Keela’s head peeked out of the room, gesturing for a servant to help her get help to get dressed. After a ballet of panicked servants, she finally came out of her room, wearing a simple but elegant black dress that went a bit below her knees, paired with simple black shoes. She made her way -- with some help -- to the meeting room where she had met Haryk and Feno, opening the doors wide in a grandiose motion. She walked in and took her seat, arriving at the same time as Bertaut, who took a seat as well.

“Ah, good of you to be here; I wanted to run something by you”, said Haryk, looking at a report.

“I’m all ears”, replied Keela, grabbing an apple from the ample fruit bowl that sat in the center of the table.

“We were thinking of sending a delegation to Wul, to hopefully quell some tense relations and build new ones”, continued Haryk, looking at Keela hopefully.

Keela stopped before taking a bite of her apple upon hearing the statement, leaning forward towards him and looking him dead in the eye.

“With all due respect, you are an idiot”, she said, dead serious.

All others at the table cramped up at her remark, none of them expecting the level of snark.

“And why is that?” asked Haryk, a slight twitch to his eye, showing his contained anger.

“The whole city despises elves still. When I lived there, I would always hide my ears. One of the orphans I had under my wing punched me when he learned. You might want to build new ties, but no one there wants to do it with you”, she replied, looking down at her apple, shining it with her sleeve.

“Maybe the common folks, but some nobles might--”

“Again, you’re way too optimistic. I got threatened at sword point when I went to a ball. When I say none of them want business with elves, I mean it.”

“With all due respect princess, I would still advise--”

“If you had any respect for my opinion, you would understand that living twenty years in the slums gives experience on the matter; and so more than whatever information you could scour. Did you know there’s still death squads under royal command in the desert? They’ll kill elves on sight. I suggest re-evaluating that information because it is proving to be extremely flawed.”

Keela dug into her apple fiercely, staring Haryk in the eye with a defiant glare, her feet kicked up on another nearby chair. The silence and shock of the situation sat for a minute, only disturbed by Keela’s eating.

“I have to agree with Keela, having lived there personally”, added Bertaut, sighing heavily.

“Speaking of which, what do we do with Velka? Do we just leave her there? I don’t think that’s safe”, said Keela, completely ignoring the other two at the table.

“Do you think we could bring her here?”

“Would she stomach the cross of the desert? I doubt it, it’s not that easy.”

“I think there’s a circle here, I could teach you a new spell while we’re here.”

Keela nodded happily, getting up from her chair.

“Let’s go then! I want to pick her up right now!” she exclaimed, fidgeting.

Haryk did not get a single word in before the two of them dashed out of the room, Keela tailing Bertaut. Through a series of corridors, they made their way under the eyes of confused servants. Finally arriving at the room Bertaut was seeking, Keela was surprised by a mostly empty room, a runic circle drawn on the floor. Six glyphs sat in separate circles, connected to the main one via a small line. The entirety of it was embedded in a stone that was elevated from the rest of the floor by an inch. Bertaut grabbed a side pouch and took out a small blue chalk piece, breaking it in half and handing half to Keela.

“Hold on to this and do not lose it”, he said, punctuating the last four words with intense hand gestures.

“So how does this work?” asked Keela, holding on to the chalk tightly.

“Each circle has runes embedded into it. To teleport elsewhere, you write the corresponding six runes into the secondary circles here”, said Bertaut, pointing to a series of circles, closer to the center, following the lines of the outer glyphs.

“So you just have to memorize the runes where you want to teleport? That seems inconvenient”, said Keela, crossing her arms, perplexed.

“Or you could also write them down. Like a normal person.”

“That does make more sense.”

“I’ll draw the runes, make sure to memorize them, the chalk is consumed when someone teleports. Remember those to teleport here too.”

Bertaut started drawing hurriedly, in a language that Keela didn’t recognize. The glyphs lit up when the final one was laid down, Bertaut smiling coyly, proud of himself.

