With a low groan, I lowered myself into the dingy, splintered washtub. Normally I would not have asked for one in such a sub-par inn, but dust from the road was caked onto the sweat from the long afternoons riding towards the next village. The luke warm water was disappointing and I sorely wanted one of the near boiling baths back home. Regardless of the lackluster temperature, the muscles in my back and thighs slowly began to un-knot. I wish I could have luxuriated, but I got the shard of crude soap left for me and began to scrub away as much as the filth as I could. The road had been cruel to me over the past week, alternating between overly hot, humid days and days of torrential downpours with viscous lightning. I had tried to press on despite the weather, but both my horse and I were getting a bit too old to be running around nearly passing out of heat one day to being a drowned rat the next. I had taken refuge in the first village with a proper inn I had found. Calling my current dwelling a proper inn felt like a bit of a misnomer, but it was better than roughing it on the road.

It had become easier to pick up recruits as I swept the land closer to the center castle, higher populations of commoners found themselves clamoring for work and food within its shadow. Though recruits were plentiful, it was becoming more dangerous to contact the families. I had not been approached by any kingdom officials yet, but I was certain my presence was already whispered on lips throughout the collections of hovels that I visited. It was to be expected, but I had tried to keep at least my movements somewhat secretive, though it was hard once I had a few girls to follow. Purchasing the cart to pull the girls had helped me transport more girls and quicker, but it started to turn heads with a woman of refinement driving a cart of children plucked from abject filth. regrettably , I had started donning a more modest appearance, even though it pained me to be seen day in and day out as some commoner. Luckily most of the people I interacted with didn't think much of my refined language and I seemed to be so far keeping exactly who I was secret.

Somewhat cleaner than when I began, I eased myself out of the tub and to my feet. My back had gotten somewhat better with the switch to the cart, but it was still hard on an old woman's body, a fact that I had just started allowing myself to accept. I had just returned from a trip dropping the newest group of six girls at the castle Yser, six seemed to be the magic number from most areas and allowed them a reasonable amount of room in the cart. The trips back and forth were becoming more frequent as word spread, sometimes I hardly needed to introduce myself before a mother in tattered clothes would thrust their dirt-coated daughter into my hands. As I had drawn closer to the lands next to the castle, it seemed that times were currently at a desperation point and girls were being married off quickly, sometimes in exchange for a few chickens or a goat, it gave families one less mouth to feed at the very least. The commoners seemed to have at least some tact and wait for the girls to reach true teenage hood, but they had little to no say to whom they were being sold. Mothers, afraid their young girls would grow to inherit the same future, were willing to give them up for the hope of a better life. Even a few fathers had approached me with daughters in hand, though I assumed they were more accepting of the idea of one less mouth to feed.

I had returned on this current trip to a small hovel of a village whom had greeted me with open arms and given me pick of the girls when I had arrived the last time. Spoiled for choice, I had picked the girls who looked most promising to return with me first, then I promised to return for others. I was thrilled to be able to return and make my job easy, but it seemed that the weather and the village had conspired against me. Not only was the weather absolutely dreadful the whole way back, but upon arrival there was no longer an anxious lot of parents waiting to hand over their daughters. It fact, much of the populace had taken to hastily retreating indoors when I rounded a corner. No one felt the need to inform of the change of heart either, talking to anyone in the village had become a monumental task, leaving me to wonder if they had gathered together and worked out some agreement on their own and I was no longer part of the agreement. I had stayed a couple days, letting my whereabouts be known for any sneaky mother to deliver their daughter on their own, but at the end of the second day, it was obvious it was time for me to move to another village.

A sharp rap on the door startled me as soon as the last button on my dress had been fashioned. With a sigh, I concentrated on transforming the glamour on my face and clothing. It had been the first time in a while I had been able to don what I perceived as my natural form, it irked me to have to revert to someone of lower standing. With irritance, I pulled the door open ready to unleash a curt word to whomever dared to bother me. Instead, the words choked in my throat.

"Hello, Mari."

