"What are we going to do?"

"I'm going to visit the Wikuni mission here in Tor," she replied. "I happen to know the current lead diplomat personally. We're old adversaries. I'm sure he'd tell us what's going on."

"What about Keritanima's little situation? Won't he turn us in?"

"No, not this Wikuni," she grinned. "He owes me a favor. I'll just call it on him."

"That must be some favor."

"Let's say that he owes me his ability to father children. I don't know about Were-cats, but Wikuni men treasure that particular part of their anatomy more than life itself."

"That must be quite a tale."

"Not really. I'm the one that was about to deprive him of it."

"Then it must really be quite a tale."

She laughed. "So, interested?"

"I guess. It beats dragging canvas around, but we'd better get permission first."

"Permission? If I asked permission for half the things I did, I'd never get anything done," she said with a cheeky grin. "The only permission I need is from Sisska. We'll leave Kerri a note."

"We'll hear her screaming in town."

"So?"

Tarrin gave her a look, at the mischievious glint in her eyes, and he had to laugh. "Alright. There's no fun in getting in trouble unless you have company."

"That's the spirit," she said with a wink and a light poke in his ribs.

After getting permission from Sisska and leaving the others a note, Tarrin and Miranda walked along the streets of Tor. Very quiet streets. For a city its size, the streets should have been absolutely packed with pedestrians. But the number of people on the streets looked more like it was midnight than daytime. Every few blocks, a large party of armed men marched by, wearing the axe and crescent moons standard of Tor and looking very wary and grim. Tarrin saw that the other pedestrians gave the soldiers a wide berth, but did not shrink away from them as if they were occupiers. It seemed that the army's presence had at least some approval from the citizens. But the soldiers didn't impede anyone or interrogate anyone. They were merely asserting their presence within the city. For what reason evaded Tarrin, but then again, they were on their way to find out.

The Wikuni mission in Tor was a large stone building overlooking the city's main market square. It was staffed exclusively by Wikuni, few of which paid Miranda much attention. Tarrin, however, attracted more than a few glances, looks, and more than a couple of scornful glares. They spoke to each other in Wikuna, and they were probably unaware that Tarrin could understand parts of it. Keritanima had been teaching it to him, and he was a very fast learner when languages were concerned. What he could understand wasn't very flattering, and he had to resist the urge to change form and smack some people around for their unflattering remarks. They didn't challenge Miranda, however, nor did they challenge him, who was obviously in her company. They moved along dark hallways lit by candles, with old wood panelling put there to give the stone structure some feeling of more than stone. Miranda approached a desk on the second floor confidently, behind which sat a rather ugly-looking warthog Wikuni with a huge snout and tusks. He lacked the humanization of his facial features common in most other Wikuni. "What business you got here, missy?" he asked in a grating voice.

"I'm here to see Jander," she replied calmly. "I'm an old friend."

"Alright. Who should I say is callin'?"

"Tell him it's the crazy lady with the scissors. He'll know who that is."

The warthog nodded and got up, then went into a plain brass-bound door behind him. Almost immediately, a tall, lanky wolf Wikuni that looked shockingly similar to Haley's hybrid form appeared in the doorway. He looked just like Haley, down to the gray fur and piercing eyes, but Haley's snout was a bit wider, and Haley was a bit taller and little more stocky than this thin Wikuni. This Jander had no human-like hair like some Wikuni did, just a wild mane of wolf fur on his head that poofed out and made it look like hair. "I never thought to see you here, my lady," he said in the doorway, with a wide grin. "Come in, come in. It's been years since we talked."

Miranda led Tarrin into a spartan office about the size of his room back home. It had a large stone-topped desk near the room's only window, which looked out over the market, and a leather-covered cushioned chair behind it. The walls were the same wood panelling as downstairs, but his walls were decorated with a few wooden engraved plaques, a parchment framed and hanging on the wall, a portrait of an austere lion-Wikuni in a very elaborately decorated frame, and a sword and shield with a coat of arms enamelled to its metal surface on the wall opposite the portrait. The man's slate-topped desk was clean, immaculately clean, with only a sheaf of papers sitting before where one would sit, and a pair of small wooden trays sitting on the opposite corner, beside an inkwell that was capped off. Two upholstered chairs sat before the desk for whatever guests this Wikuni had in his office, one of which Miranda occupied after letting Jander take her hand in greeting.

"Miranda," he said fondly, sitting in his chair facing them. Tarrin sat down as Jander smiled at her. "How have you been?"

"Oh, same as always, Jander," she replied. "Jander, I'd like you to meet Tarrin, a friend of mine. Tarrin, this is Jander, one of my most favorite adversaries."

Jander laughed. "Was I. Did she tell you that she once tried to cut off my-"

"I told him about that," Miranda cut him off with a wink.

"And she was only sixteen! I never expected such ruthlessness out of a stripling maid."

"It did get your attention, Jander," she grinned.

"It did at that," he chuckled in agreement. "Whatever happened to Duran and Lassiter?"

"Duran was killed last year," she said with a little sigh. "Lassiter works for the House Artep now."

"Pity," he said. "From what I heard, your employer hasn't changed. And if you're here, then she's here."

"Ah, but I was never here," Miranda told him with one of her devastatingly cute grins.

"You see what I had to fight against," Jander said to Tarrin. "The woman is a terror. And she was even worse when she was a young girl."

"I don't find her that terrorizing," Tarrin said absently. "Just scratch her behind the ears from time to time, and she'll follow you around like a puppy."

Miranda smacked him on the arm, and Jander laughed. "You don't have to hide in here, Tarrin," he said. "I'm sure you realize that I know who and what you are. But you'd better stay hidden outside."

"Why is that, Jander?" Miranda asked seriously.

"It's just one of the things going on around here," he said soberly, leaning back in his chair. "I'm sure you noticed the military presence."

"King Rathbonne is flexing his muscles?" Miranda asked.

"Hardly. The southern Free Duchies have entered into a military alliance, and Tor is their target. Rathbonne is mustering his army to fend them off."

"An alliance? They'd attack each other as soon as their armies came onto the same field," Miranda scoffed.

"Believe it or not, they're working together," Jander said grimly. "And it's all over a rumor that the Firestaff was hidden somewhere in the ruins of Old Tor. Rathbonne has half his army here, and the other half is turning his kingdom upside-down and shaking it to see if it falls out."

"A war, over a rumor?" Miranda asked incredulously.

"This particular rumor had some basis in old historical documents," he replied. "I think the Firestaff was probably kept in ancient Tor at one time, but it was moved long ago."

"That's ludicrous," Miranda grunted. "You don't start a war over a rumor."

"When it's anything about the Firestaff, rumor is usually enough," Jander said. "Right now, Sulasia and Daltochan are fighting it out south of the forests over the rumor that the Firestaff is being secretly held in the Tower of Six Spires. Draconia joined Daltochan against Sulasia, and that immediately brought Tykarthia into it on Sulasia's side."