Baekhyun was antsy. For the second time in less than a week, he was trapped underground. The tunnel from the wrecked manor home was bad enough and scary enough, but at least there'd been some hope of an exit, and nothing living to bar their way. Here however, deep inside the mountain now in wondrous Orzammar... It might give him something to sing about later, but in the meantime... he shook his head, stretched out the muscles of his hand, and kicked sideways on the bed where he was laying on his stomach, propped up by his elbows. His foot found Jongin's ribcage without even looking. 

"Ouch! Baekhyun- what?!"

"Nothing. Just making sure you were still alive there." 

"Not for long if you keep kicking me."

"You can't die on me now, Jongin... We still have a Great Escape to plan and Sehun to rescue." He scribbled some more onto the parchment the servant girl Seungyeon had been kind enough to give him. The pretty dwarf had been in and out of the three guest rooms a lot over the last hour. She and a veritable army of servants had hauled in buckets of boiling water to fill the great stone and metal basins in the corners of each room. Jongin had already had his bath. He'd fussed greatly about the scalding temperature and Baekhyun's wandering eyes. Baekhyun went second. He felt better, and now paid no attention to the very large, very qunari mercenary who was sunk down into the water conducting his own set of bathing rituals. Jongin also did not bother to watch. Without weapons to clean, he polished his armor which the dwarves had permitted them to keep. The rest of their garments were clean linens brought to them compliments of House Zygmunt. Pants and tunics in bright shades of violet and green, neutral browns to balance the clash. The sleeves and hems were embroidered with geometrical patterns.  Baekhyun assumed these must be significant to the noble clan as well. The clothes fit each of them moderately well, although Baekhyun rather enjoyed the pale lilac overcoat and brown braided sash. Apart from the bath, this was so far the only highlight of being a valued prisoner in Orzammar. There was just no other word to describe it.

"We're stuck here until Suho can smuggle out that letter for help," said Jongin with a sigh.

"I'm glad to hear you have such confidence in his scheme," Baekhyun replied. "Already you've forgotten that his name isn't Suho anymore. It's Junhee. Junhee, remember? We found her happily skipping along the King's Highway and took her in because she's such an excellent cook."

Jongin snorted. "Right. Junhee."

Kris in the basin chuckled as well. He then managed to lose his balance against the sides of the tub and slipped down into the water. Jongin and Baekhyun both laughed when he came back spluttering. He had one long leg ing out, another foot, and both arms flailing. He cursed in his own language and muttered something about neither of them having to fit into a tub that was made for dwarves. Baekhyun gave him two pitying words of sympathy before going back to his fresh paper and quill.

The room devolved into silence again. The only sounds came from his scratching of his quill, while Jongin polished his armor and Kris bathed. They had divided three to a room for time and convenience's sake. Yixing, Jongdae and Suho-codename-Junhee were in the room opposite the hallway. Minseok, Luhan and Chanyeol remained in the center bedroom where they'd first convened. Tao refused to pick  a room and kept bursting into each of them just to see what was going on. Baekhyun wasn't particularly happy with their scattered arrangement. Yet it was that or watch everybody in the party take a bath one at time. And really, Baekhyun was only interested in one person in particular. They'd been given three hours to prepare to meet Lord Yibo. If Baekhyun was going to die then he'd like to die clean and rested, in mind and in body.

"Baekhyun?" 

The elf turned his head towards Jongin. "What."

"Back at the manor... you know, before we were ambushed..."

"Yes?" 

Jongin had a faraway look to his eyes, as if he was contemplating something deep which he didn't know how to put into words. "Well, I thought I saw something."

Baekhyun felt a quickening, sick feeling start growing from the pit of his stomach. He put down his quill and tried to look humorous. "Jongin, if you're trying to tell us you glimpsed that dragon before it actually came down, either I or Kris here will be extremely mad at you. You know we had no warning-"

"It wasn't the dragon." Jongin interrupted Baekhyun's laugh and Kris' grunt of indignation. "It was..."

Baekhyun kept smiling through, trying still to laugh. 

"It was... you."

"Me? Why Jongin, how flattering."

Baekhyun pushed aside the feeling of unease. He wondered if Kris was paying attention and if so, if he could use the qunari to his advantage. He rolled onto one side, the better to leer across the large bed at Jongin. With one hand holding up his head he grinned and batted his eyelashes, gleefully watching the warrior's reaction. A red blush blossomed on Jongin's cheek and neck. It flared up twice as bad when Baekhyun said next, "You know, Jongin. You're quite y out of that armor. You should wear normal clothes more often. Shows off the true definition of your muscles this way." He reached out to swipe the tips of his fingers across Jongin's arm, smirking when the muscles fluttered nervously against his touch.

