Chapter One

I guess it all started a few years ago… it was during what people keep calling the 'Gate Rune War'. Before the whole 'Toran Republic' thingy was established.

See, right off the bat, I have kind of a problem with the war; They named the whole thing after what only a couple of people did. Nevermind the armies who were actually fighting and losing their lives valiantly on the field of battle, but ah, well. I guess if Master Maximillian doesn't take issue with it, then neither do I.

I was fourteen, a squire and infantry third-class serving under Maximillian Maximillian, of Maximillian's Knights (and his squire, Sancho). Aside from the fact that I had to say "Maximillian" so much, it wasn't that bad. The old master's combat training- as outlandish as it was- proved surprisingly effective once we were out on the battlefield... Not that we SAW much battling.

Before that point, the Maximillian Knights had been disbanded by the Scarlet Moon Empire, after Maximillian himself called said Empire out for… well, pretty much for being evil. Some could say it was a bit forward on his part, but they were being ruled by a witch and a guy who turned into a three-headed dragon. Just saying.

Maximillian and Sancho were doing some kind of… I want to say he was just scouting around, having heard of a Liberation Army that was rising up against the Empire, and by sheer accident, ran into the leader of the rebellion himself… I couldn't remember his name, but my editor- who is way better with names and dates and things- reminds me that his name was Tir McDohl, after the late General Teo McDohl (As he told me, Tir was actually forced to fight and kill his own father. I can't even imagine that…).

The next thing we all know, Maxmillian kicks in our doors, declaring that we were to ride forth once more! (So to speak; most of us weren't cavalry.)

And so, the Knights of Maximillian were back in the saddle (again, so to speak)!

Now it's about here that I should probably tell you; in spite of the fact that I was a Knight of Maximillian… I wasn't a shining example of a knight. All told, I was actually kind of lazy. More married to the reputation that comes with knighthood than with the actual notions of fighting and possibly dying; all the things I eventually learned to respect, as expressed a few paragraphs back.

My presence with the knights in the first place wasn't what you would call voluntary; My mother and father enlisted me. You know how that goes…

But now here we were, on our way to the lake-castle headquarters of the Liberation Army, which was in the middle of changing the fate of an entire nation… and all I could think was "Great. I'll get to spend the rest of my 'fighting' career in some big castle, lazing around." After all, what use could the already-huge Liberation Army have for a single third-class trainee?

Unfortunately, this was not the case.

Apparently the definition of 'castle' was used loosely when it came to the Liberation Army's headquarters. It turned out it was a poorly insulated big stone pillar sitting in the middle of a lake. Strategically, sure, it was an easily defended outpost. But as a place to live? I could think of better.

Basically a vertical cave with a few murals and pieces of carpeting here and there, it was a constant victim of the cold lake mists and… okay, putting it bluntly, it was cold, dank and miserable. The woman who ran the inn- Marie, I think- she did her best to pretty the place up, and between her, Lester and Antonio- meals were pretty good, but still. It wasn't exactly ideal for all that 'lazing around' I was talking about. As it turned out, though, we really didn't even have time for that.

Mathiu Silverberg was the strategist of the Liberation Army, and he… well, at the time? I thought he was a bit of a psychopath and a callous jerk. He almost immediately took command of the Knights and- yes- while we were there to serve him, it was Maximillian whose judgment I had learned to trust. This guy though?

Oh, and then there was that other guy, Sanchez… I'll get to him.

The two of them took over the training sessions, so the Knights and I were stuck serving these two oddballs. Needless to say, I wasn't thrilled about any aspect of it.

I'd already met a few of the 'bigger names' in the Liberation Army; people everyone knew by name and face; Flik and Viktor, the ex-Imperial Generals Rosman, Oppenheimer and Hazil, a lot of Elves, some Kobolds… I even caught a glimpse of honest-to-goodness ninjas lurking around (which could only mean they weren't doing their job properly). But I didn't really have a chance to talk to any of them. They were always busy planning, training, things I probably should have been more focused on myself.

I did meet a few people closer to my own age; First, there was Melodye, the apprentice phonologist (she insists that it's a word). I met her over lunch. She was just tapping two spoons together for some reason. Something to do with the sound and the resonance or some other fancy term.

