[center][h3][color=fff200]Thyrri [/color]and [color=ed1c24]Aziza[/color][/h3][/center]
Thyrri left Eve when the guard announced the tournament beginning. Although she could go and sit with other royals in the luxurious area, she had no desire to do so. After all, she didn’t truly belong there. She snuck away from the crowd and into one of the tight service corridors, nearly knocking a large plate with empty glasses out of one poor servant’s hands. Mumbling an apology, she headed for the contestant entrance to the arena, where all the technical background for the tournament was located, including the infirmary. No matter the rules, there were always more or less serious injuries when men started to hit each other’s heads with sticks. The room was on the ground level, and had tiny windows below the ceiling, originally designed just for air circulation, but if you stood on one of the chairs, you could very well see the inside of the arena. The tournament hasn’t started yet, the contestants were just hailing the royal families. Thyrri sighed. [i]Such unnecessary violence.[/i]

[hr]
Aziza was feeling tense. She had nothing to do, which definitely wasn’t a normal state for her. There were no new orders, even her alter ego Parull didn’t have any tasks at hand, since the guests were still on the party and haven’t started using their rooms yet. For now, she wandered the hallways, doing her best to appear busy, spying out for any potentially useful information. It was only luck that she caught a glimpse of something unusual – the Earthica princess, Evangeline, walking the hallways with a member of Exodus royalty, holding hands. Aziza followed them until they disappeared in the private section of the palace, one she could not officially get into. She had tried before, but apparently the guards knew every servant who was allowed entrance and didn’t let anyone else through. Aziza could kill the guard easily, but hiding the body was annoying and the missing man could draw unnecessary attention while she was supposed to stay undercover.

There was another way in though, not as simple, but much more fun. She turned back to the stables and snuck into one of the empty boxes. The loose plank was still in the place, her hiding place remained undiscovered. She took a small package out and double checked that no one was watching her as she put the plank back in place. The air was clear, except for a horse from the adjacent box, who put his head over the railing, hoping she would give him an apple. Aziza patted his head, whispering, [color=ed1c24]“You’ll get one when I get back.”[/color]

The yard with carriages was empty and Aziza took the advantage of it and causally walked towards one of the less-decorated ones, entering it without looking around, almost as it belonged to her. Inside she quickly stripped off her dress, sighing in relief as she could strip the stupid Parull masquerade off with it. She put on her normal dark leather outfit, strapped the dagger to her thigh and a bandoleer with throwing knives across her chest. Carefully folding the dress, she stuck it under the seat in the carriage and snuck out like a ghost she now was.

The front wall of the palace private section was well lit, but Aziza used the shadows on the yard to move beyond the corner unseen. From there she started climbing the wall like a giant dark spider. She reached the roof safely, crouching and continuing on all four. Although she never personally visited this part of the palace, she had talked with other maids and servants, which gave her an approximate idea of the layout. As she got above Thyrri’s room, she started to climb down to its window slowly, careful not to make any sound. She was able to overhear most of the conversation the women had, while hanging on the wall by her fingers, slightly disappointed that it wasn’t anything more interesting. But still, even the information of those two flirting with each other could be potentially useful.

After they left the room, Aziza crawled in and looked around. The room was pretty spartan for a member of Exodus royalty, save the opulent dress hanging in the corner. Aziza bent down and picked something shiny off the ground, smirking as she recognized a hairpin with a few strings of red hair still stuck in it. Hiding it away in one of her pockets she listened beyond the door for a few moments. Originally, she considered taking a look around the palace, since she was already here, but she wasn’t exactly inconspicuous in her current attire and she could hear several people walking the hallway. She turned back to the window and climbed to the roof, smiling happily. This was what she was trained to do, born to do even. 

She took a peek into princess Aamaya’s quarters and also the king’s and queen’s but didn’t have enough time to search through them properly, so she didn’t find out anything useful, other than Aamaya’s favorite bath oils and perfumes. Aziza tried to save every fine detail into her memory for future use before heading back.

[hr]
Some time later, again as smiling and friendly Parull, she was bringing drinks and food to the common guests in the arena. She could see Primfira king and queen in the royal section and also princess Valeri, chatting with Aamaya. Aziza didn’t show any sign that she noticed them, but her heart rejoiced from finally seeing her king. Perhaps now things will get moving a bit.