From across the room Kris coughed awkwardly. 

"Uhm, what?" said Jongin, the beginnings of panic and embarrassment flooding his entire face. 

"Do you know how nice it is to be clean again, real soap and hot water. Clean clothes and a bed that's not the ground?" Baekhyun didn't even glance away from Jongin's face. He ignored the sounds of gushing water as it rolled down Kris' body. The qunari seemed bent on getting out rather hurriedly. Baekhyun let his gaze wander just down, fingers and eyes both exploring the rest of his arm. All the way down to his wrist and then back up again.

"I think I'm going to...go check on..." Kris coughed again as he sloshed water over the sides of the basin. It trickled down to the stone floor, and Jongin looked once before getting an eyeful. His eyes shot back to Baekhyun. 

"Sounds like a good plan, Kris. And hey, watch Tao for a bit too, yeah?" Baekhyun said without looking up.

Kris murmured something in assent, grabbed a pile of garments and fled from the room. 

Baekhyun laughed and moved his hand away. He rolled back onto his stomach and picked up his quill. At the sound of Jongin stuttering, he placed it in its case and shoved the parchment away. The hairs on the back of his neck seemed to bristle as he shoved himself up to his knees. "What did you see exactly?" he asked, still maneuvering on the bed.

"I..." Jongin hesitated. "I saw you... disappear into... nothing."

Baekhyun didn't look at him this time. He swallowed, sat up kneeling and his hands trembled just the tiniest bit. 

"You did? Must have been the smoke or something."

"It wasn't the smoke," Jongin insisted. 

"It wasn't?" Baekhyun fiddled with the sash, untying it and retying it around his waist nervously. He was pleased to hear the still airy tone of Jongin's voice. He'd spoken the truth about Jongin looking good without his armor, the few times he'd had occasion to really look. Jongin lived in that suit; he even slept in it most nights, fearful of having to wake up in a hurry. 

"There was no smoke at the time. But you, Baekhyun you vanished for a whole minute. You and... and..."

"Kyungsoo?" Baekhyun smiled and tilted his head. "Wow, I guess he must know a trace of magic after all to do that-"

"You did it." 

"What?" 

"You can disappear. You can turn yourself invisible. You must be able to." Jongin's voice shook, but his tone was clear and his accusation was direct.

"Are you trying to persuade me that I can do that?" Baekhyun laughed weakly. He couldn't deny Jongin was getting to him, unmasking him, tearing away his disguise. He sat up straight to be more assertive, but Jongin met his glare, unwavering. 

"Baekhyun," said Jongin, "you were hired as our scout, I get that part. Skilled with a bow, well-travelled, highly recommended by someone close to Sehun's grandfather... What else are you, actually?"

"What do you mean, what else? I'm an elf. Dalish-born, didn't like the tribe, and now I'm a roamer. I do scouting for caravans for gold-"

"Like a mercenary?"

"Yeah, but I don't like that term. I prefer scout. Archer. Elf, if you insist."

"No elf likes to be called that."

Baekhyun eyed him up and down carefully, warily. "And every human cringes at the word human? It's just what I am, Jongin." 

"You had to have trained somewhere," the other insisted. "Your skills. They're good. They're better than good. You're comfortable in the wild, you're comfortable in a city. You're comfortable anywhere."

"I could get comfortable in your lap."

Jongin hissed in surprise, Baekhyun crawling closer, but even so he continued to speak. "You can make yourself invisible... how, where... did you learn that?"

Baekhyun approached him cautiously. He touched a hand to Jongin's shoulder, knees edging against each other. The bed wasn't all that large; they'd already been close to begin with. "It's just stealth, Jongin. Everyone can learn to be sneaky with a little training." He circled his other hand along the ridge of Jongin's shoulder, fingers dancing along the exposed skin of his neckline. Jongin drew up quiet, breath hitching softly, shallowly. Baekhyun leaned in, inches from his face. He wrapped his hands until his fingers touched along the back of the warrior's neck. 

"Why did you send Kris out of the room?" Jongin whispered.

Baekhyun shrugged. "Is a little privacy that much to ask for?"

Up close, his breath ghosted against Jongin's face. The muscles there were taut but beginning to unwind the closer Baekhyun got. 