Templeton the mapmaker was the second. I'd gotten myself lost in the castle, called out for help, and he actually found me. He sketched up a quick reference guide of the place so that sort of thing wouldn't happen again. He was a huge help in that way, and was far more responsible at his age than I think I've ever been… and… then there were the other two.

Hix and Tengaar. Those two. I swear, if there was anything in this world that made me loathe to seek out love, it was them. I mean, I have to admire their mutually weird senses of devotion, but I had to wonder if it was really worth the upkeep.

Hix actually came up to me one day, shortly after the Knights moved into Toran Castle. He was all nervous at first… I think he considered my station to be somewhere much higher than it was.

"I know Knights and Warriors are different", he'd said through a lot of stuttering, "but I… I want to know what it takes to be great and noble." I'm paraphrasing a bit, but that was the short of it.

"I wouldn't know the first thing." I replied honestly. "Maximillian is way better at judging that sort of thing, but I think he'd say you're already on the right track."

I didn't know for certain, but it was true. Hix tried so hard, and he really wasn't bad with a sword to tell you the truth.

My interactions with Tengaar mostly consisted of her occasionally glancing at me before dragging Hix away from one of our conversations. Or sitting next to him when all of us- Myself, the two of them, Templeton and Melodye- were in the impromptu mess hall (Technically there was one more- Viki- but after one occurrence which we like to call 'The Pepper Incident'… she moved to sit closer to Jeane and Hellion, where she could be more closely monitored).

We spent that time listening to Templeton talk about places he'd been to and people he'd met, trying to fake interest in whatever Melodye was talking about, hearing Hix and Tengaar's stories of growing up together in Warrior's Village and my own stories about being trained under Master Maximillian.

Outside of lunch and sleep, the leisure time I had hoped for before was rare. And most of that time was spent pacing in weird patterns all over the castle, occasionally enjoying the elevator whenever someone more important wasn't using it. It wasn't the smoothest ride, but it was a remarkable invention, and a godsend in a place with so many stairs, but I digress.

It was during one of those little walks that I met her.

"Juppo! Uncle Juppo!"

I really hadn't known what to make of the strange sound coming from around the hallway corner. Only because I hadn't met or even heard of Juppo the Trickster before then did I just assume someone was talking like a crazy person. Lending credence to this idea was the number of jingling bells that accompanied the voice

Either way, I slowed my pace, intending to turn down that very corner, and doing everything I could to prevent a collision. However, the aforementioned presumed crazy person was both jogging and entirely immersed in whatever she was searching for.

"Uncle- AH!"

The small figure crashed headlong into me. Slender and a half-head shorter than myself, the momentum was still more than enough to send us both to the ground in opposite directions.

It looked as though I'd taken the worse of it, flat on my back having bumped my head on the ground, while she hand fallen into an awkward sit.

Groggily leaning up, the disorientation and the natural dark surroundings of the castle cave gave way, allowing me to see whom I had just… run into.

She was the cutest freaking thing I'd ever seen. She had brown hair styled in a ponytail, and wore these little green bells around her neck. In fact, a lot of her wardrobe was green; hairband, gloves, blouse and boots, which also had little bells on their pointed tips. Her skirt was slightly frilled and tan, her reddish-brown thigh-high stockings fitting rather loosely, and she wore a strange, floofy little collar. Really, she looked like some kind of performer, or even a dressed-down clown… but a more adorable clown, I couldn't imagine.

"Sorry 'bout that." She said abruptly, already in the act of getting up. "You okay?"

I was a little flustered for a second. The jostling of my head, plus… well, plus this, I really wasn't at my social best.

"M- My fault, I'm sorry." It wasn't, of course. "I'm fine. What's-?"

But my words fell upon entirely deaf ears. As a matter of fact, they fell upon no ears at all. Turning swiftly, I found that she was already skipping down the hallway I'd come from, calling out for 'Juppo' once more.

Of course, I could have tried to follow her, but for whatever reason, it never occurred to me.

Nobody ever said I was smart.

The next day, over lunch, I was at my usual spot, talking to my usual companions… although I wasn't really paying attention to anything any of them were saying. I was- as you could probably guess- looking over the mess hall, trying to catch a glimpse of a brown ponytail, a flicker of green or frilled tan skirt. It was only when Templeton actually waved a hand in my face did I remember where I was.

