“The greedy man is oft' times the one with the shortest sight, and the longest ego.” he murmurs, following behind the prince quietly as he can. The hard soles of the boots make doing so difficult and he decides then and there that he will remove them for his own inspection of the palace and grounds. He lets the prince speak about whatever he wishes, asking no questions, simply absorbing what information he finds useful. [i]'I would guess that the measure of what he tells me is also the measure of what he finds important or interesting. Much is missed for the simple fact that one finds no reason to know it. In my line of work, all has the potential of being important, so my eyes, ear, nose, flesh, and magic seek out far beyond what a human would'[/i] 

Many of the servants cast wary glances his way, and each time he lets his eyes drop. [i]'Perception is the sum of one's reality. If they see me as non threatening their views of me will pass to others and the misinformation will serve me well. I am sure most have heard rumors of my last excursion into this place, and have already formed an opinion of me'[/i] Glancing up at the prince as the come down the main staircase he tilts his head slightly. [i]'I wonder what they all think of what the prince said about me, or if they even believe it. Perhaps I will have the chance to ask one of the more talkative servants, if I do not overhear the information first'[/i] Blessed with exceptional hearing Rei has always taken advantage of humans and their lust for gossip. Even now the servants several yards away whisper about the young fae without realizing that his words are as clear in his ears as if they were less than a foot from him.

As they progress outside the map he had made in his mind of the grounds surrounding the building merges with the new additions to the interior, the information the prince feeds him giving detail to the picture behind his mind's eye. As they pass the horses, then later the dogs, the beast fall and back away from him. Most of his kind have a close connection to nature and the wild beasts that inhabit it, however for as long as he can remember Rei has always been on bad terms with animals. It does not bother him save for occasionally it has alerted a few of his targets to the fact that something is off. His gaze passes over the wary dogs and he tilts his head as they move past. [i]'It is good to know they are here. I can make use of them'[/i] 

The garden looks simple and plain to his eyes, the flora and greenery around his village out shinning it by far, however he takes note of the larger foliage that could serve as cover for someone wishing to approach from this side of the building.

Once back inside his face becomes once more passive and the look of concentration he'd worn opening outside the palace relaxes into a neutral look of disinterest. However his eyes do take on a curious gleam as he examines the tapestries carefully. They pass by rather quickly but he takes in what he can, determining that he must return later for a longer look at some of them. [i]'I recognize some of my race upon those tapestries. They look almost like the pictures I've seen of us in the older storybooks I have read'[/i] 

The bustle of servants around the room draws his gaze back down as the move into a smaller room and his eyes narrow. [i]'I must examine this room more closely'[/i] Keeping silent he follows the prince out of the room, this time as they pass the tapestries he does not look at them. Instead he begins planning his route for the evening. 

The cursory glance and short story behind the prison area raises Rei's interest. [i]'Of all parts of this palace, I have not heard anything beyond relevant information one would expect any servant to need to know, however he went out of his way to bring me to a place he seems to have no interest in, and tells me a story that has no more merit than the one about a fairy who collects teeth. This is very interesting'[/i] Glancing towards the bent bars he concludes that he will examine this part of the palace another day. After some planning in which he can do it without being discovered by the rather vigilant looking guards. 

At last they arrive back at the prince's room. He tilts his head as once more the prince warns him of the perils of the west wing before vanishing swiftly behind the solid wooden door to his room. [i]'He looked tired. I will inspect his room in the morning'[/i] With that he walks down the hall to his own room, slipping inside for a moment to remove his boots. Setting them beside his bookshelf he picks up an apple from the bowl on the table and slips it inside his sleeve. [i]'Props are good for pretending'[/i] Turning back to the door he heads out, closing it gently behind him. Doing his best to look like an outsider he wanders aimlessly down the hall. A few servants spot him, making offhanded comments about him not wearing shoes, however none approach him to confront him openly. [i]'Good, they are still unsure enough of me to keep away'[/i] Small tongues of magic trickle from his bare feet, feeding him more information that could not be learned during the earlier walk.

[i]'The secret passage system in this place it rather intricate, however most of it is unused. Am guess that only the servants really have any idea of most of these. Some of the triggers from the entrances seem to be hidden rather well'[/i] Slipping slowly to the side of the hall Rei ducks into a little alcove as he feels a familiar presence approach. His eyes scan the boy carefully as he passes. [i]'This is the one he feels protective over, but is not related to'[/i] Stepping out of the alcove he watches as the boy mounts the stairs leading to the floor where the prince's room is. [i]'He looked notably concerned, but not panicked. He must be one of the prince's personal servants. Maybe he forgot to turn the young prince's bed down'[/i] Rei pauses for a moment in thought. [i]'I wonder what that means, turning a bed down. . . .'[/i] With a mental shrug he continues down to the entrance hall.

