Poppy was shaking, just a little bit.

She clasped her hands together in front of her as she walked to hide it. No need for the general public to know, or anyone, for that matter. Despite the fact that she was alone, walking in the woods, she still felt the need to hide it.

After the fete, she'd tried her best to reacquaint herself with her world. She'd shut herself away in her house for so long that she hadn't known that the captain of the sentries was expecting a child, or that her florist had retired and passed the business on to her son, or that her favorite Ailican trader, Wiggums Gee, would not be returning this year due to a detour in Ushua. She fancied herself in the loop; she liked to know things about people, liked to ask them about their lives and their interests and their families. Not just because it was the nice thing to do, but because she was curious, and she valued the time she spent with other people. Having missed so much, her anxiety was already managing to turn small things into larger-scale misgivings.

What if someone else had gone missing, and Poppy had no idea? She didn't think she'd seen the gardener who always tended to her bushes in a very long time, and now that she thought about it, the maid who once did a bi-daily dusting of the royal circle houses was also not in any of her recent memories. Or, perhaps worse, what was going on with the other countries? Ailica was obviously in chaos, and some of it had leached into Janbu, but what about Ushua? Mobi Zan? Poppy wasn't one for politics, but the thought of war breaking out anywhere, especially in Janbu, was enough to make her hands tremble more than a little.

She knew very well that it wouldn't help anyone for her to let the thoughts fester in her mind, but she also knew that there wasn't anything she could do about it at the moment. She was not a member of the council, nor was she a sentry or a messenger. The only thing she could do was wait. So, better to wait in the open air, surrounded by flowers and nature, and try not to think about everything she'd been neglecting.

Her garden was a bit farther from the city's center than she might have liked. Well, she called it 'her' garden; actually, it was just a grove of plants next to a river that she visited often. There were plenty of gardens in Janbu that were not only tended to by talented gardeners but also marked with paths and benches for the guests to use. Poppy simply preferred the wild outdoors to the cultivated and artificial gardens. There was something about the disorder that helped to calm her down. Nothing was too perfect: it reminded her that randomness and irregularity were beautiful too. Besides, the quiet and the absence of a crowd were no small benefits.

She didn't like to have a guide take her there. The walk had a calming effect as well. One foot in front of the other. That was all life was, wasn't it? Her anxiety was irrational. There was no way for her to control the outcomes of global politics and mysterious serial disappearances in Janbu. All she could do was one thing at a time. Eventually, with enough steps, she'd get to where she wanted to be.

Lost in her thoughts, she barely heard the slight rustling in the brush ahead of her, on the side of the path.

Of course, her attention leapt right to it once it emerged from the dense foliage. It was a snake, a long, brown one with a thick body covered in spots. A python, if she had to guess, though she was no snake expert. It barely even noticed her as it slunk out from under the leaves to cross the road, but she most certainly noticed it.

"Aah! Oh my stars!" she cried suddenly, startled enough to jump backwards. Her heart beat twice for one upon first registering the snake, and the next thing she knew she was grabbing a stick from the ground in case she should have to whack it in self-defense. Because unless it came near her, she was getting as far away from it as she could.

However, once she got over the initial shock, she noticed the snake wasn't alone. There was a man following it around through the forest, pushing aside branches to stay right on the snake's tail.

"Everything okay?" he asked, turning to Poppy once he was clear of the leaves in his path. She didn't recognize him at first, since his was a face she saw so rarely, but her memory did not fail her; his name was Ignacius, but he went by Val. He was a guide - probably why he was following snakes around - but that was about as much as she knew about him.

"I'm fine," she said, lowering her stick. "I just- the snake scared me. I don't... well, I'm not the biggest fan of snakes."

The python had stopped and turned its head around, looking at Val with a blank expression as if waiting. Val made some kind of gesture to it and it kept slithering on.

"Well, if you're okay," Val said, scratching the back of his head, "I'm just going to... go away now. Burt just wanted to show me some baby elephants."

"Baby elephants? Cute," Poppy said. "Have fun with that."

Val paused awkwardly, almost like he was trying to decide whether he should bow or not, when he looked down at her hands and frowned. "Your hands are shaking," he said rather obviously.

Poppy unclasped them and hid them behind her back. "Excuse me?"

