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Cedric closed his eyes as he was listening. When he opened them again, he wasn't sure that he had caught every thing. But he had caught the end. He'd been trying to listen and failed.

"There's a mountain range inbetween us. The logistics are..." He bit his lip. He hadn't told Ross just how high up he had been at Tok, just how familiar he was with what they were capable of. "They aren't that kind of country," he finalized.

There were footsteps up the hall, so Cedric looked to his door and tensed, though he remained laying down. The door opened. It was one of the visitors with her personal guard. They always had a least one, provided by the compound they lived at even if they didn't technically own any. She glared at Ross, obviously not expecting him to be there. "You two," she snapped, "don't you have any thing better to do? Well, I'd like you to show my guard something. You're Cedric, right?" she asked Cedric, because he was fairer skinned than Ross.

Cedric jumped up off his bed. "I'm afraid you'd have to talk to the head mistress of the compound, Ma'am. She told us not to entertain any one during our breaks, unless you have permission from her."

The problem was that he didn't sound very polite about it, so now the lady had more reason to be annoyed and take it out on them. "You are not to question my orders, boy-- if your mistress has a problem with me, that's between us," she growled.

She turned to Ross. "Go find something else to do."

He was almost to the end of the hall way and just about out of excuses for making his decision. Either he should inform Marean, or not. Or maybe he could inform some one just under her, who could decide if it should go to Marean or stay silent.

But just when he was about to turn the corner, he heard the woman he'd left in Cedric's room yelp and doors slam. "Get back here!"

Cedric was not going to do whatever she had asked him to. At first he had cringed, expecting to be struck by magic or physically. But it didn't take long to realize that she did not have magic. Her gaurd was easy enough to get past. That was a given.

Cedric ran down the hall way at a much faster pace than Ross had covered the same distance. He was flushed because he was laughing. Soon it would be no laughing matter either way, but for now he could hardly help himself. In the slave's quarters during break, the nearest magic-using woman was further away than at other parts of the day when slaves and mistresses were expected to interact.

As he reached Ross, he whispered harshly: "Move!" Get out of the way. Don't get in trouble. He was heading for the stairs at the hall way junction.

Later, Ross was called directly to Marean's room.

What Cedric had done was wrong, and he was not suspected to be a part of it. But he was an important witness to a much more important event. It wasn't incredibly surprising if Cedric misbehaved. By now, the women believed there was something different with his brain, that when he got stressed he reverted back to his wild tendencies. Maybe they were right. It didn't matter because he still got punished for it.

But Ross had witnessed the woman barge in and disregard their break. He was not told this was why he was called in, but it started to became clear when Marean asked for the door to be shut and ordered all but one of her guards and Cedric to leave. Usually when she punished a slave she made an example of it.

Cedric was no threat to her at the moment. One of the people she had ordered out was a woman adept in the magic they used to control slaves. Cedric sat in the corner where he had been told to be, shivering and doubled over like he thought he might throw up. He didn't look up to see Ross.

"Ross," Marean began in a stern voice. "You have been gone a very long time. Are you loyal to me, still?" Uh, trick question?

"Good, good." Marean paced in front of her bed. She was determined, and it helped her think. "There was a woman you met earlier today. Short brown hair-- a green dress. You were in Cedric's room with him, were you not? She came in while it was your break and asked you to leave. Is this all true? What else happened that you know of?"

If he were to answer that it was not true, Cedric's punishment would not be over, but Marean's troubles would be. If he were to tell the truth, she would have to handle the obnoxious visitor some how. That was one of the reasons she was so involved. If a visitor was going to be insulted, she would want to handle it herself.

"So she was informed," she muttered. "Alright! Report to the Armsmaster for border duty."

So, he hadn't really gotten in trouble, but he hadn't escaped trouble, either. If it weren't for this upset of the system, he would have been able to stay in the House for another few days before being given a real duty, kind of like a welcoming back. But he was being sent straight to work, not knowing if he would even spend the night in the room he'd been given earlier.

Cedric came to see him the next chance he got. He probably wasn't supposed to be there, but it was a day with few visitors, it was break time, and no one seemed to need him. He seemed to have forgotten about the punishments Marean could give.

Cedric didn't know where to find Ross. He'd been a guard before, but only once on the border, so he didn't know their schedule. But he did know where Ross' room was, and where he was assigned. He checked Ross' room, first.