When they reached the end of the staircase, only a single, brightly lit hall met them. The gray of the stone and the lack of windows with the soft rugs underfoot, still seemed surprisingly intimidating to Katerin.

She had climbed these steps a thousand times, and though she was fully grown now, she felt as though she was once again walking to explain to Halemeda just why she had broken the rules, and just why she should not be expelled, and just how hard she would work, to do better. And she had always done better, though she had only found quieter ways to break the rules.

The end of the hallway opened to a small office, and a gnome looked up as Katerin and her companions entered. A cup of tea sat steaming beside him.

"Gimery!" Katerin said, smiling in delight towards the graying gnome. A feat, she was sure, both that he was gray, as gnomes preferred to never be seen as elders, and too that he was still the secretary to headmistress Halemeda.

He had always been strict, and at times he could seem uncaring, but Katerin knew him to be loyal to the Tower alone.

He sighed looked up from a book with a confused expression. "My girl, I don't know why you've climbed so far, unless you're looking for punishment. Halemeda is busy right now."

"Just tell her Katerin came to visit, and would love to see her if she has the time?"

Gimery looked at her with narrowed eyes. "You're not Katerin. Girl's been gone for years. She was not so proudly postured, always up here waiting for her friends with her nose in a book, instead of actual magic."

Fykes had stiffened as she had said her name.

"And she didn't have more than two friends," the gnome continued, eyeing Fykes, Arjiah and Brazen.

Katerin sighed, and dropped her illusory appearance, knowing that unless she gave Gimery her true intentions, she would not make it in the hall. She had also considered the idea that he already knew she wore an illusion and had not bothered to mention it. Stubborn old guardian that he was. Though she could not blame him. He dealt with every mischievous young mage here and dealt with them well enough to turn more than one from their ways. "I was reading, because I had tests, and I didn't make excuses because my 'no more than two' friends, made plenty of their own."

The gnome smiled at her as the spell faded, in his eyes was a knowing look. "See, that's what Katerin looks like." He harrumphed. "The guard let you in like that?"

"They checked the log against the fake name I gave them, first." No unease found Katerin as she spoke. She knew Gimery was loyal to Halemeda, and he had always been. And she knew that even if he disapproved of her methods, he could not do much over this particular infraction.

Gimery sighed, and eyed her with distaste. "Is your visit urgent?"

"Just slightly," she said, with a smirk. "I am a wanted woman, after all."

"A criminal." He harrumphed. "What did you do to get all those posters put up?"

"I'll tell you as soon as I know."

"Tell Halemeda first. She gets more satisfaction from such curiosities." Gimery hopped down from his chair with one last longing look at his tea and slipped into the door beyond his desk.

"He's an interesting fellow," Arjiah said, as the gnome disappeared.

"Stern, and occasionally mean with his words, but his job is not tending to flowers." Katerin shrugged. "Besides, he has an incredible memory. It's like he remembers every face, and conversation. I think I might be grumpy, too, if I had to remember every nasty thing the students said." 

Katerin looked around with a deep breath, and remembered a thousand memories, of cleaning the rugs with a brush and a bucket, of waiting for Kindra and Mordai, of running down the steps with the lightest of feelings after every punishment was done.

"Are you alright?" Fykes asked her, when she was silent.

She squeezed his hand. "Just reminiscing. Thank you for coming with me."

Fykes grinned. "Why would we leave you to climb all those stairs, alone?"

Before she could respond, Gimery exited Halemeda's office and waved them forward. "She'll see you Katerin, and one of your friends," he said.

Brazen looked more taken with the small window than he did with the idea of going anywhere else, and Arjiah waved a hand. "Go on," she said.

Gimery closed the door behind Katerin and Fykes with a quiet click.

Halemeda's office was a mixture of red, tan and gold, and just as rich as it had ever been. Her desk was a dark stained wood with gold filigree around it. And the woman that sat beyond the desk was a sight to behold. She looked no older than she had when Katerin had first met her, and her soft lips gleamed crimson. She uncrossed her legs and stood from her padded high-backed chair with all the grace of a dancer, and her gown swished across the floor as she embraced Katerin.

Halemeda placed both her hands on Katerin's face and kissed each cheek, leaving stains. "Oh, my dear Katerin."