"Hey! We've only got ten minutes left, and you've hardly touched your stew…"

"Ah…" I blinked, coming back to the there-and-then. "Right. Stew. Kay."

"Is something the matter?" Melodye asked. "You've been… quiet."

"Have I?" I countered, almost sounding paranoid.

"You look like you're expecting someone to pop out and shoot you or something." Tengaar said, staring at me suspiciously.

"I'll eat." I said at last, stuffing a spoonful of Lester's specialty into my mouth. Even lukewarm, it was pretty good… but I winced as Tengaar spoke again.

"You're looking for someone, all right." She said with a smile in her voice. "Not an assassin, but-…"

I was cursing the tingling blush in my cheeks as she leaned over the table.

"Tell me."

"It's nobod- n- nothing!" I said, fumblingly putting down the bowl of stew. "It's none of your business!"

"Well, at least he's not staring at Jeane all the time." Melodye said with a harrumph.

"It's not Viki either, she always sits over there." Templeton offered, nodding sidelong to the Runemistress's usual table.

"Oh…" Hix suddenly spoke up, but with a single glance at me, he immediately bowed his head to pick away at the mushrooms in the stew he'd avoided eating.

"What?" Tengaar jerked toward him reflexively. "What's 'Oh', Hix?"

"It's… oh… it's nothing."

"It's not 'nothing', Hix! Do you know? Tell me!"

"Stop bullying him!" I shot back, but instantly regretted the words as she gave me the deadliest of all glares.

"Now, Hix…"

"…She's not here." Hix said. And that was it.

"Who's not-?" Tengaar quirked her eyebrow, perplexed.

"Meg." Templeton answered simply. "Meg is the only one not here in the mess hall. Looking for her uncle who doesn't want to be found…"

"Is that it!" Tengaar demanded, turning back to me… where I'd gone from blushing to pale, and right back to crimson again. "You like Meg, don't you?"

"I… I don't know what her name is!" I said honestly. "I ran into her in the hallway last night, and she… I don't… she was wearing bells and green-"

"Meg." The other four said in near-unision.

It was a cute name. It suited her.

"Meg's a Trickster." Templeton explained. "They use gadgetry to make trick-devices, weapons, and even artificial living creatures; Most of which tend to explode."

I listened quietly to the mapmaker, now wishing that I'd let this slip earlier; that way we'd have had more than ten minutes to talk about this.

"Meg heard that her uncle Juppo- the famous Trickster- had joined the Liberation Army, so she decided to join as well. Since then, she's been chasing him all over the castle, trying to get him to teach her all of his skills. But he doesn't really want her to follow in his footsteps. Not sure why; he seems to have enough fun. Maybe he just doesn't want to share."

"So what's got you so interested in her?" Tengaar persisted. "Do you just think she's cute? Did she talk to you?"

"That can't be it." Melodye said with a shake of her head. "He's not Juppo, after all."

"Are those the only things she's interested in?" I asked. "Her uncle and being a Trickster?"

"It seems that way." Hix shrugged. "But if you want to know more about her, you should probably talk to Onil. She knows all kinds of things."

"And maybe we can try to look for Juppo." Templeton spoke again, looking around at the five of us. "He might know more about her than anybody else. And about Tricksters in general."

"And besides, if Juppo knows you're looking for her, he'd probably be more than happy to help you keep her away from him." Tengaar chimed in mischievously.

I sighed and nodded. As awkward as it felt to have this all planned for me, it was incredibly convenient.

"Then it's settled." I reached out, putting a hand in the center of our little circle. The others followed suit, Hix and Melodye more hesitantly than the other two.

Onil was a lot easier to find than either Juppo OR Meg proved to be. Maybe unlike Juppo, this was because she made it a point to be everywhere, hear everything, so she would have plenty of gossip to spread.

"And what can I do for you, little squire?" She'd asked me, in this weird voice that just… made me uncomfortable. It was this weird, teasing tone that attempted to be sultry, the way Jeane always talked… but really, she couldn't pull it off.

"Do you know anything about…" I began, but… I'll be honest, Onil was something of a close-talker. She was leaning in really far, and the already uncomfortable conversation became a lot more so. I mean, being a gossip as she was, I suppose this was her normal method of talking. Still.

"Well? Old Onil knows everything."

