* * * * *

It was dark outside --it was getting late. Rowan had no trouble rushing unnoticed, or at least unminded, across the yard to the barracks. Many of the slaves were retiring for the night and a couple candles lit up the wooden house. Before entering, she stopped and listened. Kai wasn't inside. She immediately caught wind of him, though, standing just under shelter of the trees, hidden under cover of darkness. He was motioning her over.

"Well look at you," he teased, barely able to see her in the dark. "You almost look like a true lady."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Almost?"

"Well, true ladies wouldn't be out running around slave quarters after dark, right?" She shook her head and shoved him playfully. Remembering the men waiting for her inside, she quickly returned to business. "You said somebody's here to see me?"

"Yeah. I took them back to the lake. They've been here since a little after you left," he nodded.

Rowan quickly took off walking through the forest, explaining to Kai, who was struggling to keep up and not trip on any of the forest floor that he couldn't see, "I don't have a very long time. Norna helped me get out for a bit, but Warian will probably begin to wonder."

"Norna?"

"A lady's maid."

Kai laughed, "You've even got a lady's maid. Well, your majesty, I'm honored to be in your presence. This evening's a real treat, huh?"

"Yeah, something like that. Where are they?" They'd reached the lake but all was silent and still. The moon shone down through the break in the trees and reflected off the still water, illuminating the area with a ghastly glow. It wasn't as creepy as it had been the previous night, though.

"I left them here," he assured her. "They're probably hiding. I warned them not to be seen." He neared the water and looked around, then called softly, "Legolas! Will! I brought her."

Almost instantly two figures appeared, one dropping out of a tree, the other coming from behind a thick trunk. Rowan had heard the one on the ground shifting, but she hadn't been sure exactly where he was, and she'd definitely not heard the one in the tree. They both approached, clothed in darkness, sending a chill down Rowan's spine. It was extremely haunted looking.

Shrugging off the eery feeling, she encouraged, "You two wanted to see me? I haven't got much time to spare, so you'll have to be quick."

The one on the right, the one from the tree, stepped closer and looked her up and down. His face was searching, as if trying to decide whether he knew her or not. After a moment he was convinced and nodded as if signing to himself it was her. Rowan didn't know where he knew her from, since she sure didn't recognize him and she rarely forgot a face.

"Your name is Rowan?" She nodded, eyeing him suspiciously. His eyes darted between Kai and herself as he explained, "My name is Legolas. I visited here a couple days ago--"

"With the Royal Bureau," she interrupted, remembering. Though she didn't recognize him, he looked similar to the people with the dishonest bureau of lying, sniveling--

"Yes." He stepped forward again and motioned over to his companion, "This is Will Turner. He's a visitor here." Legolas went on to say something about a wrecked ship and near-death people, but Rowan only half listened to him, instead turning her attention to Will. He looked familiar...but not. She couldn't remember his face exactly, but he definitely resembled someone...someone she'd seen...but where...

"Rowan." Her head jerked over to Kai who was watching her expectantly. "Did you hear what he was saying?"

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and apologized, "Sort of. Sorry. You look familiar, though..."

Legolas nodded, "He did to me, too, and it took me a while to figure out where I'd seen him before." She looked completely at Legolas, trying to ignore the curiosity bug nagging her brain; she hated not knowing the answer. "During my visit here, I was looking at books in Warian's library when I came across one that was written in the same strange language as those mystery papers in Kirsoden."

Rowan tried to keep familiarity off her face. She knew immediately he was talking about the journal she'd grabbed. She hadn't looked through it again, since other things had occupied her mind, but she remembered that it was written in an unknown language.

"I believe there's a picture of Will in it," Legolas explained simply.

Rowan gave him an unconcerned look, prompting, "And?"

"We'd like to see the journal," Will supplied, tired of being the silent one. He never was too keen on just standing by –at least not anymore.

