"Normally, I'd let this play out and watch, but I'm not really feeling up to it today," Dav interrupted. "I think we deserve some explanations, starting with you, Jaysen. What's an Inquisitor?"

Sophia blinked, then smiled. She wasn't certain she'd have remembered to call Jax Jaysen. He'd said that was okay since the names were close, but this seemed like a case where maybe it wouldn't be okay. Or maybe it would be since everyone now knew that "Jaysen" wasn't what he seemed?

Sophia glanced up to see how Dav's words were received.She didn't have to worry about Taika or Ci'an or even Xin'ri, but she didn't know the Registry Master at all and she didn't really know either Arryn or Jax that well, even though she'd traveled with them both.

Registry Master Sebas ko'Orthlinn didn't move at all. His attention was on Jax, not Dav. All Sophia could tell beyond that was that he didn't seem to expect a fight; he wasn't fully relaxed, but he also wasn't tense.

A smile crossed Arryn's face, but he didn't relax his aura. It was clear that he was ready to act if he felt like he needed to.

Jax reacted the most. He frowned, then shook his head and set the insignia flat on the table. "I might as well start. It's not something I often think about, and why I was given the task didn't seem important. Inquisitors … well, we're the people who look into things, the people who inquire I guess. Most of the time, that's pretty simple; a team gets a lot of complaints, we look into why. We usually don't do anything about it, we just find out what's going on. Most of the time, it's a team that's decided they can get a bit rough, shake down other teams for valuables, but sometimes it's the opposite."

That made them sound like they were the Registry's police, sort of. Sophia could see why that was important, but it didn't explain why Arryn was worried.

"Inquisitors do a lot more than that," Arryn stated firmly. "Yes, you ask questions, but that's not what you're doing here and it's not the only thing you do. Tell them the rest or I will."

"I didn't say we ask questions." Jax scowled at Arryn. "I said we look into things. Often, that's by pretending to be someone we aren't and getting close to whoever or whatever we're investigating. It's always something that affects the Registry, but -"

Jax stopped short and straightened in his seat. The scowl vanished, replaced by a look of surprised comprehension. "That's why you're worried, isn't it? You think I'm actually looking into Sophia's team. I'm not; I really have asked them to help me and told them what I'm looking for. They're new to the second upgrade, but they have the skill and the Abilities to actually help."

"When I met them less than a year ago, they barely had Spheres." Arryn flicked his gaze around the group. "Sophia and Dav, at least. I don't know the others. I was impressed by them, but a year is not very long. There's no way they're that skilled with whatever Abilities they've gained since then."

"And yet they took out a full team of second and third upgrade people before they reached the second upgrade. I should know; I was part of the team until it splintered at the very end." Jax's words clearly startled both Arryn and Sebas.

"It wasn't that impressive," Sophia added. "We just wore them down when they didn't know we were there until they were basically out of Shield. We had help from the location, too; there were traps we could just activate and they weren't expecting a real opponent. When they got to their goal, they turned on each other; Ja … ah, Jaysen is pretty sure that was planned from the beginning. We took advantage of it and dealt with the hollow ones while they were surprised and busy, that's all. It's not really that impressive."

Sophia was a little proud of herself, even if she'd almost slipped and called Jax by his real name. She'd managed to leave Tiwaz out of it.

"You weren't on the receiving side," Jax countered. "And while higher level people are much easier to kill if you don't have to deal with their Shield, you do still have to kill them. That's not easy, especially not with a shadow assassin like Kizru."

"He was running away, not fighting," Sophia countered. "It's not that impressive."

"If the Kizru you're talking about is Kizru Venan, you're wrong. Stopping him when he tries to run is nearly impossible, but that would explain why he's been hard to find for a few tendays. How did you manage it?" The Registry Master managed to sound serious then curious, with no hint of the tension that still filled the dining room.

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Sophia shook her head. "It really wasn't that hard. All I had to do was force him out of the shadows, and that was easy enough. His shadow shape wasn't really exactly living, so it was vulnerable to True Death. We just threw everything at him after that; I'm not even sure who killed him."

"All you had to do was force him out of the shadows." Sebas laughed. "It sounds easy when you say it like that, but that's true of anyone with shadow magic, and shadows are everywhere. I see what you mean, Arryn; she has no idea, does she?"

"Not at all," Arryn answered. He seemed to relax a little, but his attention was still clearly on Jax. "Which is why us old folk have to look out for people like her. So. Stop giving me pieces and tell me how you met and what you've asked them to do. Honestly."

