Shade was still constructing the archery course by the time her master returned in the middle of the night ahead of schedule. His stern eyes looked over the half-done work before settling on her.

"Where'd you put the bodies?"

"100 yards into the forest, that direction," she pointed into the forest

"Finish the course then take a break. I'll check on them."

Shade nodded, ignoring the aching feeling in her chest and turned back to the task at hand. Mentally she was harshly berating herself for being so slow. If she had worked just a bit faster, she might have finished a couple hours ago. Instead, she had allowed her master to arrive ahead of schedule and see her as a failure. Another mistake.

Little did she know that just a few yards away, Kragen breathed a sigh of relief at arriving when he did. He could tell from the bags under her eyes that the girl had worked through all of last night. She was likely exhausted, but too dedicated to her task to acknowledge it. While there wasn't any humanity left in her, that was still a human body. Human bodies needed rest in order to function properly like any machine.

The Empire had no use for a tool that was determined to break itself.

When he came upon the bodies of the roadside bandits, he found them already decomposing. The girl had found a hollowed out tree to stuff them in, and the bodies were being deconstructed by it, their sustenance feeding it and slightly accelerating the decomposition process.

For a first attempt, it's not bad. He thought to himself, I suppose the body disposal lesson will have to wait for another time. Not much to improve here.

When he returned, she was patiently waiting on a broken off part of the hut, standing at attention when he came into sight

"Sit back down," he ordered her, "I distinctly remember telling you a long time ago to sleep when you're tired."

"...I wanted to complete the task you had given me before you returned."

"Then you should have worked faster, not sacrificed basic self-preservation in the hopes of gaining more time," he scolded her, and took a seat next to her and handed her a can of rations, "Eat. You'll need the strength for what comes next."

"What are we going to do?"

"In order to start rebuilding the house we'll need to clear away the rubble. Your muscles aren't developed enough, so you'll be practicing archery while I do that." He took a drink of his cantine, "Did you sleep at all while I was gone?"

"Night before last night," she replied

"Were you alright? Did you have bad dreams?"

"Probably. No different than every other night though."

Kragen didn't respond. As far as he was aware, the girl had no memory of what happened before he took her as an apprentice, as part of some sort of memory block. Whatever she remembered when she slept, she forgot when she woke up again. Fortunate for him, since if she knew what she had been through, she would probably hate him for the rest of her life. If she didn't already.

"Tomorrow, I'm taking you into town. There's a woman I want you to meet. Now that you're turning into an adolescent, it's best if you learn to weaponize your gender sooner rather than later."

"How do I do that?"

"That's what she'll teach you over the next couple weeks. She's a lazy old wench who couldn't go to the privy unless someone carried her on the way, but she can be trusted, so do everything she tells you to do as if she were me. Unless she tries to get you to do chores, if she does that tell her 'I can't, I'm too busy working for a living. We can't all make money by sitting in comfy chairs and drinking cheap wine.' And go back to whatever you were doing beforehand."

"Understood."

"One last thing. While you're learning, keep an ear out, pay attention to everything you hear being said. We're going to be investigating a murder, Ranger Herendel. Remember every conversation you hear involving her, and Governor Lorias."

Lorias had been sitting comfortably on his balcony overlooking Redmont town, admiring the the sight of the busy market district and clean streets below, even as the sun set on them. He took pride in his position at the head of the Empire's wealthiest city. It was a busy job, keeping the gears of civilization turning, but moments like these when he could simply sit on his balcony with a cup of wine in hand made it all worthwhile.

It was especially necessary after the stress one of the local Rangers had been causing him. Herenel had been good at her job, too good for her own well being. He had tried to warn her away, but a Ranger's arrogance knew no bounds. They always thought that simply because they answered to no one but the Emperor, that made them invincible. But everybody had their weak spots.

His peaceful moment of contemplation was interrupted when he heard a knock on his door. His serving boy no doubt. "It's open."

The boy entered and saluted him, "Sir, a letter for you."

Lorias recognized the seal on the letter immediately. What is that dreadful pirate thinking, sending a letter via bird…

Lorias quickly took it from his possession, "Yes, that'll be all, thank you!" He shooed the boy out before taking one quick look around his quarters, just to be safe. Ever since he heard the news of Ranger Kragen's return, he had been on edge. The dreadful man had always been an obstruction to him, fighting him on every little matter, digging into things that were better left alone. It was impossible for him to do anything when that man was in the city, and he had become paranoid that one of these days he would find him skulking around in his chambers when he least expected it.

Only when he was as sure as he could be that nobody was around, he opened the letter.

"To L. Cargo is at sea. Navigator predicts arrival in three weeks' time. Have payment ready up front. From M."

At least the pirate had the sense to not include any names and keep the details vague, in case the messenger bird had been intercepted. He couldn't afford the Emperor, or anyone else for that matter, catching wind of what he was doing until he had begun. With the forces he had, he wouldn't be able to deal with the entire might of the Emperor's armies, assuming the Rangers didn't arrange an 'accident.'

He just needed three weeks...