Kai, too, was growing bored of merely watching the conversation, but he could sense off of Rowan that something was going on, whether he could figure it out or not. He didn't know what book they were talking about, nor was any of Will and Legolas' story new to him. They'd told it all to him earlier while trying to convince him to go get Rowan for them. He hadn't wanted to at first, afraid they were coming to lock her up or something; after all, she'd no doubt caused trouble at her old plantations. But they'd finally persuaded him, promising up and down that they had no bad intentions.

Legolas continued, "We need a way to get into Warian's library."

"You're with the Royal Bureau. Why don't you just ask him? He's sure to let you in; he's very big on impressing his peers," Rowan suggested cooly, trying to stay far enough reserved so as to quickly catch any ulterior motives.

"I doubt he'd let us see it," Legolas replied. "I talked to some of the Royal Bureau and they know nothing about the journal which means he's hiding it from them. It's highly unlikely he'll just hand it over."

"So you want what with me?"

"We need you to sneak us in. We don't know our way around, so we need an inside source. You know the place and you don't seem like you'd be too unwilling to ignore rules." Rowan tried not to laugh. Wow, he'd nailed her character!

She crossed her arms in front of her, still not extremely comfortable with the whole rich attire thing. She took a step back to put a little more distance between herself and these two strangers, then looked over at Kai. He was watching her curiously, obviously ready to spring to her defense if need be. What a kid.

Rowan shook her head and chided, "Tsk, tsk. You're with the Royal Bureau. You're a noble. Breaking rules should be left the slaves. All this sneaking around?" Will was growing impatient with the verbal dancing.

"Will you help us or not?" he asked, then bit his tongue. Not quite the correct tone to use when asking for help. "I'm not from here, nor is he. All I want to do is get home. Perhaps the book can help me. If worse comes to worse..."

"I'd get beaten and then left do die a slow death from starvation," Rowan interjected sarcastically.

Legolas shook his head, "That won't happen. We wouldn't let you die for helping us. We'd find a way to get you out." Those last words stuck in Rowan's mind. It wasn't necessarily herself she wanted out, though. It was Kai. If these two could take the kid with them, then he'd be out of all danger. Warian would lose his leverage and Rowan would be able to sleep at night without worrying the kid was going to turn out like herself.

"Okay."

"Okay you'll help us?" Will asked.

She nodded, "Yes, but we won't need to go all the way to the library." Leaving them --though still paying close attention for any threats- she moved to the hollow tree in which she'd hidden the book. It was hard to see, but she was able to pick out the one on top and carry it over.

Legolas, Will, and Kai had all moved closer to the water in order to get better light to see by. Looking to make sure it was the correct book, she then handed it to Legolas.

"This?" He opened it and answered to the positive. The other three watched expectantly as he flipped through to find the correct picture. Will was sort of bouncing from foot to foot impatiently, apparently excited at the idea of this book being attached to him.

Legolas finally found the page and, handing it to Will, announced, "This is it." Everyone crowded in to see whether or not the picture was of Will. Close...but no cigar. The finely drawn picture strongly resembled Will, but the man in it was older and his face was a little longer. It wasn't Will, but maybe a relative --an uncle or brother or...

"That's my father," Will whispered under his breath, staring intently at the picture. He reached a finger up to touch the face, a sweet smile stealing across his face. Looking up at Legolas, he repeated, eyes shining in the dim light, "That's my father. I haven't seen him since...not since I was a little boy."

"Was his name Bill?" Legolas inquired, pointing out the name printed underneath the picture. Will nodded, excitement growing as he flipped through the pages. He finally came to a stop at a picture towards the front of the book of a woman holding a baby. His smile grew wider still.

"That's Mother," he said to himself. Looking at the baby, he added, "And that's me..."

Legolas, motioning to the text, asked, "Can you read any of that?"

"Yes. It's more French, but it's too dark for me to read."

"What's French?" Kai finally spoke up, tired of being silent.

"A country where I come from." This didn't make any sense to Rowan but Kai apparently understood.

