“No!” Liaena said almost exactly in unison with Rithrynn.

Naliyah’s face, which had been beaming drunkenly, turned into a pout. The elf, who had been clinging onto Rithrynn like a limpet, threw her arms around her to embrace her even more securely. “Aw. Pweeeease?”

“Uhh…aw, you don’t want to come with us Nali. It’ll be boring, really…”

“really boring. I just want to show her some paperwork” Liaena chipped in, temporarily serving as reinforcement as she backed up the uncomfortable Night Elf. That sense of uncertainty was eating away at her however, as every word Rithrynn said sounded so normal. “Besides, Rithrynn will be back soon, and if you come, you’ll lose your seat.”

Glancing at Rithrynn, Liaena threw her a deal-with-this Look as she jerked her head slightly towards the door, transmitting her impatience to the Night Elf as clearly as she knew how. “I can’t deal with Rithrynn AND another elf. Particularly not Naliyah. This could be a problem”

Although she had originally been wanting to get away from Liaena, Rithrynn started to think it might not be such a bad idea after all to follow the little human. Otherwise, she would have had to remain in the living room, with Naliyah of all people. Why of all of her sisters, Naliyah had chosen to be so clingy to her, was a thought far beyond Rithrynn's natural ability to understand!

"It'll just be a second, Nali, and I'll, eh... " Rithrynn muttered slowly as the sentinel rose from her seat, but in the process, lifted up Naliyah as well who had wrapped her arms around her like a coil and was hanging onto her.

"By all the graces of Elune... "

"I can help you with maps, I'm good at that!" Naliyah insisted, smiling back at Rithrynn whom she was holding onto. And it was no easy task for Rithrynn herself to stand upright without tipping over, as Naliyah was a full sized Night Elf sentinel rivaling herself in size, and perhaps a little bit heavier!

" ... "

"Seems like you'll just have to grant her her wish." Came the rather amused voice of Shani standing below them, the tiny elf snickering at Rithrynn's misfortune and clearly enjoying herself too much. But Rithrynn choose to simply ignore her shrunken sister, and looked over to Liaena with an almost pleading expression in her eyes.

"Uhm, so... which room are we using?" Rithrynn asked the black haired girl, while passively trying to untie Naliyah's arms around her that the clingy sentinel was using to hold onto her.

Liaena merely gave the Night Elf a blank stare in response to her pleading look, as she studied the limpet that was Naliyah. “My room. Come on then, if you’re coming”

Turning to walk toward the door to the living room, Naliyah unwound herself from Rithrynn’s neck at the prospect of getting her own way and instead clamped her arms around the latters midriff in a big loving, clingy hug as Rithrynn struggled to follow the little girl.

The walk up to Liaena and Sharons room on the first floor was uneventful, save for encountering a few watchers who could be heard breaking out into sniggering after spotting Rithrynn and Naliyah. Keeping a few steps ahead of the uncomfortable Rithrynn at all times, Liaena pulled open the door to allow Rithrynn and Naliyah inside the quarters she shared with Sharon, the latters attention being immediately taken by one specific item of furniture.

“Ooooh look Rithy – doesn’t that bed look comfy!?”

“Wut?”

And with that, Naliyah took a flying leap at the bed that had been immaculately made by Fredrick earlier and dragging the unwilling Rithrynn along with her. The sound of giggling filled the room as she cuddled up to Rithrynn affectionately, as Liaena quietly locked the door behind them and pocketed the key.

“I was sooooo lonely after Captain Serphia took you away earlier, Rithy! We’ve got so much catching up to do, ehheheh”

“Uhhhh, Nali –“

Completely oblivious to everything but the elf she was effectively straddling at that point, Naliyah utterly failed to notice Liaena step up behind her, level the small dart gun inches from one fat buttock and pull the trigger. “Ooh Rithy, I do love it when yous play hard to get – zzzZZZZzz”

“That isn’t going to last long on her, as I recall” Liaena remarked lightly into the room, silence having fallen save for Naliyahs rumbling snores. Eyes fixed on the Night Elf for any sudden movements or indications for an attack as she slowly and casually reloaded the dart gun, Liaena raised her eyebrows as Rithrynn looked up at her. With the sudden quiet, it was remarkable to her that the elf couldn’t hear her heart thudding away in her chest. “How long have you two been working together, exactly? And you haven’t figured out a way to deal with her yet?”

"Search the room. Turn it upside down if you have to. And have group Sapphire, Crystal and Emerald set up parameters around the house. No one gets in or out without my blessing."

“This could be a problem”

Squinting through the keyhole, Kathlin exhaled a breath as she sat back on her heels. “I don’t suppose it’d be too much to ask they’d just forget to check the wardrobe. Hrm. What would Li do in a situation like this?”

….

“Check it! With my ultra-super-acid, I’ve just burned a hole through the wardrobe base AND the floor AND the floor below, and dropped through to safety!”

“I know I never mentioned it earlier, but I’m an ultra secret member of the White Hand and actually on your side. Bullshit blah blah Bullshit blah. You should totally let me go”

….

“…I don’t think this line of speculation is that relevant to my situation”

“Is discharging firearms inside the very house protocol by your standards!?”

