Rolwen seemed to almost immediately take charge once he knew what they were doing, leaving Levin feeling fairly inadequate. Yeah, he used to be a soldier. He seemed to get along with this kind of thing fairly well. He said he wasn’t in any kind of intelligence service like the CIA or anything, but the structure and discipline required for these missions was all very familiar to him.

He had told Levin to handle the preliminary information gathering for the mission, stating that it was the easy part and he should get used to this sort of thing with baby steps. Often times, it felt like Rolwen was just as much his teacher as Asaren. Even in the early days, before their training started involving missions, Rolwen still knew more about fighting. Asa had gone to start referring to Rolwen as the “senior student,” and stating that it actually is part of his job as the senior student to help the juniors to learn.

Rolwen’s words still rung in Levin’s mind after the comment he’d made previously, about ninja missions being something that was supposed to be ‘cool.’

“Yeah, cool does not mean fun. I thought you would have gotten that when you saw Asa rip a guy’s arm off and then paralyze him after he tried to rape her. She was a 5 year old as far as that guy knew, you realize. Right now, Asa is training us to survive in a completely fucked up world. If we were back on Earth, I’d tell you to stay as far away from this crap as you can. We’re living in a pretty effed world now though, so instead I’m going to tell you this. We’re not doing this because it’s cool. This is not something we’re doing to have fun. If Asa wants to present us with these missions as though we’re in school, that’s her giving us all the break we need to let us into this hard life the easy way.”

Levin had been absolutely shocked about what Rolwen had told him. It wasn’t the words though. It was the fact he’d even taken such a serious tone. He seemed almost angry.

Normally, Rolwen just turned everything into a joke. This one time though, he was suddenly deadly serious. That alone was so attention getting that Levin just could not get it out of his mind. More than the words, the very fact Rolwen had gotten angry at all was so shocking that he couldn’t think of anything else.

He had a mission he was supposed to be doing right now. If he didn’t take this seriously, he’d probably wind up getting to see Rolwen pissed again. Rolwen and Asaren were the closest connections Levin had right now, and it seemed like an increasingly dark mood was hanging over both of them. It had started right around the time they’d first decided to start joining these bandit raiding missions with the Hidan.

Levin had been pretty shaken up by that first experience as well. That was the first time he’d ever seen a person die. The worst part though was how he saw it change the two people he depended on the most in this strange new world. The two people who always seemed to know what needed to be done suddenly seemed to have a strange dark side to them he’d never seen before, and he really didn’t know how to deal with that.

Well, for now, he should probably try his best to meet their expectations.

Rolwen had broken down their mission. They would need to find a way to get into the city before they could carry out what he called their ‘main objective.’ However, that did not mean entering the city was the start of their mission.

No, the real mission had actually already started. Rolwen had taken charge and assigned them both roles. He was supposed to find out what the Hidan knew about the city, beyond what they had already heard about it. Said this was something that should be an easy role.

This was supposed to be some kind of practice run for him. After their real mission, they were going to have to de-brief with Asaren. So, right now, Levin was supposed to find out what he can and report it all back to Rolwen. After that, based on what Levin found out, Rolwen would ‘make the necessary arrangements’ for the rest of the plan.

He couldn’t help feeling like he was being taken advantage of somehow. It made some sense, but it still felt like he was doing all the work while Rolwen sat on the side.

He sighed and decided to get on with it.

From what they knew already, the city folks tended to be afraid of the Hidan. They were viewed as a threat for their power and ‘wild nature’ with how they lived along side all these beasts. The Hidan also had their own bias against the city folk, saying that they feared and turned away from the fey. In the Hidan’s view, fearing or disparaging the fey was enough to be at odds with them. It was the same as saying they were corrupt.

It was also the reason behind why Asa kept her distance from ‘the outsiders.’ If she had tried to approach them to talk, the Hidan would have completely freaked out and done everything they could to place the largest men in the group between her and the outsiders. They would plead with her to stay away, and make threatening gestures toward anyone who dare as much as look at her. It was ultimately for the best that she ran off as soon as the former slaves were rescued.

Despite this, the Hidan tribes had all decided they would adopt a diplomatic policy with the cities. The Hidan would curb the bandit problem in order to show the cities some good will. In exchange, the city dwellers would keep their distance from the elven forests under threat of retribution by the Hidan.

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That’s all that they’ve heard in the past few years from the people of the tribe. Now, he had to go around and see if he could learn anything else with some more pointed questions.

It was the Hidan custom that the women represented the tribe to the fey, and the men represented the tribe to the human outsiders. This would mean it would be the adult men of the tribe who he should ask his questions to.

Problem is, the adult men he knew best from the tribe had all just left up there to participate in Asa’s cleansing ritual. They were the grandsons of the current tribe matriarch, which essentially meant they were among the best male warriors of the tribe. This, of course, also meant they were the best to watch over a group of children in training whos lives they wanted to ensure.

