A. N. : Those of you with accounts know that I like to answer every review and, uh... long story short, my time management skills are deplorable and I won't have any brain power to spare until the end of the month, so don't expect anything elaborate for now. Ironically, this fits today's chapter very well. See y'all in October I guess.

The Princess left again.

Took a war balloon – if Han hadn't seen one before, last week, he probably would've started shaking at the mere thought of it being a thing that exists – and eight Agents, and left without even bothering to warn her friends.

Lady Ty Lee and Lady Mai came by this afternoon. Han thought they'd leave after seeing it was only him and one guy from Intelligence left – Zhou ? Han doesn't really know the dude, maybe that's actually not his name at all, but who cares –

Instead, Lady Mai took advantage of the Princess' absence to visit some other nobility, and Lady Ty Lee sat down for tea with Han while he wrote reports. And because he was focusing on his own training at the time – not the mind-bending, no, that would've been way overkill – he noticed… well… Lady Ty Lee was interrogating him. The subtle way, the way that doesn't say its name, the way the Head expects Han to work on while he isn't there.

Innocent questions, weird eccentric remarks only Lady Ty Lee could make, the conversation kept flowing so naturally – no, Lady Ty Lee kept it flowing, same as Han tried to do, but her usual flightiness made it impossible for him to stay in control, and he doesn't have the experience to adapt fast enough and make it work even then.

Some of the Head's tea would've helped keep her calmer, would've made her more susceptible to suggestion, and Han could've oriented the conversation in the direction he wanted – but it's the Head's tea, using it without permission would definitively be a terrible idea, and anyway he didn't think he'd have to fight so hard to get what he wanted, not when he'd already brewed something more classic for a girl he thought was just a cheery idiot.

He is the idiot. The Princess terrified him so much, he forgot to consider Lady Ty Lee might have learned a thing or two in the years she spent at the Princess' side.

And the worst part is, he doesn't know what it is she is after. The conversation went in so many different directions, there's no way all of them were relevant.

Think, what did she ask, what did she get him to divulge on his own because it just felt like the right thing to do, no just today but on all occasions – personal information, but that was probably just a way to make him feel at ease because people like talking about themselves that's so basic and yet he wasn't vigilant and fell for it –

What else was there. The Head's favourite nail polish color ? Han used that one as his goal in yesterday's exercise but there's no way – the Head. Why would she ask Han about the Head ? She talks with him all the time, all three girls do, enough that he found the time to plant triggers in the Princess and Lady Mai's minds without any of them noticing.

Unless… no. No, the Princess doesn't know about the Lake's true face, there's no reason for her to suspect anything weird, and anyway didn't whoever watches over those three say Lady Ty Lee comes to see the Dai Li because she feels like it ?

There's no way she noticed something the Princess didn't, right ?

… Han thinks he's going to be sick. It's just him here, him and some guy from Intelligence he only talked to maybe once before, in charge of watching out for anything that could threaten the Princess' position at court. Zhou – ? – spies and Han writes the reports and tries to make sense of all the information and neither of them have resources to spare for anything else. Hell, Han isn't even sure they have the resources to do what the Princess asked, and the only reason they're going to manage anyway is that they're going to die if they fail.

Then again, if Lady Ty Lee gets too close to certain truths, Han is going to die anyway. Isn't that fucking great ?

He can't even ask the Head for advice on how to deal with that situation because the situation exists, in the first place, partly because Han is alone with what's-his-name. If the Head was there, if anyone else was there, Han could focus some energy on finding out Lady Ty Lee's aims, could focus on one problem at a time, without having to worry about dying for two different reasons in less than a week.

But Han doesn't have this luxury. There is only him and – ah, he'll need to tell Zhou not to talk to Lady Ty Lee at all anymore. Not until Han has fixed the problem. If he can even fix it on his own.

Lady Ty Lee will come back tomorrow, to get whatever it is she wants, and Han will have to become amazing at his job overnight, while also doing his best to keep information to himself, while also somehow managing to not make all of that obvious.

Han is so incredibly dead.

He needs a drink. Something strong, and numbing, that he won't get in trouble for taking.

Not the Head's tea then, unfortunately.