Sorry it's taken me so long, but I'm done with AP tests now and almost done with all my plays and shows and everything! I finally have had the chance to sit down and type something that is not a speech or an English paper. So here you go. It's stupid, but…

Anyway, tomorrow night is opening night for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and I'm in it, so wish me luck! Except, it is not wise to wish an actress luck, we usually tell each other to break a leg (our lives are sort of backwards) so, I'd rather you said that than expressed any well wishes.

Anyway, now you can read…

Disclaimer: I have not created Neal or Joren or Wyldon or Burchard or…

Lord Burchard had been at court for two days before Kel was called before Wyldon and asked about the two boys disappearing. All of her friends had gone and come back saying that it wasn't too bad, but Owen had been pale as a sheet when he came out.

She figured as she trotted to her training master's office that the suspense was the worst thing of all. The past week of days doing nothing but extra math work and wondering what she should say about Neal and Taina had done no good for her nerves.

Tapping on the door of Wyldon's office, she clasped her hands behind her back. Upon entering, Kel bowed to the men in the room. Wyldon was there, offering her a chair at a bare table and looking grim; Duke Baird was in a seat near the table with his head in his hands. Lord Burchard, whom she had never met, stayed standing when Wyldon took a seat on the other side of the table. The blonde man looked like his son: cold blue eyes, arrogant chin, but his hair wasn't as curly as his son's and his face not as pretty.

Kel sat down in the uncomfortable wooden chair as Duke Baird looked up. She directed her gaze bake to Wyldon. Her insides twisted when she saw her best friend's father with red eyes and a lost look on his long face. He tried to give her an encouraging smile, but it only made Kel feel worse.

"You are aware that both Nealan of Queenscove and Joren of Stone Mountain are missing," Wyldon intoned, continuing when she nodded. "Both pages attended morning classes but were gone sometime before lunch. Do you have any information about either page's disappearances?"

Kel wet her dry lips and came to the realization that speaking to a mirror and speaking to the Stump are two very different things. "I don't know about Joren, sir, but there was this girl, who, well, came here? I'm not sure where from or how, but Neal, er, found her, I think, when she was unconscious, and I haven't seen her since we, um, helped her to find a job, sir."

Wyldon's face stayed the same, expression never changing, as did Burchard's, but Duke Baird's was showing a slight hope as he listened to her words. The knot in Kel's stomach tightened.

"I really don't know what it means, sir, I just thought that it might prove, ah, useful." Kel wanted to give a relieved sigh that it was all over, but her Yamani training took over and she stared up into Wyldon's scarred face.

"Do you know her name?" he questioned.

"I believe it was Taina, sir." Before he asked her the next one, she supplied, "I didn't get a last name, and she wasn't a noble. She wasn't from a country I had heard of, sir, its something like, um, Amarecca."

"Where was she the last time you saw her?" Burchard demanded, earning a reprimanding glare from Wyldon.

"She went to the city, the day they, uh, were gone. To find a job. So I guess that morning was the last time." Kel swallowed, remembering that same time was the last she had seen of Neal, or anyone had seen of Joren, the last normal morning she had had. "As I said before, sir, I'm not sure it this means anything, but-''

Burchard interjected once more. "Who knew about her?"

"Just me and Neal, I think, sir." She shifted uncomfortably as Burchard hissed in exasperation.

"You think? You don't know?"

Wyldon turned around to face Burchard as he snapped, "Excuse me, my lord, but I believe that I am supposed to be the one conducting this investigation. If you are unable to let me do my job without interruption, I will have no choice but to escort you out of-''

Just then, a girl a bit older than Kel crept into the room and whined, "I don't mean to bother you, but Duke Baird, we need you in the infirmary." Her scared eyes kept darting to peek at the other men in the room.

"Oh, oh, yes, of course you do, of course." The duke blinked tiredly and rose from his seat. As he left, he caught Wyldon's eye and nodded slightly.

The training master tore his gaze away from Burchard and returned his stare to Kel. "No one else knew of this girl? Are you sure? Baird said that was a lie."

"I'm sorry!" Her Yamani training prevented her from squealing, but only just. "Lalassa knows. My maid. I forgot about her." Kel noticed that as she added this, Burchard's face was growing steadily darker. "That's all I know, my lord. I'm not even-''

"That's fine." Wyldon looked weary. "You may leave."

Glad to be allowed an escape from Burchard's furious presence, she practically ran from the room.

Once she was out of earshot, Joren's father exploded. "She knew more than she was letting on. Why did you let her go?"

"I know the girl, my lord." Wyldon didn't even look up from the papers he was holding. "She won't lie. And she misses Queenscove more than she dislikes your son. She'll help us as much as she can."

"So you won't consider pushing her harder?"

"She's told us everything. I will not harm her in hopes of finding information she does not possess."

Speaking in a voice only he could hear, Burchard said, "She knows where he is. Soon, so will I."