Upon hearing the new voice, the girls eyes widened as she bent over to squint through the keyhole again. Lady Rosemary was not visible to her, the corner of the living area alcove separating the two of them. However, that particular imperious tone was difficult to miss. “If I could just speak to her…”

The idea of going up against the cool-as-cucumber, slimy Adolph made Kathlin shrivel up a little inside as she contemplated the prospect. Then again, what were her alternatives? Wait until the Lady had gone off in a huff and then get discovered by angry White Hand militants?

“…well, here goes nothing”
Cracking the wardrobe door open to slide out and land neatly on the floor, Lady Rosemary was still not visible to her as she turned to neatly close the door behind and smooth the mahogany finish. What was clearly visible however were two White Hand mercenaries, who spotted her at the same moment. Rather than waiting for them to close in on her, Kathlin headed quickly towards them and the sound of voices as she emerged into the main body of the study. “Uh…Lady Rosemary? Excuse me?”

“Don’t move! You’re under arrest—“

As the first mercenary got close enough to reach out and grab her by the shoulder, Kathlin grimaced and mumbled a few words under her breath. A glimmering shield flickered into life, knocking him back as she turned to give him an apologetic look. “Please don’t do that.”

“What is the meaning of this!?”

Kathlin gulped as she turned quickly back around to look at Lady Rosemary. Several White Hand guards had placed themselves between herself and the Lady as she took a step forward, however the lady was holding her ground. Several of the aforementioned guards looked as though they were on the verge of rugby tackling her if only someone would go first. “L…lady Rosemary. I’m really, really sorry about all of this, but I think I’ve found something vitally important to the investigation, if…if I could show you?”

“I am so sorry for the intrusion Lady Rosemary -- you’re trespassing, girl.” Captain Adolph had moved forward to speak, his eyes as dark as little flints as he looked at her. “If you have anything relevant to the investigation, I suggest you pass it on to our Mage as I’ve already said, and get out of here before my lady decides to press charges”

Kathlin felt as though her knees were about to buckle underneath her as she turned to look at the man. “…I don’t think that would be appropriate, Captain Adolph”

The man raised a casual eyebrow at her, although his eyes remained as hard as stone. “Oh? And why would that be?”

“Because it says here that Lord Alficious was planning to order a formal investigation on your White Hand and one of your favoured partners, on suspicion of failing to declare financial assets, use of unpaid or black labour, and potential cooperation with the Horde” The girl said very carefully and matter-of-factly. Opening the diary, she skimmed through the pages to poke at the relevant parts.

“He also was concerned about inconsistencies in your budget, and the apparent disappearance of two dwarves from Stormwind – it’s very extensive research actually. That’s why, Sir. Sorry Sir.”

When Naliyah's iron grip finally left her and the salacious Night Elf fell flat out across the bed following Liaena's surprise sleeping serum, Rithrynn let out a sigh of pure relief.

“How long have you two been working together, exactly? And you haven’t figured out a way to deal with her yet?”

"By the goddess, I ask the same question every night... " Rithrynn mumbled to herself, casting a look at the pink haired Sentinel who was snoring ever blissfully unaware.
"Thirty, forty years... maybe more... "

" ... "

" ... actually, it's quite likely more. But by brain has simply placed a mental block on our first meeting. Probably for good reasons. The reason I know her so well is because she is my warband's chief healer, simply because there's no one better at it than her, and... I have a knack for getting busted up, something you've probably already learnt! So... she's sorta like a double-edged blessing. And I think Mistress Serphia is using me to keep her!"

Rithrynn continued to look at the sleeping Naliyah, who was unconsciously wiggling her butt ever so subtly in her sleep. And that was when Rithrynn's eyes suddenly shot up as she remembered:

"Oh crap, I completely forgot about Janessa!" Rithrynn suddenly muttered as she gazed towards Naliyah's butt! However, the short sense of alarm quickly abated, as Rithrynn looked back to Liaena.
"But, I think I'll just let her be for now... I don't really want to risk waking her up."

The idea of leaving Janessa did at first seem a little rude to Rithrynn, but she soon remembered that when she had been in the same situation; neither Janessa nor Anastia had done anything to help her! If anything, she was merely just returning the favor!

"Too bad, Jani! You brought this on yourself!"

Rae'liel - The Honored Guest

With Sharon's inquiry if she wanted to directly assault the castle that his brother had constructed was met with an obvious nod in agreement. Standing there was he then mulled over the thought and then quickly cast it aside as an operation that would take far too much risk, the Paladin's lips curled into a scowl. Now was the time for action, she sincerely believed; before it was too late and the shadows were already lining the walls of Sharon's subtly besieged home.

"Well," she began, contemplating the line of her thoughts and bringing them unto concrete words with carefully designed tact. "Then I, as an ambassador of the Scryers, will go have word with the King of Stormwind. Wrynn is not a fool, but I also believe that he will listen to me, and to reason. But first, I will need the proper people to make this a convincing gesture." Turning and sweeping away and going to find her armor once again, the still recovering Sin'Dorei still bore such magnificent silvery plates of steel with pride as she moved for the exit and out into the world once again.

