They manage it! Somehow.

And then they're on the open sea, wind filling their sails, ship rocking in the waves near Ketterdam. 

That's something, anyway.

Next step: actually pulling this damn caper off.

...Probably need to start with reading everyone in, and actually planning their initial approach now that they've got their insider information...

Team meeting time.

Captain's cabin is probably big enough. 

That'll do. Gather everyone up. Assuming the Fjerdan's ready to come out of her hole.

...She is. 

Great.

So maybe they can start with a layout, if she knows that.

She requests something to write with and paper, then starts to draw a large, fairly clear diagram. "The Ice Court is modeled after the rings of a great ash tree, with walls, moats, and pathways forming perfect circles as seen from the air, centered on the palace - the heart of the tree. It's built on a natural bluff overlooking the harbor at Djerholm, and the outermost complete ring encompasses the stations for artillery along the top of the cliff. The artillery has a high rate of fire, and the accuracy is better than anything Ravka's fielded in the last decade, but the range is limited. It's designed to destroy enemy armadas actively blockading the harbor."

"That circle continues into an earthwork wall, with a moat carved in front of it - it's dry normally but has flash floods in the spring and summer. There's not much in the way of ravelins or bastions; the curtain wall can't be modified by modern craft and there's religious prohibitions on disturbing the forest. On the other hand, the forest is dense enough you can only get modern artillery up the main road; there's a few ravelins designed specifically to fire along that road."

"The first major wall is the curtain wall. It's thirty feet wide at the base, with a sheer and smooth outer edge. The inner edge is terraced, though each step is narrow. It's built of rammed earth encased in - what everyone will call natural marble, but it doesn't behave like marble. It's too resistant to impact. The upper ledge is fifteen feet wide, with a few wider platforms when needed for artillery." She indicates the locations of these. "The marble outer edge also extends upwards to about waist height, with taller crenellations and a roof made of what's definitely grisha-forged 'glass' to protect from ballistic shots. The roof was added about a century ago, and it's weaker to impact than the marble, but better than any natural material."

"Behind the curtain wall is a clear stretch, wide enough to move two wagons abreast. After that is a secondary wall and then the out buildings - also constructed to follow their own rings. This section is split into thirds: the Prison Sector, the Drüskelle Sector, and the Embassy Sector. They're entirely separate from each other, with thick walls between them. You have to exit entirely - either all the way out past the curtain wall or all the way in to the ice moat - and enter through another gate to move between them. There's three gates in the curtain wall for the three sectors, and only one is ever open at a time. Every gate has at least two guards at every time."

"There's then a third wall, before the ice moat, which circles the White Palace. The White Palace has its own curtain wall, which is just as formidable as the outer wall."

"There's no secret passages, no other entries than the formal outer gates, and all stretches of the curtain walls are lit at the base and watched at all times. The wall guards work in pairs, with staggered shifts - so there's no single time when all the guards are changing shift."

"You won't be sneaking in. If you want to get in without a massive army - you're going to need deception or else treachery from within."

"Hm. Tell me about the prison."

"Prisoners are transported by enclosed wagon - they're pulled by horses so they're only lightly armored, but there'd been talk of phasing them out in favor of more heavily armored trucks as of a year and a half ago. The wagons are a weak point in the chain, and they're a popular target for insurgents. Most wagons just contain prisoners. Ones that are likely to be attacked - grisha, insurgency leaders, captured spies, the like - will contain the prisoner and a troop of soldiers led by a drüskelle officer. They're designed to be indistinguishable from the outside."

"There's multiple checkpoints, and the wagons are on a tight schedule. A year and a half ago, descriptions of prisoners were radio'd ahead to the checkpoints on the road, and there's a headcount and verification done at each. The descriptions cover gender, ethnicity, and distinguishing traits. False lists are sent for the important prisoner wagons - the Drüskelle officer has the authority to override the checks."

"That might have changed - it was another weak point - but I think the Fjerdan military has enough inertia it won't have yet."

"The prison itself is composed of five buildings - a central building is connected to the others by glass bridges. There's only one ground level entrance, in that central building, which is where prisoners are sorted. A human amplifier checks for grisha there, and prisoners are split by gender and importance. Men are kept in the left wing, women in the right, and important prisoners are kept in the innermost buildings. There're no windows, though there are outer walkways for guards."

