“You make such a pretty servant girl, Leon.” Iliskra smirked, unable to hold back on making a jape. Iliskra considered a disguise but chose not to, instead slipping up beside the door and pressing herself near the frame as Leon opened the way into the hall. The second floor hallway was long and quite spacious. As well as decorative. A blood red carpet reached the full length of the corridor, paintings of various sizes and depictions lined the walls, and gold encrusted fixtures held burning oil lamps which illuminated the upstairs area brilliantly. A glimmering crystal chandelier hung high over the center of the hall. There were two staircases on either side of the chandelier which Leon and Iliskra could clearly see. The one on the left went up and the one on the right went down. Iliskra counted six rooms in the hall, including the one she and Leon were in. Both directions of the hallway had a room at the very end with a room on each side. 

A single figure could be seen in the hall, the same armored guard that Leon’s bat had spotted. A man of average height and build adorned in full plate armor - helmet included - with his weapon resting upon his right shoulder as he rather lazily plodded along. As luck would have it he was walking the opposite direction from Leon and Iliskra.

“I would put coin on Jadarl’s room being up on the third floor. If you are swift you can be up there before the guard comes back this way,” Iliskra said quietly to Leon, “I can check this floor and try and meet up with Firoz and Willory and-…” 
The half-elf hesitated suddenly having realized something, her voice nearly bursting from her mouth before she caught herself. “Say, where did Elthel get off to?” It had dawned on Iliskra that Elthel had not even accompanied herself, Leon, Firoz, and Willory when they approached the house from the courtyard area - which Iliskra quickly pointed out to Leon as the guardsman passed by the respective staircases. Surely Elthel had not taken off or betrayed them. Had she seen something in the snowstorm outside? Or had she shared unheard words with Firoz and Willory when Iliskra and Leon were not paying attention? Iliskra felt the hair on her neck and forearms prickling as the possibilities raced through her mind. How could she have so carelessly lost track of Elthel? How could she and Leon have [i]both[/i] done so?