"We have to be extra careful from now on, Carter."

"Huh? Why?" Carter asked. Personally, she felt like they had just overcome the riskiest part of their trip. 

"It's just suspicious, don't you think?" Astrid replied. "As in, the way he searched the car… he was clearly looking for something big or easily noticeable. Maybe a person— a person he knows, if he didn't ask for your ID in the end."

"Hmm… I guess so. I dunno what else they'd be searching for."

"Whatever it is, they must really want it, and on short notice, if the guard was willing to leave his post like that without backup."

"Who wants it? The guard himself?"

"It's possible. If that's the case, then we might be in danger." Astrid touched her chin. "He knows who I am."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"How many of those did you bring?" asked Eve. She and her compatriots stood in the long, empty hallway. Her head was pressed against the door, and she listened carefully to the activity taking place behind it as she spoke.

Behind her, Taha was handing Oshto a plastic package, which the other man accepted gingerly. "Four. One for each of us, I guess," replied Taha. Eve processed this without saying anything, so he added, "That's not to say we should split up, you know."

Eve heard the revving of an engine and a quieting of voices behind the door, and she stood up. Time to continue their manipulation.

She kicked open the door without warning, slamming it against the wall, and stepped into the border guard console. Taha and Oshto entered behind her. Their fourth member, Frey, was still obediently keeping watch in the hallway. 

In this manner, the room had become very crowded for the second time that day, such that Eve was almost toe-to-toe with the sole guard. He'd turned around as soon as the door opened.

"Who was that?" said Eve, referring to whoever had just successfully entered Mavar Town.

The guard took a step back. "The prince wasn't there-- I- I searched the whole vehicle."

"That true?" asked Taha, tugging idly on one of his locs.

Eve gave a ghost of a nod and hefted the spear she was holding. It glinted a little and she repeated her question. "Who was it?"

"I-it was the ambassador!" said the guard.

This surprised Eve, but it seemed to be the truth, and it was clearly no coincidence. She tilted her head. "Oshto, Frey, go follow that car! EM us when she gets to her location."

Oshto hurried towards the window, and Frey ran in at Eve's prompting. When they were gone, she lowered the spear slightly.

"Anything else you wanna tell me?" she asked the guard.

"There was someone else with her," he said hastily. "Maybe an immortal? So like you said, I let her go." 

"What?" Eve narrowed her eyes.

The guard blanched. "She— uh— there was a woman next to the ambass—"

Eve's hand shot out like a viper to grab the guard's collar. "You… I commanded you to search every vehicle for the prince. And you didn't think to inform me, in anything close to a timely manner, when the ambassador of the country pulled up to your two-bit excuse for an operation? Or that she had back-up?"

"Don't mutilate the guy, Eve," said Taha.

Eve scoffed. She wasn't going to. Releasing the man, she said, "Continue to do your job as I said, and keep an eye on your EM receiver. And then? You'll stay intact."

She turned away and slid to the floor, back against the wall. Instead of waiting outside the console, this time she would sit here and keep a closer eye on things, on the floor to avoid the notice of anyone else who came to the gate.

Taha crouched down and mumbled, quiet enough so only Eve could hear— "The prince is totally gonna rendezvous with the ambassador, huh?"

"No doubt about it," said Eve, also lowering her voice. "Let's just hope Oshto and Frey stay well enough out of their way."

"Those two are great at staying out of people's way." Taha gave a low chuckle. "It is concerning though, this whole situation. We're sitting ducks here, and then, who knows how many more people the prince brought… they could even have more immortals."

"Ugh…" Eve pressed a hand over her face. "I can't believe I gave that stupid order. I forgot how many of us volunteer ourselves as cannon fodder."

"Maybe Ria's idealism is finally rubbing off on you."

Eve had to smile at that. "Maybe it is."

Taha smiled too and stood up. "I'll go keep watch in the hall."

"Good idea."

Taha left and then it was just Eve and the guard in the room. Eve sat, watching the EM receiver as the minutes ticked by with no interruptions. 

Thinking about when they could leave, she slid a hand into her pocket, testing the weight of the bottle she had in there. There was about half the container of sleep-inducing chemical in it, left over from when they had entered the building early that morning.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Carter and Astrid had been driving through the streets of Mavar Town for a while. Carter noted that the buildings here were shorter than the ones in Cleftis, and a fog hung over everything, overtaking them more the further they went. 

"Hey," Carter said. "How long exactly have you known the prince?" The question must have seemed out of nowhere, although she'd been thinking to ask for a while.

Astrid glanced at her, slowing down a little. "Oh… we go way back. I've maybe known him since we were three, which is when I came to live in the palace." She checked the map. "But I have no recollection of ever meeting Yun'ha. I'm sorry if that's what you wanted to know," she said.

"It's fine," replied Carter. She narrowed her eyes. "But you lied to me, didn't you? You said you never noticed the prince being unsophisticated. But it didn't seem to bother you when he acted the way he did today, even though you've known him for twenty-one years."

