Unexpectedly, Miles had been in higher spirits again right the next morning and every day since. I would say he just needed to let it sink in over a good night’s sleep, but since he didn’t sleep, I wasn’t sure what had happened to brighten his mood. Whatever it was, I was happy. I didn’t want him to suffer, and it would be better for both of us if we got along well.

I started my daily routine. Greeted friends and acquaintances at the water source, ate leftovers from last night’s dinner for breakfast, and cleaned up afterwards. I was still sad whenever I thought about Mother, but having something to do helped. When Father had died, my mother cried for hours, while I barely understood what had happened. Afterwards, however, she got up again, gave little me a hug, and walked forward. I would try to follow her example.

After putting on my suit, I was out the door, on my way to the office.

***

“I should’ve become a soldier. Seriously,” a figure in black said. “This is the most boring target ever. I want to fight something!”

“Relax, Dirra. Sooner or later something is going to happen. Our time will come,” another said.

“‘Sooner or later?’ Reva, this is the most ordinary guy we’ve ever tailed! You saw him the other day, he got flustered at a market stall. I don’t know what the High Priest is thinking.”

Reva sight as they watched a boy walk up the main street, greeting passersby. “Okay, I see your point.”

“And we didn’t even get to see the beast last week.”

“Neither did the other guys, they lost him.”

“I still don’t understand how they managed that. Quite the feat,” Dirra said sarcastically.

The boy kept walking, until he suddenly did something unexpected. He took a turn to walk down a path that the two hadn’t seen him take before. “Huh? Where is he going now?” Dirra said in surprise.

The two figures were immediately on edge. They went over to another location and kept following their target. It wasn’t long before the boy disappeared into a building.

“Come on, Reva, say it,” Dirra prompted, exasperated.

“I don’t want to.”

“Worst. Assignment. Ever.”

As they stood there, watching the building, another figure in black walked up to Dirra and Reva from behind. “Morning, boys,” a feminine voice said from below a hood and mask that were obscuring her face.

“Berla? Are you on the Remor boy as well?” Reva asked the woman.

“Freshly assigned. Pari’s back is acting up again. How is it going?” Berla said.

“You made it in time, it just got interesting,” Dirra said. “He went to the library.”

“Hm, you’re not following him inside?” Berla asked.

“What for? It’s not like he’s going in there to borrow some ancient, forbidden tome. ‘One classified relic, please!’” Dirra mocked.

“He could be meeting someone dangerous,” Reva said, to which Dirra gave him a sideway glance. “Yeah, yeah, I heard it myself,” Reva added.

The three kept making smalltalk while they were waiting for Tomar to come back out of the library.

“How is the wifey, Reva?” Berla asked him.

“Good, thanks. It’s a son,” he said.

“Oh! Congratulations!”

When the boy finally left the building again, the three followed him all the way to his workplace on the easten side of town. They got into position where they could see the boy through a window. As soon as they were in place, Dirra got comfortable and took out a pack of cards. Reva joined him, while Berla kept her eyes on the building. She knew some of her colleagues were less disciplined than others, but these two seemed way too relaxed to her.

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“Aren’t you being a little too lax with this job?” she asked.

“I’ll tell you what will happen,” Dirra said and pointed at one of the windows. “In about two minutes he’s going to sit down at that desk and start working. Occasionally he’s going to get a new file from a shelf, but other than that, he’s not going to get up again until noon.”

“Hm,” Berla said, but kept watching the building. Just as Dirra had predicted, after almost exactly two minutes, the boy sat down at his desk and started going through files. “Impressive,” she said in Dirra’s direction. She kept watching the boy for three hours, until the bell at the main square rang, signaling that it was noon.

“Ten Kira says he’ll take a walk again,” Dirra said while they were still playing cards.

“Sure, why not,” Reva responded.

About three minutes later, Tomar left the building and leisurely strolled through the streets. “Looks like Dirra was right,” Berla said.

“Of course I was. Oh, and another win for me,” Dirra said as he placed his cards on the make-shift table the two were sitting at.

“Not my day,” Reva said grumpely.

