Jade returned to her room in the sparsely furnished servants’ quarters truly intending to sleep, but before she even reached the pair of tiny beds, she knew that the effort would be futile. She was too keyed up right now for that. A potent mixture of adrenaline, anger and frustration boiled within her, and she found herself pacing the room restlessly, unable to even sit. Jade pinched the bridge of her nose. Though her mind was being uncooperative of late, her body desperately needed to sleep. Her exhaustion was starting to make her irritable. There was only one solution she could think of: maybe if she could exhaust herself to the point of collapse, she would finally be able to rest. She had long ago discovered that the only real cure for mental agitation was physical exertion. So, she left the little room behind and used the servants’ entrance to slip outside into the palace gardens.

K’ivin had said that he did not want her leaving the property unescorted, but that wasn’t a problem. The grounds were easily large enough for her to get a proper workout without leaving. The early afternoon was dark and overcast, a damp fall chill hung in the air and clung to her skin like a wet blanket, but she knew that as long as she got moving, she would warm up fast enough. Starting at a jog, Jade’s feet pounded the hard ground, and her breath misted in the air as she ran. She attempted to sort out her thoughts and calm her anger. The events of the morning had unfolded pretty much as she had expected they would. It wasn’t the ideal ending to the initial stages of the investigation, but it was not a surprising one. Had they really thought to pick up a 2-year-old lead and have it still be fresh? Had they thought to so easily uncover what others had spent years searching for? But it had not been a complete waste of time, whatever the others thought. She could think of many directions to go from here, but everyone needed to stay focused, and the fact that that wasn’t happening was intensely frustrating.

She didn’t fully understand Mikiva’s persistent negativity. She liked the spy, she really did, but lately she had been severely tempted to try and knock some sense into her. As badly as that would likely end for Jade. She could tell that Mikiva didn’t really like having to work with others. She hadn’t expected to get saddled with two charges and a boring assignment on top of it. It was making her… grouchy. But at the moment Mikiva and her mood swings were not Jade’s primary concern, in truth she was more worried about Av’ry. She didn’t claim to be the best judge of people, but it was obvious that he was… fragile. She got the sense that he really was skilled at his work, but he was out of practice, and evidently still feeling the loss of his partner acutely. Whatever had happened to her, Mikiva had been right, it had damaged him. Investigating this case was like constantly gouging at an open wound and she was concerned what effect this setback would have on his mental state. She resolved to check on him when she had calmed down, and to discuss what they would do next. She had her own ideas, but he was the professional. She needed his help. And hopefully some new avenues to pursue would cheer him up. That decided, Jade redoubled her speed and headed towards the rear of the palace. She had heard that the trees there were lovely.

Hours had passed by the time Jade finally decided to head back. By then, the cold had numbed her hands and face, and her muscles burned. Maybe she would even be able to sleep a bit. Tired and frigid, she staggered back to the servants’ quarters. As she made her way down the hall, she saw light bleeding from under Av’ry’s door, which reminded her that she had wanted to talk to him before she tried to sleep again. Knocking gently, she waited for a response. When none was forthcoming, she rapped more forcefully.

“Go away,” the mumbled response did nothing to allay her concerns, so Jade pushed her way through the doorway, uninvited.

Av’ry looked up from the bag on his cot.

“What do you want?” he demanded.

“What are you doing?” Jade ignored his question.

“Packing.”

“Why?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” he shrugged, returning to his task. “Mikiva doesn’t want me here, I haven’t been of any help. I am going home.”

“That’s it, then? You’ve given up.”

“And if I have? Can you blame me?” he shrugged. “Besides, I delivered the materials I was meant to. I should have left it at that. Staying was a mistake.”

Jade sighed. She didn’t even know why she was here, why she cared. For a moment, she wondered why she didn’t just walk away, let him self-destruct all on his own, like he had obviously done more than once before. But she did care. She liked Av’ry and she wanted to help. She just wasn’t sure if she could. She had never really had a soft touch. But maybe that wasn’t what was called for here.

“You follow one old, long cold lead and then you throw in the towel and walk away?” she asked. “Is this how you did things in the old days?”

Av’ry dropped his eyes, a crimson blush crept up his cheeks.