"He... Kris said that only a few sects of people know how... how to do that."

"How to what?" Baekhyun spoke right against Jongin's mouth. 

"Vanish into thin air." Their lips touched as they talked, and Jongin shivered. 

"Hmmm." Baekhyun closed his eyes.

"So which is it?"

"Which is what?" He swung his other knee up over the warrior's lap and rested there, keeping just from sitting down. 

"Which are you. Spy? Assassin? Thief?"

"Is that really all you can think about right now?" Baekhyun pressed a chaste kiss right onto Jongin's lips, softly at the touch. 

Jongin didn't pull away, but his eyes too were closed shut. He retracted his lips just enough to ask, "Are you trying to seduce me into not asking?"

"Can't I do that for personal reasons as well?" He kissed him again, but in the next second Jongin had them flipped over with Baekhyun pressed into the bed. Jongin groaned and kissed him deeply this time and Baekhyun didn't hold anything back. He pulled and tugged as Jongin continued to clamber on top of him. Knees knocked against hips, elbows falling slack against the mattress. And after all those weeks of only looking and just barely touching, Baekhyun gave in to it all. 

"And then, we were just sitting there playing with Suho-sorry, Junhee's hair," Tao exclaimed wildly, "when Kris practically flew into the room... !" The boy devolved into a fit of shocked expressions and general exasperation while Luhan affected to chuckle, Minseok grinned where appropriate, and Chanyeol's whole face turned into a sneer that read something like, 'Help me now?'

"Sounds... fun," said Luhan weakly. 

Minseok put a hand to the templar's forehead and frowned. Between him and Chanyeol, they had managed to get Luhan half a bath and at least into some fresh clothes. He'd already sweet-talked Seungyeon into passing along a message to a known lyrium merchant. Minseok had met the dwarf many years before. He hoped he still had a base of operations in Orzammar. Everything was riding on that letter, for inside it was hidden a message to be delivered to Dust Town, to Suho's casteless sister. Sometime he would have to get the full story out of the dwarf. For now, they all needed that connection to work. 

"You didn't correct her about your name." Chanyeol's deep voice echoed in the room even though he spoke quietly.

"No," said Minseok. He checked the door again, opening and closing it to be sure that all the servants were out of range. "There's power in that name. If they think I am really Xiumin, they will treat us well."

"I think you forgot about the part where we're being held here though."

Minseok sighed. "Lord Yibo and his guards maybe, but the servants don't know that."

"How can you be certain?"

"I'm not. But Luhan is ill, and he's a templar. They won't want to risk harming him when he's under protection of House Zygmunt. Too much trouble might come of that."

Chanyeol grunted. "I'm not convinced."

Minseok nodded. He wasn't entirely convinced either, but until they could figure out what was going on - or rather, what Xiumin wanted - Minseok would wait. The tall warrior's mood was only marginally annoying, but he didn't blame him. Chanyeol, as Minseok was aware, had probably been asked by Jongin to stay with them and keep watch. A friendly, known spy, but Minseok didn't mind. He'd be wary too if he was Jongin. Sehun was lost; they were trapped. Sehun was with Kyungsoo, a fact Minseok wasn't worried about. Kyungsoo would keep Sehun safe, and as long as Minseok had the ring, he was reasonably sure the man wouldn't go far. 

He it guiltily. Still in its cloth wrapping, still buried deep in an inside pocket of his robes. He should tell Luhan. He really wanted to. But in the templar's current state, he dared not agitate him further, especially with Chanyeol around, and now Tao. The former werewolf had taken a cautious interest in everything, including Minseok. Since his last outburst about the qunari, he'd settled down. He sat on the bed between Luhan and Minseok and when Minseok put his hand to measure Luhan's temperature, he did the same. 

"He's warm. Minseok, he's warm. Why is he warm?"

Luhan smiled wanly. "It's because I feel bad." 

Tao looked at Minseok for confirmation, and the mage nodded. Chanyeol moved about the room restlessly, tinkering with the furniture and the few odds and ends scattered on tables or shelves. Tao put a hand to his own forehead. "I feel warm, but I'm okay. Am I sick too? How do I know if I'm sick? Minseok, you really don't know how to cure ly-ly, what's it called?"

"Lycanthropy. No, I can't."

"I thought maybe all mages could," the boy pouted. 

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't know." Tao shrugged. "It just seemed like mages did things like that..."

"Things like what?"

"Be scary. Be mean."

