Theon watched the pretty woman round a corner and disappear with a flash of loosely braided gray hair. He tried to think if he had ever had a woman run away from him. Silas, who was watching her run with a vaguely predatory interest, hummed aloud, "She's so shy she was practically jumping out of her skin, it's adorable.''
He then sighed and frowned at his friend. "If you had held off for a moment I probably could have gotten her to agree to lunch before she got a chance to run," he scolded half-heartedly.
"I'm sorry I interrupted you, if you'd succeeded I could have tagged along," Theon chuckled. "The children were full of praise for her. The older ones are in love. Seems like other adults had seen them and had not been suspicious, so her stepping forward made her the best person alive."
"Oh well, maybe when she comes back to get her things," Silas sighed as he stood, collecting the evidence and tagging them appropriately before having a subordinate come to collect it. "I'm surprised you're at the city headquarters today."
Theon nodded, "I'm actually here looking for you. Perrin wants us all to meet for lunch tomorrow. Glad I stopped by, your healers would have been drained pretty quickly without me."
"Firstly, I have a day off tomorrow, so no problems for lunch. Secondly, thank you Theon, for helping with the kids," Silas said with a grin, wrapping an arm around his friend's neck. "Lunch would have been better with the pretty Kiava Orben, but just you is fine too."
Theon rolled his eyes.
"Who'd want to join you for lunch without a pretty girl there?" he scoffed jokingly, throwing the arm off.
"You wound me, my friend," Silas replied playfully. The two continued to banter as they left for lunch together.
…
Kiava eventually made her way to the carpenters that had been recommended, and was finally able to hire someone to come to the workshop the next day to start work. After paying the deposit, her bank crystal balance - though still impressive - was just above half of what it had been and the sharp decrease made her feel uncomfortable after she had been hoarding money for so long.
Money was meant to circulate through, and she needed to spend money to make a home. She still had a lot to do to make that a reality, her next tasks were to arrange furniture and find a magical mediums vendor. She checked her balance again and hoped it was enough.
Kiava left the carpenters and headed to an artificer workshop to buy some of the tools she needed for her home. A TempCon Pantry, an all-range cooker, a tele crystal for the shop, and after showing her badge, recommendations and contact information for a small-scale materials vendor.
The owner was very helpful after he saw her badge and realized she was the newbie he had heard about. He even gave her a small discount on the large items and didn't charge extra for delivery, which would be the next day so they could be installed by the carpenters.
By the time she made it back to the inn, it was dinner time and she had a meal sent to her room to eat alone. It gave her the opportunity to think about all the handsome men she had met since arriving in the city without people wondering why she was blushing, particularly when she thought of Sir Iaska's warm smile when she had been talking about her warding wand.
Back home the only person who had reacted that way to her talking about Artificery was her old teacher. It had felt very different coming from a handsome young man though, and it was shocking that she had now interacted with four celebrities and was known to three.
Despite her embarrassing musings about handsome men, Kiava's dreams that night were stressful. She woke up in the morning feeling like she had not slept at all. She sighed as she left the inn without getting breakfast, opting to stop at a food stall on the way to her new place to get something she could eat while walking. She also stopped at a bakery and bought sandwiches for the carpenters. Her mood was still pretty low when she arrived at her home and let herself in.
The carpenters and her delivery were due to arrive soon, so she set up wards that would minimize damage from accidents and prevent anyone from stealing or attacking the shop. She had just completed her coverage when the carpenters arrived. The lead looked over the interior and asked what she wanted. He was very competent and quickly had a draft of what they needed upstairs and down. He had just finished the design when the delivery men knocked at the door.
After being thanked for the sandwiches, Kiava was sent away. The work was fairly simple for them and they only needed three days to complete it all. The upstairs would even be done by the end of the day, as it needed the least amount of work. Thus thrown from her own building, Kiava decided to set up an appointment with the materials vendor. She would be back in the afternoon to lock up after them.
…
Archeus held the detoxification amulet up to the light and read the complex spellwork written with magic. The stone was beautiful and further complimented by the setting and chain. All very simple and elegant, and as a high mage he could tell that the spellwork had been crafted into every facet of the necklace. He had been put on light duty since his kidnapping, despite being completely fine after Theon healed him, so he spent a lot of time musing about the person that had saved him.
"That's gorgeous, where did you get it?" The voice was directly by his ear and startled him out of his musings. He glanced into his younger sister's curious blue eyes, and she offered him a cheerful smile. His sister was also a powerful magic user, but hadn't found her niche.
"It's a gift from my savior," he explained, handing it over.
"Well, your savior has impeccable taste in jewelry and spellwork. Complex wards like this aren't common among civilians, but that design will appeal to merchants and others that have to present well often while also at risk." His sister studied the work for a bit before handing it back, looking thoughtful. "I hope I can meet the person who made that some day."
He ruffled her hair affectionately. "Me too, Luka." The teenager protested the abuse of her short green hair. "Alright, I have a lunch date with the guys, see you soon."
