What can I say? The risk is acceptable. Without daring no rewards. Without danger no achievement. Without difficulty no innovation.

Last words of the Magister Rätsel, inscribed at the foot of the Magisterium, Irin.

After asking one of Zarune's officers for directions, Jonah eventually found the princess in a courtyard that the light of dawn had not yet illuminated. She was listening to the report of an Eldar that the shadows were hiding. Jonah has concentrated, a fine weave hides the identity of the man, or woman, difficult to say. He tried to pierce the veil but found himself unable to do so, the weave itself was hiding from his senses, making it unreadable, if he hadn't seen Zarune looking in that direction he wouldn't have even seen it.

Jonah wondered, had there been these Eldar around before and they hadn't seen them? Even though he couldn't perceive it, Jonah began to think, how could he come up with a weave that would achieve this kind of obscuration? If he wanted to be invisible, maybe he could bend the light? Even if he didn't know how he could do that, the idea was not incongruous, yet he doubted that the Eldar in question would use such a weave, he managed to see it, there was no mirage effect as he thought it might have as a consequence of such a weave. Moreover, he was in the shadow, and to weave light, he would need... light. Weaving the shadow in this case? How could one weave what did not exist? Lënael had not given them a solution for this question, one could use steam to obscure, light to dazzle, but the shadow was an absence of light. He had just thought that light was not the solution but perhaps he was wrong, instead of covering himself with light to hide, perhaps he should push it away? Possibly, but for the effect to be useful, he would need such a fine weave that he could adapt to different light levels, not to mention that if he didn't want to blind himself he would have to leave a hole in the weave for the light to reach his eyes. Yes, this would be a solution, but only for use in low-light areas or where such variations would be sufficiently hidden so as not to be too visible. Regretting a little that he couldn't create true invisibility Jonah frowned in displeasure. He had to think about it a bit more.

Lost as he was in his thoughts, he belatedly realized that Zarune was looking at him calmly, waiting for him to speak. Jonah quickly looked around, the second Eldar was nowhere to be found. Jonah met Zarune's eyes and wisely decided not to ask any questions.

- May I speak with you?

Zarune looked at him, before giving a small sign for him to accompany her as she began to walk through the palace corridors.

Jonah wondered how to phrase what he would be asking her as they walked. Zarune was patient and the silence between them grew.

Finally, concluding that there was no point in procrastinating any longer, Jonah began.

- I have the feeling that our presence in Tuanon is much more unstable than in Irvanon. I expect us to be attacked.

Zarune glanced at her. She finally answered him after a few seconds of silence.

- We are close to the province of Trishera, and the House of Living Fire has a lot of influence in the city of Tuanon.

- Your father? He's trying to kill us then.

Zarune shook her head.

- You may not be what he expected, and he would certainly prefer to see you executed, but Trishera's best interests come before his feelings.

- Trishera. We haven't talked much about Eldar politics since we've been here, mostly in physical and spiritual preparation with little time for anything else, could you elaborate for me?

Zarune sighed.

- It's not of much interest to me to explain this to you.

Jonah paused before looking at her firmly.

- Whatever's going on will have a direct impact on us.

- There's nothing you could do about it anyway.

- We may have little control over our lives right now, but trust me, you've prepared us for more than you know, I'm sure we could surprise you.

Zarune looked at him thoughtfully, before starting to walk again. Jonah followed her.

- The Trishera of the House of Living Fire are powerful, that they have managed to get their heir married into the imperial family, and even more so with the empress, the reigning queen, shows their influence. However, like all houses, there are many currents and influences within the house. Although a house generally has a common goal for all its members, some of them consider themselves better equipped to achieve that goal than others. The Trishera has held the seat of the Living Fires longer than any other noble family in the kingdom, their lineage is as old as that of the imperial family. So old that they have given their name to the city and province in which their house sits.

After taking the time to collect these thoughts, or perhaps to think about what she wanted to reveal to Jonah or not, she continued.

- The war in the South impacts the Trishera first, they are the ones who have control of the Jengai Pass, and even though the imperial family owns the fortress they have the only possible access to the South. Many of their interests are present there. Mining resources, trade, agriculture. Even though the Rhogars are globally primitive they still have access to many of the resources required in the Kingdom. And as all trade is forbidden with the north it is the only foreign trade route of the broken empire. A trade route was lost with the recent uprising of the Rhogar peoples and their push north.

