A/N: Hey, guys... I'm not dead! That's great, right? *awkward laugh* ...I'M SO SORRY I DID IT AGAIN OMG I'M SOOOOOOOO SOOOOOORRRRRRRYYYYYYYYY! I feel so bad it took me this long to update... RL's been kind of insane for a while. But I knew you guys were being awesome and really, really patient and you really, REALLY deserved another chapter so I sat down for three hours and wrote this chapter AND an interlude for you. You guys are the best and every follow and story alert I get makes me Very Very Happy and gives me Motivation! Please review and give feedback and ideas or requests- I'll see if I can't manage to work them in. Without further ado, the long-awaited chapter 5!

Sinbad and the rest of his generals disappeared shortly after breakfast, presumably to go after the terrorists. Part of Ja'far wished he was going with them- if only to see the looks on their faces, and snicker quietly from the shadows. But, the advisor reminded himself, he had more important things to do at the palace. He'd mostly caught up on his paperwork, having worked on it the night before after he'd returned from his… errand. There was always more to be done, of course, but it could wait a bit. Just now… he had a spy to take care of.

Ja'far rose from his desk, exiting his office and heading down the hall towards the servant's quarters. The palace had no shortage of personnel; there were at least four, probably five, for every one noble. If he'd had to discover the mole himself, with next to no information to go on… it was likely he wouldn't have been able to before another attack occurred. Fortunately for him, the slaver had been more than willing to throw his plant to the wolves.

Almost eager, in fact, the assassin smirked to himself, though anyone in that amount of pain- well, I can't exactly blame him. And now I know exactly who I'm looking for. He reached his destination, and strode a bit farther down the corridor, making one more left before finding the correct room. Entering, he settled in a corner, eyes on the door, to wait.

It didn't take very long.

The spy hurried into the small chamber, looking around the room in an attempt to locate something- probably something forgotten in the rush to get ready earlier that morning. Their gaze fell on him, and they froze in surprise. "Hello, Najwa," Ja'far greeted calmly.

The girl was a mousy little thing of sixteen, all wide, brown eyes and thin, pale limbs. She was shy, too, almost to the point of social ineptitude; she often stuttered. She frequently became incapable of speech almost entirely when confronted with an authority figure, letting her long chestnut hair fall in front of her face as if to shield herself. But despite everything, she had always been unfailingly polite and painfully earnest, doing her her best at whatever chore she'd been assigned. Ja'far knew his peers saw her as something of a pet- something to be protected and spoiled and taken care of. Najwa had always given him the impression of someone who collected her friends and held them close to her heart, quietly brave and willing to protect those she considered dear.

He wouldn't have pegged her as a spy, and he wasn't often wrong in that regard.

"Do you know why I'm here, Najwa?" the advisor asked quietly. The girl swallowed hard and shook her head slightly, still staring in shock and growing fear. Ja'far sighed, and pushed off the wall he'd been leaning against, crossing the room to stand directly in front of her. "I'm here," he began, "because I… spoke… with a certain man about the recent attack on the king."

Najwa flinched, face going pale and her whole body drawing in on itself as if she were trying to disappear into nothing. Her hands were shaking. "This man was, in fact, the mastermind of the attack," he continued, and the corners of his mouth twitched upwards. "Well… emphasis on was, now, I suppose."

The girl's head snapped up from where it had been sinking to look at the ground, and she almost jerked forward. "Was? Y-you m-mean… h-he's dead? Really, truly dead?" Najwa gasped out. Ja'far didn't know what surprised him more- the fact that she'd actually managed to speak to him with minimal stuttering, or the growing hope mingled with despair he could see in her eyes. He quickly collected himself, and after a moment to carefully consider his options, he answered.

"He is. I made quite sure of that. However, there were certain pieces of information he possessed that he shouldn't have, and I also made quite sure that he told me the name of the person who'd given it him," the assassin replied coolly, and paused. "Najwa, the name he gave me was yours."

Tears filled the young girl's eyes, and her shoulders shook; but she straightened as much as she could, and spoke anyway. "T-t-that… is c-correct," she choked out. "I… I t-told him about t-the p-patrols around the p-perimeter… a-and where t-the king w-was likely to be at that t-time… I d-didn't want t-to, you all h-have b-been so k-kind to me, but I…" For a moment, Najwa put her face in her hands and sobbed. Then she visibly pulled herself together, tears still running down her face and present in her voice, but determined to finish… and miserably resigned.

"I have n-no excuse for m-my actions. What I d-did was wrong, and," she swallowed, "t-treasonous… but if I c-could go back and change w-what I did… I wouldn't. I c-couldn't. N-not because of me. It's t-true that… t-that man threatened t-to kill me, but i-if it was just my life…" She swallowed again, and for the first time looked directly into his eyes.

"If it was just m-my life on the l-line, I would rather h-have died than betray Sindria- b-betray the king. But- the slaver h-had my little sister. H-he said if I d-didn't tell him, he'd s-sell her." She looked at him pleadingly. "P-please. Y-you can throw m-me in the d-dungeons, o-or execute me… I deserve i-it, I know I d-do. But please. P-please, save my s-sister! She's d-done nothing wrong! Y-you can even lock m-me up until y-you know for s-sure that I'm telling the truth! But I don't know where she i-is, and now h-he's dead, and she could g-get sold-"

"Calm down," Ja'far interrupted, alarmed. "Najwa, I know you. I'm a very good judge of character- I have to be, in my line of work. You've worked here for quite some time, and I've heard you talk about your sister before- I believe you were telling Pisti about her at the time. I understand your need to protect her. However," he looked at her sternly, "if something like this were to ever happen again, you come to me and tell me about it. Taking care of this on your own is a noble idea, but in practice it would have worsened the situation until many more people were hurt, including the king and the Generals." Najwa looked close to sobbing again, and he sighed.

