HAWK & SABLE | TWENTY-TWO

IF SHE IGNORED the constant throbbing in her head, Ciri almost felt as good as new. Hence why she chose to brave out the next morning's meeting despite everyone's order not to. She'd never been particularly good at following commands, truth be told. Especially ones that seemed to concern her own wellbeing. What could she say? She'd always been stubborn.

Laurence was frowning over her shoulder as if she was a frail puppy. Danna's eyes darted to her every few seconds, as if she'd fall over and collapse. Her body was a bit sore, but it was nothing she hadn't dealt with before.

Her friends had all gotten soft. There was no other explanation for it, and damn if it wasn't annoying.

By the fifth time someone turned to her with a concerned expression and asked, "are you okay?", Ciri was ready to commit murder. She'd responded with the flattest stare she could muster that wouldn't seem too rude, because they were just trying to care for her.

"Fine, we won't ask," Irina snapped in reply, short-tempered as usual. "Back onto the mission, then. So. No one found trails left behind by the Panther. He's completely vanished, as if he never existed in the first place."

"Expected," Asteria pointed out. "He didn't get this famous by being bad at his job."

"Killing people for money. Such a noble profession." Irina shook her head, eyes screwed shut as if she was in pain. "He might be listening in on us this very second."

"Unless he's on Io's level of sneaking around, unlikely," Rhys responded, sounding unimpressed.

"With all due respect," Laurence murmured, leaning forward, "Miss Mi is twelve. The Panther has years more experience than she is. I'd say he is on her level, if not surpassing it." Io rolled her eyes in response but said nothing. She was cocky and young, not delusional.

"Well, then," Rhys continued, voice flat, "let's pretend he's hanging onto every word."

Malcolm let out a loud sigh, tilting his face up heavenwards. "Let's focus. It's not just officials this time. This is the maid of someone linked to the department. This does help us narrow down the list, though. I don't suppose any of you have anything we could use to get the Panther on our side?" His eyes landed on Ciri, who shrugged.

"Used up all my cards against him last time around, sorry."

"Money," Myrina muttered, prodding her chin with her fingers. "I don't suppose we could simply empty our coffers and pay him onto our side?" It was the obvious solution, but...

"Last resort option," Ryan said. "But not yet. His prices are astronomical from what I've heard."

"I thought you were very rich," Laurence said.

"Oh, we are," Irina drawled. "Doesn't mean we're happy to spend money that could be spent for far better purposes than paying a mercenary with loyalty issues. Same reason the Arecian Service did not immediately pay off the Panther to save our friend." Her wrist flickered outwards to point at Laurence. "And you, for the matter."

"Touche." Laurence conceded the argument with a tilt of the head.

"Zhang daren says we'll be putting our best trackers on him," Rhys told them.

"Which means her, of course," Dominic snorted. "That fit your fancy, princess?"

Irian's eyes went to her cousin, who shrugged. She nodded. "It does, Lang." Ciri was starting to realise that Irina loved calling them by their surnames when she was annoyed. It was starting to seem like the easiest way to tell whether you had pissed the princess off, which was not obvious enough already.

"Someone needs to watch the roof." Ciri rubbed her forehead, which turned out to be a bad move because it instantly gathered everyone's attention. "That's where the Panther came from. Where he prowls, if you will."

"I'll do that." Io said, being the most adept among them at traversing across rooftops, small and nimble as she was.

"Take someone with you," Ryan ordered. "Would Ronan work?"

Io wrinkled her nose. "Better him than anyone else, I suppose."

"We should fan the rumours," North suddenly said. He'd been so quiet Ciri had almost forgotten he existed.

Ryan looked just as confused as the rest of them. "What rumours?"

"That an assassin is in the Scarlet Palace, picking people off one by one. It will cause paranoia, of course, but that keeps everyone on alert and makes the Panther and the mole's job more difficult."

"I do believe," Danna laughed, red lips curling upwards, "that that's the most I've ever heard you say, Cheng."

