As Olly and Ed politely ate dinner with Lord Margaster and Lady Juliette, Olly remembered why she had been so reluctant with spending time in the company of nobility. In the span of a few hours, Lord Margaster felt the need to tell the complete history of the Margaster house and lineage to the pair. Ed feigned interest at times, but even his polite nature began to waiver and he silently prayed to Pelor to deliver him from the droning of the Lord and his proud heritage. Olly tuned out the Lord's voice and focused on his young daughter, the two of them having business later that night that they had to scheme to get to.

"Father I've decided that Allana should spend the night in my rooms tonight and tomorrow" Juliette said as her father swigged down another cup of mead.

"Ah! I knew your charm would win over even the toughest of Rangers! Fast friends you made with my girl hmmm Lady Duer?" Lord Margaster boasted.

"Very much so your Lordship" Olly said smiling "Juliette is a lovely young lady, I enjoy talking with her."

Ed seemed surprised at Olly's words, but decided to play along. The Ranger could have a plan cooking up that he wasn't aware of, but needed to play dumb to make it work. He sat there and nodded, enjoying the roasted meat the Lord had provided that night. He wasn't that used to having such a savory meal, and Ed would even admit to himself he was a bit of a glutton when it came to cooked meals.

"I think it most appropriate then" Lord Margaster said happily "You two ladies have some womanly time, and the men will have our time right Cleric? Or are you one of those purists that sometimes hang about trying to convert the nobility?"

"Oh quite the opposite" Ed laughed, going along with the eagerness Olly had "I've had my share of adventures over a glass of ale."

"Then I shall love to hear of them!" Margaster replied with a hearty laugh as Olly and Juliette nodded to one another.

"That what I thought clever girl" Ed shook his head "Good thing I know how to play along or else" he whispered in Olly's ear giving her a wink as he pulled away. Lord Margaster thankfully hadn't noticed the exchange, but Juliette watched them with curious eyes.

Olly felt herself smile and slightly blush, the knowing smile from Juliette a little too much as she felt the tips of her ears catch fire. Why did he have to whisper in her ear like that!? Why did he have to make her smile and blush like a young girl?! She was supposed to be this force of danger people would hear about, but she couldn't accomplish that with Ed making her swoon like that!

Olly felt herself get ruffled up and excused herself from the table as Juliette did the same, eager to talk now that it looked normal for Olly to be spending so much time in the lady's room.

Ed felt like he was taking one for the team though as the Lord Margaster demanded some stories over glasses of whiskey, boasting about it's fine qualities while he still wondered what the girls were up to above them. He would get all the details from his partner, that was for sure as he clinked glasses with the already tipsy Lord of the house. He began by starting with the goblin tribes of the mountains as Lady Juliette's skirts went around the corner.

Up above, in the hazy rose glow of candle light in Juliette's room, the two girls decided to get comfortable and continue as if they really were getting ready to spend the night and have talks as girls do. Juliette seemed more than pleased as she doted over Olly, lamenting how she never had any siblings to take care of.

Olly could remember doing this when she was younger with her own sisters. Arrowmoor Keep was giant to them when they first arrived, and Olly didn't like sleeping by herself in such a large room. Her sisters thankfully felt the same, and many nights Olly and Mari would find themselves in Brienne's room. Brienne would do Mari's hair in bows while Olly would sit in the window sill, looking out at the city along the treetops.

She had felt so small back then in her first room in Silverymoon, now she seemed to feel even smaller being in Juliette's grand room she had probably had since she was small.

"I think it's safe" Juliette said hearing her father's booming voice distracted downstairs "He will probably talk your poor Cleric's ear off and then pass out from too much whiskey. He is boisterous, but I do love my father despite all he's done."

"I'm sure he loves you very much" Olly said sitting down on a vanity chair.

"Just not enough to let me marry who I truly want" Juliette sighed going over and sitting on the edge of the bed "It's not like how my father puts it. Dax never wanted to steal me away, I wanted to run away. My father wants to see me married to someone so that way he can secure his way into the Advisory Board. Dax though, he was in the way of that. We met when he came to work for my father and well...he's just so funny and it was hard not to fall in love with him" she said getting a lost look in her eyes as a faint smile whispered across her face before turning back into a frown.

"And if anyone finds out that you were in love with a low born Gnome, Lord Margaster would be snubbed?" Olly concluded.

"Exactly. So he sent Dax away" Juliette nodded "And it was horrible, he tried to send me letters and my father burnt them. I only managed to get one and it's just got me so worried." The girl turned, taking a small note from the folds of her bedding.

"Look" she said handing Olly the note "I know his writing is hard to understand, but he's trying so hard to write properly like a gentleman!"

