"Took you long enough to show up," Ulsper grumbled, tucking a throwing knife back beneath his sleeve as the presence he had sensed behind him shifted its hood. "Though I thought you knew better than to sneak up on me like that."

Seolosu came to stand by his shoulder, checking the street around them before muttering a reply. "Your precious Imperial Guard's been watching me for days," she said, a tense note of annoyance tinging her words.

"Really? I didn't know Kalasha had a thing for women," Ulsper replied, regretting his comment as soon as the general's elbow hit his rib. "Ouch!"

"If you're not going to be serious about this, I'm leaving," Seolosu said. A quarry wagon rumbled past their spot at the corner of the street, nearly drowning out her words. "Where's Saer Lon?"

No sooner had she asked the question than a group of children barely waist-high darted past like firefish, squealing and laughing as they chased the leader who held a hunk of bread in his grubby hands. Like nearly everyone else in this part of this city, the children's clothes were patched and thin, and judging by the red blotches on the children's cheeks, hardly sufficient to protect them from the cold spring air.

"She went to confirm Uhi's meeting spot is secure," Ulsper answered, clenching his jaw and pressing back more firmly against the wall of the shabby temple behind them as more people, goats, and horses passed by. Not for the first time that afternoon, he wished for a higher vantage point from which to survey the crowd around them. There wasn't enough room to move, here on the ground, and it was always important to have a place to jump to, if the situation got too dangerous.

"Has she been any better, lately?" Seolosu asked, and Ulsper flicked his gaze curiously in her direction. "The drinking, I mean."

Ulsper let out a breath. "Marginally."

Seolosu sighed and shifted against the wall, faded red paint dust flecking onto her shoulders at the motion. A quick check had Ulsper realizing that he, too, was now bedecked in the stuff.

"We're going to stand out like two glowing lanterns," he muttered in disgust, pointing at the general's own light green coat. She hastened to brush off the powdery substance, but it only seemed to spread and she soon gave up, as her frantic motions only drew more eyes in their direction.

"What can we do?" she hissed. "If I wanted to stand out, I should have just worn my red ceremonial cape, at this rate!"

Ulsper looked around. Aside from the throngs of worshipers coming to visit at the temple, there was an apothecary and blacksmith's shop across the narrow street, neither of which would be very useful in this case.

He looked back to the temple behind them, its pointed black roof just visible above the trees behind the courtyard wall.

"Let's go in," he said. "I think I have an idea. We'll look silly, but it should work."

Seolosu frowned. "What are you—ah!"

Ulsper grabbed the general's hand, pulling her into the throng of people that flowed toward the arched double doors at the temple's courtyard entrance. Each door was painted with scenes depicting the four realms of Mil-chi, the religion prominent in this region. At the top of the doors was the heavenly realm, painted in shades of blue and white that had faded to gray due to bouts of bad weather. Cloud-bearded gods rode upon glowing scaled steeds and held the stars at their fingertips. Below the heavenly realm were the beasts; the revered Five-Headed Hare with a head to look for truth in each cardinal direction and heavenward, the three-winged Green Serpent who brought law and justice from the gods, and the goat-headed Guardian of Mountains among the many creatures Ulsper could recognize in the various writhing and winged shapes depicted on the wood. The realm below, with humans, was just above the lowest realm of demons, and at times it was difficult to distinguish where the third realm ended and the fourth began. Ulsper shook his head at the depiction and stepped over the threshold, making sure not to lose his grip on Seolosu as the jostling crowd squeezed through the entryway.

"What if Saer Lon comes back and we're not there?" Seolosu objected as Ulsper continued to lead them further into the courtyard.

"Then she'll have to wait," he replied simply, casting a glance around to the walls that now surrounded them, boxing them in. Though he was glad to no longer be stuck inside the safe house, the walls here were hampering his enjoyment of the outdoors a bit.

"And you're sure Nem Koel stayed with Suthe?" Seolosu asked, finally prying her hand out of Ulsper's grasp with a glare that warned him not to do it again.

He continued walking. "Yes. Neither were happy, but I got them to understand that they couldn't come. Not only would Uhi be frightened off by so many people, but Suthe's traits are still too volatile and Nem Koel would only be useful to serve as her translator.

