A/N: This is rough. I plan to edit it just for my own sake at some point, but again, low-stress project. So it's going up as-is for now. Mostly, this is so that the friends I have in mind as I'm writing can read it and respond. :)

Sanctuary

Chapter 1:

Pippa

I looked up from my scrolls as the messenger entered. There was another one demanding sanctuary. I’d found in my month as queen of the Rogue Gallery that there was always another one demanding sanctuary. I was probably the only queen in history whose subjects tried to double in number weekly. That said, I turned over half of them away – they had no good reason for their requests. So as I followed the girl down the hallway, I was not expecting to welcome anyone.

Then I noticed the short, curly, brown hair and gold-framed glasses that belonged to Scarlett. She was my best friend back home. Home? I suppose that’s not the right word anymore. The kingdom of Farvell is home now, and America has been fading in my memory for weeks. Managing over thirty rascals can do that to a girl. So I was a bit surprised to see a familiar face in the Gallery’s foyer.

I caught myself as I started to say her name. The messenger introduced Scarlett, who was clearly as taken aback to see me as I was to see her.

“Pippa? I need help,” she said. It was then I noticed she was wearing the traditional green robes of a priestess. Religion never had suited her.

“Follow me,” I said. I led her back through the building to my suite amid odd looks from my fellow thieves. When we were safely behind a closed door, I exclaimed, “What are you doing here?”

“I could say the same,” she said, still looking me over. “Here I thought I was crazy.”

“You are, but that’s beside the point,” I said, hugging her. “No, really, what are you doing at the Rogue Gallery?”

“I need sanctuary. I sort of blew up a temple building and now I’m on the run,” she said, then grinned.

“Well that certainly qualifies you to stay here.” I laughed. “Good thing we set the rules up the way we did. So I guess you took Roslin’s part?”

“Yah. Who knew she couldn’t really do magic?” Scarlett shrugged. “How did you get here?”

“It sort of crept up on me…. I’m just glad Azalel’s sword skills were picked from my experiences in gym class, or I’d be lost by now,” I said. “One minute I’m at home and then as I watch, my apartment fades into the suite we’re in now.”

“That’s what happened to me, only I ended up in a cell. I mean dormitory. We really should’ve done a better job planning the temple buildings.”

“So do you think this means Adelaide and Joely are lurking about somewhere?”

“I hope so.”

“That would be nice. We can all be crazy together…. Now where would they be? The only other female character we had plotted was Elista, really, but there’s no way…. I mean, neither of them would be a princess.”

“Well I wouldn’t have put you down as queen of thieves if I were picking, so who knows?” Scarlett laughed. “Now can I please get some food? I’m starving.”

“Oh! Yah, supper’s in half a bell. You can wait till then. So what have you been doing?”

“Living out Roslin’s back-story, would you believe? Remember how we wanted her to run away from the temple but didn’t know why? Well, it’s funny how these things work out.”

“So, really, you can look at what we’re doing as plotting. Man, we are going to write the most authentic novel out there once we get back. Or whatever.” I looked away from her as soon as I said it. Truthfully, I hadn’t thought about getting back to reality as we knew it since the first week. Life was too busy for it, for one thing, and I was having fun, for another. The fact we purposely had Azalel in love with her second-in-command was a slight factor, of course, since I seemed to be playing out Azalel’s life for her. But only slight.

“Exactly. So, where can I put my stuff?” Scarlett gestured to a single, over-stuffed bag. I called for a boy to show her to a room and also to see that she found the mess hall when the ball rang. Then I went back to my scrolls.

It seemed that a raid we’d planned would have to be altered as the envoy from Caramus was taking a different road, one that prevented a sneak attack from behind if we were to do it near the border. Tannick, my second-in-command, suggested letting them come into the kingdom and surprise them at the capital, but I was hesitant to do that. I figured we’d argue it out over supper, but I was surprised when I entered the mess hall to hear an argument already in progress with Tannick at the head.

“Pippa! There you are. Who is she and why is she in our mess hall?” Tannick hauled Scarlett over to me by the arm. “She says she has sanctuary, but I don’t know any priestess with a good enough reason to be here.”

“Calm down, Tan.” I put my hand on his arm and he released my friend. “She’ll be an asset to our raiding. She can do explosions.”

“Explosions? I thought the magic of the priestesses is only for good.”

“It is,” Scarlett sniffed. “But whenever I try to do anything good, it doesn’t work right. I thought if I tried something bad, it would go wrong too and maybe do something right, but no. It worked and I blew up a temple and now I’m not supposed to do any magic. So I’m here.”

“Ah.” Tannick took a moment to comprehend what she’d said, since she’d said it in one breath. I led him away from Scarlett to the head table.

“Trust me, this will be good for us.” Famous last words, those.