Having been in the magus district for some time now, finding and paying for a portal was of no issue. However, as she returned to Shattrath once again and made for the elevator, the Paladin finally let out a slow breadth of relief. With her reinforcements she'd undoubtedly receive in the hunt if a Deathknight, this whole ordeal would pass with much more expedient grace.

First with a crisp salute, she met the Matriarch of the Scryers, Liadrin.

"M'lady," she began with a hushed tone even though they were the only two in the confines of the room. "I am here to request reinforcements in the form of a few Blood Knights in the hunt for a Deathknight. A sworn enemy of our kind." Hushed tone aside, Rae spoke with the steadfast conviction that those of her kind were known for. Naturally with her request, the Matriarch could not help but an arrogant smirk and then a softened nod.

"Take six with you. Say hello to Varian for me, won't you?" She inquired, and Rae'liel nodded in agreement. "I most certainly will, m'lady." Spinning away then, she left to find the six knights waiting for her in their full crimson, gold, and black plated regalia. Mounting her own horse then and shedding the goggles to reveal the luminous intensity that so many had come to fear, the seven collective knights rode off towards the portal to Stormwind.

Having been thrown through the Nether, it took only a few seconds for the troupe to arrive in Stormwind, and only a few minutes to rive at the front gate of the castle. There, a guard visibly tensed at the glistening wall of armor that stood before him, but did nothing. After all, Scryers were a neutral faction...they had no reason for war against humankind.

Rae'liel then approached the guard as the other six dismounted, and she bowed gracefully to the guard himself in a respectful manner. "Guardian, my name is Rae'liel Kindreth, the Ambassador for the Scryers. I humbly request that you allow us to pass, I need to speak with the king on matters that are incredibly dire."

As Kathlin finished talking, a silence had fallen over the room around her.

Adolph bent his head slightly forward, seemingly in close contemplation of what to do next. Lady Rosamery, who had been listening to all of the girl's talk, turned her head to look towards Captain Adolph.

"I guess those are your motives then?" The Lady inquired, and Adolph raised his head again.

"Some of them.. " He mutely replied to the Lady's question, the Captain's eyes narrowing on Kathlin. But the silence was soon broken as two of the men in the background suddenly turned towards one of the trunks in the office, seemingly having heard something. Quickly moving around it, one of the men pulled the lid off to reveal Ragnar lying in it.

"Crap!" Ragnar emitted, moving both hands around his hammer. But one of the chevaliers had already violently kicked the trunk from the side, causing it to tilt over and the dwarf fell out across the floor. Before he could recover, Ragnar found himself grabbed from either direction by the two White Hand mercenaries, his arms locked as he was subdued!

"And there is her accomplice." Adolph muttered quietly as he looked at Ragnar. Lady Rosamery's gaze shifted between Kathlin and Ragnar. The old woman's expression seemed to be more than of disappointment when she first saw Ragnar.

"I should have known you would be too stubborn to leave on anything other than your own accord, Ragnar." Lady Rosemary stated, as the dwarf looked back up at her.

"Lady, these mongrels are tryin' tha hide evidence as tha why Lord Alfidious was killed! They may have direct involvements in his death, rest his soul!"

"I know... " Rosemary stated, her voice becoming lower as she gazed away.
"That is because it was I who ordered his death."

"WHAT?"

Lady Rosemary didn't look back at Ragnar. Instead, the Lady's gaze turned straight back to Adolph. The Captain straightened his back when he received the attention of the lady, standing ready.

"Your lady?"

"Remove them. I will continue to honor our arrangement. Just do it quietly."

"Understood, milady." Adolph replied, nodding with his head. Without throwing another gaze at neither Kathlin nor Ragnar, Lady Rosemary turned around to walk out of the room; the White Hand members in the doorway backing away to either side to give room to Rosemary as she left the study.

"What... ye did WHAT?" Ragnar called out, but received no answer from Rosemary. Instead, Adolph turned his attention back to the dwarf, and the two chevaliers holding him. Without saying a word, he made eye contact with the chevaliers, who quietly nodded in return.

Suspecting what might happen next, Ragnar began to try and pull and tear himself violently out of the grips of the chevaliers!

"Ye filthy cunts!" The dwarf called out, as he successfully managed to tear himself free from the chevalier on his right. But the chevalier immediately responeded by grabbing the dwarf by the back of his cloak. Gaining a grip in Ragnar's hair, the man used it to pull the dwarf's head back. In the meantime, the other chevalier reached down to his belt, to unseath a dagger from its sheath by his waist. Ragnar continued to resist, grunting and swearing as he tried to move away, but was unable to defend himself when the second chevalier suddenly sent his dagger up against the dwarf's exposed throat behind his beard!

As the dagger pierced his flesh, the chevalier adjusted the angle of the dagger slightly to the side; before he continued to cut deeply along the dwarf's throat. Ragnar had completely frozen up, having raised a hand up in the air, but seemingly unable to perform any kind of action under the terrible and unreal sensation.

Finally having cut a sizeable gap across the dwarf's throat, the second chevalier retrieved his blood drenched dagger, while the first one released his grip from Ragnar as he stepped back behind the dwarf.
Released, Ragnar stepped forward, reaching with his hands up to the gaping wound as his throat. Blood was gushing freely from his throat, covering the front of his chestplate with a stream of red. The dwarf moved his mouth around, as though he tried to speak, but no words escaped him; short of the painful gurgling that presided his fall into the ground. The dwarf writhed around for a moment, before becoming limp upon the floor; a pool of blood forming around him.

