The Book of Spells is propped up on a masterwork book stand. Glossaryck lounges in a cushy chair with a meatball footlong sub, and a parfait glass full of chocolate pudding.
Seven desks have been pushed together in a horseshoe shape, and three librarians are barely keeping up with Janna's ability to divine relevant books and summon them by telekinesis. Every tome in the Mewni Royal Library on magic is the purview of her search, and a handful of animated quills put words to Janna's thoughts faster than a dozen scribes taking diction.
"Toffee knew I was spying on him," Star says.
"Indeed. The All-Seeing Eye only sees, it does not hide itself," Glossaryck says. "It is very good at one particular task, like all creatures created by the wand." He harks as the chili in the sandwich gets to him. "Well, yours, not so much. Eclipsa --- she had flair for utilitarian design, and the aesthetics..."
Star waves her six arms. "Yeah, yeah, enough about that. You could see me as well; so tell me how!"
Glossaryck takes a spoonful of pudding to soothe the burn. "... Hm. Well, it's a question of Feeling it. The Vibe."
Star puts six hards to her face. "So it's like Dipping Down."
"By dipping down, you can change the foundation of the wand's manifestations. The wand creates, but you have to feel the vibe behind it."
Star turns to Janna. "Any luck?"
Janna doesn't reply.
With a gesture, Star bids the Book to begin turning pages. There's a little over a thousand in it, and Glossaryck has ear-marked every single page to do with scrying, remote sensing, clairvoyance, or other related terms and uses.
Eclipsa's chapter has a lot of potent magic --- but whether by design or accident, she never wrote down counters to her own spells. Star can empathize: there's no real counter to a Narwhal Blast other than perhaps a castle wall.
"Feel it," she says, closing her eyes. "Feel the Vibe."
"Nah, you're too tense," Glossaryck chides.
Star swirls about and two feet into the air. "May I remind you that it is your getting captured that is the reason we have to find a way to outsmart Queen Eclipsa?!"
Glossaryck holds out both hands as if weighting two objects. "On the other hand, you have mastered Dipping Down, you're willing to actually read the Book, you've learned to turn into your final form at will---"
"Hold up," Star says, pinching the bridge of her nose with one hand, rubbing her temple with another, and pulling her hair with two more. "Are you saying you let Ludo take you on purpose?!"
Glossaryck measures his words. "It was a calculated risk---"
The parfait spontaneously evaporates, and the sub turns to ash.
"Now that's just mean," Glossaryck says.
"Okay, so Mewni, unlike literally every other jurisdiction I have ever looked at, actually has an Ignorance defense. It's not perfect, and it won't get you out of it entirely, but it is a start," Tom says.
Ribald perks up. "You mean that there are places where ignorance of the law isn't a defence? What about the commoners?"
"The Underworld, Nine Hells, Abyss, Limbo, and The United States of America have no commoners --- they have citizens, who can educate themselves without impediment."
Ribald rubs his bare chin. "Sounds tricky."
"Okay," Marco says. "So I'm ignorant, and that's good. What else?"
"You're an appointed knight," Ribald says. "According to the code of chivalry, part of your blame falls upon your liege lady, the Princess."
Marco rubs her temple. "So Star is in trouble because of what I did?"
Ribald nods. "Nothing bad --- the house of Butterfly may have to pay reparations to house Avarius. Could be easing taxation, a gift of wealth, or perhaps a favorable marriage---"
Tom and Marco look at each other, briefly, then snicker.
Ribald continues. "All in all, I believe you can plead guilty, and we can petition the judge to agree to exile."
"Exile?" Marco asks.
"Yes; you leave Mewni and never come back."
Marco looks at Tom. "I think Star might disagree with that one even more."
Tom nods.
"What, if I may inquire, was your plan, Sir Diaz?" Ribald asks.
Marco sighs. "It's--- I thought Toffee might use the Monsters to build an army."
"As has been done before," Ribald notes.
"They're poor, and discriminated against. There's no real reason why the monsters have to suffer, while Mewni prospers. Where I come from, you can--- what's the wording?" Marco looks to Tom.
"Petition the government for a redress of grievances," Tom quotes.
"That. I thought I might get the monsters together, and peacefully go tell the Queen that they would like to form an alliance against Toffee, in exchange for not having to starve."
Ribald nods. "And did you?"
