It was early in the morning. The sun had not come out yet. People were probably still sleeping. She looked around and found guards only at the front. The demon dashed into an open window and sneaked her way into the room that she had been at yesterday. Everything seemed smaller. The ledger rested on the table next to a lit candle. Veda picked up the ledger and was about to open it until she heard something scuttle across the floor. Dropping the ledger, she reached out and caught the other creature. It was a rat. A real one it seemed. Veda sighed and plucked the rat up. She then tossed it out the window.  The rat went flying and a little squeak could be heard as it fell probably to its death.

Turning back to the ledger, her eyes widened in horror. The ledger was burned completely by the candle. When she dropped the ledger, it fell directly onto the flame. The demon did not realize that this was the trapped ledger. Well, there was nothing else she could do. Veda began to sneak back through the hallways. How would she deal with this? The thought of that debt made her stomach ache. Suddenly, the demon heard the noise of two men coming down the hallway. There was a trunk and a window curtain that she could use. Launching herself into the trunk, she curled up inside it and let the lid close. The men turned the corner and began to walk past her while talking. 

"So you're saying that once Qadim finds a way to swap the ledger, we will have a backup to prove that he was trying to steal it?" One man questioned the other. 

"On that track. We have other documents and codes that will link us up to the ship. Once Qadim gets the ledger switched, we will present the evidence to the pirate lord. Qadim's head will be ours." The other said, "He won't suspect anything. After all, only you and I know about this." 

"But why did you trap the fake ledger?" The first man wondered. 

"If it looked too easy, then he would get suspicious." The second man explained,"Soon, we won't have to worry about…"

The two men walked out of hearing range. Words spoken by the men processed in the demon's head as she realized what was going on. Somehow, she had gotten involved in an economic chess game! Rivals. Monopoly. She remembered her teacher saying that word during their studies. It meant that roughly one person would own a business without competition. They both were fighting a monopoly for something. They both wanted to eliminate the enemy. This was a type of war she had not been expecting. Waiting until she couldn't hear the men anymore, she lifted the lid and crawled out. 

She didn't particularly want to save Qadim. But she didn't want to have this linked back to her. Did he already know about this plan? Apparently it was kept between the two men. The demon escaped the tower and began to head back to Qadim. She wasn't going to get herself in trouble. As for the debt…it would be a concern for later. The demon made it back to where they had met only a day or two ago. One of the sailors stopped her. 

"Sorry mam, you can't see him today. That's the rules." The sailor said. 

"Ok…." Veda said snatching his sash.

She tied the red sash around her head to cover her eyes.

"There. I can't see him." Veda said, "But I NEED to talk to him. Unless you want to be the reason he doesn't get his ship. I hear he has a temper…"

The sailor sighed and decided to show her the way to talk to Qadim, guiding her since she had the sash around her eyes. 

A knock rapped on the door at an unexpected time as the orc was in the midst of getting his files and papers sorted out. "What is it?" Qadim demanded, eyes not bothering to look up. After all, his mind was already set on making sure he would be ready for the next trade negotiation.

"Sir, the woman from before wishes to speak with you," was the reply, causing Qadim to stare back up. That foolish woman. Didn't she hear him say that she shouldn't visit so soon after the job? That only raises suspicions about their connection. Still, if she was already here, he may as well speak with her.

With a damnable sigh escaping his lips, he worked to clean up his table as he stated, "Enter." The door was opened and the demon woman was guiding through, only to be met by a look of disbelief on his face. Not that she could see, considering the damn blindfold she covered herself with! "Is this what you thought I meant when you said not to see me?" he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Take that damnable thing off and tell me why you decided to drop on by?"

He wasn't sure if it was foolishness or if it was something she learned that caused her to do this. After all, the key to his mind-bending magics often required eye contact, a link to the mind, to be able to cause his powers to work. At best, he can only hope that this was foolishness on her end, taking things too literally in terms of his words.

The demon took off the cloth over her eyes and dropped it to the floor after hearing the orc. She figured that he would be upset by her visit but the information she held seemed rather important.

"I decided to head on over since apparently, your opponent is expecting you to switch the ledgers." She explained, "And before you ask, to my knowledge, I did not reveal anything about your plans or was spotted. In fact I was inside the building that held the ledger and was hiding in a chest when I overheard two people talking. They were talking about their plan to use backup documents to prove that you had stolen or tried to steal their ship to present the pirate lord. Of course this might just be a trick or you might already know about this. But I figured it would be better to tell you this stuff before I continued going after the ledger."

The demon wondered if Qadim already knew about this and was merely using her as a tool to get something then try to escape repercussions by blaming it on her. That was always a possibility. However, if that was the way that he worked, then he would have developed thousands of enemies. If he cast blame onto others after using them like that, then it would build a bad reputation for him. People wouldn't work for him if he behaved like that. The demon waited for his response.

… Was that it? A startling deep laugh began to emanate from Qadim as he processed the information she game him. "Oh, is that so? My dear Veda, you should know that the King and his men trusts no one here that are 'regulars.' Each one of his men suspects us 'captains' in one form or another. After all, the Law of Parley he established is only effective with any other law: Effective only when caught red handed. Obviously if things seem suspicious with something, the curious ones get more defensive. Its actually rather amusing to watch.

"But, of course, they aren't stupid, either. Once they have seen someone bypass one form of opening, they will seal it up with a bit of extra insurance. From there, they either need to find a new hole, or get caught like rats in a mouse trap. They are probably suspicious of me because I had a similar order I want to get sent out, so they are being extra careful." In fact, it would hardly be a loss if he was caught. If the numbers and values were actually being taken into account, Qadim would have been on the losing end if his plan succeeded. Not that she had to know.

"So then, does this mean you have given up on this task? Do we need to figure out a way to help pay back the tutoring I oh-so graciously provided to you? Scavenging will hardly cover it, if you also aim to keep yourself alive during all this too. NO… we would have to look into other means if we want you to pay me back…"