"Your hands," Val repeated. "I'm sorry, that's none of my business. I just noticed. I'm sorry, I'll go."

"No, no, it's just-" Poppy said before he could turn away, "I, um... I get a little anxious sometimes, that's all." She didn't want him getting his own ideas as to why her hands were shaking. She didn't want rumors spreading about her. She couldn't remember if Val was the type to spread rumors, but she didn't want to take the chance.

"Well, speaking from personal experience, playing with baby elephants is great for relieving anxiety," Val said.

There was a moment of silence.

"That was an invitation," he finally clarified. "I'm sorry, am I doing this wrong? I'm not good at... We don't even know each other. I'll just leave you to whatever you were doing."

"You're not doing this wrong at all," Poppy said, fighting a smile. It was cute how much he was clearly struggling. She should probably help where she could. "I'd love to come meet some baby elephants."

Val smiled widely, nodding a little. "Okay, follow me. Oh, I'm Val, by the way. I think you already knew that."

"I'm Poppy. I think you already knew that, too."

Poppy fell in line behind him, partly just because she didn't want to look at the snake, and ducked under a few branches as they deviated from the path. Her garden would still be there once she was done with this. "So, Val. I remember... not a lot about you, even though we've met before. What am I forgetting? You're a guide obviously. Didn't you have a pet bird? It couldn't have been a messenger bird, I don't think it even had wings."

"Oh, yeah, that's Berri," Val said. Behind him, Poppy couldn't see his face, but she could hear the fondness in his voice. "He's an albino kiwi bird. He is actually my messenger bird, but if we're being honest, he's not the best. I still love him though! He's with my Uncle Leo right now, that way the elephants don't step on him..."

Poppy nodded along as she listened, careful to tuck each fact he gave her into memory. He was awkward when engaging in conversation, but when talking about the things he loved, he bloomed like a flower. Good to know.

She didn't even notice that her hands had stopped shaking.

❁

"Come on, I know you can do it."

"I can't."

"There's no way. Someone had to have taught you, your family was huge."

Rigmund laughed, the tree bark he was leaning on (and sitting on, for that matter) digging into his back a little. "Fire breathing? Come on, I was fifteen. Do you know what would have happened if they'd taught a fifteen-year-old fire breathing? Arson, that's what."

"I think arson has to be on purpose," Evanthe chuckled. "But come on, I know you're holding out on me. Is it sword-swallowing? Contortionism? Your father couldn't have just taught you knife throwing and tightrope."

"Well, first of all, I don't actually like tightrope," Rig said, taking another small sip from his bottle. "Too easy to fall, even if there is a net. Second of all, the only thing my father ever actually taught me was gambling. The rest of my family is responsible for all my other quirks." He frowned. "I haven't talked to the rest of my family in years, though."

The two of them were perched on a large branch several stories high, overlooking the very edge of the kingdom. It was always quiet out here since there were no buildings in sight, no construction going on, and no animals so close to the heat of the desert. Only a thin, weak river separated Janbu from the kingdom of Ailica, and the divide was unnaturally abrupt: one side of the river was lush rainforest, and the other was just sand, as far as the eye could see. Their perch of choice was a small way into the jungle, far enough that the sands could barely be seen, but close enough that the heat was even more stifling than usual. Evanthe and Rigmund would come out here from time to time, bringing drinks with them (never alcoholic, in case they should get too tipsy and fall), and talk each other's ears off. Sometimes it was complaining about their coworkers, sometimes it was telling the story of a job gone horribly wrong, occasionally it was a serious matter that required privacy to talk about. Either way, it was always a welcome break.

"Oof," Evanthe said sympathetically, taking her own drink. "Imagine that. I see my family weekly."

"I know it," Rig said. "You always bring your siblings food."

"Brighten up, Circus Man," Evanthe teased, poking him from where she sat across from him on the branch. "You're bringing down the mood."

He gave her a small smile. "You're the one who brought up my family."

"I brought up fire-breathing. Which I still think you can do, you're just being mean and not telling me."

"Maybe I am. You know what, maybe I'm also a lion-tamer and a..." Rig trailed off as he noticed something; a faint rustling in the leaves below him, like someone was trampling the underbrush. Evanthe's eyes grew distracted and she shut her mouth as well. She heard it too, then.

