ot at all. My real name is my real name, no matter how many people know it. Just because I let everyone know it, doesn't mean that it's any less powerful. Just that I feel that I can deal with being called. Practice leads to resistance, as they say."
Jade privately thought that Laure sounded somewhat up himself.
"I see," she said coolly.
Laure caught sight of the overturned bowl, and reached down to pick it up. Jade frowned as he turned it over in his hands, and murmured quietly.
"What are you doing?" Jade asked somewhat sharply.
"Asking the bowl a question," he replied, calmly, "but it has recently been cleansed by the Goddess' presence and so thinks I am the only one to touch it."
He placed the bowl on the table, next to Kat's pack.
"Are you here for a reason?"
"Yes. I felt magic coming from this room, and so I came."
"But I haven't drawn since we've been here!" exclaimed Jade defensively.
"No, but you looked in Kat's bowl."
Jade blushed and looked away guiltily.
"Didn't Kat tell you that magic is illegal?"
"But I didn't do anything! And Kat did it!"
Laure shook his head.
"Kat has learned enough so that she can shield herself. She doesn't go around drawing on the power of the goddess in every inn in the city, and if she does, she shields herself. She practices restraint, and, unlike you, she knows what she is doing! Do you realise how much danger you have put us all in?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," snapped Jade. "I haven't drawn a single thing since Kat and I changed inns."
"You used Kat's scrying bowl, and that's enough," Laure snapped back. "And used it to call on the goddess, what's more."
"I didn't do anything," Jade replied sulkily. "All I wanted was my mother. I don't like it here, and I want to go home!"
To her embarrassment, two large tears rolled down her cheeks. Laure sighed.
"I keep forgetting how young you are. Jemdae, I am sorry, I should not have yelled at you, you did not understand."
Jade sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleave, glaring at him from under her eyebrows. Laure sighed again.
"Jemdae, I am sorry. But please, we have to leave. Already I can feel them drawing closer."
"Where's Kat?"
"She's... somewhere else. She's safe, don't worry. But we are not, and we have to leave. You have to trust me."
"But what about Kat's things?"
"We will leave them here with my token so that she will know you are with me. Please, hurry."
"Ok, Ok," muttered Jade.
She sniffed again and picked up her bag. Laure opened the door and ushered Jade out and down the stairs. Just as they reached the common room, Jade stopped dead.
"My sketch book!" she cried. "I have to get it!"
"Leave it," snapped Laure. "They are almost here."
"No!"
Jade slipped past him and ran up the stairs.
"Corellon Larethian preserve us," muttered Laure, and began preparing himself for battle.

Upstairs, Jade grasped her sketch book and hugged it to her chest before carefully putting it into her pack. Then she closed the door behind her and ran down to the common room. Laure had his bow strung and an arrow in one hand. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards the door.
"Can you shoot?"
"No..."
"Can you cast?"
"What?"
"Then stay close and behind me! We're going to have to fight our way out."
They stepped out of the inn, and saw that the street in front of them was crawling with men in brown robes, with hoods.
"There they are," said one of the mages. "Bring them to justice."
The mages all began muttering in a dark guttural language, which reminded Jade somehow of oil on water. She found it extremely distasteful, and clamped her hands over her ears. A few seconds later she felt her arms being forced down and held tightly to her sides by some magical means. Laure shot several of the mages before his arms were forced down in a similar manner. Then the bow and the arrows vanished.
"Want them to get your bag, or want Kat to have it?" he asked as the mages closed in.
"Kat!"
Jade's bag vanished from her shoulder, and she gasped. The mages reached them and lifted them off the ground with magic.
"Where's my bag?"
"Somewhere safe," Laure replied quietly. "Pretend you never had it."
"Your bow?"
"Same place."
"Could you have placed us there?"
"I could have put myself there."
"But not me?"
"No."
"Why didn't you?"
"Kalianah would have killed me if I'd let you be captured alone."
"Oh, Kat! She told me..."
Jade thought hard with her mind, and then screamed, "Kalianah Evensong!"
Then they reached the mages' building, and the world went dark.