Olly took the note and unfolded it, the writing in some form of charcoal but she could make out the words once she blew some dust away.

"My Dearest Most Beautiful Juliette,

My darling, my heart aches for you. Our separation has left me three feet shorter in spirit, but thankfully, not in height. I have desperately sought help and my dear, The Eye has delivered blessings in the form of five loyal shadows. Though I owe him a massive debt, I know that my new Lord will give me the means to have you once again in my arms. Fear not dear sweet Juliette, you will not be betrothed the night of the New Moon, be certain of it.

Always,

DAX"

Olly re-read the note, trying not to cringe at the frivolous declarations. It was obvious the gnome was in debt with the Eye trying to find the means to get to his beloved, and Nole had infiltrated the Guild enough to get caught up in the Alchemist's schemes. But to what end? Where was the gnome? And what had the Beholder done to all of them?

"When's the night of the New Moon?" Olly asked looking up from the letter as the pieces started to fall into place.

"Tomorrow night" Juliette said shaking "The night of the ball."

"What do you think is going to happen?" Olly asked plainly before she started planning.

"I don't know" Juliette said sadly "Dax can be boisterous, but he always keeps his promises. I know something will happen tomorrow night, I just don't know what."

"Juliette did you ever see the five shadows he wrote about?" Olly asked needing to know.

"Once" she nearly whispered coming in close to the Ranger "The last night before Dax went missing entirely. He showed up at my window here" she said bringing Olly over to show the house gardens below. Olly could make out the shapes of the hedges that had been neatly groomed into squares and rectangles, forming an elegant maze. The flowers even seemed bright with only the moonlight shining on them. To Olly, the visibility was almost like daylight with her glowing eyes reflecting off the glass.

"When he knocked on my window, he was being held up by one of them, and I could make out the other four down in the gardens" she pointed at the spots "But the one that was holding him was wearing a mask, and I had never seen anything like it before..."

"What did it look like?" Olly said feeling her heart speed up a bit.

"It's hard to describe but oh-wait! I drew a picture!" she said going to her bedside table and pulling out a notebook "After Dax told me that he was going to have to go away for a while I was so worried and I just drew the mask in case I had to go looking for him myself." Her delicate fingers plucked thin piece of paper and handed it over to Olly.

Olly unfolded the paper, her hands trying not to shake as she looked at the finely sketched drawing of her brother's mask. She remembered him getting that mask, how comical he thought it was that the eyes were sunken and hollow, while the face twisted down in a scream. When he got it, their mother begged him to choose something a bit more dashing or happier, but Nole found humor in the darkness, probably because he shined so brightly through it.

"Juliette, can I keep this for a little bit? I think I may need it when we look for Dax" Olly said looking back up at the young noble girl. She nodded, but Olly could see the worry plastered on her face.

"Was that one a criminal?" Juliette asked as Olly tucked the paper away with her belongings.

"No, that was my brother" Olly confessed, feeling bad that the girl had revealed so much to her and she hadn't repaid that trust.

"Oh!" Juliette gasped "Is that why you want to find Dax?"

"Yes" Olly nodded "But helping you is also a priority. Whatever trouble Dax has gotten into, it involves my brother as well. I want to help both of you, while also helping him. That's why the Cleric and I are working together."

"Thank you" Juliette nodded "And I'm sorry about Dax getting your brother into trouble. He always has to prove himself, even if it means messing up things for other people. It's his biggest flaw, but yet...I still love him."

"Love is blind in more than one way" Olly said a little sadly "Hopefully after this you and him can work things out together. My mother and father have learned that if they don't talk to one another, then they have no clue how to help each other."

"I've heard stories about them" Juliette nodded "But you and the Cleric seem to get along just fine!"

"We do get along" Olly said smiling a little and shrugging "He is a good friend, he's helped me with a lot lately."

"Oh you are just friends?" Juliette said yawning a bit but still curious "That's not what it looked like to me."

"What do you mean?" Olly said feeling her face grow hot as Juliette actually did start getting ready for bed.

"The way you look at each other Juliette said getting under the covers "Or more when you two aren't looking at each other. That's how people look when they are in love."

"Well" Olly said stuttering a little as she tried to figure out a response "Tha-that's not how it is."

"If you insist"Juliette said with a sly smile "You sure know a lot about love without being in it. Are you going to stay in here tonight?"

Olly shook herself back to the plans ahead "Yes I'll be back and I'll just rest in the lounge chair, I actually don't plan on sleeping tonight, I think it will be better to just keep watch. But you go ahead and sleep, I have to go talk to the Cleric for a moment and then I'll return."

