Snippet #1476266

Pan's eyes went saucer-wide when Eos flung the chair across the room, following swiftly after it. she opened her mouth to say something- what, she had absolutely no idea- but the dark woman silenced her with flat words that made little sense to the healer. Don't move? They're trying to kill each other! How could the rest of them be expected to sit there and do absolutely nothing at all.

Still, there was something about the way it was said, about the fact that the woman's uncanny eyes followed every motion without discernible proof that she felt anything about it, that threw Pan off just enough for her to settle uncomfortably back in her seat, worry etched over her youthful face. She had to admit, she had never expected that Eos was this skilled. When he had showed up at her clinic the first time (and on subsequent occasions), he was always quite badly wounded. Granted, it was not as though he appeared to actually feel the pain he should, but that she had attributed to a mixture of alcohol and acclimation. She had not expected whatever this was, and to be honest, she was a little frightened by it. What kind of people needed to know so much about how, when, and where to strike?

If Eos worried her, she was thoroughly petrified by the other man, who had seemed so genial and dignified upon her entrance here. Certainly, there was something intimidating even in that, but the fact that he was not in the slightest fazed by what had thrown her for a loop suggested that he had known what was coming, and been so calm anyway. What in Elisia's name was she doing here in the first place?

With movement almost too perfect for her to track, the confrontation ended, and Eos returned to his seat as though nothing had happened at all. Pan realized she'd been gripping the edge of the table, white-knuckled, and slowly eased her grip on the innocent wood.

---

Scheherazade did not much enjoy being late, but the moment she'd seen the black-cloaked figure waiting at her usual entrance point into Alpha, she'd known that getting where Eris had directed her to go was going to be difficult. That was most definitely an assassin, and as a criminal, Zade had no desire whatsoever to run into one of those.

Sneaking around was something of a forte of hers, but it was what assassins were trained for, and so she knew she had to be as careful as possible. When she'd first read the note, she'd been confused, then disbelieving, but it was the last line that had really done it.

Trust me.

Against her own better judgement, perhaps, Zade did hold some measure of trust for the older woman, and truly there wasn't quite enugh cynicism in the girl yet that she wouldn't do a favor for one of the few friends she had, even if said friend was asking her to meet at a specified room in the Royal bloody Palace of all things. Of course, when Zade had read the word "meet," she had naturally assumed that she was to remain unseen, and so the fact that the assassin was actually supposed to be her guide was completely lost on her.

It took some work, but she managed to get past the gate without incident. She knew she couldn't well just march into the building; she'd have to scale it and find the right window. Sticking to the hedges that lined parts of the building's facade, she privately thought that it would be a really interesting challenge to get to the top, but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for her health should she have tried), the specified place was on the second floor.

Counting windows as she passed, she figured it would probably be one of the closed ones, since they probably didn't want any of the guards knowing what was going on. Lucky for people like the thief, buildings in this part of town tended to favor the aesthetic over the practical, which meant handholds aplenty if you knew how to look. With great care, she made it to the window she guessed was her destination and climbed onto the jutting sill, sliding the thing open and clambering inside.

She had closed the window and turned around before she had the distinct impression that she was very, very dead. Sharp golden eyes scanned the room warily, at last landing on Eris's face, only... Zade uttered an oath usually only heard in the worst bars in Gamma. With the very discernible manner of a trapped animal, she considered hauling the window open and making a break for it, but something told her she would not be successful at this. Eris was regarding her neutrally, and Zade glared at her.

Trust you? Trust you indeed. Still, it looked like there was little chance of escape. Maybe that was what the old man with the bum wrist had tried? Gritting her teeth, Zade selected a chair that placed her back to the window, well away from everyone else. "Sorry I'm late," she ground out, still warily eying everyone in the room. She was surprised to discover that she recognized a few faces- that was the doctor who she'd seen but that morning, and the blonde woman matched a vague description she had of Pandora Elling, whose name was well-known by people who risked grievous injury on a daily basis. She looked scared out of her mind, and frankly Zade wasn't sure that was entirely unreasonable at this point.