Wyn smiled as she looked up at the large orphanage in front of her in the city, it was a massive structure that had been built in more classical times with a couple stories, large sweeping windows and an elegant facade. Beside her the Queen Mother stood, watching her curiously. "Do you think it'll do, for your plans?"

"I think it would do marvellously." Wyn smiled, watching the other woman with a swell of happiness in her chest. "You barely know me and you're going to just sign over your project to the partnership, back it completely and give up this beautiful building, just like that?"

"Yes, child. I know you well enough after a month of haggling with you. Besides, it's due time that things evolve around here. I think you are just the force to do that. You and your friends."

The Queen Mother looked to where Nerini was helping unload a wagon of supplies and food into the building, wearing the cloak of the Alliance. "You girls give an old woman hope, something she hasn't felt in a very long time."

"I don't know if Sellexu is fully accepting of us and our ways." Wyn said softly, offering a shrug, feeling the misgivings of other interactions come to mind, "we are still two very different people."

"Ah, yes, but at the heart of things, we are born, we live, we love and then we die. We are all very much the same. You are doing great things here, even if you can't see them." The older woman smiled, understanding in her expression.

Wyn smiled at that, offering the Queen Mother her arm, "will you take me on a tour?"

"I would love to."

Wyn glanced towards Nerini long enough to catch her friend's eye, nodding towards the orphanage for a moment, an invitation to join. Nerini glanced up to it, smiling a smile that didn't reach her eyes and shook her head, turning back to the heavy work she was helping with. Nerini was alone again, despite Wyn's attempts. Her friend had begun pulling back from them, though she no longer glanced north. 

Nerini didn't speak about the pull or seem to be in pain any longer, but Wyn felt like her friend was slipping away nonetheless. With a sigh, she turned and followed the Queen Mother into the Orphanage, having no idea what to do about her friend.

***

Nerini stood in the courtyard of the meal house a few days after the Caelur's mother had signed it over to Wyn's project. Her hood was pulled up against the cold rain, standing beside Lyana and Wyn as they inspected a shipment of supplies for the orphanage, both also cloaked and hooded. 

Nerini let them deal with the porter, conferring over missing or broken pieces as she watched the street, raising a brow as she saw a covered carriage drive by on the way to the palace. Inside, through the window that was open despite the weather, she saw two occupants. 

High Lord Shiar and Lady Emeltra sat intimately together, inseparable since the night they had met, drawing rumours of an impending betrothal through the entire capital. They barely glanced out the window at the cloaked figures in the rain before turning back to one another, thick as thieves.

"I don't like her." Lyana said suddenly, now standing beside Nerini, who merely glanced to her curiously.

"She's just caught your brother's eye." Rini murmured dismissively, knowing that Lyana knew more about her feelings than most. "She's a beautiful woman and knows how to play the game. Just what any High Lord would want."

"She wants nothing to do with any of us and keeps him away from his friends." Lyana said softly, her concern evident. "His family."

"I'm sure it's the fog of love." Rini teased, the humour not quite reaching her eyes or her voice. "He'll settle down and even if that continues, you mean more to him than a woman does. He just needs to slake his appetite first."

"He's never acted like this before," Lyana said stubbornly, shaking her head. "He doesn't even talk to any of us anymore. He's been infatuated before, but never to the point of shirking everything, his responsibilities and duties."

"She's right, Caelur mentioned he hadn't had many conversations with his friend lately. It is out of character." Wyn said softly, glancing to the two women, then in the direction of the carriage, her expression curious.

Nerini shrugged. "I'm just saying, men are idiots when they're chasing after a woman. Remember Kannein, he was unable to look at Rael for weeks and then ignored her so badly she thought he hated her. They're unreliable when their emotions get in the way, so you just have to wait till they figure it out."

"We'll help watch though, Lyana." Wyn said after a moment of laughing, leaning into her friend. "If you think there's something up, we'll see what we can do."

Lyana had just turned to say something when a large white owl swept down overhead and landed on a roof within their eyesight. It paused for a moment, before flying in the direction the harbour.

Nerini frowned and straightened, looking to Lyana and Wyn. "I can go, you guys are busy."

"Go? Where?" Lyana asked, glancing back at the wagon as it pulled away towards the orphanage. "We're finished."

"The owl, it's a messenger from the Queen." Wyn answered before realizing who she was speaking to, sighing and glancing to Nerini. "We can go with you, in case it's something."

Nerini nodded and started walking, glancing up to the sky as she noticed the rain turning into snowflakes. She smiled thoughtfully to herself, at peace with the realization that the world was still deep in the hold of winter. "It must be something, or she would have just sent word to the palace via messenger."

"Is it ok that I'm coming?" Lyana hesitated for a moment, only to have Nerini laugh gently.

"Well, you already know something's up. So, we should keep you with us, so you don't go telling everyone. If it's bad, we'll probably just keep you hostage in event of war or something." She was teasing, laughing as they walked through the streets, which were sparsely filled, due to the weather and the late hour, the day having stretched towards evening while they were working.

"You ever notice how much quieter the cities are here?" Wyn mused, glancing around. "In Aupana, most of our cities stay bustling throughout the day, evening and sometimes into the night. Here, as soon as supper time comes, people go home."

"It's better than before.  For some reason people, didn't want to be out after dark, they said that that's when the dangers come for you." Lyana said, glancing around with a shrug, as if never having noticed it before. "It was an old tradition and as newer generations come into power, it lightens up more and more."

As they approached the water, they began to notice more activity taking place, with merchants moving back and forth, warehouses being emptied or filled as the last of the day's ships had arrived and were unloading. 

