Lawson Forge told them to meet him along the canal that ran beneath the Central Street Bridge, and that was exactly where Maize and Ress set up their camp for the evening as soon as they departed from the Den.

They knew the rotations by heart, having to have done them in their earlier days working for Celese, and as they achieved their ranks and earned their place, guard duty was no longer their concern. Maze wondered why there weren't more random or sporadic changes to the schedules or the changing of the guard, but Celese had once said that anyone stupid enough to steal from thieves was too stupid to realize they were waiting for them.

Even so, they took care as they left the Den, both shouldering hands and carrying the trunk between them. Spending the night on the street was not foreign to them either as they had had to stake out locations for missions numerous times. They were just never doing it to avoid the Denmother before...

They slept in shifts, and after they ate and settled, Ress insisted Maize rest first. If not for the aching of her head, she may have argued with him. Instead, she settled into a restless sleep complete with nightmares of fire, curses, and witches before he was rustling her awake too soon and it was her turn to keep watch.

Despite the thieves, assassins, and other underworld-like denizens of Dreduor, it was a relatively safe city, and no more corrupt than its closest trading partners. Each sector had its own code, just like the Den, and all knew when to keep well out of the others' ways. Rarely did their paths cross and Maize was all the more grateful for it.

The canal under the Central Street Bridge was the lesser-used waterway running through Dreduor so it made sense that it would be the one Forge would want to use, though why he chose to use a waterway than the streets and alleyways, Maize was uncertain. Clearly, he was a man who was unfamiliar with the ways of his City, otherwise he would have known that the waterways were the slowest and most unconventional mode of travel Dreduor had to offer.

With Ress curled up next to her, she wrapped herself tighter in her blanket and leaned her head against the cold, damp stone beneath the bridge. It wasn't so long ago that she had called placed such a this her home. It was where Celese had found her, and where she continued to return until Ress convinced her it would be safer to stay with him.

It was the first time she had killed a man.

After her family was decimated she fled, and when she finally arrived in Dreduor exhausted and famished and unable to escape from the voice in her head, the first thing she did was steal a loaf of bread. The Guard gave chase straight to an alleyway under the bridge, and even when she returned the bread, they didn't let up. There were three of them and one of her, and she had no combative or defensive training. It was sheer luck when they pushed her down to the ground that she had landed on a broken bottle, and she was able to muster enough strength to stab the man on top of her straight through the eye socket.

She wasn't sure if Celese had been following her, or if she heard the commotion or arrived at the right place at the right time, but her presence was enough to scare the other two men away, and they discarded the dead man's body into the canal.

Ever since Celese would visit her, bring her food to eat and warm clothes to wear, but she never asked anything of her until the day she sent Ress to see her. She wondered how Celese knew she was at her loneliness- and her most terrified- that she continued to stare at the canal and wonder if her body would never be found just like the man they disposed of. That they would never believe the revenant coaxing her to save herself. That she was close to asking Celese to leave her alone because she wouldn't be there much longer to enjoy it.

Unlike Celese, Ress asked questions. He wanted to know her name, where she was from, and if she was tired of hiding. It took him three visits before she finally answered his questions, and give more before she agreed to follow him to the Den.

She glanced down to him where he breathed deeply against her.

Three years later, and she was dragging him right back where they started.

They had just finished packing up the bedrolls the following morning when they first noticed the approaching lowboat. Maize sat casually on the trunk while Ress stood next to her with his arms crossed over his chest, both ready to draw their blades if the need arose.

The boat took its time to approach, steered by an unknown man with a cloaked figure standing at its bow. As it inched closer, the finery beneath the man's cloak became apparent, and the grin he gave Maize upon his approach informed her that Lawson Forge was following through with his word.

"Maize, I'm so happy to see you remembered our agreement, even if you've continued to insist to bring your sidekick."

"We're equal partners," Ress reminded him, bored with the banter already.

"And I'm a woman of my word," Maize told him as she stood. "Just as I know you and your benefactors will be once this mission is complete."

"Indeed," Forge agreed as the boat scraped against the stone wall of the canal. Maize and Ress wasted no time loading their trunk and their packs before lowering themselves into the boat and it pushed off once again.

Huddled at the bottom of the lowboat covered in their cloaks, Forge moved to join them, his back arched and voice low as they moved through the waterway.

"We'll go in through the sewers," Forge announced.

"Finally. Someone with some sense," Ress applauded and Maize gave him a glare.

Forge ignored the unnecessary celebration and continued. "It will take us through the lower dungeons of the castle, which will bring us through the more unused corridors of the castle."

"I thought you said I was to be a courtier to the Prince," Maize inquired. "Why so much secrecy if I'm supposed to be in plain sight?"

"There are so many new faces coming and going throughout the castle in preparation for the celebration," Forge informed her. "Adding one more will not draw suspicion, however if we make a spectacle of your arrival there will be more scrutiny than we need."

"And once we're settled?"

"I'll show you to your rooms, and then you will have two weeks to acclimate yourself to living in the castle without drawing too much attention to your true purpose, and to ready yourself by Remembrance Day."

"And you still have nothing to go by?"

"If I did, I wouldn't need you."

She gave him a scowl. "When is the Prince scheduled to arrive?"

"This evening, and there's to be a ball to celebrate his arrival."

"I thought the Prince and the King didn't get along," Ress interjected.

"They don't," Forge said curtly, "but the King is also one to maintain appearances, especially when nobles and diplomats are present. So while the Prince and the King may not have spoken since his exile, they will do everything in their power to make it look like they have."

"This is perfect," Maize mused. "While everyone is down at the ball, it'll give us the perfect opportunity to search the castle for information on the Legacy."

"Not so fast." Forge seemed to relish in her obvious disappointment. "As courtier to the Prince, you'll be expected at the Ball. The Prince may be in need of a companion, and none will be a better fit than you."

"Fine," she grumbled. "Then Ress will be able to begin researching while I'm otherwise indisposed-"

"Wrong again," Forge said with a smirk, "because who do you expect will be serving you your aperitif?"

"You said I was going to be her footman, not a servant," Ress growled.

"No," Forge snapped. "I said you weren't going to be here, and you said you would be her footman. And since you're insisting on tagging along like a lost puppy, you're going to do what you told because so help me if you do anything to compromise this mission, I will toss you into the canal where not even the rats will find you."

Maize put a hand on Ress' thigh before he could lunge at the lesser advisor, and gave him a look that told him now was not the time. Thankfully, Ress didn't retaliate, nor did he say anything more during the remainder of the boat ride, leaving them in a long, uneasy silence until the lowboat entered through a low tunnel in the base of the wall surrounding Dreduor's royal castle.