They walked out of the corridor into a large junction; the guards had dispersed and were on high alert leaving Garamil, Catherine, Mizin and now Ponu and Hana who joined them. “Any luck?” Hana asked. She was a pacifist but had a strong sense of judgement. Being Snow and Iylin’s mother she had always suspected the Queen but tried to turn a blind eye since she was from an older generation. Seeing Ponu get involved gave her a sense of urgency. “If Sai was impulsive, he could have tried to attack Gilly or Ephini but since both of them are with your sister, I doubt the queen will do that”. This was a dent on their reputation given they captured a witness and he had escaped right from under their watch. “What do you think he will do?” Ponu asked, he had a hint of Elin’s thought process but needed confirmation. All eyes turn to Mizin, still seething from the way Katherine had spoken to her. “Yup she is mad”. Iylin concluded, seeing Mizin’s glowing eyes. “So now you want an outsider's comment!” Like always, her temper was stretched thin. “Do you have any information we can use?” Hana asked, using the existing rapport they had due to them fighting together in the draconic war alongside Elim and Elna. Mizin sighed heavily before walking closer to the group, “in war what is the most important thing?” They were all confused at the question trying to make sense of it. Ponu shook his head as he came to realization of what it meant. “The Shadow Elf tribe should not be used for information networking for the mean time”. The pausefollowing up on the realization. For any of her plan to succeed, Sai was important. “They are trying to keep tab on us, I'm guessing they are after Gilly and Ephini”. The words of Katherine rang out, even if she did not want to believe that Elin would stoop so low. “She is confined to the capital, she must have had some help.” Iylin's thoughts were valid but short lived. “That's what you think. Few hours ago, she left the capital and now she is back” Everyone stared at Mizin in shock, this was the best news for the night. “Who do you think she is working with” Ponu was old, and hadbno time for small talk. “Black demon Harzil”. There was a brief silence and then Katherine finally spoke. “Seems she has been scheming for a long time." “The draconic war, trafficking of half elves, Elim’s death, Dark one's appearance, she had a hand in all of it!” Iylin made all the recount, as all the events for the past five hundred years suddenly made sense. “I guess we all know what to do now, shall we be on our way?” Mizin used those few words to dismiss herself. Deciding to discuss further, the others remained behind. At dawn, the news of Sai betrayal was made public and all shadow elves were summoned to the capital. At this time, majority of the province leaders had left with the exception of Snow and Iylin whose provinces shared border with the capital. The Shadow Elves were ordered to take a blood oath in the castle's inner hall and now could not betray the dynasty. Elin was in attendance and smiled radiantly, openly condemning Sai's actions. Inwardly however, she cursed Katherine for spoiling her plans. The Shadows were given a new unit head called Enny and they now reported directly to the council. ... Mizin had returned to Elnor and the reconstruction was almost done. They were more humans and other species given their new situation and Ephini had become busy once more. Seras took control of the library and Valmor assisted, having nothing else to do. Ephini received constant report from Kasim who together with Festa worked at the seaport. He took the time to map the new underground city and constantly sent information to Mizin through Ai-lyn. Aroelan had finally arrived and was asked to train Gilly, they took missions together,building rapport as time went on. A month passed without any incident with Mizin constantly sleeping in Ephini’s office constantly being disturbed by Abil’s daily letters. The recent ones were more disturbing. Harzil had betrayed the Demon Lord council and there was evidence. The Thirteen Demon tribes to the south had started to make moves with the signs of war around the corner. Mizin, though wanting to kill Harzil, was not in a hurry, as she chose to lazy about instead of stressing herself. On the first day of the day cycle, a group of people wearing cloaks and fox masks surrounded a carriage entering Elnor. The carriage was made of gold and wood and it had prominent inscriptions on the sides. It caused an uproar in the city as this was one of the least seen species in the world having the less interaction with others like the dragons. The Kitsunes of Tomaria Hills. They made their way through the city, with onlookers awed by them, initially believing them to be folklore. Some older men elves had died without seeing a single one so it was like a legend. They approached the Chief office and were stopped by Zin and Pom who knew them. “What brings the Royal blood of heaven out here?” Pom had used a respectful tone, not to anger them. Out of the carriage stepped out two Kitsunes of similar appearance, one was male and the other was a young girl. “Is she in?” Zin-Lu asked, he was the head of the first house of Tomaria which was equal to a province in Elador. “Zin, Pom, let then through” Mizin’s voice echoed through the street causing spectators to leave. Zin-Lu held his daughter’s hand Zin-Li and they passed through the door with Zin-Lu slightly glancing at Zin before entering. They approached a door and on entering, saw Mizin lying on couch with her eyes closed. “Elder brother, you seem well,” she said, opening one eye which fell on Zin-Li. “Sister, why do you always cause trouble?” He took a deep sigh, his hand covering his face. They had quite a history with him being the only person she had good relationship among their family members. “To think you would move the entire mountain,” he shook his head again looking like old paper. “Old man is in there, right?” she looked at the door then back at Zin-li. “I see your intuition is still sharp.” He smiled ashe looked at Ephini. She glanced back at him then smiled with her eyes closed. “For some reason, she gives me goose bumps!” After a brief pause, he continued, “you need to return the mountain or else father says he will strip your title." She closed her eye once more, was quiet for few minutes before answering: “Tell him once things settle down here, I will return. Though I won’t deny this place is nice”. Still as lazy as always. He shook his head. “I want to guess that’s not why you are here” her expression turned serious as her gaze locked onto Zin-Li again. His expression became a bit tense, his sister seeing through him. “I have a request.” She averted her gaze and looked at him, Zin-Lu asking for favor was unheard of. “I want you to take my daughter in, she is like you”. Those words made the air boil as Mizin released her aura, frightening the little girl.

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