The dead drop mark was two strips of cloth this time. Calder read it at dawn from Group B’s treeline and recognized the signal immediately. After spending approximately four seconds processing the implication, he folded the cloth and walked back to the camp with the same expression he had before leaving.

Sera looked at him suspiciously for a moment but ignored him, knowing his antics.

But once he was inside his camp, he couldn’t help but curse.

"Everything was going smoothly, what the heck happened now?"

The meaning of the signal was pretty clear. It could be summed up in just one word.

"Complications"

Emperal had said, which in their agreed signal meant: something had changed and they were accelerating whether they wanted to or not.

"According to this, I think I have one day or...possibly less."

Turning his back, he went to find Dresh.

...

In Group A, Gorven’s side, Emperal had already identified his window. The morning patrol rotation left a forty-minute gap where Brack himself managed the supply shelter inventory with a focused look on his face.

Emperal quickly positioned himself nearby and waited for the natural moment, waiting for Brack’s focus to fall on him. And Brack did just that.

Brack looked up from the inventory ledger, his eyes shining in suspicion.

Emperal had a ’troubled’ expression on his face.

"What is it? Speak," Brack asked, his voice sounding deep. Just the response of someone whose instincts registered danger in a camp member and flagged it in their mind.

"Not worth your time but..." Emperal deliberately paused, making Brack more curious. "I saw one of the Elves at the outer settlement yesterday morning...talking to someone I don’t recognize."

Brack’s ears visibly perked up when he heard this. He hurriedly got down and stood in front of Emperal.

"Which elf and what did they talk about?"

"I think it was the one who visited our camps. Mael, I think his name is" Emperal said before continuing, "The person he was talking to—I couldn’t identify his Verth signature as he was at a certain distance. But the colour marking looked like a Dragon Clan notation. I could be...wrong."

He delivered the last sentence exactly how it should be; it wasn’t convincing enough on its own, just enough doubt to make the report feel genuine rather than a planted rumour.

Brack went quiet for a moment; now his ears had gone from forward-angled to flat...it meant that he was processing the information and adding his own thoughts to it.

"Hmm...are you sure about the collar marking?" he asked once more, probably to be sure and test Emperal.

"It was vague...that’s why I didn’t report it directly and cause trouble over something I must have misread."

"It’s alright," Brack waved his hands, "I’ll talk to Gorven about this, and good call."

"It’s not worth mentioning," Emperal ’humbly’ replied.

Brack said nothing but nodded his head and moved on. Seeing him go out, Emperal smirked.

"A dog will always be a dog."

...

In Group B, Dresh’s camp.

Calder found Dresh in her usual morning routine. Eating something with one hand and doing some map work with the other.

"Lady Dresh," Calder approached.

"Speak"

"The Dragon Clan-affiliated...contacted" he said, standing across from her.

"I have...reliable sources this time."

Dresh looked up from the map. "From where?"

"Last night, away and independent from the original three channels..." Saying that, he placed a folded piece of paper on the crate beside her food.

"A courier intercepted at the outer settlement...he didn’t know what he was carrying."

Dresh looked at the piece of paper curiously. Taking the paper, she unfolded it.

The first thing she noticed was the cipher message that looked like Dragon Clan notation. It was imperfect...passable in quality and exactly what a real operative working quickly would produce.

Emperal had spent two hours on it the previous night, constructing something that would actually be a bit believable. At least in Dresh’s elven eyes, without seeming fabricated.

Reading through the paper, Dresh’s expression didn’t change. But the wind shifting around her was everything Calder needed to know.

When she finished reading the paper, she folded it and placed it back in the same spot once again.

"The paper suggested that the collection is immediate," She spoke with her eyes narrowed a bit.

"...Yes, my lady."

"Which means Gorven has already made the arrangement."

"...At least the implications say so."

She was quiet for a long moment before the wind around her calmed down. Her wind affinity never fully dropped its guard. More like, she was alert at all times.

"I appreciate the information," she said, her voice slightly even. "Your payment will be ready at the usual time."

"By your grace, Lady Dresh," Calder smiled slightly before leaving the camp, and he walked until the treeline swallowed him.

"Man, what a hassle! One of these days, I’m definitely gonna get a heart attack."

Calder muttered as he reached the dead drop point. He left his own mark there, two strips with slightly different configurations.

It basically said, "Group B is moving, and the seeds are sown. You can...proceed"

He began walking back to his tent with his hands behind his back.

"Oh my dear Lilia~ you have some competition. Miss Sera might just steal me, you know~."

...

By midday, the reactions and changes were almost visible. Group A’s perimeter guards tightened their security, and Gorven had doubled the entry monitoring without announcing it; it was the shift that screamed paranoia without admitting it.

His usual walks in the morning took longer than usual, and he stopped at the neutral zone boundary...looking at Group B’s camp with an expression full of suspicion.

But it was the other way around in Dresh’s group; it had gone quiet. Like really quiet.

Sera was at her entry point two hours earlier than her usual rotation, and Mael...returned from his morning visit to Group A...was suddenly intercepted by Valin before he reached the camp interior.

The conversation between them...soon turned confusing.

Emperal watched all of this from his specific patrol route and noted that both of the camps were now operating under the same assumption from different directions.

The meeting between Gorven and Dresh was tomorrow, and both of them were already convinced before it even started.

Emperal exhaled lightly.

"Tomorrow will decide my future."