“No matter how well you train someone, there’s often no telling how good they actually are until you actually put them to the test under real conditions. This applies to all fields.” - Myrddin deVreys, commander of the Death’s Hands of Ptolodecca, circa 50 VA.

“Anyway then, this will be your first mission, you remember what you have to do, right?” asked Yliz as she laid a hand on Kino’s shoulder in a reassuring gesture.

“Take a tour of the Caliphate, create a public persona as a traveling bard, and gather information without getting caught as a spy, yes, I’m aware, Miss Yliz,” replied Kino with a nod. She was getting sent out on her first official mission as an agent – if an unofficial one, since the Death’s Hand naturally wouldn’t acknowledge that they sent spies to neutral and even allied nations around them – and Kino was both confident, yet nervous at the same time.

It was standard procedure for the Death’s Hand to send out freshly inducted agents on missions with companions. One of the companions would be an equally fresh member of the assassination section of the unit, while another would be a senior member who would watch them and act as their supervisor to make sure that they didn’t make grievous mistakes out there.

In Kino’s case, those happened to be Eilonwy and Aideen.

Eilonwy was part of the assassination section of the Death’s Hand, as the girl had always been a more combative sort. Her skills also indirectly meant that having her around as an escort was the equivalent of having a dozen escorts, given the way the girl fights alongside her undead. Not that Kino herself needed an escort in particular, given her own lethal capabilities, but procedure was procedure.

Aideen on the other hand was still considered a senior member of the Death’s Hand as she worked together with them quite often during her first century and a half of life. Since in some ways she was also considered Kino’s guardian – even if everyone acknowledged the girl as her own person who made her own choices by then – and she volunteered for the job, there was no reason to not give it to her.

Besides, when a new agent had people they trust working with them on their first mission, they generally fuck up less, so Yliz was all too happy to make the arrangements.

The mission she handed Kino was a longer-term one, a reconnaissance mission in the growing bloc of northern countries that had submitted to the Hassid Caliphate. It was a mission estimated to last anywhere from five to ten years, which might seem like a long time, but considering the members of this particular mission, was more of a short term mission than anything.

After all, two of them were unliving and the third was mostly elven in heritage.

Celia chose not to come along this time, as she was recently learning more about medicine and mundane methods of healing under Mallard and Molin’s tutelage. After having traveled with Aideen for decades, the girl had grown a strong appreciation of what a skilled healer – be they mundane or magical in nature – could do to help people they run into during their journey.

Of course, it was not like they would be parting for that long, from their perspectives. By that point Celia had become unliving for over a century, and had gotten more used to viewing time in a different way than when she was still alive. Five to ten years was akin to just a short separation, and besides, she wanted to relax a while longer first.

While accompanying Aideen on her journeys were always interesting to do, those journeys almost always came with some… excitement and the occasional violence that Celia wanted to take a break from for the time being. Besides, she still had a lot to learn and breaking off her tutelage mid-way wasn’t a good thing to do.

Aideen had approved of Celia’s choice. She’d likely make many more trips in the future anyway, so for Celia to finish her tutelage would be more important than breaking it off just to gallivant around with her and Kino. Besides, Celia also had her own house in Tohrmutgent, and had no issues with her living either, so her life was pretty comfortable.

They already said their goodbyes the previous day, as it wasn’t appropriate for Celia to see them off, what with them going out as what were practically spies and assassins. As such, after an exchange of farewells with Yliz, Aideen followed Kino and Eilonwy out of Tohrmutgent from the western gate. As their supervisor, she would mostly just watch the two, and would not interfere in their actions unless they made huge mistakes.

The first mission was partly intended to allow agents and assassins to gain their footing and learn from what mistakes they made, after all.

While Aideen crossed the desert that separated the north from the south the last time she went to the north, this time they headed west to Elmaiya instead. Traveling with another group would be the best approach to reduce suspicion towards theirs, and it would be easy enough to find merchant caravans traveling from Elmaiya to the northern countries.

Most such caravans were all too happy to take passengers with them as long as they had room and the price was right. As an additional benefit, their interactions with such a group would also allow Kino to establish some credentials as a talented wandering bard from early on. Having others that would vouch for her would make things easier later on.

Aideen and Eilonwy would play the part of being friends with Kino who left their village together to see the wider world. Despite their disparate ages, the three could easily pass as people of similar ages to one another, due to Aideen and Kino’s unaging nature and Eilonwy’s long lifespan. As for the mix of races, that wouldn’t attract much attention either, especially since they pretended to be from Elmaiya.