HAWK & SABLE | THIRTY-ONE

"IT FEELS FAMILIAR," Cass mused, glancing around the corridors. "But it's not. It's changed a lot, has it not?"

Ciri shrugged. "I barely remember what it looked like before, so don't talk to me about it."

Cass made some sound with her throat. A moment later, she said, "Good work."

Cass had arrived, placed down her luggage, sent Marcus off with Laurence and the others before sprinting off with Ciri for a tour. Now they wandered around pointlessly, enjoying the architecture and the quiet of the inner palace. In the early afternoon, the sun was bright, so they stuck to the shades, fanning themselves.

"Thank you," Ciri replied, which was what you did when you were praised. "So you're engaged. That's not surprising."

"Yes. Dare I say you're on the same path?"

Ciri raised a brow. "What makes you say that?"

"We see how he looks at you. And you're not exactly discouraging him either." She leaned forward, tapping her cheek. "Well? Answer my question?"

"Not for a while," was what she responded with. She'd discussed it quietly with Laurence after they had retired indoors to privacy. She was young. They both were, and they both had separate lives to live before anything else. But promises had been exchanged.

Cass understood that, of course. She'd run for six years from Marcus because of her own fear of stability and security and reliance on anyone except herself. Something both Sable Sisters had been cursed with. Or perhaps it was a gift?

Her sister patted her on the shoulder. "Wise choice. Both to get our family off our backs, and for your own happiness. He's a good man. I don't know what happened to him exactly, but he deserves joy. Not sure he deserves you though."

Ciri laughed. "You overpraise me. Though that had slipped my mind. Our family would finally stop nudging us in the direction of unmarried men every time we visit Asayama. It's awfully embarrassing, truth be told."

"Especially, I suppose, when you have to very politely turn them down." Cass's icy exterior kept most people at a distance, but Ciri naturally attracted people around herself. Both sisters had different tactics of self-preservation, and both worked like a charm. "That is awkward, is it not?"

"Always," Ciri said with mock seriousness. "But truly, though, it's embarrassing for both parties, this little thing called rejection."

"Careful, sister, you sound arrogant now." She gave a little nudge.

A shrug. "Not if it's the truth. It really is an awkward thing. You've rejected a person or two in your lifetime. You know what it feels like."

"Nowhere as much as you." Cass swatted at her arm painfully. "Come on. Is this Yun Zhu Gong? I visited this once. This one looks the same."

"Noble Consort Lun lived here, didn't she? Was killed in the attack, I think," Ciri frowned. "She was the Duke of Mo Yi's daughter, I suppose."

"Loyal to death to the old dynasty," Cass agreed. "Her death was an accident as far as I'm aware, though. The attack was meant to spill as little blood as possible. Hell, even Iolanthe's father was spared." The last words were whispered softly. Asteria must have told her, then. Danna would never let those words leave her mouth, and it wasn't something Io liked to share. One of the many places the girl found unnecessary shame in.

"I'd never understand why. I suppose for a better reputation. A bloodless revolution seems much more pleasant than a bloody one."

"Unless you're a bloodthirsty twelve year old, I suppose."

"My. You've only known Io for so long and you're already able to describe her perfectly. Impressive, sister, impressive."

"I heard that."

Ciri and Cass both jolted as Io shimmered down the column holding up a roof, blinking as she landed on steady feet. Cass said, eyeing the girl with a flummoxed expression, "I feel as if I should be scared."

Io glowered with all the ferocity and hostility a twelve year old could muster. "You should be."

Ciri deadpanned, "It's a compliment, Io. Is it not your life's goal to be a bloodthirsty child? I'm sure I've heard you chanting that sometime in the past."

With an arched brow, she replied, "It might come as a surprise to you, but no. My life's goal is to be one of the best spies in the world." With a laugh, she skipped forward. "Welcome to the Scarlet Palace, Miss Cassalyn."

"Thank you." Cass let Io take her hand. "You seem very comfortable here."

"I'm a little mouse scurrying around this large palace. A fly, if you must." A shrug. "No one bothers me, and I don't bother anyone unless I'm told to. It's a fun life. I'm willing to bet I know this place better than the people who have spent their entire lives here."

