As we sat around the fire, we all began throwing out ideas and ways to gather all the moth slaves in the city.

“Well, we know we have to meet them at night when nobody else is around.” Terry commented with a shrug as he took a bite out of the meat Meridi had cooked and offered us. Earlier I had asked her if it was against moth religion to eat meat since I couldn’t remember, and she replied it was fine to eat pig’s meat. I didn’t subscribe to moth religion anymore and subscribed to the human religion instead, but I was just curious about it.

I nodded in agreement. “We would need to send someone into the homes of every human in the city and somehow inform the moth slaves living therein that they need to sneak out at night and meet me… That someone best be a moth, because they wouldn’t trust Terry or Paul.”

I leaned my cheek upon my hand, thinking deeply and as hard as I could. My thoughts were stuck on other things, unfortunately, such as my sister’s eggs and the possibility of Paris divorcing me if I couldn’t give him any children. I was so stressed out, but I had to stay on task.

There was Gerta. She was a moth slave. Perhaps if we could find some excuse to give to Paris, we could send her door-to-door with the intent of telling the moth slaves to gather at night. I related the idea out loud.

Meridi nodded. “That’s certainly an interesting idea. But what would be the excuse to send her to every home in the city?”

The chirping of crickets filled up the silent moment as we all tried to think of a reason to send Gerta door-to-door.

I gasped as my eyes lit up with an idea. I grinned cheerfully. “How about a ball? I can tell Paris that I’d like to have a ball to bring the nobility and the peasants closer together! I can have Gerta and maybe a few other moth slaves go door-to-door. They can hand out the invitations to meet the queen in the city square where I will give them the announcement of the ball! That way, Gerta can find a way to also inform the slaves to meet me the night of the ball! That is when I can sneak out and have a word with them. The only problem is figuring out how Gerta can inform the slaves to meet me. She can’t just tell them right in front of their masters. I also need an amazing excuse to sneak away from both Paris and the ball to meet with the slaves. There would also be the problem of all the guards posted at night that I’d have to sneak past.”

My companions looked at each other and thought about my plan carefully.

“T-t-there’s a lot that could go wrong.” Meridi said uncertainly. “But it might be the best idea available.”

We all sank into deep thought again about how we were going to pull this off.

Meridi asked, “just how many guards are posted at night and where are they? I a-a-a-am a very powerful mage, especially since I was blessed with the powers befitting a prophetess of Hypthos. Perhaps I can knock all the guards out?”

We all looked at Paul, assuming he would know how many were posted. He cleared his throat, “there aren’t that many—there are thirty in all. However, if we get noticed, each guard is equipped with a horn to call for backup.”

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“Easy!” Meridi claimed. “We can take care of the guards! We silken moths are trained to be stealthy!”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to get hurt.” I said worriedly.

“D-d-d-o not worry, little queen. The guards will not know what hit them.” Meridi assured me. I wasn’t sure she would be okay, but this plan was our best bet. I had to believe in her—which was difficult since she had just recently almost killed me and Paul.

“Then there’s just the matter of informing the slaves when and where I will meet them and how I will sneak away from Paris.” I said aloud. “Any ideas?”

Terry spoke up, “I have an idea for sneaking away from Paris! Maybe after an hour of being at the ball, I can pretend to have been rejected by dozens of girls and I’ll leave all teary-eyed! You can tell Paris that you need to go comfort me!”

I giggled. “Alright, but you have to make it really convincing! I can teach you how to cry on command!”

Terry was surprised. “Is it possible to cry on command?”

I looked a little smug as I replied, “of course it is! Looks like I have something to teach you for once! Now we just need to think of a way to inform all the moth slaves when and where they should meet me!”

We all fell silent again as we thought.

Paul suddenly suggested, “perhaps… Perhaps you should make a letter out to the slaves that says something different than the ones addressing the humans for Gerta to pass out? One that asks them to meet you in the Purjun forest at the precise time that Terry will pretend to be crying? Your excuse for the second letter to Paris could be an announcement that they’ll have the day off the night of the ball. But, of course, Paris will have to agree to it, and you’ll have to make sure he can’t see what it says.”

I thought about it long and hard, and I could come up with nothing better. I nodded slowly. “Alright, it all sounds like a plan. I pray we don’t get found out. Now, let’s go over all the important aspects of the plan. Paul, where exactly will the guards be stationed that night so Meridi can knock them all out?”

“I c-c-could just kill them.” She said teasingly.

“No killing!” I chastised her.

That did bring to mind the fact that the guards would ask questions when Meridi knocked them out. They would certainly report it.

I grinned to myself. I could use the wild mothmen I had seen in Purjun the other day to my advantage. We could pin the knockout of the guards on them somehow, and then Paris could rally his soldiers and clear the woods out.

We spent an hour or two ironing out our plan—making sure we all knew our roles thoroughly and what time we had to accomplish them—and then we said goodbye for the night.

“I am excited, little queen! I feel as if this can only lead to good things!” Meridi exclaimed happily as Terry, Paul and I, stood up from the fire. I yawned, feeling exhausted. There were only a few hours left until the sun dawned.

I nodded in return. “At least we can give it our all!”

“Come, on, Mimi! We got this!” Terry assured me. “You have to be the most confident of all of us that this will work! Make sure you have an incredible speech ready for when we meet with all the moths!”

Meridi was watching Terry with the look of a cranky mother.

“Look at this poor boy!” Meridi said, grabbing Terry’s wrist roughly and pulling him closer to her. “He has dirt on his face and food stuck to his armor! You haven’t been looking after this precious Catalydd at all, have you!”

Meridi used her sleeve to wipe the dirt off of Terry’s face and the spots of food off of his armor. “T-t-t-there you go! Such a cute little boy! You take care of this sweet child!”

Meridi warned me while waving a finger at me warningly. I giggled a little.

Terry groaned. “I can take care of myself, you old biddy! I’m a peasant—we can’t always afford to bathe regularly!”

Paul intervened on Terry’s behalf. “You ladies quit picking on him. He’s red in the face.”