It seemed at least some of the gods had chosen to abandon the capital, maybe even the entire kingdom. After a prolonged period of warmth and wealth rapidly growing on the peasants' fields there had been no such thing as benign weather for weeks on end. The many alleys with their rare trees brought here from far away lands, the many parks with their maticulously laid out stone patterns, hedges and flower patches had fallen dysfunctional in terms of public attention, and now were slowly but surely even doing so with regard to the botanic aspect as well. It just had become increasingly impossible to maintain them with the steady rain and thunderstorms.

Good thing the capital city was built on solid foundations! The founders had not chosen any treacherous field full of earth that would reveal itself as a swamp ready to devour any buildings on it if just watered long enough, and they had also not fallen victim to the temptation of cutting corners when it came to anything artificial that was beneath any inhabitant's feet: The elaborate network of channels, canals and reservoirs had proven to be up to the task, as least as of now. What the next days would bring ?

Valentin was not to find out, nor was the companion he had been assigned to but whom he had yet get to know in more detail. The two of them had been scheduled to arrive at the royal guard's main barracks this dreary morning -- and if there was anything the city guard was notorious for, then it was its punctuality, or rather the steady insistence on it whenever somebody outside their ranks had to deal with them for some reason.

The barracks themselves were in complete lack of the splendor many of the city's other official buildings were decorated with. A sturdy building of simple architecture, designed for mass housing with at least some comfort left. Could be a lot worse, but better also. Valentin had been told to just wait in the courtyard, a task that made him increasingly nervous as the next drill was soon to begin and he'd be left just standing in the middle of shouting, marching soldiers while doing absolutely nothing. Was he really that hard to miss ?

---

Having been used to the simple life; Amara had made her living as the village's healer and selling hand-made things at the local markets. She had taken after her mother, when it came to her knowledge of herbs and their healing properties. Spending hours picking all sorts of herbs and flowers with magical properties in the forest clearings and around her village; before creating tinctures, and pastes to ease discomfort and to help with the healing of variety of wounds. Everyone in the village, had always liked going to Amara. For the young woman knew what she was talking about when she offered her aid and help, to those that were injured. Having a natural pull towards helping people and healing magic. But why she had such a pull towards that chosen skill, was something she had yet to discover fully.

But since everyone had witnessed the mysterious bright lights in the sky; weird things had been happening. Strange energies seemed to linger in the air, Amara noticed that the sudden weather change had also impacted on nature. Some of her regular herbs had died out from the immense heat, whilst others seemed to thrive more in the sudden warmth. But for now, she had been well stocked up on herbs. But once she'd run out of those that seemed to be scarce; than she would worry about where to find them and if they would ever return to a good growing state.

It had been a few days journey to the capitol for her, away from her home. But Amara was soon welcomed by the familiar sights of the large walls and fancy buildings. The hood of her red cloak, shielding her blonde hair from the damp atmosphere. Glancing up towards the cloudy sky. It seemed like it would be raining soon enough, yet again. As she made her way to the meeting place, Amara wasn't counting to get lost amidst the marching soldiers. Whomever had requested this meeting, had certainly chosen the wrong time to meet up in the court-yard. Her petite height, made it bit more of a challenge to see if someone was waiting for her arrival. It was by sheer luck that she spotted someone standing around in the court-yard through the sea of soldiers.

As Amara made her way over towards the male that was waiting; she had a slight apologetic expression. Not sure how long he had been waiting. Hopefully not too long. "Mr Reinhart?" Amara questioned, wondering if this was the man that had requested her presence. Or if it was someone else. But the young woman was curious, whom she was dealing with for the time being. "I hope you weren't waiting too long, it's been a bit of a long journey for myself. The dreary weather hasn't been much of help." Amara apologised.

'Mr. Reinhart', the male Amara had addressed, was quite the imposing figure himself and such was not simply because he stood a lot taller than her, but also because one could easily start a debate about which thing was actually bigger: the man's beard or his belly ? Mr. Reinhart was still a soldier formally, but it hardly took a second guess to figure out that the only weapons he still used to bear were the seemingly endless stacks of parchment in the military's administration and even then it was dubious whether he did so over any distance longer than the inside of his office. He was a man clearly past his prime, but that did not stop him from feeling, and probably being, quite important still.