"I bet she does." I said, considering that one kind of clever, actually. "But… but I'm looking for information about a girl named Meg… Juppo's niece."

Her eyes widened, and the already present smile on her face widened into a full-on smirk. At that point I realized the full scope of my error; Telling the castle's biggest gossip that I was smitten with a young lady was not my best idea. But then it had been Hix's idea. I retroactively blame him.

"Well well." She said with this deep, rubbing-it-in sort of giggle. "Both of them are tough to get ahold of. Both Juppo and Meg. But I can tell you this; you may eat the same time every day, and he may avoid the army's assigned lunchtimes to keep from being cornered by his niece, but Juppo has to eat sometime."

"So… just stake out in the mess hall area?" I asked. "Unless he shoots birds on the roof or goes out fishing with-"

Onil gave me a look that said on no uncertain terms that I was over thinking it.

"…Right." I said at last, sighing and nodding. "Well, is there anything you can tell me about Meg?"

"She's shown absolutely no interest in boys." She answered with a teasing grin.

"Thank you, Onil." I said numbly. After a heavy sigh, I looked at her one more time. "So what, do I have to give you a piece of gossip in exchange?"

She blinked at me, then chuckled.

"You've already given me one."

Unfortunately, one of my fears in all this came to life not long after my talk with Onil; I was starting to get those sly smirks from a great many people… most of whom I didn't even know. Of course none of them stopped to offer any useful advice. Oh, no. That would have made it too easy.

All it did was add a nerve-racking undertone to this already awkward situation.

I told Templeton and the others what I'd-… well, not what I'd learned, because I didn't really learn anything. I pretty much just told them what Onil had told me.

"So she suggested you just stay near the kitchen and watch for him?" Hix asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "Seems… seems a little too obvious. Like Meg would have thought of doing that by now."

"That's what I thought." I replied. "But when I suggested there might be more to it, the just gave me this weird look."

"Then I guess that's what you'll have to do." Tengarr concluded simply. I sighed and looked around the table.

"But you and Hix are on-call all the time, just in case Commander Tir or Mathiu needs you for something. Same with me, just in case Master Maximillian drops some emergency training on us…"

"But what would we even ask him?" Melodye asked, looking to Templeton, who only blushed a bit.

There was a long moment of silence between the five of us, but I knew how it was all going to end… once I got over my pouting, I knew that this was my responsibility… I didn't like it, but I couldn't be sure if I would remember to ask for critical information, let alone asking someone else to do it. In the end, I decided I'd accept the reprimand for sleeping in (it wouldn't be the first time) than lose this opportunity.

So there I was, sitting near the kitchen on my standard-issue military blanket, watching people come and go, although those instances came less and less often as the hours went on. Thankfully Marco came along with that cup-and-ball setup, and Gorges stopped by to see what I was doing and let me play his card-match game a while, so I didn't die of boredom.

But they left, the sun had long since gone down and I was alone in the dark. Of course I was kind of scared- especially with people like Krin wandering around. I don't want to come off all gushy or anything, but I was too excited to be scared, thinking about what I might learn about Meg from Juppo… and I think it was at about that point that I realized I had forgotten completely to ask what Juppo even looked like.

Excited or not, though, I was steadily starting to lose it; I was starting to nod off, and there wasn't the slightest sign of anyone who might have been Meg's uncle.

By that point, it was either investigate alternate possibilities, or fall asleep there and then after wasting an entire evening.

With the blanket wrapped around me to stave off that misty night air, I made my way down to the ground floor of Toran Castle. I could have taken the elevator, but the amount of noise that thing made combined with how late it was would have had the entire place ready to cut my head off. Most of them had itchy trigger fingers anyway. That in mind, I resigned myself to an eventual arduous climb back upstairs at some future point, while just trying to enjoy the brisk journey down.

I was actually starting to get those minor hallucinations one gets when they're too tired. You know the ones; spiders and weird blurs? So it was no surprise that when I got to the castle entryway- where Qlon was comfortably snoozing and mumbling 'Welcome to Toran Castle'- I thought I imagined the strange figure gliding across the water toward the docks.

I crouched down out of sheer reflex- With the dark, quiet night, it just seemed like the natural thing to do- and I watched the small schooner pull into port.

