Ai was still in her drudge disguise as she slipped back to her quarters. The guards that patrolled were in on it by necessity, otherwise they would be very inconvenient, pulling her over or, worse, sticking her with sharp things. She had spoken to them before hand and purchased their cooperation with the promise of fresh sweetrolls, commandeered from the kitchens. Their shifts would end too late to partake of them at their dinnertime, after all. It took a bit of charm and some bartering, but their silence and cooperation was bought. It helped that it was a funny, quirky little prank.
The Warden would, she hoped, not hear of her undercover escapade until after it was of any importance to him. He would hear about it, that she was sure.
She could explain it away as the eccentricities of an old woman, or similar such things. She wasn't sure he would believe that. Their meeting was long in coming, and it needed to happen. Soon, it would. She just had to compose an appropriately polite letter.
It had been a fun little undercover mission though. She had learned a little more about the internal mechanics of the place, a few scraps of information. Not much, yet, but something. And she'd gotten to fool a few people. That had been mostly for fun.

She stroked Zamanateth's nose as she passed by. The great fury of a gold was napping, a little miffed for not being allowed to fly today. She knew what she had done. But Ai knew she couldn't punish her dear forever.

Ai entered her quarters, ready to get out of her old dirty things and take a nice, hot bath. All in all, a productive, educational, and fun day. She didn't expect company but maybe she should have...