"Who are you ? Did the guards at the entrace not pay attention yet another time or how does it come someone like you is here ? I've learned to tell who's a soldier and who isn't at first glance and you don't seem to belong to the first category!" were the words Mr. Reinhart was not hesitant to hurl at his guest. The sheer amount of scepticism he brought along was hard to miss as he looked down on her, inspecting her small frame up and down with his small eyes deeply embedded in their respective sockets. Mr. Reinhart's face had become adorned with many wrinkles, but he still maintained the posture of a soldier. This also was his place, and he would not let anyone in who had not been authorized!

Valentin was quite a few yards away from the uneven duo and feeling increasingly worried about the fact that the training had already begun a bunch of minutes ago, but he still could not spot anybody who could be his future companion. It took a sudden change of orders from the officer leading the column of trainees behind him that opened a gap in their ranks, finally allowing Valentin to see what was happening at the yard's outer rim again. Amara was hard to miss for she looked just so out of place here while also fitting what little information he had been given beforehand. And Valentin could immediately tell she was in trouble for he himself had already had the pleasure of first contact with Mr. Reinhart. This guy enjoyed what he did, right ?

"Mr. Reinhart!" it came out of Valentin's mouth probably a bit more loud and firmly than would have been necessary for the other man to understand him. "You can regard the presence of the person in front of you as confirmation for my explanation of being here as I am quite certain that she is, in fact, the one I've been waiting for!"

Valentin blinked with one eye towards Amara, hoping that it was a subtle enough gesture for Mr. Reinhart not to notice. "Greetings. You've been on the lookout for me, right ?"

---

Not quite sure what she had been expecting Mr Reinhart to look like; but either way the man was rather intimidating. Especially the way he sized her up; as if she was trespassing. Swallowing, she shifted her weight between her feet. It seemed like he did not realise, that she was needed. Had he been expecting another soldier? A male perhaps? Amara knew that she didn't fit into the fighter category. She was far from a fighter like the next female that lived within the capitol. Not exactly a pleasant greeting. Amara could say that much. But the young woman certainly had other skills of importance that would benefit the task ahead. "My name is Amara sir. Amara Crellin. I believe, that I have been requested here, for a meeting of importance." She explained politely. That she indeed was here for a reason, and not trespassing.

Before she could say something else to the large man, another voice interrupted the moment. Glancing towards the younger male that had spoken. Seems like her chosen companion had came to the rescue. His timing, indeed was good. Saving her from possibly getting yelled at by Mr Reinhart.

Sighing in relief, Amara nodded. "Yes, I have been on the look-out for you." She spoke with a soft smile. "I am sorry if I kept you waiting. As I was trying to explain to Mr Reinhart, the weather made my journey bit longer than expected." Unlike Amara, he had a bit of a strong and toned build, fit enough for a warrior. But she did not want to make presumptions. For he might not be. Despite the fact that he looked like he was able of being one. If her future companion had not shown himself, at such a time. Amara would have struggled to explain her sudden appearance to Mr Reinhart...especially when the guards were training. But Valentin looked out of place, like she did did.

Looking around them, it felt bit awkward with the shouts and yells from the guards on the training grounds around them. "Is there a more appropriate, place that we can talk?" The blonde questioned. Not wanting anyone to overhear anything of importance, if they happened to be eavesdropping for one reason or another. Glancing between Valentin and Mr Reinhart, in hopes that one of them might know a more convenient place for talking.

Valentin felt happy about having somewhat 'resolved' the growing situation. Mr. Reinhart was... quite exquisite and delicate in his way of handling whom he considered to be a stranger. Maybe he had to be because these barracks also contained most of the guard's weapons so any intrusion and potential theft there could prove disastrous for the capital's overall security, but still there would have been much friendlier ways to hinder access. He had been affected by this kind of treatment, too.