"Curiosity killed the cat, you should have known better than to dig in matters above you." Adolph spoke, the Captain turning a grim expression to Kathlin who was being restrained by two chevaliers.
"I do not usually kill little girls, so I will leave your judgement to someone greater than me."

Turning his attention to the chevaliers, Adolph motioned for them to take her out of the room.

"Restrain her, and take her to Honor's Watch. I will send a message to the Grand Master directly."

“But, I think I'll just let her go...I don't want to risk waking her up”

“Fair enough” Liaena said completely flatly as she finally jammed the replacement vial into the dart gun and clicked the barrel into place once more. Rithrynn was still studying the sleeping Naliyah as she levelled the weapon at the Night Elfs back, mumbling a fleeting comment under her breath. “Mebbe should just get her out to feed her a rage potion....she's not doing nearly enough to calm Nali so far as I'm concerned...”

“.....”

“....Or mebbe she just likes more than one. I could bring Ani up...”

“Shoot her! Just shoot her! She lied, she met Sherpa, she's under some sort of spell, some poison, she's dangerous!”

But she seemed so normal. Everything she said and did screamed of Rithrynn, from the awkwardness around Naliyah to her inability to lie for shit. Liaena hesitated, certain lurking dark parts of her mind screaming at her to attack from surprise, while other cowardly parts desperately wanting Rithrynn to suddenly turn around and explain away everything before giving her a hug. “But she's my friend”

“Soooo anyway, Li, what was it you wanted to show....me?”

The elf unexpectedly and very suddenly sliding off the bed to turn around and rear up, Liaena backed off a step, eyes widening, to again level the dart gun at her chest. Rithrynn looked down at the little girl, initial confusion showing in her eyes. And did not attack. “...Li?”

“.......”

“I-I....I don't understand” Liaena said weakly, after a long pause. In a very cowardly sort of way, she was glad that the choice had been taken away from her, even as her plan lay in tatters around her. “What's going on, Rithy?”

---

Striding down the corridor in Rosemarys mansion and propelling an unwilling extra between them, it was quiet save for the girls rapid breathing and occasional muttered exchanges between the two men.

“Give her to group diamond, they can take it from there...”
“We should search her first though”
“Get the cuffs.”

Having walked a short distance from the study, the two men paused for a moment. One chevalier forced Kathlins arms behind her back as the other stepped back and started patting down his uniform.

Eyes glinted in the high ceiling above them. A quiet rustle of feathers was the only warning as a small owl fluttered down to land on the mans steel helm, before bobbing forward to deliver two smart pecks, one in each eye socket.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGHHH!”

“WHAT IN THE LIGHT!?” The other chevalier screamed as the man holding Kathlin released her to claw blindly at his face, thinking of nothing but attempting to end his torment. Hester cooed as she hopped around on his helm to avoid the wild flailing, occasionally delivering additional bonus pecks to his face and neck. Kathlin stumbled forward as the other man raised his pistol, before driving her elbow as hard as possible into his nose as he attempted to aim at the bird on his partners face.

“AHHW!”

*BANG*

The quiet crack the chevaliers nose made was drowned in the sound of the pistol going off, the bullet going hopelessly awry and burying itself in a portrait of Lord Alficious himself this time. Kathlin snatched the Lords diary out of the mans hands as he staggered back, before turning to flee down the corridor as if all the hounds of hell were behind her. Which, given the howls and bedlam echoing down the corridor as Hester chirped, soaring away from her victim to follow, they might just as well be.

As Kathlin ran for all she was worth, it seemed as if she had successfully evaded the two chevaliers too concerned with the ferocity of one particularly ill-intentioned and violent owl. But as she ran through the narrow corridors of the mansion, a boot suddenly stepped out behind the doorframe ahead of her.

Appearing at the end of the corridor was another White Hand chevalier. But this one made no attempt to call for aid or signal their position. Wearing his mask as most of his comrades and their hallmark white cloaks, the only peculiar thing about him was his chestplate which had a deep bulk protruding back into his stomach area as if someone had launched an axe into his plate. But it did not seem to bother the man in the slightest.

In his mailed fist, he held tightly a longsword at the ready. The chevalier's attention had immediately fallen on Kathlin who was before him, and a small gust of wind sounded from his helmet. Although it sounded less as breathing, and more as simply a breeze traveling through a hollow tree that emanated from his mask. Gazing at Kathlin with the blackened and empty visors of his mask, the chevalier moved both his gauntlets around the hilt of his sword as he raised it up into the air.

In complete silence, he moved one boot in front of the other as he walked out of the doorway to meet Kathlin; bearing his sword against the girl!

---

At the gate of the castle, the two guards were standing watch outside the heavy wooden and metal fortified doors to the royal keep. Their armor was polished to the point it gleamed in the little light there was beneath the grey sky, reflecting its clouds. They each wore deep blue, royal cloaks typical of the soldiers tasked to guard the king's keep, and each of them held a tall halberd where the axe blade rested high above their helmets.