They both turned their gazes towards the sound, which was coming from the river. Someone had just crossed it, and was in possession of something large, judging by the sound. Rig stood carefully, leaning on the tree for balance, and he worked his way around the trunk, careful to stay silent. Evanthe followed, jumping to the branch above him.

The thing that had made the sound came into view after a few seconds of searching. It took Rig a moment to determine what it actually was.

"What the hell?" he whispered once he'd pieced it together.

"Call the sentries," Evanthe suggested.

❁

"Nefia Obcisor," Arion read off the papers in front of him, even though Zef knew he damn well knew her name. "Do you know why we called you here today?"

The Ailican woman had her hands fastened tightly behind her back, and despite being in such a vulnerable position surrounded on all sides by councillors as well as sentries and guards, she had perhaps the largest presence in the room. She was not afraid at all; she looked each one of them right in the eye, and Zef found herself keeping a watchful eye on the assassin's arms even with the knowledge that they were restrained.

Nefia smiled sweetly, not a smile befitting a killer. "I assume you want to ask me questions, Your Majesty. I'll save you the time. I've nothing to tell you that you don't already know."

"And what is it that we already know?" Councillor Euris asked, their hands folded in front of them diplomatically.

"You took my contract from me," Nefia clarified. "I assume you saw the king's signature. As well as the print, of course; that scribble was hardly legible."

"So we know who hired you," Zef said, drawing Nefia's attention to herself. "Big deal. We don't know why. Was it an act of war? Does Ailica intend to invade?"

Nefia chuckled. "You're acting like it still means anything. My king is dead. Any declaration of war he might have intended on making is null now."

"When did you hear of his death?" Frigus demanded, surprised. "We don't exactly send newspapers into the dungeons."

"People talk," Nefia said.

"It doesn't matter how she heard," Zef reminded the others. "We just want to know what his intentions were. Why would he want our queen dead."

"It's simple," Mendax said, speaking up for the first time. He'd already made his thoughts on this meeting clear. He hadn't thought it was necessary. He'd said as much. "His motivations aren't hard to piece together. His kingdom was in a drought, and ours was flourishing. He wanted what we have, and he was willing to go to war to take it."

Nefia jerked her head at Mendax. "He's got it."

"That's too obvious," Zef said quietly, partly just to Arion. "I don't trust her."

It was clear that Nefia was telling the truth about some things. Her Ailican accent was real; the consistent hard consonants and thin vowels were hard to fake, even for talented voice actors. Besides, the desert tan lines on her shoulders were undeniable. However, Zef wasn't convinced of everything. She had no trouble believing that the previous Ailican king would do something like this. He was cruel, everyone knew it. But she was suspicious of the timing. If he was going to invade Ailica, why wait for seven years? She certainly wouldn't have, if that had been her intention.

Arion looked over the copy of the kill contract in front of him again. "My good friend Zef thinks you're lying to us about something," he told Nefia.

She shrugged. "My employer is dead. Why should I have to lie?"

"You seem awfully too smug for someone who is standing in front of a council that will decide your fate," Zef pointed out.

"My fate?" Nefia parroted. "My stars, you're a pretentious one. Maybe it's just because I know that the Janbunese are a bunch of cowards. You won't do anything to me. What do I have to fear? Life in jail? Free food, I say."

"So you think you have nothing to fear," Zef prompted.

"Pretty much."

"Alright then," Zef sighed, interlacing her fingers. She didn't want to have to resort to this, but if it was what would work. "I sentence you to death by hanging as soon as this meeting is adjourned." She was bluffing, of course. Janbu didn't allow the death penalty. But she knew that her lie would be bought by everyone in the room. She was practiced, and the anger behind her words was real. Arion actually choked a little bit when he heard her say it.

Nefia's face fell for a moment, and Zef saw through her perfectly crafted disguise. The assassin feared death. "Nice try," she finally said, controlling the uncertainty in her voice, "But I didn't see a noose on my way in here."

"We live in a rainforest," Zef said. "We have plenty of vines to choose from." She turned to Arion, giving him a pointed look. "Wouldn't you agree?"