"Yes, we are to rendezvous our employer so to speak in one of the offices." The large and equally muscled man carefully guided his fingers along the lines of his finely cut beard, silently wondering about why this had to be the place of their meeting. "I'm afraid to say I don't know why it has to be here, but so it is. Maybe it's because they want us to depart immediately afterwards and supplies are easy to get here ?" It was an open question -- maybe Amara knew more than him and this would now be a real good opportunity to tell. Valentin did not have much hope though for it would not have made sense to distribute information so asymmetrically.

Turning around on his heel quickly, Valentin began to guide his steps towards one of the heavy wooden doors nearby. "Don't worry about my wait, it's not your fault! I just can't rule out that our employer is on good terms with Mr. Reinhart." He indeed had not seen their future boss himself yet so the chance of him or her having rude enough manners to make friends with others of a similar attitude was there. Even if not however: Punctuality was a virtue in terms of making a good first impression.

The inside of the stone building was much cooler than the yard outside, and also much more relaxed in other aspects for all the noise caused by marching soldiers and yelled orders was muffled and became even more so the further one went inside. "Something about second floor I've been told. Let's see..." and Valentin continued upwards, occasionally even taking two steps at once.

It was a piece of physical effort pretty much completely in vain for the second floor revealed to be a seemingly limitless array of doors running along one side of the wide corridor. Each and everyone had the same boring, anonymous appearance to it and while Valentin could see that there were actually small signs attached to the wall next to each of them, he also knew that reading all of these would consume a lot of time. "Erm... Amara ? You don't happen to know more about our precise location, do you ?" Valentin smiled shily. "Otherwise I don't see any other option but to just go through the first one and ask for help."

He could have predicted that, couldn't he ? The thought stung in his mind...

---

It seemed like Valetin didn't know much compared to Amara. The entire thing was shrouded in mystery. Amara also couldn't help but wonder how much they would have to deal with Mr Reinhart; as they were on his grounds. Maybe the man would also be involved in getting them prepared? Who knows. "Hopefully, we will find out from our employer why, we needed to come here." Amara mused softly. Still trying to figure it out, in the back of her mind. But it made sense, that they could find what they needed on their journey, in the centre of the city. For now, they both were left wondering what the purpose of coming here was, but that would soon be answered hopefully. Or they could hopefully figure the rest out, between the pair of them.

Following him inside, Amara pulled the hood down from her head once they stepped foot inside the large building. Her blonde hair now fully exposed now that they were out of the rain. "It's alright, hopefully we'll figure that out when we meet our employer." Hoping that their employer would also understand why they were running a bit late. Especially since they had no idea, where they were supposed to be heading towards.

Looking around the main building, Amara felt a bit more relaxed inside of the building. Trying to decipher where they were supposed to be heading. "That sounds about right, from what I've been told." The young blonde agreed, when he mentioned the second floor. Not that she knew more than he did. However as they reached the second floor, she couldn't help but look a little bit lost. "Umm...I don't know." She admitted. "Let me just check the letter again." Pulling out a parchment from her cloak pocket. Amara had carried the letter on her, for reference. Her eyes scanning over the letter and instructions. Glancing between the doors lined up in front of them, and back down to the letter in her hands. "A3B?" She glanced at Valentin, hoping that that made any sense to him. "I assume, that's the number of the room. Maybe we should split up and search till we find it?" She suggested. It'd be quicker, checking the name tags and room numbers on the doors that way.

"Split up ?" Valentin answered maybe a bit more vigorously than would have been necessary. "We might find the room faster, but at the same time we'd probably lose each other in this maze!" Agreed, so far the building did look rather like one hell of a boring architectural design with only a few, but endlessly long corridors and floors sharing pretty much the same layout, but with so many offices and the very real possibility that entering one of them would drag them into a conversation with grumpy administrators inside who'd ask questions similar to those of Mr. Reinhardt...

On the other hand, even if the rooms here followed a numbering system they'd be able to figure out soon, there still were so many of them! "Okay. How about if we split up, but only as far as we stay in the same corridor so each of us has at least a rough idea about where the other one is at any given time ? Then someone of us will either find A3B or we'll end up with nothing and can switch to the next part of the building together."