When they were approached by the group of Blood Elves lead by Rae'liel, the guards passed a look between each other, before giving the elves a long stare.

"Do you have an official audience with the king?" He asked in a nasal voice, seemingly looking rather bored where he stood; casually leaning on his halberd.

"I'm afraid we can't let you enter without a royal contact." The other guard said, looking over the elves.

"Yup. No scheduled audience, no visit to the king."

"We can however put you on the royal wait-list, if you would like that, m'lady."

"Indeed. There are only about 234 visitors before you if you sign up today."

"Absolutely. The king should be able to receive you within the next three months."

"Aye. If you absolutely need to see his majesty right away, he will be attending a sermon commemorating the war veterans of the Northrend war and the raising of a war memorial in the Cathedral of Light next week."

"I hear it will be a great feast afterwards."

"Indeed, Thomas. The king has requisitioned the finest ale from Ironforge."

"Yup. It's a shame I'm on duty that day. It is a terrible thing to miss out on."

"But when you're a Royal Guardsman, you can hardly complain, can you?"

"A man can never have enough."

"True words!"

"And... " The first guard suddenly paused, looking back at Rae'liel and her escort as if he had almost forgotten about them.
"Oh yes, we have a lot of Inns in Stormwind. You look like a knight, and the Golden Goose in the Cathedral District is a favorite among politicians, nobles and fellow knights. You could spend your time there when you wait."

“What's going on, Rithy?”

"Uhm... " Rithrynn looked at Liaena, the Night Elf seemingly getting rather uncomfortable in her current position. Eyes shifting from the dart gun in Liaena's hand, to its trajectory towards her, and up to the girl herself; Rithrynn realized that despite the best attempts of her brain from being optimistic, Liaena was probably not referring to the hard partying downstairs or Naliyah with her question!

"Elune, how did it all go wrong?!"

How Liaena had ever learnt of her visit to Sherpa was a mystery. But it was a question that no longer mattered. The real question was now; how to address a highly emotionally unstable human girl without getting shot!

"I... I do not know how to say this," Rithrynn began, her ears dropping slightly lower as she looked at the human.
"But I have actually known Sherpa's location for the last couple of days."

Rithrynn stated, standing still to give her words some time to sink in with Liaena, while secretly praying that she wasn't going to get immediately shot.

"Back when we raided the tavern in the Old District, I met him... it was when I was going after the assassins in the sewer. He was alone, but so was I, so I did not attack at first." Rithrynn continued carefully.
"The assassin I brought back... he was actually incapacitated by Sherpa himself, whom handed him to me. I do not know why. I think he might be... attracted to me."

“…I think he might be attracted to me”

“…”

Rithrynn received a completely blank look from Liaena at that last line, who appeared to be waiting hopefully for the Night Elf to say something that wasn’t completely insane. It was only after the silence stretched horribly on for several seconds; that she finally realised that the current explanation was intended as the only one that was forthcoming for the moment.

“…But that…doesn’t make sense” Liaena protested hopelessly. Scanning the Night Elf up and down, she searched desperately for any sort of clue, maybe a dart stuck in her ass with ‘EVIL-INDUCING-TOXIN INSERTED HERE!’ written on the tag. Unsuprisingly, the form-fitting silk dress Rithrynn was wearing left very little to the imagination and so that theory had to be escorted out of the door. “Did he cast a spell on you?”

“Well, uh…”

“Drug you? ….Threaten you?”

“Uhm”

“….well there must be SOME REASON!!” Liaena screamed finally, brandishing the gun wildly at Rithrynn as her finger trembled dangerously on the trigger. The sudden burst of the rage appeared to wash away as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving the girl simply looking ill and exhausted as she gave the elf a pleading look. “Why...why were you with him? Are you planning something? Why didn’t you kill him?”

---

Kathlin stalled in the corridor, staring up at the man who was now walking towards her with his sword bared. “I’m reasonably sure it’s not anatomically possible for his midriff to bend in like that”

“….”

“I don’t think he cares”

Whipping around, the girl burst into a run as behind her the paces of the Chevalier picked up speed. Yanking open the door of a room and diving in, Kathlin slammed the door and turned the key just as what felt like a heavy body crashed into it from the other side. Thankfully, the door was made of a sturdy oak like most of the mansions fittings, although hardly on the scale of Alficious’ study as far as security was concerned. “I think the ‘zombie’ theory is gaining points at this stage. Oh dear”

The girl grimaced as she turned around to study her surroundings quickly, the sound of the creature trying to get through the door still entirely audible. She found herself in a living room/study sort of area, featuring easy chairs, more book cases and a writing desk. The curtains were drawn to let in the sun, and the only door in or out of the place was the one that had a chevalier of questionable deadness on the other side of it. As the only alternative available to her, Kathlin headed to the window, Hester landing on her shoulder.

Peering out through the glass, the gardens of Alficious’ mansion seemed to stretch for miles before finally meeting the boundary walls and the quiet street beyond. If she looked at the sky in exactly the right way, the girl could make out the thin mesh of spells that warded the house – before looking down to the garden, where she could see the White Guardsmen patrolling. “Even if I escaped the guards, the spells wouldn’t let me out. I don't know how to break past all those spells….”

….