"Oh sweetie, it's been too long," Madam Lutrice said when they first entered her quarters. She even went through the effort of standing up from her luxurious couch, and crouch to the girl's eye level, "You're a lot rougher than I remember. Oh Kragen, what are you doing? She looks like a boy with that short hair and stern edges. Is there even a chest there, I can't tell? And those vacant eyes..."

"Can you work with her or not?" Kragen grumbled

Lutrice looked up at him with an amused glint in her eye, "Oh honey, of course I can. But this will be much more difficult than I imagined…"

"Anything that's easy isn't worth doing. Besides, you owe me. Quite a few if my memory serves."

"You don't need to remind me. I haven't gone senile just yet," Lutrice grumbled, "So sweetie, how are you feeling? Do you think you could give me a smile?"

The girl shrugged, "I've never tried."

"Well why don't you give me your best so that I know what I'm working with. Go on, show me some teeth."

The girl nodded. Her face seemed to tremble for a bit before the edges of her mouth were able to force themselves upward, her lips parting to force the barely used facial muscles stretching to fit into place. The final result was a twisted, unnatural looking expression that was more terrifying than seductive.

"...We certainly have some work to do," Lutrice sighed

Seeing her distracted, Kragen turned to leave in order to avoid saying goodbye. The girl surely noticed him, but she knew his habit well enough to be silent. He might have gotten away with it, if he hadn't run into a certain someone at the doorway.

"Ranger Kragen! Leaving so soon? Should I show you out?" Ophelia stood in the doorway directly in his path wearing an elegant and long white dress, and as evident by its near-transparency, nothing else…

"I know the way," he said curtly

"Oh don't be rude, Kragen," Lutrice said from inside, "Just let the poor girl take care of you…"

That woman… Kragen thought bitterly, his eyes turning back to the girl in front of him, her wide 'innocent' eyes staring up at him, begging for attention like an adorable puppy, practically designed to appeal to a man's desire to protect, while the dress catered to every other desire. No doubt the old wench had told her all the tactics that appealed to him. "I don't need you."

It took more willpower than he had expected, but he was eventually able to force his way out of the building, leaving Ophelia standing at the doorway with a hurt expression

"Don't take it so personally, dearie," Lutrice comforted her, "Some men just don't know how to be honest with their desires. Maybe next time." The madam then turned her attention back to the child that had been left in her charge, "Sweetie, do you remember much about me?"

She shook her head. Lutrice had expected that. They'd only interacted once, only a couple weeks after Kragen had taken her on as his apprentice, years before their expedition into the snowy Picta region. During those early days, Kragen had refused to ever let her leave his side for anything, and refused to explain why. The girl was completely vacant at the time, always staring straight ahead, never speaking or doing anything unless Kragen told her to, never acknowledging the world around her. She looked as much like a corpse as one could without actually being dead. Not much had changed between then and now, though at least the girl seemed aware of her surroundings, as her ears perked up whenever someone speak and her eyes silently tracked people's movements. She looked less like a corpse and more like a snake, coiled up and ready to strike.

It was a marginal improvement at least.

"Did Kragen say anything about me?"

"He said that he trusted you, and that you were a lazy old wench who couldn't go to the privy without someone carrying her."

Lutrice grimaced, "Of course he did…" With the amount of abuse I get from him, he's lucky I do anything he asks, debt or no. "And did he tell you what we'll be doing?"

"I am an adolescent now. You are to teach me to weaponize feminine attributes."

"Aptly put. I hope you're prepared. Don't let an old woman's doting fool you, I intend to be a hard taskmaster," she warned, "Now why don't you go find a room you're comfortable with and get situated. You can come to me when you're ready to begin."

"I am currently at peak vitality. Now would be ideal."

Ah the energy of youth… "Very well, Ophelia," Lutrice got the other girl's attention, "This young one is Kragen's apprentice. I'm sure he would very much appreciate it if you helped with her training. For now, see if you can teach the sad girl how to smile."

Kragen didn't have time to waste in a brothel. Even if he did, he was far too old for the practice. At the moment, his mind was more occupied with the problem of Lorias and what he might have had to do with Ranger Herendel's murder.

Lorias had always been ambitious, but Kragen had been able to keep him in line when he served in the Redmont Province. They had never gotten along, but there was an understanding between them. Lorias may be clever enough to talk his way around his subordinates, but he knew not to test Kragen. He had built up a reputation over his decades of service of arranging 'accidents' for those he deemed dangerous to the Empire's interests, and Lorias was just pliable enough to know challenging him would not end well for him.

But a lot could change in a year, and he didn't know if the old tactics would still work on him. The fact that in his absence, Lorias had somehow mustered up the bravery to have a Ranger assassinated, was evidence enough that he would need to change up his tactics.

He also couldn't handle this the way he used to for more personal reasons. He couldn't risk the possibility of dying and leaving the girl uncared for. He would need to use more subtle tactics.

The girl would be training with Lutrice for the next two weeks. He had no intention of being idle during that time. By the time she returned, he intended to have a target in mind.

Which meant he needed to pay Djak a visit.