A rather loud bang could be heard surging up the overly large staircase they had just used. Valentin carefully bowed his head over the stone railing to check what was going on, but the only thing he could see were fluctuations of light and shadow that indicated not one, but quite a few people had just entered the place. A mixture of joyful, but also a few more agitated conversations reached their ears, and soon part of the crowd from below separated itself and came up the stairs. The men were in uniform, but nowhere near full battle dress as they lacked any equipment, and continued talking to each other as they passed Amara and Valentin on their way to their offices.

Valentin just stood there, looking at Amara with a bit of a helpless expression, and gestured with his hands slightly: "Did you see that ? They just ignored us! Guess it's all up to Mr. Reinhardt to compensate for everybody else's attitude in here!" Amara's companion let a few more seconds pass until the crowd had thoroughly dispersed, then went off towards one half of the corridor. A3B... how hard could that be to find ?

---

Amara's head snapped towards Valentin's direction, almost startling her as she had been looking around the large room in front of them. She had not expected him to be so...eagerly loud about it. "I don't think getting lost should be on our agenda. But I agree, it'll help us find the room faster." Not wanting to be on a bad standing with their employer, if they were late. They were already struggling enough to find him. How much worse could this get? But she did not wish to find out. The sooner they'd find it, the better for everyone that was involved.

They could only hope, that room A3B was somewhere close by. How complicated could the room system get? Listening to his solution, Amara thought it through for a few moments. Logically it made sense. They'd be able to find it quicker, if one of them was on one side of the hallway. "Sounds good to me." She spoke with an encouraging smile. It was better than nothing. Looking over the letter once more, Amara felt paranoid, that she might have missed something of importance. But alas, the letter held no clues as to which way they should be going. Sighing, softly. "Let's hope, we'll have some luck." She mused, lips pursed in thought for a mere few moments.

The sound of the loud bang, was loud enough to wake the dead. The different voices echoing around them. It certainly wasn't hard to miss many of the conversations around them. But Amara did not want to eavesdrop. A few times, she had tried to get someone's attention; to ask for directions. But they did not stop, did not look their way. It was like they did not exist. Her face sharing the same helpless expression as her male companion had plastered across his face. "We might as well be invisible." she said with a deep sigh. Never had she met so many rude people in one place. Would their employer be as bad? Or worse? Amara was a little worried at that thought. Once their way was free, they each took a side of the corridor. Amara stuck to the right of it. And thus began their search. Looking at the numbers on each door, so far she wasn't having any luck. C1, C2, C3, C4, C5. It seemed like part of her corridor was the c section. But the corridor ahead of them was long, so she could only hope that soon enough, it'd get to either B or A's. Not sure in what weird order the room numbers were organised in.

"Anything on your side?" She asked Valentin after a few moments, hoping he was having some sort of luck. Looking over at him, a hopeful expression on her face.

Valentin, quite literally, did come back very much empty handed: "Nothing." he replied with shrugging shoulders, not sure himself whether he should become angry about this mess or just resignate. "I've found a bunch of 'A's with sequentially ascending numbers, but no 'B's and certainly no combination of these two. I guess..." Suddenly, he stopped dead in his verbal tracks. [color=darkgoldenrod]"Oh... of course! What if we can't find any 'A3B' because it's not a room, but just part of a room ? Like 'A3', sub-section 'B' ? Would suit those bureaucrats..."

A bunch of other people walked nearby, heavily laden with all sorts of papers and talking about stuff that could only appear utterily random to the unfamiliar observer. One of them turned their heads as if having heard Valentin's complaint, but no other reaction followed.

"I suggest we just go straight into 'A3' and see what's inside. If we disturb anything, we just blame it on our most favorite doorman around here. I guess you know whom I mean..." Valentin did not even truly wait for a response, but turned around on his heel and started going into the direction he had come from again. Apparently, the 'A's were all located there just like the 'C's were arranged where Amara had searched previously.