Inside, I could see the bushy locks of Yam Koo, fishing buddy of Liberation Army celebrity Tai Ho. Both fishermen, Tai Ho was also an accomplished gambler and alcoholic. Yam Koo seemed to take it upon himself to make sure his 'brother' didn't get into too much trouble.

Then again, they were both in the army now, so… your guess is as good as mine as to how effective he was.

Behind him, however, was not Tai Ho, but someone I both did not recognize, and knew immediately at the same time.

It was a man in a strange round hat, and a ridiculously puffy shirt; as though his torso were inflated like a balloon while his skinny limbs were left behind.

"Thanks again, buddy." The puffy-torsoed man muttered softly, looking more than appropriate as he gradually got his 'land-legs' back. "I owe you one."

"No problem." Yam Koo replied in his usual mellow tone. "Just remember, I can only take you on these food runs once Big Brother's asleep. You know how it is."

"Sure, sure." The other man nodded before walking back across the docks toward the castle.

By then, I'd stood up again, ready to meet him.

"It's okay, kid; I'm a regular." He said quickly, brushing past me as he reentered.

A bit stunned, I shook it off quickly and pursued him. I shouldn't have been surprised by his disregard; it must be where Meg got it from.

"No, I'm not a guard, sir. I-" At that moment, two things struck me: First, I didn't know how to address him, and second, how to explain to him that I was potentially romantically interested in his niece.

"It's not 'sir', kid. It's 'Juppo', short for 'Master Trickster Juppo'." He said curtly, answering one of my questions straightaway.

"Juppo." I began again, keeping my voice low as he headed for the stairs. "I… I wanted to talk to you about… about Meg."

And there was the other. At that instant, I was starting to think this would be easier than I figured.

It didn't last.

At the sound of her name, he froze in place.

We'd reached one of those turns halfway up the ground-to-first-floor stairwell.

He spun around, grabbing me by the shoulders with an expression I neither recognized, nor liked.

"Let me give you a word of advice, kid; Don't. Just don't." He gave his head a single firm shake. "You do not want any part of that girl, and I'm not gonna dump her on you."

I guess he had some idea of what I'd wanted to know about her, but it didn't matter.

"Why?" I persisted. "I mean, I know it's not my business, but why are you avoiding her? And what if I want… I mean, suppose… just for sake of argument-"

"She ran away from home, for one," He began, "and you may not realize this, but but we Tricksters aren't always the most well-liked by the general public. And even those who do respect what we do aren't always the kind of people we would want to do business with. I don't wanna be responsible for getting her enslaved to some creep like Barbarossa."

Well, I couldn't refute that logic.

"But then why not tell Meg that?"

"You don't think I've tried?" Juppo hissed. "She's dead-set. She doesn't care what happens to her. She said if I don't teach her, she'd learn on her own."

"Well, why not just teach her? Wouldn't it be easier? And safer?"

"It was a bluff, kid." He muttered. "I've been refusing for a while and she's been chasing me instead of taking the time to learn herself anything at all."

"What about wild monsters? In the fields when she's following you everywhere?"

"I've been outrunning her. Not abandoning her. Now if you're done-"

"I'm not done!" I said, reaching out to catch him by the arm as he turned to walk away. I kept my grip away from the puffy shirt, though, on some level afraid of that comment about explosions… It was kind of a rude thing to do, but remember, I was half asleep and not thinking clearly.

"Hey!" Not surprisingly, he glared at me and yanked his arm out of my grasp.

"I don't care if you teach her or not, honestly. I really don't." I began, trying my best to repair the damage. "…Is there… is there anything she likes? Other than Trickster stuff? Like, food or flowers or candy or something?"

If the cat wasn't out of the bag before, it sure as hell was now.

"No." He said instantly. His reaction to my question was surprisingly understated… at least at first.

"Being a Trickster is all she wants; all she's ever wanted. It's all she ever thinks about, and she will hound me for the rest of my life to get it." As he spoke, he took me by the shoulders again, and looked me dead in the eye.

"It's because she is a young, innocent and idealistic little girl. A little girl who I have been burdened with; And as long as that's the case, it falls upon me- whether I like it or not- to make sure she doesn't get hurt, arrested, or mixed up with people who might take advantage of her."

I could feel myself going pale as he gave my shoulders a squeeze, then let go.

He turned and walked away without looking back, leaving me with my thoughts…

And that point, it was worse than being alone.