"I'm not going to lock you up. I am going to have you followed for a while, just as a precaution, but that's for your sake as well as the king's. And," he held a hand up when she looked as though she wanted to interrupt, "I will look for your sister, and return her safely to you, should it be within my ability."

"Thank you," she breathed, eyes closing in relief, the tears finally beginning to lessen.

"I can't guarantee anything," he cautioned. "I can only promise to try." The girl shook her head, gratefulness still apparent. "No," she insisted. "You're ch-choosing to do this p-personally, e-even though you d-don't have to. A-and I have to believe she'll be okay. S-she's all I have left in t-the world… I c-can't lose her too." Utterly trusting brown eyes locked onto his. "I kn-know that if she c-can be saved, y-you can do it. I kn-know it."

What the hell did I do for her to trust me this much?! Ja'far wondered. I was vaguely threatening almost the entire time, and I told her there were no guarantees, and I as much flat out admitted to killing a man! Well, he considered, she did know he was a bastard, and he did take her sister… but still! That's not a very normal reaction! A thought occurred to him, then. Wait. She was that man's informant for at least a week. During that time, she was around me often, and I didn't even suspect what she was doing. Nodding to Najwa and turning to leave, he considered that, and an idea began to take shape in his mind.

She'd need training. She told me everything with barely a prompt- I'd have to break her of that. And she's much older than I'd prefer for something like this… but the talent is there. And the position as a maid is perfect- servants hear everything, it'd be idea; for infiltration. She's no stranger to hard work, either, and she has something, someone, she's willing to die- or kill, I'd bet- to protect. The assassin smiled. Of course, first I'd have to convince Sin that we really could use a spy ring, and that it absolutely wouldn't be used for corrupt purposes, but that should be fairly easy, and after that… Najwa would make a rather brilliant first recruit, I believe.

His smile turned into a smirk as he neared his office. Speaking of Sin… I wonder how he and the others are getting along?

Interlude: Sinbad

Sinbad followed Yamuraiha along with his Generals- save Ja'far, who was working again- through the twisting streets of Sindria's capital. They were almost to their destination; he could see the roofs of the warehouses from where they were trekking up the road. Sure enough, a few minutes later they were standing in front of the indicated building, its doors directly in front of them. But faced with the entrance now- the king felt all of his previous excitement and eagerness drained away, only to be replaced with a faint feeling of foreboding.

"They're not a problem anymore, Sin."

Sinbad shivered slightly at that recent memory, and wondered why he'd thought of it just then. It wasn't like Ja'far to dismiss a threat so casually, of course. Not one that had actually succeeded in attacking if not harming his king. Actually, thinking about it, his advisor never dismissed any kind of threat casually, not unless he'd already taken care of it himself-

Sin's thoughts screeched to a halt as the possibility his mind had been desperately trying to ignore finally presented itself, and he felt himself pale as he reviewed the evidence that it might have possibly actually been what happened.

Fact. Ja'far had been extremely angry (and probably worried) about the attack yesterday.

Fact. Ja'far had very shortly disappeared afterward. Out of the same window and in the same general direction as the terrorists, now that he thought about it more clearly.

Fact. Ja'far had then been gone the rest of the day and probably a good portion of the night as well.

Fact. This morning Ja'far had been incredibly calm and even nonchalant about the whole thing, despite his reaction the day before, and had declined to accompany them in their pursuit of Sin's attackers.

Fact. ...This warehouse was very, very quiet and giving him a very, very bad feeling. Sin did not want to go in there at all.

He was somewhat gratified to see Hina and Drakon giving the building similar wary, slightly horrified looks. They didn't want to go in either. For the moment he had before the truth was revealed, he wondered why the rest didn't react like Hina, Drakon, and himself. He remembered just as Yamu threw open the doors that none of the others had known Ja'far as a tiny terrifying assassin oh no-

There was an absolutely horrified silence. Sinbad wished he was surprised, but no, there was only horror at the scene before them, slight nausea, and the sinking realization that his awful suspicion had been right.

Bodies were strewn almost carelessly across the floor, like they were only dolls a child had suddenly grown bored of playing with. (Sin very firmly pushed that metaphor out of his mind after it gave him several utterly terrifying mental images involving Ja'far and Ja'far's knives.) Blood was everywhere, soaked into the floor and painting the walls. Weapons were scattered all over, only a few in their owners' cold hands.

Letting his eyes linger on the bodies a bit longer and pushing down his urge to throw up, the king saw what he'd been afraid of- knife wounds, slashed throats, and more than one seemed to be sporting lightning burns.

"What- how- who the hell did this?!" Sharrkan burst out, looking pale and slightly green.

Actually, looking around, most of them looked that way. The few who didn't looked like they were in shock. Sinbad met Hina and Drakon's eyes. They came to a silent agreement. "Who knows?" he shrugged, and glanced again at the carnage. "But whoever it was helped us out and they don't seem to be hanging around. I, for one, don't think I'd want to meet them if they were. Let's head back."

Somehow, Sin decided as they slowly began the return to the palace, somehow he just knew Ja'far was laughing at them.