"Terri, get behind me," Aggy growled protectively as she stood up from her chair and turned to face the window. Pointing a blunt finger at the man on the balcony she said, "You have no business here and I'm going to give you just one chance to turn around and leave quietly. If you do anything other than that I'm going to hit you with a spell so powerful you'll be blown off that balcony and half way across Valleros before you realise what's happened."

Terri leapt off her bed but rather than moving behind Aggy she stood in front of the angry dwarf. "Everybody just calm down and don't make any sudden moves. I'm sure that if Scarlett was here to hurt us he'd have already done so without the courtesy of announcing his arrival first."

The figure on the balcony pushed back the hood of his cloak revealing the fine features and leaf shaped ears of an elf combined with the dark brown eyes of a human. "Well, it's nice to see that at least one of you has been blessed with a little common sense," he said derisively. "I'm not here to harm you but to help you. I know our relationship didn't get off to the best of starts but I was hoping we could move past that and combine our efforts against a common enemy."

"From where I’m standing you are a common enemy," growled Aggy as she returned to her chair and crossed her arms. “So if you’re here to try and convince us otherwise then you’ve got your work cut out for you. And don't forget what I said, one false move and you'll be taking a flying tour of Valleros' rooftops."

"That won’t be necessary,” Scarlett replied as he stepped in through the tall window and sat down on the sill. “As I said, I’m here to help you not to hurt you, so there’s no need for any aggressive posturing. Now, if I overheard your conversation correctly, you were trying to figure out a reason for Lord Dennyson's imposter to kill Davoro DeLyse. Well, having thought it through I’m not sure the imposter was trying to kill him at all."

Flem, who had been sitting quietly on his bed throughout Scarlett's unexpected appearance, bridled at this suggestion. "You're saying my father died for nothing? That the fire was just an accident? If that's your theory then you can get out now and never come back."

Scarlett's face softened in response to Flem's obvious pain. "No Flem, I’m not saying that your father died for nothing and I don't think that the fire was an accident. I'm just saying that I don't think the fire was set in order to kill him. I believe the purpose of the fire was to destroy your tailor shop and everything inside it. Your father’s death was a tragic but unintended consequence. I think it was your father’s desire to rekindle his friendship with Lord Dennyson that forced the doppelganger to act. If you’re willing to hear me out, I think I can fill in the gaps of your theory.”

Aggy nodded her assent but still sat stiffly in her chair as if she was ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Flem lay back on his bed before answering, "Go ahead, but I want you to tell us everything, including why you're involved and what exactly happened in the warehouse the night you almost killed Terri."

"Of course," replied Scarlett, "in that case I’ll start at the beginning. You’d better make yourselves comfortable as we’ve got a lot to cover. You already know that my name is Scarlett Rose, but you haven’t been made aware of my relationship to the man you call ‘the professor’. He is in fact my grandfather.”

Aggy exploded out of her chair in indignation at this startling revelation. Standing with hands on hips she exclaimed, “You’re telling me that the wrinkly old prune who’s been pulling our strings is your grandad? The same grandad who forced Terri to retrieve a magical ring because of a life debt that you were responsible for? A life debt that you caused when you put a massive hole in the her chest! Well that’s awfully convenient isn’t it?”

In the face of Aggy’s anger Scarlett stood up and backed out onto the balcony with his hands held up defensively in front of him. “I promise you Aggy, there was no plan between my grandfather and I to hurt Terri. I only cast that spell because I feared for my life. I thought you were agents of Gravenhall’s infiltrators who had been sent to capture or kill me. I’m sorry for what happened but I only retaliated to give myself a chance to escape. I’m so sorry now that I know who you are, so sorry that Terri was hurt.”

It was difficult to tell if Aggy was appeased at all by Scarlett’s words as she continued to stand, hands on hips with her face full of emotion. Flem climbed off his bed and placed a supporting hand on the dwarf’s shoulder.

“I know you’re still angry, Aggy, but I want to hear what he has to say. After that you can boot him off the balcony and halfway across Valleros for all I care but until then I need you to be calm for me. Can you please do that, for me?”

Aggy took a deep breath and looked up into the elf’s black eyes. “Alright lad, I’ll sit down and stay silent, but you’re a fool if you take anything he says at face value. He and his duplicitous grandfather both have their own agendas to push, and our ongoing safety and wellbeing aren’t a part of those agendas.”

Aggy returned to her chair and sat down with her arms crossed and her face like a thunderstorm. Scarlet stayed where he was, standing just outside the window on the balcony.

“Alright Scarlett,” Flem said, sitting down on his bed near the open window. “Let’s have the whole story from the beginning, then you can go home and we’ll take some time to decide how much of it we believe.”

Scarlett took a deep breath before responding. “All things considered, I’m really starting to regret going to that meeting in the warehouse. Well, we all play the cards we’re dealt I guess. Here’s my story, believe it or not as you wish.

"I was born in Providence and from an early age I'd decided that my future lay with Gravenhall. This was due in no small part to the influence of my grandfather, who had told me all manner of exciting stories about his adventures both as a rogue and a cleric. As soon as I was old enough I enrolled in the mages’ guild, but after earning a couple of levels I became frustrated with the pointless restrictions they placed on the higher level spells. After one too many fruitless arguments about this with my professors I stormed out of the guild, never to return.

“After I’d cooled down a bit I spoke to my grandfather and he suggested that I join the rogues’ guild instead. Going back to being an initiate was tough but I ended up finding the life of a rogue was much more to my liking. I was halfway through earning my third level when he told me about the infiltration of Gravenhall, mainly because he needed someone he trusted to do a job for him. Sound familiar?

"He'd spent years searching for a way to identify shapeshifters and had finally caught a break. He had been reading one of the histories of Dartaniel the Black, and it mentioned that as he got older and crazier the talented mage became paranoid about being deceived by illusions and enchantments. He became obsessed with being able to expose transformations and for a few years it was all he focussed on. The book was vague about how successful Dartaniel was, but it did report that his obsession ended after an extended period of study 'up in the north'. My grandfather had been around long enough to know that as far as Gravenhall histories were concerned 'up in the north' was code for Ravenhold, so he asked me to travel there and search for information under the cover of being an enrolled student.”

“What’s Ravenhold?” Aggy’s question was abrupt and demanding.

“I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of it,” Scarlett replied. “Until my grandfather told me about it I had no idea Gravenhall had a sister school either.”

“Gravenhold has a sister school in the north and we’ve never heard of it,” Flem replied, “that seems unlikely.”

“I thought the same thing when I was told about it,” Scarlett answered. “There’s a pretty simple reason for its anonymity however; Gravenhall’s lust for power and control. When the two schools were founded over a hundred years ago, Gravenhall’s rogues’ guild immediately began a campaign of disinformation and suppression against Ravenhold. Before long it was a well known fact that talking about Ravenhold would result in a beating at best and murder at worst. It was an effective strategy and over the intervening years Gravenhall's influence has only increased while Ravenhold's has waned. You now have to travel a week and a half to the north of Valleros before anyone will even acknowledge Ravenhold’s existence.”

“Riiiiight,” said Aggy, drawing out the sound of the word to show her scepticism. “In that case, how about you tell us all about this fictional school, I haven’t heard a good fairy story in ages.”