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Andarien didn't take the news well at all. He turned very pale and shrunk away from Lin. Eon quickly ran to him and pawed at his leg to try to get his attention, but even that did nothing to help him.

Wren left off her conversation with Janos and hurried over to the rest of them.

"Did I hear correctly?" she asked anxiously. "Sorry, Lin, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but ... I couldn't help it."

Kyrie swore and joined them all again. "Maybe it'd be best if we just get everyone together and talk this over," she suggested darkly. "Then at least we only have to say things once."

Kyrie brought Mari, Mathias and Chesnet back and brought Lancaeriel out from her tent as well, and once everyone was together, she outlined the situation briefly: Earendil's condition, their plan to get to the General, and the need for urgency.

"Don't let the news about your father's condition get you down," she told Andarien and Miyuki firmly. "If you do, you won't be able to help get him back. It will simply be too dangerous. Now pull yourselves together."

She was fully aware of how callous she sounded at the moment, but tough love was the only way these children would get through this. They could fall apart all they wanted once they had their father back, but until then they had to hold themselves together.

Kyrie looked around at everyone seriously. "Rest. Sleep. Tonight we'll leave here and go to the palace. The idea is to shock the General out of the palace and take care of him that way. You'll need your strength. Make sure your Pokemon are rested as well."

"We're going to need some food before then," Mari pointed out.

"I know," Kyrie nodded. "I'll speak to Tsara and have her or Dae'er bring food down for everyone." She looked around again. "Any other questions?"

As promised, Kyrie soon brought down food for the lot of them, and then everyone went into their respective tents to rest up for that night. It didn't take long for most of them to drop off: it had been a long three weeks for then since they'd left Shiezin, and the past few days especially had been particularly brutal.

Partway through the afternoon, there was a disturbance upstairs whose noise drifted down into the cellar: shouting and things being shoved around. Mathias and Chesnet rushed out of their tent, short daggers in their hands. Swords would be no good in such a small space. Mari wasn't far behind, then Wren and Lancaeriel.

"Knowing our luck, one of Tsara's patients this morning overheard Mathias and Chesnet arguing like children about how best to get the General out of his safe haven," Mari quipped, glaring at the men.

The shouting overhead grew louder, and then it stopped abruptly as many sets of heavy footsteps trooped through the house. Then the door at the top of the cellar stairs was wrenched open and a voice called down, "Anyone with a weapon will be killed on sight. Have your hands empty and in plain sight!"

Andarien was still trying to wake up, but he reached for his Pokeballs and stuck them in his pockets. He didn't care about anything else, but he wasn't going to let anything happen to his Pokemon.

Mari caught Lin's eye and nodded. "Down," she murmured, and she was the first one to set her knife on the floor and kick it away. There was a clatter as the others copied her and followed her lead in holding their hands out to their sides, open.

The footsteps started down the stairs, and in a moment the first soldier was visible. He was wearing silver armour and was holding a sword in front of him. Behind him came a line of soldiers in regular black armour: the first four were holding loaded crossbows, and those behind them had swords drawn.

"Pat them down, men," the soldier in silver ordered the others. The crossbowmen stayed put, their weapons trained on the refugees, and the men behind them swarmed forward to check them for weapons.

The soldiers didn't hesitate to pat down the women as thoroughly as the men, and when one of them moved to pat down Mari, Mathias stepped into his path to block him.

"Mathias," Mari warned him quietly, frowning at him.

The soldier looked at Mari intently as Mathias stepped away again, but he didn't say anything.

In the meantime, the soldier in silver was looking around at all of them intently. His eyes narrowed when he looked at Lin, and he stepped towards her. Yet it wasn't her face or even her wings that he was looking at: he was looking just below her neckline.

Rather than answering, the soldier stepped around everyone who was between him and Lin and he reached out and picked up her promise necklace.

"What is this?" he asked her, holding it up in front of her face. There was anger in his eyes: anger and annoyance.