Some time passed before Rosaly finally exited the bath. Now she was wearing a simple but alluring black dress that fell to her heels.
She tried to hide it as best she could, but to the brothers, it was obvious that she had been crying.
Zadius ignored it as he continued to drink another type of tea offered in the room. Whereas Xaryus looked at her with a bit of concern.
"Is something wrong?" Rosaly asked.
Turning away from her gaze, Xaryus looked at the table with a soft smile, "Nothing… we've devised a strategy to try and find the thieves and at best, retrieve some of the stolen aspects."
He continued to explain their plan. Using Pandora, Rosaly will scour the city, using her method of tracking the aspects to lead them to the thieves' potential hideout or their stash.
Upon finding one or the other, they would evaluate whether they intend to capture or execute the perpetrators.
Understanding the plan, Rosaly retrieved Pandora from the box and placed it on the table where the three of them sat.
Then, using a SDS shaped like a gold bracelet she had adorned after exiting the bathroom, she summoned three dark blue beads with a single rune brimming with animus on each of them.
Xaryus recognized the rune. It was a basic rune used to mark items with animus, however the amount of power infused into each rune was far beyond normal.
Taking the three beads, Rosaly pressed them against the grey sphere. As they touched the metallic surface, the surface began to ripple before allowing the beads to move into its core.
Removing her hand, Rosaly began closing her eyes and began to mutter under her breath. The faint ripple across Pandora's surface came to a halt and the room was silent once more.
Then the red ring around the sphere began to pulse with glowing runes.
Outstretching her hand, Rosaly guided her palm over the ring and with it the three runes that were embedded in the beads were inscribed on the outer ring.
Xaryus looked on at Rosaly in utter shock. He wanted to ask so many questions, but he dared not interrupt her concentration.
"She inscribed runes without proper tools!?" He thought.
Zadius didn't understand the true meaning of Rosaly's actions, but from Xaryus' reaction he could sense that it was something amazing.
***
Night descended onto the city of Castillan. Its vast cityscape was covered in darkness with specs of light shining bright from various houses and buildings scattered across it.
Xaryus and Zadius darted from rooftop to rooftop, now wearing dark worn out cloaks. They moved with silent but glaring speeds, soaring above the streets of the outer ring surveying the beautiful cityscape.
Unexpectedly, the roads were still brimming with people. Here in Castillan, the night life culture was much more apparent compared to Rosa.
Xaryus and Zadius came to a stop atop a large building near the wall of the middle sector. From it they looked down at a lower portion of the city where the quarry rested, the warehouse Rosaly's friends and mentors perished in full view.
"What do we do about the Order of Castil?" Xaryus asked.
"Since the Order is smaller than the Knights of Lionheart, the majority of awakened and mundane knights stationed here are members of the Lions Guard, Rosa's policing force." Zadius responded, his eyes trailing a grey metallic sphere as it surveyed the warehouse from above.
"I'm aware, but if we run into them?" Xaryus continued.
"There is no but, we must avoid any and all awakened or mundane knights at all costs. If we do, we may have to take drastic measures." Zadius replied, a dark look on his face.
Taking in his brother's words, Xaryus turned to face the quarry, observing the few Lions Guard members that were moving in and out of the warehouse, securing the scene and investigating.
A moment later, a blue hue shined from beneath his chest plate. Quickly he removed a leather band with a gem laid deep in its centre.
As he raised the call stone between himself and Zadius, a soft voice came from it.
"I found some traces of residual animus from my aspects." Rosaly spoke
"How are there even traces of animus from aspects?" Zadius asked.
"... I tried to create a runic array that allowed extrinsic aspects I created to draw animus in and store it for later use; A method to potentially allow extrinsic aspects to work in animus-deprived areas. But it was a failure, instead the aspects periodically released spurts of animus that were drawn in, leaving a trail of signatures." Rosaly answered.
Listening to her, Xaryus couldn't help but be blown away by her intellect. He too had gained an interest in the wonders of the runic language, but when he heard Rosaly speak of her inventions, he was utterly impressed.
In another moment, Pandora descended to the front of the brothers and her voice crept out of the call stone once again.
"Chances are they are still in the outer sector." Rosaly ended.
"Lead the way princess." Xaryus replied with a smile on his face.