Kal Chul arrived back at the rainbow-maker's workshop with silver chains wrapped around his wrists, waist, and ankles. The linkages were not nearly as heavy as they felt with the weight of the bearer's humiliation. He bowed deeply to Rainbow-maker Mein, and then knelt beside the divan where Sister Hye-Su rested. Her pale beauty marred by the bandage on her head stained through with blood.

"I knew you would be returned to us. Tell me you witnessed the flashes." The woman's voice came just above a whisper.

"If you mean the fragments from the wall. Yes. One of the boys took samples." Kal Chul felt compelled to respond even if he originally intended to bargain with the information.

"At least you bring me some hope now it has all begun." Sister Hye-Su signaled for her servants, "Deliver my messages and don't delay. The siege of the Temple of the Dawn will be starting soon." She closed her eye even as her words prompted a flurry of activity in the room. A court physician bustled over to check on the seer and frowned at Kal Chul. The young protocol officer tugged on Kal Chul's chain to take him away from the scene.

"See what you have done? Eun Hye-Su is our treasure but now all she sees is an ending. A bloody war, with bombs everywhere, and many children dying. I wish they had just left you in the caves." The officer shoved Kal Chul into a small room and slammed the door.

"But I didn't mean anything serious. I only wanted to get away. Maybe some mischief to get a little of my own back." Kal Chul whispered his justifications to himself. He leaned over the wash basin and splashed water on his face. He looked at his rippling reflection, taking in wide-eyes, which grew larger and darker, and not of this realm. "Water-mother what have I done?" he said before crumpling to the floor. A silvery mist flowed out of the basin, blanketing the floor, muffling his cries. It was fully dark before anyone came to check on him. He was shivering on the floor so the servants placed him on the narrow bed and tucked blankets and warmed stones in around him. When he woke Rainbow-maker Mein was sitting on the chair beside the bed.

"Is she?" Kal Chul swallowed hard.

"Resting better now but I believe we still have unfinished business," the thin man frowned, "Unless you would rather talk with someone else. Maybe it would be best for someone from the protocol office to record your statement."

"Can it be both. I don't want to repeat everything and get tripped up with different versions if I don't remember everything in exactly the same order. Oh, and don't expect me to be able to name, names just for the sake of it. Maybe if you can prove it will stop bad things from happening, but maybe not even then, 'cause I might not know." Kal Chul plucked at the blankets as he spoke.

Rainbow-maker Mein nodded. He handed Kal Chul a cup of water then went to the doorway to talk with the guard posted there. He then called over a servant to help Kal Chul get ready for the day and took a few minutes to gather his own thoughts. Few people in the room would have been close enough to overhear Kal Chul's exchange with Sister Hye-Su, or understand the reference. He was itching to go check the route the team would have taken to see if the dissonance zone had changed but knew there were more important questions. Questions which drew a senior protocol officer to the dorms.

"Strange sort of escape you made, coming here." The protocol officer said before he introduced himself.

"Do I know you?" Kal Chul squinted.

"Don't you? Have you decided to be a knight instead of pawn?" The man's answer brought Kal Chul back to the interrogation rooms at the jail.

He glared over at Rainbow-maker Mein who stepped forward and said, "I think we might be better served without someone with preconceived notions how this interview should be conducted. This is an internal investigation."

"And this fugitive is a key witness in the case we are building against the remnants of his father's attempted coup. Two of the council-of-five have already seen justice and one who nearly blew himself up with a storehouse of illegal chemicals. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, or the detonators found in Ilidan, or used here at the tournament?" The man from the protocol office flexed his fists and leaned uncomfortably close to Kal Chul.

"Now the dragon calls him to become a member of our brotherhood, his past, is past. Anything he chooses to share he does of his own free will. That means without your threats and intimidation. If you can not serve as a neutral witness you may leave. I am certain the prince will be happy to lend me a scribe." Rainbow-maker Mein pointed to the door.

"How dare," the officer spun on his heals only to be blinded by the light coming from the stones in the rainbow-maker's ring. He backed up through the doorway. "Most, irregular. Your council will hear from me." He sputtered as he left.

"Sorry. I should have been more discrete with my request. Come along, we will find a quiet corner and a scribe before the council descends on us." Rainbow-maker Mein put his hand under Kal Chul's elbow to help him up. The encounter had clearly rattled the young man, the sudden paleness of his face making his scar appear more pronounced.

