Heather spent most of the night deep in research. She slept for four hours and then woke again to continue, hoping and praying that she would find something of use. She found only infuriating bits and pieces of information, tormenting her to no end. Jacks' toy had shaken her, and she regretted going down. But something inside of her hated the fact that their greatest enemies were being made into playthings for younglings, innocent as the intent might have been.
Mid-morning reached its peak, and Heather pulled on her warmest cloak and walked back up to the palace, thinking that the fresh air would do her good and knowing that the council would resume within the hour. She paused a moment to watch the construction attempts. There was so much left to be done, especially in the case of the dam. It was being re-built, but the project would likely take months if not years. The First Warren would recover, yes, and the capital would be rebuilt like it had been so many times before. She could already see new homes going up, new shops, new roads. Only a week had passed, and yet so much had been done. The picture brought her hope, and she smiled.
A hand touched her shoulder, and she looked back with surprise to find Smalls. Evidently, he'd had a similar idea about fresh air.
"It's a miracle so much has been done." He sighed.
"It proves no one's hope is all gone." She responded. "I'm glad to see it."
"So am I. I just hope it isn't in vain." Heather smiled and shook her head.
"I don't think so. It's makes us stronger and reminds people of what really matters."
"What really matters." Smalls echoed softly, taking her hand in his, and squeezing tightly. Heather smiled at him. He was about to say something else when a shout echoed, and a snowball smacked him in the back of the head. Smalls jumped, turned, and let out a cry as Evan dashed off, laughing,
"C'mon lovebird, have a sense of humor." Smalls, even more impudent (And very likely embarrassed) at being called a 'lovebird', turned, and streaked after his brother, shouting a threat before the two disappeared behind a stone wall.
"Asher used to call them Chaos 1 and Chaos 2." Wilfred said. He must have been with Evan. "And I have to say I agree sometimes."
"I still call them that." Asher added. "And it's still true." Heather laughed. Asher glanced at her and continued. "Once he got stuck up in the rafters."
"Who?"
"Smalls. He was stuck up there all afternoon."
"…Why?"
"Because they had been trying to steal something from my room." Wilfred cut in. "And, for some reason I still have yet to figure out, Smalls somehow managed to climb up into the rafters."
"Evan fell asleep behind your chair." Asher remarked.
"And I discovered the three of you because you fell asleep under my bed." Wilfred finished. "And I seem to recall that that was the same morning Evan put a frog on Marianne's plate, and Smalls figured out the power of words."
"The power to ground him for a week." Asher snorted. Heather laughed as Smalls and Evan popped up from behind the stone wall, both covered in snow and panting. They were bickering, Evan thoroughly enjoying himself and Smalls obviously annoyed because of that. "You two look like idiots!" Asher shouted across to them, smirking.
"Thanks." They said in unison, Evan shoving Smalls mid-word.
"What was that for?"
"My sprained finger."
"It's not sprained, you're dramatic."
"You're no better."
"Would you two be quiet?" Asher cut in. "And you really do look ridiculous. You're both covered in snow." He was right. And that snow was quickly melting. Smalls flushed, Evan glanced down at himself and said,
"So?" Asher shook his head and sighed.
"You have zero sense of decency, don't you."
"Yep." Evan replied cheerfully. "Don't you love me?" Asher rolled his eyes.
"No." Smalls said flatly.
"Aw, is swomebwody a wittle fwastwated?"
"Shut up." Evan laughed, spun, and dashed back in the direction of the palace.
"Where's he going?" Heather asked, slightly concerned over what havoc he could wreak.
"To change." Wilfred said, shrugging. "He acts like he doesn't, but he does, actually, have some manners." Heather raised an eyebrow.
"I have yet to see those." She turned back to find that Smalls had vanished. Wilfred shook his head.
"They'll be on better behavior once the meeting resumes." He assured her. Asher coughed, and muttered,
"Sure." And then coughed again. Wilfred shot a look at him, and Asher assumed the countenance of a perfect angel.
.
.
.
The meeting didn't last long. It was, unlike the night before, not an open discussion. Smalls was in a 'get work done' mode, and did not, apparently, have the energy or patience to deal with another strain of arguments. That was, at least, what Heather gathered.
Flint didn't show. Stoner did, but only briefly before disappearing back to wherever they were camped out. Smalls dismissed the meeting but halted a few to stay back.
"Captain Longtreader!" Right. Picket's promotion. Heather was going to have a hard time wrapping her head around that. By the time the room emptied, the only people that remained were Kylen, Asher, Evan, Picket, Emma, Wilfred, Smalls, and Heather.
"What's this about?" Kylen asked, no little amount of suspicion in his voice.
"Flint." Smalls replied evenly. Kylen looked like he wanted to argue but was finding it difficult to uncover a fault in the idea.
"Why do they all need to be here?" He asked instead, gesturing to everyone else.
"Asher and Evan are the only ones who have had any contact with these northern wolves, Picket's a Lord-Captain, Emma has had more interactions with Flint then me, and Heather is the only one who's done any research into this. And I thought It'd be nice to have some adult supervision, so Wilfred's here too." The last part was so sarcastic that Heather noticed Picket cover up a laugh with a cough.
Heather knew that Smalls wasn't taking Kylen very seriously. He was being sarcastic, after all, and that was really only something he did when he was absolutely one hundred percent done with a topic or a person. She was also aware that that sarcasm would very likely be taken as an offense by Kylen and would only make the Natalia-Terralain relations worse. Much as she would have enjoyed letting Kylen have it, she didn't think that that would be helpful in the long-run or a smart move on anyone's parts. So instead of allowing the two to continue interacting, she pulled out a scroll from her satchel and got down to work.
"There's barely anything." She started. "And what I could find is ancient and only half-discernable." She gestured to the columns of lines running across the yellow parchment. Parts were scribbled out or charred from fire. Heather sighed. "It's like a puzzle. I keep finding random pieces, but none of them are finished, and the further I dig the harder it becomes."
She pointed out a column written down the middle of the page.
"This says, I think, something about the trekking. It's talking about the Drekkers, and when they were lost, from there point of view. I found Flint's name here." She gestured to a sentence, "And here," She pointed to another. "And here, and here, and here." Everyone else looked at a loss as to what that meant. "You all, surely, remember your history?"
"The Drekkers have a tract of land just north of the First Warren." Smalls said.
"They mostly keep to themselves." Asher said, brow furrowing. "From what I understand they were barely affected when Morbin took over. They've never been near or dear to Flint's bloodline and never have wanted to be. There's been…conflict because of that."
"Okay, so they've had an easier time, what does that have to do with Flint?" Evan asked.
"I think he's who they found after they were left for dead." Heather stated calmly. "It's the only logical option. If we could maybe get one of them in here, they might be able to figure out whatever dialect or code this is written in." She was met with silence.
"No ones seen or heard from the Drekkers since father's time." Smalls said, breaking the quiet.
"Not true." Emma contradicted. She'd been quiet for most of the meeting, but now she shook her head in disagreement. "There was one at Half-Wind." She gave Heather a meaningful look. Heather's eyes widened as they said together,
"Aunt Joan!"