Wilke was getting increasingly concerned and increasingly frustrated by the search for literally anything in this blasted house which was worthy of his notice.

He knew that there were duplicitous lies, murder, and scandal. He sensed traces that blood had only just recently been cleaned up. But, he had also been told that there had been a traitor in the house, and that even the Lord himself was recovering. There was no way to call out one or two bloodstains as proving malfeasance.

He was waiting, mostly, for Marin to signal him that it was time to talk, but he wasn’t eager to come back with nothing to show for it, either. So he prowled around each level of the house.

Some things were clear, if confusing. The many hidden passages in the house were not exactly a network; some connected, others were separate. Some were aggressively concealed, while others were meant for a mage’s senses to pass into--or out of. There was a lot of magi-metal in the house, and he was beginning to think that he could recognize exactly how his Void senses were being blocked. That wasn’t quite enough to get through the block easily, but it at least let him recognize the effect, most of the time.

Other times, he needed to be told.

“I think we passed something,” hissed Rin at his shoulder. “The wall wasn’t quite flat back there.”

Wilke turned his senses on the hallway behind him, and found that sure enough, he had overlooked another panel. Not wanting to turn around and force his way through the trio of guards who followed him, Wilke instead took a cross-hallway, then made a quick loop back to where he had been.

There, he let his senses rest, with some relief.

Rin’s eyes were sharp, if she had really noticed the difference in the walls. To him, it was only a thin crack, because the panel was very well constructed; it sat almost entirely flush, hiding what was probably a very short hallway, given the volume of space that he had not been able to sense. The panel didn’t sit at some obvious place; the crack seemed to run right through the middle of the stone blocks in the wall, rather than being concealed in mortar or between stones. If it hadn’t been such a perfect fit, it would have looked like the stone jutted out in the middle of stone blocks.

But it was almost perfect, and with it being concealed to his magical senses, it felt like a normal wall.

As Wilke sat there stewing, wondering if he should push his luck, a servant woman started hurrying down the hallway towards them. Wilke paused and waited for her, trying not to let it be obvious that the constant use of his senses was tiring him out.

The servant stopped and bowed, when she was close enough to speak at a normal volume. “Ser… the head of the house has received word that the house will also soon be host to a party from the King of Seyona. As, regrettably, the Lord Amon is not currently in a state to receive visitors more than once, your audience will be pushed back to the time when the messengers of the King have also arrived.” She remained bowed, waiting for a response.

Rin wasn’t having it.

“I don’t believe we were clear,” she snapped. “We have not come here in order to meet with the Lord of the house. We are here to conduct an investigation, and the Lord of the house will meet with us, or else he will permit us unrestricted access to the house. We--”

Wilke sensed it almost before he heard it. Behind the panel came a woman’s scream, and in the back of his mind, Wilke felt certain that it was the cry of a halfbreed. If you see the jackal girl, slap her. Chai hadn’t given him those instructions for no reason.

He turned and started to tear at the panel in the wall, desperately searching for a way to get access, when suddenly the signalling glyph in his armpit flashed cold.

He paused, realizing as he did that the three guards had all levelled crossbows at him. Cold wasn’t danger... it meant come back. Wilke moved his eyes from one guard to the next, then glanced at Rin, who had tensed and coiled like a snake, preparing to pounce.

He processed for only a moment longer before he held up his hands and stepped between the guards and Rin.

“My mistake!” He paused. “Let us… go speak with the others for a minute, Rin. The people of the house seem to have something going on here that requires their attention.”

Rin’s eyes, when they turned to him, were hot, still ready to fight. He tried to keep his measured, in control. He wasn’t proficient enough with mind magic to project a thought, but his studies of magic and martial arts had given him a fantastic ability to plaster a pleasant look on his face almost no matter what was going on around him.

She relented, and the two of them stepped quickly away from the concealed hallway and towards the nearest staircase. None of the guards lowered their crossbows, nor let them out of their sight.

Before she turned out of sight of the servant, though, Rin did stop and offer her a deep glare. “We demanded access to any hallway. If what is concealed there is not itself a room, you must open it to us. Along with any other concealed hallways in the house.”

“The lady’s terms earlier were, any public areas of the house.” The servant’s voice was measured, polite. “With respect, that area of the house is not public, and was never meant to be.”

Rin grunted, and allowed Wilke to gently lead her away.

