For a moment, the warehouse lay silent, infected with a deep and pervasive melancholy and grief. It swirled in the air, an almost tangible thing that stifled sound and thought. Kid clenched his fists tightly, nails digging sharply into the soft flesh of his palms.

Roy’s unwise rebellion towards the guardsmen made more sense in light of his sister’s ordeal - he had seen what was likely a repeat of Eliya’s circumstances only a few years prior and was unable to prevent himself from intervening.

Unfortunately, he had failed once more.

Kid looked up, his gaze pulling upwards towards what he was sure would be an expression of guilt and loss.

It was not.

Instead, the youth looked more determined than ever. His jaw was set with a determined grit, and his eyes gleamed with a steely resolve. Roy reached downwards, pulling open the bundle of fabric that he had brought with him.

“One day, I will find a soulseed,” he said. “I will enter the Tower and search for my father. Whether he is alive or dead, I will find him and bring him home - for Eliya and for myself.

“But I could never stand tall if I do not try to do something now. I am sure that the woman from earlier will soon suffer a fate similar to that of my sister. I refuse to allow that to happen under my watch. I can not.

The bundle pulled apart, revealing a few sets of servants’ clothing. Embroidered on the chest was the same symbol that had been embossed upon the platemail of the guardsmen - the insignia of Yraos’ City Lord.

“Where did you get those?” Norik asked.

“I followed a few of the servants home and stole them, of course,” Roy replied.

Norik stared for a moment, thinking. “And am I right in assuming that the reason you did this is…”

Roy smiled. “Yes, I want to sneak into the mansion and take a look around. If I’m wrong about things, I’ll just leave after that. Otherwise, I’ll do what I can to help that woman. Just like I should have done for Eliya. And don’t worry, nobody saw me and no one was hurt. While the guardsmen might deserve that sort of punishment, I can’t blame the servants.”

He began to rifle through the gathered clothing, pulling out a few separate outfits.

“I had to pick the servants that looked most likely to match any of our sizes. Unfortunately, that turned out to be harder than I expected.”

Then and there, before any of the others could react, he began to strip his clothes off.

Anniya let out a high-pitched squeak, turning away and blocking her eyes with her hands. It had to be said, though, that she invariably began peeking through her fingers.

Roy quickly donned one of the servant outfits; unfortunately, it was not a perfect fit. However, it was likely close enough to be serviceable without a close inspection.

He motioned towards the remaining outfits. “I’m not going to make any of you go with me - this is my decision and it would be wrong to force you to take the risk for me. However, if any of you would like to come along, I would welcome the assistance.

Kid stepped forward. He would be dead were it not for Roy’s help. How could he live with himself if he was unwilling to help in turn? He quickly began to rifle through the collection of outfits, piecing together an outfit that looked as if it would be a relatively close fit.

Similarly to Roy, the resulting ensemble was just serviceable enough to pass a cursory inspection. Due to being shorter than the servant from which the garb was stolen, he was forced to carefully fold the lower end of the pants inwards. It created a bit of a thick section around his ankles, but that was better than the comedic image of a pair of pants enveloping his feet; he was determined to help with Roy’s endeavor, but trying to do so looking like that was a surefire way of getting caught.

Unfortunately, the others had even worse luck. Though he had done his best to obtain a few sizes, there were only so many sets of clothing that Roy could steal without setting off some sort of alarm. While the servants might eventually talk and realise that more than one of them suffered a theft, there were enough people working for the City Lord that a few pilfered items may not be immediately connected. For that very same reason, coupled with the urgency of the situation, Kid knew that Roy would want them to work fast.

In the end, only Kid and Roy managed to put together relatively believable ensembles. Anniya looked like she was drowning within the fabric, Norik found himself at the awkward state of being far too tall for the available pants, and Wymar simply was of the opinion that a crowd of unknown individuals, disguised or not, would stick out like a sore thumb. Kid had to admit that he had a fair point.

The participants decided, Roy and Kid began to work out a tentative idea on how they would handle the infiltration. Unfortunately, there was very little finesse involved - the entire plan amounted to: scale the wall, keep their heads down, blend in with the other servants, and search for places where the woman might be kept. It wasn’t exactly their best work, but time waited for no man.

The rudimentary details ironed out, they settled down for a short slumber. Kid leaned against the bundle of dirty cloth that served as his pillow, back pressed against the makeshift straw bedding below - a luxury that he still did not take for granted.

The next morning manifested as a flurry of motion and preparation, beginning before dawn. First things first, both Roy and Kid needed to tidy up their appearances. While a passing servant might not draw much attention, they surely would if their appearances were overly dirty and unkempt. Fortunately, they were not so destitute that a proper washing was out of the question; in a short time, both Roy and Kid had become far more presentable.

As they exited the warehouse, they were accompanied by the others. Though only Roy and Kid would participate in the infiltration, it had been decided that there was no reason for Anniya, Norik, and Wymar to not stand watch; after all, their presence could very well turn out to be the deciding factor between escape and capture, should things turn out poorly. Perspiration began to wet Kid’s palms at the thought. He had no illusions about what might happen should they be captured sneaking through the City Lord’s abode.

Eventually, they made it to the manor of the City Lord. In truth, it was closer in appearance to a small castle within the confines of the city than anything else - foreboding stone walls rose up towards the sky, battlements jutting forth like the teeth of some sort of stone behemoth. Lining both sides of the wooden gate were heraldic displays of the City Lord’s insignia, embroidered in black onto luxurious crimson tapestries that spilled downwards and tapered to a point halfway down the wall.

However, as they could not suffer through more than a cursory inspection, the gate was not their destination.

Fortunately, despite being modeled like a small castle, the structure was not manned as fastidiously as one would actually be. Thus, there were various locations along the wall that did not provide the same difficulty as trying to enter directly through the main entrance.

One such location turned out to be perfect for their purposes.

On the backside of the structure, abutting the flowing river that was the lifeblood of Yraos, a steep incline pushed downwards from the bottom of the wall towards the river. While this normally might have posed additional difficulties, it also had served to create a certain degree of laxness within the guardsmen; as many are prone to do, they had left the area unguarded, trusting in the natural landscape to dissuade others.

Roy and Kid’s point of entry found, the others separated. Norik, as the largest of the designated lookouts, went alone to watch the front gate, while Wymar and Anniya hid themselves along the riverside.

As the sun fully crested the horizon at last, heralding the new day, they got to work. With the bubbling river behind them muffling the sounds of their efforts, Roy prepared a long rope. He eyed the jutting battlements above carefully, creating a tightly knotted loop.

After a few tries, he managed to snag the structure above, causing the rope to wrap around the stone. Roy tugged at the rope firmly. Seeing that it held properly, he began to pull himself upward.