North blushed in response to that. Nothing behind it, the boy was just naturally shy. A male version of Myrina, really. The two seemed to get along rather well, sitting at the back of every event, not a word passing between them, holding silent conversations.

Irina waved her hand. "Don't tease him. He has a point."

"If we're lucky enough, it might even scare him away," Asteria pointed out. "Without any bloodshed necessary." She'd never much liked that. Perhaps that was why she was a sniper, so that she wouldn't have to watch the lethal products of her actions up close.

"Our goal is to have as little bloodshed as possible." Rhys strolled around the table, stopping besides where Dominic sat. "Not that the plan's working so far." No. Already three lives had been lost. If someone was keeping count, they were losing. Badly.

Perhaps luck would finally be on their side for once. Unlikely, but it didn't hurt to hold out a tiny sliver of hope. Either way, Ciri would get to the bottom of this. She'd made an oath to both herself and Du guniang's parents. She was no breaker of promises.

"We need to talk about the suspects," Malcolm said. "Who do we have right now?"

"Off the top of my head?" Asteria started, "Mr Kwok comes to mind. He's close to William and rich. One of his cousins works in the Treasury, I think, though they're rumoured to not be close. If we just presume the mole met all the victims through the Treasury itself, Ao Pei. Worked closely with Ai guniang. I've been keeping an eye out on him."

"Doesn't seem like him," Ciri admitted. "He's cold and distant. Which makes him a horrible spy."

Asteria shrugged. "Could be an excellent disguise, but you're right. We're looking for someone charismatic. Who could charm the pants off someone."

Suddenly Rhys said, "Why aren't we looking at William himself?"

All eyes shot to her, alarm, shock and surprise showing in all their eyes. She blinked at all of them. "I'm not joking. With the exception of the Treasury itself, the only link between Ai guniang and Du guniang is William. And Huang guniang, we haven't done enough investigation into."

"You suspect William of treason?" Irina asked, eyes narrowed.

Rhys raised her hands in mock surrender. "I'm not saying that he's definitely the mole, I'm just saying that he could be the mole."

Ryan looked pensive. "What do we know about William Hua?"

Myrina was the one who answered. "The estranged son and heir of the Marquess of Naining. He spent much of his childhood in Eirao, which is why he speaks their language so fluently. He came back the year he turned sixteen, four years ago, and his feud with his father became public knowledge, though the reasoning behind it was never explained. We've done investigations ourselves, but whatever it is, it seems to be a closely guarded secret. There's rumours that he may have been a bastard sired by the late marchioness, since he bears little resemblance to the marquess himself." This was why Irina kept the countess so close, perhaps. Her exceptional memory, the way she could remember everything she'd ever read.

Ryan didn't look impressed, like the rest of them did. "So, family scandal. Doesn't seem like good reasoning for becoming a traitor. He's also helped us before."

"All the better to gain our trust." Rhys shrugged. "Just saying that you might want to keep an eye on him either way. I've said it before and I'll say it again: he's smarter than he seems."

"I'll just add," Laurence started, "that he seemed to genuinely grieve Ai guniang's death. Was rather insistent on avenging her."

"We'll keep that in mind," Irina said curtly. "Other suspects?"

They laid down a few more. High-up officials, a few young lords, a baroness known for her lack of funds who had a sibling working in the Treasury. But none of them felt right. From the other's expressions, they agreed.

Irina sighed. "This isn't much."

"It's still something," Asteria argued. "There's something we're not seeing here."

"The Wolves are still looking into Huang guniang's case," Dominic said. "Maybe we'll find something there."

"Anyone feel like tracking a wildcat with me?" Rhys asked sardonically.

Danna shrugged. "Count me in."

"Me too, if possible," Malcolm said.

Irina turned to Ciri. "I know better than to expect you to sleep comfortably here, so I have some documents from Justine I want you to go through. Write me a summary and a report if possible."

"Slacking off?" Ryan teased, leaning back.