Katerin's memories pulled her thoughts to the many times she listened to that song-like voice that could turn stern within a moments notice. "It's good to see you," Katerin said, ignoring the red stain on her cheeks. "Let me introduce Gregorio Fykes," Katerin turned as Halemeda did, and saw the twinkle in the woman's eyes. The charms of an enchantress never do fade, she thought, remembering the lyrics of a song she had heard as a child.

"It's a pleasure," Halemeda said, as she held out a hand.

Fykes bent in the most gentlemanly manner and kissed Halemeda's hand. "The pleasure is all mine, Headmistress. I've heard wonderful things about you."

Halemeda eyed Katerin with a narrow but playful stare. "I'm sad to say this is the first I've heard of you." She gestured to the chairs around her desk and swished back to her chair. "Please sit." She looked to Katerin, "Surely you met this one somewhere more civilized than that Itrea you're so fond of, now."

"I met him on the very shore of the frontier," Katerin said.

"A mystery then," she replied, smiling sweetly to Fykes.

Katerin took her seat, her thoughts fighting her control. She wanted to ask about the city, about Kindra and Mordai, and the guards. But she knew better than to rush the headmistress' formalities. Halemeda was never one to skip formalities, and it had done her many favors.

"Wine?" Halemeda asked.

Katerin agreed, knowing better than to refuse.

The headmistress gestured delicately, and three crystal glasses floated from the bar to land before each of them. She looked to Katerin with a question in her eyes, and Katerin nodded in response. A decanter that matched the glasses floated from the bar at her gesture and filled each of their glasses only halfway.

Halemeda gave a sharp nod. "You haven't lost your touch."

"I never could." You only made me practice a thousand times, she thought.

The Headmistress sighed. "I wish I could say how delighted I am that you've come to visit me, and tell me of your travels, but I know better. I remember the girl who refused the invitation to devote herself to the study of enchantments under me, in favor of the evocation you so adore. You aren't here to explain how you managed to achieve a title and secure a minor station of nobility, so I'll assume you have questions."

"I can't believe she turned you down, headmistress." Fykes said, looking as though he was enjoying the entire atmosphere of the room, and especially Halemeda and her formal charm.

Graiden was never one for any of the show that Halemeda liked to express, and Katerin found it rather funny that Fykes looked more comfortable in this office, than he ever did attending to anything similar on Itrea.

"I do have questions." Katerin unclasped her hands and took a breath. "What in the hells in happening?"

Halemeda snorted, and her perfect honey-tipped curls bounced. "If only I could give you a full answer. Where do you want me to start?" The flirty, demure attitude was lost beneath seriousness.

"Is the Tower allied with Mordai's cause?"

The look in Halemeda's eyes was answer enough, but the headmistress spoke anyway. "I'm almost insulted that you think I would side with such a child, or make any kind of alliance so early in these events."

"I could never assume what choice you might make. Do you know why he's looking for me?"

Halemeda shrugged, causing her perfectly done hair to shift and glow in the magical lighting of the room. "Because you were often his distant conscience, and he doesn't want you to interfere in his new found leadership?" She gave Katerin a studious look. "I assume that's why you are here."

"I came only for information."

"You have a fond tendency to react when you learn new things, darling." Halemeda sipped her wine, with a delicate hand on her wine glass and a perfectly formal pout of her lips. "The Tower will not side with the cities plans. They are marching to war, and I will be not part of it."

"War?" Katerin blinked, unable to emulate the composure that Halemeda had while she sipped her wine. "War with whom?"

"I've no idea in the slightest. But the armies marched, and they haven't returned. I am not privy to too much information, and I regret to say that I could not get a spy of any kind into the castle, in recent days."

"Did they march north, or towards the port cities?" Fykes asked.

"Four armies left the city gates. At first I had assumed they would move to challenge the dwarves in the north, but they moved west and south as well. Cadara, and Errwood Bay pay their taxes, but they have no hard loyalty outside of trade to the dwarves, so they may well move for ships." She sighed. "It is difficult to predict a plot of idiocy... and it is difficult to speak in any fondness of those who murder children. Bernard was not involved in any cult activity, if you ask me. It was surely a ruse. He was too honest a man for that, surely he was a good enough king to his people that his children did not deserve the treatment they received."

"Honesty over simple matters can often hide deeper intentions," Katerin said, watching the tension in the headmistress' shoulders.

"Bernard supported the Tower. I will not support the injustice done unto his family. Some general came and asked." She sniffed. "He asked if I harbored the children, too."

