August 3, 2003
Coralis was at Panjik's house for training. She went to London earlier that day for hand combat and weapon training and flew directly to Panjik's afterwards. She was in the middle of a fight with Sonylla when she felt her hologram vibrating. She decided to ignore it, thinking it was the EBEE.
When they were done, she pulled her hologram out of her cloak and saw that she had a message coming from Erik. She pressed to view the recording.
'Sis, call us back whenever you can. We have information regarding who broke through our wards 2 weeks ago.'
"I remember you mentioning that. It was only your room that was turned upside down, right?" said Sonylla.
"Yeah, my roommates in London think they were looking for something specific, but nothing was taken out of my room, so it could also be a warning."
"Everyone knows you got people after you. Against what would they be warning you," said Sonylla.
"That they know where she lives and can override her security wards," said Panjik.
"It can be anyone. As far as the elemental world knows, Blue Thunder lives in the UK, even the flyball team doesn't have my Montreal address."
Coralis called Erik back.
"You know how there is no such thing as coincidences in our world, right?" said Erik.
Henry was next to him, and Coralis could tell they were in their London flat.
"Damn right! You said you were at a meeting with the EBEE when that happened, are they behind it?"
"We can't prove it yet, but someone was hired to do it while we were conveniently out of the house," said Henry.
"We tracked down the energy signature used to dissolve one of the wards," said Gus from the background.
"As it turned out, a bounty hunter was hired to break into our wards. He doesn't know who hired him but said that he was tasked to locate the Silverling Heart. Know something about that?" said Erik.
"Yes, I do. Remember when I was tasked to destroy the Rawindra Sword and had to go through a traditional duel for it?"
"Of course I do, it was less than 2 years ago and against one of your mother's brothers," said Erik.
"Yes, well, after I destroyed him and won the duel, I also had to kill a cousin. I searched the place afterwards and found the Silvering Heart. I didn't know what it was at the time but felt something out of it, so I took it to have a closer look at it later on."
"And let me guess, you forgot all about it because you were busy left and right," said Henry.
"The Silverling Heart," said Panjik, who was attentively listening to them, "I've heard that name a couple of times in the past… back when your parents were alive actually. If not mistaken, it was reported stolen from a Scandinavian tomb that was raided about 25 years ago."
"I was somewhere in northern England. I dumped it in one of my storage units. It never was brought back to either of my apartments. I looked it up briefly when I got home, managed to find its name, but then had to leave and well, forgot all about it."
"So it's either someone at the EBEE who paid the bounty hunter to break through our wards and search your room for it, as they're the ones to have sent you there… or it's one of your relatives who paid him off for it," said Erik.
"I vote for the relative. I don't think the EBEE knew that the Silverling Heart would be there when they asked you to destroy the Rawindra Sword… unless they knew and the sword never needed to be destroyed in the first place… and suspected that you'd killed everyone there to get to it," said Henry.
"According to lore, it is believed that if an elf wears the silverling heart, he, or she, becomes immune to silver and can create silver elements out of nothing, or turn anything into silver," said Panjik.
"Elf? I can see Phraton wanting it for himself," said Coralis.
"Meaning that even if they didn't know that the Silverling Heart would be in northern England when they sent you to destroy the Rawindra Sword, if they searched for it, and managed to trace it to the relatives you killed… they could reasonably think that you now have it," said Gus.
"I should probably try to get in touch with my mother's family, to see if they're working with some EBEE elders from the UK," said Coralis.
"You're sure about that?" said Erik.
"No. I don't want them to find out who I am and if I meet with them, they'll connect the dots right away, if they haven't already, by recognizing my father's energy signature in me."
"Sis, remember the French EBEE agents we met during the flyball tournament 11 years ago?" said Henry.
"Yeah, they knew right away who I was. People outside of school didn't know me as Blue Thunder back then."
"Right, and they protected us, even if they knew who you were. They didn't try to pull you on their side or assume you were against them, they just made sure none of us would get expelled, so we wouldn't be thrown where Lord Meozo could get us. We will get in touch with them, to see what they know," said Henry.
"You know, this is making me realize that despite the EBEE having jurisdiction over the entire European continent and having branches in many European countries, we usually only hear about the British district," said Panjik.
"Blue Thunder is attached to their British branch, maybe that's why? Do we have other EBEE agents collaborating with us at the moment?" said Sonylla.
"Not at the moment. The only reason Blue Thunder is still working with us is because we've been pressuring them to maintain her partnership with us."
"Meaning your elders have leverage against them," said Erik.
"It seems that way indeed," said Panjik.
"If the EBEE is indeed trying to set me up or get me dead, and managed to get the CMMA to turn a blind eye on some operations, then it means that the CMMA also does have elders working both sides."
As she finished her sentence, a blue light came out of her hologram base, indicating that someone else was trying to reach out to her.
"I think I need to pick this up. Talk to you later?"
"Most definitely," said Erik and Henry at the same time.
She ended their call and answered the incoming one. A goblin in a clean suit and dishevelled hair came out of it.
"Blue Thunder! We must tell you."
"I'm listening," said Coralis, recognizing their attire as coming from the establishment she's banking with.
"Your safe was empty, except for some paperwork meant for human government, thankfully. Two elves managed to pass through security and tried to break through some of our wards. They failed, but they were trying to access your safe."