"Unimportant prisoners are kept in large group cells, in halls patrolled by pairs of guards. They aren't under constant supervision. Important prisoners are kept in solitary cells and are under constant supervision by at least four guards. There's a pair of Drüskelle stationed in both of the innermost buildings at all times. Shifts are also staggered. The female prisons are staffed by female guards; the only men permitted in the wing outside of sector breaches are Drüskelle."

She describes a few other points - an incinerator shaft, displays of Fjerdan weapons meant to intimidate prisoners, how the laundry is done, what happens to waste... 

"And - I used to work there. If we go in that way, there's a chance I'll be recognized."

"That's why we have a Tailor on staff."

"I'm better than Nina. And Tailoring someone so much they're unrecognizable is hard."

"Yeah, if Tailoring was all you had. Change your posture, clothes, accent, mundane prosthetics, a prop, a context where they're not looking for you as you- All people want is a story. Tell them a better one."

"I know. But the Drüskelle especially are trained to watch for that. It's a chance, not a certainty - but we also can't guarantee I won't be recognized. Our worst problem will be if Jarl Brum is still alive; he's hard to fool."

"All right. Embassies."

"Any visitors have to pre-register. Identities are verified as best as Fjerdan intelligence can - though a lot of verification ends up 'this country says this person is...' They check passports and official documents. They're more suspicious of Ravka than anywhere else - Ravka's embarrassed security a few times with forged documents and tailored spies - but there's no nation they're consistently unsuspicious of. The Embassy Sector is relatively easy for foreign nations to get spies into, though probably pretty hard for random crews. It's therefore a lot harder to leave the Embassy Sector if you're moving inwards, or into other sectors."

"And... Hringkalla is coming up, which is a massive feast where delegations from around the True Sea are invited into the Embassy Sector. Security will be on high alert, but also highly stressed, with less experienced guards filling out the manpower shortage. That's the most likely time for other nations to make their bid for our target, I think, so there'll be more competition and a lot more potential chaos."

She draws the Embassy Sector on a separate paper. 

"Hringkalla. Good. And the Druskelle section, just for completeness?"

Immediately: "Women aren't allowed in, so I don't know its layout."

"Uh huh. But what have you heard?"

"That the Drüskelle and wolves sleep and train there, and Drüskelle will mobilize from there in the event of a sector breach."

"How does a sector breach work? What are the triggers, where are the alarms, what's the protocol?"

"So a sector disturbance is triggered by - basically anything wrong or not as expected in just one sector. That sector is put on higher alert, and mobile response teams are mobilized to respond. Anyone leaving or entering is subject to extra scrutiny, and anyone without authorization is held. Any guard in the prison sector can call one, for instance, if they think something is wrong. That's Yellow Protocol, and it's an alarm rung by the Elder Clock so everyone will know something is wrong."

"A sector breach is a major or confirmed issue in one sector. Officers and any drüskelle - and certain officials not directly part of security in the Embassy Sector - can call one. It's Red Protocol, and all entrances and exits from that sector are shut down, and a larger team is mobilized, consisting of far more drüskelle, and the other two sectors and the White Island are treated as subject to Yellow Protocol."

"The most serious alarm is Black Protocol. Everything is shut down, and only drüskelle officers or royalty with an accompanying isenvulf may move freely, and the entire Ice Court is subject to martial law. Anyone trying to break protocol or not where they're supposed to be is subject to detention, and pretty likely to be shot if they argue; the general opinion is that any international incidents from shooting an ambassador over a misunderstanding can be straightened out after."

"Black Protocol is triggered by forced entry at one of the gates - that's automatic, or by any suspected threat to the royal family, or on declaration of total war or threat of imminent attack against the Ice Court itself. Only generals, admirals, royal guards, or royalty may call it outside of the automatic processes."

"Annoying amount of paranoia," Kaz mutters.

"...The Darkling is extremely good at spywork and also extremely determined to assassinate any members of the royal family. And we're constantly at war with Ravka, who are better at infiltration than any other nation on the True Sea."

"It means a lot of reason for paranoia, a lot of practice, and the simple fact that if we aren't annoyingly paranoid we lose, no matter our advantage in direct warfare."

She determinedly does not look at Nina.