Naturally enigmatic, the witch doctor was nowhere to be seen - even the girl's keen eye that always struck every member of a crowd couldn't notice the man. He must have departed, or he is hiding; nevertheless, the shady merchant would never be found again; he was gone. With no sign of answers, details, or even a guise that motivates her now capable self, an inclination of becoming an expert thief emerged. Surely with her newfound ability of speed, survival and persistence, prosperity was guaranteed! The important aspect is not what to steal, but who to steal from, as anyone may come prepared for anything threatening her life, so her thievery would need to be petty, and almost too easy. As she strolled through upper district scat-free trying to eye a target, the thought of the Midnight Crystal never escaped her mind, distracting her tremendously. Burning it into her head, the girl knew such a heist was impossible, especially with the engineer's defenses, and even more impossible to bribe it from his stubborn soul. The longcoat, with every mention of the crystal in her head, siphoned particles and emit a low bass-like sound of indication, intriguing the girl. She continued eyeing marketers and gatherings. Peeking over a shipment crate of assorted goods at the market, she backtraced for one second, tucking behind the crate and leaning against it. She tilted her head. It was clear that the longcoat was created for the crystal as well. Persistent calamity had its ties with her, and she clearly had had enough of it. She dashed away from the market, heading towards the engineer's cottage.

The workshop, from her memory, distinguished very little from the common Magistrate household. For the Resistance however, this was unorthodox, as most of the Resistance, from what she has heard, heavily frowned upon conventionalism, be it for stealth purposes or not. The engineer must have needed to be sneaky in order to hide crystal magic, which was outlawed a decade ago. The practice, once focused by the Magistrate, was outlawed due to rebellion from deviants, who sought infinite power from the crystals, which clearly showed their potential. Progress from the deviants halted when the Magistrate's powerful military force dominated them before making a breakthrough that would have made them unstoppable. Soon after, the Resistance formed, rekindling the progress of crystal magic, but, through public eye, benefits in medicine and enhanced agriculture, and clearly including a particular ex-Magistrate engineer. The Resistance have shown signs of dignified dissent, but given the recent, publicly announced increased budget for hunting down crystal users, tensions were rising yet again.

The girl wondered how she'd be able to hide from folks who wanted the crystal more than her. Not only would she need to defend herself, but also she would have to live a life either with the Resistance or as an outlaw or bounty hunter using her potential ability to aid in combat raids and heists. Choose a life of crime, or a life of political rebellion. But before she could knock on that door and make her choice, she noticed a piece of paper hanging on the door knob. "FOR SALE?!" She shouted aloud. Where was the engineer? The Midnight Crystal? Picking up the paper she noticed the elegant "M" emblem on the bottom of the paper.

"There's no way aye can get it back." Approaching her, the engineer stoically rose from the bench he sat in not far behind her, with a massive boulder next to it from which he seemed to face.

"Wha-," She stuttered. "What happened?"

"What's it look like?!" He barked. " My house and even I almost got taken away. Crystal signatures, they said! I knew they'd find it after your stupid little quest on me home failed miserably, making me use my crystal soaker, no wonder they tracked it!"

The engineer's violent voice beckoned his body to erupt on something, anything. This nasty thief had the guts to return here, even after he gave her 10,000 credits out of guilt.

"They took everything," He added. "At least everything you are looking for. An' we're gonna take it all back. Tomorrow."

The strangest object moved in the corner of her eye. With her initial focus on the engineer, she noticed an almost crystalline rock structure emerge from the boulder next to the bench, crunching and crumbling to take form. Bobbing her head past his shoulder to further examine the anomaly, her face turned from curiosity to mild concern.

"Barik, we have plans to discuss," The rock structure emitted a voice. "Come now." A mature, feminine voice that echoed in their direction added to the girl's mystique as the rock formation began to take the shape of the stone warden herself, Inara. Heard only from the eavesdropping of nearby children listening to stories in the cozy winter nights by their mothers, "Inara" was the word of comfort and vigilance she heard when she tried to stay warm outside. Hiding in plain sight, the girl's eye gazed at the empty street Barik's house was on, aware that no one but her and Barik heard her voice, a pleasure very few will ever bear witness to.

"Find someone else to rob ya' little rascal." He turned his back and started towards Inara, with heroic and daring machinations written on his face, overzealous with revenge.

Keeping this in mind, the girl planned on leaving it all be. Despite her ravenous desire for the crystal, there was no possible way she would be able to retrieve it; it was simply suicide.

Guards circled the Magistrate's Fortress Keep in a 5 mile radius, with hundreds of nobles circumventing its center in the richest and dignified part of town where occasionally Lian, Scion of House Aico herself, would wallowously dine atop the fortress, losing grasp on all of the less fortunate figures below. The more the girl dawned in it the more melancholy she became; how fortune of birth can spiral out of proportion. Even her new abilities paled in comparison to the Magistrate knights, with some of them able to throw people miles away with one swing of their thunderous arms.

That Barik fellow planned on taking his possessions back, regardless of the aftermath it may bring upon this district. Likely backed by a capable resistance, a battle was to unfold, not a massacre. With the Magistrate's overwhelming numbers and shotty tactics, could an unsuspecting Magistrate guard let slip a small agile little girl?