“Who’s the girl?” Berla asked.

Dirra stood up and walked closer to her, to look at Tomar. “That’s his colleague, Mirya-something. Lives near the main square.”

“She’s cute.”

“And yet he hasn’t made a single move,” Dirra said, shaking his head. “She’ll probably ditch him right about... now.”

Once more, he was right, as Tomar headed in one direction and Mirya in another. “She is going home, while he’s making his rounds during his break. It’s pathetic. They’re young adults for the gods’ sake!”

“Maybe he’s gay,” Berla mused.

“Maybe. Hey I’ve got it, Reva! We’ll place a cute, male agent in the office and have him seduce Tomar! If there’s something off about the boy, we’ll get it out of him!”

“It’s the Stoner Agency, our guys wouldn’t be able to keep up,” Reva said, rolling his eyes.

“I don’t care!” Dirra said, exasperated. “As long as I finally get some action! I’m literally dying of boredom here!”

He walked back to the card table and they resumed their game. Half an hour later, both Tomar and Mirya made their way back to the office and sat down at their respective desks again.

“They’re back,” Berla said before turning around and sitting down with the guys. “Alright, deal.”

“That’s the spirit,” Dirra said with a derisive laugh as he shuffled the cards.

“How long?” Berla asked.

“Two hours,” Reva responded.

They kept playing, only occasionally glancing in Tomar’s direction to make sure nothing was happening. At ten o’clock the bell sounded once more and Tomar made his way out of the office and went in the direction of the main square. His three shadows packed up as well and followed him. When they arrived at the main square, they watched him walk towards the market district.

“What now?” Berla asked.

“He’s going to walk over and stop at the third stall on the left. He’s going to briefly talk with the merchant, get some vegetables and a bit of meat and then he’s going home via the main street, down to the south-east,” Dirra predicted, and it happened just like he had said.

“You’re not actually that good,” Berla said. “Is the boy really this ordinary and predictable? Why are they having us follow him?”

“I have no idea. The big shots think there’s more to him,” Dirra said.

They kept following Tomar all the way home, where he entered his house and prepared and ate his dinner. They watched him clean the kitchen, reorder his books, and make preparations for the next day.

“Is he always talking to himself?” Berla asked while looking at Tomar’s lips moving even though he was all alone.

“Yeah, sometimes,” Reva said. “He was stock silent for a week after his mother died though.”

“Right, the beast incident,” Berla said. “Did you guys see it?”

“No, we had the day shift. And the others lost him.”

Berla looked suspicious. “If he managed to shake your guys, maybe—”

“Have you ever had a night shift, Berla?” Dirra interrupted her. “It’s even more of a snoozefest than this here. I wouldn’t be surprised if our colleagues had been asleep after they realized nothing was going to happen.”

“And all the boy and his mother did was go to a water source first thing in the morning. Not exactly suspicious,” Reva added.

When it got late in the evening, Tomar finally sat down on his bed to read the new book he had gotten earlier.

“And curtain! That’s it lady and gentleman,” Dirra said while mockingly bowing to the other two. “I’m going home.”

“Dirra,” Reva said, “maybe we should take this more seriously after all. We can’t leave early every night.”

“Come. On. You know what’s going to happen! He’s going to sit there, read without moving a muscle, and eventually fall asleep! I really don’t need to be here for it.”

“Ugh. You’re right,” Reva said while Dirra was already walking away. He turned to Berla. “Give my regards to the king.”

“Right,” she said sarcastically. “And you mine to the High Priest.”

After Dirra and Reva had left, Berla looked back at the boy through a window. The other two had been tailing him for days already, and it appeared as if the boy was as boring and predictable as Dirra said. She sight and finally left as well, as Tomar was nodding off.

Minutes after he had fallen asleep, Tomar’s eyes shot back open. He got out of bed, left the house, and disappeared into the night.

***

I had gone to bed to read my new book and fell asleep quickly, but I suddenly woke up from a sharp pain in my arm.

“Ow! What—”

‘SHIT!’

I was lying on a cold stone floor and from behind me I could hear an ominous growling.