Astrid exhaled. "You're right. I know how he can be. I did lie about that, I'm sorry." 

Carter rested her chin in her hand and made a disparaging noise.

There was a long pause, wherein Astrid drove in silence and Carter watched condensation form and drip down her window. Astrid spoke. "I should tell you now that I have something to give you. It's in my bag but you'll have it when we get to the inn."

"Okay, wh—" Carter looked up, feeling the approach of an object. "Hey, watch out!"

Astrid hit the brakes and Carter lurched forward involuntarily. They'd almost side-swept a column. Sephia would not have been happy about that.

"A-ah," Astrid said, seeming shaken for the first time since Carter had met her. "Looks like we're here."

"Geez, pay attention to where you're going!" Carter said as she exited the car. The two of them grabbed as much of the luggage as they could before hurrying into the inn.

Carter and Astrid stepped into the lobby. It was covered in wood paneling, and there was no one to be seen except for a young woman seated behind the counter, who immediately asked them what they wanted.

Astrid's face was in complete shadow from the hood of her cloak. She gestured for Carter to go ahead.

Carter took a step back, almost dropping a bag. "Me?"

Astrid nodded emphatically.

The woman at the counter called over to them— "Helloooo?"

Carter sighed and went up to her. "We want to stay here."

"That would make sense, considering that this is a hotel. How many rooms?"

"Uhh, one? Oh, we have two more people coming later."

"So another room for them?"

"No. I mean yes... Well, actually, no."

The woman rolled her eyes. "And name?"

"Mine?" Carter pointed to herself and the woman nodded. "Uhh… it's Carter."

"Alright, here's the key. You know our rates?"

Carter nodded, thinking that it wasn't her problem. She stepped away and looked around before Astrid came up to her again and motioned her to the stairs.

"Hey, thanks for that," she said quietly, reaching over to look at the tag on the key. "Looks like our room is on the second floor. Let's go."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Oshto and Frey peered around a corner into the lobby 15 minutes after Astrid and Carter had ascended to their room. 

As usual, Frey had displayed an amazing ability to get them into places without being noticed. Oshto figured this was the kind of thing Eve taught her as part of their strange partnership. 

At the moment, the two of them were in the hallway beyond the lobby. The front booth and the clerk were disturbingly close by, but enclosed by walls. Behind them, scattered through the hallway, were three doors— one to the kitchen, one to a supply closet, and one to a second set of stairs. There was no cover in the hallway itself, so they had to act fast. Their first goal was to contact Eve and tell her where they were— their best bet for this was to use the EMS that was surely by the front desk. Their second goal… well, better to focus on things one at a time, Oshto thought. But they'd definitely need to check the ledger, which was also on the desk.

The two of them scooted back into the hallway after checking out the lobby. Oshto cupped a hand over Frey's ear and whispered— "How can we get in there?"

"It's best if we drive her away for a few minutes," Frey whispered back. 

They both thought about this, Oshto brushing some of his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes before it fell back into place. This was a sparsely employed establishment, so the clerk would probably have to be the one to leave her post if a patron asked her to. If a problem came up. 

"Let's create a problem for her to solve," Oshto said. "There's probably a circuit breaker downstairs."

Frey's face lit up a little and she nodded. They moved swiftly but quietly, Oshto trying hard to mirror Frey's calculated movements as they descended the stairs into cobwebbed darkness.

When they reached the basement, they searched the walls, shifting boxes around as needed. Oshto peered into one and saw that it contained a uniform for the hotel. This could come in handy, he thought, taking it out.

Just then, Frey called him— she'd found the circuit breaker for the lights in the inn. Oshto hurried over and saw that it had ten switches. 

He sort of stared at it for a moment. "Huh… kinda wish Taha were here so he could tell us what to pull."

"Umm… that would be nice," Frey said in that hesitant tone of hers. "But… it kind of seems like it's arranged by floor, right? Because it's in three rows."

"Ah, true! And the bottom row only has one switch, so that's the basement. Maybe the other switches are arranged by room number."

Frey tugged at one of her heavily pierced ears. "Which one should we pull then?"

"It has to be an occupied room so it actually gets noticed by someone. But we don't know which are occupied yet. We saw the ambassador and her attendant go to the second floor, but the exact number…"

"Why don't we just... darken the entire second floor? Maybe?"

Oshto stared. "Uh… yeah! Good idea. I see no reason not to."

"Wait, no! It's a bad idea!"

Oshto wasn't about to take that seriously. Frey was just doubting herself. He hovered his hand over the second row of switches. "If you have no solid objections…" He waited a moment and Frey said nothing, so he turned them all off with a swipe of his hand. Then they both quickly put the boxes and furniture back in their original positions, taking special care to conceal the circuit breaker so the clerk would have a hard time. Then they scrambled back up the stairs as quietly as could, ducked into the supply closet, and waited.