The girl frowned as something struck her, before giving the bird that was roosting on her shoulder, a very pointed look. Hester opened an eye to stare at her in a way that clearly said: ‘what?’

“You did though”

--SMASH—

A horrible sound of splintering wood sounded behind them as the thing mocked up in armour managed to ram a plated arm through the door and started grabbing for the key. Kathlin snatched a pen off the desk, opening the cover of Alficious’ diary to scrawl across the inside cover: ‘HELP. HONOUR POINT’ before shoving the book at Hester. The owl gave her a dubious look, before clamping it in her talons. “Take this to Li. If you do, you get so much chocolate…and I get to not die, hopefully”

The catch on the window was locked shut, as she soon found out as she fiddled with it. Removing a heavy paperweight off the same desk, Kathlin slammed it into the glass and wooden frame as it shattered everywhere. An alarm started ringing somewhere faintly in the building as a couple of the guards in the garden turned to look up at her. The girl forced the window open to push Hester outside and let her take flight. “Just make sure she hurries up, okay? I think I need backup here”

“Always assuming I survive the next five minutes”

Turning back for a moment, Kathlin took one look at the door that was so much broken sticks at this point before hooking a leg over the sill herself, irrespective of the many cuts that were raked across her skin from the broken glass. Grabbing for a drainpipe to swing herself out of the way as the creature charged into the room, she hung there for a moment before falling into the garden below.

Thump

Despite the fact she had been two stories up, Kathlin appeared to have taken no more damage than if she had simply fallen a couple of feet, landing in an awkward heap in a flowerbed of early violets. Dazed for a moment as she started to sit up, the girl simply stared into the blue above her with Hester no longer anywhere to be seen.

“Ahh…Current score: Me – 0, Adolph – 0, Floor – 1. Owhww”

"IT DIDN'T SEEM LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME, OKAI?!" Rithrynn yelled back at the ever-so inquisitive little human, which in hindsight might have a rather reckless decision considering the current mental state of Liaena. Not to mention her dart-gun which was currently pointed at her, and containing goddess-knew-what kind of insidious concoction!

Straightening her back a little bit in the brief pause in the endless barrage of questions from the human that her sudden increase in volume had created, Rithrynn raised both her arms.
"I was outnumbered... like, massive to one."

Although Liaena; with her severely impaired self-preservation instinct; was liable to simply just suddenly throwing herself at insurmountable and literally suicidal odds, Rithrynn was not! Her suggestion to simply attack Sherpa on sight, all by herself, was ludicrous, and enough to convince Rithrynn that one could make the human girl charge a meatgrinder headfirst armed with nothing but a butter knife as long as you taped a picture of Sherpa on the machine!

... and somehow managed to avoid the machine eating said picture of Sherpa long enough for Liaena to jump in, but those were minor details!

"Look! I'm like... a double agent!" Rithrynn began again, focusing on the human.
"He thinks I will help. What he does not know is that you know that he does not know, since I know that he thinks he knows me but does not know that you know!!"

Rithrynn 'explained', forming an enthusiastic expression in an attempt to cheer up the mood in the room from deathly serious to just above okay.

"Cooperating will probably lead to Sherpa's house getting busted, but... I'm sure he'll be okay. It will take nothing short of divine intervention from Elune herself for Liaena to ever catch him!"

"That means, that WE are now ahead of him!" Rithrynn exclaimed, before pointing with her thumb back to herself as her face took on a confident smile.
"And that's because of ME and my INGENUITY! I found his house first, after all... "

Before Kathlin could recover her wits after the fall, two of the nearby White Hand guards who had been watching the spectacle on the second floor from the garden had already rushed the flowerbed that she was in. Reaching the flowerbed, they immediately leveled their muskets at her as if she had been the number one most wanted person in Stormwind!

"Freeze!"
"Don't move!"

They shouted in unison at the sole girl, obviously not in the mood for a chit chat.

"What's going on over here?" Sounded the voice of another guard who just passed the mansion corner.
"We've found an intruder! Get the cuffs!"

"Right away,"

The third guard had disappeared as soon as he had appeared. Up above them, at the window from which Kathlin had jumped, there was no one to be seen. Clearly the creature that had been chasing her had no interest in pursuing her further, for the moment.

"What kind of fool jumps from the second story anyway?"
"One who's mad enough to infiltrate Alfidious' mansion in the first place!"

"He thinks I will help. What he does not know is that you know that he does not know, since I know that he thinks he knows me but does not know that you know!!”

“What?”

Liaena looked like she was struggling under the weight of all the double negatives packed into that sentence as she tried futilely to decipher it, before narrowing her eyes at the Night Elf. “…That makes no sense”

“Then again, when did Rithrynn ever make sense?”

“…but…you’re…you’re a double agent?”

The human finally said hesitantly as she tried to align the information with all the other evidence she had stacked up in her head. The concept was a very inviting one, but it just kept colliding with niggling points that just wouldn’t go away. “…then why did you lie to me earlier….?”

“Because then I wouldn’t have been a secret agent anymore! SECRET! Li. Duh!”

“but that’s….”

“Besides, you lie all the time”

“….”

“…not that much” Liaena muttered defensively at Rithrynn’s last comment. Looking up, her grip on the dart-gun was wavering as she studied the Night Elf, who proceeded to grin even more widely and open her arms in an innocent ‘who me?’ sort of way.