Chapter 7

Entering the lower district library, the girl eagerly strolled towards the librarian "guarding" the entry while keeping an eye on the small and quaint room the front door led to. Her interests were to know the ins and outs of the Magistrate's Fortress Keep, the center of all Magistrate order processing and military control in the entire district. The Keep's establishment, in many ways, solidified the settlements and everything she knew for her entire life. The contracting information was public, and apparently laid out behind the librarian's counter; she needed to ask him. She had been to the library before, curious to know how to live on the streets, or live in general, learning to read from eavesdropping the many phonic teachers and tutors speaking to kids much younger than her. She often hid behind a piece of polycarbonate glass, which, while distorting the audio, made the teachings at least audible, allowing her to eventually speak and read the language. In a struggle to pronounce them due to the distorted speech, she acquired a pseudo-french accent, a sign of her attempt at English, as the glass tended to elongate vowels and deepen their annunciation. The library was open to all public, and fortunately, there never seemed to be any signs of crime or injustice, even without the judges' strict presence. It always puzzled the girl as to why; she never really understood it, especially at the bottom end of the hill, but she had an inkling - just an inkling - that the librarian had something to do with it.

She rang the bell on his countertop, with him nowhere to be seen. Signs behind his desk openly promoted Magistrate signups to join the Guard. She needed to be quick with her analysis on the Fortress Keep to locate an entry position that best suited the situation that was most likely to unfold.

Fumbling countless books in his hands, the middle-aged elven man gathered himself by fluffing his robe as he noticed the bell ring in the distance; possibly an eager scholar such as himself asking for a semi-restricted scroll or article, perhaps owned by the Magistrate Loyal Treasury or the Bureau for the Outer Tribunal for a history or political assignment. While his pointed ears offered a focused sense of hearing, his vision was augmented with a spectacular pair of spectacles he prescribed himself as a fun little experiment. Peeking eagerly behind the bookshelf behind the front counter though his crystal clean lenses he spotted the girl from last week, only she looked astonishingly different. Her hair sported the color pink and she wore a fabulous long coat with gleaming fabric wrapping around the girl's waist - certainly conspicuous, and an apparition noticeable and unorthodox enough to spot in a cluster of folks. That girl always irked him upon every rare entry or occurrence; her hand was empty ever since she was only a few feet tall.

She was growing impatient when she noticed the head of the curious scholar. She begrudgingly cleared her throat as the clumsy giant scooted towards the front desk.

"My, my, what a lovely coat! Did you accept the Magistrate's offerings? They certainly treated you nicely!" The elf assumed. "I'm sure that I'll see you all over the place now that you are becoming a Magistrate Knight, and most definitely a unique one at that!"

She tried to ignore the patriotism of the librarian as she pointed at the Fortress Keep Atlas, visible behind him.

"Oh," He bounced to attention. "Going there, I presume?" Glancing behind him he bent over to pick the Atlas up, blowing dust off and compiling articles of schematics to put inside the Atlas. "Certainly a lovely place to work, young lady. Congratulations! It truly is great to see how lucky you've become!" The white-bearded elf handed the book out as the girl snagged it with a warm smile of approval and a head tilt.

As the girl started off toward the nearest desk, the scale of the library, and what the librarian truly guarded, was finally revealed. Upon entering the building appeared fairly quaint and tiny, but once three strides are taken inward the massive underground knowledge hub glistened with vibrant natural architecture. Coated with granite and stone, the library took the shape of a massive cavernous basement, but there was no sign of dirt anywhere. As the bookshelves lay across in isles at the bottom of the cavern, so did the several aspiring scholars, rummaging about the chasm, talking quietly and reading countless novels and texts. While the girl walked along the catwalk above the chasm she revered the reflective sparkles of clean granite and rock that struck her eyes.

Walking down the stairs from the catwalk towards a nearby empty desk, she studied the cover of the Atlas. She calmly sat while analyzing the deceptively simple exterior. A mountain-sized rook from chess, the Magistrate's Fortress Keep, from what she was learning, secured the Magistrate's treasures and housed their endless weaponry and disciplined military by utilizing linear and tactically deceptive outreach. The Keep's guards, based on what she's seen around the district, extend in a linear fashion, protruding 12 lines off the center like an ant farm. Architecturally, based on the Atlas and her visual perception, it was a massive rectangular prism coupled with spires where scouts can see for miles from their vicinity. These 12 impenetrable lines of guards seemed hopeless to sneak by, but since it has been many years since a terrorist group attempted to joust it, the guards are left unchallenged; their speed likely not matching hers. The Resistance, if they were to attack tomorrow, would certainly target one line because if they were to enter, attention to one line would rise, hopefully leading to an opening for her to slip inside and nab the crystal. She pictured the glowing, shiny aura of pink hues emanating from the crystal and in tandem the coat emitted a familiar glow. Calm and satisfied, the girl picked up the book and strolled to the front desk. She set the book on the front desk, and with a small grin, she exited the library.