The next morning when he woke up he saw that Meric was back and that the children were awake as well.

"We thought you were going to sleep all day," Dario said when he noticed Pali sit up and rub his eyes.

"Shush!" Ferra said to Dario. "You know how late he was out."

"Meric came back later than he did and she is fine."

Pali looked at Meric. She was watching the exchange between the two boys, her expression not showing any signs of fatigue or emotion. Sometimes he wondered if she and Salis were related. Give Meric white hair, skin, and the proportions of a Terran and they would be a perfect match.

Pali cleared his throat loudly. Ferra and Dario stopped their bickering and looked at him, waiting to see what he would say.

"Meric," Pali said. "Did you find out anything?"

"None. It seems the children are the only smart ones in this city and do not wander the streets at night so I saw almost no one that would match Salis' build and height."

Pali nodded.

"I did not find out much of anything new, but I want to visit a place today some soldiers I talked to mentioned."

Meric nodded.

"Are we going to set up a stall today, Papa?" Ferra said.

"No. I imagine it is too late to find a stall." Pali replied. The sun was already coming in through the window and he imagined they would have had to have left before dawn if they wanted to find a spot.

Pali heard Dario and Calren sigh with relief.

"Where is this place you want to look at?" Meric asked Pali.

"One of the last spots this "Night Trickster" was seen. It is on the east side of the city. It should be easy to find because of a large fire that occurred that night."

Meric nodded again. "If it has not rained, we might find some clues."

"We could also ask anyone in the area if they know anything," Pali added.

"We are so going to get lost," Dario said.

"Not if we ask around, idiot," Ferra said. "Do boys not know how to ask for directions?"

"I think we should take our things with us and move to an inn on the east side of the city," Pali said.

Everyone agreed and began packing their things.

A few hours passed before they had arrived at the scene of the fight. It had not been hard to find the place thanks to Ferra asking almost everyone they passed if they were going the right way. It had also been hard to miss the burned out buildings.

Dario whistled when he saw the street.

"Salis knows how to leave an impression." He said.

Calren nodded in agreement.

Pali looked down the street. About two-thirds of the way down the street he saw the burned area. Unlike Flaern, which used little wood in their construction, many of the buildings here in Eto used mainly wood and had burned easily. Thanks to this he saw two buildings that had been completely burned down and the buildings immediately around them had nearly joined the first two. He also saw burn marks on several other buildings.

"Whether or not it was Salis that did this, something happened here," Pali said.

"Do you really think Salis could have done this?" Ferra said.

"If she were fighting for her life, I imagine she would burn down the town if that was what it took," Pali said.

"And what a sight that would be," Dario said and laughed. "I would want to watch that fight."

"Me too," Calren said in agreement.

"As would I," Meric said to everyone's surprise. "I would even help if it meant burning this city down."

Everyone nodded in agreement when they heard Meric's last comment.

"Umm… Maybe we should start looking around." Pali said.

Everyone looked at him.

Dario shrugged to Calren, and the two walked off towards the burned buildings.

"Ferra, would you mind asking around and seeing if anyone saw something?" Pali asked the girl.

"Yes, Papa." She said and began looking around for someone. This section of the city was much more run-down than the west side and many of the buildings had been abandoned so there were few people in the area.

"We should see if we can find anything out of place," Pali said to Meric.

Meric nodded. "I will search this side of the road," Meric said, pointing towards the right side.

Pali nodded and split from Meric, heading towards the left side. Part of him wanted to stay with Meric and help her look.

Pali looked up at Meric and watched her walk away. He nearly followed her but instead ended up staring at her thighs. Her beautiful thighs…

Pali shook his head to clear his thoughts. He would have to worry about Meric later.

The first part of Pali's search yielded nothing. Aside from a few burn spots on some buildings he passed, most likely from fireballs, he saw nothing interesting. The dusty ground was even more uninformative.

"Calren?" He said when he noticed the boy squatting on the ground and looking at something. "What are you looking at?"

Calren looked up at him. "There is some strange black sand here."

Pali knelt on the ground next to Calren.

Indeed, there was black sand. Pali had not seen any sand near this color anywhere else in the city.

He picked some of it up. The grains were larger than any normal sand. He thought it could just be ash from the burned buildings, but his gut told him otherwise.