"I need more light," Will sighed, looking around as if he expected a candle to just appear.

Rowan sighed. She didn't want to make her own light, but it was obviously needed. Time was ticking by; she knew that she didn't have much longer. Reaching her hand up, she blocked out the moon, then balled her hand up into a fist. Standing in front of Will, she reopened her hand at the top of the book, casting much better light over the page.

Three jaws dropped and three sets of eyes widened.

Will mumbled something along the lines of, "This place just keeps getting stranger and stranger..." while Kai took a more blatant approach and cried, "What is that?"

"Shhh!" she hushed him. "Just read the page, Will." He gave her another dubious look, but did as he was told.

Squinting his eyes to read the scrawled handwriting, he read silently, stopping to translate every couple sentences: "We're getting closer to the city of...Jerilderi?"

"I know where that is," Rowan affirmed.

"The men are impatient to get back to the ship, but there are a couple things we've got to do still before we leave. There are still too many things we need to fix that my father and those before him destroyed around here. It's slow going, but we're getting closer to the capital city of..."

"Kirsoden?" Kai guessed.

Will shook his head, "No. It's...Aggwathiel or something like that."

"I've never heard of Aggwathiel," Kai commented, looking to Rowan.

She shook her head, "Me neither."

"Here's why: the city has been deserted and hidden for hundreds of years."

"Still, I've been around for a while and I never heard of it...unless..."

"The maps we're using seem outdated and incorrect, so we're making our own as we go along. The least we can do is supply the people with accurate maps," Will continued.

"Censoring," Rowan mumbled to herself. At Legolas' curious look and Will's pause, she explained, "The Royal Bureau lies. They don't like to share anything with any of the people, even other nobles, because education is a weapon. So they feed us exaggerated stories and incorrect maps."

"He says that here," Will added. "It seems everything here is built on lies and deceit. An entire civilization that knows nothing about their roots. I'm determined to change this." He flipped a couple more pages, passing over them with his eyes, looking for anything that could be important. Rowan was looking off to the side, trying to recall if she'd ever heard anything about an Aggwathiel.

Kai, looking at the pages as Will flipped, pointed to one in particular and asked, "What does that one say?"

"Um...Piero --a man in the crew, I guess-- thinks we're going the right way. We found a tree with a strange marking carved into the bark. He recognized the symbol from some woman he met a couple days ago who was able to tell us something new about our journey, a slave at that plantation we stayed at. We also found by chance a small rock with the symbol on it and are keeping it with us out of curiosity. I'll be damned if that slave woman has something to do with this whole thing and we just walked away from her."

Rowan's head had jerked up at the name, but she refrained from drawing any rash conclusions. Surely it couldn't be the same Piero...yet it wasn't exactly a common name, and she remembered distinctly the men who stayed at the Benella Plantation when she was a slave there. She'd seen little of them since they hadn't stayed long and had mainly confined themselves to the main house, but Piero had gone wandering around and talked to her.

Kai reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her out of her thoughts. His eyes were wide as he pointed to the page Will had just read from.

"Look, Rowan." Bill had sketched in the design they'd seen on the tree and the rock. The design identical to the one tattooed onto Rowan's shoulder.

Legolas watched the two curiously, then inquired, "What is it?"

"I was a slave at the Benella Plantation when a group of men visited and stayed the night. I talked to one of them, a man named Piero, who said they were looking for the legendary city of Nuvain. He asked if I knew how to get there and I said I'd only heard of it in stories. I related a story concerning a bird that talked on a rock that wept real tears," she answered, feeling herself getting excited. She turned around and pulled the shoulder of her dress down just enough to show them the black tattoo there.

"So then you're the woman they met..."

"Yes. But that doesn't explain why this thing was on a tree and a rock."

"You don't know?" Legolas asked.

Rowan made a face, "I don't even know where I got it."

"But you obviously have something to do with this," Will pointed out. "Their journey, I mean. Look, your symbol pops up several more times. He said they started marking the spots on the maps."