If Amara would follow him, they'd both end up in front of a door that looked as insconspicuous as its two neighbours left and right. The usual, small sign on the wall next to it was the only thing giving it the designation 'A3', and Valentin barely paid it any more attention when just pulling at the door handle. The room separator was surprisingly heavy and took some effort to move, but it would probably take both of them more effort to adapt to the rather stale air that waited for them behind it. One could tell at first glance that this room was not designed for visitors coming in frequently, because there was no such thing as a counter or seats for people waiting. This looked like a quite regular office with every tiny bit of space dedicated to work. Two people were in sight and one of them turned his head, presenting them with a stern and no less skeptical look. Yet, even before the man could say anything, Valentin opened his mouth: "Apologies. We are looking for room A3B. Is this to be found in here and if not, would you be so kind to give us directions ?"

---

Sighing at his bad luck. Amara started to wonder if they'd ever find the room that they were looking for. "Guess we're in the same boat. All I found was ascending c's." She huffed in her frustration. Wondering what they possibly had missed. It's not like they had misread the room numberings. They were quiet bold and screamed in their faces by the side of the door. When he suggested an intriguing thought, her eyes lit up. "Of course." Mentally slapping herself. Why didn't they think of this before? "It's worth a shot, if anything." What other options did they have? If these people were anything to go by. They definitely would be fancy enough, to create subsections of the rooms here in this large building.

Hopefully, they wouldn't get into trouble by venturing into room A3. Not having much time to react, the blonde instead followed him towards room A3.

As Valentin worked on opening the heavy door. Amara wondered why the room had such a heavy separator. Where they trying to hide something? Or maybe it was just to make sure that the room was totally and utterly sound-proof. Those would be her best guesses. Met with questioning gazes upon their entrance, Amara had a slight nervous expression plastered across her face. Looking towards the two people in the room. Wondering what their reaction to Valentin's request would be. Instead of answering his question, one of them right out burst into laughter; as if they had heard the world's best joke. Making her frown. God these people were rude.

"What do you want with that room?" The other one asked sternly. The glare still present across his face.

Amara swallowed slightly. "We were summoned to come here. Our employer has asked us to meet him in Room A3B." She explained. Hoping that they would be let through.

Looking them both up and down, the male spoke again. "Through that door." He gestured to another separator behind him. "Knock twice." He instructed them. Finally, they had gotten somewhere with the people here. When they were let through, Amara walked over to the second door that they were pointed in the direction off. Knocking twice as instructed. Apparently, they couldn't just let themselves in with this one.

Knock twice? That actually was the first really useful bit of information they had ever gotten since venturing into this building. Valentin couldn't help but try to exchange a quick smirk towards Amara, then did as they were told and hammered against the door. Yes, hammered. He wanted to make sure they were being noticed with topmost priority and that nobody could claim anything different for some petty excuse. Aside from that, the overburdening number of offices apparently had gotten to his nerves.

"Yes ?" a stern male voice answered the prompt from inside. Valentin opened the door which, at least, was not nearly as massive as the one guarding this particular arrangement of rooms as a whole.

"Oh, you two! Welcome to my little chambers! I've hoped to see you a little earlier. I hope nothing's disturbed your journey here ?"

Valentin gnashed his teeth behind tightly sealed lips. Either the person in front of them was completely oblivious or very audacious. "Oh well, yes! Everything went fine until the last couple hundred yards!" it burst out of him. "And after having gone through those I have to say that the only place even more disappointing than this one to meet you would maybe have been the sewers!"

Silence. The other man leaned back behind his quite large and ornated desk, the chair protesting against his somewhat overweight figure. Then he just started to laugh. "Welcome to bureaucracy! Normally we only have soldiers here, people who either know this place inside out already or have learend to obey without complaint. You two belong to neither category and I was afraid you'd encounter problems, but apparently my request for a personal guide for you... hasn't gotten very far."

"Now would you please sit down ?" and he gestured towards two chairs standing in a corner.

---

Noting Valentin's smirk, he looked as relieved like she had that they were finally making some progress. Whilst she would have taken a more subtle approach when it came to knocking on the door. He did not. The hammering of the door, caused the sound to echo within her own ears. It was loud enough to wake the dead, or cause someone to become deaf if they already weren't around this place. Having to rub her own ears a bit, to stop them from vibrating. "Little overkill don't you think?" She questioned, in a light tone.

