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Blaise looked back and laughed at Rosette beating up on Chrono.

“Oi! Cut it out. If Chrono gets hurt then whoever is training him is going to blame me for it!” She shouted back to them. She then saw Khnui walking by and heard him shout something to Elias then Chrono. She shot him a confused look but shook it off. He was usually off on his annual trip by now, but it seemed he decided not to go. She ignored it and concentrated more on the comment he had given to Elias.

“See, Elias. I’m not the only one who thinks your feet might be dirty. I just don’t see how you keep them clean, you never wear shoes!” she smiled. Ciaran sauntered out her open door and jumped onto Blaise’s shoulder. Blaise rolled her eyes. He cat never acted like a cat and it could get quite annoying sometimes.

“Alright, down you go.” She said, pushing Ciaran off her shoulder. She was about to turn and go into her house when she saw Kaden sprinting towards her. She cocked her head and shouted to him, “Back so soon?”

He reached them breathlessly and said urgently, “Before the Lieutenant would give me any arrangements he told me to give you a message.”

Kaden looked around to make sure no one else was listening then said, “Elias, you should hear this too. Tonight’s running plans have been ruined so several people will die tonight. There is a spy among us. We don’t know who he is or how he got here but he found the running plans and relayed them back to the prisons and Monarchy. The Lieutenant wants us to watch out and report anyone suspicious and keep anything and everything important as secret as possible. That means, Blaise, you’re going to have to be extra careful while training Rosette. The Lieutenant doesn’t want either of you getting hurt. Someone has already perished.”

Blaise’s eyes widened and she looked to Kaden fearfully. “Who?” she said, “Who has perished.”

Kaden looked to the ground in sadness, “Nathan.”

Blaise gasped in shock and leaned against the door frame for support, shaking her head in disbelief. Nathan was one of the best Mage Superiors out of the Fugitive Foresters. Blaise was just a hair away from claiming his title and one more match would have gotten her there. It seemed that she would never compete against him again and the title was already hers. How could this have happened?

“What are we going to do?” she whispered, looking to Rosette, “I can’t tell her.”

“The reason why the Lieutenant assigned my trainee to another person was because my new job is to look after you and Rosette.” Kaden answered.

Blaise sighed and looked to the ground. This was not good.

Kaden frowned, his eyebrows furrowed in thought.

“Nathan was . . . he was poisoned. Monkshood. It could have been in something he ate or drank . . . maybe someone scratched him and the spy put it in a salve he used, we don’t know. But he’s gone now. We will be holding a memorial service for him in a few days. Only friends and family were invited to his funeral.”

Kaden paused for a moment and looked to Blaise, “His family invited you, Blaise.”

Blaise stood staring at her feet. She nodded and Kaden continued, “There is nothing that needs to be done. The Lieutenant doesn’t want anyone searching for this spy. If he can take out someone such as Nathan then he can wipe out all the Fugitive Foresters. We must only keep our eyes open for him and go about our days as usual but with more caution. We do not want this spy knowing that we are searching for him. If you have suspicions then do not approach him, just report the person to the Lieutenant.”

“Nathan was . . . he was poisoned. Monkshood. It could have been in something he ate or drank . . . maybe someone scratched him and the spy put it in a salve he used, we don’t know. But he’s gone now..."

Chrono looked up, his hands gripping Rosette to stop her ferverant attack.

"What is it?" Rosette asked, sensing his surprise.

"Wh-Wha?" Oh, nothing... I... I... thought Elias was making of my hair, that's all." Chrono quickly lied. It wasn't the least bit clever.

"Chrono, you're a crappy liar." She told him before giving him a final good clock on the head and approaching the others. Since she had not heard Kaden's messege, she didn't understand why everyone looked so grave, for the moment.

"What's wrong... you all look like you've...." She paused, the gears slowly clicking in her mind as the words merely flowed off her tongue."...Someone's died... haven't they...?"

Blaise looked nervously from Rosette to Khnui, giving him a look that said I’ll tell you later.

