Tim continued to be a thorn in Maela's side. She had little trouble avoiding him to address Esmer, but in actually getting into Harvest House he was a major problem. As she staked out ways to get in, Tim was everywhere and nearly impossible to avoid.

It was also pretty clear why Tim was able to easily get her up to the Guild Hall without much difficulty—he had some kind of senior position with the Harvest House guards. That didn't bode well for her walking around as an innocent guild member as she reconnoitered the defenses.

To make things even more difficult, the very nature of Harvest House made it difficult for Maela to plan a way in, let alone a way out afterward. She was used to the stone guild towers across the North Fork. They all shared similar plumbing, access halls, and dark tunnels. But Harvest House had none of those things. It was a literal living thing.

Not that those thoughts mattered much. Maela was exceptional at hiding, sneaking, climbing, and being quiet, but she wasn't the only one who was a master of those things, and it was clear to her that if some Blade from the other guilds hadn't assassinated Polo yet, it meant that getting to him by climbing up the outside or entering via some overlooked sewer tunnel simply wasn't possible.

Which brought her back to the tree.

The way to get to Polo was to find the secret entrance to his quarters in the Guild Hall. That's what Maela was calling it—the secret entrance. That very few people knew of its existence was clear by how Tim reacted when she brought the subject up—a kind of nervous realization that someone had stumbled on this vital truth, quickly followed by a firm denial. Of course knowing of the entrance did little good if she didn't know where it was.

Maela's goal was to monitor the guard change routine and use that as an opportunity to sneak up to the second floor. She would then monitor that guard change to plan her entrance to the Guild Hall. Once she was in the Guild Hall, she was planning on using a dart with a sleeping poison to take out the guards watching the tree. Then she would search for the secret entrance and meet Polo.

It was an impossible plan that required a guard change in two different locations to be synchronized enough for her to sneak into the Guild Hall without being seen. Then she had to hope that the Hall wasn't being used, and, assuming it wasn't, she had to surreptitiously shoot two guards with darts in a way that they felt like a bee stung them so that they didn't raise the alarm as they succumbed to the sleeping poison.

It wasn't until after Tim glanced at her from far across the courtyard entry that she realized how absurd a plan it was. He furrowed his brow, and Maela used her skill to slip behind someone and then exit without being seen again. She was certain that Tim would just assume he saw someone who looked like her, but another accident like that could have led to disaster.

She had no choice and had to move her mission to night, when Tim would not be around to see her. The good news was that there was another benefit in a night mission—it increased the likelihood that the Guild Hall would be empty. Unfortunately, it had the huge problem of her having to sneak into Harvest House rather than just walking in during the day like a regular guild member.

Sighing as she once again had to start over, Maela staked out the rhythm of the Harvest House defenses. Guards came in. Guards went out. The pattern of the guards' routines thankfully didn't change much, and it was while she was watching a rare disruption of one of those patterns that an opportunity flashed in front of her.

A huge guard in full armor stopped, turned, and bore down on a smaller guild guard, who had been having trouble keeping up. "Teel, I swear to the gods that if you don't stop falling behind I will have you removed from duty. I don't care how much Tim defends you." He grabbed Teel by the arm and pulled him forward. "How many times do I have to say that women should not be on the night watch. You are too weak, and we wear armor for a reason!"

Ah, not Teel... Teal. She was a female guard, Maela thought. Maela sat bolt upright. She's about my size. Maela smiled. Why didn't I think of this before?

Teal was about to get a visit before her next shift.

To Maela's delight, Teal lived in the Flats. Of course, the walk to the Flats from Harvest House took almost two hours, as Teal was in heavy armor the whole time and walked excruciatingly slow. She carried her helm but otherwise was as armored as any knight on the Wall.

Don't tell me women can't hold their own, Maela thought as Teal arrived home after her long walk. The fact that Teal made that walk twice a day and handled a full shift of guard duty in between those long walks astounded her. It also reminded Maela of the inequity in Ness that she and the other thieves fought against—workers from the Old Quarter walked miles to do the dirtiest jobs, while those in the Flats walked a bit less for slightly less vile jobs. About the only ones in Ness who lived well were those who lived in the Upper and Lower Triangle, and they were mostly Merchants and senior guild members.

Leaning against a lamppost, Maela watched as Teal entered her house. It was a tiny house on one of the nicer streets of the Flats, only a block from the Lower Triangle. While she waited for Teal to go to bed, she thought over her plan. She would sneak in (easy). Then she would inject Teal with a sleeping poison (also easy), and then she would take the armor and walk to Harvest House (not so easy). At that point, she would sneak as far into the building as she could, and if she hit a dead end she would utilize the sleeping poison in some kind of creative way.

The last part was the most tenuous piece of her plan, but she figured she could handle it by thinking on her feet. First, however, she had to grab the armor and hope that her perception of Teal was correct—she was Maela's size.

Maela waited a full hour after the curtains were drawn on the windows. As a night guard, Teal slept during the day, and that made for at least somewhat of a challenge getting in without being seen, especially so close to a busy thoroughfare. Luckily, the lock on the front was of simple design, and Maela's stealth was all she needed.

The rest was simple—she slipped into what turned out to be more of a two room shed than a house and then held her hand over Teal's mouth as she jabbed her with the poison. It was strong but not deadly—Teal would sleep for the next ten hours, waking up with a nasty hangover.

The armor was hanging on a storage mannequin. Maela quickly pulled it on and could not have been happier—while not exactly her size, it was close enough that it was comfortable and not much trouble to move in. Of course, it was cumbersome, but Maela didn't have to move fast, she just needed to look like a Harvest Guild guard, and she certainly looked like that. She left a full three hours before Teal's shift.

Maela hadn't even gotten to Trader's Bridge before she had to rest. She simply wasn't nearly as strong as Teal and, to make matters worse, the boots were just big enough to cause blisters to form on her heel and the balls of her feet.

I'm going to be in serious pain by the time I get to Harvest House, Maela thought.

It took Maela the full three hours to get to Harvest House. With each step, her respect for Teal grew. Her dedication to the guild and her job is inspiring, she thought. It was almost inconceivable that the Harvest Guild didn't have barracks for their guards. Every other guild did. Of course, every other guild had a full tower and seemed much more political than the Harvest guild. As she finished her long march, Maela had to admire the simple approach to the guild's defense forces, which was to have the guards act just as normal guild members, including living among them.

As she took her place for the guard change, all of her preparation paid off. She walked up to the other guard on duty, who simply nodded at her, and with a quick nod in return Maela was in place.

She knew the routine: Maela and the other guard on her shift would make one pass around the grounds, while the guards they were replacing stayed in place. Then Maela would cover the rear, while the other guard covered the front, and the other guards would leave. Every hour she and the other guard would meet along the North side of the House; they would make another pass around the grounds together, and then they would swap assignments, with Maela guarding the front the next hour.

Once she was guarding the front, it left Maela exactly one hour to get to Polo before the other guard raised the alarm. She considered this more than enough time. Of course, if she didn't deliver her message within an hour, she would end up dead or in prison.