Piper woke Annabeth up the next morning by shaking her by the shoulders.
"Breakfast is in a half hour," she told her, "And then we're leaving."
The bedroom they had been given in the Grace's terrace house in Olympus had pale yellow floral curtains for both the bed and the windows. Beige walls and white coverlets and dressing table cloths.

Gilt framed mirrors hung on the walls along with portraits of a comely blonde haired woman and two children: a little girl with golden ringlets like the woman and a little boy who looked like a younger version of Lord Skye.

At first, Annabeth thought it was Lord Skye but the boy did not have a scar on his lip. Lord Skye fell down the stairs and cut his lip when he was five which left a scar. The boy in the portrait looked to be about nine; if he were Lord Skye, then he would have the scar by then.
"I wonder who they are?" She asked Piper as she stepped into a blue skirt.
"Probably some relatives," Piper shrugged.
Annabeth pinned a red stomacher to her corset before putting on a blue caraco jacket. The jacket was pinned to the stomacher and a muslin fichu was tied across her bosom.

A/N 18th Century clothing involved a lot of pins. The corset acted as a sort of cork board with the different parts of the bodice being pinned to it.

Piper was dressed in a cornflower and azure striped dress with a laced-up bodice. The colors of this dress brought out the flecks of blue in her eyes.

She wore the same coral jewelry she had worn the night before: a pair of earrings, and two necklaces. The longer necklace had a cross pendant.

"I hear the assembly rooms in Olympus are quite grand," Annabeth told Piper. "And the dances they hold there are a spectacle to behold."
"Does this have anything to do with the conversation you had with Captain Castellan?" Piper interrogated with a raised eyebrow.
"Not completely. He told me about the assembly rooms and suggested we visit them."
"He wants to see you again?"
"It's not me he wants to see but rather Lady Thalia. He just wants me to facilitate the meeting. I told him that it all depends on getting the Duke and Duchess's permission."
"Captain Castellan has quite a reputation, you know. He even toyed with Silena for a while before she met Mr. Beckendorf. I would not trust him."
"Lady Thalia is a woman grown. She can make her own choices."
"Is that breakfast I smell? We should go down to the dining room."
Annabeth took this as a sign that Piper wished to change the subject. She was also hungry so going down to breakfast sounded like a good idea.

The walls of the dining room were painted a butter-yellow color. An indigo colored oriental carpet was spread on the floor. Indigo cushions soften the dinning chairs and indigo curtains hung in the windows. Portraits of Grace family relatives hung over the sideboard.

Lord Skye sat at the head of the table reading the newspaper. A pair of spectacles rested on tip of his nose.

Lady Thalia sat across from him at the other end of the table. She was tucking into a breakfast of soft boiled egg, seed cake, and melon salad. Piper sat down on the left side of the table with Mr. Di Angelo and Dona Reyna. The only seat left for Annabeth was between Miss Levesque and Lieutenant Jackson. Her skirt brushed against Lieutenant Jackson's leg as she sat down.
"Back in the Spring," Piper began, "Silena stayed with her friends Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez. They put on a home theatrical of Medea. I've always wanted to perform in a home theatrical."
"The ballroom at Skye Castle would be perfect for a theater," Annabeth added. "I could design some sets and Miss Levesque could paint them." 
"The library has a number of plays," Lord Skye told them. "We can look through them when we get back to Skye and find something we would all like to perform."
Annabeth and Piper smiled at each other.
"I believe they're hatching a plot," Lieutenant Jackson whispered to Lord Skye. "Heaven help us all."

When breakfast was finished, Annabeth and Piper finished packing up their clothes from the night before. A servant took their trunk away to attached to the top of the carriage.
Annabeth adjusted her bonnet in front of the mirror. She had trimmed it with red ribbons and bows to match the stomacher of her gown.

"Might I get in there?" Piper asked.
Annabeth stepped aside so Piper could put on her bonnet in front of the mirror. Her bonnet was trimmed with blue ribbons and bows which echoed the colors found in her dress.

"I'm excited about the home theatrical," she sighed as she tied the ribbon underneath her chin.
"So am I," Annabeth replied.
"Now you have something to occupy your time."
"What does that mean?"
"When you get bored, Annabeth Chase, that's when the trouble starts."
"Oh really?"
"You remember the time you got the idea to drag all of the chair out of your dinning room and the sheets and pillows from your bedchamber out onto the front lawn and build a fort."
Annabeth recalled how they arranged the chairs in a circle with the seats facing outward. The sheets were tied together and thrown over the chairs to form a canopy. Inside of the fort, pillows were propped up against the backsides of the chairs. They were both spanked and sent to bed without supper for this.
"And the time you convinced me to sneak out with you after dark and peak into the windows of our neighbors."
They had caught Mrs. Sparta entertaining Mr. Troy while her husband was not home. Mrs. Sparta told their parents that they had snuck out of bed and were peaking in windows. This earned them another spanking and to that day, Mrs. Sparta would not speak to them.
"And now I was afraid that you would try to stir things up with this assembly room plot."
"There is no plot. I just thought it would be a pleasant diversion to go to the assembly rooms. We'll just have to make sure to go on an evening when Captain Castellan won't be there if we want to keep Lady Thalia away from him."

The streets of Olympus were crowded with people coming in from the surrounding countryside. An election and the assizes were a few days away so it took them twice as long to get out of the city. By the end of the day, the inns and taverns of Olympus would be filled to the burst and spilling out with rowdy and riotous drunks cheering or booing those to be tried at the assizes or who were standing for an office.
"My father will be staying at the Olympus house tonight," Lord Skye told them as the carriage rolled out of the city. "He's attending a dinner party in support of the Whig Party candidate."
"And he's also attending to one of his mistresses, Mrs. Leda," Lady Thalia whispered to Annabeth and Piper. "And their two little bastards."
His Grace had been in London for most of Annabeth's stay at Skye Castle. He returned a few days earlier and now he was taking off again.
"He also has Mrs. Alcmene in London," Lady Thalia continued. "And their love child."