Juliette waved her off as Olly snuck out the door of the lady's room, her nightdress elegant and thin against the cooler night air. She saw servants passing by and asked where Lord Margaster was with her friend and they pointed in the directions of the doors that led out to the gardens. As she walked past she saw several servants hauling the Lord down the hallway into some rooms, his drunken grumbles being met with placating words from the servants.

Olly still continued through the doors that led to the gardens, finding Ed sitting on the stone steps that went down to the hedges and flowers she had seen in Juliette's room. He had a chalice of wine he sipped as he spotted her coming down towards him, his smile wide as he shook his head.

Olly felt herself smile involuntarily, and was amused that she could see a slight redness to the Cleric's cheek.

"Well I see it wasn't just the Lord Margaster who had a good time" Olly teased coming down towards him as she lifted the nightdress a bit to get a good footing.

Ed watched her come down, finding words difficult as he took in the Aasimar in the full glow of the moonlight. She reminded him of a Shade that haunted a living garden, her hair nearly white against the darkness.

"I had to keep the Lord away somehow" Ed grinned "That man is wound up tight over the business with his daughter. I think he nearly mentioned a dozen times that she would be married off, Nine Hells be damned."

"Yes, and it seems his daughter is madly in love with our friend Dax the Alchemist" Olly said standing in front of Ed, her arms crossed in thought "Juliette saw Nole, he helped the Gnome come here and visit her at night. He went into debt with Xanathar trying to find a way to steal her away, but something must have gone wrong. He promised though that Juliette won't be betrothed tomorrow night, and she hold him to it."

"Well guess we are going to a ball" Ed said nodding taking in the information even if he was a little dazed from the ale.

"I have to go back to Juliette's room, but I plan on being on watch most of the night" Olly said as Ed stumbled a bit standing up straight "You should get some rest."

"And when do you plan on resting?" Ed said concerned.

"I can rest when the job is done" Olly said seriously.

Ed gave exasperated huff then shaking his head "And who is that going to help hmm? Olly, you can't just neglect yourself, that's not going to keep you strong."

Olly turned to Ed then, her brow furrowed as she sensed a challenge coming up, much like how Peren would challenge her.

"Something could happen tonight" Olly said, her tone a bit more harsh than she intended "I won't risk losing the lead on Nole. I have gone weeks without sleeping in the darkest parts of the world, I think one night alone in a lord's house shouldn't be too much trouble."

Ed seemed a bit taken aback by her words, but instead of growing her fire, he decided to soothe it, his words low and gentle instead of rebuking "That makes sense, but you still need to sleep. So how about after you watch tonight I'll watch things around here in the morning and then we will meet in the afternoon. You can sleep during the day and be rested for the ball."

Olly felt the heartbeat in her chest start to slow as the sense of a fight died away at his calm words "Alright" she said a little more gentle "That I can do."

"I'm just here to help Olly" Ed said coming a bit closer now, the ale making him a bit more brave than usual "I keep telling you, you don't have to do everything on your own. You gotta trust me too right?"

Olly heard his words, and knew when she was being too bullheaded for her own good. Yes, she should trust his judgment if he was to trust hers, nobody was perfect and everyone could make mistakes.

"Right" she breathed out and then gave him a smile to show the anger had passed "I think that's a good plan then. We will just meet when the ball starts then?"

"As you wish" Ed bowed comically with a grin "Should I dress in a certain color?"

"Oh I wouldn't be too worried about it" Olly waved at the thought "It's not like I'm going to be the most beautiful bell of the ball, so don't worry about appearances. Just make sure your equipment is ready to be used in case things go south."

"Are you going to be hiding a sword under your skirts then?" Ed teased as Olly began making her way back up the steps towards to doors of the lords house.

"You never know" Olly winked at him with a laugh "But remember, my hands can do just as much damage as the edge of a blade, and never forget it."

Ed shook his head with a smile as he watched her go, his heart beating hard in his chest at the moment they had shared just now. It was easy to forget he wasn't supposed to feel things for Olly, but none the less he had to real himself in. She had gotten upset at his concern...strange that she should feel threatened when someone actually cared what happened to her. What kind of life had the Ranger truly lived until he had ran into her life?

Ed decided sleep was the best medicine for his rapid thoughts of the girl and took off for the room the servants had showed him, although it took him two tries to actually find it. As sleep took him, the Cleric dreamed of his angel walking through the gardens under the moonlight...

He could see her moving, the white skirt of her dress flowing in the wind as the gardens transformed into a lush forest. Moonlight still broke through the trees as the fireflies dance, making her visible just enough to follow her. How he wished he could stay here with her...

Darkness took his dreams then, and the Cleric slept soundly as the Ranger watched the moon and stars pass in the sky from the window. Tomorrow night was the New Moon, and she could feel the darkness of the night start to cover them all...