114 Requesting Aid and Information

As Yun was escorted up the tower she continued to marvel at the incredible structure that had been created around her. The smooth stone was cut perfectly and polished with an expert hand, each door and room was created in the style of the northern tribes, and the stairs leading from floor to floor were spaced perfectly for the average Lynhär paw and stepping height.

Further and further up they climbed, until they were barely below the final stairs to the spire. On this last floor there were two rooms present, one of them being the entry to the spire stairwell and the other being the large war room and command suite.

From this location the command structure of the installation was directed and given their orders. Upon opening the door you would find a large suite before you with a huge miniaturized representation of the local region, all the way from the very tip of the Cradle down to the Wild Wind Mountains. On the other side of the room was a rarely used miniature of the remainder of the Cradle that had been separated and moved aside from the primary diorama.

Past the massive diorama of the northern half of the Cradle was a large and circular table, presumably used for the commanders to hold meetings. Left of this large round table was another closed space, presumably a small living area for this officer.

From the small door on the left came a very distinguished and wizened Felis male wearing some ornate robes. The Lieutenant bowed to the commander and retreated from the room. It would appear the commander had already been fully informed of her visit before.

"Come young one, sit with me and let's talk. I understand you've had an interesting experience that I'd like to hear more about."

The aged commander motioned her to sit at a small table that was hidden against the back wall, laden with food that was extravagant, yet not perishable, for the military commander to eat whenever he had time. On either side of the table were two aged chairs with comfortable cushions on them to relax and converse.

"Sir, this Yun merely wanted to ask for assistance returning to Myhhrwar and my sect, I had no intention of taking up your valuable time. If you could just give me a small amount of aid I'd be happy to travel down river and be out of your way. The sect has already provided me a spatial storage item, so I can return your supplies to you easily afterwards."

The old commander laughed heartily for a few moments before he spoke again, "Little one, this old man has many years under his belt, but he has yet to encounter any sort of spatial distortion that can displace someone. Don't try and hide things from me, I've not got the patience for it."

"Sir, this young child would never dare to try and decieve you. My companion and I were in the south on a confidential mission when we encountered a strange space. When we exited this space we arrived in the mountains a bit south of here and could barely see the outline of your beautiful fortress from the cave mouth. We figured out where we were by drawing a small map on a piece of hide I had brought with me, would you like to see it?"

The commander considered it for a few moments, mulling over what she had told him and deciding if he believed her.

"Yes, I believe that would help smooth things along. Let me see your map and I'll go and locate it on our battle-table over here. When did you get separated from your companion?"

As Yun gave him the map they continued conversing while walking to the battle-table, but as they got nearer to it Yun was more and more astounded by what she saw. This battle-table was actually not a physical object, but an array formation. Within the array was projected the miniaturized image of everything that was not a living and moving organism within the northern half of the Cradle. All the way down to the tiny trees.

Yun walked quickly up to the table and began looking at it, observing closely, before she finally found the things she was searching for. She quickly reached her hand out and pointed at a small dot on the side of a mountain in the southern half of the mountain range, exclaiming to the commander that this was the cave.

After a few moments of referencing her crudely drawn map and looking at the array projection he shook his head, indicating that he acknowledged that her map corroborated her pointing at that location. But then he did something that she didn't expect.

"Little Yun, this old man must apologize, but you'll have to be temporarily detained in this fortress while we check the veracity of your information. You also need to inform me of where you lost your companion so we can locate him as well."

"I understand your needs, commander, but as a military commander you also understand mine. I'm the leader of the forces from the Hunting Hall for this Centennial War, and the longer you detain me the less effective my people will be. We both know quite well how important my team's missions are in allowing you and the Iron Warriors to complete their tasks."

The commander looked a little shocked at this revelation, but also a little puzzled. He immediately made a hand motion and walked back to the small table to sit and munch on some of the sumptuous food, indicating for Yun to join him again. After a few moments the main door of the room also opened, allowing the Lieutenant in.

"Reporting to General, what can this soldier do for you?"

"Go down and bring me the intelligence on the Hunting Hall sect immediately. All other requests can wait."

Without much time spent on formalities the Lieutenant had turned around and immediately began walking quickly towards the stairs, letting the door swing shut behind him.