“It sounds crazy…but it’s the only thing that even begins to make sense. This is Rithrynn. She’d never betray me. Light, what was I even thinking?”

“I’m sorry” Liaena mumbled finally. Lowering the dart gun, she held it loosely in one hand as she looked up to give Rithrynn a hopeless look. “I….I just saw you come out of his house, and….I jumped to conclusions, I guess. It’s been a crazy few days”

"It’s been a crazy few days.”

To finally see Liaena lower the dart gun came as a great relief to Rithrynn, whom although she had remained unchanged in her optimistic expression; let out a gargantuan mental sigh of relief in her head.

Slowly walking over to Liaena, Rithrynn extended one arm out to take the little girl into a hug.

"It's okay, Li. It's been crazy for all of us... " Rithrynn muttered in a quiet voice as she held the human close to her chest, while letting one eye subtly trail over to Naliyah who was lying in the bed.
" ... and for some of us in particular."

"Li knows. I hope she hasn't told anyone else."

Rithrynn suddenly received a dreaded thought in her head, of the potential that Liaena might have shared her story to some of her sisters. It was of course more than possible that they wouldn't believe the 'dumb-hummie', but the mere chance that she nonetheless might suddenly meet Serphia in the door later that day, demanding answers, was enough to give the sentinels some minor chills.

"But... now as we know where he lives. Sherpa, that is." Rithrynn eventually continued, making some space between her and Liaena so she could look down into the eyes of the human. As her gaze met with that of Liaena, a cunning smile appeared on Rithrynn's lips.

" ... wanna burn his house down - together?"

“I still…it still doesn’t make any sense. How could I have been so wrong…? …”

Initially freezing up as Rithrynn reached out an arm to pull her close, Liaena’s arms eventually curled around the Night Elf to return the embrace. “…I’m an idiot”

“Wanna burn down his house….together?”

Face remaining buried in the elfs dress for a moment, Liaena looked up to first give Rithrynn a confused look, then frowning and shaking her head decisively. “No. That would just let him know we are onto him”

Letting go of Rithrynn finally, Liaena wandered over to the bed to flop onto it, resting her back on the pillows and carefully avoiding Naliyah sprawled over the other end of it. “Sherpa has his own castle and mercenary guild to protect him, this band of thugs called the ‘White Hand’. I’ve not seen this castle yet, but I’m getting the idea it’s quite impressive. So, we need to get him while he’s at the house. That’s when he’s most vulnerable”

The girl had clearly entered ‘vocalise interior monologue’ mode, regardless of any attempts from Rithrynn to enter the conversation as she continued. “Sharon is going to speak to Serphia when I give the go ahead, and try and organise a plan of attack. You can help with details of their defences, the general layout of the house inside. How many guards are inside? There’s not a way into the sewer, is there?”

“Uhm, I’m not reeeally sure….”

“We still need to have a spy inside, or it’s too easy to miss him. I was going to do that” Liaena mused, mostly to herself. Pausing at her last comment, she turned her head to give Rithrynn a penetrating stare. “Though…”

“….”

“She really convinced Sherpa that she was on his team? I remember him being smarter …”

“….I should still do that.” Liaena announced to the ceiling finally. Still giving Rithrynn that quizzical look, she raised an eyebrow at the worried looking elf. “….so, how did you manage to do this ‘secret agent’ thing? Exactly?”

---

"What kind of fool jumps from the second story anyway?"
"One who's mad enough to infiltrate Alfidious' mansion in the first place!"

“…I was invited” Kathlin observed quietly from the flower-bed. One of the guards pointing the muskets at her looked confused. The other one looked annoyed.

“What?”
“Shut up! No talking!”

“….”

“….Better”

Turning her head slightly, Kathlin gauged the distance towards herself and the edge of the property to be approximately 50 yards as the bird flies, leaving aside all of the flower beds, gardening equipment, benches and assorted garden paraphernalia that she would need to jump over, walk around or otherwise circumvent to reach the boundary wall. Coming to the depressing realisation that she would likely be sporting several bullet holes before she made it halfway, she instead glanced up at the window she had come from. The creature that had been pursuing her had disappeared as if it never had existed.

Speaking of never existing, there was absolutely no sign of a white little owl and as yet no cries that the wards covering the house had been broken.

“That was for both of us, Ragnar. Light take you”

“….so, how did you manage to do this ‘secret agent’ thing? Exactly?”

Upon hearing the question, Rithrynn gave the inquisitive human girl a longer, mute stare. Her expression at first seemed to be a mix between annoyance and uncertainty, suggesting that either, it was a 'you were not supposed to ask, it was SECRET after all!', to the Night Elf simply having no clue what to say.

"That girl never takes a break!"

"Ohh, that's a long story." Rithrynn finally answered quite happily.

...

"Of course, it took lots of improvisation. Turns out he was very lonely, and also had an admiration for the ancient legacy of the kaldorei and its people!"

