Talia had insisted actually after the discussion. She told Kurt this wasn't going to be on him. It was an insult to her. Kurt had convinced her to wait for Harvey to come around.

They walked to the command center, mostly tents but some building had gone up. And Talia waited at the entrance.

"It would be better if you got them," said Talia.

Kurt had gotten Joshua, who seemed to know who and where the leader was. Kurt was about to follow him, but stopped himself. And instructed Joshua to have him come to them. He didn't want to leave Talia alone; she was kind of angry.

William came out. And seemed to be confused about the calling.

"Is something wrong?"

Talia was about to say something but Kurt put his arm out and said, "Are you missing anyone?"

"Missing?"

"Well, the deal was you all stay here around the gate. But do not come to the other places unannounced."

"There are some that are resting and others that have found some fondness for your mess hall. They go unarmed. But everyone is accounted for everyday? Why do you ask?" said William.

"And your shadow users?" said Talia.

"I beg your pardon?" said William, "none of my men have those powers. Tricky though."

Kurt looked at him, and whistled. And Harvey came up, with a body on his back and a head in his left of his mouth.

"And this man?" Said Kurt, "He is wearing your uniforms."

"Derek, what the hell did you do?"

"So you do know this spy?" said Talia.

"He's newer but, he's not a spy."

"You just said none of your troops use the shadow."

"None, certainly not Derek."

"He died as a shadow," said Talia, turning towards Kurt, "and I did give him time to come out." And Kurt nodded.

"How can I know this is true?" said William.

"Feel his body, it's still warm," said Talia, "You know this is punishment, you brought them here."

"You killed one of ours!"

"I killed the Valentine Clan's enemy, spying on me and our ally," said Talia, "I had the grace to tell you immediately of my displeasure of bringing them here."

"I'm going to have to report this," said William, "to the King."

"Please do," said Talia.

"Talia," said Kurt, "I was there but still."

"He will have to report that too, that one of the Valentine clan saw it as a shadow and you Kurt."

"I'm not happy about this," said Kurt, "I have reason to believe he was in my home."

"You lucky we want this to work," said Talia.

"We are willing to believe he tricked everyone," said Kurt. "But it's undeniable to me, he was a shadow, and died as one."

William, Kurt, and Talia stared at each other for a moment.

"I will have to talk to my commanders, don't think about moving this gate until I say so."

"That doesn't work, you are not the boss around here, you can ask Betsy where we will be," said Kurt. "She'll make accommodations. As far as I'm concerned you broke your side of the deal here."

"Impossible."

"And yet, your people were spying on us, in consortium with the Shadow Clan," said Talia, "we are willing to believe that this was a single officer that infiltrated and not coming from command. But that doesn't mean that it was not your responsibility to keep track of your people."

"We have no reason to lie about this," said Kurt.

"I will need to send word about this, and wait for orders," said William.

Things had gotten more tense than Kurt had planned. The situation wasn't really resolved, but it wasn't like the troops here were going to launch an attack at them. They were there to make sure they didn't jump around with the gate too much. Not the best first trip. Kurt had forgotten a little about how cold Talia was in a fight. Death had started to become too common in his life.

But who knows what he was doing and for how long, they had to assume he had help, or a way to get the message out, the guards could cross the gate passing information to someone wouldn't have been impossible for a shadow, even easier.

The worst part is Kurt had completely no idea he was there at all, it was just a normal shadow before Talia had done her thing. In his house, while he slept, that was a real problem. And he knew practically nothing about the shadow clan other than it exists. But they knew about them. First and foremost they needed a way to deal with others that might be around.

That meant going back to Jessica, a conversation Kurt didn't know how to deal with. She was traumatized and already had this thing against him. He would have to have Layla or someone else do it. It wouldn't be a guardianship but someone would have to be able to make the flames.

Kurt thought about this for a moment, did it have to be a human though? Wouldn't it be possible for an elf, or maybe the goatmen? That might make everything easier. Especially if the shadow clan was a threat to the kitsune. He would have to talk with Maliki about it.

"Let's hope he was alone," said Talia, "it's possible he was the first scout, even if he was passing information, it's possible. They can't stay in the shadows forever, they will run out of mana."

"I was thinking maybe some of the Goatmen could be in charge of fires possibly, I'm not sure if they have the ability, the goblins don't. And the effects on elves are hit or miss, they have to already have an affinity for the type of magic. Definitely not as strong."

"That would be up to you," said Talia, "I think we should do a sweep of the grounds with my eyes."

"You'd do that?"

"Kurt I can't have the shadow clan here either, the Valentine clan," Talia paused, "maybe we can have some of the rail workers get the eyes, since they would still be Valentine."

"That'd be helpful. We should probably inform Sara, I doubt they got into the Dutchery though, even as a shadow I think it would be difficult without one of us."

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