- I can see where this might be a concern, but if we can close off the north as you wanted, that should help the Trishera, so why should their influence be a threat to us? Even if they hate us, as I've seen, their interest in saving us should outweigh their prejudice.

- Although I think you underestimate the strength of these prejudices, you are right. It's not the Trishera that are the problem. It's the House of Living Fire. For the first time in 3,000 years, House Trishera has lost a great deal of influence and political choice. For the first time in 3000 years, the minor houses of the Living-Fire have seen the opportunity to win a seat for themselves.

After giving him a serious look Zarune resumed.

- The war in the south weakens the Trishera, much more than it weakens the Living-Fire. The Eldar are proud, the solution we found, reactivating the access towers is the easiest solution according to them. They think that even if you fail, they will still be able to defend their interests.

Zarune clutched the sword on her hip fiercely.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

- They're wrong, they underestimate the threat, they don't believe the reports of the Dark Path, or at least pretend not to realize what it entails.

She looked at Jonah.

- For them, failure, and thus the death or disappearance of humans, would be an acceptable loss. Better still, the Trishera have invested a lot in this plan, worse they are humans which are the solution, which goes against everything the Living-Fire believe, responding by ending this disgrace would be a major advantage for the minor houses.

Somberly Jonah spoke again.

- So it is you who are the cause of our presence here. I suspected as much, but I couldn't imagine after the way we've dealt with you that you could be so lacking in responsibility.

Zarune remained silent.

- You are wrong. You are wrong in so many ways. We have given you more than we ever gave. Never has the Weave been taught to a human, we have trained you in our arts of combat, in the mastery of our arts. We have revealed secrets to you that no human has ever known, that even some Eldar do not know. You don't realise how superior you are to all mortals that exist.

- What a consolation prize that must be! You've torn us away from our homes, our families! You use us to solve your problems! It is the least you can do to prepare us for what you are sending us to do.

Zarune remained calm as Jonah raised his voice, in the distance some of the servants turned at his voice. Realizing who they were they quickly left. Zarune glanced at him but remained silent. Jonah recognized the look, it was the look of someone hiding a secret. Jonah shuddered, he wanted to ask the question but didn't dare, not only because he was sure she wouldn't answer him. What were they not telling him? Now he knew, they were the reason for their presence in this world, yet there was something else, something is hidden behind it. Jonah wanted to know, he desperately wanted to know, but an instinct he didn't know he has told him it wasn't time yet. So Jonah kept silent, he kept silent but he would not forget. Jonah was not a grudge-holder, nor was he particularly angry, but at this moment he felt like doing something violent. Not for himself, no, but for what the choices the Eldar had made for them had done to his friends, his companions.

Jonah swallowed the lump in his throat and said without emotion.

- So there are agents of the Living Fires in Tuanon, and they will seek to kill us to gain influence in their house.

Zarune said nothing for a moment before answering with a single word.

- Yes.

- Why then didn't you lock us up in the palace? You wouldn't be on the first restriction given! Leila and Aurora are out there alone, what if they were attacked?

- They're not alone.

Jonah swallowed the words in his throat, thinking.

- You're using us again.

- Yes, I am.

- You want them to try something, so you can catch them.

- Yes.

- Who are you doing this for, Zarune? For your father and the Trishera? For your mother and the imperial family?

Zarune turned to him, a cold rage lurking in her eyes.

- For the Eldar, for the Empire.

With those last words, she left. Jonah watched her walk away before sighing. He rubbed his forehead before saying.

- Did you hear that?

- Only part of it.

Mustapha came out of the shadows, a sad smile on his lips and added.

- What a mess we are.

- Always.

Mustapha took a breath before smiling optimistically at him.

- And we will do what we must, and we enjoy what we can. That's how life is, sometimes we have no control over it, so we take every little moment of happiness that exists and we enjoy it. And sometimes, that's enough.

Jonah smiled sadly but gratefully at her.

- Weren't you supposed to stay with Marie?

- She locked herself in her room. You know her, I tried to get her out of her cocoon but I failed. After what I just heard, maybe it's for the best. At least in the palace, she will be safe.

- Is that so?

- Maybe, maybe not. What I think is that there's less chance of them trying something here, especially with the whole culture of hospitality. Can you imagine if one of their guests was murdered in their house? I mean in their palace?

Jonah laughed.