"A fact, I think," Ciri agreed. "You're awfully good at poking through nooks and crannies. We didn't even notice you just now. Training with Ronan again?"

"I can sneak past wiccai, I can most definitely sneak past you two." Io wrinkled her nose. "No offence, though."

"As I'm not foolish enough to dare compare myself to a wiccai, none taken. Speaking of them, I am curious about meeting some Iron Wolves. I've heard so much about them." Cass smoothed the dark green qipao she wore. "Could a meeting be potentially arranged?"

"I'm sure Rhys and Dominic could clear their schedules," Io announced. "If not, I can absolutely drag Ronan before you and force him to socialise. I'll greatly enjoy his constipated expression. That would be fun, yes?"

"I'm not sure what I feel about your mission to torment the living hell out of the Crow," Ciri snickered. "Do the others approve?"

"Oh, don't worry," Io glowered. "He bullies back. Which is why I'm getting Rhys to help. But we're boring Miss Cassalyn."

Cass just seemed amused, though. "We are discussing the Iron Wolves? Bullying each other like bored schoolchildren? These are the Saian Empire's elite operatives?"

"All in good fun," Io clarified. "But half the time they act like a band of toddlers, and that's coming from me."

"The toddler of the group, yes. Your opinion on this means gold," Ciri deadpanned. "Do you have a point?"

"My point is that I know more about this palace than either of you, so I should be the one touring. Not you."

Ciri shrugged. "You weren't here, we didn't have much of a choice."

"I'm here now," Io argued, "come on. Follow me. I'll show you two around. You've seen Yun Zhu Gong. Boring place. There's a single secret passageway and it's filled with cobwebs. Could barely go through without sneezing like a million times."

"Why were you sneaking around Yun Zhu Gong?"

"I was eight, bored to death, and desperate for excitement. Sneaking around an abandoned palace seemed to do its job. That was before it was renovated, of course. It now houses some official." Io waved her hand in dismissal. "Boring place now. Come on, hurry up."

"Where are you bringing us?" Cass asked, humour in her voice.

"You want to meet the Iron Wolves?" Io asked. "I'll take you to them. We'll pass by a lot of places on the way there anyways," she shrugged, "pretty sure Rhys is there right now. Probably getting screamed at by Dominic."

"Who's Dominic? And Rhys?"

"The Notus and the Briar respectively. The Briar has done a few things that have not pleased her partner, so they're currently in this state of glaring at each other every time their paths cross. Which is most of the day." Ciri tilted her head. "It's getting on Zhang daren's nerves."

"I'm willing to bet he'll summon those two to his office and lecture them within twenty-four hours. Want to make that bet, Ciri?"

"As I have a brain, no," Ciri smiled. "The Du He Tower. Lots of beautiful poems composed here."

"I heard it's best at night," Cass mused, "perhaps I'll return later. Would sneaking around be alright?"

Io said, "You're skilled enough to evade most of the guards, I think. If you run into a Wolf, just show your face and they'll let you continue on."

"Convenient."

Io lifted a shoulder. "We trust you."

"An honour."

She tilted her head. "If you wish to bring your Lord Farnsworth with you, we'd suggest you keep away from more... secretive parts of the Palace. But the Du He Tower is perfectly fine. We're not keeping government secrets here."

"As you shouldn't."

Io grinned. "Yes, yes. And now we pass the Rose Gardens."

Ciri looked away. "It's a pleasant place. I quite like it." She wasn't sure she'd be able to hide the onslaught of memories from her sister and Io, both of whom were observant people.

Cass was too captivated by the blooming blossoms to notice. "True to its name, full of roses. A nice place for a picnic if you're not afraid of the thorns." She smiled at her own jest.

"Rhys' favourite haunt. The relation to her nickname, no doubt. Me, I think it's pretty ridiculous, but she loves pacing around here." Io continued walking. "Here's the gardener's quarters." A frown. "I've never actually been inside before. I should amend that."

"Your newest mission, then?" Cass questioned.

A nod was the reply. "I'll keep that in mind." They walked past.

Cass said, "I hear the mole here was murdered. Is Hua Jueying...?"

