.”

“Be well, Silk.”

“And you, dear sister.” Silk hesitated as she stood and cast one last look at Dazzle. “And you, Dazzle. I hope our paths cross again. You seem a most intriguing stallion.”

“And you, Lady Silk.” He glanced at Rosewater, then back to Silk. “Perhaps it would help if I came to you to ask for such a color as her dress in the form of a scarf?” He held up a hoof before Silk could reply. “How could it be strange for a Dammer to ask for Damme blue?”

“It may.” Silk flicked her tail as she pulled down the dress form. “May I take that as a sign that I’ll see you soon?”

“You may.”

“Then I shall look forward to it. Until then, Dazzle, and until next time, Rosewater.”

“Are you sure?”

“They said it would be okay, love,” Silk murmured. They were in the small space between two buildings, not far from where Vine had been sitting at a small cafe that the Garden ponies tended to congregate, veiled and silenced. “I trust her.”

“But…” Vine’s voice quavered. “Stars, Silk, she’s putting herself in more danger for us. And what can we do?”

“It’s for us, love. So we can keep looking for an opportunity to… make a clean break, or… I don’t know.” Silk sighed and rested her head against her slighter sister’s. “It’s a chance to give us more time. And I know how much more chances we’ll get. You heard Crown’s report. Rosewater isn’t playing quiet anymore, and she’s making moves to endear herself to the treaty office.”

“I know, I know.” Vine ran a shaking hoof over her mane. “I’m glad for her, truly. And I hope Dazzle has more of a chance than you think he has. He sounds like a nice pony.”

“She’s pursuing Collar.” Silk hesitated, then added, “I think she’s succeeding. You heard how comfortable they seemed together, and then at the dance, and how they disappeared for nearly an hour.”

“I know.” Vine smiled wanly. “I think Dazzle seems so nice. He gave you that without even knowing either of us, and I don’t know Lord Collar nearly as well.”

“She does.”

“But must she turn aside Dazzle?” Vine asked, her voice plaintive. “She is, from what you’ve said, in favor of Lord Collar?”

“My dear, you’ve only just heard of him from me and you’ve already fallen in love with him and our sister?” Silk laughed and risked nipping her cheek. “I love that romantic heart of yours.”

“Silk!” Vine laughed and kissed her neck, then flushed and pulled away. “Sorry. Yes, I have. I’ve heard how they spend time together, but not a whit about how she and Collar spend their time together. How can I form my ‘romantic fantasies’ without that?”

“Then you’d best ask her.” Silk gave in, briefly, to temptation and kissed Vine’s neck in return and rested her nose over the spot, using a spell to wipe away the scent until she couldn’t detect the mingling. “She’s becoming what I think she was always meant to be. A bridge of her own, between Merrie and Damme.”

“No.” Vine pulled away and nipped her nose. “She’s becoming her own mare. She’s breaking away from mother’s influence. She chose to be a bridge, but she was not always meant to be one.”

Silk mulled that over, then nodded. “Then… what are we choosing to be, love?”

“I want to be free. I want to be with you.” Vine sighed and leaned against the wall opposite her. “But… I would choose to be my own mare, and I would hope you choose to follow me.”

“Anywhere. I choose to be with you. I have always chosen that, Vine. You’re my best friend.” Silk swallowed the other word that she sometimes still wanted to be true, the word that brought shame at her perverse desires. “I want to be free with you. I want to find a pony that we can both love, Vine, and that will love us, despite what we are.”

“Are you sure you have the spot right?”

Collar nodded, closing his eyes and feeling at the ethereal anchor of his teleport spell. It was a new way of trying to teleport. Usually, he thought of his exit point, pushed it into the spell matrix, and then let the spell loose. This way, he had to search for the location, feel the magical matrix in that location, a spell effect that anypony with any kind of sensitivity to it would be able to feel and find his location.

It was hardly a stealthy spell, but he wasn’t trying to be stealthy.

“I can feel the pressure of her wards all around, but there’s one space clear of it, with sharp edges. I feel the magic of the earth all around, too. It’s underground.”

Cloudy nuzzled his cheek. “I wish I could go with you.”

“I wish, too, but it’s only big enough for me.”

“You also do need this time with her alone,” Cloudy said musingly, one ear flicking as she stared off into the distant hills. Collar could barely see Rosewater’s estate from here, and they were deliberately not facing it, acting more like he was scouting something in the forests to the north than like he was planning to drop in on Rosewater. “This isn’t a normal Merrie romance.”