“No,” he mumbled, somewhat abashedly. “But these aren’t the old days.”

Jade took a deep breath. She was about to say something a bit harsh, maybe even cruel. But it needed to be said, and she was the only one around.

“Is this half-hearted attempt all your partner deserved? Is this all she was worth to you?”

His face darkened, anger flashed in his eyes,

“You know nothing about that!” he snapped.

“I know you made her a promise,” she retorted. “And that you aren’t planning to keep it. Am I wrong?”

“Of course you aren’t!” he shouted. “Why in the Void do you think I am so upset? The one thing I promised her, the one thing I could have done, and I failed. Again. Just like last time.”

Jade almost asked what he meant, but at the last minute she thought better of it. Whatever had happened between them was none of her business. And there was little chance that revisiting it would help here.

“You’ve only failed if you give up,” she insisted.

“Or if I actually fail, obviously. I’m beginning to realize that I have been fooling myself. What made me think I could do this, anyway?” he shook his head. “Fox was the one with talent. I can’t handle something like this. Not without her.”

“Huh,” Jade wrinkled her nose.

“What?”

“You know, this partner of yours kind of sounds like an asshole.”

“I’m sorry, what?” his eyes narrowed.

“Seriously, you are saying she is the type of person who would lie to you for years about your skills, then set you on this dangerous investigation, alone, knowing you couldn’t handle it? That would make her a real piece of work, in my book.”

“She wouldn’t have done that,” he replied defensively. “She wouldn’t have asked this of me, if she thought I couldn’t handle it.”

“Then maybe you should trust her judgement,” Jade said, tone softening.

Av’ry shook his head, annoyed.

“Alright, I take your point. But what can I do at this point?”

“You should already know. But you’ve been wallowing in the past for so long you’ve forgotten how to look forward, haven’t you? You need to be proactive.”

“What is there to be proactive about?” he was legitimately angry with her now. “We didn’t find anything! We don’t know anything!”

“Wrong,” she snapped back. “We know that they are looking here for an old relic, we know that they want it badly enough to sack a country and then scour every inch of it to find it. It is an object of immense, but obviously hidden power, or everyone would know about it.”

“But we don’t have any idea what it is. And we have no way of finding out.”

“Not true. We just can’t find out the same way that they did. But maybe we don’t have to.”

“How do you mean?” he raised an eyebrow.

“They had to try finding this object from scratch. But now somebody knows, and somebody is looking for it. They will have left evidence of their search. We track that, and maybe we can find what they are after that way, instead.”

“So, we stop tracking the cold trail of an object that vanished centuries ago,” Av’ry’s eyes suddenly grew thoughtful. “And instead, we start investigating their investigation?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Exactly,” Jade smiled now. “It may not get us out ahead of them. But maybe we can manage to catch up, and that’s a start, isn’t it?”

“It is definitely a start.”

Jade grinned broadly. The beginnings of this plan had come to her during her run, but she hadn’t been sure it would work. She had no experience in this sort of thing and thus would have no idea where to begin. But if he could see the benefits too, maybe this could work.

“Still,” he continued. “It would be easier if we had at least a name to start with. Or any information about this object at all, really.”

“I know,” Jade sighed; he was right, but she was trying her best to be optimistic. “But beggars can’t be choosers, Av’ry. If you are still dedicated to figuring this out, to fulfilling your promise, then we have to go at this from another angle. Or, I suppose you can decide it’s too hard to do any real work and just go back to where you came from, if that’s what you want.”

“Yeah, alright, alright. I take your point,” he upturned his bag, emptying it out onto the bed. “I’m not going anywhere. So, where do we start?”

“Well, that would be your area of expertise, wouldn’t it?” Jade chuckled.

“I suppose it would,” he said thoughtfully.

“Look, I still haven’t slept, yet. So, how about this. You take some time, collect your thoughts, and in a couple of hours, once I’ve gotten some rest, we will all get together and come up with a new plan.”

“That’s not a bad idea.”

Jade stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder.

“This isn’t over yet, so don’t quit on me, ok?”

“Thanks, Jade.”

“See you in a couple of hours,” Jade waved and shut the door gently behind her.