"Hua Jueying is fine." Io's voice barely hid the ice she felt. "The mole was murdered. Meliquean steel found at the scene. We're still investigating. Someone broke into the cell and stabbed him happily."

"No suspects?"

"The Iron Wolves are doing background checks." Ciri hesitated for a moment. "The Meliqueans are sending out imposters. They're calling them Cuckoos. That's what the mole was. He was pretending to be William Hua Lin."

Cass's face betrayed none of her feelings. Blank as a canvas. "Problematic."

"Very," Io agreed. "Most likely that's the killer. But why kill him instead of helping him escape? And how did they sneak into the Iron Wolves' headquarters in the first place? Everyone swears up and down they heard nothing. It's no small feat to not alert anyone at all."

"Questions we've all been asking ourselves," Ciri admitted. "Any ideas, Cass?"

"Falcon."

Ciri nodded. "Discussed that. But unless they have a Falcon within the palace, unlikely. They wouldn't be able to travel that quickly. And I don't think they're sending out Falcons undercover yet."

"Some Falcons can travel at extreme speed. I've heard of wiccai capable of teleportation."

"But would the information have travelled that quickly?" Ciri asked. "And then lies the problem. Why kill him? He could clearly be rescued, if they were able to sneak in and out without being noticed."

Cass fell silent, deep in thought. "Is this information confidential?" She was asking if she could share this with Lord Farnsworth, and perhaps the Arecian Secret Service.

Io shook her head. "Lord Archsham knows. Besides, the more alert people are, the better."

Cass nodded. "I'll think about that. We'll figure this out." She squeezed Io's hand. "What's this?"

Io eyed the building she was glancing at. "Gui Yan Gong. You'll be here a lot. Irina's headquarters."

"The Circle of Herons?" Cass questioned politely.

Io nodded in reply. "The Circle of Cranes has another palace. Meetings, discussions, all conducted here. Have you ever met Lan Zhenfei before?"

Cass said, "The colonel? Never had the pleasure. I've heard of her, though. I don't actually know most people here, really. My work was kept away from matters directly linked to Sai for obvious reasons." They were willing to overlook her lack of loyalty to Arecia because Cass was too good an agent. Even willing to ignore her sneaking information to Sai, but there was only so much they could tolerate.

"You'll meet her soon, then. And Rhys. Myrina. Irina. Have you met Irina?"

"I have not. We've written letters to each other, negotiating my family's return on behalf of our great-aunt, but I haven't met her in the flesh yet."

"Meeting in three hours," Ciri reminded. "You'll meet them all then. As for now... Io?"

They continued on until they reached the Iron Wolves manor. Cass raised a brow. "Western architecture."

"One of the few," Io agreed. "The usual siheyuan style employed for the rest of the palace wouldn't fit all the Wolves comfortably."

They reached the gates, and Io knocked. A few moments later, two Wolves, one she recognised as the Cobra, walked out and let them in. Ciri nodded her thanks.

The Cobra asked, "Here for something?"

Ciri tilted her head in Cass's direction. "Showing my sister around. Are the Briar and the Notus here right now?"

"Third floor office." A smile crossed his face. "They were so loud we chased them upstairs. Rhys threatened to castrate me multiple times."

"As expected. We'll head there, then, if that's okay?"

"Perfectly alright, Io. Just be quiet— or not, they'll be louder."

Io led them upstairs, being most familiar with the interior of the headquarters. They heard Rhys and Dominic bickering before they saw them. A few moments later, barely suppressing a grin, Io rapped her knuckles against the door. "The older Miss Diao wanted to visit!"

The door swung open. Rhys poked her head out, glowering, before her expression loosened into a smile. "Sorry for the mess. And the noise." She ushered the three girls inside. Dominic stood looming over a table with a massive ledger. He looked up and bowed.

"Miss Diao, Ciri, Io. Welcome to our headquarters."

"I don't mean to disturb," Cass said. "I was just curious."

Rhys tapped the book. "We're going through some information about people we've singled out as potentially suspicious. Dominic is being a nuisance."

