I watched Kanieta be ushered away by the noble, followed by Redgenald, and a moment later, Franklin declared, "I'll be at the food table." He was already turning, closely followed by Joxin, leaving me in a crowd with Kathren and White.

  All at once, every noble mutually decided to turn away from my little group, leaving us in a little island in a sea of people. One thing was clear. No one within this gathering felt the need to approach me for an introduction to Kanieta. An infantile part of me briefly wanted to remain in place, to just see how long they could ignore me and to what extent, but as I felt a slight tugging on my arm, I was reminded of our mission.

  Turning my head to look down at White, I gave her a smile as I said, "How about we go and explore all of those statues you talked about?"

  "Oh, yes. A walk in the starlit gardens would be so romantic." The elf maiden said as she beamed up at me. Turning, the woman strode forward confidently, leading us through the ballroom and out a side passage. From the first step of entering the passage, it was like we had left the party altogether. The soft music that had been suffusing the area had all but vanished, and the murmuring of voices disappeared along with it.

  Further up the hallway, I could see the backs of a pair walking together, but they quickly vanished into a branching passage, leaving us alone. Not that we talked as we passed paintings, tapestries, and intricately painted vases. Every item was beautiful in its own way. However, none of them could hold my attention for long, because as we left the masses of people, I became more on edge.

  My eyes were constantly roving the area around us, searching every shadow. I glanced down every hallway that we passed, my hand twitching toward my gladius at every noise. If it wasn't obvious, I was on edge, an absurd fear that a swarm of dark elves would flood around every corner to kill us, lurking in the back of my mind.

  "Well, someone is a little jumpy." White teased after my head snapped around to look at a servant carrying a tray of drinks, who abruptly came around a corner

  "What do you expect?" I muttered after the couple of seconds it took for her words to process. "After where you are supposedly taking me."

  "In that light, I guess you have some reason to be tense." Suddenly turning to the left, nearly causing me to bump into her, White turned away from the inner portions of the house and actually exited a door, taking us into the gardens. "However, you should know by now that things are not going to be exactly that straightforward."

  "Nobles?" I asked, my voice heavy with weary annoyance.

  "Indeed," White responded, laughter in her voice at my tone. "There are agreements in place, and I can not be the one to break them, or my mistress will be the one in trouble."

  “So…” I relaxed a little as we became surrounded by carefully manicured plants. "What exactly are we doing?"

  "Well, of course, we are going to look at sculptures, just like I said we would," White explained, her voice filled with amusement and her eyes glinting. "And, I will tell you some interesting facts about the estate as we walk around."

  "Will you now?"

  "Yes, quite interesting, historical facts." Slipping her arm out from his, White danced forward, her hands lightly brushing against the flowers lining the path. Spinning around, she gave me a broad smile and asked, "First off, do you know who the original owner of this estate was?"

  Raising an eyebrow, I answered, "No, not in the slightest."

  With a cheeky grin on her face, she turned back around and said, "Yeah, me neither." Earning a snort of amusement from me. "What I do know is that he was a paranoid bastard. This particular manor was created back in the first days of the noble district's creation. The beastkins hadn't reached the walls in centuries, even back then, but the fear existed. More importantly, many of those who ended up retiring to Olimpia had experienced sieges at some point during their lives. No matter what happened, they would not be caught flat-footed."

  "And I assume the creator of this place was one such person."

  "Correct. He was a builder. Quite a skilled one. He created his own house, and long after he was done constructing above ground, he continued to work under the surface. He created an entire multi-level labyrinth beneath the main house, with smaller chambers scattered throughout the grounds. Connecting them all are passages that run everywhere, including escape routes that lead outside the compound's walls. The creator wanted it so that no matter where he was, he and his family could make it to safety in seconds."

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  "That is… an interesting fact," I said, looking around, feeling a mild excitement to search the area for hidden entrances, as the child inside of me made itself known.

  "Do you know what my mistress is known for?" White asked, drawing my attention back to her and changing the subject.

  "Her personality." I immediately responded.

  "Ahah!" White laughed, throwing her head back for a moment, "Yes, there aren't many like her. However, the first thing that comes to other nobles' minds in recent days is her soirées. Nearly every week for months, notable individuals from all across the city have come to her manor to gather and socialize."

  "And some of those people, perhaps, slip into all these secret passages, and into a meeting that few know about."

  "What an interesting notion," White murmured as she put on a thoughtful expression, coming to a stop next to a fountain and sitting on its base, running her hand through the water. "Though I must say, not all of the tunnels are the same. Some are mazes, others are for escape and running in a straight line, with a door at the end that does not block sound."