Walking in after Valentin, they were met by their employer. Amara having an apologetic expression form on her face when he expressed that they in fact were late. "Apologies sir we..." Her words of apology got cut off with Valentin. Wincing at his words, as he finally seemed to blow. Not that she could blame him. No one around the building had exactly been helpful. "Valentin..." Shaking her head with a sigh. Amara didn't think it was wise to make more enemies, than they already seemed to have. Not by their own accords. But because people here were seemingly selfish and looked down upon everyone, that didn't work here.

Visibly worried, she kept glancing between the two males. For a few long moments; she had held her breath. Not even knowing how long, till she finally sighed in relief. Luckily, their employer didn't seem to take offense to Valentin's comments. Instead he was highly amused. Disaster averted. For now, at least. Hopefully no more disastrous moments would rear their ugly head, whilst they were here.

As he mentioned something about a guide, her brow rose in curiosity. "A guide would have been, rather helpful. But we made do, with what instructions we had to find our way here." They finally found this place. So not all was at a loss.

Looking towards her companion, trying to decipher if he was calm now. And not about to have another short outburst like he had a few mere moments ago. With that, she sat down on one of the chairs; trying to get comfortable; somewhat. "If I can ask..." She began; thinking of how to best phrase it. "What exactly does this...job entail? The letter was very...vague." Amara was curious to find out more about, why she and Valentin had been asked to come here. And now that they were finally here, it was better to get straight down to business. Sort everything out, right? Why wait?

"Oh yes, instructions...." the other male behind his desk mumbled loudly enough for both of his visitors to pick it up easily, but still more to himself than towards anybody else. The piece of furniture he sat in front of appeared to have a nearly limitless supply of yet undiscovered drawers and storage containers given the fact that the officer spent more than a minute digging through them in order to find something. That something, in the end, turned out to be a rather thin stack of parchments with letters written all the more neatly.

"Here, your instructions. I haven't read through them myself to their fullest extent, but I will give you a brief summary of what I've understood. As a general advance warning however, I am not the one ultimately in command of you, and have been provided with somewhat limited knowledge about this matter myself. Some higher ups are running this, some... very higher ups I ought to mention!" The officer nodded slowly several times to underline his own words. "So, see me more of a proxy. I will happily forward any complaints you might have, as long as they affect those in charge of this mission."

So, in other words: No, the screwjob with the missing guide had actually been a rather local affair...

Valentin reached for the parchment, but only took a glance at the top cover before handing it over to Amara. He obviously was not in the mood to read that thing right now, but all the more willing to just listen. If Amara would dare to dig into the document however, she would find a quite detailed, foldable map of the entire kingdom along with a rather generic greeting, the details concerning their contract and the potential reward, and a rather long list of things they were supposed not to do while on the this job (primarily to handle things on a strict need-to-know basis and not to involve any unncessary individuals) and, of course, a motivational description of why what they were doing was so important and what the scholars thought what they might find or not find.

"So..." the male continued, taking in another volume of air before starting his speech:

"This is a very delicate thing. You are not supposed to talk to anybody about this unless strictly instructed to do so or if you happen to have a damn good reason. No need to mention that your employers will ensure to check this reason's validity afterwards...

Strange events have taken place and you are to investigate, to cut it short. You have a map that not only contains the direction you have to go, but should also have a vew special markings spread along your route. These are designated locations where certain arrangements have been made for you so to avoid any uncalculatable trouble. I think the individual letters next to the crosses designate the type of arrangement you can expect to find there: rooms already rented for you, supply caches, people checking in on you."

The officer rolled his eyes.

"Do I need to state explicitly what I think what the latter's real purpose is ? Supervising you, of course. Whatever help those 'people' might be is probabyl more a facade than anything else. I don't know, but these are not my or anybody else's soldiers. So... don't expect high standards, okay ? Wouldn't be surprised if these individuals will turn out to be more scoundrel than anything else. I and you will just have to trust your employers which, as already mentioned, are very high up the command chain."

"So please read through this now and check whether the markings are there and if you have any questions."

---

As they waited for the elder man to dig through his drawers, Amara rested the bag that she carried with her in her lap. Her hands resting ontop. It wasn't long before he seemed to find whatever they needed to help aid them in their journey. A slight sigh escaping her, upon learning that he wasn't really the one in charge of them. But more so of a messenger. Amara wondered why they couldn't deal with their 'real' employer face to face. But kept her displeasure to herself. Her face managing to stay rather neutral, whilst listening to the man explain the situation.