Arion's mouth opened and closed for a moment as he debated concurring with her. "Yes," he stammered. "I would."

The other councillors nodded their heads in hesitant agreement. Mendax was giving her a furious look all the while, though. She was sure he didn't like her taking the reins on the informal interrogation.

Nefia, upon hearing the others sign on to her execution, looked genuinely taken aback; betrayed, almost.

"You would kill me?" she demanded, facing Arion. "You said- This country- You never kill people!"

"You killed my mother," Arion said shakily. "Maybe I'll have to make an exception."

Nefia's features went from frightened to angry. "Maybe it won't just be your mother," she spat.

In a flash, Nefia's hands were in front of her, the ropes lying severed on the ground. One of the guards made a grab for her once he realized she had escaped her bounds, but she was too fast. Pocket knife in hand, Nefia leapt forward, training her weapon towards Arion's chest.

Zef threw herself on Arion, carrying them both to the floor. She pinned the prince to the floor, covering as much of him as she could with herself. Nefia jumped over the round desktop, bouncing off the wall and charging at the two of them.

Mendax was up next, grabbing a letter opener from his desktop. He grabbed Nefia around the waist and threw her smaller body against the side of the desk, discombobulating her. Once the assassin's balance was off, he wasted no time jabbing his own knife into her back over and over, ignoring the droplets of blood that flew off his blade and through the air. Nefia cried out, collapsing forward onto the desktop feebly.

As soon as she registered the threat nullified, Zef pushed herself off Arion and grabbed Mendax's arm before he could bring it down once again. "Enough!" she shouted, grabbing the bloodstained letter opener. It was such a small blade, such a nice silver instrument, but it was dripping, staining her hand and the white dress she wore. She felt blood drying on her face too. "You're not a butcher!"

Mendax fell back and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. "She..." he breathed. "She was going to kill the two of you. I saved you."

"You went too far," Arion said, leaning over Nefia. With the help of the guards, he had managed to lift Nefia onto her stomach on the desk, and was examining the multitude of stab wounds on her back. They were shallow and thin, but from the look of it, it had been enough. "She's dying. You punctured a lung."

Zef didn't waste time trying to keep her alive after hearing this. She crouched down so her ear was right by Nefia's face. Her breathing was already quieting, and her eyes were wide with fear.

"He did... but he did... he told me..." Nefia whispered.

"He told you what?" Zef asked.

"He who?" Arion asked nervously. "Who is she talking about?"

Nefia did not respond. She did not inhale again.

"She's dead," Zef finally announced.

"How did she get a knife?" Frigus wondered, obviously still in some amount of shock.

"Ailican assassins and thieves have a nasty habit of stitching knives into their clothes," Mendax offered. "We should have checked more than just her pockets."

"What do we do now?" Euris asked.

"She was going to tell us something," Zef said as the guards hoisted the body away. She lifted a hand to wipe the blood off her face, before she realized she had used the hand that had held the knife, leaving a red streak across her cheek. "Right before she died. She was saying something."

"Zef, let's get you cleaned up," Arion said, taking her by the shoulders and neglecting to mention his own bloodied hands.

"No," she said more firmly. "We have to talk about this. She mentioned a 'he' of some kind-"

"Probably the Ailican king," Mendax interrupted. He was wiping his hands on a cloth the guards had given him. "Nothing we can't talk about tomorrow."

"Are you suggesting that we just end this meeting?" Zef asked incredulously. "We've never had more to discuss-"

"I disagree," Mendax said harshly, effectively shutting her up. She could tell she was losing this argument. "We are all in shock, our adrenaline levels are up, not to mention the room is covered in blood."

"Whose fault is that?" she challenged.

"Nefia's own," Mendax insisted.

"Zef, he's right," Arion whispered to her. "We should go home. Collect our thoughts. Staying will help no one."

"But- But-" she stammered. They couldn't adjourn yet. This wasn't over. She didn't want to leave this overnight. She didn't want to sweep it under the rug. Most of all, she didn't want Mendax to have more time to craft an argument. Self-defense or not, he had murdered Nefia cruelly. She had seen it. He needed only jab her once or twice, incapacitating her enough for the guards to deal with. Instead, he had opted for the route of repeated stabbing to the point of death. Nefia had still had something to tell them. Now they'd never know.

