Binko lived in a small, self contained apartment in inoko, on the top floor of a two storey apartment building. Her room had a large double door opening onto a balcony, where she had a collection of plants and a sofa where she sat in the evenings. She had a large bed in her actual room, no sofas, and her wooden kitchen was always clean, mostly because she almost never actually cooked anything in it.
She was sleeping in when a knock came from the door. She groaned and rolled around on the bed, there was another knock and Lakan's voice came through.
"What are you doing in there?" he asked. "open the door."
"Shut up!" she shouted. She rolled around and groaned again, then got up, walking with a sour expression on her face to open the door.
Lakan was there grinning at her, behind him was Hark, slinking further back. She saw him and chuckled.
"How nice of you to grace us with your presence, Lord Harken." She joked.
"See? I knew she would be like this!" Hark complained. She laughed.
"Binko, stop teasing Hark." Lakan said smiling. "And stop using his full name, you know he doesn't like that."
"Whatever." She said and yawned. "you guys ruined my beauty sleep."
"It's afternoon already." Lakan said as he and Hark walked in. "You know how much I've gotten done this morning?"
Lakan sat on the edge of the bed while Hark remained standing and leaned against a wall. Binko got back under the covers.
"Anyways, let's get down to business." Lakan began. "I spent the entire night yesterday talking to Segi while the both of you were drooling in your beds."
"I told you I couldn't sleep!" Hark complained, Lakan waved him off and continued.
"She's going to move in with Lara because she can't access her own house." said. "Meanwhile we need to go to a place called the 'Mousetrap'. it's a large bar in the city, They serve beer, wine, all sorts of things, they also have a bunch of musicians and naked dancers."
"That's the sort of place Ganz likes to hang out?" Binko retorted, wrinkling her nose. Lakan shrugged, and continued.
"There's a specially cordoned section they call the royalty section, they charge way more to be able to sit there. That's where Ganz goes." Lakan said. "Although, it's usually free for sufficiently hot women, they use the women to attract the men in. That's how Segi got close. She never got access to Ganz table before they got her." He finished, looking at Binko. Hark also looked at her. She glared back at them.
"What?" She asked. They kept looking at her, then she realized.
"Oh hell no!" She spat. "Yuck."
"I have permanent shaving scars." Lakan shrugged. "clearly I can't pass as a sexy woman"
Hark laughed.
"Urrgh, you men are disgusting." Binko complained. "I'm not roleplaying as whore, you retards, lets find another way in."
"The only other way is to pay for a seat in the royalty section." Lakan said. "I asked, and the price per day is higher than our monthly wages. Good luck getting that approved in council."
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Binko frowned. "I'm not fucking interested!" Binko said. "wave to Segi and tell her to find someone else. There's like eight women on the force."
Lakan looked incredulously at Binko, They both knew none of the other women besides Segi, Lara, and two other girls named Filomena and Radia could pass as attractive enough, and all of them were unavailable,
"I hate you guys." Binko said, She sighed. "I didn't sign up to warfare for any of this."
"I don't actually understand what's so hard, Binko." Lakan said. "All you have to do is just show up and be hot, they'll let you in and you can just hang around and observe. You don't even have to talk to anyone."
"I'm a warfare mage, not a trophy doll." Binko complained.
"you are hot though." Lakan said, and promptly got smacked with a pillow by Binko.
"There's a third option." Hark offered. Both Lakan and Binko looked at him.
"We can recruit a Seyrulan mage who has the looks." He said.
"Since when did we start recruiting Mages from other kingdoms?" Lakan asked incredulously.
"Since now. Ganz is a threat to everyone, Not sure if you people have noticed." Hark said. "It's in everyone's interest to get him."
"Binko you're really sure you don't want to look hot and get to mingle with wealthy men?" Lakan offered again.
"If you bring that shit up again I'm going to bash your head in with a cooking spatula." Binko snapped. "I like Hark's plan. Let's go with that."
Lakan laughed. "okay. I hope for all of your sakes, that there are attractive women on the Seyrulan Warfare force."
"I'm booking a hovercoach this time, Hark, you must be overjoyed." He continued, grinning at Hark who rolled his eyes. "You guys meet me at hall Bolak, my contact will pick us up, transport us to Seyrule to the house of a man called Lufa Arabambi."
"Another of Segi's relatives?" Hark asked.
"Yes. He'll help us." Lakan replied.
---
General Rubric Makon and his new sidekick, Rollowikate, inched further and further towards the Sungan-Navon Border in the hovercoach they had boarded. Both of them munched on dried peppered beef that Makon had bought from one of the traders in the caravan they were in.
"How long till we get there?" Roe asked Makon in between bites of the tough meat.
Makon remained silent until he had finished chewing and had swallowed. "I rarely use these hovercaravans when travelling between cities. Your guess is just as good as mine."
Roe swallowed the beef in her mouth and asked another question. "Can you use your magic now?"
"I'm not ready yet." Makon replied, looking outside the window of the hovercoach.
"Is this really about hiding from detection?" Roe asked. "We're in a hovercoach that requires magic to run, and all the rest of the people here are probably blasting spells every twenty minutes."
Makon remained silent and continued to look outside the window.
"I'm not ready." He said firmly, but softly. Roe laughed. "It's *really* not that serious man, I'm sure Ganz is nowhere close--"
Makon shot her a glare.
"Rollowikate, I understand you've spent a significant amount of your life effortlessly evading incompetent Sungan Mages." He began, the irritation evident in his voice. "What can I say, we are not really the best sometimes, However Ganz is not incompetent, and he's not looking to give me a bunch of cheap fines or put behind rusting iron bars for two nights. He wants me dead."
"Okay, I get it." Roe said quietly.
"No you *don't* get it." he said. "just remain quiet until I decide to use it."
She slinked away from him and munched on the last piece of dried beef she had on the other corner of the coach's interior. He dug into the bag, brought out one large piece and offered it to her, while looking outside he window. She took it and munched in silence as the caravan shuttled towards the border.
---
Lord Daron and Lord Defon sat in front of the latter's porch, waiting for two other Lord Mages, they had packed bags containing various ceremonial clothing. Lord Kardo walked into the compound and greeted the two men, He carried a large bag of his own.
The event was straightforward; The Sungan royalty had decided to hold a large funeral for its missing and presumed dead Mages, To show its goodwill, Four Aku'andan Mage Lords had elected to attend. Lord Daron, Defon, Kardo, and Fugap.
"Gentlemen, have you made preparations for accommodations?" Lord Kardo asked.
"Yes, Once Fugap gets here we can leave." Lord Defon said.
They waited for around five minutes and then Lord Fugap did arrive. Lord Defon contacted some Caravan operators who arrived quickly. The men got in and the journey began. They would go Due north, passing through the Navon Kingdom, and its capital of Kamado, Before heading to Odan, The capital of Sungan.
Five minutes after their caravan left the city, The caravan housing Lakan, Hark and Binko left for it's long journey to Seyrule, and far to the north, Makon and Roe's Caravan entered the Kingdom of Navon.