“It’s not. It certainly is not a normal Dammer romance.” The joke fell flat before it even left his lips. He sighed. “As much as I want it to be something normal. Either Merrie or Damme.”

“It will be. In time. Remember what Rosemary said.”

Don’t let not asking her to make love be another regret. “I remember.”

“And don’t worry about staying overnight. You’re patrolling the north woods with me. It may take some time, and I’m not going to be back until afternoon after next.”

“Are you going to be okay? It’ll get cold.”

“I have a space. It’s where Sunrise and I make love, when we do. A nice little pigeonhole of a nest in the boughs of a spreading oak.” Cloudy winked. “I didn’t tell you, of course.”

“Of course.” Collar sighed and kissed her cheek. “See you in a… day? Two?”

“See you in two days.”

In a twinkling and yanking of his whole being, Collar vanished in a pop and flash, and was suddenly in a cold, dank underground cell lit by candle light and pleasantly aromatic instead of musty or mildewy. It was no prison cell, and the remnants of shelves and the shadowy marks where items had lain for decades untold against the wall told him it had only recently been cleaned out.

It was the only place that had matched Rosewater’s description, and even as he reoriented himself, the jangle of a chain sounded just above and behind him, and a faint magical aura washed over the space he occupied, erasing his teleportation signature and making it impossible for him to even form a local locus.

“Good evening, Collar,” Rosewater’s voice sounded behind him, warm, inviting. “I wasn’t expecting you until morning. But… given our last date, I thought it might be worth the risk of opening the way for you early.”

He turned to find her standing there in the welcoming light of a candelabra, her smile just as much as he wanted to see. “I… wasn’t going to. But I was trying to get an idea of where I’d need to go, and set up my alibi…” He shrugged and stepped free of the little cupboard and turned slowly to study the basement. “It’s nicer than our dungeons used to be.”

“It should be. Rosemary fought dust and mildew like they were the legions of Tartarus so she could store some of her herbs down here. I’ve let it go a little, but…” She sniffed, wrinkled her nose, and shook her head. “Dazzle is still here. He… wanted to talk to you, if you came tonight.”

“About what?” He thought he knew. It’s what he’d have wanted to talk about if their positions were reversed. He, in love with her, she in love with another. No. That can’t be right. That’s Tussen Twee thinking. “I… should ask.”

Rosewater smiled a touch nervously, nodded, and gestured with the candelabra. “The stairs are this way. I was preparing dinner for myself when I felt your spell below. It’s not exactly subtle, you know.”

“I know. I figured if you were home, it would be like knocking.” The joking was a distraction from his fear of the private conversation that needed to happen. He needed to talk to Dazzle, face the stallion that had been there when he couldn’t, who’d made love to his love. Who, in a different position, might have been the father to—

Stars, get ahold of yourself.

Rosewater didn’t seem to notice as she led him up the stone stairway into the main house, but she did pause at the intersection of four hallways, a roundabout around a pillar of stone decorated with four small portraits of what were, presumably, the previous owners of the Rosefire estate.

“My great aunt Rosefire and her brothers and sister. She was the last of her line, and had no children… except Carnation, she always said.” Rosewater smiled sadly and continued on towards the front of the house. “The Rosefires were never the largest family.”

“My condolences for her passing.”

“Thank you. It was more than a decade ago, and I hardly knew her before she went to Canterlot for retirement. We got word by letter that she’d passed, and her ashes were scattered over the Merrie.” Her voice softened, quietly mournful. “Carnation spoke of her often, and I have her journals still to keep me company sometimes.”

She was avoiding talking about Dazzle, too, Collar realized. It wasn’t her talk. It was about her, but it was something he and Dazzle needed to face together. “She sounds like she was an amazing mare.”

“She was. She was like Lace, in her writings.” Rosewater continued on, taking a deep breath and betraying her nerves as clearly as if she’d shouted her nervousness at him, telling him just how important this talk was going to be. Maybe not for him, but for her, her relationship with Dazzle.

Maybe for him.

Insane scenarios of him claiming Rosewater for hers and denying Dazzle had any right to talk to her flashed through his head, swiftly quashed and leaving a horrified sense of unreality behind.

You’re not a monster, Collar. You’re in love with her.