"Let's go," Arion said, more firmly.

Zef took a deep breath.

Arguing would make her look like the crazy one.

"Okay," she said.

❁

Pax was sure to stick the pin right in the middle of the board, advertising the picture of Mythil Ivor for all to see. The board was covered in a collage of faces of the people who had gone missing over the past however long it had been. He didn't think a picture had ever been taken down from it.

The frightened, tearstained look on Kaiden's face was burned into Pax's memory. He'd been so afraid... how could Pax help? How could he find this girl? He'd do anything to bring Kai's smile back.

He dusted off his hands once the picture was sufficiently pinned and stood back to make sure it was visible enough. He felt guilty about covering up some of the other pictures on the board, but he was sure that those weren't the only ones that were covered. He was confident that if he tore all the faces he could see off the board, there would be at least five more layers of paper. The pictures at the very back might be old enough that the paper had decomposed already.

The door to the sentry headquarters swung open violently, as if kicked in, and Pax's captain marched in. Pax was surprised he was still on duty, but he figured that the captain's wife was pregnant, not the captain himself. Captain Micah was a large man, with shoulders that barely fit through doors, but he was watchful as well, and a bit of a killjoy. He made a good captain, but not a funny guy by any means.

"Paxton," he said, pointing a finger at Pax, who stood singled out in the middle of the room. Pax pointed at himself questioningly and looked around to find that all the other sentries were on duty (or wisely spending their free time hiding in the safety of their own homes).

"Yes, sir?" Pax asked.

"Open another cell," Micah commanded.

"Another one?" Pax asked. Janbu's only working dungeon was right underneath the sentry headquarters, which meant they were also the lucky bastards who got to run it, even when it was empty. "Are we moving Nefia?"

"No, she's still with the council," Micah said. "We've got someone else."

"Someone else? Who?" Pax was baffled. They never had to arrest anyone in this city.

"A couple shadows spotted him coming in at the edge of the kingdom earlier today," Micah said. "The other boys are bringing him in now. He's some kind of animal smuggler by the look of it. And get this: He's Ailican."

"Ailican?" Pax repeated disbelievingly.

True to the captain's words, two more sentries shuffled their way through the door, holding a man between them. He had brown hair that was falling into his face, and wore a thin leather jerkin and sand-worn boots. He was practically being dragged by the sentries with how much he was staggering, and though he didn't seem to be thrashing madly, he struggled against the hold on his arms. Micah walked around behind him and kicked him in the back of the leg, forcing him to his knees. There was still a firm grasp on his wrists and shoulders.

"Who is he?" Pax asked. "I mean, what's his name?"

"Huh. Funny," Micah mused. "We were so busy arresting him, we forgot to ask." He leaned down and grabbed the man by his hair, jerking his face up. The man's eyes were blue, and filled with defiance. "What's your name, Ailican?" In Janbu, the world had become akin to a slur.

The man scowled at Micah, eyebrows furrowed angrily. "Raven," he bit out. "Raven Blackthorn."

Word Count: 4196

Character Appearances:

Penelope Vorago by inej-ghafas

Ignacius Valentine by TheExplosiveCyborg

Rigmud Azazel Orca by SincerelyLoki

Zéphine Tenebris by me

Paxton Hæthwar by Avengers14

Leomar Zula (mentioned)

Also Featuring Appearances From:

Evanthe Black by inej-ghafas

Mythil Ivor by DragonDancer55 (mentioned)

A/N: After months of hiatus (but that's hardly unusual around here) i return with the escalating action of chapter 4! Hopefully you enjoyed it. I am but a tired student and do not have time to proofread this chapter (i have homework people) so typos and weirdly-phrased dialogue is gonna stay that way, and thou shall deal with it. However, the cookie hunt is still active.

Not to be that author, but i noticed that only a shockingly small number of you guys read the last chapter, so uh... guys who are reading this one, help me hunt down the stragglers and force them to read my creation!! Muahahaha!!! There is no escape from me

To those of you who didn't read Blood of the Desert, uh... you have no idea who Raven Blackthorn is. But to those of you who did... what do we think, huh? Surprised to see him here? Predictions for his future? Predictions for the future in general?