Irina raised a brow. "Distributing work equally, actually." She looked away. "Lord Archsham?"

"Yes, Your Highness?"

"Come with us, yes? Lady Kuroki seems to wish to speak to you. God knows why."

✢

"WE'VE RECEIVED A letter from Mr Cadieux," Lady Kuroki announced between sips of tea, leaving Laurence awkwardly sitting there waiting for her to continue on her sentence. Fucking bastard. Of course he sends the baroness a letter but not him.

"As the trip seems to be taking far longer than first thought, this is hardly unexpected." Laurence kept his tone polite. From what he'd seen of the woman, she was eccentric and often moody. One moment she was the loving teacher, the next a peculiar tiger. He never quite knew what to expect. Most of her students spoke of her lovingly, but in the same way one would at an exotic monkey.

Perhaps that was a bit too far, since she was clearly a mother-figure to most of them. But still. He'd decided long ago Lady Kuroki was better in small doses.

"Yes, yes," she waved her fingers in the air, unimpressed, "he claims to be very disappointed in our progress."

"He's always been an impatient man."

"Hmph. I wouldn't know about that. A man like him can't afford to be impatient, really. I'd know. My sister— not Junya's, oh, I suppose you call her Asteria, mother, our younger sister— keeps telling me to be nicer to him, but where's the fun in that?"

A simple "er" was all Laurence managed. How did one answer a statement like that?

"Hmm?" Lady Kuroki glanced up from behind her tea. "What was that?"

"Nothing, my lady."

She planted the cup next to her with a bit too much strength than necessary. "My point is, he says Miss Diao— the older one, and her fiance are coming here in a week."

Laurence couldn't help but smile. "Fiance?"

"That other boy. Lord Farnsworth, was it? Bleh, you all look the same to me." Laurence decided not to point out that Marcus' gleaming blonde hair made him very different next to the dark-haired Laurence."I always tell the Emperor he's far too hospitable. The last dynasty would have kicked you out of the Palace long ago."

He wasn't sure how to respond to that either without accidentally offending someone.

"Somehow," she continued, "he seems to take that as a compliment." A sniffle. "Never quite understood him. Well, he's a good enough Emperor, I suppose. Where was I?"

"Umm, Cass and Marcus— that would be Miss Diao and Lord Farnsworth arriving in Sai."

"Oh yes." She blinked. "Yes. They're coming. Would you kids mind fishing out the traitor before they arrive? It would be a pleasant welcoming gift, wouldn't it be?"

"I do not believe we're in control of that," Laurence said, half-amused, half-annoyed.

"Oh please." She waved her hand in the air with a roll of her eyes. "In my days—"

"I don't mean to interrupt, Lady Kuroki," he interjected, trying to keep his voice even, suppressing laughter and a frustrated growl. "But we are trying our best. Perhaps you're not aware, but the younger Miss Diao was attacked by the Panther last night and is still currently recuperating."

"Girl's been through worse. Made of steel, that one. She'll be fine." Lady Kuroki didn't even seem vaguely worried about her student's well being. "Ah, the Panther. An interesting figure, don't you think?"

Laurence was too tired to argue at that point. He just silently nodded for her to continue. "I've never quite understood mercenaries. In Asayama, we have the ronin. Disgraceful." She shook her head as if the idea of them disgusted her. "I understand not wanting to commit seppuku, but really, do they truly have to descend to such... filth? Honour is very important, did you know that? Now, that girl, Fengmei, she's full of honour. Wouldn't damn admit it, though. Very strange."

There had to be a point to all these rants. There had to be.

"Don't know why she looks down upon herself." She frowned into her tea. "She doesn't hold the same standards to everyone else, but she keeps considering herself a bad person. Doesn't think she deserves the things everyone else has. She'll get over it someday, probably."

Why was she talking so much about Ciri?

"I'm confusing you."

"Err, yes. I'm afraid I'm not quite catching up, my lady."