"I am impressed the girl's crossed into so many countries by using her abilities, though," Seolosu said. "I'd say she learned the more difficult skills before the easier ones. Using her abilities to enter Sylterra, and Andilir? Perhaps she's more powerful than she realizes."

"And yet, she can't sit still for more than thirty minutes of meditation," Ulsper muttered.

Seolosu quirked an eyebrow. "Well, who does that remind you of? When Saer Lon and I were teaching you—"

She broke off when she realized they had come to a stop in front of one of the trees in the courtyard. "What are you thinking?"

Ulsper gave a sheepish grin before turning his back to lean against the tree, then slowly shrugged his shoulders. Bark and dirt crumbled onto the back of his coat. "I did say we'd look silly."

A quick glance at his jacket's fabric showed that his strategy had worked—red flakes of paint had either been scratched off or were now hidden beneath darker chips of bark and tree dirt.

"More than silly, we look ridiculous," Seolosu grumbled, moving to the other side of the tree and doing her best to look like she was just resting while actually trying to rub the red powder off. "I feel like an itchy bear."

Ulsper snorted at the statement, but the smile fell from his face when he noticed the metal boxes lined up along the wall in one corner of the courtyard. The unpolished, dented steel sat on four clawed legs and each was inset with a glowing blue stone in its center that pulsed with an unnatural light. Though in the far corner of the courtyard, they still stood out glaringly against the old red walls and traditional wood-and-tile architecture of the rest of the temple grounds.

"When did they start stationing clockwork soldiers inside temple grounds?" he asked in a low voice, still keeping his eyes on the glowing vessels that housed the metal soldiers. The stones that powered the creatures were mined daily deep in the mountains of Andilir. The rocks were just strange relics from the time of dragons, people said—dragon science. But Ulsper knew that even disregarding the blue stones, the fact that the machines were controlled with runes had nothing to do with science. It was magic, hidden under the veil of another name. Ulsper wondered just how many sectors of magic there had been, before the dragons had been eradicated and the practice was considered a crime.

"Ever since the Rebel King's attempted assassination at Bright Sky Temple two years ago," Seolosu answered, finding her jacket satisfactorily rid of red paint flecks and stepping away from her tree, leaving the trunk in a light dusting of red. "They're in all the temples now. Just another reminder that we need to get this meeting over with before nightfall."

"Wasn't planning to forget," Ulsper said, looking back towards the courtyard doors. "Let's see if Saer Lon is back yet."

Weaving through the throngs of temple worshipers, Ulsper and Seolosu made it back to the main road and resumed their position along the outer wall, this time careful not to lean their backs against it.

"She's late," Seolosu hissed. "Why is she always late?"

"At least it gave us ample time to correct our mistake," Ulsper said. "Now our clothes are just as dirty as everyone else's in this part of town."

"I just washed my jacket," Seolosu grumbled. "I didn't need to get it dirty again so soon."

Ulsper was about to reply, when a dark figure in the crowd caught his eye.

"You've got to be kidding," he muttered, checking that his hood cast his face in enough shadow and bracing for the extra attention they were about to get from passerby. When Seolosu saw what had caught his attention, she let out a sigh and shook her head.

"Are you trying to let everyone know that you're up to no good?" she muttered once the approaching figure had gotten within earshot.

Saer Lon, decked head-to-foot in black, gave a careless shrug. "I figure I still look hungover enough that no one will really take me seriously." She tugged a hand through her wild hair in a half-hearted attempt to straighten it, pulling a face as her fingers snagged on a knot.

"You look like an assassin," Seolosu muttered, disapproval heavy in her tone. "Minus the hood. I thought we had stressed the subtlety part?" She gestured at the ordinary green and brown jackets that she and Ulsper wore, a far cry from Saer Lon's more sinister-looking outfit.

"You two are the ones who stand out, and because of your hoods," Saer Lon shot back. "I'm no longer a distinguished member of the military, nor do I have a bounty on my head—" that last part was whispered, with a sharp glance in Ulsper's direction, "—so I don't need to cover my face like a monk. Now, rather than stand here and continue to draw stares as we argue, let's get moving."

