Faris felt restless, even though he bid Bergan a good night he was actually full of energy. The excitement of the night had overwhelmed him, and after spotting Bergan leave, he decided to confront him over boasting over Faris' skills. Faris shook his head, he knew this was a world that had just recovered from a major war, but the people seemed so desensitized to such things. He had felt a bit of panic when he saw Bergan attack the investigators, but he realized when he saw the tattoo, that the Black Hand had been more dangerous than the dangerous he had pegged them for. The Black Hand mages were one thing, but the Investigators, with all their skill, could together give Anya trouble. And they called themselves weak in comparison to Bergan. Faris shivered at the thought, though surprised that the shivering wasn't through fear but excitement.

So that was why he was exercising. He hadn't been able to get to his calisthenics workout since the issue with Anya had come up, in fact, if not for that incident, he would have likely had a bit more magical stamina, which was tied in part to his physical stamina. But even then, physical stamina only amounted to so much, he had more physical ability than most human kids his age, but that didn't mean much.

"Fifty-four… fifty-five…" He continued, sweat hitting the floor.

He didn't want to finish until he hit one hundred. As he continued, he began to hear giggling above him, followed by hurried shushes. Instead of freezing, Faris concentrated on the basin to his side, and on the sound above him, and concentrated on two spells.

"Fifty-six, Fifty-seven…"

The basin of water began to morph in color as the images of Venka, Ismira, and Hope appeared before him, they were on their hands and knees, one hand covering their mouths, but their faces revealed grins, Faris could guess that they were watching him. His face heated up a bit more. He continued the push-ups, closing his eyes now as he used the second spell to eavesdrop on their conversation, the image in the basin filled his mind, the scene cleared a bit, revealing the designs of the bedroom, the pillows and blankets looked quite comfortable, with a bed large enough to hold a 5-man family. It seems Ismira, Hope, and Venka were sharing this bedroom. Faris's mind eye turned his attention to the three girls, who were talking now.

"I only see soldiers ever doing that, most boys are content to play in the mud or be absolutely unruly." Ismira began, a light smirk on her face. She turned to Venka, who had a impish grin on her face almost mirroring Ismira's. "I can see you're especially happy around him, is he your betrothed?"

Venka's stuttering was loud enough to be heard both with his spell and without it, almost causing Faris to lose concentration, muddying the image in his mind. Venka was profusely shaking her head, which was nearly as red as her hair. "No! Nononononononono!" She began, lightly smiling before clutching her face. "We're just friends."

"Oh…" Ismira added smiling. "That's good for me then." She smiled at Venka's distraught face. "I'm just kidding, but you shouldn't kid around either, before you know it someone could snatch him."

"I might myself if you're too slow." Hope stated, looking back down her peep hole. She looked back up to see Venka looking at her in disbelief. "What?"

"But he's younger than you!" Venka said in disbelief.

"Isn't he younger than you?" Hope asked, smiling, "I believe you boasted that you were no longer a mere child, and that he still was."

Faris despite himself began to laugh. He caught himself and pulled out a picture as the girls turned to the peep hole, alerted. They looked at him for maybe a minute as he smiled at the picture and fake chuckled at it before putting it under his pillow and returning to his calisthenics. The girls eventually looked away and began speaking again, in a lower voice.

"Hope?" Ismera began, "Didn't Duncan show interest in you?"

Hope scoffed, "He's too busy being a womanizer, I prefer a man who will only pay attention to me. As for you Ismera." She began, poking Ismera in the side, "How goes your father's hunt for a good suitor."

Ismira scowled, "Please, to even be allowed to talk to me, they have to impress my father, and get past my mother. Good riddance to most of them, cowards not even willing to fight a person alone."

"You did break Samon's arm." Hope began.

"And a good thing I did, Morn is a dear friend of my father's and he's always been kind to me! I won't excuse the bullying of the elderly, especially under the paltry excuse of drunkenness!"

The girls' talks devolved into gossip, which Faris paid attention to for a bit, before cutting the connection when he ran out of energy.

