The next morning I again awoke before the sun came up. I checked all of my traps and made sure they had not been touched. I quickly strapped on some extra knives and daggers and threw on my hood as I scrabbled out the door.
I nodded to the bar keep on my way out and silently crept out the door, making as little noise as possible. This kind of town never slept.
In order to do the business that I needed to do I had to get creative, something I often struggled with. So I looked for the nearest tree and started climbing.
When I got to the top the wind nipped at my face and the bark scratched at my palms, but, that didn't seem to bother me. Making sure none of my weapons would fall out I swung my legs to one side of the branch that I was perched on and let myself fall backwards.
I didn't fall out of the tree but I was hanging upside down. The village looked more like a city from upside down and everything changed to something new. You could also see things that most didn't notice before. The ever changing lights, the smell of food, the bustle of the village even at this hour.
That's when I saw it, in the most unlikely place that it would be. It hanging from the tree with me, almost as if my master knew that I would climb a tree. A decent gamble I'll admit but a risky one nonetheless.
I swung myself up rather fast and grabbed the single small piece of paper. On it was yet again a single word but this one different than a direction it said "Mind."
It could be that my master wanted me to use of my mind techniques to search for him as well as physically looking for him. So I close my eyes and focused. There's a million people around me and I pick up there brainwaves but I try to narrow it down to the one I'm looking for.
My mind is carefully blank searching for that one wavelength, after thirty minutes I'm about to give up when I get a quick flash and it disappears. That flash was enough. I have a location. I nimbly hop out of the tree and land in a squat, closing my eyes I pull up a map in my mind.
He was down by the bar if I was correct. I take off in a full run, careful to keep in the shadows as the sun starts to rise. I'm quick and make to the bar in roughly two minutes. Making sure my hood still covered my face I look around the bar.
In the corner of the bar there were two hooded figures and they looked at me beneath there heavy hoods. I walked over to the bar and placed a silver coin and was handed a beer, I took a sip and made my way over to the hooded figures.
"Do you know where I can find my master?" I asked quietly.
"Is he about 25, tall, dark brown hair with hazel eyes?" One asks equally as quiet.
I nodded and the other handed me a slip of parchment and left the table. I silently sat and opened it to reveal a name.
"Shu Wise."
I looked to the person still at the table and handed the paper to him, he looked at it and jerked his chin at a young boy a table away laughing at something someone said.
I nodded my thanks and chugged the rest of the beer and headed to the other side of the room and found an empty table and watched him the rest of the evening.
I was polishing a dagger when he sauntered over to my table and a drink was brought to him. He flung his hood off and looked at me carefully, almost studying me.
"I've noticed that you've been watching me for a while, anything I can help you with?" He asked in a husky voice.
I remained quiet and after a moment stood up and motioned for him to follow me as I walked out of the bar and into the cool day beyond. As he followed me I kept my eyes on our surroundings and eventually we were on the roof of an abandoned building that was slowly crumbling.
I quickly explained what my mission was and asked if he know anything about my master Ash Ein.
"I see it makes sense now," he chuckled quietly, "I honestly thought that you were checking me out but I should have known that you needed me for actual work." He sighed and rubbed at his neck with a hand and threw his hood back on.
"You don't have to help me but if you could at least point me in the right direction I would be grateful," I said quietly as I fully faced him for the first time.
He carefully reached up and pushed my hood back far enough so that he could see my face before he asked quietly, "I'll help you but I want to come with you until you find your master."
"No way, I don't know you and I still don't know if your to be trusted," I replied quickly and pulled away from his hand that was still on my hood.
"I get that but you said yourself that your master gave you my name and I think I can help you, but you'll have to trust me," He said while kneeling and bowing his head, "Please let me help you."
I squinted my eyes but thought a moment before replying, "Alright fine but you have to do as your told and don't slow me down. If you slow me down I'll leave you behind without hesitation."
He smiled and got to his feet and whispered, "I am now at your service and I won't let you down."
"We'll see," Was all I said as I made my way back to the hotel with him in tow.
Tomorrow, we ultimately decided, we would head into town and go over everything he knew but until then we would get rest.