Tibs didn't like what his plan was turning into.

Acquiring a house far too large had been one thing, and the staff to run it he hadn't been able to argue against, having agreed to the house. But now?

"No." He glared at her over the large bed. As far as the other servants were concerned, he and her were only more of them, currently in the master bedroom on the third floor to make it presentable. He was adding locks to the window, while Cynta was secreting weapons under the mattress.

"We have to." She lay on the bed and reached under, then turned to grab the knife she'd placed and reposition it. "Nobles never just arrive. They make a production of it."

Which was why he was against the idea. "Then we pay people to talk about how impressing we were on arriving."

"And what happens when the servant the nobles sent to report on our arrival can't report that we arrived? Or are you forgetting the letters we sent out?"

"I'm not playing noble!" he snapped, the hammer hitting crooked and bending the nail.

She chuckled. "That is amusing, considering the extent you went to, to make yourself one so you could enter the university."

"I'm barely one." He used essence to straighten the nail. "And that's nothing more than a costume I have to wear so I can read the books I need to." He brought the hammer down next to the nail and willed it in. "This? It's going to be walking through half the city, acting like I'm better than all of them." The fact he had to do that during his walk to the university didn't escape him, but he had no choice then. Here? This felt like Cynta just wanted to parade through the city.

"Do you know what it feels like to be looked at like you and your city are meaningless? What it feels like to be made to feel like helping a noble is a privilege, even though without that help, that noble wouldn't be able to get anything? That's what I don't want to inflict on anyone, ever." Without another lock to place he faced her. "Isn't the house enough to show we're here? Have the servants tell anyone who comes at the door we're busy. I have better things to do than…." He gesticulated. "Any of this."

She smirked. "Just how did you think setting up a job against a high noble would go? You clearly know how they are."

"That's why you're on the team. You're the expert at having people believe things. Just make them believe they saw all of it." He rested against the windowsill. Having to do this would be miserable.

She laughed. "Unless you're hiding a sorcerer with the magic to make a city believe something that didn't happen, this is how I perform my magic."

"Bards do it all the fucking time."

"Bards can only do it with things no one was there to watch or remember."

"You realize that to make this work, the caravan master needs to know about it before they arrive to the city. Having someone pay them on arrival to say the noble was traveling with them isn't going to work. They need to be ready for us to mix in with their people. That means they have to tell the guards and make sure the merchants don't talk as well."

She smiled. "Sounds to me like you know exactly how to go about making it happen."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't like how you can get me to make a plan like this when I don't want to. That means you know me too well."

Her smile broadened. "Then you shouldn't have failed at conning me. It made me pay close attention to who you are." The first sentence glowed. She'd been studying him well before he'd been caught lying to them.

He ran a hand over his face. "To do this, I need to leave the city. This isn't something a letter can convince them to be part of."

"How far are they?"

He headed for the balcony door, taking the other lock from a pocket. "The posted schedule has them arriving in eleven days, but that's isn't certain. Caravans are good about adjusting their travel speed to make the schedule, but they can't control what happens. The only thing I can promise is that they won't arrive early. They have to pay for the space the carts will be held in." He placed the lock, going over what he'd need to do. "I'm going to have to leave as soon as I'm done here. I want to reach them as soon as possible, and that means a fast horse and lots of time riding." He gently hammered the first nail in place. "You are going to have to explain to Charlie and Uzoma what I'm doing, and convincing him this isn't me abandoning the team."

"You don't have to worry about him." She said, and Tibs fought the urge to stare at her. "He got over his distrust."

Now he stared. There was no light on her words. How she could believe anyone got over the betrayal Uzoma felt Tibs had committed this easily baffled him.

But she'd be the one dealing with the archer, so she could handle the surprise.

* * * * *

Tibs slowed the horse when he felt the caravan at the edge of his sense.