"Now I'm hungry…" He said to himself, walking out towards the kitchen, seeing if he could scrounge up some food. A few minutes in the kitchen gave him no luck, so Faris walked outside. "Hunting it is then." As Faris made his way out of the city he contemplated what he would find. While Faris tended to dislike this method of hunting, as opposed to Eragon who became a vegetarian for a while, Faris had eaten so much meat, and had seen so much… action go down that the method of hunting wasn't super uncomfortable, and he had gotten used to doing it now. As he went out into the forest he began to feel for any animals, he was looking for a solitary animal, preferably old or injured in some way, after a few minutes of searching he found an old bunny living alone in an abandoned fox den. After connecting his mind, he killed it rather instantly, absorbing the fleeting specks of its life to fuel his retrieval of the creature. He used a stone he sharpened with magic to cut it open, removing the entrails, intestines, and other inedible organs before skinning it and placing it on a spit.

It wasn't until he finished cooking it and began eating did he contemplate that any magician with an equivalent knowledge of the ancient language but greater strength could likely annihilate a continent if there was no one as skilled to oppose them, he shivered at the thought, After eating his fill he picked up one of the rabbit hairs, whispering a few words in the ancient language he watched as a bit of his energy drained as the hair was cut down the middle, splitting it into two thinner pieces. He nodded to himself and stepped up and out of the area. He left the scraps unburied, a wild animal could partake of the meal, and he had felt several watching him, waiting for him to finish in order to pick up the scraps. It had been a while since he had used his abilities covertly, perhaps the impenetrable city of Roran's would be a decent testing ground.

"No use being as naive as I was before. I have to protect her at least until we reach the capital." He began to sprint back towards the village. Feeling the minds of the guards he slipped past their watch, scaling the wall unnoticed. Stopping himself 5 ft from the top and jumping to the right another 5ft before scaling over the entire thing. He began to sprint, leaping off before landing on the roof of a home in a combination of magic and acrobatic skill to keep it from caving in or disturbing the denizens. As he sprinted across the roofs he landed in the courtyard, moving quickly to avoid the gaze of those who would be out at this time of night. The drunkards and the town singers. As he slipped past them, he realized the castle would likely be impenetrable to him. The walls were simply too smooth to scale up, the guards were too thorough in their sweeps, and he certainly wasn't going to return guns blazing. His little practice done he approached the guard most likely to recognize him and was escorted back into the castle, being scolded not to slip out again.

"So, this city's weakness is anyone able to detect the various traps on the first major wall, and anyone able to slip past or compromise enough guards." Faris smiled to himself, "Other than Elves, no one really extends their mind to others on a regular basis, so this city gets a pass."

"Don't be so smug." A voice called from the corner of his room. It was Bergan who walked up to him. "I noticed your little excursion. And your return trip back. You actually would have been caught if you hadn't crossed the wall during shifting of patrols, that created a tiny window someone with your particular skills could take advantage of, and I'm pretty sure no guard would give you a second glance."

Faris nodded. "Yeah you got me, can you leave my room, I actually want to sleep now."

Bergan nodded, smiling. "Rest up best you can, you've got a long day tomorrow." He said ominously.

Faris scoffed at him as he left the room. Bergan was an odd man to read, capable of severe brutality, but also so… jovial all the time. It was both impressive and unnerving, Faris put those thoughts behind him as he turned in for the night.

"Oh and, peeping is a bad habit." Bergan added with a laugh, leaving the room.

They did it first. He thought before locking his door and placing a magical alarm, luckily since the door knob was metallic, he could place energy in it, it wouldn't last more than a few hours but that was likely the time he had till sunrise.

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Afterword:

You know what's weirder than having people talk about you while spying on you, not feeling anything when you spy back. This chapter was kind of light, then dark, then somewhere in the middle. I apologize if I put anyone through a whirlwind of different feelings. Now don't hate Faris too much, he's had to grow up being aware of everything around him, being born weak would likely require knowing what may be around the corner. So, him spying on others is a likely thing to happen, as it is though, he's not going to use the info to blackmail or harass any of them, "such a practice serves no purpose, the best means to utilize enemy information is to not let them know you know." Ya know?

Lol, have a good night and a Happy Thanksgiving this week to those who celebrate it!

In a more serious question, did I make the girls sound weird? Writing women is difficult, I don't have a sister and the one girlfriend I ever had was pretty tomboyish, I based Ismira on her a bit. Now she didn't go breaking arms willy-nilly but I imagine she would if push came to shove.