he morning of the fair dawned bright and early, and Jade was awakened by a spritely knock on her door.
"Good morning."
It was Sable, and Kat.
"You're both up early."
"It's fair day," Sable grinned. "And seeing as though everyone has the day off, I ordered in some breakfast. It arrived, and I figured you'd want to eat it while it's hot, so we're waking you up."
"I see. Where's Coal?"
"Probably eating already. Here's yours. Do you want it in bed?"
"I'm dying for a bath."
"I'll warm the water for you then," smiled Kat. "Unless you fancy a cold one? No, I didn't think so!"
A few moments later, they had both left the room, and Jade was left with the prospect of a hot bath, or a hot breakfast - one would go cold while the other was enjoyed.
"Well," she mused. "It's not like there's anyone here to see me."
Jade settled the plank of wood which held her bath oils across the bath, and placed the basket of food onto it. She then settled comfortably into the piping hot water.
"Now, what do I have to eat?"

Jade emerged from her bedroom an hour later, and found Kat and Sable sitting on his couch. Kat had curled her tail coyly around her bare feet, and Sable was lounging casually against the corner of the couch, providing the best display of his chest. The remains of their breakfast littered his coffee table, and the two were deep in conversation.
"Are you planning on dressing today?" Jade queried, with a smile.
Both jumped.
"Well, I would," replied Kat, recovering fastest, "but I only have my jeans which don't have a tail hole."
"Didn't Emerald bring you the dress for today before she left last night?"
"I thought that was for the fair."
"It is. You can't wear it now?"
"I figured you'd want me to keep it clean. I don't know how clean it'll stay while we're surveying the castle."
Jade laughed.
"It's going to get filthy at the fair. As long as it looks presentable when we make our entrance, it'll be fine. Besides, the house isn't that dirty."
"Right. I'll go and dress then."
Kat set her cup on the table, and swished out of the room, her tail swaying slightly as she walked. Jade bemusedly watched Sable watching her leave the room.
"When you're dressed, Sable, will you and Coal please do a quick sweep of the house, to make sure everyone has gone?"
"Yes'm," he murmured.
Jade's smile became wider.
"And then meet us in Kat's bedroom."
He almost seemed to blush, Jade thought, as she left the room. Anyone would think he'd been thinking about Kat's bedroom! Jade hummed as she swept down the hall.

Jade admired her handiwork with a smile. The dress had been a gift to her from her Aunt Topaz, and it had never suited her. She supposed that the colours would have looked wonderful against her aunt's light brown fur, but against Jade's silvery fur, the brown dress looked awful. On Kat, however, the colours did work. The deep chocolate brown with russet panelling brought out the deeper golds hidden within Kat's fur, and some subtle make up make the sapphire eyes even more luminous.
"You look wonderful."
"Thank you. This dress wouldn't work on you, though."
"No. It was a gift, from Aunt Topaz. Who is the person who would be your mother, incidently."
"Ah. But your dress is wonderful."
"Yes, this one was a gift from my father."
Jade gently smoothed the pale blue, almost silvery white, dress over her hips.
"It's lovely."
"Thank you."
Sable knocked on the door, and Kat opened it. Jade wasn't in a position to see Kat's face, but she got a clear view of Sable's eyes widening when he saw Kat. Sable also looked particularly fine. His chocolate brown pants clung to his legs, and the lighter brown shirt was loose, exposing a bit of his chest. He looked wonderful, and he matched Kat perfectly. Coal was similarly attired, in fitted black pants and a white shirt, to match Jade's dress.
"My, don't we all look lovely," Jade smiled. "I assume the house was all clear?"
"Yes," Coal replied. "All clear."
"Wonderful. Let's start the inspection."

Jade stood with Coal as Kat stopped again. Interestingly, she had stopped in all of the same places as the inspectors, and many others also. Though rather than walking back and forth along the hall, she seemed to know exactly where the magic was coming from.
"There used to be a magical item hidden in this wall. It was removed maybe 80 years ago? The residue is still there, but it's fading. It'll probably only be noticeable for another five or ten years."
"What sort of magical item?"
"Difficult to say."
"An amulet?"
"It could have been."
"Would you be able to match the residue to a particular amulet?"
"Yes, if I held it."
Jade held out her amulet, and Kat placed her hand on it.
"Ah, yes. It was yours. How did you know?"
"I didn't, exactly. But I knew that my father had hiding places for them around the castle. He died before he had a chance to show me where they were."
"I'm sorry."
"How do you open it?"
Kat reached out and pressed on a stone, and a neat little cavity swung open. Inside was a piece of fabric, but that was all. Kat pressed it closed again. Over the course of the tour, Kat revealed four more such hiding places, each of which was empty. As an experiment, Jade's amulet was placed into one of the holes, and once closed, the cavity was completely undetectable. Kat smiled.
"Looks like they work to protect themselves. That's clever."
Jade retreived her amulet, and they continued. When they got the the hallway by Jade's room, Kat stopped again.
"Ah, I see why he was confused."
"Why's that?"
"Well, every creation of magic has an energy output. The circle had a huge output, and continues to output frequently. The walls here have absorbed that energy. So it's clear that there's something over there, but," Kat stepped into the room, "the wall masks it. It's impossible to tell where it's coming from. It's just clear that at some point, some huge magical energy was released somewhere around here."
"Well, that's good."
Kat walked across the room, and touched the wall.
"There's nothing coming off this wall at all."
"Very good."
"Shall we complete the tour?"
"Tomorrow," Jade replied. "It's almost time for us to make an appearance, and I have a feeling your inspection will take a while."
"That's true," Kat replied, hands falling from the wall. When do we need to join the general public?"
"Very shortly. We'll just have time to wash our hands and freshen up. Shall we meet at the front door?"
Sable and Coal both nodded, and Coal offered his arm to Jade. She took it, then waited as Kat left the room on Sable's arm before following, closing the door behind them.