He teleported into the specially designated area in the duke's foyer. He managed to startle a maid who was dusting nearby, the lady shrieked briefly at his sudden appearance before bowing and rushing from the room. That in turn had Perrin and Theon rushing into the room to make sure everything was alright from the adjoining sitting room.
"Ah, it's you, Archeus. Now we just have to wait on Silas," Perrin greeted him with a smile.
"How are you feeling?" Theon asked, walking over and putting two fingers to Archeus' pulse. Theon's magic rushed through his system for a moment. "All good."
Archeus pulled away. "Yes, mom, I am feeling fine, thank you," he teased with a grin, "I took all those potions you bought for me to flush the drugs from my system and everything."
The three men went to the sitting room and talked lightly about unimportant matters as they waited on Silas. As if summoned by their expectation, he burst into the room, looking a bit strained, but he offered them a tight smile.
"Sorry I am a bit late, I got called into work for something," he explained.
Perin brushed it off and they all went to the back garden for their meal. Archeus was a fan of the garden - a forebear of Perrin's had outfitted the entire place with anti-eavesdropping magical devices as well as hidden spots where couples could have a tryst in peace.
The four men waited for servants to serve the meal and return inside before starting to eat. It wasn't until all of them had slowed down and moved on to sipping their drinks that Perrin brought up the matter at hand.
"I have found the tipster," Perrin announced with calm authority.
The three other men stood up and demanded to know who it was all at once.
"It's a young woman who has just moved to the city. I had her investigated to make sure she could not be in on the kidnapping, and I am now confident that she had nothing to do with it," he continued, his tone unchanging and raising his hands to quiet their onslaught of queries.
"Well don't bury the lead, who is it?" Theon asked.
"A Kiava Orben."
Archeus grinned at the news. "Where is she?" he asked, but was spoken over by Perrin.
"What's wrong, Silas?" asked Perrin, which brought Archeus' gaze to his knightly friend, who had not looked great before and now looked close to sick.
"Yesterday, Miss Kiava Orben interrupted a group trafficking almost two dozen children. It was not until this morning that the men captured finally gave up information." Silas rubbed his face. "From what they said it became obvious that any witnesses would be in danger. The children are still being held in custody at the Temple as their identities are investigated, but the young lady was permitted to leave. Since discovering that she may be in danger we have not been able to locate her. She left the Sorcerer's Respite this morning and we checked her workshop, but the workmen there had sent her away while they did their work. We have no leads on her location after that."
Perrin looked thoughtful. "I understand your concern, but I suspect it is unfounded. The full ward we tested the other day was Miss Kiava's. If she has similar defenses for herself, which is likely, I doubt she is in any imminent danger."
Archeus stood and rolled his eyes at his friend. "I thought much the same thing when I went to investigate on my own. I even had the advantage of knowing something of what I may encounter." He paused before beginning to cast teleportation magic. "You guys coming? Do you have her address?"
A horrible feeling had settled into the pit of his stomach, and he figured his expression was similar to Silas', who was starkly worried in contrast to the mellow Theon and ever collected Perrin. Still, the other three men grabbed hold of his arms and shoulders while Silas showed him a paper with the address.
"Be ready for a bit of a fall," Archeus warned.
It is illegal to teleport directly to a location that does not have a designated area… unless you teleport to an area where you will not intercept another person. For the four war heroes, that would be about ten feet above the ground. Silas and Perrin landed gracefully from their dead drops. Theon stumbled slightly, but managed to keep his balance and Archeus floated gently to the ground. The sounds of sawing and hammering came from a shop directly to their left with a guard standing by the door already, who jumped to attention as he recognized the nobles that had appeared from midair.
"My lords!" The guard saluted. "The witness has not returned to this location."
"Did the carpenters notice which direction she went in?" Perrin asked.
"They said she went right, your grace, deeper into this district," the guard reported as he gestured down the street.
Archeus watched Silas, who was standing very still with his head tilted into the wind. His friend's golden eyes opened, focused in the direction the guard had pointed. Silas was a demi-human, the human progeny of one of the gods - in his case Herif, god of the hunt, nature, and balance. Silas' brethren shared characteristics of successful animal hunters: heightened sense of smell, sight, strength, and agility. Archeus was also a demi-human. His original forefather was the son of Geroit - god of magic, knowledge, and chaos. It was not uncommon, but until fairly recently demi-humans and normal humans rarely interbred because it was believed that mixes between normal humans and demi-humans would welcome corruption. It wasn't until the gods declared a mixling the Hero that people realized it was their own bias, not a god given weakness.
All that to say, because Silas had met Miss Kiava, he could track her by scent. Sure enough he motioned for the other three to follow him and set off. Archeus was right behind him, moving swiftly through the crowds in the way he had learned growing up as a child on the streets. Theon and Perrin were used to people moving aside for them, which was happening, but not fast enough to keep pace with Silas and Archeus. They were left behind quickly.