For most of the time Annabeth had known her, the Duchess of Olympus was passed out or close to unconscious after either drinking opium mixed with brown sugar or sniffing ether and orange blossom water. She had returned from calling on the local doctor and his wife by the time they arrived back at Skye Castle. They found her passed out in an arm chair still in visiting dress, a white redingote and petticoat and a sheer mob cap with a light blue sash tied around her waist and a light blue ribbon adorning her cap.

Her feet were propped up on a rococo footstool with a floral embroidered cushion and a gilded base.

Ovid, her little black pug dog, ate bits of beef and sweet biscuit from a plate that had been left on the floor.

Lord Skye picked up the plate, causing Ovid to growl at him. A sherry glass had fallen out of Her Grace's hand and smashed into shards on the carpet.
Zhang came to take the plate of beef and biscuits and the broken sherry glass away.
Lieutenant Jackson was sent up to the library to get a pile of theatrical manuscripts. They searched through the different plays to find something they would like to put on.
"The Corinthian columns in the ballroom would suit a classical setting the best," Annabeth pointed out. "I suggest something like A Midsummer Night's Dream or Oedipus Rex."
"There are floral garlands left over from a ball last spring," Lord Skye added. "We could use them as set dressing if we put on A Midsummer Night's Dream."
After an hour of discussion, they decided that Piper and Dona Reyna would play Hermia and Helena. Their lovers, Lysander and Demetrius, would be played be Mr. Di Angelo and Lieutenant Jackson. Lord Skye agreed to play Theseus, Duke of Athens. Annabeth was originally offered the role of Helena because the part called for a tall girl but she turned it down because she wanted a smaller role so she could focus more of her attention on designing the sets.
"Dona Reyna will do perfectly well for Helena," she explained, "She's tall also."
Annabeth ended up deciding to play Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, and Duke Theseus's bride. The dainty Miss Levesque was also considered for the role of Hermia, who "Though she be but little, she is fierce," but she had her heart set on playing Titania, Queen of the Faeries.
Zhang came into the drawing room with some more cold meats and biscuits.
"Large, dignified, and imposing," Lieutenant Jackson exclaimed when the Chinese put a tray down on the sideboard, "We have our Oberon."
Zhang quickly agreed to play the part of Oberon, King of the Faeries. Annabeth imagined that he accepted the role because it meant he would act opposite Miss Levesque.
"We should ask Mr. Solace to play Puck," Miss Levesque suggested.
"Do you really think it would be appropriate to ask a servant to act with us?" Mr. Di Angelo sniffed.
"Zhang is already part of our theatrical troop, so why not have Mr. Solace."
Because they only had a small cast, they decided to cut out the parts with the rude mechanicals and the faeries.
"Now the only person we have left to cast is Bottom the Weaver," noted Lady Thalia, who was to be the home theatrical's director.

Dona Reyna sat down at her harp and strummed "Miss Hamilton." She looked fetching and elegant sitting at the harp and her fingers played nimbly and with skill.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

When she finished the air, everyone clapped but Hazel knew that the only person whose reaction mattered to Dona Reyna was Lord Skye's.
"You and Miss McLean should do a duet together during our performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream," Lord Skye exclaimed. "Two such talented songstresses will add to the production."
Miss Levesque sat down at the harpsichord and searched through the box of sheet music.
"Do you know Mozart's Sonata No. 16?" she asked Dona Reyna.
"I could learn it," Dona Reyna replied. "Play it and I will repeat after you."

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

Miss McLean would play a series of notes on the harpsichord which Dona Reyna would repeat on the harp until she had them down perfect. As they went through the whole nine minute sonata, Lord Skye stood over Miss McLean and turned the pages of sheet music for her.
Hazel put down the red mitts she was knitting when she notice Ovid come and sit by her side.

She reached down to pet the little dog who barked and snarled at her. His small, sharp little teeth latched into the side of her hand, drawing blood. Hazel shook Ovid off of her and ran out of the drawing room. Mr. Di Angelo looked as though he was about to stomp on the dog.
All of this common roused Her Grace from her stupor.
"I hope no one has bothered my poor little Ovid," she groaned in a groggy voice.

There was a pitcher of water in Hazel's bedroom along with a disinfectant salve and bandages. As she washed the bite marks on her hand, applied salve, and wrapped them up in a bandage, Hazel began to cry. She never expected that such a sweet looking dog would bite her.
Hazel dried her eyes and pulled herself together when she heard a knock at the door.
"Who is it?" she answered with a sniffle.
"It's Zhang, Miss," the voice on the other side of the door replied. "I've brought you some tea."
Hazel went and open the door for him. Zhang carried in a tray of tea things: a blue and white porcelain teapot, cup, saucer, creamer, and sugar dish and a plate with several shortbread biscuits.

He placed it down on a small, round mahogany table and began to prepare a cup of tea for Hazel.

"Cream, Miss?"
"Yes, please."
"And sugar..."
"No thank you."
"Are you sure? It's strong tea."
"Milk will be quite sufficient."
Zhang left the tea cup, saucer, and plate of biscuits on the table and took the rest of the tray.
"Zhang?"
"Yes, Miss?"
"Thank you."
A wide, warm smile crossed Zhang's face and his eyes looked like crescent moon shaped slits.
"You're welcome, Miss."