He'd covered more distance in the two days than if his horse had needed to rest. Physical exhaustion was easily dealt with the correct etching of Purity. One of water kept the horse refreshed. All that had been left was food. He'd brought enough for another week of riding, which the horse would go through during the ride back if Tibs didn't push it too hard. Hunger was one aspect none of his elements could resolve.

He would have been faster without the horse, but this far from the city, a lone man walking would be too suspicious.

He got off the horse to let it rest properly and fed it. The sun was approaching the treetops, so the caravan would stop for the night before reaching him. Once he sensed that, he got on and approached at a leisurely pace.

Almost as soon as he was moving again, he knew he had a problem. Someone among the caravan had Metal as an element. They were definitely within Epsilon, and might even be considered Delta. If they'd hired an adventurer, Tibs would have to use more care. At that rank, adventurers no longer had to follow the guild's learning schedule, and some, especially those who chose to be adventurers in fact, as wells as in names, learned a lot of etching meant to reveal what was hidden. With the right training, this one could sense something off about Tibs, even if he was confident they wouldn't be able to tell what.

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Fortunately, they were at the rear of the stopped caravan, and remained there even when the caravan caught sight of a rider and sent six of the guards riding in his direction.

"Well met," he called in Forsterain. After all these weeks of practicing it, only skilled listeners could hear his accent.

"Make camp here for the night," the woman in the lead instructed.

"I have business to discuss with the caravan master, if they'll have it. I have coins to pay and," he added in case this person was among the merchants with affiliations among thieves, "a shield and knife to offer." The look they exchanged told them they didn't know the meaning, but she sent one of the guards back.

He returned with a woman riding alongside. She was dressed well, but casually. No leathers for protection, and the horse wasn't used to a rider. It had been hurriedly saddled for her. She studied him with sharp blue eyes that look more intense than her older appearance would lead people watching her to expect.

"You have business?" Her Forsterain had an accent, but he wasn't skilled enough with this language to place it.

"A lucrative one, if you aren't averse to being loose with truths."

"And what kind of lies would you expect me to spread?"

He smiled. "The kind I'd prefer not discussing with so many ears present."

"I'm not leaving you alone with him, Mom," the head guard said.

The caravan leader considered Tibs. "If you leave your weapons with your horse, it will be you, me, Liria, and her man."

The man in question nodded.

Tibs urged his horse to the side of the road and tied the lead to a tree. He hooked his sword to the saddle, then removed the three knives he'd secreted on himself, putting them in the saddlebag, and taking out the heavy leather bag.

The guard leader's man searched him, and once he confirmed the knife at his belt was the only one Tibs still had. The other two dismounted and they walked away from the others.

"That looks heavy," the caravan master said, nodding to the bag.

"A good shield and knife have more weight than one will expect."

The two guards looked at him in confusion, but the caravan master didn't react.

"You can call me Thibaud," he continued. "Me and my team need to pass ourselves as arriving nobles, and we'd like to be part of your caravan."

"We can't just add a wagon," Liria said. "The others are going to wonder what's happening."

"I am Elanor," the older woman said after considering him. "What exactly would you need me to do?"

"To confirm that the Lady and Lord Hollomeir of Kadalisaran have traveled with you for this leg of your trek."

"And if I'm asked to elaborate on the kind of people you are?"

He snorted. "You've dealt with nobles. You can tell them how you really feel about us."

The man chuckled.

"But I doubt you'll be asked," Tibs continued. "While the entries are documented, I haven't seen any indication they are investigated. All I'm looking to ensure is that our arrival has an explanation if it's questioned. I'm willing to pay."

"How much?" She looked at the bag, and Tibs saw the greed. It was good and bad. It meant having her agree was only a question of offering her enough. But if she thought there was also money to be made in selling them out to the guards…. He couldn't threaten her. She held all the advantages.

"If you can convince me you won't turn against my team, all of this is yours."

"And how do I do that?"

"Not like this," Tibs replied.

Her nod was more acceptance than resignation. She'd tried a gambit. It had failed, and this was how things went sometimes.