"I wonder," Pali said to himself.

Some rumors said that the Night Trickster used a strange fire that not only made a loud noise but also sparked and popped. Pali had never heard of any magic like that, but if Salis had been here and had made something with her knowledge, then it would make sense.

Pali gathered some black grains on a large, flat rock. He then created a small ball of fire just above the rock and then lowered it.

No sooner did the fire touch the sand it lit up in a puff, black smoke rising from it. Both he and Calren jumped back.

"What was that!" Dario said, scrambling down from a fallen beam he had been climbing.

"I do not know," Pali said.

"What happened!" Meric yelled as she ran over to join the group.

"That black sand," Pali said, pointing towards the spot where he had gathered some of it.

"I have never heard of any kind of sand that could do that," Meric said, crouching and inspecting it.

"I think Salis made it," Pali said.

"Salis knows how to make stuff like this?" Calren said, looking down at the sand in amazement.

"Just imagine what other secrets she has in that head of hers," Pali replied.

"Pali…" Meric said, pointing down the street.

Pali looked up and saw that several people had stopped and were staring at them.

"We should leave before any soldiers arrive." He said.

"I agree," Meric said. "Let us find Ferra and go."

Meric looked at the boys to confirm they understood. Both nodded. They looked like they wanted to leave more than Pali did.

Not long after they left the street they heard what sounded like soldiers yelling at some onlookers. The soldiers never came after them, so Pali guessed that no one had said anything.

"Papa!" Ferra yelled excitedly when she saw them.

Pali noticed a boy about Calren's age was following her.

"Did you already finish looking?" Ferra said when she met them.

"For now. We did not find anything that would tell us where to find Salis, but we found something interesting that makes me believe she was there." Pali replied.

Ferra grinned. "Gyael says he knows where Salis is!" She said and then pointed at the boy following her.

Everyone's jaws dropped. Could it be this easy? Could their search finally be over?

Gyael grinned. "Yep! I know where Little Big Sister Salis is. My little brother is watching her right now."

Dario and Calren snickered when they heard what Gyael had called Salis.

"How did you find her?" Pali asked excitedly.

"My master has been watching her." The boy replied.

"Your master?"

"I am not allowed to talk about him."

Pali wondered why the boy could not talk about his master. There were too many possibilities and Pali did not want to waste time making assumptions.

"Why is he watching Salis?" Meric asked.

"I cannot tell you, though Salis can."

"Can you take her to us?" Pali asked.

"Sure! My master told me to find you and take you to her."

Gyael did not wait for a reply and immediately took off at a jog down a nearby side street.

"We can finally go home now!" Dario said excitedly.

Ferra punched him on the shoulder and then took off after Gyael.

"Ow!" Dario yelled at Ferra. He rubbed his shoulder for a moment and took off after her.

Calren, Pali and Meric looked at each other. They all smiled, although Meric looked a little unsure.

"Come on. If it is not Salis, then we move on." Pali said to Meric when he noticed.

Meric nodded. "We better not get too far behind."

Pali nodded, and the three took off.

Gyael was not jogging quickly, so it did not take long for Pali to catch up to him.

The boy led them through a winding path of streets and alleys and Pali was not sure where they were. He did not care how lost they got if it meant finding Salis. He also imagined that Meric knew perfectly well where they were, so that helped.

Gyael finally stopped at a corner.

"She is down this street." He whispered.

"How can you be certain?" Meric asked.

"That is a secret."

"I will look!" Ferra said and ran around the corner.

Pali sighed and followed behind Ferra.

The street he turned on to was nearly empty and he only saw three people. The first was a skinny street urchin, and the second was a middle-aged woman that was smoking something. It was the third that he figured would be Salis if she was indeed where the boy had said she was.

Thanks to the dark clothing that covered her, Pali could see he could not see any features. The only thing he could make out at all was the short stature.

The figure suddenly stopped just before Ferra reached them, but instead of looking behind them they looked up. Just as this happened, Pali saw a young boy leap off of the roof of a nearby building. The boy landed just behind the figure and grabbed at the cloak they were wearing, pulling it off before running away.

No sooner had the cloak been torn away did Pali see long white locks of hair burst out. He also saw that ghostly white skin. He saw the face. It was Salis. It was Salis!