"If you ever need a commendation for your future career, you can trust the Red Vanguard."

“Thaaanks….” Kathlin stuttered finally, apparently slightly overwhelmed by all of the admiration and gratitude so suddenly aimed at her. Giving the young man a beseeching look, she gestured quickly down at the dwarf clamped onto her, before mouthing the word: ‘help’.

“[b]Kitty[/b]! Who were those goons, and what were they doing outside of the pub!?” The door flew open as Liaena demanded, her breathless face and numerous scrapes in her clothing telling their tale about the alacrity of her descent. Kathlin wordlessly handed the piece of newspaper off to her. Snatching to hide her face behind it, a moment later she reappeared again. “Is he OK?”

Nod

“Good”

“….”

“…this doesn’t say anything about those men outside. Why’d you even give me this?” Liaena concluded bitterly after rapidly scanning through the lines of the article. Moving forwards, she gently took Fran by the shoulder to tug him back from the other girl. “Fran? Fran. I need to know who those guys were, and what they wanted. It’s kinda important”

“They were here to gloat after the advisor died. They seemed pretty happy about it” Kathlin volunteered, the girl looking much happier now Fran was detached from her. Liaena blinked back at her, before reading the bottom two lines again. “…[b]Oh[/b]. That might – that could be bad”

“What could?”

“….”

Liaena stared at the paper for a moment longer, before turning rapidly to face Fran again. “I need to know where to find them. It’s important”