"Yeah, that was all I did. We never got to actually go, but they were willing to play ball."
Ribald looks at Tom. "Pray tell, this does not look anything like a classical case of revolutionary conspiracy; I understand you're a prince yourself, Master Lucitor. What's at play here?"
"Madam Hauette conducted the arrest herself," Tom says. "She said something when Queen Butterfly summoned her, which Janna took note of --- something called the fourteen words?"
Marco pales a little. "We must secure the existence of white people and a future for white children," she quotes. "It's a creed of some really bad people on Earth. Did she actually say that?"
Tom shrugs. "She said 'our children,' not 'white,' but... "
"I want to say this is coincidence, but I think Hauette might have hidden motives; Ribald, are there a group of people in Mewni who want to destroy the Monsters?"
Ribald chuckles. "Everyone in Mewni is vary of them, but there is a significant group who want to take active action against monsters --- the 'True Mewnipendents,' they call themselves."
Marco stands from the bed. "Tom, I think Hauette may have arrested me for colluding with Monsters, and she's using the Revolutionary Conspiracy thing so it seems legitimate."
Tom smiles and claps his hands together. "It's difficult to prove, but arrest on false pretenses is a serious misconduct of justice, am I right, Ribald?"
Ribald nods. "Very true."
Yvgeny spots Boo Fly on the horizon from his perch atop a tall pine tree. He lets himself fall to the ground, easily taking the sixty foot drop.
"Is he back?" Dogbull asks.
"Boo Fly is coming, yes." Yvgeny says. "Impatient."
"That Marco guy was willing to see things our way, are you aware of how rare that is?" Penelope Porcupine says. "Can't fault us for being worried!"
"I know," Yvgeny says. "And Marco is girl, now."
Boo Fly descends among them. "It's bad --- Marco was arrested by the royal guard as soon as he arrived."
Dogbull punches his palm. "Damn those Mewmans!" he growls.
"Yvgeny!" someone yells in the distance.
They all turn to see a minotaur come running, cradling a lithe figure in her arms. "Yvgeny!" she calls again.
In one leap, Yvgeny lands in front of her, and she stumbles to a stop. "This one found fell out of the sky---"
"You are Dennis Avarius," Yvgeny says.
The young birdman has a crossbow bolt in his side --- Mewni make.
Dennis coughs --- but doesn't actually cough up blood, which is a good sign. "Mewmans in uniforms," he rasps. "They--- I think they got my mom and dad. They said they'd be hunting down my brothers too."
"дерьмо́!" Yvgeny mutters under his breath. "Get him to healer," he says to the minotaur.
"Okay," Penelope says. "I respect everything that Marco said, and I really want him to be right, but this means war!"
Jackie follows Hauette down to the archives. She reads the report while she walks, and once there, finds an incident report which Jackie doesn't manage to study before Hauette puts it away.
Then Hauette goes up to the throne room.
"---I can assure you, we have Sir Diaz in custody, he is cooperating fully; my best people are working on it," Queen Butterfly says ans Hauette opens the side door, and Jackie follows closely, invisible.
A gesture from Hauette catches the Queen's attention, and she turns to the room full of nobles. "One moment, please; there's been a development."
The room erupts in chatter as the court nobles all begin talking amongst themselves and to their advisors.
Queen Butterfly closes the door behind her. "What?"
"There's been a false-flag attack on the Avarius family --- they are presumed dead. A few uniforms were stolen over five months ago; I thought nothing of it at the time," Hauette says.
Queen Moon mutters a vile curse in a dead language. "I want you to figure out who did this, and I want signed confessions," she says.
Hauette takes a bow, and hurries off. Once she is out of earshot, Jackie reveals herself.
"Anything to report?" Queen Moon asks.
Jackie shrugs. "I think she knows I was watching her. She was shifty, but the only thing I can point to was that she headed out before reading the report. It may have been coincidence, but she started walking towards the archives before she got to the page with the details of it being a false flag attack."
Moon turns to Jackie. "Dame Thomas, you have the trust of my daughter, do you not?"
Jackie blushes a little. "Uh, we're kinda--- I mean: yes."
"Then I trust you. I know you're green, but you're the only one who is not entrenched. If there is a traitor in our midst, I want you to find them."
"Yes ma'am," Jackie says.
Moon doesn't correct her military mode of address.