"Professor," Seth said, wondering how to distract Professor Kaban from Owen. It turns out he didn't need to say anything.

Professor Kaban turned to stare at Seth and Booth. He stared for a long time at Booth who was glaring at the ground.

"Okay, I give up," the Professor said. "I can't think of any reason why you are soaking wet, colorful, and covered in sparkles," he said to Booth. "What exactly is going on here?"

"We are here to work the event, Professor," Seth said.

"No no no. Start with the sparkles," the Professor said. "I gotta to hear this."

Seth glanced at Booth. "Well, a few minutes ago…"

----------------------------------------

When the bubbles surrounding Blaise and her father came down, her father strode off without looking at her or Maude. The Captain directed two guardsmen, one to follow Maude, and the other Blaise's father.

Blaise was left standing in the empty space in the middle of the crowd, with most people pretending not to be staring at her.

"Hey," said Sally when Seth moved to talk to Blaise. "If you're headed to the Royal Pavilion, take these," and she handed him two fresh bottles.

Seth approached Blaise, who was staring off at nothing while holding her arms. "Blaise." He had no idea how to make this situation less awful. It would probably be best to get her out of here and somewhere more private so she could process what just happened.

She blinked at him. "Seth. What are you doing here?" She glanced in the direction her father had gone and then stared after Maude. "I had no idea that's what people were saying about me. It makes so much sense now. Why Dad hasn't been home, why he hasn't been talking to me or Mom. And now it makes sense why Brand arranged this and why Dad was so mad about it. Brand wanted to force Dad to talk to me." She laughed bitterly. "That backfired, didn't it?"

Seth didn't know what to say. Blaise noticed the bottles he was holding and took one. Seth didn't think to stop her.

"I'm gonna get that bitch," Blaise said, with a grim smile.

"No, Blaise–" Seth started, but Blaise stalked off after Maude. "This isn't the right way to do this," he said as he chased after her. "The guards will stop you."

Blaise paused and glanced back at Seth. "What else am I supposed to do?" she demanded.

"Embarrass her or something. Not that," Seth gestured at the solid, sealed bottle.

Blaise looked at the bottle. "All right. I won't smash her face." She continued, but her walk was less aggressive now. She started vigorously shaking the bottle.

Seth glanced at his bottle as he followed Blaise. It was a bubbly wine. He decided he was fine with that plan. He subtly gave the bottle he was still holding a few good shakes too. Just in case.

Princess Lily was questioning Maude, and gripped the hyena's ears in either hand. "Oh, he's so well behaved!" she exclaimed. "Is he a familiar?"

Blaise hesitated, apparently not quite willing to instigate with the Princess there. Seth glanced around. The Royal Pavilion was on a raised dais to the right, with braziers, chairs, and decorations. The guard tailing Maude was now standing next to the Princess's own guard. There were a few ladies on the dais and servants off to the left, but for the most part, this was a somewhat isolated knot of people.

"No, she is not a familiar," Maude was saying. "Hyenas are the pride of my family, and we spend years training them. This is Jesse, and she is the matriarch of our hyena clan." Maude's pride in her beast was evident.

"I love her," the Princess said. "Can I have her? If she's not a familiar, you can give her to me, right?"

Maude was startled and it took her a second to hide how aghast she was. "Your Highness, I, uh, I have a younger one. She has a much more beautiful coat. I can give you that one."

"I want this one." The Princess stood and patted the hyena's head. "I'm sure Daddy will let me keep it," she said confidently. "What commands does it know?"

Seth frowned at the Princess. He didn't remember her being so demanding or spoiled. Granted, it had been a couple of years, and children changed as they got older. He himself sure had. Their eyes met for a moment. Some emotion quickly flitted across her features. Surprise? Confusion? Or was that something else?

The Princess abruptly turned and climbed the stairs to the dais. Seth wondered if she was upset at seeing him. He also wondered what had been going on in the Palace since he'd been gone.

"Come, dog," the Princess commanded.

The hyena didn't move, instead hunching down slightly with her back legs in a near squat. Her ears drooped. She cackled softly.

"Sucks when someone takes something important to you, doesn't it?" Blaise said quietly to Maude.

"Don't taunt me, child," Maude growled back. The anxious hyena swung its head back and forth before locking onto Blaise.

"Why did you do that to me? What did I ever do to you? And then you publicly humiliate me? Why? Taking my power wasn't enough?"

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"I didn't take anything from you."

"Liar." Blaise passed the bottle from hand to hand. She wasn't shaking it anymore. Seth set his bottle down and got ready to cast quickly in case Blaise decided to club Maude to death.

"I didn't," Maude insisted. "And your parent's sins are not yours, girl, but that is still your family. You deserved to know what people were saying."

"That's bullshit," Blaise said, no longer speaking quietly. "You didn't say that to inform me. You intended to ruin my reputation and humiliate my family." She jabbed a finger at Maude who was still several paces away. "So stop lying. What did you do with my power? What happened to it?"

The hyena laughed and bared its teeth. Seth started casting. One of the guards next to the Princess stepped forward.

"I didn't take it, girl," Maude insisted.

"I told you to stop lying!" Blaise shouted and hurled the bottle at the ground at Maude's feet. Seth didn't have time to appreciate Blaise's restraint.

The hyena snapped at the bottle. The cork exploded out towards the pavilion and the bottle became a spinning geyser.