At her words, Saer Lon turned on her heel and marched off in the direction she had come from, black cloack swishing behind her like a phantom. Ulsper shared a wary glance with Seolosu before the general set off, and then he trailed behind. Though they were trying not to appear so obvious that they were all following one another, Ulsper could tell that they still attracted several pair of eyes. Perhaps Saer Lon was right and the hoods were a bit suspicious in the middle of the day, but it was either that or show his foreign face that more likely than not would be recognized almost immediately.

Self-consciously pulling his hood lower, Ulsper avoided the gazes of curious miners and side-stepped hand-pulled carts as their small group continued down the street. Saer Lon had arranged to meet in this part of the city because it was far enough away from the safe house, so that if Kalasha or the other Imperial Guards heard reports of his presence here, a more detailed search of the area wouldn't find anything. There was, however, a greater possibility that Kalasha already had her team searching around here, as it was a poorer neighborhood on the outskirts of Fai, and theoretically an ideal place for a wanted criminal to hide.

The building Saer Lon led them to looked about ready to collapse in on itself, with no sign visible on the outside of the structure to hint at what kind of establishment it was. The rickety door, when Saer Lon opened it, let out a moan that Ulsper could hear even from halfway down the street, and he and Seolosu hurried to slip inside as Saer Lon held it open for them. Once Ulsper was in, the door closed with another load protest.

"I'm starting to think you really don't understand how to be discreet," Seolosu commented, crossing her arms and facing Saer Lon. "I don't think there's any other building in all of Fai with a door as loud as this one.

"Think of it this way," Saer Lon said, "no one is going to expect illicit activities with such an obvious entrance. I've been smuggling for years—you think I don't know how this works?"

"Let's just get this over with as quickly as possible, shall we?" Ulsper said, interrupting the brewing argument. Though he had to agree with Seolosu about the apparent lack of concern shown thus far, Saer Lon had given him her word that he could trust her. He would just have to hope that she knew what she was doing.

Saer Lon made a displeased noise at the back of her throat, but said nothing more about the issue. "This way," she said, turning to lead them down a windowless hallway lit with flickering oil lamps. Plain wooden doors, identical in shape and color, were set into the left wall at intervals. When Saer Lon reached the penultimate door, she stopped short, and turned to Ulsper.

"Wait in there," she whispered. "You'll be able to hear the conversation if you press your ear to the wall. I'll introduce Uhi to Seolosu and we'll look into the answers you need."

Ulsper gave a short nod and slipped through the door, making sure it was shut firmly behind him. Inside the room, he was met with white plastered walls, a three-legged table and stool, and an old bed frame that hadn't seen use in years, judging by the dust. Ulsper assumed the place had once been a cheap boarding house that, when fallen into disrepair, had been overtaken by the illegal-trade network that Saer Lon was now a part of. He couldn't imagine any other reason for why else someone would still bother to refill and light the oil lamps in the hallway of such a condemned building.

A muted scraping and shuffling from the other side of the right wall announced Saer Lon and Seolosu's entry to the room next door, and Ulsper stepped closer to listen to the conversation.

"This is the buyer I was telling you about earlier," Saer Lon said first to Uhi. "She's looking for an heirloom that's been passed down through her family, dating back to the Pretian Era. It was lost during the uprising of the Rebel King." The three of them had agreed that it was best if Seolosu acted as interrogator, since Saer Lon's attempts at convincing Uhi to meet with Ulsper had been met with a resounding no. Apparently, Ulsper's drunken act had made an irreparable impression on the older man, and not even the prospect of a business deal could convince the smuggler to deal with someone who had already seen too much.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Ulsper heard Seolosu say, and the tap of boots on wood had him imagining the general stepping closer to the older man in an act of earnestness. "When I heard that you might know of someone familiar with Pretian designs, I immediately asked Saer Lon to introduce me. This heirloom is so important to my family—"

"What kind of heirloom is it?"

"A ring," Seolosu answered firmly, sticking to her rehearsed story. "A ring of white metal, with dragons carved onto it, and an icy blue stone in the center." The three of them had come up with the design for this imaginary ring the day before, hoping the reference to dragons would point them in the right direction. The Pretian legend of the Twin Blades was quite unhelpful when it came to the swords' physical descriptions, so they had very little inspiration in terms of metalwork design.

