2407 Dalfa 6, Reshpe

Ariden ducked into the obscure building he had purchased under the name of the merchant he had been consigning to sell his experimental jewelry creations. Of course, the merchant didn't know it nor did Ariden ask for permission but he'd figure it out when the problem arose.

He trudged through the dim hallways flanked with wooden walls, all containing some sort of rot in them. That was the least of his worries as he glanced at the timeteller slotted between the pocket of his trousers. It was the best invention he ever impulsively bought from the brownie inventors passing through the trade routes. Why hasn't everyone adopted this machine? It's amazing.

A door to the end of the corridor swung open when he cranked the handle down. Inside was a round table surrounded with rickety chairs Ariden had procured from a nearby woodwork shop for a reasonable price. He really should work on his bargaining skills. When he shut the door behind him, six heads swiveled in his direction. Wait...six?

Ariden stalked to the empty seat meant for him and settled down, not bothering to speak a word. His eyes did the work, scanning everyone. There were the twin Crimson Tops, blinking back at Ariden with mahogany brown eyes. They must have been a deeper brown before but with the effects of qotril, they have turned a little closer to the reddish side.

Lufi, or Blond Locks, as Ariden knew her for a long time, grinned at him from the opposite side of the table. She had her arms crossed over chest. It seemed she had changed from her temple clothes and now only wore a simple tunic and trousers combo. Her hair had also been collected into a loose tail behind her head. He didn't even know she had a rather large forehead.

Ralei was there in all his hulking glory. Ariden caught Cohnal—or was it Aeril?— giving the soldier edgy looks more than once. Unlike his soldier days, he had opted to wear the same thing as Lufi but with the addition of a sheathed sword slotted in the belt he slung around his hips.

To his right and Ariden's left sat a veiled...something. Ariden wasn't exactly sure at what he was looking at. The person was clad head to toe with a burgundy cloth. Only their hooded black eyes were visible from the slit cut through the cloth covering their face. Golden metal circles dangled from the hem of their clothes. Judging from the layers of gold gilding their entire form, they wore three articles—one for the veil, one for a long-sleeved tunic, and one for a wide-legged trousers. Were they barefoot or...?

Ralei must have noticed Ariden's apprehension because he straightened. "This is Tria Cilqen," he said. "She's with me. Used to work in the espionage division of the Potentate's army."

A couple of gasps and whistles rang from the small crowd. Ariden flashed Ralei a look which said, Does she know?

Ralei threw a look back that said, She does.

That didn't set Ariden on a good path. He might have trusted Ralei to keep his mouth shut but he barely knew Tria. Would she leash her tongue when he asked her to? Then again, she worked in the espionage division. Maybe she already knew a lot she was bound by oath to Daexis to never disclose.

"And this is Faw Horami," Cohnal said, waving a hand towards a girl sitting on his left. "She might be a good addition to the team."

Ariden eyed the girl with pouty lips, pale face, and quite a number of hair accessories slotted in her dark blue locks parted in two tied tails. Was she not an earth sprite then? He studied the roots of her hair and noticed the slight line of ivory there. Aha. Dyed her hair. Got it.

"Why is that?" he said aloud as he finished his assessment of Faw. "She's a child."

"And so are we," Aeril said. "She's really good at pickpocketing so if we are going to steal things, she's your best bet in cracking safes, picking locks, and breaking into places thought to be impossible to penetrate."

Ariden raised an eyebrow. "Let's see it, then."

The girl clicked her tongue and from the toolbelt slung around her waist, she produced a bag of versallis. Then, a pocket knife came after, followed by a golden hair pin, a sack of nuts, and finally, a box of oshella sticks.

His eyes widened. "Hey!" he yelled, swiping his hand over the box and tucking it into his trousers before anyone could see it. "Okay, fine, you pass."

"My hairpin!" Lufi exclaimed, snatching the accessory from the table.

Ralei had a bemused look on his face. "My snack," he said, reaching over and taking the nuts. "I can't believe she bested even me."

"But not me," Tria said from beside Ariden. "I noticed her hands moving each time someone new came in and passed by her seat. It's a strategic place to be in contact with everyone who went in."

