The sight that greeted Illiad as he opened the flap was breathtaking.
From the path they had entered this clearing, it had been hard to tell exactly how high up they had been. The sun setting, the light poles and, of course, Silver, had been so distracting that the Trojan hadn't had much chance to look around much... but if Dax had been in charge of setting up the tent, then he had arranged to put it in the one spot where there would be an incredible view for whoever came out of it.
From the tent's position here, Illiad was looking out from this small clearing near a cliff side, where the scene opened up into an exquisite sight of the river far, far below flowing against the foot of the Crystal Mountains, where the last ribbons of sunlight were creeping inexorably down the mountainside, threatening to engulf their little tent and the whole clearing with warm sunshine. He could see vast forests, rolling hills, bowl-like valleys and little townships dotting the landscape. There were birds here and there, moving in lazy formation as they passed below his line of sight; a strange sensation indeed.
But perfectly framed by the mountains was a direct view of the turrets and spires of Canterlot in the distance. The sun gleamed from stained-glass windows and shone from gabled rooftops - and having lived there, there were a number of the buildings visible which would look SO beautiful in the waxing sunshine... it was almost like being re-introduced to Canterlot, all over again.
This was the sight that greeted him, and with such a lovely backdrop, he heard Silver give a soft moan from behind him.
In her DreamForm state, her lines had been smooth and curved, her visual appearance more pleasing to the eye... and here was the real Silver Studs, mane bedraggled, bleary-eyed, string-o'-drool, dragon breath and all, it was as real as it could get.
To Illiad Easle, she was still just as beautiful as she was in his dreams, he thought it the perfect time to steal the first kiss of the day. Being careful not to breathe on her, as he knew his breath would smell no better than hers, he snagged a kiss right between her eyes just below her horn. "Morning Silver, I'd ask if you slept well but I know you did."
He retrieved the diamond from where it had been resting in the tent, its glow now greatly diminished. "What did you think of it? Was it a nice surprise? More importantly, would you be willing to do it again sometime?"
Illiad felt a bit more eager and awake than he usually did this early in the morning, his night had certainly been pretty restful.
Silver turned her red-eyed gaze upon Illiad, and spoke.
"Frblitzrrr."
She gave a huge stretch, segueing into an ENORMOUS yawn that degenerated into smacking her lips and scratching absent-mindedly at her left flank.
"Hmmno ffurhfurr nyahmaaahnmn." She pressed her hooves into her eye sockets, rubbing them in slow circles. "Yurssssstvrr, Iryiudde." Apparently, she was no early riser.
Note to self, Silver needs more induced REM sleep than most. Illiad was surprised that Silver was as tired as she was, he was used to coming out of the dream room reinvigorated, perhaps it was just that she was unused to the whole experience and it was more draining on her than him.
Silver smiled dimly, and leaned in to place a soft kiss on his cheek.
"Luffew."
She slowly got to her hooves and grumbled out a single, intelligible word:
"Coffee."
With that revelation, she began to trudge her way out of the tent and towards the storage sheds, including her own. She did have enough wakefulness to turn at look over her shoulder at the stallion.
"... hyoocommin?"
Illiad shrugged as he made his way after Silver, "Sure, I'll come along if you want. Though I don't drink coffee, still it's an opportunity to spend a bit more time with you."
Silver sleepily trudged over to her shed and went inside, leaving the door open for Illiad. Once inside, she zombie-walked to one of her contraptions in the far corner, pressed a button, and after a hiss and a gurgle, the aroma of fresh-ground coffee permeated the air around them both. It was dark and rich, and stirred the senses appropriately.
There was a slight >ding!<, and a panel opened up in the machine's side; inside it, a little ceramic mug was almost overflowing with what looked to be some very dark coffee. Silver then took it to one of her stools, sat down, and began to sip at her beverage, closing her eyes with each sip as if she was enjoying every drop of it.
About halfway through her cup, she finally began to take on a more familiar countenance. She also took a bit of time to spot-check her mane and coat. At the three quarter mark, she finally spoke up to Illiad in a voice that could be easily understood.
"Sorry about that - I am NOT a morning pony; I need coffee to get me going correctly, or I'm a wreck all day... well, not so much as a wreck, but more like I'll barely be of any use for anything."
She leaned over and gave her stallion a peck on the tip of his muzzle. "Last night was... oh, it was incredible!"
Illiad had his usual slight smile as he returned her kiss again. "I'm glad you enjoyed it so much, and I'm sure Selena will appreciate your compliments too, she really did put a lot of effort into that star-field. I'm surprised you woke up so tired though, Selena has always ensured that I woke up fully rejuvenated, I guess she just doesn’t know how to properly rejuvenate you yet."