“When you’re done writing them down, you focus a lot of energy into the center glyph of the circle and you should--”

Before Bertaut was finished explaining, the entire circle glowed a bright blue hue and with a flash of lightning striking the center, the glyphs evaporated into fine dust and Bertaut was gone. Frowning, Keela quickly drew the glyphs before forgetting them, replicating them -- in her opinion -- fairly well. As soon as the last line of chalk was down, the glyphs lit up in a familiar fashion. The same smile Bertaut had shown stretched on her face before she kneeled, putting a palm on the center of the circle, concentrating. She singled out the thread of energy that came from the core, running into her hand. Focusing harder, she poured energy into the circle. As soon as she did, swirling images and bright colors passed in her vision at a nauseating speed before she was abruptly thrown into a room, at Bertaut’s feet. She scurried to the side before throwing up, her breakfast refusing to stick with her.

“In hindsight, I should’ve mentioned that. Sorry”, whispered Bertaut, putting a finger to his lips.

“Why are we at low volume?” whispered Keela back, wiping her mouth clean.

“There’s intruders. This is too silent.”

“It does feel heavier than usual.”

“No, that’s the teleportation. Get your dagger out and don’t use magic. Just in case.”

Cocking an eyebrow but complying, Keela readied herself and opened the door slowly, pushing it open with one hand. What laid before her was a displeasing sight. What used to be a house brimming with activity with servants going in and out was now what could be considered as a mass grave. The bodies of servants were strewn about on the floor and walls, some of them hung by the wrists. Someone wanted to find Bertaut and backed at nothing to get the information. Rage filled her mind once again, a familiar emotion these past few days. She was however stopped by Bertaut who put a hand on her shoulder, holding her back.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this. I’ll draw the glyphs preemptively, keep watch, I’ll leave one open in case someone finds the room”, he said, his grip as shaky as his voice.

Now wary, Keela stood watch for a few seconds before Bertaut gave the okay to proceed. A faint noise of struggle could be heard downstairs, which both of them headed for, keeping a close formation. The noise grew clearer as they turned into the corridor leading to the kitchen. Protest, quickly followed by gurgling and heavy silence. Pots and pans falling off the counter urged Keela to open the door, which in response made Bertaut go completely livid. There was only three people in the room, one of them pinning a servant to the wall by the throat. They wore all black clothes with bracelets over the sleeves of a strange design. Nothing else stood out except the necklace they wore; a white razor blade dangling from a leather string. Under a nearby table, Velka hid, holding a kitchen knife while crying and trembling. Seeing this, Keela crouched down to her level and came close, putting a finger on her lips. Velka noticed her, her eyes filling with more questions than relief. Taking her hand, Keela led her out from under the table, slowly and silently. The servant held on the wall drowned in their blood as the white dagger lodged itself in their throat before they slumped to the ground, grasping at their throat. The two assailants turned around, seeing Keela and Velka trying to escape. Swearing under her breath, Keela slashed her own dress to allow her to run and grabbed Velka and threw her over her shoulder, bolting for the teleportation room. The two intruders vanished into black smoke, chasing after her.

“They’re magehunters! Don’t attack them! Run!”, screamed Bertaut, blocking the path and parrying a dagger that was aimed for his throat.

Keela listened and ran, avoiding the use of magic. Thankfully, she had also trained a lot and could easily carry Velka. Ignoring the pain in her still recovering muscles, she ran up the stairs, skipping a few in her strides. Getting to the room at the end of the corridor, she dropped Velka in the circle, fumbling around for her chalk. She turned livid as the piece of blue material was nowhere to be found on her person. The sound of struggle carried up the stairs as a battered Bertaut climbed up, fending off two opponents. Keela looked at the circle and back at him, panicking. Seeing this, Bertaut reached for his pocket and threw the chalk at her, which barely made it. Drawing the last glyph, she whipped around, looking at him intently.

“Go!”, he screamed, fighting off the two opponents, not without struggle.

“What about you?” she yelled back, a torrent of emotions rising up inside of her.

“I SAID GO!”

Fighting off the urge to help him, she turned to the circle and grabbed Velka tightly, looking at him. Just before the runes lit up, the last thing she saw was a dagger lodging itself in his flank.