“Nowhere for him to go this time.” Kathryn was now certain she had him. She had stealthily breached Greyus massive walls. To her the defenses of the Council of Freedom were comical. A child could get past their defenses, and it had probably happened.

Even though she had confirmed just yesterday that a boy named Zilian had arrived, she had not ascertained his exact location he had stationed himself. The timing is odd though; she was certain he would have been here at least two days earlier, but she did not dismiss the fact they could have been delayed due to the quakes. She placed her bet that the best way to find him was through the guards barracks, which were located near the center of the city.

As she strode through the streets, coolly walking down the road towards her destination. The barracks were surrounded by a large iron fence, which was perhaps the only true defense they had. She turned around a bend and hid, crouching behind a couple of crates next to the building. She had a clear path to the barracks; no one was in sight and she doubted anyone would be up this late of night. And much to her luck, they were not guarding the fence, as if they did not expect anyone to sneak up on them. Of course, it would only take them a second to coincidentally see her dashing over the fence, which she wanted to avoid since it would draw undue attention to herself.

She saw through a window far across the field inside the barracks, a bunch of the guards were hugging each other in joy. She assumed they were childhood friends. Then they broke up, one turning back to grab a deck of cards from a bookcase, and gathered up around a large table.

Taking this as her chance, she dashed across the open between her and the fence. When she neared just twenty feet from it, she drew her double-sided polearm. She spun it around and a gust of air formed around her, lifting her over the fence and sending her down rolling to smooth the fall. Then she dashed the rest of the way to the building and as a guard walked by the window, she instantly created another gust around her to fly and land on top of the building.

Did I make it in time? She asked herself.

"Guys, I think I just saw someone?" A voice came from the open window.

A second voice appeared, "Really? I don't see anyone."

"I swear, I saw a young girl. I turned my head for a moment, then before I realized what I saw, I checked again and she was gone." The first man said.

"Don't know what to tell ya. Either you're crazy or you had a long day." The voice receded into the background.

"Guess your right. Where's the rum?” She heard some shuffling and then a sound of glass clinking, “Ah, here it is. Now to get back to business."

When all the voices faded in the background, she realized she would not get much from this vantage point. She scanned the immediate area and noticed a chimney poking out nearby, she peered down into it saw that it was a hole wide enough for her to fit inside. Going head first, she slid down. Once she was close to the furnace entrance she stopped, now close enough to hear their voices clearly.

"Sorry folks, full hand wins the house!"

She heard clinking of coins on a table, and guessed that they were playing bets in a game of cards.

"One more game?" Challenged the original guard who had momentarily seen her.

The was a murmur of agreement and then more coins were tossed on the table, seemed like they were going to have a long night. Kathryn hung there and and kept an ear out for anything of importance. Hours passed and the group laughed on their wins, moaned on their losses, but mostly and most importantly talked a lot. Mostly the same old foolish conversation of an adult, talking about how boring their jobs were and that their wives were going to leave them. Until finally, a topic to her interest popped up.

"What you guys think about that thing?" One spoke groggily.

A second answered just as smashed as the previous one, "Seems someone has had a little too much to drink, see if he loses this time." He cackled to himself.

Then all of them laughed, but the first guy said, "No, I mean the big issue that Fale made about. He was just about to get a search and rescue party for them."

The second man who made fun of him agreed, "Oh yes. The boy and girl, what were their names?"

A third guy answered, "Zilian and Erica, that's what Fale said."

"Yeah, them. Have you guys seen them? Heard they had quite the trip through the mountain." First man said.

"Nope." They all replied uninterested.

She heard more clinking on the table as they placed more bets.

"Must be quite the children to catch Fale's attention." A fourth guy added.

Third man answered, "I'd say. Fale is someone who only befriends the best of people."

Second man asked, "Where were they staying at?"

They all murmured unknowingly except a fifth man remarked, "Wasn’t it at Melamel Inn?"

Second man agreed, "Sounds right. They got settled in a nice place."

Suddenly the first man exclaimed, "In the bag again! Thank you for your time and money!" And slapped his cards on the table.

The third man answered, "That money is in the bag, but not your bag."

She heard the tap of one card to next tap at the table and then followed by coins being dragged across. "You win some and you lose some and more importantly, I win most."

Everyone else laughed in the room.

Kathryn flipped herself upright in the chimney and crawled out, having already gathered the information she needed to accomplish her mission. Once back on top of the rooftop, she got her bearings. She had memorized the entire city; every single store, inn and place of importance clearly imprinted in her memory. She ran on the rooftop in the opposite direction from which she came, able to jump over the fence because of the short gap on this side. She then made her way to the nearest building, climbing to the roof. She traversed between the rooftops of the houses and stores, arriving at the Melamel Inn within half an hour.

She jumped from the roof down into the alley at the side and walked out casually, the streets now bustling from early risers. The sun started to wake everyone up, meaning she had little time left. She entered the Inn and approached the lady behind the counter.

"Hello, I am looking for my cousin Zilian Ainn. He said I should meet him here." She had time to think of how to present herself and what to say, and had prepared what to say and do to get to him.

The counter lady replied casually, "Very well then, let me check through my records. We get plenty of people coming in and out all week."

She thought she heard footsteps going up the stairs and turned to the stairs, but found that no one was there. The woman was taking a long time looking through her records, Kathryn thought this was odd even though she did mention they had a lot of people go in and out recently. A couple minutes went, building up on her frustration and impatience.

"I will be able to recognize him if I were to search for him." She assured her impatiently.

A moment later, a young boy walked down from the stairs. He seemed to match the vague description she received and was accompanied by another young girl. A sister maybe? He turned around, and called to someone up the stairs.

"See you later mom!"

The mother up the stairs called back, "Have a good day sweety, and don't spend all of your allowance in one place."

"Don't worry, I won't." He then turned with his sister, running out the main entrance a bit too excitedly in her opinion.

She dismissed the possibility. She knew Zilian had no mother. He might be accompanied by someone else but definitely no mother.

The woman gave her the room, "Ah, here he is room 204. Right there, up the stairs." She turned the book to show her.

She smiled kindly, maintaining a polite smile so as to not raise suspicion, "Thank you."

With what she needed, she left and walked up the stairs to the room Zilian was sleeping in. She turned to see the mother as she walked pass her, she had several younger children. The kids whined and fussed as she tried to groom them before she headed out.

She tested the doorknob and found it was unlocked, poking her head inside only to see that the room was empty. Walking inside silently because he might be awake and still inside, she approached the bathroom cautiously and peered inside and saw no one was there either.

He must have woken up early and left. She thought.

She sat behind the door, so that when he returned he would not see her. Sitting with legs crossed, she closed her eyes to get some much needed sleep. She was not worried he would come in to see her asleep, because she had trained her brain to be alert at all times. When he came in she would subdue him swiftly and silently, and then she would then take him to Malie.