  Her eyes were intense and bore into me as she spoke, and a heavy silence filled the air for a few seconds before she broke into a forlorn frown and sighed, "Oh, what a fool I am. I forgot to bring the picnic basket I prepared for our excursion! I'll be right back. Though you should take a look around the fountain, maybe you'll find something interesting."

  While she said that, she remained in place, patting the spot next to her more than a dozen times, staring at me. White kept at it far longer than necessary to make her point before finally popping to her feet and quickly walking off. Stepping next to me, Kathren muttered, "Does she really think that we are that stupid to need so many hints?"

  "I hope not…" I chuckled. "Though making it clear as day without saying it outright is better than some valid hints that can be interpreted a hundred different ways in this situation."

  "I guess," Kathren muttered before walking forward and inspecting the area where White was sitting. "So, how do you think we are getting into the tunnel?"

  Without saying anything, my eyes swept over the fountain. The middle of the structure was a tree, the water burbling up from within somewhere in the crown of stone leaves. The liquid ran down the trunk, making the stone bark appear to shift as if the tree was swaying until it hit the branches, at which point the water would flow along the limbs and eventually arc into the pool. At the bottom of the reservoir, the tree's roots spread out to the sides, and scattered throughout the water were smaller trees, barely poking out of the liquid's surface.

  I would bet my life that it was of elven origin, with its nature theme, and what I was reasonably sure was a representation of the World Tree. However, the footing of the fountain was… well, it wasn't made by elves.

  Oh, the craftsmanship of the fountain base was far beyond anything I could have hoped to replicate, as it depicted fish swimming through water, and four of them emerging from the base and leaping into the air. The problem was that the carvings were also worn down by time and the elements. A trait not shared by the rest of the sculpture.

  While you could look closely at the tree in the center and still pick out the veins running through individual leaves, most of the scales on the fish were worn down to non-existent. Whoever made it could not impart the ability for their creation to remain eternal and reconstruct itself, like the elves of old could.

  A pity, really, but it made it all the more convenient for me to know where to start poking around for a secret passage. I tried poking the eyes of some of the fish to see if they would act as switches, I rubbed my hands over the stone waves looking for a hidden latch, and I kicked the ground out of annoyance, finding nothing. It was pretty much the same thing Kathren had done, leaving us scowling at the structure in frustration.

  My eyes roved over the fountain, searching for what I was missing. The creator would want the entrance to be convenient enough to open without much effort, but not so easy that a child could stumble upon it. Another key point was that it had to be hidden well enough that other nobles wouldn't discover it with a casual inspection, gaining entrance to the heart of their house.

  Which leaves… something you could easily do if you know how, but complicated enough that no one would bother to do it on a whim. However, something that was easy for a noble and for a commoner wasn't the same thing. My eyes snapped to the four large fish that appeared to be leaping from the foot of the fountain and back into the waters.

  The mouths of the fish were open, as if they were meant to spit streams of water. Except, they currently weren't, and I would guess never had. Leaning over one of the carvings, I looked into its mouth, and naturally stuck my finger down the hole.

  I didn't get close to the bottom, so I formed a tendril and pushed it down the stone tube. The hole traveled a surprisingly long way, at least five feet, before I reached the bottom. As I continued pressing against the floor of the hole, slowly increasing my strength, I felt nothing for a moment. Then, the bottom gave way.

  Except nothing happened. Looking at the other four statues, I quickly formed more tendrils and shoved them down the holes, at which point, I heard the grating of stone. The source was located on the opposite side from where White sat. A location that also coincided with the primary focus of our search.

  I wanted to think that she didn't know, but, well, I knew White. Sighing, I walked around the fountain, followed by Kathren. "She didn't need to make such a display patting the fountain," the scout grumbled in annoyance.

  Grunting in agreement, I didn't say anything, but I felt the same. This wasn't the time to be joking around. With the time that we had wasted searching, we could have missed something. Something that could reshape the Republic.

  As I stood at the top of the flight of stairs spiraling into the earth, I released the unhelpful emotion and focused. Marching down the stone steps, I stopped a couple of seconds later, releasing a snort in amazement. Sitting in the alcove, rusty but still usable, was a lantern holding a sunstone. I didn't know how long it had been there, but it was a shame to let the considerate nobles' gesture go to waste. Grabbing the device and with a flick of mental energy, our path down the stairs was illuminated, and we continued in silence.