Kat sat on the grass with Sable, watching the man juggling fire. Keeping in mind that he wasn't using magic, it was quite impressive. Kat had enjoyed the fair. Sable had bought them lunch, and then they had looked through the stalls, and then he had bought them dinner, and now they were watching the entertainment. Which was entertaining, provided that you weren't used to shows which utilised magic.
"Tired?" Sable queried, as Kat yawned.
"A little. Want to go for a walk?"
"Sure."
They abandoned their place on the lawn, and walked slowly away from the festivities.
"I've been thinking," Kat started.
"Yes?"
"About the room."
"Yes?"
"There must be another way in."
"Why?"
"Well... practicality. So you go down there, and you want to go out. Are you going to go all the way back upstairs and through the house?"
Sable caught her drift immediately.
"No, of course not. Too much risk of being seen. It would probably be somewhere on that wall," he added, gesturing.
Without a word, they changed directions, so they were ambling towards the house. They reached the ideal spot, and Kat leaned against the wall. Sable dipped his head, and whispered, "There's somebody watching us."
"There's no magical residue on this wall."
Sable's sharp ears heard an old man chuckle, and say, "Just some young couple looking for a quite place for a bit of canoodling. I wish you wouldn't jump to conclusions like that, Tab."
Sable chuckled quietly.
"It's alright, they think we're "canoodling"."
Kat laughed.
"I don't think that word's been used in 70 years."
"Old guy was probably about 100. No magic?"
"None."
"But it must be around here somewhere. And something you could reach from both, uh... positions."
"Right."
Sable began feeling the wall, and after a few minutes, a stone depressed, and the section of wall right next to where Kat was leaning shifted in. With a triumphant grin, they moved inside, clicking the door closed behind them.

The tunnel had been long and narrow, but had eventually opened up into the room, as they had expected. Sable experimented with the catch, working out how to open it, while Kat examined the walls. After a few minutes, she had opened a cubby hole, and produced a book and a bag.
"Listen to this, Sable. "Today I predicted the downfall of T. I went to him and told him of my vision, and urged him to send his wife and children away. He agreed to follow my advice, and gave me his amulet for safe keeping." And then, "T's wife has been taken by the council. Why did I not see it? It seems my "gift" only works for visions material to the safety of the amulets, not of my friends. Truly, I am cursed." There's many entries here."
Sable left the door, and came to look at the book. Together, they flipped through several entries, until they reached the final entry.
"Oh. "Today I foresaw the life of my son. Though I am gratified that he will be happy, his premature end is entirely related to these accursed amulets! Today, I have taken them all from their hiding places, and put them all in a bag. I can not bring myself to destroy them, but I have hidden them in the secret room. Shortly, I will hide this journal there also. I have only shown the room to my beloved son once, it is my hope that he will not remember, and I will never show him again. These amulets bring nothing but trouble. Of the twenty of us, there are only eight who haven't been attacked by the council. I never want to see them again. Signed, Garnet of Auvreanae." That's so sad."
"Garnet of Auvreanae. That's Jade's grandmother," Sable said, quietly.
"How awful for her. To be able to see the future, but do nothing to change it."
"What's in the bag?"
Kat opened the bag, and smiled.
"Amulets. Thirteen of them."
"Gosh. There's one thing that bothers me, though."
"What's that?"
"How was the council finding out who had amulets? They were clearly a close-knit group."
"I have an idea, but it's not a nice one."
"You think they had an informer?"
"It's a possibility."
"Well, she said there was 20. There's 13 here, and me, Coal, Emerald, Jade, and Amber. That leaves two."
"One. There's the one that Jade got from the other future-seer."
"Right. And there's another problem."
"What's that?"
"If there was an informer? There probably still is. How else would the council have found the future teller?"
Kat and Sable pondered that for a moment, then Kat placed the book and bag back into the hole.
"We'll talk it over with Jade in the morning."
"Agreed. Anything else you want to look at in here?"
"I'll examine it in the morning. I really just wanted to find the tunnel. There had to be one."
"Right. My lady?"
Sable offered Kat his arm, and she smiled, stepping towards him. Unfortunately, her tail got in the way, and she tripped over it.
Sable caught her, and helped her back to her feet.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes. My tail hurts though."
Sable ran his hand gently over her tail from base to tip, causing Kat to shiver.
"It feels okay," Sable began, then noticed Kat's reaction. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have taken such liberties with you..."
"It's ok. It feels wonderful."
"Nobody have ever done that to you before?"
Sable looked surprised.
"I've only been like this a week," Kat reminded him.
"Of course. It's just, I feel like I've known you..."
"Forever," Kat concluded. "I know. I feel the same."
Sable gently curled her tail around his fist, and wrapped his own tail around her waist. He hesitated a long moment, using his other hand to rub her back, then gently kissed her.
Kat vanished.