Legolas suggested, "Then we need to get the maps."

"What for?"

Will answered Kai, "So I can follow them. Maybe it will give me a way home."

"Or an answer to the great mystery of Alrianto," Legolas added.

Kai looked over at Rowan, deep in thought, and offered, "Or explain where you're from, Rowan." She looked over at him and screwed her face up in curiosity. She hadn't thought of it that way...but what if the kid was right? What if it really would explain all the questions she had about her past, about who she was.

She nodded slowly, then more assuredly and agreed, "Yes, we need to find the maps. But where are they? If they're not in there, they're most likely lost or destroyed." This seemed to stump both Legolas and Will, throwing a momentary damper on all the excitement. Kai's smile slowly grew, though, which Rowan noticed. The little sneak knew something!

At her inquiry, her answered, "Warian has some maps that he's especially fond of. They're kept in his room under lock and key. Perhaps..."

"I bet those are them!" Will cried. "We're this close."

Legolas stared off in thought and pointed out, "But how would we get them, Will? There's no way you and I could. Rowan would have to do it." He looked at her expectantly, but she was shaking her head in doubt. It wasn't the idea of getting the maps for them that bothered her, but the idea of leaving all her work behind. It wasn't like she caused trouble for no reason: she was liberating slaves here. Well, maybe not at this particular plantation yet, but she'd done so at others, and this would mean walking away from that.

"You have to do it," Kai shoved her, gaining her attention. "You don't have a choice."

"I don't have to do anything," she returned.

"Except this. This is a slave's dream, Rowan! Get the maps for them, go with them, and answer all these questions." He sounded so sure of himself but Rowan could see that he was sad at the idea of her leaving.

"I won't leave you here. If anybody leaves, it's going to be you."

"Don't worry about me," Kai argued. "I didn't get in trouble before you came and I'll be fine afterwards."

"You're not staying here. If I left, Warian would flip and take it out on you."

"But--"

Will stepped in here, offering, "Look, of you'll get the maps, we'll take you both." Both faces turned to him in surprise. "Well?"

"I'd have to leave my work here..." she thought out loud, not making sense to the others.

Kai answered for her, "We'll do it." Will closed the book and smiled triumphantly.

"Perfect."

Legolas was already working out details in his mind and asked Kai, "The maps are kept in his room?"

"That's right. In a locked metal box. The key is in his pocket or around his neck or something: I know he's got it with him all the time. I don't know where his room is, though. Do you, Rowan?"

"No," she sighed with frustration, chewing at her thumbnail. "But Norna can tell us." She was silent for a minute, thinking hard, in which the others waited impatiently for her thoughts. Finally she announced, "All right, I've got it figured out." Everyone huddled around to listen. "My temporary room in the house is upstairs next to a room where his crazy mistress is locked up."

"He's got a crazy mistress?" Kai snorted with laughter. Rowan nodded and couldn't help but smile as well.

"Yes. I'll take Will and Legolas up there and you two will hide in the hallway or something. I'll get the key from Warian then one of you let Tamar --that's the mistress-- out. She'll take off and Warian will chase after her. He's crazy about her, after all."

Kai again interrupted with, "He's really fond of her? I didn't know he was capable of emotion."

"Surprised me, too. Anyway, I'll then give one of you the key and tell you how to get to Warian's room. I'll find out from Norna beforehand. You'll have to move silently, though; the house is full of servants who'd love to rat us out."

"That'll have to be you, then, Legolas," Will suggested. "You're much quieter than me. I'll let Tamar out."

"Great. Meanwhile, I've got one last thing to see to, then we'll all meet back here and make a run for it. It'll have to be quick, though. Warian's not a fool; he'll figure out that something's going on."

"What about me?" Kai asked, disappointed at not hearing his part in the mad plot.

"You'll need to get a sack from the barracks and pack up all your stuff and everything in that tree over there," Rowan answered.