But Uhi latched on to something else Seolosu had mentioned instead. "A blue stone?" he said, and Ulsper wondered if the scratching noise he heard was the man worrying at the mole on his cheek.

"With dragons," Seolosu added, and Ulsper winced at the not-so-subtle redirection.

There was a pause, and for a moment Ulsper debated whether to just break into the room and threaten the man with answers instead. But then the smuggler spoke, and Ulsper held his breath to hear the response better through the wall.

"You'll probably want to see Irikri, in the capital," Uhi said, voice slow and thoughtful. "She deals with rare jewels and would know if your ring had gone up for sale at an auction lately."

Saer Lon's impatient cough carried through the plaster, before she replied, "But Uhi, if the client's ring is Pretian, wouldn't it be better instead if she could speak to someone familiar with that style specifically? For instance, a few days ago Hintoro mentioned—"

"You will not give out names so freely," Uhi reprimanded, abruptly cutting off Saer Lon's plea. His tone softened only a few degrees as he directed his next words at Seolosu. "Irikri Grimota sells rare plants and jewels just a few streets from the docks—ask anyone at the water market for directions and they'll lead you to her store."

"Saer Lon seems to think that this other person would be more suited—" Seolosu began, but this time Uhi interrupted her as well.

"Irikri will decide if you need to be introduced to any other members of our network," Uhi replied with a barely-tempered finality. "There is no need to know more of us than needed. I hope you understand, given our...line of work."

Given the fact that if Seolosu turned out to be an undercover agent, she would already have four names to give the Rebel King thanks to Saer Lon's comments. Ulsper understood the man's reasoning, but it was frustrating at the same time. The sooner they could understand how the swords had been made and by whom, the faster they could locate them before another entity got ahold of the weapons. But now it seemed they had no choice but to play along with their story of a lost ring in hopes of finding someone who who could provide the right answers.

It wasn't quite a dead-end, but it was enough of a stumbling block to make Ulsper grit his teeth in impatience. The whole search was taking too long.

Next door, Seolosu and Saer Lon muttered their thanks and apologies, respectively, before the scuffing of the door signified their departure. Ulsper slipped out the door of his own room with significantly less noise and rejoined the two women back out in the main hallway.

"Well, that was a bust," Seolosu grumbled as soon as they had exited through the creaky front door and were back outside the dilapidated building. The clouds above had darkened since their meeting, and wind blew leaves and bits of trash across the street that neighborhood residents did their best to avoid as they hurried on their way.

"Not entirely," Ulsper grudgingly admitted, at the same time Saer Lon said "Uhi's as stubborn as a rock talisman."

"You did your best," Ulsper told both of them. "And though it makes it more difficult for us, Uhi's wise to be cautious. It at least gives me hope that we're looking in the right direction, since he seems to have so much to hide."

"But first we have to get through this Irikri person now," Saer Lon gumbled, tugging on her fingerless gloves as another gust of wind kicked up, making her hair even more disheveled than it had been before. "And she's all the way in Sang Bur."

"I can't go with you," Seolosu said. "It would draw too much attention if I left my troops. I can give Nem Koel some time off to accompany you, but that's it."

"I'll go on the pretense that you hired me," Saer Lon grumbled. "To bad you aren't actually paying me for this."

Ulsper looked up as the first few drops of rain began to fall from the clouds above, then froze as shadow and flame flashed at the far end of the street.

"Ulsper?" Seolosu asked, noticing his sudden change in demeanor. "What is it?"

"Kalasha's here," he muttered, drawing his hood low across his eyes. "We'd best split up."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I did it yay new chapter!  Made extra long for the long wait.  Sorry everyone.  I've had the "Get on with it!" scene from Monty Python playing over in my head for some time now, except with my SotS characters shouting it instead, and making me feel guilty enough so I finally write some more and get to the scenes that they're currently stuck in.

I'm still cringing at how much I want to go back and rewrite everything but I am going to ignore that urge.  I WILL.  >.<  *closes eyes and puts hands over ears* everything is fiiiiiiiiiine.