"The hell I can't." Janette's blue eyes flared with anger.

"The orcs do not allow humans near the training grounds. They don't want us seeing the fighting and getting ideas. You would be turned away immediately, and I would definitely not suggest pressing the matter with the guards." Emmet did not seem pleased about the situation either.

"I'm not going to just stand here while he goes through that!" Janette made no effort to keep her tone civil.

“Algra will be there. It is her right. She will make sure he is safe. Come now." He Lifted his arm to gesture back toward Gregory's tent. "I promise you that when he returns you shall be the first to know.”

Janette considered making a run for it before her more rational senses reigned back the urge. Sitting at home and waiting for the man in her life to return was most certainly not her style. What did Emmet expect her to do? Make the bed and have Gregory's pipe and slippers ready for when he got back?

If he got back.

She pushed that thought down as quickly as it had arisen and glowered at the old man before whirling on her heel and marching back into the tent. Emmet watched her take her Leave, wrapped up in her blanket and then began the walk towards where he knew he would find Talina.

The slender, raven-haired woman was pacing back and forth inside her tent. Lydia and Fiona were both outside, discussing the events of the evening with the other residents of Bolut’s camp. Talina Looked up and saw Emmet pass through the canopy and calmly settle his hands together on the front of his robes.

“Begone, old man. I am not entertaining now." Talina barely gave him a backward glance as she continued her pacing.

“My dear girl, have you ever known me to seek you out for such a thing?" Emmet's voice was smooth, if slightly withered with age.

“The girl is in no mood to speak with you either way, old man.” Talina halted her pacing to narrow her eyes dangerously upon Emmet.

“Well, I'm truly sorry about that but I fear we need to talk. Our young friend is in trouble and I know that look in your eye. It was the same one you gave the soldier from the diplomat's guard before he went missing." Emmet turned to the side and began Looking through the supply of scented oils mounted on a small table beside Lydia's section of the tent.

"I know nothing of what you say." Talina had, however, gone rather stiff.

“I don't believe that. No one else saw. No one else would believe you were capable of killing a man and disposing of the body so smoothly. But I saw the way you were smiling in the days thereafter. I know that look, Talina." He turned away from the collection of coloured vials to look directly at her. "Your secret is safe with me. I know who he was and what he did. I know why you did it. Yet that brings us to why I'm here now. You are forbidden from making anyone disappear in the wake of Gregory's training."

“They will kill hil “They will not kill him. They will hurt him. Orcs don't care much about human soldiers vanishing into the night, but they will care a great deal more if it starts happening to their own kin. Especially if it happens to their pups during their provings. They'll be out for blood and Gregory will be their first suspect after all this mess.”

Talina warped her beautiful features into a frustrated snarl before she began pacing again. She hated being shackled, even if it was only by logic. Someone had hurt her master and she wanted their heads on a spike.

“That doesn't mean you can't do anything," Emmet continued. "We do not yet know who released the madman last night. His escape was certainly not his own doing. So, we must find out who it was. I fear I am too old for such an investigation, but you? I think you are more used to such things, aren't you, Talina?" Emmet Left the question hanging there for a moment. It pressed down on her shoulders like a lingering threat.

“You see much, old man. Too much." She levelled an icy stare right back at him and Emmet would have recoiled had he not prepared himself for it. Then, after a moment of silence between them, Talina finally Looked away and let out a long, steady breath from between her lips.

“But you are not wrong about where our true problems lie. I will do as you ask and find the one who released the rabid child."

“Thank you," Emmet turned to leave but stopped just before reaching the opening of the canopy. "Oh, and I would ask that you tend to Gregory's red haired friend. She needs someone to keep her occupied until he returns."

“I will go to her."

With that, Emmet offered Talina a small and rather grateful nod before shuffling out of the tent leaving her to look back at her things. She thought of the knives, carefully slid into the lower lining of her sleeping furs, never to be used again.

She hoped.

Gregory followed between the two massive orcs who had been sent to collect him and felt not entirely like a man walking towards a guillotine. Part of his brain was panicking, screaming for him to run away and hide. Those thoughts were becoming more and more persuasive as they walked out into the proving grounds. Even young male orcs all outsized him by at least ten inches and what the orcs referred to as unproven pups had bodies hardened by years of brawling with each other. Gregory watched them practice, the main weapons either being two heavy wooden clubs or a singular large one. They did not fight in much armour save for a protective metal brace crossed over their bare chests.

Females were interspersed amongst the males, fighting the larger beasts with more speed and swiftness rather than brute strength but with no less ferocity. Gregory saw some of the impacts the weapons made. Merely walking across the proving fields, he heard the sounds of bones cracking on two separate occasions along with the agonised roars that soon followed.