I spent the entire night pacing back and forth in my room. I didn't dare go downstairs and face Wyeth. On the carriage ride, home he scolded me. He went on about how he had trained me to be smart and to handle myself. He had no problem in showing how disappointed in me he was.

I knew that there were worse things I could have done. I could have gotten myself killed, or worse got Vivetta killed. Despite that I felt like I had started a war, at least that's what Wyeth acted like. He had decided that I would be training more, leaving next to no time for anything, until I could look after myself and make decent choices during a stressful time.

Which meant hours on end of running, using the powers of a Mersis, and whatever a soldier or a general could use. I hardly had enough time to do anything as it was and now this, I would never leave the house.

While I was mulling over what I could have done better, where I failed, there was a knock at my door. The sun wasn't out yet, so I assumed it was Wyeth, ready to start training as early as possible. When I opened the door, Wyeth wasn't standing there, but Vivetta was.

"Why are you in my house?"

She sighed and looked at the ground. "I need your help."

I raised my brow. "And it couldn't wait until tomorrow?"

"No..." She looked around as if looking for someone who could be listening. "My father won't be sending anyone to look for Ariadne. We have to find her."

"Wait. what? We can't go against your father," I said, wide-eyed.

"We wouldn't, he didn't ban us from anything. Look, Fai... I saw you when you saw Ariadne today. I know you didn't think she or anybody could be living like that, but it's the case. If you want to help her then help me. I don't want to do this alone." Her voice stayed firm, but I could tell she was really asking.

I bowed my head and weighed my options. If I left without a word, Wyeth would be even angrier with me, but if I brought Ariadne back, and maybe the crooks who took her, I could be redeemed. I sighed then walked into my room, grabbed my sword and walked past Vivietta and towards the stairs.

"Let's go."

"Thank you." She followed before walking in front of me.

We walked out of the house and into Vivetta's carriage. We rode in silence until a question came to mind.

"How are we going to find her?"

Her voice was stone cold. "We'll find a Venidi, and have them track her."

I nodded, but I could feel my stomach knot. Logic told me I had nothing to fear, I knew I could handle most things thrown at me, but I didn't know what to expect from this. It would either end with Wyeth forgiving me, or me living my life training none stop, never getting my chance to be what a Laminar is built up to be.

By the time we got to the Venidi work camp, the sun was up. The carriage stopped and Vivetta and I practically ran out. The camp was large, with tall stone walls in casing the Venidis inside. Despite it being called 'the Venidi work camp,' the Venidi never did much work inside. They only lived there, being pulled out to guide people through Fithu, or hunt for the more exotic meats.

Vivetta marched up to the Adres in front of the gate. "We need to find a Venidi. One that's good at tracking."

The Adres raised his brow. "Aren't you Vivetta the Sari? Don't you have people who run errands for you?"

She rolled her eyes and fixed the Ardes a cold glare. "Are you one to question me, or one to do your job?"

The Adres' eyes widened and shouted up an Adres at the top of the wall, not moving their eyes away from Vivetta.

The Ardes from the wall shouted to a couple others, and the gate opened. Vivetta walked inside, her head held high, I trailed behind, a little wary of the Venidi inside. Vivetta and I asked both Ardes, and Venidi who would be the best at tracking. None of the Venidi could agree, while most of the Ardes spoke of a Venidi named Cyrill. They, and a few Venidi, told us that he lived in a cabin on the line between the skib and Fithu, another Venidi was to take us there. Most Venidi had to live in the camp, but the Ardess spoke of how loyal Cyrill was, so I guess he was given special privilege.

The hike to Cyrill's cabin was long and none of us spoke a word. I never even learned our guides name. The skib was a peculiar place. Each plant seemed ready to jump to life, curling around the others like a pit of snakes. The animals never came to close to us, thanks to who knows what, but I knew they weren't far in the distance.

Once Cyrill's cabin was in sight, our Venidi left us and headed back to the camp, claiming that Cyrill could take care of it from there. Vivetta and I jogged to the cabin and banged on the door. We heard soft shuffling from inside the house before the door opened.

The Venidi who stood before us looked about as old as me, maybe younger. His messy hair was black and pushed to the side. His eyes were a light grey. He was a little shorter than me and had tan skin. He looked at us with a furrowed brow and leaned against the door like he was waiting

Vivetta and I exchanged our own furrowed brows, he was much younger than we thought he would be.

I stepped closer to him, my chin up. "Are you Cyrill?"

"Yes... Who are you?" He seemed confused and almost insulted that we were there.

"I'm Faisal the Lamiar." I gestured to Vivetta. "This is Vivetta the Sari."

He stood up straight, put his hands behind his back, and changes his expression to at least content fullness. "What can I help you with?"

Vivetta pushed passed me. "We need a Venidi who can track. Everybody at the camp said you were our best option." She put her hands on her hips and spoke with a demanding tone. "We're looking for the three that have attacked The Tulava's Tower and kidnaped a Tulava."

He raised his brow. "May I ask why you two are in charge of this?"

I started tapping my foot. "May I ask why you are wasting our time?"

"My apologies." He bowed his head slightly. "I'd be glad to help you."

Cyrill lead Vivetta and I through the skib to the back of The Tulava Tower. If I wasn't there yesterday I would have no idea two people were beaten and tied up in this very spot, but I could tell Cyrill thought differently. He walked around the area and studied the tree I was tied to, the spot where I fought two of the vigilantes, and almost any place you could imagine.

"I'll have to ask you two to turn away," he said, not taking his eyes away from a patch of dirt.

"Why?" Vivetta demanded.

"It'll be easier to track them as something other than a human." We both looked at him, a little dumbfounded. He brought his hand up and spun his finger around, finally getting us to turn around.

Vivetta and I didn't dare look behind us. We heard some light rustling, but nothing much. Soon, we heard a bark and turned around. Standing in place of Cyrill, was a mano. A mano is a wolf-like creature, but they're larger, they have sharper teeth and claws, and their backs are always hunched up like they're going to attack the air.

The mano, Cyrill, sniffed around. He went around every inch of the clearing. He stopped and listened whenever a bird chirped or the trees rustled. We stared at him in confusion, until he stopped at the edge of the clearing and barked.

We walked towards him, and he took off into the trees. Vivetta and I looked at each other, before running to catch up. Cyrill ran at almost a trot, his nose still going wild. Vivetta kept tripping over the branches and getting her skirt caught on plants. I stayed well behind the others, I didn't have the energy to push up to the front.

We followed Cyrill for hours until he skidded to a halt deep in the skib. He sniffed around again, trying to suppress his heavy breathing. Vivetta was trying to get leaves out of hair, and dirt off of her clothes. I was leaning against a tree, trying to catch my breath.

I watched Cyrill anxiously, my hand resting on my sword. Neither he nor Vivetta seemed on edge. The skib was almost silent, that seemed to be bugging Cyrill. He kept perking up his ears and stop sniffing every few seconds.

It was strange seeing a mano behave like that. I've only seen mano when they were trying to kill me, and here I was, waiting for one to help me catch a criminal. As I was pondering Venidi and manos, I saw something fly at me from the trees.

I threw myself out of the way and onto the ground. I looked at the tree I was leaning on, and there was an arrow buried deep in the wood. I heard Cyrill bark and Vivetta cuss, then I felt someone grab my hair and yank, forcing me to look at them.

A girl with matted black hair was standing above me. She brought a dagger to my neck and pushed, drawing a bit of blood. I heard more rustling in the trees and looked around as much as the girl would let me. I saw two silhouette jump down from the trees, weapons in hand.

Sorry for the slow updates. Thanks for reading, Y'all!