86th of Glade, Year 120
"We did a damn good job against the Joseph's," she said.
"We did," Taelian replied.
"Damn shame we lost Rhylor. We were so close to saving him -- a hair's thread away. If we hadn't lost my salves in the fire... ah, Taelian, I'm not blaming you. It's just... it's been really difficult, being alone in Grimholdt like this. Waiting for word from our central Ailizane site in Cathena. Can you imagine how long it sometimes takes to communicate with them? We need more Transposers in our chain of command."
The Ebon Knight nodded. "I agree," he said. Luckily he was one of them -- perhaps not good enough to send letters afar to Cathena, but eventually he would be able to. He could help Eleanor that way, like she had helped him and for a long time.
"I'm not going to report you as a deserter to Aldrin. I knew you didn't intend to leave forever. You have obligations with that group of yours -- the one that saved my life. I understand. You're better than a lot of Ebon Knights, Tae, in that the touch of wealth and prosperity didn't send you completely away. But I need you to help me. While I've been alone here, I've been following the same leads that we gained when it was the four of us, trying to see if I could find and root out any Botchlings the Joseph's might have created. Instead, Taelian, I found a conspiracy: a group known as the Westweald Trading Company, seemingly gaining a trade hegemony in Kamdin and even expanding their operations to the interior. Its director, Helena Flowers, is almost certainly a Dranoch. And a powerful one. I've learned something absolutely horrific from my sources. She appears..."
"...To be close to becoming a Huntsman, yes?" Taelian asked.
Eleanor stared down, solemnly. "Yes," she replied. "How did you know?"
"Eloise told me," he said. "It would be... the first one ever outside of Sil-Elaine. I only wonder how it managed to happen. To become a Huntsman requires so much murder -- hundreds of thousands just to create a single one. How did she manage?"
"Quantity isn't the only way," the woman replied. "Strength matters. Their voracity is essentially a sacrifice; and there is a stark difference between sacrificing a rat and a bull. Powerful warriors have been disappearing across Atinaw for some time. It has led to no shortage of theories. But I have a new one, now -- Helena Flowers was the source of these disappearances, and the source of all of these missing laborers, and the source of many maladies across her time. And if she becomes a Huntsman... there will be much more pain to come."