She shook her head with a huff. She's frustrated? Could she even imagine the state of bewilderment Laurence was in? "My point is," the baroness growled, shaking her head, "that she'll be perfectly alright, see?"

"Of course, my lady."

"Yes, yes, anyways, find the traitor soon, boy. It'll make all of our jobs so much easier."

"I feel the need to point out again—"

She made a psh-sound. "You're the most useful in this case, did you know that? Because the others know all these people. They're biased. You don't have those biases."

"Perhaps you should talk to someone else about this, my lady," Laurence pointed out. "I'm not in charge of this operation. In fact, I'm just a guest. Huancheng gege, perhaps? Or the taizi dianxia himself?"

"Hmph, I suppose Longyu or Ruge would be in charge of this."

"They are, my lady."

She wrinkled her nose to that. "Don't sass me. I get enough of that from Ye'e already." Ye'e? His confusion must have shown, because she immediately followed that up with, "That's Iolanthe. I try my best to call my girls by their Saian names, you know. Too much Arecian influence in our empire these days. It's not right. We're Saian! Well, I'm technically part Asayaman," she frowned, as if deep in thought, "but you get the idea."

"I... do?"

She gave him the stink eye. "Yes you do. You're Jack Dumont's son. You're smart."

"Thank you?" He asked quizzically, blinking nonplussed. That was the closest thing to a compliment he'd ever heard from the eccentric baroness. He felt as if he should treasure it. Perhaps sew it on a pillow and hug it to sleep every night.

The baroness continued on as if he hadn't spoken. "But anyways, find the traitor quickly. The longer this business drags on, the more unpleasant it becomes. We like things pleasant, don't we?"

"Uh, yes, we do."

"That was a rhetorical question," she harrumphed. "But whatever. What was I saying? Oh yes, find the traitor. Save the fate of the world. Quite simple, really, no pressure." He was very sure that she was being purposefully sarcastic now. But honestly, he still couldn't quite tell. Lady Kuroki seemed like the kind of person who would consider that a piece of cake.

He'd heard stories of the baroness. Both of her sisters were legends— the Duchess of Shui Xiang, a spymaster of her husband's caliber, and a famous female general who now lived in the quiet of the countryside. The three Xing sisters were known for their cunning and intelligence. The baroness had married an Asayaman lord in her youth, and though the match wasn't said to be a love match, the two did get along quite well. Around thirty years ago, she started her school for girls, working with the then-government. During the Saian Revolution, she'd switched sides to back her sister's cause.

He hadn't been expecting a plump, rambling middle-aged woman with kindly yet shrewd eyes. Perhaps he should have.

"Of course. No pressure."

She squinted at him. "You're mocking me."

"I wouldn't dare, my lady."

"Eh," she shrugged, "someone like you needs to have balls of steel. Mock me if you wish. I'm speaking nothing but facts, which you'd know quite soon. We have a saying here... bu ting lao ren yan, chi kui zai yan qian. If you don't listen to the words of an elder, you will immediately fail. Or something like that."

"I speak Saian, my lady."

"Yes you do. Well enough, I guess. When I listen carefully I still hear an accent. Improve upon that, boy. Or not. Would that be helpful? I don't know. I was hoping to retire years ago. Ha! And look at me now."

"Your work is excellent. I've only met a few of your students, but Sai is a better place because of you."

"Such a flatterer!" She laughed, throwing her head back. "I can tell why you get along with Longmei. Cut from the same cloth, the two of you."

"As I am quite fond of Miss Diao, I shall take that as a compliment."

"You should, you should." She nodded. "Quite a catch, our Fengmei. You should snatch her up before someone else does."

"I'm not–"

"You can go now." Did the woman just dismiss him so casually after a statement like that? He didn't think he was being that obvious. Though Lady Kuroki was a spymaster. Still recovering, he stood up in a trance, bowed, muttered the polite words and left the room, mind still reeling over the conversation he just had. He was starting to understand Iolanthe Mi's constant complaining.

Really, how did anyone handle that woman?