On the waterfront, they saw the owl once more, sitting on the deck railing of an Aupanan free trade ship they knew too well,  which was being unloaded under supervision of merchants and a first mate, calling orders and directing deck hands. Nerini let out a slow breath and glanced to Wyn curiously who nodded tensely. 

The news couldn't be good, not coming from this ship.

The Owl took flight again, moving from the ship, down the waterfront and onto the shoulders a man who was standing, cloaked, in front of a harbour inn. He seemed to meet their gaze from under that hood, before he turned into the inn, disappearing into the darkness without looking back.

"We're going in there, aren't we?" Lyana asked thoughtfully as Nerini glanced to Wyn once more. "Most people say we shouldn't go into inns like that, they're not used to noble ladies."

Nerini chuckled, glancing back to the ship, which was still full of activity, before starting towards the inn followed closely by Lyana and Wyn. "Well, then its best we pretend we're not noble ladies. Just keep your hood up, look confident, but unobtrusive and follow our lead."

"Confident and unobtrusive... what does that even look like?" Lyana nodded though, pulling her hood forward more, shrugging her cloak fully over her clothing, as if trying to hide beneath the fabric as they filed into the inn.

The air was warm and smelled of delicious food being prepared and served, the laughter and din of voices coming from the dining room.  It was far cleaner than she would have ever assumed by looking at it from the outside. The place wasn't full,but it was busy with the customers it did have and seemed to be the place for foreign sailors to congregate, with a variety of languages wafting past her ears as she stood taking in the strange scene.

Nerini paused, eyes adjusting to the dimly lit interior before she walked through the main part of a tavern and into a back room.

Inside, seated at a table was a tall man, skin dark, shaved head and black-grey eyes. He was grinning widely as he saw them enter. Behind them, the door closed and Nerini pulled back her hood without jumping in surprise, raising a brow to the man in front of them. "Captain Denzlin, long time no see."

"Aye, M'lady. A while. Lady Wyn as well... and who is this?"

Lyana paused, standing off to the side and giving him a curtsey, her voice wavering every so slightly. "Lady Lyana, Lord Captain."

"Nah, girl, just Captain. I'm not one of you high types. Just earned myself a good boat from the Queen, S'all." He grinned and offered her a bow, before moving around the table, shaking Nerini's and then Wyn's hands and presenting them a sealed letter. "I was asked to find you. Figured the bird would do the best job as I  was told to not make too much of a fuss here if I could help it."

Wyn broke Rael's seal and read through the short note, frowning deeply and raising watering eyes to Nerini when she was done. "Oh Rini."

Nerini raised a brow, reaching for the letter but not taking it as she searched her friend's features. "What." 

Her hand dropped, though Lyana couldn't understand the look of desolate acceptance on the woman's features as she awaited an explanation instead of reading the note.

Wyn shook her head and looked to the Captain, "Do you know?"

"Aye. I was told of the urgency." Denzlin said easily, watching Nerini with a knowing expression, "I had an idea something was coming."

"Rini, your brother is missing. He never made it south. He left home two weeks after we did, with a dozen of his men and so far, no one has arrived. Scouts have been searching all the roads, they were tracked as far as some inn three days out of Lansen and then nothing. They went into the forest and never arrived out the other end."

Nerini took the letter out of her friend's hand then, frowning and pacing away as she read it, speaking with a deadly calm in her voice. "Rael doesn't want to cause alarm. She's not sure if it is anything more than an accident... But she thinks Aupana is being watched by whomever did this."

Lyana frowned in concern, looking between the two of them, expecting the two women to leap into action. "What can we do?"

"All official attempts to search for Lord O'Vara have been exhausted. The Queen isn't making any reactions in court and is maintaining the appearances that everything is going according to plan." Denzlin said easily, looking to the younger woman, then over to Nerini.

Nerini nodded slowly and glance to Wyn, who let out a slow breath and nodded. "Captain, I need you to leave tomorrow morning. I'm assuming you have only asked for short berth and are making a trading voyage back to Aupana?"

Denzlin nodded, showing no surprise. "Aye, my orders were to come here, drop cargo, load what was to be acquired and leave, my men aren't on shore leave tonight."

Nerini nodded and handed him back the message, smiling mirthlessly to him. "Then carry on, thank you for your news."

"Of course, m'lady." He bowed to Lyana and shook Wyn's hand, before leaving the room, closing the door behind him. 

It was tense with silence, Lyana watching the two women carefully, unsure what was about to happen and trying to fathom the fear and pain Nerini was going through. She could only guess what type of a wreck she would be if Shiar went missing, though the woman appeared blank of emotion.

Nerini sat on the table, looking at the other two women for a long moment before speaking. "Lyana. I'm not asking you to lie. But you need to understand, whatever has happened can't cause panic. Best case scenario, my brother was laid up off the road, ill or injured and they haven't gotten word through yet, sometimes the snows in the north get so bad that people get lost for the winter. Worst case scenario, this is an ambush, trap, distraction or test. And if it's the latter, then we have to try and find out, without them being ahead of us, and in order to do that things need to move quietly."

"Them?"

Wyn shrugged. "Whomever would want to hurt Kanny, most likely wants to draw more of us out, or hurt us as well."

"So, we're doing nothing?" Lyana frowned, knowing it was completely uncharacteristic for her new friends to sit back at a time like this, that there had to be something they wanted or needed to do.

Nerini shook her head, glanced towards the window, then motioned to the door. "Not at all. Let's go back, it's supper time and we need to dry and warm up."