Just as Nald had promised he got someone to show Laura around the city; it turned out Ari had been happy to volunteer. Since she had already seen enough of the marketplace, Ari was planning on showing her the different paths leaving the market and where they led. As they moved Ari pointed out some of the stalls Laura hadn't seen before, including one that sold books, one that sold spices and different types of tea, and finally one of her favorites, one that sold different varieties of soaps. Laura guessed they were mostly for humans of wealthy masters; She knew enough about apes to know they were frightened of water, seeing as how they couldn't swim.

A warm breeze was blowing that day, and as it blew past and ran through Laura's hair she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. As she breathed out a small smile tugged on her lips. The one thing she did like about this place was that it was surrounded by trees and plants. Even the rock walls around them had moss or vines creeping over them and dangling down towards the jungle floor. If the city wasn't so full of hate and prejudice she might actually enjoy living here. Her smile diminished and her eyes lowered.

Mom would have loved it here too.

"Dahlia, are you alright?"

Her eyes raised back up to see Ari, who had stopped in her tracks and was now looking her over with concern. Laura nodded her head and smirked at her friend, the raise of Ari's brow indicated she didn't completely believe Laura, but she let it go for now.

"Well as I was saying, the gala is going to be held at the senatorial chambers. It's a large building meant to hold a vast group of apes. My father and the other senators are there now making sure all the arrangements are perfect."

"So where is this huge building then?"

Ari turned to her and pointed up into the sky. Laura slowly followed the female's gesture up into the trees and felt her breath catch in her throat. Up at the very top of a cliff that many of the ape's homes were built into sat a huge building. It was placed on the flat edge of the cliff, and all she could make out was a large balcony built into the side of the building. Laura found herself to be in awe.

How am I supposed to get up there?

Her eyes slowly ran down the cliff and noticed stairs were etched into the cliff face, leading all the way up to the building.

Yeah, that looks perfectly safe.

"Don't let the size of it intimidate you, it won't seem as large when we're inside," Ari told her as she looked up at it with an expression close to that of boredom.

Laura crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side, "Not very impressed with it are you?"

Ari looked back at Laura and shrugged her shoulders, "Is it that easy to tell? The building itself represents what's wrong with us all. The building never needed to be that big, but they made sure it was. My people keep having issues with humans, but the truth is our people keep expanding our territory and it's going straight through what little the humans have," She sighs in annoyance, "They blame it on humans expanding their numbers, but how can that be when our soldiers keep murdering all the villages that set up too close or throw them into chains?"

Laura felt her eyebrows raise and her eyes widened, "You're telling me they murder entire villages for getting too close to the city?"

"The army is worried that if they are too close they could be planning some kind of raid on the city, so they do their best to keep them far away."

"You mean Thade is worried," Laura stated as she rolled her eyes at the amount of paranoia the general had. The humans that she had seen before she got captured had all seemed to be trying to get away from the apes, not fighting them. It was likely because they knew they didn't really stand any chance against them.

The truth was evident, Thade was a murderer. A paranoid murderer of who knows how many men, women, maybe even children. Her mind snapped back to that alleyway, he was fully capable of killing her. If she hadn't been able to tell him about Nald's suspicion if she died, he probably would have. But when he had pulled her up against him, he didn't seem like he was thinking of killing her, he looked like he was curious about her. It was clear he hated her and wanted to see her dead, but he also wanted to figure her out. Then there was that tension, it almost felt like a small fire burning under her skin. Laura didn't know what it meant, but a part of her wanted to find out.

He's a murderer, I should stay away from him. The minute he finds a way to kill me with no repercussions to himself, he will.

Ari didn't respond to her but began walking back towards the marketplace, and Laura followed closely behind. Taking one last look over her shoulder at the senatorial building, she too seemed to have lost the awe she had over the building, instead, she felt nothing but disdain.

Moving down through another path leading from the marketplace Laura started to feel a bit uneasy. As they walked she started to notice more and more apes stopping and staring at her as she went. The dirt path suddenly changed to stone and Laura almost tripped from not paying attention. Bamboo grew on both sides of the path and it seemed to put her at ease. At the end of the path, it opened into a small area with only one building. It wasn't very small but nowhere near as huge as the senatorial building. From where she was standing she could smell incense and see candles being lit inside. As she tried to step forward Ari held out an arm to stop her.

"This is the temple of Semos, it's a holy place for my people. No humans are allowed too close," Ari stated lowering her arm back to her side.

Laura's eyes ran over the temple and the apes that were mulling around outside it. Some of them seemed to be glaring in her direction, others seemed to ignore her presence completely. Back inside the temple, she could see an orangutang dressed in extravagant robes quietly speaking to a number of apes. The whispers seemed to get louder and more aggressive as they looked over to where Laura stood.

"Who is Semos," Laura asked her eyes narrowing at the group of whisperers.

Ari seemed very indifferent as she replied, "He is said to be the first ape, according to our holy writings. The almighty breathed life into him at the holy site known as Calima. They believe that one day he shall return to us there."

Laura glanced over at her before returning her gaze to the ape in the brightly colored robes, "You believe that?"

With a slight shake of her head, Ari replied, "It just seems too much like a fairytale to me."

Before Laura could reply she felt a chill run down her spine and she quickly turned around. There was no one behind them and besides the looks, she was getting before, there was nothing else out of the ordinary. Scanning the path and the bamboo on the sides, there was still no sign of anyone, but she could have sworn that someone was watching her.