He looked around the shop with a slightly awkward expression. "So... are we going to talk to Mr. Blackwater first? Or are we going to find Dax to thank him for his efforts? I'm good either way though I would prefer to thank Dax first."
"Ooh, I don't know... I mean, it's right to want to thank Dax, of course, and I DO want to... but, I'm just so nervous AND excited over the prospect of doing something so... so important! So WORTHY! Oh, but I really should keep it together, shouldn't I?"
She paced a bit, trying to piece together her thoughts. Then, she smiled broadly.
"Okay! How about this; you go and thank Dax while I go through my notes and cherry-pick some of my better inventions to show to Mr. Blackwater - that way, you two can both meet me here afterwards, and all three of us can try together. Maybe Dax would know what to say and how to say it?"
She clapped her hooves together excitedly, then began rushing around and poking though all sorts of stacks of notes and scrolls.
"Oh, don't worry - I'll have plenty of time to thank Dax on my own; I see him all the time! YOU go and thank him; after all, you're here to visit with HIM, right? I'm sure you two have spent a LOT of time together these past few days, haven't you? The poor guy's probably been your shadow, hasn't he? Well, actually no so much as your actual shadow; more like he's been stuck to you day and night, am I right?"
Considering EVERYTHING that's happened this week, HAD Illiad spent a lot of time with Dax?
Or has his time been spread out between all the other members of his family, not to mention some of the workers. And while those incidents were not really of any fault with either Illiad or Dax... the question remained; HAD he been spending enough time with the young and impressionable Blackwater stallion?
Illiad felt that his thoughts were trying to guilt him into doing something, but he firmly reminded himself that none of these other people would be around next week and he would be spending practically 24/7 with Dax in Troy.
Though perhaps I should try to spend a bit more time with him here…
Illiad nodded at Silver's comments. "That sounds like a plan, we'll meet you back here then when I'm done thanking him. I'm sure he'll want to know all about what we did."
He turned to leave the shed, then darted back for another quick kiss before rushing out the door with a big grin on his face.
After a few seconds of running he remembered that he had no idea where Dax would be, so he slowed his pace as he turned towards the house. He felt the need to change his robe anyway given he had spent the night in it, and Dax would probably be there at this hour. Also, breakfast was sounding like a good idea at the moment.
As he made his way towards the manor, there was a rather odd phenomenon happening... though at first, it wasn't easy to pinpoint the strangeness. Then after a careful look about, one thing would be interesting to note: There was a thick blanket of dark clouds that were looming in the area, almost a full and complete carpet of black wool in the sky, rolling and looking quite ready to rain down at any given moment.
Except in an almost perfect circle around the Blackwater Quarry grounds - there, the sky was only a soft, pillowy white, and rather sparse as well. It wasn't completely clear... but if one looked at it, you could see how the rest of the clouds around the quarry were just rolling on, but the ones over the quarry... weren't.
The sight was short-lived, however, as the entire mass of clouds began to gently dissipate and roll away to the far reaches of the visible sky. It was quite a strange sight... but stranger still was the fact that nopony active in the quarry even seemed to notice it.
Come to think of it... it didn't really seem as important as finding Dax; that should be his first priority - he could worry about the other thing later.
Selena noticed the clear mental manipulation and immediately took the expenditure of energy to view the outside world to see what someone wanted everyone to forget. The weather phenomenon was both localized and completely out of the ordinary, a clear use of the storm sapphire if she ever did see one. She saved the memory for later so she could remind Illiad of the happening, being careful to remove the manipulation from it. 'This will make for quite the dream tonight, it both explains why there hasn't been any weather here as well as the lack of any real confusion about it. Something big is going on here.'
Making it up to the manor doors, Illiad saw that they were already open... and there were voices from inside, and their tone (and the emotions coming forth) said that it was an argument.
"... bound to be some kind of punishment, even after all this time!"
"Stop it! You WORRY too much, Beck - I'm telling you that it will be FINE!"
"And I'm telling you that it WON'T be fine, Call! It will be the END of us! They'll put us away for GOOD this time!"
"Now listen - what did Madam Blackwater tell us?"
"That we were SAFE with her."
"Exactly - so we are. Get a GRIP, brother dear!"
It was the twin butlers... and they were speaking of something very interesting, from the sound of it.
Illiad entered the doors with a concerned expression on his face, spreading the calm he had whilst approaching to the brothers to ease their tensions. "Whatever seems to be the matter? I could hear you arguing from outside and something tells me it is something important to you two. Might I be of assistance in this matter?"
