Valentin reached for the map and pulled it onto his own lap, then doing the same thing as Amara and pouring himself into inspecting it. Having discovered the couple of missing markings himself, he noted: [coloR=yellow]"I suppose that a serious bit of creativity and own initiative is an integral part of this mission, isn't it ?"[/color] He addressed both other people in the room simultaneous. The man behind the table was the first to answer as if he had already completely expected this kind of question. Leaning back in his heavy chair and folding his hands on top of his desk, he explained:

"That is the case. This, if I may remind you, is first and foremost an investigative effort. If we were already aware of all important locations and details and would already have our people everywhere, we wouldn't need to send you in there, right ? So, yes, you will have to improvise." He paused and let go of a short sigh. "Trust me, I'm a military man. Going into the unknown without proper intelligence is one of the least favorable things any commander with proper reasoning wants do, but that's exactly why reconnaissance units have been invented. You don't send in everyone right away, you send a small, specialized team first!"

The man almost felt triumphant as he was able to explain away at things one got to learn in the first year of this academy. He raised his arm and pointed towards both Amara and Valentin with his index finger: "You two are our reconnaissance unit now! Just... don't try to do anything stupid, alright ? If you see a threat you don't know whether you can handle it yourselves, then don't go daredevil and get killed. Report back if possible, alright ?"

The man rose from his chair, bracing the desk in order to support himself in the process, and turned towards the window that allowed the afternoon's sun to send in its bright rays of increasingly orange-ish light. The sound of his stubby beard being scratched by his fingers could be heard almost throughout the entire room. "I have forgotten something, haven't I ?" he mumbed, then suddenly turned around and provided them with a mixture of fake and real embarassement written on his face.

"Ah! Right, transportation. Well Mrs. Amara, you might have noticed that your companion looks as if he could carry both of us on his shoulders rather easily, but luckily, this is not going to happen in order to get you two where you are needed. We will provide you with one horse each, that should suffice." His eyes darted towards Valentin, resting on him for a brief moment. "At least I hope so. Erm... you will be able to swap to other horses here and there, if needed. That's included in the arragements made so you can keep the speed up. Any more questions ?"