“Ah, nothing – nothing, Rosette. It’s nothing that concerns you or anyone but the Superiors. So, if you would please . . .” Blaise stepped to the side to allow everyone to come in, putting a smile on her face. She knew it would look false but she did her best to mask her emotions. “Rosette, feel free to get some food for Chrono, Tax, and yourself if anyone is hungry. You know where I keep it. Also point Tax to where I keep the clothing.”

Blaise took a couple more steps back and said, “Ah, Kaden. While everyone goes inside, can I talk to you for a bit?” Blaise asked. Kaden nodded and they stepped out of ear shot of the group.

“What does the Lieutenant want you to do?”

“He told me that my new job is to look after you and Rosette. He knew you would argue but it’s our only choice. We don’t want either of you to get hurt. From now on I’ll be hovering around a bit but it won’t be anything too drastic.” He said.

Blaise wrinkled her nose and frowned. She knew that the Lieutenant was worried but wasn’t sure if someone looking after them was the best thing. If anything it would just make the spy realize that they might be important because they were the only ones being watched out for. Blaise looked up to Khnui and gave him a small wave to get him to come over.

"I hate it when people lie right to my face..." Rosette grumbled lowly so that only Chrono could hear.

"You could tell?"

"Chrono, remember all that time I spent playing cards? I'm pretty damn good at reading exprssions. You're the only one who can fool me now."She replied, crossing her arms. "You hear anything?"

"Yes...but I'll tell you later..." Chrono said before turning to Tax. He acted unlike himself again, like a jovial young lad. "Come on, Tax, I'll show you where Blaise keeps the extra clothes and the food. You coming Rosette?"

"Sure!"

Blaise looked to Khnui gravely and repeated all that Kaden had told her in hushed tones. Afterwards she paced worriedly in a small circle.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do. I can’t tell Rosette. Undoubtedly they already know something is wrong, but still, I can’t tell her. Who knows what kind of mayhem this could lead to? Our entire existence is at stake!”

Blaise stopped pacing and stressfully rubbed her forehead. What was she going to tell Rosette if she couldn’t tell her the truth? That would have to come later, right now they needed ideas to keep themselves going.

Blaise pinched the bridge of her nose in thought.

“I don’t know.” She said, “It all sounds a bit . . . risky. I don’t doubt that it will work it’s just that . . . Rosette’s a sharp one, we can’t just go off lying to her. We need to gain her trust. I think the best thing to do is to go about the days as we usually do so as not to arouse suspicion. Kaden, I don’t care what the Lieutenant says, it’s more dangerous for you to be watching over us then for me to keep an eye open. I have no evidence that the spy is a threat to us at the moment. If I feel the need I will call on you both for any help.”

“But, Blaise! He’s already killed one of our best!” Kaden warned. She put up a hand to silence him.

“We do not know for sure if that was intentional or just a ploy to get to information.” Blaise said calmly. She looked back to her doorway to see that everyone was already inside. She sighed and looked back to Khnui and Kaden. “I had better go talk to them. They know something’s up, that’s for sure.”

Kaden watched as Blaise walked into her house and out of sight then shook his head. He looked to Khnui and said, “I really hope she knows what she’s doing.”

He patted Kaden on the shoulder. "She will do what she thinks is best as we shall do ourselves. It is your call on what you are going to do but I know what I'm going to do." He said before turning to leave. "And look for a package in the morning. Tell this to Blaise, Rosette, Chrono, Elias, and Tax as well." He said before walking off towards his house. He had several pieces of jewelery at hand in his home in case anyone needed them for some special purpose. He was specifically thinking of rings he had which he could easily change into poison detectors through the use of runes. He was going to give each one a package containing a ring that would, of course, change size according to the person and would only the person he was giving them too would be wearing them. The rings would also give the wearer a pullsing feeling when whatever they were handling contained poison. The rings would also having trackers on them in which the ring he was wearing would be the only thing that would keep track of it. And if absolutely need be, he would be able to communicate with the wearers. He suddenly sighed heavily at the thought. It is going to take him all day to do all of the runes and to personalize them to various people. He sighed again as he looked up to see that he was approaching his house.