It was awkward being at the ball on his own, but Xeik found himself still enjoying the festivities. There were a lot of people mingling about, and it looked like a prime opportunity to gather some information. He had been tempted to put his thieving skills to use, but decided against it due to the sheer volume of people. One incident might end up to his detriment. And so Xeik found himself slipping between people here and there, his ears open. Every so often, he would pick up a useful tip. A merchant caravan moving here, a priceless artifact found there, a mystical treasure being guarded the next city over. All of it was imprinted in the boy’s mind as he wandered.

Drake and Danwe were out and about somewhere, and he wondered what shenanigans they were getting up to. Probably nothing too serious. Danwe was very pregnant, after all. The boy frowned. It was something he had yet to really discuss with them. They were having a child…where would that put him? His train of thought, though, was interrupted.

“Oh, who do I spy here?” Xeik said to himself as he noticed a rather large man with crimson hair. The demon hunter, Rhenakos, wading through the crowd. He seemed to be looking around. Probably searching for Osiria. Xeik sighed. The oaf probably lost her. The whole ordeal had been stressful for him, thinking that the woman had died. But he seemed to be doing okay. For now.

Xeik pushed himself through the crowd, making his way towards Rhenakos. Finally, he managed to tug on the man’s shirt, stopping him.

“Oi! Long time no see.” Xeik said as he held out his hand. “You do remember me, right?” the boy asked. “How have you been? Anything interesting happening?”

It was burning again. His demonic eye was on fire. He could feel them all around. Demons in the mix of the ball goers. The eye wanted him to do his worst, to bring out his own terrible vices. He could feel the demon who stole his eye breathing down his neck, egging him on. He could feel it building-

“Where is she?” Rhenakos said as he wandered through the ballroom. He sighed. Osiria had gone ahead of him, and had disappeared into the crowd. He wondered what she was up to. Probably checking out the punch or something. “That woman….” He shook his head and continued on. It wasn’t long before he felt a strange tugging at his waist, and he looked down to see a familiar face.

“Oh Gods, not you,” the hunter said, immediately regretting coming to the ball. “Where are your guardians. Here to steal Osiria away again?” Even though he understood the reason, he couldn’t help but be furious with Drake and Danwe. He might be able to forgive them…eventually. But for now, he refused to even speak with them.

“I’m looking for Osiria. Have you seen her?”

The instant hostility towards Xeik was warranted, the thief thought, but he was genuinely surprised when Rhenakos let the whole thing go so quickly. It was his intent to find his partner as quickly as possible. Possibly due to the fact that they had just reunited after a time apart.

It was a lot more complicated than that, of course, but Xeik didn’t feel like dwelling on the important details at this time. Instead he thought it would be wise to go ahead and consider the demon hunter’s request.

“I was getting bored ayway,” Xeik replied as he looked around from his level. Being short had a lot of advantages when it came to thievery and covert operations. However, in scenarios such as this, Xeik found his height to be much to his disadvantage “Do you have any idea what she’s wearing?” He glanced to the hunter.

“Why don’t you just use that fancy new eye of yours? I’m sure there’s a lot you can do with it. Singling out a single magical source shouldn’t be too difficult. Drake learned how to do it with minimal effort, so I’m certain you can too.” He secretly hoped that Rhenakos didn’t take that as an insult to his intelligence.

“Might as well move through the crowd though. No telling where she could be.”