Ambrose was nervous when he walked into the large meeting room. Prince Frode's servant, Ezer Floros, had told him a lot about the achievements of the other two people. Now that he was going to meet them, he expected them to be pretty impressive. A few days ago, he was also introduced to corporal Hedgefield while he was helping out in nearby hospital, with the request to see if he could also tend to this man's injuries.

To Ambrose's surprise, he was able to cure all of the corporal's injuries, but it had taken a lot of trial and error. There had been multiple times where Ambrose got tired to the point of exhaustion, without the corporal showing any signs of healing, but Ambrose eventually managed to get the hang of things. He soon realised that he could heal wounds for as long as he had some basic understanding of what exactly he was dealing with and that it wasn't merely the treatment itself that was curing people. It was as if there was some sort of external power at play, which made the normal results of his work as a medicine-man pale in comparison.

Questioning Hedgefield about his injuries and focussing on very specific issues made healing the corporal a lot less tiresome and a lot more effective, whilst trying to blindly figure out what was wrong often left Ambrose exhausted without there being any results. Even so, there was a big difference between what injuries he was healing, as some bigger injuries left him considerably more exhausted, regardless of his understanding of them. At some points, he even fainted before he was able to finish a treatment.

Right now, he tried to control his breathing before entering the meeting between key figures, which somehow ended up including him. All things considered, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to be involved in this, but he was too scared and worried to say so. He was the first one to enter the room out of the three invitees, with prince Frode himself already awaiting him. The prince spoke up before Ambrose could. "Good afternoon, please take a seat."

Ambrose gave a short bow, and did what he was asked to do. He was desperately trying to get used to this odd scenario. Being the sole Human in the High Elven royal palace, if not being the sole Human in the entire Capital or Empire altogether, felt really strange. Simply helping a village overcome some trouble didn't seem to warrant such an honour, yet here he was.

Maiara Aina walked in shortly after Ambrose. Ambrose immediately realized that Ezer hadn't exaggerated when he warned Ambrose that she was rather eccentric. She was dressed in all-black, even including gloves and a hat that covered part of her face in a shadow. With how tall she was, even for a High Elf, she stood almost an entire head above Ambrose, despite him being above average in height for a Human. To Ambrose's surprise, she was followed by an Elf a fair bit shorter than her, but it didn't seem to be a Forest Elf. Ambrose figured that he had to be one of the rare Desert Elves living to the south of the Empire. For all Ambrose knew, the only Desert Elves in the Empire were enslaved, but this man was far too well-dressed to be a slave. He looked like a nobleman himself, or maybe a royal secretary, not a poorly treated servant. The only part of his attire that set him apart from the palace's staff was the large curved sword he carried on his hip. Ambrose expected Frode to request for him to leave, but no such request came. Instead, the women and her servant were greeted in the same way as he had been.

The next one to arrive could only be the infamous Itzal Fusun. He wore an odd type of cloak that seemed to be designed to conceal and hold whatever the wearer wanted to carry along, making Ambrose wonder if the palace guards had allowed him to wield his weapons. They had clearly allowed Maiara's servant to keep his blade, after all. Itzal was a bit shorter than Ambrose, and although he wasn't what you'd consider bulky or overtly muscular, he was clearly well-trained. His eyes seemed to pierce through the room in an instant, quickly observing everything and everyone. He was followed by a woman, a Forest Elf like him. She was easily considered beautiful by any standards, but something about her seemed a bit off to Ambrose. Like before, Frode didn't seem to comment on the arrival of yet another uninvited guest.

Just as Ambrose was wondering why the prince was allowing this, the prince spoke up. "I see that we've all gathered here, including two uninvited guests. Would you care to state why you're here?" The prince didn't sound aggressive, but he did sound authoritative.

Itzal spoke up. "My most humble apologies, your highness, but I took her on as my apprentice, and I am here to humbly request her presence to be accepted." He spoke with a silver tongue, but something about it struck Ambrose as disingenuous.

Maiara spoke up next. "My steward Qadir's involvement has been vital to solving the issues here in the capital. It seems to me that his presence here is just as warranted as mine is."

Ambrose was surprised by how easily she spoke up against the prince himself. It was something that a normal person could be harshly punished for. He feared that both Maiara and Itzal would be potential troublemakers, which made his own involvement all the less desirable.

Frode didn't show a single sign of being bothered by them. Instead, he calmly replied. "Very well, I'll allow their presence. However, I do demand that you to inform me beforehand next time. Having uninvited guests ends up being troublesome more often than not."

Itzal nodded. "Of course, your highness."

Maiara agreed as well. "Very well, I will take care to do so."

Frode spoke up again. "With that out of the way, I'd like to get straight to business. You've all heard each-others stories by now, and Ezer should've explained why we believe these cases to be related. The energy draining crystals, crystal infected rats and crystal-implanted Forest Elves all seem to be utilized by the same organization, which uses these crystals to endanger the stability of the Empire. Most evidence points towards the grim fact that they managed to infiltrate various instances, such as the New Haven guards. They also infiltrated the Elder Council in the Forest Elven autonomous zone, and that they have gained a firm foothold there. We've been unable to get a good grasp on the situation due to the difficult political situations between the autonomous zone and the rest of the Empire."