Before me stood the face of Evonia, though aged beyond what she would have allowed to be seen. Ebony hair pulled back into a stern bun and crow's feet in the corner of her eyes, a small scar along her left eyebrow, it could be no other than Aela, one of my twin nieces. Though her face was familiar, it was also foreign with the effects of aging upon her skin. The twins had been children when Rela had been born, making them at least forty years old, likely older. It was hard to recall when put on the spot.

"Aela," I replied once I had tamed my surprise, "it has been a while."

A dry laugh rasped out of her lips. "This is hardly a social call." Her voice was cold and sharp, echoing years of training and obedience. "I'm sure that you're clever enough to already know that."

"Indeed," I answered, "I thought you and your sister had vowed never to see your family again."

"It's true, we have a new family now."

Aela reached up to her neck and wrapped her hand around the silver and gold sun pendant around her neck. It was a gaudy , clunky piece of jewelry that the Great Church handed out to members. The highest ranking members would have a completely gold necklace and the bottom rank, entirely silver. Aela's necklace chain and center of her sun where both gold, leaving the sun's rays silver. From what I knew of the Great Church's hierarchy, she was somewhere near the top of the pack, not in charge, but close to one day taking that position.

"A family that spouts nonsense and piety," I said with a dismissive wave of my hand. "It's sad really, they use all those promises of love and family to draw in the injured and cast out of society and feast upon them like flies. It looks to me like you'll soon be gorging yourself on others weakness. I thought you swore you'd be nothing like your mother."

I didn't flinch when she raised her hand and struck me across the cheek. I knew it was coming, it had always been her way to lash out with physical violence. Both her and her twin from birth had hair trigger tempers who resorted to violence as default. It was not the first time she had slapped me and I doubted it would be the last. I didn't reach, looking to her with an unimpressed expression on my face. She wanted you to fight back, give her reason to continue the assault, the biggest punishment was to not let her strike sink to her level.

"Well, you've not changed at all," I said with a sigh, "it's good to see that the Church has not hollowed you out completely. Yet."

"Don't you dare speak any further about what you know," she snarled, hand still on her pendant. "I came here out of the goodness of my heart, to give you a warning."

"Ah, there it is," I exclaimed with a sarcastic laugh, "I was wondering when you'd get around to spouting about 'goodness'. Such a good little soldier for light, you stick to the script well."

"This is the last time I will ever warn you, stop manipulating good people to give up their children for whatever evil plan you and the new harlot have concocted." She stepped back from the door and gave me a cold stare. "I could have killed you before you even knew I was here."

"We both know my power is greater than yours, first hint of your magical aura and I would have ripped you apart. The price you paid by turning your back on us."

A coy smile bloomed on Aela's lips. "So even the infamous Mari Yser does not knows everything. I think I'll take my leave now and let you mull over what information you're missing, I assure you, it is a doozy."

With a sharp rap of her boots on the wooden floor, she rounded the corner and left me to ponder what wondrous thing the Great Church believed they had now. Surely it was some new alliance or influx of recruits, but still, it bothered me. Aela and Auria had always been hesitant to come to magical blows with me, knowing that I was more potent and powerful. If Aela was being cocky enough to now deny my superiority, it meant she had something up her sleeve. I needed to get back to the castle and my contacts to piece together what I had been missing thanks to my traveling. If there was something big brewing, I'd be sure to return to a bundle of frantic messages. Unsure of the veracity of the warning, I had to give up recruitment for now and return home. It would be useless to try to continue anyway, I was certain the King had been informed of what was happening or would be very shortly. It was in my best interests to leave as soon as possible. If Aela would tell him of just who I was, knights would be sent after me and while I felt I could still probably best them, I was not feeling up to testing my might.

Hastily, I threw my clothing together into a bag along with the extra bread from tonights lowly tavern meal. I would not have time to stop for provisions, so it would have to do for the trip back to the portal stone. A cold finger of fear crept up my back, ignoring the thoughts I was repeating that the confrontation had just been smoke and mirrors. Something in my gut told me that this was only the beginning of something, something that I might not live to see the resolution to.