Glancing at the archway leading to the west wing he decides against heading here right away, instead he continues down to the first floor and makes his way back to the small dinning room beside the party hall. Closing the door carefully behind him he lets his magic out a bit more and begins exploring the room carefully. [i]'The servant hallway leads into this room, as is to be expected. However, there is something else. . . .'[/i] Letting out a long sigh he walks once more around the room until at last he finds it. His eyes snapped open, having closed to better concentrate on the search, and with a sharp look his gaze snaps to the ceiling. Climbing carefully on to the table after checking to make sure no servants are close by, he runs his fingers along the stone a foot from the chandelier. After a few seconds searching he finds what was bothering him.

With a rough but quiet grating noise several of the stones move to the side like a trap door revealing a dark hole. [i]'This should not have been used in quite a long time, however no dust fell when it opened. Most of the unused parts of this palace were obviously filthy and felt empty. This however. . . .'[/i] With little effort he jumps up and grips the sides of the hole. Lifting himself easily up into the darkness he watches as the hole closes up behind him. Feeling around he finds the trigger to open it once more but does not trip it. Instead he looks around at the space he now occupies. On three sides is solid stone, with the fourth side leading off towards, according to his mental map, the west wing. [i]'Interesting'[/i] He begins crawling slowly, his magic working overtime to take in as much as it can. [i]'This passageway is large enough for a fully armed man to move through easily on all fours'[/i] Rei himself crawls simply to have more of his skin on the stone. 

The distinct lack of dust continues on for quite some time until at last he can smell it in the distance. At the same time he detects a trapdoor not to far ahead. Stopping beneath it he feels around carefully with both fingers and magic he determines the are above to be vacant and after a few moments thought he trips the switch to open the trap door. [i]'I shall only take a quick look'[/i] he decides before crawling out of the hole. As quickly as possible he takes in the room. [i]'Decent sized, about as big as my room. More barren, like a waiting room, only furniture chairs and benches. Like the small passage curiously free of dust, however I do not sense that this room is occupied much. More as if only in passing'[/i] Nodding to himself he slips back down through the hole and closes the trap door. Without hesitation he makes his way back to the small dinning area and closes the ceiling before moving on with his inspection.

By this time the number of servants has dwindled to only a handful and he easily evades detection as he slips back into the entrance hall. Deciding on a cursory examination of the west wing for now he spends a good half hour getting the guard's movements down at a distance before slipping into the hall and moving to the first safety point. High above the guard's heads he moves along the overhang running along the wall, pausing whenever one moves in any other way besides routine. [i]'A human would never be able to walk up here like this. I guess that explains why they never seem to look up while patrolling this hall'[/i] Keeping to the shadows he manages to figure out who is sleeping where, and which servants are doing their nightly duties at this late hour. Each one is less than a dozen feet from a guard, and all are within eyesight of one. [i]'I can see why he was so worried. I could mention to him about this little highway up here in the shadows. However, I and my kind are really the only ones who can more up here without detection'[/i] 

Ducking back out of the wing he makes his way around the rest of the palace, easily avoiding most of the guards and servants, only a few times having to take extra measures to avoid being seen. At last he returns to the floor with his room on it having never needed to use the apple. Slipping back into his room he pulls out the bright red fruit and makes short work of it with his pointed canines. The meat is cold by now, but that is how he likes it. Tearing off a breast he wanders over to the secret door leading to the occupied room he opens it carefully. The small hallway, only half his height and a few feet long, is comfortingly filthy. With his unoccupied hand he reaches in and fiddles with the door's mechanism so that when it closes, it will stay closed, only able to open from his side. He eats slowly, going over and over the map in his mind until at last he comes to the other passage leading out of his room. [i]'He said no sneaking. He said nothing about wandering openly through a secret passage'[/i] Knowing his logic is flawed but determined to check on the prince before he himself retires for the night he crosses the room and opens the secret passage to the right of his now cold fireplace. Still eating the pheasant he walks slowly through the passage, tall enough to walk upright, and for one man with broad shoulders to walk comfortably.