Taking the piece of parchment from Valentin; Amara unlike him was curious what was inside. Of course she was listening to the officer explain the matter. At least the information he himself knew, as she unfolded the piece of paper. Soon the large map was unfolded in her lap. Most of the places unknown to Amara. It'd be far than she had ever ventured before. So trying to orient herself around unknown areas would be interesting. She could only hope that Valentin would know a few of the areas that they needed to investigate and get to. Something seemed to stand out to Amara, the longer she looked at the map. A few markings were missing. "I can only assume that any missing markings on the map, mean we're left to own devices to making arrangements?" she questioned. As the further more she delved into the map, there came a point where seeming arrangements were no longer made for her and her companion. Or maybe they weren't supposed to go that far?

Amara had to admit, not talking to people would be bit difficult for her. She was usually sociable. So trying not to come of rude whilst on this job would be a challenge. It made her wonder, what sort of people they might also run into, that were supposedly there to help them. Or rather...make their job difficult?

"Truthfully, I could have guessed the supervision bit." Amara stated. It wasn't that hard to figure out, the more he told them about the job. It was an interesting way to supervise them though. She handed the map back to Valentin, so he himself could check out their various destinations. Glancing over at him, to see what he himself thought of this.

"Do we get some form of transport, for the time being?" Amara asked looking at the officer. As it was a long while before they'd reach their first 'arrangement' so to speak. And traveling on foot, might provide to be bit longer than their employer might expect.

Valentin reached for the map and pulled it onto his own lap, then doing the same thing as Amara and pouring himself into inspecting it. Having discovered the couple of missing markings himself, he noted: "I suppose that a serious bit of creativity and own initiative is an integral part of this mission, isn't it ?" He addressed both other people in the room simultaneous. The man behind the table was the first to answer as if he had already completely expected this kind of question. Leaning back in his heavy chair and folding his hands on top of his desk, he explained:

"That is the case. This, if I may remind you, is first and foremost an investigative effort. If we were already aware of all important locations and details and would already have our people everywhere, we wouldn't need to send you in there, right ? So, yes, you will have to improvise." He paused and let go of a short sigh. "Trust me, I'm a military man. Going into the unknown without proper intelligence is one of the least favorable things any commander with proper reasoning wants do, but that's exactly why reconnaissance units have been invented. You don't send in everyone right away, you send a small, specialized team first!"

The man almost felt triumphant as he was able to explain away at things one got to learn in the first year of this academy. He raised his arm and pointed towards both Amara and Valentin with his index finger: "You two are our reconnaissance unit now! Just... don't try to do anything stupid, alright ? If you see a threat you don't know whether you can handle it yourselves, then don't go daredevil and get killed. Report back if possible, alright ?"

The man rose from his chair, bracing the desk in order to support himself in the process, and turned towards the window that allowed the afternoon's sun to send in its bright rays of increasingly orange-ish light. The sound of his stubby beard being scratched by his fingers could be heard almost throughout the entire room. "I have forgotten something, haven't I ?" he mumbed, then suddenly turned around and provided them with a mixture of fake and real embarassement written on his face.

"Ah! Right, transportation. Well Mrs. Amara, you might have noticed that your companion looks as if he could carry both of us on his shoulders rather easily, but luckily, this is not going to happen in order to get you two where you are needed. We will provide you with one horse each, that should suffice." His eyes darted towards Valentin, resting on him for a brief moment. "At least I hope so. Erm... you will be able to swap to other horses here and there, if needed. That's included in the arragements made so you can keep the speed up. Any more questions ?"

---

It seemed like she and Valentin had similar thoughts, regarding this so called mission. It'd require some skills and careful planning on both their parts not to allow themselves to slip up; when improvising and dealing with other individuals that might cross their path. Amara just nodded her head in silence as she listened to the older man answer her and Valentin's question. Taking it all in silence. It indeed was a bit bold to assume that they might have known all of the important locations, regarding this investigation. Amara would have been surprised, if they indeed knew everything. It was one of the reasons, why they needed her and Valentin. To find out more important things, to help them solve the mystery of the current events.