They made their way through back passages all keyed to different combinations of stones. Rainbow-maker Mein left his charge sitting in a small alcove just behind the prince's private library and returned with a spindly looking old man he swore to secrecy. "This should be better," he said once they were all settled around a small table. "Why don't you start with what you think is the most important thing we should know. You heard the seer's warning, but also heard she has hope. So how would you like to help?"

Framed like that, it was so much easier for Kal Chul to lay down his burdens. "First, and worst, has to be the detonators." The young man's voice was barely above a whisper.

The scribe gave Rainbow-maker Mein a panicked look but then just took a breath and stuck to the job at hand.

"Those would be crystal keyed detonators. Like for the flash bombs." Rainbow-maker Mein kept his voice level.

"Right. So, there were maybe ten or so of the lighter charges. Not much more than firecrackers really. They were too unstable to take very far so if any are left, they will be here in the capital. For the heavier charges, we had separate keys and added a clockwork delay. I worked on three batches of fifty being shipped out. North and west, I think. There was also supposed to be somebody from a northern temple doing another set but I got the impression the deal fell through." Kal Chul scratched his head, and tried to remember all he could about the unnamed entity he had considered his business competition. "I think they might have helped source the stones we used. Some of the pieces came in half-tuned and it was a real bugger to re-key them. I didn't have much to do with the black powder but the detonators alone were tricky enough. I did overhear someone saying the powder came from an old Mearcan shipment and they were a bit worried it could be unstable. I have been sort of waiting to hear about an accident with the stores given how volatile the combinations can be. Do you think that is what the guy from the protocol office was banging on about?"

"I may have heard some rumors about the governor's castle in Ilidan but nothing official," the rainbow-maker admitted.

"Of course, there would be nothing official. Who would want to admit your enemies are prepared to break the Accords. After all this time? And over what? The chance to be harassed by every foreign delegation coming and going." Kal Chul stopped himself from carrying on about the madness of wanting to be a ruler in such a vulnerable state but could see by the scribe's quick smile he was not alone in his view.

"Right. But what you are saying is you have direct knowledge of approximately 150 keyed detonators capable of igniting full size bombs and you believe these to be circulating in the North and West." Rainbow-maker Mein wanted to get them back on track. "You said first, and worst. So, what is next?"

"I didn't have a direct hand in this one. Not beyond sourcing a rare herb. But it was for a sterilization potion to be mixed in with the elixir the prince would take for his chosen nights. It wouldn't be the healer's fault. It's indistinguishable from the proper dose."

The scribe stopped writing and just stared at Kal Chul until Rainbow-maker Mein pointed at the paper.

"Like I said. I don't know the exact details but I am sure our water-mother is pretty peeved at me for this one. All his personalphysicians have to do is test their supplies. It won't have been easy to do the substitution and I don't think the effects were intended to be permanent. Only stave off the influence the Qin princess might gain through an heir."

"I'm sure many might sympathize with that fear but to act against a royal person." Rainbow-maker Mein shook his head.

"While we are on the topic of royal persons, or I guess potentially royal persons, you should know you are not the only one looking for someone who can light star-stones. We both know how short the list of possible candidates has been getting. Although, I saw we have another near miraculous recovery among Knight-Master Lei's trainees. Since nobody expected Kim Hae-sung to be up and about the way he is, tongues will be wagging until his genealogies are confirmed."

"Their riding captain? But his affinity is solidly citrine. Unmistakably so." Rainbow-maker Mein said staring into space for a moment.

"Easy for you to say," Kal Chul tugged on his own ear to show he thought someone might be listening in. "Just to be clear, there are a growing number of rumors about a twice-royal in the offing and some serious interests in preventing him from ever coming of age."

"Serious enough to violate the accords?" The rainbow-maker wanted this confirmation to be heard by the eavesdropper.

"Absolutely. I wouldn't put anything past them. Vicious lot with hooks in a surprising number of places. I can't give you the full list of their debtors but it's not hard to guess some of them. You just have to watch the pleasure houses for gamblers. It can't be taken as absolute proof but worth a warning about conflicting loyalties when the chips are down."

"Thank you. Let me jot down a list from the stories circulating here in the palace." The rainbow-maker scratched away on the back of the scribe's paper. He put down four names he was certain were in the gang's orbit and another six he wasn't' sure about before saying, "This will probably be enough for getting on with for now. I'm afraid you may still need to speak before our council.

"Yes, about that," Kal Chul pointed to the name fifth on the list.

"May the dragon help us." Rainbow-maker Mein whispered and his companions both tapped their chests and bowed.