Dominic's resulting glare was carefully ignored as Rhys rolled up her robe's sleeves. "We've listed the most obvious ones. Come see if you want."

Ciri picked up the paper. Zhang Nahuan. Bei Yingwei. Chen Hangbo.... There were twelve names in total. She placed it down. "Who are these people?"

"Minor officials," Dominic explained. "No one important. Chen Hangbo is the only exception. Io knows him."

She squinted, thinking. "The postmaster's right-hand man."

Dominic nodded approvingly. "That's him. If it is him, some missive's disappearance might be explained."

"No evidence yet," Rhys shrugged, "but his backstory is suspicious. Claims to be a distant relative of the late Chen daren, but there's no actual evidence of it. Don't know why no one questioned it."

"Chen daren was among those who fled during the revolution. No one ever heard from him again. When he showed up, claiming the old lord was dead..." Dominic shrugged. "No one asked. It seemed fairly plausible. They apparently share some degree of resemblance."

"Interesting," Cass mused. "Is there any evidence these imposters are used anywhere else?"

"Such as Arecia?" Rhys asked. "It's likely. Has there been any...?"

Cass shook her head. "But they haven't been able to find many traitors within their ranks in the first place. They definitely exist, but their identities remain secret, much to the Service's eternal dismay. This newfound revelation explains it quite a bit."

"If only the imposter was still alive." Dominic's fists clenched as he looked up. "We could have questioned him."

Rhys shrugged nonchalantly, but her shoulders drooped too. "Pity, ain't it? Would have solved so many problems." She seemed distracted as she moved around the room. "Who first?"

Dominic replied, "Chen Hangbo. Most high profile."

"Me, I'd say Zhang Nahuan. She's in the Treasury too, so we could continue on with what we used before."

"Even if she is a mole, she's barely important. Her position is low enough she'd get little to no information at all."

"But this links her directly to Diego." She tapped her finger on the table. "Which gives us a quick finish to that business."

"And now," Io muttered under her breath, "we witness another classical Rhys and Dominic spat."

Both wiccai turned to glare at her. She smiled. "And a common enemy unites them once more."

Rhys let out a sound of agony. "Zhang Nahuan."

"Chen Hangbo."

Cass, with extreme politeness, said, "Why not both?"

Both turned to look at her.

She blinked. "You have plenty of Iron Wolves. I don't think you're the only two dealing with this imposter situation. You could easily set someone on one and the other on another."

"Wow. Why didn't we think of that?" Rhys turned furious eyes towards Dominic, as if it was his fault. He returned with an incredulous stare.

"We'll do that. Thank you for your suggestion, Miss Diao."

Somehow, Cass replied with a straight smile. "No problem. What should I call you?"

"The Notus or Dominic works. Mr Lang, if you insist."

"The Briar or Rhys for me. Miss Jiang if you decide to be unnecessarily formal. Neither of us are of noble birth, so it doesn't really matter." She waved her hand in the air. "And we apologise for our lack of hospitality. People don't tend to visit much here. If they do, it's for urgent visits."

"I don't mind." Cass smiled. "People of our work rarely have time for such frivolous matters. Do continue. Lady Asteria has asked me to act as a liaison between Arecian and Saian Intelligence, so I thought I might as well figure out how things work out quickly."

Ciri raised a brow. Cass hadn't mentioned that. "Congratulations."

"Thank you."

Io walked towards the desk. "Need help, you two?"

Dominic gave it some thought. "We could send you out with Ronan."

That made her grin. "More chances to torment our dear Mr Tang?"

Rhys rolled her eyes. "Mission first. Then the torment. I'll help you, if you succeed." Irina wrinkled her nose, and Rhys gave her a pat on the head. "But first, aid us with this. Can you find anything on the people on that list that might be in these?" These were the other registers laid on the desk. "We want anything that gives the date they entered the palace and comments on their past histories. Family, if that's listed."

"We can help," Ciri said. "We'll each take one."

That was how they spent the next few hours, pouring over ledgers and records. By the end of it, they handed it all back to Rhys and Dominic, who thanked them profoundly.

As they left, Cass said, "Sai is in good hands."

Ciri shut her eyes and smiled. "Thank god for that."