“Dazzle?” Rosewater asked, a tremor in her voice that wasn’t normal. “Collar is here. I need to finish making dinner… and you wanted to talk to him before you left. Right?”

Collar brushed passed Rosewater gently to face the stallion sitting tensely on one of the couches in the sitting room, his coppery-coated form smaller, more varied, with some dappling along his forelegs that Collar didn’t have. Somewhere in their family’s pasts, they may have shared an ancestor. His eyes, though, a deep, clear blue of the sky in late evening flecked with sunset orange were none of Collar’s coloring.

Dazzle, he saw, was just as nervous as he was, shifting as soon as Collar and his eyes met, and swallowed.

“Erm. Collar?” Dazzle asked. “Stars, I don’t even know if I should call you ‘my lord’ or not.”

“How did you talk to me at the Gala, at lunch, Dazzle? You spoke to me as an equal. Please do so. We’re not here because I’m your lord.” Collar coughed, glanced at Rosewater, and stepped past her to take a seat opposite Dazzle. “We’re here because we’re both in love with Rosewater, and we need to talk.”

“You’re doing better than I am,” Dazzle muttered. “Stars, my hooves are shaking. I don’t even know why.”

Rosewater ducked her head and stepped in to kiss Dazzle on the cheek gently, then Collar. “Remember that I love both of you, and I won’t compare that love.” She seemed about to say more, her ears flat, her lower lip caught between her teeth, then she smiled, ducked out, and left them alone.

Both of them waited until the sound of her hooves stopped. It was inane, the estate wasn’t so large that she wouldn’t be able to hear them at least in a muffled way, but Collar felt himself relax after the reminder of her presence faded.

“I wasn’t brought up with the Principes,” Dazzle said abruptly, “but I thought I had accepted it in my heart, wholly. Yet…” He tossed his head. “Stars. I thought jealousy was a monster I’d defeated months ago.”

Collar nodded. “I know what you mean. I thought I had, too, knowing that Cloudy still made love with some of her friends in the Dammeguard and elsewhere in the city. She would always let me know well ahead of time, and remind me on the day. But she was always there. I didn’t have to worry that I wouldn’t see her tomorrow.”

“I… think I can understand.” Dazzle rubbed a foreleg with his other hoof. “For me… I’ve never before wanted to settle down. I couldn’t see myself settling down with anypony. Then… this mare comes into my life, and I learn about her, and I see how she handles herself, and then I learn she’s a mother already. Stars. It’s like it flipped a switch in my head. Like… ‘She’s the one. I could see myself settling down with her.’”

“That, I can understand. I saw her once, curled up with Rosemary after a hard emotional day. She’s a mother. Stars, I could see her in the role again.” Collar swallowed, looked into Dazzle’s eyes, too intently focused on his, and made himself meet the gaze. “I want her to be a mother of my children, Dazzle.”

“I… I know.” Dazzle held his gaze for another moment, swallowed, and looked away. “I keep waffling. It’s her choice. I want to ask her, but I know her heart is set on… solving the war. Ending it. Her best chance to do that…”

“She’ll not have a child without love, Dazzle. You know that.”

“I know. But—” Dazzle swallowed more thickly. “I’m not you. She’s had her attention on you for longer than I’ve known her.” He raised a hoof and waved it as Collar opened his mouth and sighed. “I know. I know. Sharing, not comparing.”

“How do we resolve this?”

“We?” Dazzle chuckled. “We don’t resolve anything. Rosewater decides. We’re here to make sure we understand each other. I love her. You love her. I, at least, am still waffling on my desire to settle down. Petal and Seed have hinted that they might offer me a marriage contract together. Contingent on me working out my own feelings.”

“How has it been? Living in the Garden?”

“Wondrous. And confusing, truth be told. Working out my desires for ponies, working out what that meant in terms of relationships beyond the sex.” Dazzle shook his head. “It’s… hard, sometimes, to separate the two when you weren’t born in a culture that views sex without stigma or ties. They… we love sex, Collar. But it’s not everything, and it took me a few days, and a talk with some of my lovers, to understand that there was far more intimacy available than the merely physical. It’s intoxicating.”

“It is.” Collar sighed softly. “Rosemary and Cloudy both told me not to hold back if I felt the want to make love to her. To ask her, not hold it in until a ‘better’ time.”