Itzal replied immediately after Frode finished speaking. "I understand why you'd want me to be involved, considering I was already investigating everything relating to these issues in New Haven. However, I'm not sure what a random Human and some eccentric noble-woman have to add to this investigation, even if they solved crystal-related troubles and apparently gained some kind of power as a result."

Maiara interrupted. "Anyone would prefer a well-educated scholar over a murderer and a scoundrel. Do you really think nobody would realized you've murdered the General Guard yourself? You've been at the right places at the right time a little bit too often for it to be coincidences, and everything I learned about the poison leads towards a rumoured black market dealer who goes the by name of the Alchemist. From what I've gathered, he's not the type to deal with a group like the Liberators. He's too careful to get involved in schemes bigger than a single individual trying to play hero, such as yourself."

If Itzal was fazed by all this, he didn't show it in the slightest. "That's a pretty interesting theory you've got, but I'm afraid it's little more than that."

"Don't worry, I'll gladly detain you and confirm that you're carrying the exact same type of poison that was found on the remains of the General Guard. Traces of it were found when they investigated the type of dagger that was used to kill him. You must've gotten confident after getting away with it for so long, after all."

"It's against my principles to be detained or searched, whether there is something to be found or not." Itzal said it with a tone that was pretty challenging, as if daring here to go through with her threats.

Frode finally intervened. "If what she says is true, I'll give you a single chance to come clean and to explain your actions. If the assassination was somehow warranted, I might pardon you."

The moment of silence was enough to prove everyone that Itzal didn't exactly have a clear conscious. "Very well, but I'll have to request for you to pardon Luna as well."

Frode frowned as he replied. "Depending on the circumstances, I might do so. Before I promise anything though, I'll need to hear exactly what happened."

Itzal smiled, as he told them about his run-in with the General Guard and about Luna's trouble with one of the Liberators. He was surprisingly open about it, without trying to twist some facts here and there. Part of it seemed to be a desire to come clean, but it was also possible that he feared Maiara would catch on to him if he lied.

Frode remained silent for a while, even after Itzal finished. As the uneasy silence started to become increasingly pressing, he spoke up. "Very well, I'll pardon your actions, but I forbid you from taking such actions without my approval in the future."

"Thank you, your highness." Itzal said. The word of thanks was soon repeated by an even more grateful Luna, who was shedding some tears of relief. To Ambrose's surprise, there was a hint of genuine relief in Itzal's voice as well. For all the bad impressions Itzal had given off, there seemed to be a bit more to him then first met the eyes.

Ambrose finally figured he'd get over his fears and speak up. "I am correct to think that you wish for us to aid the investigation by looking into what's happening in the autonomous zone, using what we learned from our previous successes and experiences with the crystals?" The idea alone worried him, but at the same time, he had to admit that he was at least somewhat curious. A fair few of the medicine he bought originated in the forests of the autonomous zone and there was a part of him that wanted to see the place where all of it came from.

Frode nodded. "Yes. I also wish for the you to utilize those odd powers you've gotten to stop the other irregularities that might be related to these crystals and the group behind them. I'll grant the three of you special rights as my personal investigative team, while I remain here to keep up to date with the events happening through-out the rest of the country. I'll also try to learn more about similar events elsewhere in the world, including the other known irregularity along our border with the Dwarven Republics."

Maiara spoke up. "What will you grant is in return for our efforts?"

Before Frode could answer, Itzal replied to her. "Aren't you supposed to be the type of noble that's just in it for the glory and fame?"

"No, I'm not." Maiara's answer was resolute and short.

Frode was quick to get things back on track. "The fact that you've already solved your own cases means you're already involved in this by your own decision. I'm merely here to provide resources and to streamline the process."

"Can we decline?" Maiara asked.

"Yes, although I might revoke that luxury if these events escalate to become an even bigger threat to the stability of our empire than they already are."

At this point, Ambrose figured she'd decline, but she didn't. Instead, she remained silent, seemingly deep in thought. It wasn't long after that she surprised them with a long list of demands. "I'd access to all records of any and all trade deals with the autonomous zone, as well as transcripts of any political meetings, starting from about three months prior to the first irregularities were noted. I'd also like to go through any notes you have about the other crystal cases."

Frode nodded. "That can all be arranged."

Maiara smiled. "Good. We'll research the situation carefully and plan our approach from there. If we take our time to prepare well, we should be able to solve this."

Itzal shook his head. "I'm going there. I've already got some connections to the Liberators, so it'd be a shame to let those go to waste. I'm jumping into the fray to solve it from within. It'd be a waste of time to fool around with paperwork first."

Maiara sounded annoyed. "Such foolish behaviour might actually start an uprising from the Forest Elves. Those Liberators are quite dangerous on their own right."

Itzal smiled. "Isn't that just one more reason to stick close to them?"

Frode interfered. "Although cooperation would likely be in your mutual benefit, I'll leave all of you free to pursue this question by your own methods. The task is simple. I want you to find out what is going on in the autonomous zone and to stop it at your own discretion. That said, do try to prevent causing a rebellion." Frode directed the last words at Itzal. He then suddenly turned towards Ambrose. "And what will you do?"