He would have to poke around asking someone else. A part of him had to ask if Asaren had actually planned this. Forcing them to talk to people they were not familiar with.

Who should he ask though?

Well, if he’s looking for good information, probably someone older?

Levin ultimately decided to stick to the matriarch’s family. As the most prominent family in the tribe, they’d been working to keep close ties with Rimir and Eirlathion and everybody. That meant they were going to be the easiest to talk to. Maybe he should talk to one of the matriarch’s sons who have grown too old for the battlefield.

Yeah, they would definitely be the best anyway. It was usually the men of that exact generation who actually lead most talks with outsiders whenever they came around.

Satisfied with his reasoning, Levin marched proudly into camp and got looking for some of the older men of the tribe. There was one man, a guy named Nadin, who seemed pretty prominent in the tribe. Levin hadn’t had the chance to talk to the guy much, but he seemed to know a lot and would probably be the person to talk to.

When he got into camp, Nadin was easy to locate. However, there was a pretty big problem. He was talking to Gwendir and seemed to be deep in negotiation about what was going to be done with all the former captives.

{I understand miss.} The old man said in a respectful, if somewhat uneasy tone. {We are still trying to figure out how we will accommodate all of you until we can arrange an escort. However, it is a custom of the tribe. We cannot allow you into the grounds among the tents where the women and the children sleep.}

Levin was a little surprised to see this attitude out of him. He had seen Nadin negotiate with outsiders before. He was acting unusually timid now though. Is it because Gwendir is a woman?

Just then, that Dailit guy seemed to become incensed about what he was hearing and started striding forward. {What is this? I have heard enough from you bunch of savages! We were just held by a bunch of bandits! Barely fed, and tossed in some cage! Do you have any idea what we’ve had to endure! The least you could give us is a bit of shelter to sleep under for the night, along with some food! You no good bunch of…}

Dailit’s words were suddenly cut off when Nadin’s hand lashed out and grabbed him by the throat, and then the man was physically lifted off the ground.

He didn’t even look at the man as he held him in the air. In fact, he perfectly maintained eye contact with Gwendir.

{Does this man represent you?} He asked.

{Umm…} Gwendir seemed uneasy about answering that question. {Well, the children from your tribe seemed to decide they should talk to me, since I held this group together. However, he is connected with some merchant caravans who have become wealthy trading with the city, so…}

{I see. Then he has no solid connection to the city. Is he connected to anyone from the captives?} Nadin asked.

Gwendir suddenly got a rather concerned look on her face. {I… I do not believe so. He was brought in alone, but…} She stammered.

{I see.} Nadin said as he still effortlessly held Dailit aloft as though he weighed nothing at all. The man’s words had become completely choked off by this point, and he was kicking and struggling with all he had, but the powerful old Hidan barely even seemed to notice.

With a flick of the wrist, Nadin tossed the man into the air, and he went sprawling to the ground.

{As I have heard, you are without backing and without connection to the city.} The grizzled old Hidan man said. {I have watched the way others of this group interact around you. They would be well rid of you if you were to cross us. Consider this the only warning you will get. If you break the rules of this tribe as you stay here, we will be quite glad to use you as an example of what will happen to those of the cities who cross us.}

Throughout the entire exchange, Nadin did not even look at Dailit once. As he began addressing the man, he had simply shifted his gaze to somewhere over Gwendir’s shoulder. His entire attitude toward the man was dismissive from start to finish.

And the questions he had asked… it was obvious this guy really was experienced in dealing with the cities. Levin knew he would be the right person to give him the information he needed, but… he was REALLY scary just there! He felt suddenly very unsure if he wanted to even try talking to the man.

Then, without even skipping a beat, the man shifted his gaze the very short distance to look back at Gwendir.

{Some of the young men from the tribe will be coming to give what we can spare of our food.} Nadin said. {I realize you may be uncomfortable with this arrangement. However, the women of the tribe will not meet with outsiders. It is unfortunate, but it is a firm rule which we will not be negotiating on.}

Gwendir cast a fearful gaze over at Dailit who seemed to have become a statue frozen in a state of terror as he stared up at Nadin. It was clear the display had made quite the impact on her as well as she was faced with the casual brutality the man in front of her was capable of.

However, by the time she returned her eyes to Nadin, she had a look of resolve. {I understand, if that is your custom.} She said. {In that case, I will ask some of the men and some girls who have taken the situation better to be the ones to receive your gifts. As you ask us to respect your customs, please also respect us by not approaching anyone who does not wish to be approached.}

{For the women of this group, I can promise you that the Hidan will respect this and give you the space you need.} Nadin said.

Levin looked between Nadin and Gwendir, and had to say he respected the woman. She did what she had to do.

Now then, it was time for him to do the same. Compared to what she was dealing with, Levin’s situation was practically nothing.