"She stole two things from me!" Lufi complained, palming the pocket knife next.

"That's because you're the least observant," Faw said. From the corner of his eye, Ariden noticed the twins take the bag of versallis with a calm expression as if foreseeing this outcome of being robbed by a girl younger than them. How old was she, anyway?

Lufi crossed her arms again and regarded Ariden from across the table. He already felt his spine going rigid with the attention. "So? Why did you gather us here?" she asked. "To discuss names?"

Ariden pushed his chair off the table with a hearty scratch against the building's floorboards. "Actually, I already have our first caper," he said, tramping towards a shelf he had installed the day before. His fingers closed around the stack of parchment slotted in the first compartment out of twelve. Perhaps, he'd fill the rest with more as their missions went from one to many.

The stack slammed against the table with a loud boom, the echoes bouncing against the wooden walls and into the mess of planks and gables holding up the ceiling. "This contains most of the information I was able to dig," he said. "Open it up and see."

Cohnal's hands swiped at the first isolated stack. Ariden perched on his seat as he waited for his information to speak instead of explaining it all himself. Within the next half an hour, silence filled the group as they read and absorbed the facts. Tria smoothed through the entire stack in a matter of minutes, nodding at Ariden as she placed the last sheaf back.

"So, this is bigger than we thought," Tria spoke first. "It confers with the knowledge I obtained from serving in the army. I just never thought it to have originated and rooted in Otralo."

She turned to Ariden and jerked her chin to the center of the table. The gold circles in her clothes chimed with the motion. "I have heard of The Black Blades but I never imagined they'd be operating solely in Avalora's capital."

Ariden nodded, turning to the twins and Faw. He wasn't entirely sure if these three children understood what was going on. "The Black Blades are a well-known mining cartel scattered throughout the territory. They have been rumored to operate strictly on Akaron, Avalora's mining city. But during the time I wandered off into the dimmer parts of Otralo, I saw these illegal mines and even met some of its miners," he regarded the twins, then, who both perked up. "I did some searching and I came upon a name I remembered seeing elsewhere."

"Herven Fulmer," Ralei continued for Ariden. "Good job on tracking the shipment trades and ultimately ending up with that name. He's the formidable leader of The Black Blades. The army has been trying to find his hideout for ages and we went on missions to infiltrate his bases in Akaron. We came up with nothing, of course. It's safe to say he has been rooming in Otralo all this time."

"Here I thought you'd have no personal stake in this, Ralei," Ariden winked at his friend and propped his legs on the table's edge. "The Black Blades run a strong game in the black market, going under territory borders and raking in versallis from anyone who thought it better to engage in the shady places. If we topple the majority of their operations here on Otralo and prevent them from rebuilding..."

"We could stop the trades of whatever ores they're holding over the market and direct people to more honest transactions and where the earth sprites actually get the profits in full," Lufi finished for him.

Ariden snapped his fingers. "You got it," he said. "I detailed in the parchments how they operate and Cohnal and Aeril can fill in on the gaps I failed to tackle with some hands-on experience. Tria, I assume you already know most of it?"

The former spy nodded. "And more," she said. "I'll say you've gotten almost everything right except for one small thing."

He raised an eyebrow. "Which is?"

If only he could see her face, he would have assumed she was grinning underneath the cloth over her head. "That Herven Fulmer is someone you could take on without repercussions," she said. "Are you prepared for that?"

Ariden scoffed. "I'm up for anything," he said. "So, are we in?"

The twins agreed almost immediately. They probably wanted to see the place where they spent most of their harsh childhood burned to ashes. Faw gave a noncommittal shrug, rolling her eyes and muttering under her breath, "Just tell me if I need to crack something open. Could be a lock. Or a head."

Ariden still didn't know what to think of the girl. Ralei and Tria gave him almost simultaneous nods. Lufi tapped her chin for a moment before meeting his gaze with a grin. "I'm in," she said, finally.

Ariden returned her smile and stood up from his seat. He braced his hands on the table's rim, lowering himself closer to his teammates in a conspiratorial stance. "So," he said. "Here's the plan."