One week ago just after Mig had fled the Elven Facility of Verdentrech, Miriel watches as Mig drives off before she heads back to her quarters. Once back she readies herself as the Facility’s alarms go off, the entrance gates have been breached, and the stationary turrets are firing on a suspect. Miriel exits her quarters and joins Liora and Kieran.

“Commander, are you sure this is the path you want to tread”

“Likewise, Higher Elf Command, will not be too pleased if they discover what you have done”

“Do not worry they will not. This stays with us, besides, letting him go is part of my bigger plan. For it to work both he and I need to work together separately, understood”

“Yes, Commander”

“We are with you all the way”

“Good, now let us move the rest of the Facility is no doubt in uproar and confusion at this”

The three of them get out of the isolated area of Verdentrech that kept Mig, they head to see the reports of Mig’s escape, and once there with the rest of the Facility, it is in chaos. Elves are trying to figure out what has happened, many are wondering if an Elf Militant had defected or if something else happened, at that moment a report came in that the suspect on a Speed Chariot had evaded the fire of the stationary turrets and had been lost from sight in the snowy forest.

“Commander Miriel, may you please insight us as to why an unknown suspect was determined to flee from your area of Verdentrech”, said the High Warden, the highest ranking Elf Militant in the Facility, an older Elf with a full beard that shows his longevity as well as his wisdom.

“That is simple, the suspect is an escapee Human prisoner that we were holding”

“Human prisoner? Now since when do we take prisoners”

“It was my call, that Human was a high-ranked Human Forces. I thought that information might be taken from him, so I ordered to keep him alive and stored in a room for interrogation”

“Was any information gained for that Human?”

“Some, although nothing too useful”

“So nothing of value was gained from that Human and instead you brought an unsanctioned Human and let him escape. The responsibility of this failure falls on you”

“I understand”

“High Warden, if I may, I am Liora, employed under Commander Miriel. Our operation with the Human prisoner was not entirely sanctioned by the Commander. It was weaved through certain individuals up Elf Command, thenceforth we were allowed to commence our plan with the capture and interrogation of the Human prisoner”

“Even so, that does not explain why I, as the highest rank and operator of this base, was not informed. Explain that regard, Commander Miriel”

“High Warden, it was a High-Risk Need to Know operation. If successful the praise and reward for our endeavors would have been given, although now that he has escaped there is blame to fall; on me, the Elves of my unit, you High Warden, and Combat Master Ryn”

“Ryn? I know him, what part of this was he involved in?”

“He assisted in the detaining and interrogation of the prisoner, I warned him that interrogation by the use of torture would not get results. Ryn insisted and used tools to beat the prisoner. It could be possible that Ryn might have used something that the prisoner could have then gotten his hands on to pick the lock of the room and escape”

“Were you not guarding the Human, how could he escape without notice?”

“He must have memorized our patterns of movement and escaped in a short time when we were unavailable. Then he must have traversed through the unmonitored back tunnels until he found an exit port with the Speed Chariots”

“Those Humans are crafty, nonetheless, there is blame to fall. Summon over Ryn, all of you will answer to me. I will find the individual to blame”

The High Warden leaves with a manageable anger as Miriel stands there with a calm composure while Liora and Kieran are shaken that they falsified information to the Superior Officer of the Facility as well as pushed the blame on Ryn.

“You two fret not, for it is part of my greater plan. If we can succeed then the whole world will be changed, although I know there will be small sacrifices along the way, I hope there will not be a grand sacrifice”

Later Miriel, Ryn, Liora, and Kieran are summoned by the High Warden to be closely examined for the events of Mig’s escape. The High Warden speaks to Miriel once more as she retells what she had told the High Warden earlier, Miriel is able to get the High Warden to believe her, as he next calls for Ryn. The High Warden begins to examine Ryn about his involvement with Mig’s capture, interrogation, and escape.

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“Now, Combat Master Ryn, you no doubt have heard of the ruckus this morrow of a suspected, Human, fleeing this Facility. I was not informed of such keep within my Facility, although I was told that you had a hand in such, as well as the possibility that you would be at fault for letting that Human escape”

“Me? At fault, I did no such actions. I merely had a hand in the interrogation of that Human. I could not have done anything else as I was taken off, for Commander Miriel to continue her form of interrogation”

“Yes, I was informed on the methods of ‘interrogation’ that were used. You preferred a more hands-on beating, while Commander Miriel was more of a wordsmith”

“Our differences in matters of intelligence gathering are not of value as we both got nothing out of the Human, before, it, was able to dumbfoundingly escape from Verdentrech. If you ask me I would look into and reassign those Guardsmen for their failure to shoot the fleeing Human”

“Of your methods, tools were used were they not? It could not have been a case that in your beating of the Human, you might have unknowingly dropped, left, or misplaced any object that the Human could have then taken, in a moment of unsupervision, to use and escape”

“Of course not, the only tool I used was a stun baton, as a means to torment the Human. I had only a short while before I was taken off by Commander Miriel. I could not have contributed in any way”

The High Warden studies Ryn closely and notices an obscurity on Ryn’s uniform.

