"Grab her. Follow," the thief said in a soft voice, before taking to the rooftops. Jade picked up Elia's body and did as the thief asked, making her way up the boxes and following him. Jade had to admit that she was impressed by the network of pathways laid across the rooftops, all but invisible to anyone who didn't know about them. The added weight of Elia's body made it harder to keep up, but the thief waited for a minute or two every so often to give her a chance to catch up. As they snaked through the rooftops and alleyways of the market district and eventually into the slummy area of Valencia, Jade watched the thief. She took in his lithe, agile movements and the way he seemed to know exactly when and where the next rooftop would be. Jade could almost imagine his eyes darting around and locating the next place to jump before leaping gracefully across the gap in between the rooftops. 

Finally, the thief found a rooftop to stop on near the harbor. When Jade arrived, he gestured toward the ground. Jade gently set down Elia's body, stopping for a moment to catch her breath. Jade did not doubt that the rooftop network extended far beyond the snippet that the thief had shown her, but there were more important things to think about. "Do you know who he was?" the blonde-haired thief asked after Jade had put Elia's body on the ground. 

Jade shook her head, a wry expression on her face. "I wish that I did," she replied, tucking a piece of her dark brown hair behind her ear. She hesitated for a moment before continuing. "What Elia was doing with him is my biggest question right now," Jade went on, glancing down at the corpse. Even in death, there was still something about her that drew the eye. Perhaps it was her wild, untamed hair, as free as Elia had been herself. 

"Anyway. You didn't hear this from me," Jade began, giving the blonde thief a pointed look, "but I found him killing assassins as well. I'm not sure what his motives are right now, considering that it seems like he does not intend to ally with either of us, but based on his fighting style I would say he's from the north, probably Eltevi." Jade recalled what she had seen of the man's forceful slashes and strong thrusts, a far cry from the fighting style of the League, which emphasized stealth, agility, and evasive maneuvers. "He obviously had formal training-his movements were more precise and controlled than those of a common street fighter," Jade said. She flicked her eyes to the blonde thief. "No offense. And did you see his sword? That thing must have taken ages to forge. So he's foreign-most likely Eltevian-and rich, meaning that he's probably somehow affiliated with the Eltevian government." Jade stopped talking to let it all sink in. She shook her head slightly. "This doesn't look good."