He could feel Selena shifting under his robes, indicating that something wasn't right, so he put himself on his guard just in case.
The butler twins froze as if they'd been spotted by timberwolves... the look on their faces were of a mix between horror and surprise, but their emotions were different: The one on the left was putting off waves of fear and nervousness... and Illiad was fairly certain they weren't aimed at HIM. The one on the right, however, was made of sterner stuff; there was a cool collectiveness that seemed to roll off him subtly.
They slowly glanced at each other, then the one on the left turned back and smiled a bit too broadly.
"Why... n-n-n-nothing, Sir Illiad! We were simply speaking about... uh, tomorrow's breakfast! Yes! We are currently out of preserves, and Mistress Vylia will have our HEADS if we don't f-f-f-fix- I MEAN, find some!"
The other butler gave his brother a glance... but said nothing. The distaste at his brother's lie was as obvious as the lie itself; the Trojan got the impression that he'd rather stay quiet than outright try to lie to the Blackwater's esteemed guest.
"... might we assist you, Sir Illiad?" Asked the one on the right, eager to forget his brother's fib.
Illiad's expression hardened, it was clear on his face that he knew something was going on. He looked intently at both of the brothers as he retrieved his gem from his robes, holding it in his magic close to himself. "I know something isn't right here, I can't seem to remember why I feel so troubled and I fully intend to get to the bottom of it. You two make it quite clear that you know what's going on here, your intents to change the subject and apparent nervousness make it obvious."
I guess I'm going to my room to see what Selena has to say, perhaps it has something to do with what's making these brothers so nervous.
The butler on the right gave a surprised look, genuinely confused at Illiad's words; it was obvious that he had no idea what Illiad was speaking of, and wasn't sure how to even address such.
The one on the left, however, caved in like a paper hat in a rainstorm.
"... ohhhhhhhh NOOOO! PLEASE, Mr. Illiad! PLEASE don't tell Missus Blackwater! She thinks he's taken care of!"
"Be quiet." The other butler pony spoke softly to his brother.
"If she learns he's actually IN EQUESTRIA, she'll skin us ALIVE!"
"Be... quiet... NOW." The other butler spoke through gritted teeth.
"But it won't be ANYTHING compared to what SLICK SHADOW would do to-"
The other butler had tried and failed, and now he lost his cool.
"CALL, SHUT UP!"
Both went quiet. After a moment, Beck walked over to Illiad and gave a hefty sigh.
"Mr. Easle, I thoroughly apologize for my brother's lack of common sense; we both sincerely apologize for deceiving you in such a manner, but I promise you - it was all for the better. A better, I'm afraid, that has just become worse as of today."
Beck looked the Trojan right in the eyes.
"If you'll be so kind as to keep what my erstwhile brother has said to yourself, then I will be happy to answer whatever questions you may have - but I beseech you, please... please understand, we have a BIG problem, and we're mildly panicked as to what options we may have."
The emotion coming from Beck was genuine; he was scared, but there was no hint of a lie in Beck. Call simply looked ashamed, and his emotions matched suit.
"Please, Mr. Easle," Beck asked, "we're not criminals anymore - and we haven't been for a while; can you forgive us this small white lie?"
Illiad, to his credit, took the whole thing in stride. He had a slightly pleasant, though no doubt serious, expression on his face as he entered more fully into the house. "It does sound like quite the dilemma you have here. Why don't we discuss it in a more private location, my quarters perhaps? I will forgive the lie IF you deign to tell me the truth."
Selena had a bad feeling about this, clearly something big was going on at the quarry, though perhaps the two events were not so closely linked as she had thought.
"Thank you; we will accompany you at once - Madam is taking a nap, so we won't be missed yet."
Beck nodded, and Call simply followed along with them as the three made their way to Illiad's room.
Beck was exhibiting a flow of emotions that was quite unlike what the Trojan had previously seen; before, he had been simply a single butler that didn't seem to stray much from mimicking his brother's mental state... THIS Beck, however, had serious issues weighing on his mind, and had a bit of fear as well.
Call's emotions were a mishmash of fear, self-loathing and a bit of paranoia aimed haphazardly everywhere - even at Illiad, though only for a moment, as it wasn't his true feelings towards the unicorn. Whatever it was they had been speaking about, it had the poor stallion shaking in his spats.
The two of them walked in the same positions behind Illiad as they did with Vylia, and Call (it WAS Call, he knew it now) opened the door to Illiad's quarters for him. When he entered the room, the two followed suit, Beck closing the door behind them.