Walking down the hall towards her own quarters, she reflected that Av’ry was right about one thing, it would be so much easier if they just had that journal. Knowing exactly what Istaria and her people were looking for would have narrowed their avenues of inquiry significantly. They didn’t have much time, and without that one key piece, they would be starting at a significant disadvantage. But, what else could they do? She couldn’t conjure a copy of a rare book from thin air. So, Jade tried to put it out of her mind. They would just have to do their best with what they did have. Laying down on her little cot, Jade closed her eyes and tried to get the sleep she so desperately needed.

**

Mikiva’s knee connected with the soldier’s jaw, staggering him back a step. She swept his feet out from under him and kneeled on his back, pressing his face into the floor and twisting his arm around behind him.

“I yield! I yield!” the man yelped.

Mikiva released him, then helped him to his feet.

“Void, what has gotten into you?” the soldier panted. “You are an especially vicious sparring partner today.”

“It’s nothing,” she snapped.

“No offence meant,” the man raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“Alright, maybe I am a little irritable today. But it’s really nothing,” she grabbed her towel from the floor and wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Thanks for the workout.”

“Anytime,” the man grinned and raised an eyebrow. “In fact, if you are looking for another workout, I am available for that too.”

Mikiva rolled her eyes,

“As I say every time you offer: not interested.”

“Can’t hurt to ask,” he shrugged.

“I could change that,” Mikiva noted.

“Maybe I should be going,” he said quickly.

“That would be the wisest course of action.”

Mikiva watched him leave, then turned her attention to the heavy bag in the corner. She liked coming to the palace training ring whenever she needed to work through an issue. There was something about hitting someone or something that always made her feel better, although today it was not helping as much as she had hoped. She was still feeling short tempered and prickly. She knew why, of course, but that didn’t really help her shake it off.

Part of it was that she wasn’t used to working with other people like this. The need to always be on guard, to always watch her back, and her front, was a lot of stress. But she couldn’t relax, because she knew that even people she liked, she couldn’t trust. It was a mistake she had seen kill more than few. One she was careful never to make herself. But it was harder, when you weren’t strictly among enemies. So much easier to get comfortable, to let things slide. It took work to maintain the proper distance. Which would have been difficult enough with one person, let alone two. Perhaps it had been a mistake, bringing Jade here. But it was too late to regret that now. She had felt she owed her, and she had been curious about the woman, wanted to understand what she was hiding. She still did. It complicated things, though. One more person to keep an eye on.

Mikiva aimed another punch at the bag, focusing only on the satisfying jolt in her shoulder as it connected. The second part of the problem was… more complicated. She had never considered herself especially pious; she had been a killer, a thief, a spy. But the Pantheon had a place for that; there were Gods who embraced her sort. She even prayed to them, time to time. Draconic lore, though, that was explicitly forbidden… which meant that what they were doing was sacrilege. And that bothered her. And it bothered her that that bothered her. She wasn’t going to stop, of course. She didn’t want to be the only one acting like a superstitious fool, like she would be struck by a bolt of lightning for reading a children’s book. But she was having trouble getting past it. It was embarrassing. The fear and shame itched under her skin like a rash. She needed to shake this off, get her head back in the game. The stakes were too high, and it wasn’t right for her to be taking her problems out on the others.

She kicked the bag, watching it swing away and then delivering a series of blows as it returned to her.

“Mikiva!” K’ivin appeared in the doorway, a scowl etched into his features. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere,”

Mikiva sighed heavily, and reached out to stop the bag,

“What is it, K’ivin?”

“Have you seen Jade?”

“What am I, her babysitter? Check the study or the servants’ quarters.”

“I’ve checked all of those places, and more. And, since you asked, yes, you are supposed to be keeping an eye on her, she is your responsibility and if she has left the property for a reason that could undermine our national security…”

“Come on, boss, don’t be dramatic,” Mikiva retorted. “This is a big place. She probably just wandered off again.”

“Mikiva, you aren’t listening to me. I’ve had the servants check the entire palace. She isn’t here.”

“Did you check Av’ry’s room?”

K’ivin paused,

“The servants I sent said he was asleep. They knocked, but he didn’t answer.”

“Well, maybe she is in there with him. He’s that type,” Mikiva rolled her eyes.

“Perhaps you should go check, then. Because if she isn’t, we could have a serious problem.”