Kat was standing in the hall, talking to Anne-Marie about Jade's drawing, trying to convince her to send Darren and a couple of others to the mages' guild hall to rescue her when Jade called her name. Her concentration wavered, and she quickly excused herself, then vanished from the faerie queen's hall. Anne-Marie sat on Mab's throne for a while longer, then ordered for the hall to be cleared. She needed time to think.

Kat appeared in the street in front of their inn, and immediately felt the residue energy left from the mages' casting. She swore softly under her breath and ran into the inn and up the stairs to what had been their room. On her bed was Lomeldur's bow and arrows and Jade's bag, and on the table was her bag, scrying bowl, and a token bearing Lomeldur's family crest. Kat began swearing again, for a slightly longer period. She shouldn't have left the bowl full, obviously Jade had used it once she'd left the room. Kat picked up her bowl and put it back into her bag with the flask. She found the small bag of herbs on Jade's bed and added those. A quick search of the room revealed nothing else belonging to them, and Kat picked up Jade's bag, weighing it carefully in her hand. Full, it wouldn't go into the opening of her bag, so either she would have to open it, or carry two. Kat removed the sketchpad and placed it on the table, and then removed Jade's skirts, which had been screwed into a ball and shoved in. Kat shook her head, and carefully folded them, placing them into her bag neatly. With the sketchpad and skirts removed, the bag fit in easily and Kat placed it on top of Jade's skirts. Last came the sketchpad, and that slid down the side. Kat murmured a quiet enchantment, and the bag once again appeared to be empty as Jade's belongings were transported into an alternative realm. Kat slung Lomeldur's bow and quiver of arrows across her back and made her way to the common room.
"Kali," said a rich, warm voice.
Kat looked up and met the eyes of a woman with long golden hair and violet eyes.
"Lomithiel. Kate, I mean," Kat corrected herself with a smile. "It's been a while."
"That it has. I was here with Lomeldur when we felt Jemdae drawing on the Goddess. Unfortunately, we could not get her away in time, and she and Lomeldur were both captured by the city mages. I fear they will be taking them to Maelos in the morning."
"I do not doubt it," said Kat. "And they will be well guarded all the way there."
"Perhaps we should go there and wait for them?"
"But what if they don't come? We would be even worse off than we are now. What about your father?"
"Father loves Lomeldur and I very much, but he would say that whilst family should support each other, Lomeldur is old enough to take care of himself. I am here, and that's going to have to be enough. I fear for my brother, Kali. I don't know what they'll do to him."
"I fear too, and also for Jade. I don't know what they'll do to her..."
Lomithiel sighed.
"We must be certain that they take them to Maelos."
"Is there anyone else here with you?"
"Yes," Lomithiel replied. "We were Laure, and I took Darren and Sarah into the city for experience."
"Sarah? Legolindė is old enough to come into the city?"
"Yes, time slips by when we are not watching it, doesn't it? I sent Legolindė home to tell father what happened, she should get home tomorrow or the next day."
"Who is Darren?" asked Kat, curiously.
"Uh... he's my betrothed," admitted Lomithiel, embarrassed. "You will forgive me if I don't tell you his real name."
"Surely, congratulations. So you, myself and Darren have to battle the mages guild to free Jade, Mab and Laure. This doesn't sound like an equal fight."
"Mab is there too?" asked Lomithiel in surprise.
"According to Jade's drawing, yes. But we don't have time for this. How about you and Darren start for Maelos, and I'll wait here. When they leave, I'll come meet you. If they go in another direction, I'll come tell you, and follow them."
"Sounds like a plan," Lomithiel sighed. "I hope Lomeldur is all right..."
"He will be fine," Kat assured her. "You and Darren had better get going before the gates close, the sun is setting as we speak."
"See you in Maelos, then."
"Take Care."
"And you, also," replied Lomithiel, and she left the inn.