Minseok smiled at him, hoping that took some of the sting out of who he was. A mage, Xiumin's brother. Tao was easily susceptible to smiles and kind language. "Tao, how long were you a werewolf?"

"I don't know." He frowned, as if the question had no merit. 

"He doesn't know much about anything," Chanyeol supplied. "Baekhyun talked to him for a long time, but he doesn't know."

Hearing the name, Tao popped off the bed and pranced around the room. "Kris said not to bother Baekhyun right now! Or Jongin. I don't know why."

Chanyeol coughed. "Uhm, what?"

For half a second he and Minseok and Luhan all looked at one another, and then they laughed. It all went above Tao's head and he frowned and pouted some more until Minseok waved him to come back over and sit down beside him. Instead, Tao walked to the other side of the bed. Then he lay down, head resting next to Luhan's hip and he yawned. Minseok let him rest for a few minutes. They all needed to recuperate and being shut up like this wasn't doing them any favors, especially for Tao who had likely spent all of his life outdoors. Eventually though, he needed to know.

"Tao, I need your help. We need your help."

Tao lifted his head and blinked. "Luhan too?" 

"Yes, Luhan too."

"He saved the scary mage from killing us all."

"Which mage?" Minseok felt he should ask.

"The one in the other room. Yixing? He smells weird to me, but I guess he isn't that bad. He knew how to style Junhee's hair so that it looks pretty."

"That's... good." Minseok stifled a grin and pretended he wasn't aware of Luhan's hand snaking across the bedspread to hold onto his. "So, about... my brother. Xiumin."

"Xiumin?" Tao looked scared again. "He... I don't know what he wanted. I think, I think--" 

He didn't get to finish that statement. Minseok wasn't going to press him because talking about Xiumin seemed to put Tao into a frazzled state. He didn't need to worry about that though anyways. The door to the room flung open, untouched by anyone. Chanyeol jumped, his hand automatically reaching for the sword he no longer had. Minseok lept off the bed to put some defensive room between him and Luhan. Tao gasped loudly and dropped to the floor. Only his eyebrows showed above the frame of the bed. 

"What's... who's there?" Chanyeol demanded loudly, fists up and ready for the attack.

Nothing of the sort happened. Instead, someone laughed. And then out of thin air, Baekhyun appeared before them. Chanyeol started and yelped anyways. Tao ducked again under the bed. Minseok didn't move, for he already suspected this. 

"Surprise!" said the elf. 

Minseok smirked. "Stealth. Nice. Why the reveal now?"

Baekhyun still looked a bit transparent but he grew more solid until he stood there like nothing had happened. "Well, I didn't realize I'd been seen before. Jongin found out. Oops. Anyways."

Chanyeol had recovered but he still stuttered stupidly for a moment. "So... so you can turn invisible."

"It's called, stealth," Baekhyun repeated. "And anyways. It comes in handy. Great party trick. Look, since I've been found out, and I'm feeling mighty refreshed right now," he took a second to smile goofily, "I figured I should use this neat skill and do some reconnaissance. Minseok, you in?"

CODEX UPDATED:

Found in a rusty niche behind a stone pot in the Diamond Quarter, in beautiful, scriptive handwriting.

**Hello my fellow travelers, if you are reading this I can assume you have ventured  out and been allowed entry into the impressive city that is Orzammar. Home of nugs, angry dwarves, and confused visitors, Orzammar is a magical place that calls the ever attractive Deep Roads its neighbor. Yes, that is right- you are only a hop, skip, and swoop away from all sorts of nasty creatures. Feeling comfortable? You should be! Not only does Orzammar offer danger teeming at its borders, but it also has amazing accommodations!

Stone beds, ale, and the sweet sounds of noblemen threatening each other are assured perks of even the most basic of accommodations in the city. Of course, with higher end accommodations such as those offered in the Diamond Quarter you may be assured of further amenities. The threat of regime changes, dodging assassins sent by other dwarven houses, and getting lost amid nonsensical floor plans are part of any luxury stay in the city. 

If you grow bored with attempting to understand who hates who and where to find the door, then I suggest a trip to the proving grounds, a lovely arena which harkens back to a simpler time. Yes, of course I am referring to fighting and not just any fighting – GAMBLING and fighting! Indeed, Orzammar is a bastion for the high minded, intellectual traveler. 

I hope your stay in Orzammarr is as relaxing as mine has been. Now if I can figure out how to get out of here, I am leaving and never coming back.

~Your trusty travelling advisor, Baekhyun