As the evening wore on, the red areas of the holographic map slowly spread, until the majority of the miniature city was awash in crimson light. They began to receive fewer calls, as the different groups of searchers slowly trickled back into the shop. Lola glanced at Cato, her lips pressed together in a thin line and concern in her eyes. He looked back at her, worry and exhaustion etched into his expression. 

    All of a sudden, there was a sharp knock at the door. Danae glanced up from where she’d been muttering to her crows, and Cato and Lola turned towards the entrance to the store room. 

“Hey! Can I come in?” Kezi’s voice rang out from behind the door.

“Go on ahead!” Cato shouted back. 

The door opened and Kezi stepped in. They were wearing the same outfit from earlier, but this time with a blue backpack slung over their shoulder. A baseball bat with runes carved on the handle was hanging from the backpack, and a pair of cracked safety goggles held together by a strip of pink duct tape perched on their head. 

Kezi whistled appreciatively when they saw the map. “Damn, you guys aren’t playing around with this search, huh?” They walked around to where the Lola, Danae, and Cato were standing, raising a hand in greeting. Then they glanced back down at the map. “What’s all the red for?”

There was one other mage in the room, who Cato had introduced as Hakim. He had dark hair swept up in a bun, with a buzzed sigil-patterned undercut. There was a grim expression on his face as he turned to Kezi and explained, “The red represents places we’ve searched and found nothing.” Kezi winced, and Hakim nodded in agreement. “It’s getting bad. We’ve searched nearly every place we can without completely trespassing on another clan’s territory and sparking a war.”

Cato had a bleak expression on his face when he spoke, “At this point, I’m not sure that a war is something we can avoid anymore.” He sighed. “Someone’s got to be responsible for this, and the most likely culprit is one of the other mage clans. Kidnapping a clan heir is a death sentence at the very least, and tensions have been so high lately already...” He trailed off, the room filling with a grim silence.

Kezi looked at the two mages curiously. “So, which of the other clans do you think it was?”

Hakim grimaced and said, “I’m not sure. I thought we were all on relatively good terms.”

Cato’s face grew stony. “We were. It’s been a hundred years or so since we’ve had any real conflicts.”

Danae’s brow furrowed. She leaned in and asked, “Isn’t the Firebrand clan your clan’s sworn rival?”

“Yeah, and aren’t you constantly feuding with the Inkwrights?” Kezi said, raising an eyebrow.

Hakim let out a breath of laughter. “Yes and yes. I mean, I did say relatively.”

Lola turned to Danae and asked under her breath, “How did you know that?” Danae just shrugged. 

Cato nodded thoughtfully, expression darkening even further. “They have a point. The Firebrands and the Inkwrights are the two most likely suspects.” He took a few strides forward and pointed to a place on the map. “That’s where the Inkwright’s bookshop is located.” He pointed to another place, this time on the edge of town. “And that’s where the Firebrand’s main shop is.” 

As he spoke, he began to pace back and forth. “The Inkwrights are the closest geographically, but the Firebrands have the strongest motivation, considering we’re the two most major clans.” Behind his back, Kezi rolled their eyes. 

Hakim added, “Whoever it was must have had more backup than we thought, in order to start a war like this.” 

Cato nodded in agreement. “I just keep running it over in my head, all the interactions I’ve had with the main families recently- we’re all just so spiteful to each other all the time, it’s hard to tell which of them were actually planning to- planning to…” 

Lola spoke up, “Weren’t you complaining to me the other day about one of them- one of the clans, I mean? And about their heir, what’s-his-face…” She snapped her fingers, trying to recall the name, before she suddenly remembered. “Emile! Emile D’Amboise!” 

    Cato’s expression darkened, like it always did whenever the Firebrand heir’s name was mentioned. Lola had heard at length about the two’s rivalry, although she never quite could remember the guy’s name. After every clan meeting, Cato would often rant at length to her about everything from Emile’s stupid remarks to Emile’s stupid ideas to Emile’s stupid hair. Not that she minded, of course- what else were friends for but listening to each other’s rants?- but it was a bit extensive, she had to admit. She would have regretted mentioning it, but finding Ree was definitely more important right now. 

    “You’re right, thanks for bringing it up,” he said darkly. “I’m willing to bet anything Emile and his Firebrand goons are behind this- they’ve been getting more and more aggressive lately.”

    Hakim made a tch sound. “It’s true, they looked even more murderous than usual at the last conference, and their territory grabs have gotten a lot bolder recently.”

A thought seemed to occur to Kezi, and they stepped forward to look at the map in consideration. “Is there anyone else it could be, other than the mage clans?”
    Cato sighed again, one hand reaching up to massage his temples. “I… I don’t know. On one hand, who else could it be? But on the other hand, I can’t bring myself to believe any of the clans, Firebrand or otherwise, be that utterly stupid.” There was a quiet anger simmering beneath his words as he spoke. “All I know is that whoever’s responsible is going to receive the full wrath of the Silksmith clan and our allies.”

Danae spoke up quietly from her place over by the corner. “Whoever it is… this will spark a war, won’t  it?” 

Hakim looked over from where he’d been adjusting the map, his eyes narrowing. “You may just be right, uh… sorry, what was your name again?” He turned to Danae apologetically.
    “I am known as the Crow Queen, as well as Danae. I have been using she and her, although it does not matter to me.” Interesting, Lola thought, filing that away for future examination.

“Right, thanks,” Hakim said. “You may be right, Danae. It depends on what happens next, most likely.” He began to pace. “Best-case scenario, Ree is returned unharmed within the next twenty-four hours by someone acting alone. The kidnapper will have to die, of course, but that’s the outcome with the least bloodshed. But if the situation isn’t defused in the next day or so...” 

He trailed off, and Cato picked up the thread of the conversation, his words laced with pent-up anger. “If the situation isn’t defused soon, if the kidnapper doesn’t come to us crawling on their knees for forgiveness in the next hour, if this was done by one of our ancestral rivals, if whoever’s responsible does something else to provoke us… well, then our clan goes to war.”