“Wise. Merrie culture isn’t about needless restraint, Collar. Moments lost to hesitation, to indecision, are mourned. They’re moments that could have been beautiful.” Dazzle huffed, chuckled and tapped his chest. “I lost several moments with Rosewater, because I knew she was courting you. Everypony knew she was. And I knew that you, a follower of the Tussen Twee, would want… would expect… and I was wrong.”

“It was hard to tell her to follow her heart. To not let those moments pass her by if she wanted them. I hope they were beautiful moments, Dazzle.”

“They were. Relaxing. Peaceful.” Dazzle glanced at him again, then away. “Passionate. I’ll cherish the time I spend with her, Collar.”

“Good.”

Dazzle startled and met his eyes. “Good?”

“I love her, Dazzle. And I thank you for letting her be herself, be the emotional, carnal, passionate mare that she is when I was too indecisive to tell her that I loved her.” Collar made a decision, then, and reached across the table, hoof cupped upwards. “Dazzle, I want to make a promise to you, and I want you to promise me. Take care of her when she’s with you. She’s so fragile in so many ways. She needs all the support we can give her while she does what nopony else can do.”

Dazzle took the offered hoof without hesitation. “Take care of her, Collar, when she’s with you.” He reached farther, clasping Collar’s ankle in his. “And, I think, in the end, it will be best for the future if she married you, and I think she knows that. She’s… been sad with me sometimes, after the passion fades, thinking she’s lied to me with her heart, and I don’t know how to tell her she hasn’t, other than, ‘I love you.’”

“I think she knows,” Collar murmured. “She… is always aware of her position. What it means. And what the future holds for her.”

“She is. Which is why I think she’ll choose you. For the sake of both our cities. I’m glad she loves you, Collar. It makes trying to distance myself from her a little easier.”

“Don’t you dare, Dazzle.”

“I’ll have to, Collar. For when she declares for you. Her intent to have your child. She can’t be with other stallions unaccompanied when she does. It’s tradition to ensure that the lineage is true and right when recorded. And, for her, the law. The pedigree of her heir must be known to ensure that the lineage of rulership in Merrie is free of even accidental incest.”

“Really? Stars, I hadn’t even given it much thought.” It made sense. In a city as promiscuous as Merrie, knowing one’s genealogy would be paramount to ensure that children weren’t impaired or deformed. He knew it’d happened in the past, even a short two-generation-long dynasty shortly after Rosethorn had passed of siblings marrying. “I should have known. I know that incest is a major taboo in Merrie, even more so than it is in Damme.”

“It is. That’s why the laws are so strict and the family library is open to all, regardless of nationality or standing. As for declaration, there’s a ceremonial aspect to it that you need to know.” Dazzle released Collar’s ankle and sat back, his gaze clearer, his purpose apparently clarified. “Ask Cloudy and Rosemary about it. Or Rosewater. You need to know our traditions and our laws, Collar.” Dazzle chuckled and winked at Collar. “It’s also traditional for the stallion to go through the same hardship. To not be with another lover until she is confirmed to be pregnant. Though, obviously, that isn’t a requirement of the law.”

“And you? Stars, Dazzle, you’re telling me how to… ask her to bear my children.”

“There are other loves in my life, Collar. I will always love her, and I hope we aren’t apart forever, but… I want her to be happy, and I will find my own happiness.” He chuckled. “I always knew, Collar, that she wouldn’t be mine alone, but I suppose I’m not fully done with my Dammer sensibilities.”

“Nor am I.” Collar met his eyes, nodded, and leaned back against the back of the couch. “Stars, Dazzle. I still feel jealous when I think about how when I leave here, she’ll be with you. But I don’t blame you or her. It’s my failing.”

“Is it a failing? Merriers deal with jealousy, too, Collar.” Dazzle glanced at the entryway as the sound of plates clattering together came from farther down the hall, reminding them both that Rosewater was still there. “They deal with it by talking it out. It’s why I stayed, hoping you would come early. I needed to talk it out with you, to get to know you as more than my former liege lord, my leader in the Dammeguard.”

“As a pony.”

“Yeah. I needed to know more than your position, Collar. And I like what I see.” Dazzle stood, stretched his hind legs one at a time, and called out, “You can stop pretending you can’t hear us, Rosewater. I think we’ve said all we can tonight.”

“Have we?” Collar asked, rising with him.

