SoSS 2.2

***Codename: Prince Next Door*** is the second episode of the second book of *Stories on the Subjugated Straits*, and the tenth overall.

## Plot

Kaseos catches the party up on his meeting with steward Claude Mochiyoshi. He relays Claude's instructions to assume fake identities, since they are wanted by the Commonwealth for being named in the prophecy to dethrone Rasp. Kaseos assumes the name Erebus Aratta, his royal birth name; Detonia becomes Rainshy Honeydew, Nati becomes Anit Serrano, Cassandra becomes Wolf Ranch, Voy becomes Devon Sandoval, and Lynx becomes Lily Ito. Silence struggles to think of an inconspicuous alias, and the party's many eager suggestions don't help. The party reviews the list of potential allies in Elmore, and divide themselves into groups to speak to each.

Lynx and Detonia depart to meet with ambitious shipping guild captain Dina Kogono. They pique her interest by claiming to want to ship goods through the guild, and arrange a dinner that evening to work out details. Meanwhile, Voy and Silence - the latter of whom decides last-minute on the name Yellow - meet with reclusive tax collector Ebenezer Hisotoke. Caught off guard by his abrasiveness, Voy fails to think of false pretenses on which to secure his alliance, and only annoys him further. Silence salvages the meeting by promising to help him with tax collection, and they return to the Order of the Lighthouse compound. Though Voy believes they've failed, Nati recognizes that if what Ebenezer wants is help in his job, Kaseos could easily provide it as king. Silence and Voy return and offer Ebenezer a full workforce in exchange for his help placing Kaseos on the throne, and he agrees.

With Kaseos having completed a full makeover, he, Nati, and Cassandra meet with the captain of the city guard, Morris Hirasane. Morris immediately recognizes Kaseos's connection to Elmore's royal line. Having heard of his lust for power, Nati and Cass freely display their own during the meeting, and Kaseos promises greater funding and fame for his guard. Morris questions Kaseos about the inevitable war with Wilson Way should he take the throne. He eventually agrees to help confirm his royal lineage in Castle Elmore, but declines to offer his men as troops in a war.

That evening, Lynx and Detonia return to the shipping guild for dinner with Dina, and Nati and Kaseos accompany them. The group explains their intent to place Kaseos on the throne of Elmore; though Dina is open to the idea, her greatest concerns lie in his trade policies. After Kaseos agrees to leave her trade route to Scainamina untaxed, and to purchase all weapons for the war effort through her, she agrees to support them in turn. The group enjoys an extravagant dinner, during which Nati eagerly becomes drunk on elven wine. Meanwhile, Cassandra spies on the shipping guild headquarters from a distance. She spots someone in a room of the guild's lodge who, aside from being green instead of pink, greatly resembles Detonia's humanoid disguise. Mistakenly thinking it actually is Detonia, she doesn't look into it.

After the dinner, the five return to the Order compound to report on their progress. With six influential allies now secured, Kaseos surmises that the next step is to gain an audience with the marquis so that he can prove his royal lineage. When Cassandra learns that Detonia never left the dinner table, and that the person she spotted must have been a different pony in human form, she quickly leaves to investigate further. As Nati begins to teleport around the room with each drunken hiccup, Lynx and Val corral her to her room, and Lynx expresses surprise that she's able to get drunk at all.

## Characters

### Main

* Cassandra Dunewatcher
* Detonia Lethe
* Kaseos Nodre
* Lynx Cache
* Nati Serrano
* Silence
* Voy Graves

### Supporting

* Val
* Unnamed shipping guild receptionist
* Dina Kogone
* Ebenezer Hisotoke
* Unnamed Elmore city guards
* Morris Hirasane
* Unidentified disguised pony

## Trivia

* With Silence's reveal that he has no last name, as of this episode, all main characters' full first and last names (or lack thereof) are known.