The Little Crow

The Beginning - [Five Years Later]

Niall Killian stood with the phone at his ear and waited, the sound of the deep tone repeating unpleasantly as the call tried to get through to the man on the other end... a man who was far, far away, across an ocean and in a place that even he didn't know the name of.

Here in the Capital however, a place that Niall knew very well, it was raining rather heavily. Heavier than it usually rained. And though he was in the back room of his favorite bar, no windows to the outside in sight, he could hear the drops pitter patter hard against the roof. At times he would even hear the rumbling of the thunder off in the distance as well, a sound that was deep enough for him to feel it a little in his bones.

It was a rather ugly night, certainly, but despite that, Niall was actually comforted by this. He enjoyed the consistent sound of the rain and the deep thunder too. It was definitely much more pleasant than the repetitive tone that was coming from the phone.

Niall pulled out his intricately designed and rather expensive pocket watch, opened it with his thumb and looked at the time. Right when the second hand ticked past the twelve and it was officially nine-o-four, the consistent ugly sound ended and he heard a click before a voice. "Hello?"

Niall shut his watch and tucked it back into its spot inside his coat, "It's me, Niall."

"General," the man on the other end responded. "Perfectly on time as always."

Niall let out a breath through his nose, feigning amusement... feigning it mostly because he was tired. It had been a very long day and Niall wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight despite that.

"When does your train to Gaila leave?"

"In two hours," Niall responded. "We're heading for the station right after our call."

"Good," the voice on the other end was deep and distant but surprisingly warm. "I only received the documents Brayne sent over just yesterday but I had a chance to review most of it. You've decided to proceed with her?"

"We're going to take the first step... do an interview of sorts," Niall responded. "My hope is to gauge as much as I can from the initial interaction with her and then proceed accordingly."

"Hmm," was his response. Niall could hear him flip a few pages, probably skimming through his own notes. "I noticed there's not much about her family though... knowing more about her family would have been helpful."

"Unfortunately Julian has been unable to get anything of value on that just yet. Apparently her grandmother is a very well respected member of the community in Abureth Town... so people prefer not to talk."

"A politician?"

"A teacher... I believe."

"Ahh, yes. Elorian's love their teachers."

"Julian is in Abureth trying to find out more right now," Niall added. "He is meeting us in Gaila tomorrow but expects to be coming with more relevant information that will help with our decision making."

"Good. Most families up there have some ties with Crows... knowing hers will be useful," he said. "Speaking of, I also saw a note that she was friends with Aari at one point... what does he say about her?"

"We still have not approached Aari about this," Niall responded. "All the decision making happened a bit too fast for us to have that opportunity."

"That's unfortunate," he responded. "He may have had some valuable insight... given his history. Whatever the case, I leave the final decision up to you then, Niall," the man said. "I will trust in what you decide."

"How much can I tell her?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Niall raised a brow. That would certainly complicate things.

"Not until we get to know more about her," he said. "We can't risk anything and I'm quite interested in seeing how much she's willing to admit on her own. Her research and her writing... well, it's certainly brave."

Brave was one way to put it.

"Ultimately, I'm happy to hear you're proceeding with her," the man on the other end added, "if she cooperates, she may be quite the asset. The fact that she's a woman also helps... it might be easier that way."

"But she's young," Niall added, turning and leaning against the desk that the phone sat on. He could see, through the little glass window on the door to this room, Mayra wiping down a beer jug with a cloth. "And... naive," that was the best word he could think of. "You can see it in her writing. That could pose a problem."

"It could... but it may also help," the man was silent for a moment before he continued. "Young and naive people are the easiest people to influence."

For some reason, the thought of that made Niall uncomfortable.

"Elorian's have a name for that, you know? A name for people who are young and naive and easy to influence." he started. "It is a very Old Elorian archetype... have you heard it?"

"I have not," Niall responded.

The man on the other line who was somewhere across the ocean far, far away, said the words in Old Elorian and Niall translated it in his head.

A little crow.