Seth got his barrier spell up in front of Blaise and blocked the spray from hitting either of them. The bottle whacked the hyena in the face, and sprayed bubbly wine all over it, Maude, and the servant directly behind her.

The cork pinged off the guard's shield that had jumped in front of the Princess. The Princess stumbled and fell into one of the decorations. The bottle stopped spinning and spilled the remaining wine on the ground. Seth glanced up at the dias. A moment later one of the decorations turned and exploded.

It was a confetti cannon, and it blasted Maude, the hyena, and the poor servant behind her in magical color and glitter. Seth's barrier protected him and Blaise from back splash.

"Aw," the Princess said, disappointed. "I was planning to use that later." She let go of the cannon and examined Maude who was gripping the hyena's collar. "I do apologize. It looks like it might take some work to get the color and sparkles out of the dog's fur. I don't think I want it anymore."

"Thank you, Your Highness," Maude began. "I–"

"I'll accept the other one you told me about instead."

Time to go, Seth thought as he dropped the barrier. He shouldn't have gone along with this and staying would jeopardize their main mission.

Seth worried that getting Blaise to leave might be tough. Instead the Princess solved that problem.

"That was funny," the Princess said to Blaise and then waved her away. "Go enjoy the party. Or talk to your father. I suggest the party personally." The Princess turned to Maude. "Now, about that other dog…"

"Thank you, Your Highness," Blaise said. She smiled at Maude, who was wildly colored, sparkly, and soaking wet.

"Thanks for that," Blaise said to Seth as they walked away. "The look on her face! Now she has to leave or look like a clown for the rest of the afternoon." Blaise's smile faded. "I wish she'd tell me what she did. I don't know why she isn't in custody or something."

"Happy to help," Seth said. "But I'm not sure she was the one who took your power. I think she might have been set up."

"How can you say that? Why would you defend her?"

"I'm not defending her," Seth said. "I'm just not sure it was her. The hyena that attacked us the day they took you was in a cage at first. Neither of the hyena's here are even on leashes. Whoever did the kidnapping didn't have control of the hyena. In that case, why have it with them? Why use an animal that is so recognizable?"

"You guys told me that the hyena is how they got away. That sounds like a good reason to have it to me," Blaise said.

Seth shook his head. "I think someone is either trying to frame Maude, or shift blame so it's harder to find them." He considered telling Blaise about the woman he'd seen that looked damp, but decided against it. Blaise would probably try to drag the woman to the nearby fish pool and drown her.

Blaise took a deep breath. "I can't deal with this." She gazed over to where her dad had gone. "I need to think. And there are a few people I want to talk to before I face my dad."

Seth watched her leave before following the servant that had been behind Maude. He caught up to him behind a hedge. "So, what did you take?"

Booth was wiping glitter off with middling success. "I'm offended."

"No you're not. I want to see what you took."

"No, I'm offended that you caught me. It means my skills are rusting," Booth said. "I was being super careful."

"Why else would you be standing right behind her?" Seth asked.

Booth looked pained. "I was that obvious?"

"Why would you risk stealing something right in front of the Princess?"

"She took from Blaise, I took from her. Thanks for the assist, by the way. That was a fantastic distraction."

"Fine then. I want to see it," Seth asked again.

Booth rummaged in a pocket, picking through items he didn't pull out until he found what he was looking for. He showed Seth a jewel encrusted dog whistle on a gold box chain.

"I'm guessing it's magic, and I bet it's what they use to train the hyenas. There's no way those beasts are well behaved normally," Booth said as he put it away.

"How did you get that over her head without her noticing?"

Booth just smiled smugly.

The thoom of a fireball going off nearby got their attention.

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"And the Princess's sparkle cannon went off, and Booth got caught in it. We were going to get him cleaned up when we heard the fireball. I knew my familiar was over here so we came straight over," Seth said.

"All right. That explains why he's sparkly. Why are you here? Last I checked this party was for Prince Aster to meet the city fighters," Professor Kaban said. "And none of you have earned your certificates yet, much less a defender badge."

"We're working the event, Professor," Seth said. "We have working papers. Here, see?" Seth pulled out a work form.

"Do you all have these?' Professor Kaban asked, frowning at the form.

"Mine is illegible," Booth said, and handed over a folded and soaking wet form. It tore as soon as Professor Kaben tried to open it.

"Where's yours?" Professor Kaban asked Owen.

Owen looked at Seth, alarmed. Seth tapped his own upper pocket and Owen pulled out a folded paper from a matching pocket on his uniform. Seth sent a silent thank you to Saben for having shown him those and where to get one.

Professor Kaban frowned at the sheets. "Thorough, I'll give you that. But I can't leave you kids running around here."

"Youooo!"

Everyone turned to see Duvessa waving at them.

"Just how many of my students are here today?" Professor Kaban said, exasperated.

"Seth! Come meet my grandmother!" Duvessa called.

Professor Kaban handed Seth his form. "Go see what she wants. Owen, take Booth to the guardhouse and wait for me there. And get him cleaned up."

Seth glanced at Mau. Her tail was lashing as she clearly was trying to decide what she wanted to do. Go with Seth to meet Duvessa's grandmother and potentially Reginald the First, or follow Owen and Booth to the guardhouse, the most likely location of the ring.