"When I take on travelers," she said, her tone serious. "What those traveling with me pay for is an assurance that I will see them to their destination unharmed by bandits or wild animals. While this isn't something I will state to them, I also include resolving any issues they'll have entering a city, so long that it isn't because they are wanted by the authorities." The words were dark as she looked at him expectantly.

"The Lady and her man have never been to this city, nor have they done business with the nobles here, or their associates in other cities. They also have all the required papers to show how they traveled from Kadalisaran to here. If we reach an agreement, you will tell me which city they have joined your caravan and their papers will show that to be in good order as well."

She smiled. "You've planned this well."

"I have an expert on my team."

"Common travelers pay four silver. Those are any who don't travel with me for business. If they don't have their transport, I'll provide a horse for them to ride on for an extra charge. The same goes if they didn't bring food for the travels." She considered something. "I've never taken nobles, but I'd start at two gold and I would find every reason to increase that amount. Considering these two nobles you want in my caravan aren't going to take space in it, or cause me trouble. Two golds will be enough."

There were no lights on the words, so he made a decision he hoped he wouldn't regret as he took the coins from the bag. "Two gold, and two more on the day you leave the city." He hadn't paid attention to how long the schedule said they'd stay, but he expected two weeks would be the minimum. Along with the merchants selling their wares, there were business deals to be made, and those didn't always happen on the day. Two weeks would be enough for the job and then ensure the person he wanted the authority to blame disappeared in a public way.

If she told the guards anything after that, the team would have disbanded and not be the people wanted.

"Four gold to say you traveled with us?" she asked in disbelief.

"If me and my team are still free by the time you leave."

"You have my word that I won't do anything to get in the way of receiving those two extra golds." There was no light on the words, and that was the best he could hope for.

* * * * *

Tibs approached the house warily.

He'd sensed the crowd standing before it from far enough he knew there would be too many people, so something had happened. People moved within the house, but he didn't know enough about what they should be doing at this moment to tell if everything was it should be there, or not.

He finished the journey on the roofs.

Where he'd expected a crowd of passersby watching…. Not that he knew what they might be watching. He instead found people too well dressed to have any business with a house when the official occupants weren't there yet. A man stood before the door, dressed well, if in too many colors. He was talking to another man dressed better than he was, and the authority he exerted made Tibs bring the words to him.

"No, you may not simply enter the Lady's abode. I do not care who your master might be, so do not give me their names. I have told all before you. I tell you now. When the Lady and her man have arrived, she will make the announcement. And only then can your master present himself to her."

Tibs didn't understand why this was happening, but clearly this wasn't the job being in danger. He returned to the ground and had to make his way through the crowd to reach the side of the house, where he, as the servant he was dressed as, would enter. Those who noticed him sneered, and even those who didn't, didn't move out of his way, making his trek through them meandering.

"You," a man said with enough venom, Tibs looked over his shoulder and found himself locking eyes with the colorful man at the door. He froze under the glare. He hadn't realized the crowd had taken him close enough to be noticed, or that he'd be singled out. "Where were you?" the man demanded, and Tibs almost replied. Not to tell him where he'd been, but that he'd better never talk to him in that tone. That no one was so well off, especially not some other servant, as to talk down to him.

Cynta, also dressed as a servant, standing humbly behind and to the side of that man reframed enough of the interaction Tibs managed to keep his mouth should.

"Well?" the man demanded. Then continued. "No matter. Go in. Whoever had to take over your duties will take more pleasure in letting you know what this household thinks of those who waste time in taverns. Well?" he demanded when Tibs didn't immediately move. Then he stepped around the large man and took Cynta's arm to force her to come with him.

"What is going on?" he demanded as soon as he closed the door on the first empty room he took them to.

"The announcement for our arrival went out three days ago."

"What announcement?"

"I told you, it's tradi—"

"What announcement, Cynta? What could have gone out that leads to what looks like half the city's noble servants being at the door of this house?"

"It's much more than half."

"Cynta," he warned.

"They're here to make sure their masters will be invited to our celebration, of course."

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