The guards stayed with them until the front doors, then remained there, keeping their crossbows out but pointed away. Wilke and Rin both declined to let down their guard, although neither could quite afford to raise magical shields either, as that would most likely trigger a response.

Opening the door to the carriage revealed a worried-looking Marin, and Chai, looking as far-away as ever.

“So!” Wilke forced cheer into his voice. “They intend for us to wait.”

“They aren’t coming,” said Chai distractedly, “but yes.”

The three of them tried to process that statement in silence for a moment.

“Was it a lie?” Rin’s eyes were suddenly dark, and her posture shifted, as though she was preparing to run off and start a full-on attack on the building.

“The… a messenger of the King was here, in full uniform. I believe she had met with Melle and Erron before” Marin looked, puzzled, to Wilke. “I don’t… believe that she talked to the house guards. How did you find out?”

“Oh, they heard, one way or another.” Wilke, suddenly tired, climbed into the carriage and sat down on the seat next to Chai. “You know… Chai… I don’t honestly know how you can keep doing that all the time.”

Slowly, and without speaking, Chai turned his body to face Wilke. Rare for him, his eyes seemed to focus intently on the man, which made Wilke immediately uncomfortable.

“I mean… I know that it doesn’t exhaust you the way it does me, but… it’s…” he paused, feeling an uncharacteristic embarrassment well up. “It’s… tiring.”

“Yes.” Chai’s word was quiet, devoid of intent. In a way, that itself seemed to be an admission.

Marin set her hand on Chai’s, looking at him. “He’s been… distant, as always. But sometimes he seems so scared.”

Chai lost his focus and shook his head, leaning back in the seat. “No… but… it’s tiring.”

There was only a moment’s pause before Rin changed the subject.

“Whether we will be joined, today, or not… we have to address the fact that we aren’t being allowed to investigate. Trying to follow... that noise,” Rin paused, trying to phrase things differently given the near-certainty that they were being snooped on, “almost got us killed. The incident in the lower level was the same. We have… a duty. But we can’t fight a house full of guards, even without them being armored in a way we can’t handle.”

Wilke paused a moment, then tapped Chai on the shoulder lightly. “Do you know what kind of metal that armor was?”

“Brass Adamant,” he replied quickly. “By far the least dangerous of the secrets they have hidden here.”

“Brass…” Wilke pondered that. It made sense, to him. Brass was easy enough to cast and work into rings, while making it an adamant metal made the otherwise flimsy metal far more durable. Of course, he wasn’t aware of anyone who made brass adamant, but if he were to go looking anywhere for it, it would be the nation of Seyona.

“Do we need to be worried about any of the other secrets?” Rin leaned in close to Chai, as though the closer distance would be enough to ward off the snooping air mage that even she could sense poking around.

“Oh, yes.” Chai made a deliberate effort to look at what seemed to be nothing at all, which was probably where the Air mage’s senses were hanging. “The master’s new project is quite dangerous, more useful to him under the circumstances than it is valuable. We are fortunate he does not yet know what he has.”

The four of them all felt the pressure ease off as the air mage pulled his senses back.

Chai continued immediately, as though counting the moments he would have to spare. “Wilke, you will need to go back to where you just were. Rin will need to finish the girl’s work. If she can do it properly, you won’t need to find her. If not, you can only wait until we get an audience.”

Wilke and Rin exchanged glances, both feeling the air mage returning, but Wilke had to risk it. “Will they let us?”

“Of course not. But Rin casts a long shadow.” Chai nodded, seeming content, and then sank back into his seat, looking very tired.

Casts a long shadow… Wilke nodded immediately at that. “Of course. Thank you, Chai.”

So he stepped back out, stretching, and took a long moment to cycle power through his body. Although he made an effort to practice each discipline of martial arts at least once a month, it was difficult to practice those that needed an audience, and he was behind.

The martial arts of Light and Darkness, Source and Shadow, were tricky, and he hadn’t done them in a while. They would need to practice once or twice on the guards before he was sure he could do it properly.

“I’m not quite sure what he meant,” Rin admitted. “What do you need me to do?”

“Just keep doing what you’ve been doing…” Wilke paused, trying to find the right way to phrase it. “...especially if you’re not sure what I’m up to.”

Rin eyed him, then nodded. She hadn’t been acting very subtly, and the hint didn’t need to be subtle either. She was an assassin, but she didn’t mind being the distraction. Her people always worked in teams, after all.