“Fine. If it will get you off my back, I’ll go.”

Mikiva turned on her heel and strode quickly out of the room before she said something she would regret.

Mikiva burst through the door of Av’ry March’s temporary quarters without knocking and instantly realized that the servants had been correct, he was actually asleep. As the door slammed into the wall, he sat up abruptly and turned his bleary eyes towards the light streaming in from the hallway,

“What in the Void?” he squinted, trying to make out the figure silhouetted in the doorway. “Mikiva? What’s going on?”

Still half asleep, he stood and pushed the covers off. Mikiva’s jaw dropped an inch. She’d learned two things by bursting in; first, Jade was clearly not here and second Av’ry slept naked. Reflexively, her eyes flicked across his abdomen, and she could tell that his was a body marked extensively by violence. Her gaze followed the various pale scars that stood out against his skin like white spider webbing. Notably, there were two healed, star-shaped punctures in his chest that, to Mikiva’s trained eye, were obviously arrow wounds. She could tell from their position that they were both near-fatal. He had certainly not lived an easy life. Av’ry noticed her slightly open-mouthed stare and winked. Mikiva blushed and looked away quickly.

“I’m, uh, I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I didn’t know that you, uh, you know.”

“My fault, I was still half asleep. And you surprised me a little,” he laughed easily, clearly not at all self-conscious. “Sorry if I embarrassed you.”

Mikiva scowled,

“I am not embarrassed!” she insisted. “I just don’t want to invade your privacy.”

“Really?” she could hear the smirk in his tone. “Because most people find knocking an excellent way to accomplish that.”

“I was in a hurry,” Mikiva huffed, still averting her eyes.

“You can turn around now,” Av’ry chuckled. “I’m decent. Well, as much as I ever am. Now, why were you in such a hurry?”

Mikiva turned back to find him mostly dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling on a pair of thick, woollen socks, zig-zagged with a childish red wool darning to repair a hole.

“I was looking for Jade, I thought she might be here.”

“She was a few hours ago, but I haven’t seen her since.”

“Where was she going?”

“I thought she was going to sleep. Why? What’s going on?” Av’ry pulled on his boots and stood up, straightening his tunic as he did.

“She’s missing. K’ivin can’t find her anywhere in the palace.”

“Really?” Av’ry looked concerned. “She said that she wanted to meet with both of us in a couple of hours, which would be about now. Where would she have gone?”

“I don’t know. She doesn’t really know the city.”

“We should check her room. Maybe there’s a clue there.”

“Good idea, let’s go.”

Throwing open the door to the space she was currently sharing with Jade, Mikiva saw nothing obviously out of the ordinary. Av’ry brushed past her into the room and began to inspect the contents.

“This bed looks like it was recently slept in, is it yours or hers?” he asked.

“Hers,” she replied.

Av’ry moved to the pile of neatly folded clothes at the foot of the bed,

“Then I think we have a problem.”

He reached down and unfolded the clothes. They consisted of a heavy cloak, a thick woollen tunic, a pair of woollen socks and a few other articles of clothing. Precisely what she had been wearing when he had seen her, earlier.

“Did Jade have any extra clothes?” he asked.

“No, we hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Why?”

“Because it is dark out, and cold. She left all her warm clothing here,” Av’ry looked concerned. “Which means that if she really isn’t in the palace, she might not have left of her own accord. She isn’t stupid, she wouldn’t have willingly gone out without these.”

“Shit.”

“Of course, I also don’t see any sign of a struggle. If someone took her…”

“She definitely would have struggled,” Mikiva frowned. “But maybe she wasn’t taken from this room.”

“Possible. How long has she been gone?”

“K’ivin has been looking for her for some time now, but it sounds like no one has seen her since you did, when was that?”

“About 3 hours, I’d guess.”

“That’s a long time,” Mikiva was worried now. “People are after her, something could easily have happened.”

“Have K’ivin keep searching the palace and the grounds. We should go look for her in the city, before we lose any more time.”

Mikiva’s heart dropped. K’ivin was right, Jade was her responsibility, and she had let this happen. She had been foolish to let her guard down just because they were in the royal palace. She knew the Scorpions better than that.

“Let’s go,” she nodded grimly.

Together, they all but sprinted from the room.