Act 3: The Ball - Preparations of War

Amber glances at the two other girls, seemingly realizing something, before she lets one of them speak next. After a few moments of deliberation, Minerva clasps her hands together in a worrying gesture and asks, "Won't it be dangerous if we go to the ball? What about my brothers and sisters?"

Steve follows up with, "Minerva, how many of your siblings are gonna be in the play?"

Brünhilde is caught off guard by the offer and doesn't know what to say. She looks at the ground in a pensive manner, her arms tightly wrapped around Amber's right arm. Minerva casts a worried glance at her before she answers Steve's question. "All ninety-nine of them," she says. "But most of them will stay backstage."

"We're supposed to start one hour after the ball starts," Minerva says somberly.

"Four hours, I think. We weren't planning to stay for the whole evening."

Steve goes ahead and asks all the questions he can think of in his usual way, "Will there be a stage and are you the only act? What are you performing? And how would our friends fit in when they go with you?"

"I've been told we'll be provided a small stage, but I haven't had the chance to see it yet. We've chosen to perform The Squirrel, by Cario Dannicus; it's a short comedy that will go on for forty minutes. We'll be needing a lot of sceneries for that one, so we can tell the people at the palace we need your friends to carry them. I'm pretty sure we'll also be the only act, unless you count the music."

Minerva lowers her head as she starts thinking about tomorrow's performance.

"If that's the case, then you and your siblings should probably be okay. I mean, unless they want to use the confusion of interrupting your performance as cover to arrest everyone, then it's most likely the Duchess will make her move after when all eyes are on her. Maybe during a toast or the like?" He looks at the others to see what they think.

"Hopefully there will be a concealed area behind the stage where most of your family can slip away. During the chaos, I would be willing to break a couple of windows for you, if you want it."

He pats his red armband.

"I can help with that too, if you want," Fluffle offers.

Minerva bites her lower lip as she considers the situation. "I don't understand," she says. "If going to the ball is so dangerous, why do you want to go? You said you want to stop the duchess from doing something bad, but shouldn't you be looking after the people you love first? Don't they matter more than who's ruling Emerald?"

Brünhilde appears to come to her senses when she hears this question, as she now waits to hear what the adventurers will have to say about this.

Konrad pulls the leaf on the pond back toward him.

"Our loved ones are far away from here, Minerva. That's already taken care of. Even if they weren't, this is still very important. It's part of a threat to the people we care about. We can't say any more than that."

Minerva frowns. "You're asking me to take a lot on faith."

"Please," Fluffle interjects. "I know we're asking a lot of you and your family, but I promise you, it's best that we don't tell you everything." He approaches her and puts a hand on her shoulder. "I'm the leader of my own family back in Zest, so I know what you're feeling right now. Like they said, it's okay if you don't want to go, but it'd be a huge help if you did. I know it's not enough, but the best we can do is give you our word that when the time comes, we will do everything in our power to protect your family."

He then looks expectantly at the rest of the group.

"Fluffle is right. We won't allow you to be hurt, but we really want to get our friends in there to be part of our plan."

"Hmm." Minerva lowers her head and contemplates her choices for a moment. But when she meets the adventurers' eyes again, all traces of hesitation instantly disappear from her face. "Pinky promise?" she asks.

Steve quietly steps forward and carefully offers her his pinky. "A promise, yes."

Minerva extends her hand and shakes Steve's pinky with it. "And you need to make the same promise with all my brothers and sisters!" she declares to the whole party. "One pinky promise for each and every one of them! Or we're not going!"

Konrad's eyebrows pop. "With each of us?"

"Of course!"