“Combat Master, your uniform seems lacking in honoration”

“What?”, said Ryn as he looked down to notice that a pin was missing from his uniform.

“I had not noticed”

“If done right, even the most crafty animal could open a lock. You think a Human could not repeat that”

“No, this does not fall on me. I perhaps did not apply it to my uniform or it fell and was in the possession of Commander Miriel. As a matter of fact, why do we not inspect Commander Miriel’s quarter, she resides on that side of Verdentrech”

“This does not excuse you, although a closer inspection of the area the Human escaped from would serve well, let us good”

The High Warden and Ryn head off to see Miriel in her quarters, in Ryn’s attempt to throw the blame back onto Miriel. Once they get there they are met with a shocking sight, entering Miriel’s quarters.

“Good Spirits, what has happened in here? This quarter is in ruins, Commander”

“High Warden, I can explain”

“No need it seems clear that the fleeing Human stopped within here either in search of you or in search of a path out. Those Human they leave a path of destruction no matter where they are”

Miriel turns her face away in embarrassment that the state of her quarters is not due to Mig, but has been in that state due to her organization. In that moment Ryn takes the chance to argue in his favor, by talking about the state of Miriel’s quarters. He is shut up by the High Warden.

“Enough of your talk, it seems that you had more of a fault in the Human’s escape than Commander Miriel, I shall seek that you shall atone for this fault. You, Combat Master Ryn, shall instruct a mission of locating that Human to kill. If completed you will be atoned for your failures”

“It was not on me”

“Are you challenging my command?”

“No, High Warden, I shall atone”

“Then report to Weapons Operations, you will be fitted with a bow and new gear for your atonement mission”

“Yes, High Warden”

As both the High Warden and Ryn walked away Miriel entered her quarters with a grin growing on her face. She sits on her bed to relax from the tension.

“I knew that the old High Warden would look differently at me. He cannot shake his old customs. Now I am in the clear to proceed with my plan and Ryn takes the fall”

Over the next few days, Miriel works double trying to dig up Elf history and working alongside the High Warden, carrying out Ryn's atonement mission. In those days Miriel has taken the captured gear that once belonged to Mig and keeps it in her quarters to study when a report comes in from Liora and Kieran.

“Commander, there is a situation”

“Ryn has been killed”

“What?”

“You better come with us, Commander”

Miriel follows Liora and Kieran down to the Facility’s Operational Office. Once there Miriel is queued in by the High Warden about what has happened to Ryn.

“Commander Miriel, good of you to join us now”

“High Warden, what happened?”

“Some time ago, within the forest surrounding my Facility, Ryn cut communication with us here in the Operational Office. This morning some scouts were sent and discovered Ryn’s body. According to our medical team, Ryn’s left side suffered quite a few broken bones, and on the right of him a stab wound in his neck”

“He was able to kill Ryn, he is more skilled than I first figured”

“It seems so, that Human somehow got the best of Ryn twice. May the Spirits guide him, for he will not be able to guide himself”

“What is the status of the search for him now?”

“Ryn was the point leader to track the Human down. Now with him dead finding that Human has now become more troubling. However, if that Human can make it out of the forest it would have to travel an unfathomable amount for it to make it anywhere close to any Human Forces. That Human would most likely die”

“I would not be so sure he has proven to outsmart us a few times now. He could pull the odds and make it back”

“I do not believe such, blasphemies ideas, a Human smarter than an Elf. It got lucky from the incompetence of a failure that was killed by it, and that luck of it will soon run out. There is no more need to worry about that Human, instead, we shall move our focus to our next step in Elven Influence”

“Yes, High Warden. I shall be behind and ready to lead”

“Excellent. Commander Miriel, may the Spirits bring you grand aid to your endeavor”

“I sure hope and accept any from the Spirits”

Sometime later back in Miriel’s quarters at nightfall, Miriel can’t help but feel elated that all she has done so far has worked. She thinks back about the High Warden’s dismissal of Mig: “That arrogant old Elf, quick to dismiss Humans, but Mig is not so easy to dismiss. I can not wait to be able to see him again”