Feeling successful in her mission of giving as vague an explanation as possible to Liaena about the details of the very 'infiltration act' and 'secret agent thing', Rithrynn finally put down her hands. What made her curious though was Liaena's insistence on being the spy inside of Sherpa's house, an idea which by itself seemed ludicrous enough to the point it matched Malfurion's own tactical military decisions in sheer silliness.
Before Liaena could get the chance to dig any deeper in the details of the infiltration, Rithrynn was quick to change the topic!

"So... you, you want to infiltrate Sherpa's house?" Rithrynn finally asked, throwing Liaena a puzzled gaze as the Night Elf leaned against one of the wardrobes.
"How exactly are you going to do that? You two aren't exactly on the best of tracks... I highly doubt he'd even answer the door if you knocked with anything less than a siege battering ram!"

“I highly doubt he’d even answer the door if you knocked with anything less than a siege battering ram”

“Extremely lonely….admiration of the secret legacy of the Kaledorei….”

Liaena muttered slowly after Rithrynn while staring up at the ceiling, before turning to give the Night Elf an extremely weird look. “What is that even supposed to mean…..Rithrynn, are you sure he didn’t do something to you….”

“….Well I wasn’t planning to go as me” the girl remarked carefully at the ceiling after a long pause. Reaching into one of her pockets, she produced a little vial and shook it between her fingers to illustrate her point. “That house has to have servants, someone who can go around the house without raising any eyebrows. I might even hear more of his plans, if I’m lucky….You didn’t hear any of his…?”

“….”

“….What did you even do while being this ‘secret agent’ thing!?”

Liaena demanded finally in exasperation. Rithrynn proceeded to once again look both coy and uncomfortable at once, and mumble evasive things. “Ahhh, well…..secret agency things. You know?”

“….no”

“Well like I said, I needed to improvise!”

“So what did you ‘improvise’!?”

“Light, can’t she remember?”

Studying the Night Elf for a moment longer, Liaena finally swung her legs off the bed to sit up on the edge of it. Glaring up at Rithrynn, the look she gave her was mingled frustration, anger and a significant trace of fear. “Sherpa isn’t stupid, Rithrynn, and you can’t lie for shit. For all you know, he’s playing you for a fool and this is all part of some horrible scheme of his. Which means, you need to tell me what happened, idiot. NOW.”

"I'm telling you, and you don't need to be such an ungrateful bitch about it! Gah!" Rithrynn exclaimed back at the human, throwing her hands up into the air at the process while letting out an annoyed sigh.

Walking over to the bed, Rithrynn turned around to slump her butt down in between Naliyah and Liaena, causing the latter to be catapulted slightly up into the air. Adopting a clearly annoyed position, with her arms crossed and her face turned into a rather sour pout; Rithrynn remained quiet for the next seconds, before finally raising one eye at the human.

"Alright, it was a date. I arranged a date with Sherpa, and it worked just fine." The Sentinel finally explained, before looking back down into the floor when she finished.

"Wha-whu, Riii... date?" Suddenly came the half-conscious mumbling from Naliyah as the pink haired Night Elf reared her head, the sleeping serum seemingly having already worn off her.
Throwing her sister a quick look, Rithrynn suddenly grabbed the dart gun in a lighting-fast sleigh of hand from Liaena's lap, and promptly proceeded to insert an additional dart into Naliyah's buttock, with the immediate effect that the Night Elf fell face-first back down into the bed and fast asleep once again.

"I agreed to go to his place back in the sewer when I first met him," Rithrynn continued as she casually handed the spent dart-gun back to a rather surprised Liaena.
"And yes, he does have a servant. In fact, a little girl named Alice or something like that. She does match you in size."

...

"She also reminds me of you... minus the mad-scientist theme and liberal approach to bomb-making." Rithrynn added to the end, the Sentinel finally looking back at Liaena with a slight smirk around her lips.

“A…date?” Liaena said weakly, having once again failed to process any of Rithrynn later remarks or even notice the implied comment about her height.

Glancing down at her lap, the girl gave her dart gun a look that suggested she rather wished it were still loaded. “You, went on a date. With Sherpa.”

“As a –“

“As a secret agent, right, right” Liaena said distantly, waving away Rithrynn’s words as she tried, and failed, to reconcile the concept in her head. An extremely unpleasant point had occurred to her, and she swallowed before speaking. “So you had this…. ‘date’ in this morning?”

“Yes…?”

“Only Sharon said you left last night”

“…”

“Err”

“………………………………”

Liaena was by this point giving Rithrynn a look that was pure ‘you-did-not-just-do-what-I’m-thinking-of” that was mingled parts shock, horror and disgust. Gingerly getting up from where she was sitting next to the Night Elf, Liaena started to back away from her as she glanced down at the used dart gun nervously. “You…and him…but why?”

“Like I TOLD you---“

“THERE ARE WAYS TO INFILTRATE HIS HOUSE THAT DOESN’T INVOLVE SLEEPING WITH HIM!” Liaena screamed, before looking horrified at what she had just said. “…you slept with him?”

“…No!”

“…..”

Liaena threw Rithrynn a disturbed look that also looked decidedly unconvinced, then spun on her heel to start pacing around the room. A bad headache was building behind her eyes and she kneaded her forehead to try drive it away. “This-this is a lot for me to take in right now. Why…why would – a date. You’re dating Sherpa, of all the things. This is insane. Why would you do something like that?”