- I don't know enough about their culture to know that! Maybe they'd find it acceptable, probably a matter of pride that if the guest can't defend himself then he doesn't deserve hospitality.

Mustapha looked worried.

- I hope that's not the case.

Jonah raised a soothing hand.

- I'm kidding my friend, I'm kidding.

- Ah, please Jonah, leave the jokes to me! You're not very good at them.

Jonah let out a real laugh. Mustapha laughed with him, before adding.

- Also, two of Zarune's friends are in the common room of the flats, probably to watch over her.

- Well, at least they're not putting us in danger recklessly.

- Maybe I'll even go back, among those two there's this pretty redhead, she always gave me cold looks, but I feel like I have a chance!

Jonah gave her a knowing look.

- Do you want to come with me to the flat? Resumed Mustapha.

- No, I think I'll go and train, we'll have spent the last three weeks on Teriathe's back, I don't want to lose my skills.

Mustapha sighed.

- Again with the spear sword? A good old sword is enough, especially if you have to fight humanoids, that's what it was made for after all. Not that I want to be, careful! But if I have to fight other men I might as well use what was forged for that. Although if I think about it maybe I should have trained with a bow! What an idiot!

Jonah laughed and replied.

- It's called a Svärdstav, and if you want to have a weapon to use against others, a good old spear would be ideal.

As they walked back to their flat, Jonah to get his weapons and go to the training grounds and Mustapha to try to seduce an Eldar woman, which Jonah thought was a long shot, and watch over Marie they continued to throw jokes at each other.

Jonah was really happy to have gotten to know him, the absence of his two best friends was still weighing on him but he was happy to have met Mustapha, he almost felt like he was back in simpler times.

After arriving in the flat he retrieved his weapon and put on his armour. It took him a while to find a servant, they avoided the humans relentlessly. Jonah didn't know how they managed to see him before he saw them, then silently slip away, but it was a very frustrating search. Finally, he managed to catch one by chance at the corner of a corridor, from the foot that disappeared in the distance she must have been abandoned by her colleagues. Before she could leave Jonah called out to her.

- Hey!

Jonah took a long stride to catch her before she escaped. Seeing her eyes widen in apprehension Jonah slowed down before speaking softly to her, leaning on his Svärdstav.

- Could you show me the barracks or any place where I can train?

The Eldar woman looked longingly down the corridor with envy, before meeting his gaze and bowing to him.

- Of course Sir, please follow me.

After a few minutes of very uncomfortable silence, they arrived at an open inner square of the palace. This was used by several Eldar who were training for battle. There was still plenty of room for Jonah to train without disturbing them.

- Here you are, Sir.

Before he could even think of thanking her, she curtsied and trotted off, quickly.

Jonah sighed before finding a corner of the courtyard where he wouldn't be a nuisance. Ignoring the stares of the soldiers already present, Jonah concentrated on his training. He had noticed that the guards of the House of Shards were training with different techniques than the one he was taught. Also, they were using augmentation with little skill from what he could see. In any case with much less skill than the Imperial Palace Guards Jonah had trained with. Even Mat was better at augmentation than they were, even though he'd tried to hide how much he was struggling with it, Jonah had noticed how frustrated he was with the lesser results he'd had compared to the rest of their companions.

Jonah breathed in before using thin strands of the weave to increase his muscle density, blood pressure, and the hardness of his skin to keep him from tearing with the increased movement and range of motion. Using the moves his apprentice guard friends had taught him, Jonah began to dance. He was looking to expand himself, he was looking for effort so he concentrated on the movements, gradually increasing his speed. He did not use external weaves as Lenael had taught him, preferring to concentrate on mastering his martial skills.

Jonah had practised combat sports in the past, although he had given them up after entering university, preferring to concentrate on his studies, but never before had he reached such a level of fulfilment through training. It made him feel different, and if he wasn't looking forward to a situation where he would have to fight for his life he felt ready, physically ready with the skills to survive. The only thing that remained unknown was whether he would have the mental capacity to face death and deliver it. But only a real fight of life and death would bring him this confirmation and Jonah knew for sure, it was only a matter of time before he had to fight for his life and those of his friends.

Jonah didn't realise it, but the Eldar on the training ground had stopped and started to look at him. And even if he had realized it, he couldn't see in the looks they exchanged the shock they had at seeing him train, nor the fear it aroused in them.