Hullo….. I am trying to keep to the schedule of updating-

I still need a beta

For any of my stories

Please

I don't care how quick you'll get it back to me but I need a new beta

On with the story

Kel fidgeted during the entire drive over to Wayland's apartment. Joren noticed but Kel was too absorbed in her own thoughts to see how much her Yamani mask had slipped away.

"You okay?" Joren asked tentatively.

Kel, surprised by his sudden speech and the civility and true concern he made it with was speechless. She nodded quietly and returned to looking out the window.

Joren though was not one of the top agents in the Knights for nothing. he knew something was up and had a gut feeling it had to do with where they were headed.

"You seem a bit tense," Joren tried to word his prompts carefully, so as not to set off Kel.

"Um- well it's just the new mission and all, you know?" she said lightly. Her eyes were very shadowed as she spoke and something had dulled in them.

Joren decided not to press the matter further at the moment, but resolved to inquire about it later.

"Uh- okay. If you say so," he said.

They reached Wayland's apartment around ten o'clock in the morning. Kel began getting out of the car but Joren reached back and grabbed her arm to keep her inside. Kel tensed up and turned to Joren, fear in her eyes. Joren quickly let go but told her to stay inside the car for a moment.

"Look I think it's best if I do most of the talking at first," he told her. "It will be better if he only has the ability to fully analyze one of us, and so if you do less talking he won't be able to get you into a box as quickly as me. Okay?"

Kel nodded as she looked outside the car scanning the horizon.

"Good," Joren said. "Let's go."

"Hold on." Kel and Joren heard a gruff voice echo from within the apartment, through the thin door.

A few moments later, the door opened a crack making visible a man in his early thirties, blond with a tan face. "Can I help you?" he asked icily.

"Well yes," Joren replied smoothly. "See my partner and I have come from Tortall. We wish to join you. May we buy you a cup of coffee?"

The man surveyed them. After a moment, he stepped back and shut the door. Kel and Joren heard the scrapings of metal chains on the door and the door was fully opened. "Come in," Wayland told them.

Kel and Joren entered. The apartment complex had been fairly average, which, Kel thought, was the perfect cover up for Wayland's real wealth that was so apparent upon their entering of his apartment. Everything was lavishly decorated. Ornate rugs, intricate furniture made with expensive wood, marble floors, and in the center of the entrance foyer, a fireplace that did not rest on a wall, but was actually in itself at the center of the room throwing off heat in every direction. Kel smoothed her face into Yamani calm and followed Joren.

"Would you care for a cup of tea?" Wayland inquired. "I prefer it to coffee. If we're going to discuss business I think it's better if we do not do it in public."

Joren nodded his agreement. Kel searched the room with her eyes, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

Wayland led them into an elaborately decorated parlor and directed them to their seats. "Delia," he called loudly.

A plump woman in her late twenties appeared in servant's attire. "Could you bring tea for the three of us and a few sandwiches?"

Delia nodded and disappeared.

"So," Wayland began slowly, as if measuring up Kel and Joren as he talked. "May I ask who you are?"

Joren nodded. "I am Matthew and this is Christiana. We're from Tortall, but sick of the way things are run there. Christiana and I came to Scanra to start over. We're fairly well off. Merchants of the sort- we don't have any ties left in Tortall so it's been pretty easy for us to desert here."

Wayland surveyed Joren as he talked, taking in everything he saw, from the sharpness of his attire to the carelessness of his body movements.

"I see," Wayland sighed. "well I could do with a few allies. They are pretty hard to come by here. There is a man in this complex that is reliable. How do I know you will be too?"

Joren was prepared for this, he and Kel had rehearsed it many times over before going to the apartment.

Smoothly Joren replied, "How do we know you'll be reliable?"

Wayland caught off guard, not expecting the question to be turned around on him. However, he recovered quickly, "My reliability is not in question here; yours is."

"Well then it seems as if we have come to an impasse because from my perspective it is your reliability in question," Joren spat- the perfect picture of a man who feels violated that his honor be questioned.

On queue, Kel piped up, "Gentlemen, surely we can figure this out in a civilized manner." She turned to Wayland, "Now may I ask how long you have been here? We have been here for about two weeks. A friend of mine, who is now deceased, spoke of you once to me. Maybe you knew her. Mariana?" Kel smiled sweetly.

They'd struck a nerve. Wayland flushed and focused his attention on the floor. "Yes, Marianna and I were-" he paused, trying to find the right word, "-close. Well in that case, welcome to Scanra."

Kel smiled and murmured, "Thank you."

"Where are you staying?" Wayland asked.

"A small inn down the road. They have long term rooms that are available," Joren replied, still a bit icily.

"Ah- excellent. It's always good to have an ally close by," Wayland said. There was a sound at the entrance to the parlor followed by the sight of Delia bearing tea and sandwiches. "Wonderful! If you could just set them upon the table, we shall commence."

Delia swiftly placed the tea and sandwiches on the table and left the room. Wayland looked at his guests and told them to help themselves.

Conversation stayed pretty light for the rest of the time they spent at Wayland's apartment, they had his phone number, and email address before they left with plans to meet for dinner later in the week.

Back in the car, Joren and Kel both breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was stressful," Joren remarked.

"That's putting it rather mildly," Kel said with a slight mood of playfulness coming through in her voice.

Joren looked over at her and smiled; a true, genuine smile- Kel could not remember a time when Joren had ever smiled a true smile, one that was full of life and not cynicism and loathing.

Joren didn't give her any time to think about this though because he asked her, "Well you cant' say that it wasn't at least a bit of fun."

Kel was taken aback, unsure of how to act with this carefree Joren. "Um- it was great. I thought it was brilliant using Mariana. Wayland has no idea that she returned to Tortall. She's been a huge asset to the movement."

Joren looked over at Kel and again gave her that genuine smile. Kel was confused- she did not know what to think about this new Joren. "No offense, Joren, but what is with the happiness today?" she asked in what she hoped was a casual voice.

Joren looked over at Kel and told her with a note of seriousness in his voice, "Kel I was serious when I told you this morning when I said that we all have a past and it takes time to put it behind us. Really, I think we both need some time, but that we can learn to tolerate each other. I just saw something last night that I didn't know existed."

Joren stopped talking and looked rather embarrassed for having talked. It gave Kel a lot to think about and they rode the rest of the way back to the inn in silence.

Ta-da- chapter 10 is up……..

Hope ya'll like it- don't worry, Joren won't turn into a softie- I know he was a bit ooc- but trust me- he'll get more believable... i have my reasons- muahahahahha