Sighing with resignation, Beck sat down on the four-post bed carefully. Call simply began to pace nervously, measuring his breathing as best as he could to keep from hyperventilating.
"Mr. Easle, I give you my word that I will give you the absolute truth - but in return, I humbly ask that you keep whatever you hear from us to yourself. Is this agreeable?"
Illiad nodded, "So far as nothing said would violate my station to keep secret, I do so promise not to repeat anything said here. Now then, tell me what it is that is causing you two such distress. It pains me to see you two in such a circumstance."
Illiad took his own seat on the cushion he had been using as a bed.
The two of them exchanged a glance, then sighed in unison. Beck began speaking.
"Many years ago, the two of us were part of a rather notorious mercenary company, called the Clovenhooves. My brother and I never did more than simple breaking and entering, petty theft or scam jobs - we never actually did anything to HURT anypony; that wasn't our way. The head of the Clovenhooves, a pony by the name of Slick Shadow, was wont to use us for small-time purposes, so he kept us around as personal assistants, much as Missus Blackwater does - except her errands, as annoying as they may be at times, are nowhere NEAR as dangerous as Slick's were."
Call continued.
"Our last job for Slick was to infiltrate the Blackwater Quarry and case the most valuable place on the entire property: The Vault. The Clovenhooves have a number of hirelings, so papers and work records could be easily forged for us - we came in response to Vylia Blackwater's ad in the Canterlot Times for a personal servant. The idea was to get in good with the family, then case and rob the safe of whatever we could get our hooves on."
Beck cleared his throat, taking the narrative again.
"But Madam Blackwater is... extremely astute, as I'm sure you may have gotten hint of; she allowed us to work for her for two whole weeks, keeping us too busy to case ANYTHING, before she told us that she knew what we were after. She offered us a choice: Either we could be reported, arrested, prosecuted by the Blackwater lawyers and sent to prison..."
Call finished the sentence.
"... or we could agree to stay on as her personal assistants, and in exchange for our loyalty, she would use her own contacts to send false word of our deaths. It was the only way that Slick and the Clovenhooves would have ever let us go; they don't look kindly on those who fail their missions - ESPECIALLY when that mission was given to you by the leader of the company."
Beck nodded and continued.
"We agreed to stay, and to this day we continue to serve her. THAT is why, no matter how angry she gets, we put up with her - she saved our lives, and stuck her neck rather far out to do so. I have since learned that she even had to burn a bridge or two to ensure our safety; not something Missus Blackwater does lightly, once she makes a contact."
This is where Call began breathing hard again, and as he spoke up next, his words were rapid and shaky.
"But now we've learned that members of the Clovenhooves have been spotted in Canterlot, and we fear for not only OUR lives..."
Beck finished with a grim look on his muzzle.
"... but those of anypony who would hide us. We assured Madam Blackwater that the Clovenhooves would NEVER come here looking for us if they thought we were dead - but here they are. If we tell Madam Blackwater, she might try to retaliate - which would only drag the entire family into the line of fire... but we have no one else to turn to."
Call's eyes and demeanor brightened a tic.
"Maybe you have an idea as to what we might do, Sir Illiad?"
They both looked at the Trojan; one with respectful curiosity, one with hope. One thing was certain, though - after feeling their true emotional states, Illiad would NEVER mistake which brother was which again; their mystery was solved - or at least for Illiad Easle it was.
Selena sighed, glad actually that the two events were apparently completely unrelated, the storm sapphire could wait.
Illiad looked contemplative for a few moments, "I see, you two really do have quite the problem. Though, Canterlot is quite a ways away from here, and from your depiction an area they would have business in so it wouldn't be too surprising that they would be there. Hmm..."
He looked the pair over as an idea came to him. "You know they were in Canterlot because you recognized them right? Well, why don't we make it so they can't recognize you? Even a small difference in your appearances would make it believable that you aren't who they think you are, if you perhaps, died your manes and tails a different color or even your coat you would look like entirely different ponies. Your marks might be memorable, but they aren't exactly unique. It isn't unheard of for two or more ponies to share the same mark so if you were spotted with the different appearance it wouldn't be out of the question for them to dismiss you two as completely different ponies from the ones they're potentially looking for."
Illiad sighed, "Though we could have a bigger problem, those are only the ones you recognized, there could easily be more members in other places that you may not recognize, ones that joined after you two left. Who's to say that they didn't try to do this job again? That there aren't more of them here in the quarry? Really all we can hope for is that you two haven't been discovered yet, and make it so you can't be discovered later."