Kai's jaw dropped and he argued, "But I know my way around the house!"

"You know, you make a good point. That makes you a perfect candidate for packing up our stuff."

Kai made a face, then crossed his arms, but he couldn't continue arguing. She was the one getting him out of here, after all, not to mention he'd quickly learned she was stubborn as anything.

"You remember where we left our horses, right?" Legolas offered. At Kai's nod, he added, "Then you could get them and bring them back here, as well. They've seen you, so they should follow you all right."

"Fine, fine. I'll be the odd-errand boy," he sighed.

"So then we've got it all worked out?" At the positive answer, Will held the journal out to Kai, "Hold on to this for me. Okay? I'd probably drop it in there with my luck." Kai took the journal and nodded.

Rowan clapped her hands a couple times then made a hurrying motion, "Okay, now that we've got that, I need to get back. Kai, be ready. You two, come with me."

"Wait. How are you going to get the key?" Kai grabbed her arm to stop her. He looked worried that she was going to do something stupid. He knew her all too well for such a short period of time. Even if something went wrong with her plan, though, Warian was nothing without his lackeys and she knew she'd easily overpower him.

"Trust me, kid. It'll be a piece of cake." She said no more and he didn't ask.

Leaving the lake behind, she extinguished the light that had thus far been kept going and motioned for Will and Legolas to follow her. They did so, all walking as quietly as possible. Luckily, the yard was deserted and no curious slaves peered out from the barracks. Rowan easily led them through the side door and into the house.

The first obstacle they encountered was that the only staircase leading to the upper floors that Rowan knew of was the main one, which put them in direct danger of being seen.

"Be very quiet," she warned. "We're going to have to hide in plain sight." This made strange sense and put both men on guard as they albeit tip-toed down the main hall, then up the staircase. They passed several opens doors with busy servants inside, and even the parlour where the guests and Warian were laughing loudly, discussing something about rebellions and breaking slaves in, probably using the absence of Rowan to discuss what she shouldn't hear. By some force of luck, though, they made it to and up the staircase, then down all the halls and such to the staircase leading up to the mistress' chambers.

She stopped them there and, pointing up, explained, "At the top of these stairs is a landing with two doors. The left is my room, the right is Tamar's. Her room is locked but the key is hanging in my room beside the door connecting the two --you'll see what I mean when you go in. You'll both need to hide down here, then, once I'm gone and you're sure no one is in my room, Will, you'll get the key and come back here to hide. After the guests have left, I'll get Warian in there and get the key to the maps."

"How will I know when to let Tamar out?" Will interrupted. Good question.

Rowan thought a moment, then replied, "When I yell out, 'She's loose!', unlock the door and make sure she goes running out. I'll go mention it to her and see if maybe she'll cooperate."

"You 're going to ask a madwoman for her help?" Legolas asked.

She shrugged, "I talked to her for a couple minute earlier today. She's crazy but there's still a degree of understanding things and she really wants out. She'll probably enjoy the moments of freedom. Okay, Will, what's the sign?"

"'She's loose!'"

"Perfect. Warian will go running out a couple seconds after; make sure neither of you are seen. Then you come in, Legolas, and I'll give you the key and tell you how to get to Warian's room. As an afterthought, Will, you may want to re-lock the door so they have some more trouble, just in case she's easily caught. Then you two hurry down to meet Kai."

"And you?"

"I've got to go get a couple last things from the library, then I'll be right out. It shouldn't take me long," she finished.

Legolas smiled, feeling the rush of excitement at an impending adventure once more, and concluded, "And then we're gone."

"Yes. And then we're gone." The plan secure in everyone's minds, Will and Legolas ducked into an empty room close by and Rowan hurried up to her room. The inside was as she'd left it except that the bed was turned down and new candles had been placed on the bedside table. Rowan made a face and shuddered.