Katerin nodded. She knew that the eldest princess, Kieneltra, had studied often at the Tower, and knew from the many praises that she was a gifted mage. Halemeda, for all her formality and intolerance of idiocy, took a strong interest in her gifted students, and though she looked as though she had never worked a day in her life, Katerin knew that she worked herself to the bone for her students and staff. "Is there anyone I could speak to learn more? I heard... rumor of a resistance beginning to form."

"I have no clue, darling. I am keeping my nose within my business, for the moment. So long as no one threatens me, I am content to sit here and watch the whole thing blow over."

Katerin grimaced. Halemeda was the best connected woman that she knew in the city. This was her best place for leads on any kind of way of putting this mess into an order that made sense.

Halemeda studied Katerin's face. "I am keeping most of the mages close. Without use of teleportation... we are effectively stuck."

"You didn't block the use of teleportation?"

"No, darling. Why would I net the city against my best means of escape?"

"Then who did?" Fykes asked.

Halemeda flicked a stray lock of her blonde hair from one pristine eyebrow. "The new king, I would assume." Her tone was tired, as if she spent all her days explaining things to children.

Katerin's nose scrunched. "How?"

"He is taking the place of a king. Though I know that it was none of my mages. It was likely done more as a message to the Tower, and the people, more than a war tactic, though it could serve a double purpose. If he marches to war, then that is an effective way to keep enemies from entering without passing through the gates." Halemeda's tone held the unspoken thought that she might just welcome his enemies, and her eyes flicked to the window. "If you puzzle out how it came to be during your stay, please feel free to rid me of it."

Katerin chewed her lip and grimaced. "I'll look into it... Is... Is Kindra with Mordai?"

Halemeda's face scrunched before it grew sympathetic. "I was hoping she was with you. Though, I doubt she's with Mordai. She's hard to miss, even with chaos all about us. Last I knew she was working with a group of mercenaries."

Katerin thought for a moment. "In Saresbrook?"

Halemeda arced an eyebrow.

"It's a tiny village a few days north. Mostly hunters. At least... it used to be."

"I don't know, darling, but your guess is as good as mine."

"One other thing, do you know a woman named Urgist?"

"Urgist Van'Damas?"

Katerin shrugged. "I only have her first name. She attends to business at the Verin View."

Halemeda hissed through her teeth. "That's Van'Damas, then. I'd advise you to stay away from that lot. Urgist is a very cunning woman."

"Is she Ill-intentioned?" Fykes spoke up again, swirling the last of the wine in his glass.

"She is self-intentioned, and that is far worse." Halemeda turned back to Katerin. "Why mention her name? Did you meet her?"

"No. A... friend of mine, told me of her involvement in the resistance."

Halemeda grinned. "My, you have spies, now? Interesting." She sighed, one finger trailing the top of her wine glass. "Any backing from Urgist will be purely selfish. But, if you can find a reason for her motives, you can predict her intentions. Just be careful with her and her associates."

"I have no desire to familiarize myself with anyone in the Syndicate," Katerin admitted.

"Nor should you. But, if you can use them to fix this mess, you should."

Katerin blinked, feeling a momentary panic. She just wanted to find Mordai and talk him out of all of this. She wanted no part in the politics, or the chaos.

"That is your purpose here, is it not?"

Oh, he can go to the hells, Katerin thought of Lugaria's warnings, straightening her shoulders. "I suppose it is." She would not be the reason the city had so many problems. She was only here to help them.

"Well, I will help you however I can, so long as it is not public. I cannot afford to endanger my mages."

"I understand," Katerin said. She grabbed Halemeda's hand across the table. "I appreciate it. It's nice to know that I'm still welcome, somewhere."

"You are always welcome here. And I'll always have a job for you among the professors, should nobility fail to work for you." Halemeda brushed a stray hair from her face. "Now, as much as I enjoyed seeing you, I do have things to do."

Katerin laughed and stood. "Of course, Headmistress. Thank you for the visit and the information."

"I'll keep an eye out." Halemeda rose, and looked across them, her gaze lingering on Fykes for a moment longer than most would consider proper. "One of these days you'll both have to join me for a chat that doesn't involve war and chaos."

As Katerin and Fykes made their way out of the office to rejoin their friends, Fykes was grinning. "She was quite a character."

Katerin laughed, a short, snorting sound. "She always has been." But as soon as she made the comment, the jovial feeling faded. "Gods. I need to find Kindra."

"You think so?"

"I'm worried. She isn't the most logical when she's angry, and I have a feeling this whole... mess might trigger that anger."