“For now. I don’t want this to be the last time we meet and compare notes.” Dazzle glanced down the hallway, smiled, and stepped out. “I find that I like you, and I’d like to know you as more than simply Lord Collar of Damme.”

“And I would like to get to know you better. Because you’re right,” Collar said, glancing down the hallway to find Rosewater standing a few paces away, a hoof to her breast, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. “She does need our help, Dazzle, and our love, without the two of us duking it out over her hoof.”

He watched as she took another step closer, then another, until she was standing close enough for him to touch with his nose.

“I was worried,” Rosewater admitted, brushing away the tears in her eyes and smiling more brilliantly than Collar had seen before. “I love both of you, and I’m so glad that…” She let out a breath. “I did hear a lot of what you both said. The house carries sound. Dazzle—”

“Rosewater,” Dazzle broke in, moving to her and kissing her lightly on the cheek, then cupping her chin with a hoof and kissing her on the lips. “Don’t. It’s better that I knew I still struggled with my upbringing than believing I was wholly of the Principes. This is a chance for me to reach out again to lovers and loves.”

“Dazz,” Rosewater murmured, her eyes flicking from him to Collar. “Thank you. I know it was difficult, but thank you.”

“It would have been more difficult to lose you, Rosewater.” He kissed her one more time, then turned to Collar. “Take care of her, Collar, and enjoy yourself. Don’t let what we talked about hold you back or make you think ‘there can be a better time.’ There won’t be, I promise you.”

“There’s no time like the present,” Collar murmured the old aphorism, and chuckled. “Thank you, Dazzle.”

“Now back into the sitting room, Collar. You can’t be seen here while I say goodbye to him. But you can listen.” Rosewater flicked her tail against Collar’s shoulder.

Collar was barely done settling in when Rosewater opened the front door, and the cool air of the night washed in. She didn’t close it immediately.

“Are you sure you’re going to be alright for a few days?” Dazzle asked quietly, but not so quietly that anypony with the right magic couldn’t hear.

“I will be. Thanks to you, I have enough food for a week. I’m not sure if I’ll stay here that long, but I need to lay low. I don’t want the Garden catching flak for my temper today.”

Dazzle sighed. “I know you don’t. But I’m not sure Seed and Petal will agree with your reasoning. Expect one or both of them to knock down your door tomorrow.”

“They can try,” Rosewater replied, “but I’m setting wards tonight and not lifting them until at least a day. I don’t want Rosejoy or her mob to disturb what little rest I’ll be able to get. Tell them I promise I’m alright. I just need time to calm down. She really got to me.”

“They’re not going to buy it, you know,” Dazzle said. Collar almost felt him shrug from so far away. “But I’ll tell them.”

“That’s all I can ask. Thank you.” Silence fell for a time, so Collar was certain they were sharing a kiss, then she spoke again. “I love you. I won’t disappear, Dazzle, I promise. Never again.”

“I know you won’t. Goodnight, Rosewater.”

Then the door was closing again, and silence reigned for another minute while the faint prickling of magic washed over his horn, growing stronger as she did as she had promised and laid wards on her door.

When she didn’t come back after the magic stopped flowing over the door and throughout other wards he could feel sparkling elsewhere, thrumming against the walls of the house, Collar stepped out into the hallway to find her with her horn resting lightly on the door.

“How much did you hear?”

“Most of it,” she said, and turned to face him, her eyes clear, her smile soft. “Thank you, Collar. I hope the two of you can become friends. I want my loves not to fight over me, or feel like my love for them is lessened for loving another.”

“I know.” Collar came to her and kissed her lightly on the nose. “I love you, Rosewater, and I hope Dazzle and I can see each other more. We do, after all, have a lot of planning to do together.”

Rosewater’s brows rose. “You do?”

“We do.” Collar kissed her lips lightly, then more firmly as she pushed into the kiss, and everything he thought to tease her with disappeared into the pleasure and wonder of kissing one of the loves of his life.

She was there in his heart with Cloudy, with Rosemary poking her nose in and warming herself to his regard.

I love you. All of you. It was so strange that ‘you’ had changed from singular to plural with barely a fuss in his thoughts when his head had been so troubled for so long over the thoughts and feelings that were growing inside him for Rosewater, for Rosemary.

“I love you,” Collar whispered, voicing his thoughts. “All of you.”

Author's Note

A wide-spanning chapter covering quite a lot of ground here, but an important one, nonetheless, moving several plot lines along and... next week... "Together"