"I didn't plan on doing anything stupid." Amara replied honestly, as he warned them not to get themselves killed. Although, she couldn't help but worry. It sounded more dangerous than he had first let on. Hopefully, nothing would happen to her or her new companion.

Raising a slight eyebrow, as the man gave them a slightly unconvincing embarrassing look. When it finally dawned on him, what he had forgotten. Mainly due to her question; Amara's eyes quickly flitted over to Valentin when he mentioned him. Her companion indeed was of strong muscled build. A warrior type for sure. He seemed strong enough to carry the both of them; not that she'd expect him to. Trying not to look at Val too much as she didn't want him to feel uncomfortable. "Two horses will do as just fine." She spoke in agreement. Nodding at the mention of them needing to swap horses every once in a while. "How often are we required to check in?" Asking her last question, as everything else seemed to be already covered.

Valentin could feel both the officer's and Amara's eyes rest on him briefly, too briefly for him to get behind the reason for that, but also briefly enough for him not to bother with that awkwardness any further once it had ended.

"Once very two weeks. This seemingly rather relaxed schedule has been chosen because we got two important things to consider here: First of all you might end up in a quite remote region where distances a long and poopulation is sparse, and secondly every time you make contact with us in order to report back, we all run the risk of you being followed and tracked by other persons we are competing with so to speak."

Valentin turned his head to the side to toss a glance at Amara, wondering what she thought about that. He himself was very blunt about that soon enough: "So I hope you can fight well."

"Like said, don't expect any significant reinforcements from our side. We need for all of this to stay under cover."

"So can we leave now ?" Frankly speaking, Valentin had started to become bored by this all too formal conversation. They had the parchments and they had the instructions, so what else required them to stay here any longer ?

"Yes. I do not have anything more to add unless you have any further questions ?"

"I do not. You, Amara ?" As he spoke, Valentin already lifted himself off the chair and took the liberty to have a brief walk through the officer's room towards the window into the courtyard. Soldiers training could still be seen down below -- good thing he didn't have to endure that. With one ear he still listened to whatever exchange of words Amara and the officer might have.

---

Hearing the desired timeframe, Amara just nodded in acknowledgment. 2 weeks didn't seem too unreasonable. Especially with them traveling long distances. So she understood the main reasons behind such a statement. Nodding silently, as she listened to Valentin and their employer speak. Raising an eyebrow at Valentin's bold words. "I never been much of a fighter, guess I'll have to learn soon enough." Her answer honest. It was unknown if she had taken offense to his comment or not. If she did, it was not visible by her expression nor words said. Any displeasure about it; she managed to keep to herself.

But either way, Amara had no intentions of blowing their cover. Knowing how to keep her mouth shut long enough.

"I think we've covered the details enough." she concluded. Herself not having more questions either. "Have a good rest of your day, sir. We shall be in touch soon enough." Amara's kind words of well wishing were the last words spoken to the officer, before she left the office with Valentin by her side. The map and details put away in her bag for safe keeping.

"If you wish, I could certainly show you a trick or two." Valentin offered, though deep inside him he knew that this far from an entirely altruistic offer. He just really hated having to defend somebody else that wasn't him as well and, from what they both had heard so far, this mission was bound to include some serious trouble. Experience dictated that way and he had learned not to toss his own gut feelings into the wind.

Finding the way out proved to be a lot easier than the other way around, but only due to the fact that they could always use the look out of the next window in order to orient themselves and find the most likely route back into the courtyard again. The soldiers there had apparently undergone some sort of shift change, but Mr. Reinhardt made his presence still felt by snorting at them. Halfway unconsciously, Valentin reached for Amara's hand in an attempt to drag her along a tad more quickly in order to get away from the man's unnerving presence.

"So, all of this sounded to me like we don't have much time at our disposal. What do you think about grabbing our supplies and meeting at the stables again ? Given the smell I'd imagine they're over there..." and he gestured towards a wooden addendum built adjacently to the main wall surrounding the courtyard. There were obvious signs of many hooves tramping the ground around it.