Jax's eyes flicked towards the Registry Master. After a moment, he either got the signal he was waiting for or decided it wasn't going to happen. "I'd better start with the task. It's why I ended up where I was. I was looking into the Arena; they have or know something that makes their teams survive better in the Maze than Registry teams that aren't affiliated with the Arena. It's clearly secret, but we need to know what it is."

"Jax." Sebas spoke up before Jax could continue. "I hoped that was you. I thought you were dead."

"I would have been," Jax admitted. "Kizru would have killed me. We decided it would be better if I stayed dead; that way, the entire team would disappear and we could make it look like whatever we wanted it to."

Jax bit his lip, then narrated everything he remembered from the moment the Arena's healing setup malfunctioned. Sophia already knew that part, so she watched Sebas and Arryn. Sebas was hard to read, probably because he was so birdlike, but Arryn was easy. He seemed more relaxed the longer Jax spoke.

Eventually, Jax got to the part where he described what he'd asked them to do and detailed their current idea of having Sophia figure out how to bypass the restrictions on enchantments and then somehow use that to get in contact with the people who actually ran the healing setup since they had a lot of items that might be useful if they could bypass the protection on them.

It sounded more and more like a dumb idea the more Jax said about it. How exactly was she supposed to get in contact with them? Why would they trust that she could do what she said she could? Even if that worked, how could they be sure that those people were actually connected to whatever made surviving the Maze easier? Jax seemed to assume it was an item and that the same people should therefore be in control of whatever it was, but Sophia could easily see that being different people. The people who managed the healing setup were working specifically in the Arena, and that wasn't the Maze.

"If you actually figure that out…" Arryn shook his head, clearly more contemplative than angry, now. "I doubt you will succeed. No other wardbreaker has ever been able to teach another without a wardbreaking Sphere. Expanding from wardbreaking to bypassing enchantment locks is even less common, and I know of no one who has managed to teach another. You do not have a wardbreaking Ability, do you?"

Sophia shook her head. "Why would I need one? It's a matter of mana control, you have to work with the ward in front of you if you want to bypass it instead of just overpowering it."

"Perhaps you will, then." Arryn gave a soundless chuckle and shook his head. "As impossible as that seems, so is a siege mage before the first upgrade. If you can do it without a Sphere, please teach someone before you head into the Maze, even if all you manage is to rekey it so someone else can use it. More people who can bypass wards would be both good and bad; it will help in the Maze, but I certainly don't want anyone bypassing the wards on my wagon. Well, we'll just have to live with it. I have so many things I could sell if anyone could use them…"

"Stop daydreaming about money and answer your half," Sebas interrupted Arryn. "I know you, old man; giving a young couple a lift through the wilderness or even having their team guard your house when it doesn't really need it so that they have a place to stay in Mazehold are both things you do, but stand up to an Inquisitor? You believe in their mission more than I do, and Jax works for me."

Arryn let out a breath. For a moment, he looked tired and old. That lasted until he looked up. "There are two threads, but they both lead back to the same thing. The Maze. No one knows how to rebuild the Tower, but everyone here knows the message the Guide gave when the Tower fell."

Sophia frowned at Arryn, then glanced at Dav. He looked just as clueless as she did, as did Taika, Ci'an, and Xin'ri, but both Jax and Sebas nodded. "What are you talking about?"

Arryn looked surprised for a moment, then nodded. "Oh, of course. You haven't spent much time in the Registry's tavern. The Tower lays broken. Claim its Heart to conquer these broken lands. It's on the wall in the tavern. There are many ideas about what it really means. I know what I believe, but no matter what it means, it needs to happen."

He shook his head, but continued to look at Sophia. "No one has made it to the center of the Maze since then. The best attempts … well, the best ones that returned are immortalized in the Registry. Almost all of those people died during a later attempt. Those like the Shield of the Sun who made it deep into the Maze and then stopped are few and far between, but she believes that you two have a chance, if you build a good enough team."

Arryn glanced around the room. His gaze settled on Jax, and Sophia wasn't certain if he was talking to her or to Jax, now. "I'm not sure I agree with her, but I didn't make it as deep as she did. If you can, it could change everything, and I won't let anyone, not even an Inquisitor, prevent you from having a chance. I won't make you go, but I will give you every chance I can. If that means you need to find out what the people in the Arena know, well, that's a step in the right direction."

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