"We should head back, more to show you," Ari said suddenly grabbing Laura and trying to pull her back down the path.

"Wait, wha-"

"ARI!"

At the sound of her name, Ari stopped in her tracks and sighed heavily, "Damn it."

Looking past Ari, Laura noticed the orangutang in the robes heading in their direction. She didn't know why but she started to feel her anxiety rise. Just looking at this ape told her he was important and she needed to be careful around him. When the ape reached them Laura did her best to keep her eyes down and make herself seem small.

"High Priest Marcus, It's a pleasure to see you," Ari exclaimed with a big, fake smile.

Hearing the title of the ape Laura felt her eyes grow huge and snap up to his face. The high priest was a pretty portly ape, which wasn't surprising since he was an orangutang, but it did help him seem intimidating. He was looking down at Ari through slit dark green eyes and a scowl.

"Ari, it's bad enough you denounce Semos, do you now find it amusing to defile the temple by bringing a human here," The high priest hissed through clenched teeth, before looking down at Laura, "Avert your eyes filth, you do not belong here."

Laura felt her face go red and she bit the inside of her cheek. While all she wanted was to snap at him and give him a piece of her mind, the look in his eyes made her stop. His eyes were empty, and it actually scared her. Whenever she had faced Thade he had always let some kind of emotion rule his actions, it made it easy to read him. This ape though, there was nothing, and it unnerved her. Ari must have sensed this as she quickly started leading Laura away from the temple.

"Calm yourself, Marcus, you might give yourself an ulcer. We were just leaving."

The high priest glared after them as they walked back down the path. Once they were far enough away Laura gently pried off Ari's hand from her arm.

"What the hell was that about?!"

Ari rubbed her arm sheepishly and gave Laura a sad smile, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have taken you there. I just thought you would be interested in learning more about us. I didn't even stop and think about the fact that Marcus would be there."

Laura lowered her brows and crossed her arms, "Ari, I've been around hate for my kind, true that it's mostly been Thade who is mostly driven by some powerful paranoia, but I've been around it. That ape though, he was different, he looked at me and it was like a void," Without even realizing it she had begun to rub her arms like she was trying to get rid of a sudden chill.

"Listen to me Dahlia, the army may be powerful, but the church is just as powerful as the senate; If not more," Ari told her placing her hand against Laura's back and continuing to lead her away, "Stay away from Marcus, This thing you have going on with Thade is one thing, but please don't tempt fate like this."

Although Laura was willing to agree with Ari on this, if their plan was to change things for the better for humans, it was only a matter of time before they came head to head with the high priest.

"Alright, but please don't call it a thing with Thade, it just makes it sound dirty."

She could hear Ari chuckling beside her.

After Ari showed Laura the ape and human clinic, which were, of course, separate, she decided to lead her into another large area, which they reached by going through an opening in the cliff. Inside was a group of chimps and gorillas all wearing armor and Laura felt her eyes widen and her mouth drop open. It looked like they were going through training maneuvers, and at the head of the group yelling out orders was Attar. Ari pulled Laura behind a large tree to keep them both hidden. The area was very big, big enough for way more troops than Laura was seeing now, it made her wonder how large the ape army really was.

If Attar is here, then maybe that means Thade is as well.

"Dahlia."

I don't see him anywhere though.

"Dahlia!"

Oh shit right, that's my name!

Laura snapped her attention back to Ari, "What? What did I miss?"

Ari was looking at her with a mischievous smile before replying, "I was just letting you know that General Attar is actually a very heavy believer in Semos, but you seemed to be busy looking for someone."

Laura quickly changed the subject by looking away from Ari and back at the troops, "So this is where the army trains then?"

While it didn't seem like Ari wanted to drop the subject she did answer the question. "They go through maneuvers out here, the training room is actually inside," Ari pointed towards a door on the other side of the troops.

Laura knew Ari wanted to ask about what was going on between Thade and her, but she really didn't want to involve her in it. If Ari knew how much she enjoyed toying with him she might get the wrong idea.

Or maybe the right one. A part of her mind whispered to her which she was quick to ignore.

Suddenly she felt a tingle go down her spine and she quickly looked around herself again.

"Dahlia, you okay?"

"I swear I keep feeling someone watching me, but every time I look I don't notice anyone. This isn't the first time, I felt it back at the temple too, and I swore I felt it when I was heading home from your house the other day, but then a guard called out to me and the feeling disappeared. I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me, but now I'm not so sure," Laura explained to her, "Maybe I'm just tired."

Ari nodded and took Laura's hand and they both snuck out of the area and back towards the marketplace. "Well it is getting late, let's get you back home and call it a night."

Laura agreed and followed Ari back to Nald's home, and once they made it Laura thanked Ari for all her help and the new information on the city. When she was back inside the house she let out a loud groan. This place was basically hell for her kind and she was there trying to make some kind of difference while also trying to find Leo and playing a game of cat and mouse with the general. Not to mention how she felt like she was being watched wherever she went.

Feeling like her body was a lot heavier than normal, she flung herself onto the couch to rest. How had she managed to put so much on her shoulders when she hadn't even been there that long?

Not to mention you still have to get yourself prepared for the gala.

Rolling her eyes she let out an even louder groan of annoyance; She placed a pillow over her face and tried to forget about the world outside.