Sable paced the floor restlessly. He was torn between waiting for Kat to reappear, and going to find Jade, and tell her what had happened. Then, just as suddenly as she had vanished, Kat reappeared. She had been gone for half an hour. Sable caught her as she fell, and gently lowered her to the floor.
"Sable?" she asked, and then passed out.
Sable lifted her into his arms, and carried her to his other room - the one that wasn't next to Jade's - and placed her in the bed.
Then he settled himself in a chair, and dozed.

Jade sat in Sable's room, with Coal, eating her breakfast. Sable hadn't returned to his room last night, but more disturbing was that he wasn't in Kat's room either. She had been worrying for 45 minutes, briefing Coal about organising a search party, when Sable and Kat entered the room.
"Where have you been?" Jade cried, throwing herself at him and hugging him close. "I was so worried!"
"Hey, who's the bodyguard here?" he teased. "I was in my room."
"I've been in your room!"
"My other room."
Jade was astonished. He never used his other room, and only kept a few things in it to make her happy.
"You used it?"
"Well, I didn't think it was proper to stay in Sapphire's room."
"Oh."
He smiled, and gently guided her back into her chair, then pulled out a chair for Kat. Jade frowned. Something had changed between them, she just wasn't sure what.
"We have something to tell you, when we won't be interrupted."
Jade nodded, watching as Sable poured Kat a cup of tea.
"Are you alright, Saph?"
"Yes, I'm fine," Kat smiled, after a few seconds of not realising Jade was speaking to her. "We'll tell you all about it later."
Curiosity piqued, Jade ordered the guards at the end of the hall that they were not to be disturbed, and demanded an explanation. With little preamble, Sable and Kat jointly told of their investigation and discovery of tunnel to the outside of the castle, and Kat's discovery of the amulets and diary. Then they told of Kat's disappearance and reappearance, and Jade nodded, thoughtfully.
"I was there about 10 minutes. Darryl had to reprepare the teleportation spell after I told him that it had to be muffled from now on, and I gave them a quick update on the situation here. Lex is going to dig out the amulets he collected, and see how many are missing on the other side. They're going to try again in 2 days as originally arranged, so tomorrow night, and we will try and set up some sort of cross-dimensional phone line, so I can just tell them when I want to come back."
"But, she was gone here three times as long," Sable added, "so we can surmise that it takes 10 minutes to travel each way."
Jade nodded again, thoughtfully.
"I would like to see this book."
"And I would like to examine the room."
"Very well."
"There is one other thing," Sable added.
"What's that?"
He quickly explained about their informer theory.
"So we have 13 down there, the four of us and Amber, and the one that you got. Which means there's only one that we don't know where it is."
Jade walked into her bedroom, and came out with an amulet, and handed it to Kat.
"Here. You may as well wear this one while we investigate. And there isn't one missing."
"There isn't?"
"No. I know who has the other."
"Well? Who is it?"
Jade hesitated a long moment.
"It's Slate."
"Well he must be the traitor." Said Coal.
Jade knew she shouldn't have been surprised at his accusation as he had never liked Slate but it still took her by surprise. All eyes had turned to her and she sighed.
"I will not have any accusations. This rebellion has worked on trust and if we start accusing each other that trust will be broken and then so will the rebellion."
"But we need to work out who the traitor is." Sable said.
"I am well aware off that, but there will be no more discussion on it. You will not tell anyone else of this. Understood?" Her tone on the last word made it clear she wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Yes m'Lady."
"Now go, I have work to do."

They all stood to leave but Jade reached out and grabbed Kat gently.
"Stay, please."

Kat nodded and waited for Sable and Coal to leave then she closed the door behind them and sat down, waiting for Jade to talk.

"I need your help." Jade said after some time.
"You trust me?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Sable does."
Kat nodded. "What do you need?"
"A little subterfuge. I know you will be going home again soon. I want you to make sure that the cross-dimensional phone line you spoke off is set up. However when you return, I want you to say that it wasn't possible."
"You suspect trouble?"
"I just wish to be prepared."
"Then you know who the traitor is?"
"I have my suspicions."
"Then I will do as you have asked."
"Thank you."

Kat smiled and got up to leave. As she reached the door Jade spoke.
"I want you to know, I will not invite Sable to my bed again."
"Thank you." Kat said without turning around and left quietly.