There were still banging and crashing noises coming from the room next-door, but she braved it anyway and approached the separating door. Obviously Tamar was still awake and wild. Rowan softly knocked on the door. At first there was no sign that the rapping had been heard, so she repeated it a little louder. This time all the motion stopped.

After a couple quiet seconds, the same gravely voice from earlier invited, "Yes?" The word was drawn out and Tamar's voice cracked in the middle, sending it up a few pitches.

"Tamar?"

"Yes?" was repeated in the exact same fashion.

"Tamar, I know you must be awfully tired of being locked up in there." Footsteps were heard and then a gentle thud against the door as the crazy woman leaned against it.

"Oh, I am, I am," Tamar moaned sorrowfully. "Nobody will let me out."

Rowan stood nearer so no prying ears could pick it up and said, "I've got a surprise for you."

"Yes?"

"Later tonight a friend of mine is going to let you out."

"Yes? Yes? Truly?"

"Yes, yes, truly," Rowan repeated. "He's going to open the door and then stand out of the way so you can just go flying out." Tamar jumped up and down a couple times, then went back to leaning against the door.

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"I would be the most grateful to be let out of here. Yes?" Tamar giggled. "You are very nice, little girl. Very, very, very nice."

Rowan smiled, glad that her plan was working thus far, and returned, "I just want you to be happy. Being caged is no fun. And all you have to do when I let you out is not get caught."

"I don't want to get caught!"

"Exactly. Just run around, have some fun. All right?"

"Yes? Yes, I can do all that. Fun is fun is fun."

"I'm glad to hear that, Tamar. Later tonight, remember."

"I will remember; I do solemnly swear."

Rowan left the room, then, convinced that Tamar would have no problem fulfilling her role in their scheme. The crazy woman seemed genuinely thrilled at the prospect of being let out and apparently had a knack for leading all her pursuers on a wild chase.

On the way downstairs she ran into Norna who was rushing around like squirrel with its tail on fire. Upon seeing Rowan she let out a deep breath and smiled with relief.

"I'm so glad I found you. I was almost afraid you'd made a break for it," she admitted, quickly fussing with Rowan's hair and dress, making some minor adjustments.

Rowan furrowed her brow, "I told you I'd be back."

"Oh, I know. I just didn't know how soon. Warian sent me to fetch you; I told him you were calming Tamar down, in so many words."

"Well, I'm here now. Lead away." Norna turned and Rowan moved to follow, then stopped her shortly. "Wait, Norna."

"Yes?" Rowan mentally thought of Tamar's drawled version of the word.

"Where exactly is Warian's room? You know, in case I need to get anything from there tonight," Rowan asked innocently.

Norna apparently didn't see anything wrong with the question and quickly answered, "The maids should do anything you need as long as you're here, but it's easy to find. The hall with all the bedrooms? It's at the exact opposite end as the stairs leading to your room. Huge door with a gold knocker: you can't miss it."

"Perfect. Thanks. Now back to those pleasant men," Rowan offered with a cheerful smile. Things were definitely looking up. She followed Norna back to the room to see the men still in similar seating arrangement as before. Warian immediately stood at her entrance and approached her.

"Ah, my pretty one, you've returned. Wonderful job on freshening up. I trust everything is all right?" Rowan easily understood the underlying question and nodded reassuringly. "Wonderful. Now, come join us, please." He took a firm grip on her elbow and led her back over to his chair, once again pulling her down onto his lap. Remembering her scheme, she decided to play it up and leaned back against him, settling as comfortably as she could. Warian seemed pleased and took the liberty of running his fingers over her arm or playing with her curled hair.

Lord Thorof was in the chair beside still and gave a genuine smile to her, "Ah, I see you've returned. I must say, I missed your conversation. A bit more delightful than these sorry old vultures."

"I take offense at that!" Lord Dinalla joked. "Though I don't disagree that Mistress Rowan's a hair more attractive."

"So, Warian, you were saying about this field system..."

And so the night continued.

Chapter Five || Main || Chapter Seven