The mental relief the twins felt at Illiad's advice was almost physical, it was so strong - they had truly hoped Illiad would be understanding, and they were not disappointed.
"At this point," Beck said, "we're willing to give ANYTHING a try... I'll simply tell Madam Blackwater that we decided to... to..."
"... freshen up our look!" Call added. "Yes, she may accept that!"
The two seemed to be getting themselves in better spirits, yet there was still a ribbon of doubt coming from Call.
"But maybe they AREN'T here for us? What if Sir Easle is correct - what if they're here to do the job we never did? We have to find out if Slick is here with the group - then we have to find out what their plans are. As long as they don't involve the quarry or the Blackwaters, we'll be OVERJOYED to stay at the manor until they leave town."
Beck considered the idea carefully.
"The job we were sent to do was almost two decades ago... but the Blackwater Vault is one of the most well-guarded collections of gems and bits in Equestria proper; it's a fantasy target for thieves everywhere. They might be here for it, at that."
Illiad smiled, glad he could be of use to the situation. "I'm glad I could help you, even with the disguises it is a good idea to stay out of sight while the danger is present. I'm glad you were able to come up with that."
Though Call was still quite worried, Beck gratefully stepped forward, and bowed politely.
"Sir Illiad, you are very kind to do us this favor. In exchange, I offer you access to our knowledge of the Blackwater Quarry. We have been here for quite some time, and we know a lot of truths, rumours and history of this place. Being mere servants, we have overheard, picked up and pieced together quite a bit during our time here - and we would be glad to tell you all we know about whatever we can."
Call nodded eagerly.
"Oh, yes - MORE than glad; we would feel pleased that we could help you in return! So, should any questions come up during your time here, ask us ANYTHING!"
Selena thought for a moment, having access to the brothers' wealth of knowledge would certainly be a great benefit to their search for the storm sapphire.
With this, they all stood and moved to the door, Selena having signaled to Illiad that whatever she had to say was not as important anymore.
"Anything further, Sir Easle?" they asked in perfect unison, respect and genuine admiration for the Trojan coming from both.
Illiad nodded again, "I'm just happy to have been of service. Though, I do need to find Daxter. If either of you would have some idea of where he might be it would really help me."
Beck and Call looked at each other quizzically, then turned to look back at the unicorn, concern growing in both of them.
"But... but wasn't he supposed to be with you? Master Dax came to us in order to arrange a picnic meal..."
"... which we did do, and then he thanked us and said he'd tell you we did such. I suppose we merely assumed he was with you..."
"... since he wasn't in his bed this morning..."
"... NOR his tent in the woods."
The two of them separated emotions here; Call began a slow yet steady line of worry - for Dax's safety, the Empathic was certain - and it would build to a fevered pitch if the Blackwater wasn't found soon... Beck, on the other hoof, locked down his emotions into a determination that rivaled even dedicated warriors like Consul War Horse; Beck was GOING to FIND Dax - come Tartarus or high water.
Both seemed genuinely surprised that Illiad didn't know where Dax was... that couldn't be good.
Illiad too looked worried at the revelation. "Dax had the picnic arranged as a sort of surprise date for Silver and I, we didn't see him later and I had assumed he had come back to the house so we could enjoy the date in peace. I was actually going to find him to thank him for the opportunity. Did he show up to breakfast today?"
Call spoke up.
"No - we all simply assumed he was with you and Silver!"
Beck nodded.
"We had even made extra for a breakfast meal for the three of you; didn't you notice?"
Maybe THAT'S why there was so much food..?
The two butlers began to fret in earnest, but differently - Beck strode out into the hallway, headed in the direction of the front of the house, determined to find Dax... Call followed his brother along, checking outside every window they came across as they got to the opulent front hall, almost a motherly concern for the missing Blackwater.
Beck turned to look at his brother. "You check outside; I'll check inside." Then he looked at Illiad.
"Will you accompany one of us, or do you have an idea of your own?"
The two of them obviously no longer wished to keep up the high-cultured charade; they spoke and felt towards the Trojan Empathic like he was a friend - no longer simply a guest.
Illiad smiled at the added sense of camaraderie among them, though his expression grew more serious as his thoughts turned back to the matter at hoof. "I can search for him better outside, the thick stone walls of the manor affect my magical abilities. I'll help check outside."
Using the diamond as an aide Illiad extended his Empathic senses to a greater length, a good hundred meters or so. He had spent enough time around Dax that he would be able to distinguish his emotional source from the rest. If he were nearby Illiad would know pretty quickly.