Dieb Fur opened his eyes expecting one of his friends ready to prank him as he was waking up so he was ready to quickly move and try to not get hit by a water balloon, soup, cheese or whatever they were going to throw at him this time, so when he saw that one guy he was tasked to search for, he looked around the room to see where his friends were hiding.

Meanwhile, Gabriel just stood there quietly, barely moving, as if that would help him not to be seen, even though he knew it didn’t work that way. After Dieb had looked all around the room he was now even more confused than before.

- Who sent you here? – He decided to ask, in case one of his buddies had sent him here as a prank itself, which wouldn’t be a joke if it weren’t for the fact that it was unexpected and that Dieb would need to handle this situation by himself, and his friends would probably find his reactions to the situation humorous.

- I… don’t know? – Gabriel tried to sound as lost as possible and he was indeed surprised that this was someone he already knew but it wasn’t someone he wished to see. This was one of the accomplices to the fire that had burned his home, he had confirmed through his boss that the followers of the thief guild had burned his house, and this was the man that had taken him from there by force.

Surprisingly the man seemed to believe what he said and started thinking for a moment before he asked:

- What were you doing just a moment ago? – Gabriel didn’t expect such a question, so he decided to make some time while he thought of a plausible story that would most likely follow a sound logic.

- I… just went up the stairs. – He answered, but the man sitting on the side of the bed shook his head symbolizing that he wanted to know something else. – Before that I was looking at the furniture on the ground floor. – But this wasn’t what Dieb wanted to know, and Gabriel knew that.

- No, no, no. I mean before that, before you got into this house. How did you enter it? – He questioned, expecting for Gabriel to answer his implicit question without needing to say it out loud, just in case his theory was incorrect and maybe he’d need to take more physical actions against this intruder.

- I was going to drink some midnight tea when I suddenly was in another building with tables, chairs and pictures I didn’t recognize. – Gabriel guessed the theory of the owner of this building and based on his reaction it seemed he had hit the nail head-on.

Dieb stood up and guided Gabriel to table which was part of a living room. He made Gabriel sit down on a chair and told him to wait while he prepared something for him in the kitchen on the next room. Soon, he could hear a kettle with boiling water, and it was quite predictable what he would be served.

While Gabriel drank his average tasting tea, Dieb used this chance to talk about what he should do. Clearly, Dieb didn’t want Gabriel to sleep in his home but at the same time he realized that it was quite late and had heard the noises coming from outside, therefore he knew that it was even less likely for Gabriel to leave, so he decided to make a conversation.

- How have you been? – Dieb asked in an attempt to break the silence that had been formed. Gabriel wasn’t really sure what to answer. He barely knew the guy and what he knew wasn’t good.

- Living life, you know. – He gave the most boring answer possible to shut the conversation down, but it didn’t stop Dieb.

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- Awwww, come on! I know you have more interesting stuff going on with your life! Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been tasked to bring you here. – He said as he exaggerated his expressions, wanting to do something other than just sitting, now that he had already been woken up.

Gabriel just sat there quietly for a moment, sipping his tea and trying to suppress his anger that had awoken again after Dieb’s “mocking” commentaries. According to Gabriel, everyone that followed the thief god was partially guilty for the attack. But it was only with Dieb’s next comment that he blew up.

- Don’t be so boring man! If you don’t want to talk about your life, why don’t you tell me how your sister is doing? – Was the sentence that had been the drop that had overspilled the glass.

- How dare you say that! – Gabriel answered and bumped his fist on the table. – You know what you did, yet you dare mock me! I know you took me away from my home so you could attack it! – His voice started increasing in tone. – And now you ask about my sister? She could have died on the fire! The fire that you and your people were behind! Fuck you!

Gabriel stood up and started walking around the table and towards Dieb. He grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him out of his seat while his face reddened, and he screamed more insults at the man he was grabbing. Some tears started falling on his cheeks as well.

- I almost lost everything I cared for… - He threw Dieb to the wall and he fell to the ground, shocked by Gabriel’s story. Gabriel cleaned some of his tears from his face and then continued his angry monologue. – And you have no shame when you’re asking me how she is? How dare you!!!! – He screamed once more until his voice ran out and then started stomping towards Dieb.

But then Dieb spoke, and Gabriel suddenly stopped. While Dieb kept talking Gabriel’s expressions turned grim. Dieb spoke of what he knew from the fire, that some mercenaries had been hired to attack someone over there and that he didn’t know it was him.

He said that the followers of the thief god got to know about the situation, they sent people to help. Dieb explained that they had some allies and storage items near the area that were also damaged so, in a way, they also suffered.

But Gabriel didn’t believe that so easily. After all, that would mean that he had been masterfully lied to by his boss, a thing which he didn’t deny a possibility, but it should have been hard to pull off, especially considering that Gabriel was very weary of everyone after the attack and in every situation where it was brought up.

But when Gabriel was asked if he was given any proof of their actions by Dieb, he realized that he had been given the excuse that it had been burned along with his house, which he accepted, because he had been given help by that guy, but now that he started to get suspicious of him, he realized how bad of an excuse it was. They could perfectly have tortured a single person from the followers, and they would have given information, but there was never an attempt.

Things started clicking on his head, he was given a guard not to protect his sister, but rather to watch over him. He had realized that his boss always knew whether a mission had been successful or a failure before he got to him, another proof that he was watched. It hadn’t bothered him before, but now he realized that it was so that he didn’t learn the truth… Unless Dieb was lying.

- How do I know that YOU are telling the truth? Do you have any proofs of what you have said? – Gabriel questioned Dieb harshly, but his answer surprised me.

- Yes, I do, there are many, actually. The easiest option is to go to the administrative offices where our records are kept and there, we should be able to find documents which say which people were sent and how many resources were invested in the rescue mission. On the topic of the mercenaries… We’ll need to ask for permission to access the documents as that information is usually kept private, although it usually gets out through mouth to mouth rather quickly.

But that the records existed wasn’t enough for Gabriel, so he requested to see them, to which Dieb suggested that they do the next day, especially considering the noises coming from outside which Dieb explained was a fight and if they went outside, they would most likely be caught in it.

Gabriel pondered what to do for a moment and then asked Dieb for the directions of the two places, which he gave and immediately Gabriel stood up and went towards the door, attempting to exit the house, but Dieb tried to convince him to stay. Alas it didn’t work and Dieb then asked him to wait for him to wash the two cups and dust himself off so that he could accompany Gabriel.