"Hm... any idea what your new position will be?"

"Well hopefully I'll go back to being an actual soldier instead of harbor patrol." Saya remarks, the disdain and annoyance thick in her tone. "I was kind of hoping you would know more what's going on on that end than me. I mean you do are "nobility" and have ties to Royal family. With everything that's transpired in the last few weeks I suspect we may be headed in a different direction... militarily I mean."

Yuu returns to Vanyra's apartment and passes along the information concerning the changes to Ossylia's customs agency to the group. In the following days Vanyra spends her time wandering through the harbor district. She is able to pick up on various merchant discussions on supposed benefits and detriments of the new government action in the area, with some praising the increased security and forthwith nature of some of the new officials, while others complain about the overly strict regulations enforcement. For her own part she does notice a more prevalent paramilitary presence in the area under the auspices of the new Royal Ministry of External Commerce. Additionally, after three days it appears all the check stops in the area have been removed. Vanyra then moves toward the noble district and back through a couple of the inner city areas and find there too the check stops and street guards have been removed, or at least returned to what they used to be.

Zelpuz lays low for a couple of days and then heads back toward the Order chapter house to stake-out the place. He too notices that the guard check stops that have been so prevalent and troublesome since the night they fled have disappeared, returning to the city streets the same chaotic joviality from when he first arrived. His observations of the chapter house are anything but jovial though, with almost no one coming or going, save the occasional agent. Late in aftereve of the second day he does observe two well dressed Ossylians enter with a small crate. Using the scope of this rifle he identifies the contents as bottles of liquid, mostly likely wine by the shape of the bottle, color of the contents and what little he could make of the labels. The two Ossylians left roughly an hour later without their crate. The rest of the day passed without any notable visitors.

Zelpuz relays the information about the two visitors to the Order chapter house to Yuu, but with their lack of insignia or house sigil Yuu is unable to guess who they may have been. The lack of a noble coat of arms or sigil would suggest they were not of the nobility, or nobility  travelling incognito.

A few more days go by and throughout the city the atmosphere of tension has largely dissipated, with the streets of Ossylia returning to their regular chaotic, bustling nature. Only the harbor district, with the presence of the new paramilitary customs agency, appears more restrained, but depending on who you talk to that is both a good and bad thing. The street checkpoints are all gone, with guards returning to their regular patrols and district barracks and the soldiers returning to their garrison. The morning papers and evening newsletters are back in distribution, with their usual run of fact, opinion and sly marketing of goods and services; nary a mention of the discord that so recently passed. There are a few stories about recently debates in the Senate and appeals for royal decrees on matters such as grain taxes, provincial levies, an import permit quota system, etc. etc., with the usual contrariness exhibited between the Reforgers and the Novians. If it wasn't for everything you'd experienced and knew you'd think nothing happened here at all.

Checking in at the pub from a discrete vantage point reveals some of the same observers coming and going, though no Order members. Similarly there is no sign of Lasrane showing up either.

One evening after it's discovered that the street checkpoints are gone the group returns to the Jin family compound, and after an extensive surveillance period determine that the soldiers that were once guarding the house are gone. There are a few guards in House Jin uniforms, which appear familiar to Yuu, but those keeping his parents under watch from before are nowhere to be seen.

Additionally, during the previous week Yuu visited the royal compound and was able to meet a low-level steward he went to class with. Given their mutual alma mater and Yuu's familial ties with the royal family he was able to secure a meeting with the daughter of Duke Shan Wei, Lady Shan Ziyi, who is actually a Countess regularly involved with senate affairs. She's a much more hands-on political type compared to many in the royal family.

While awaiting his royal meeting Yuu stakes-out his home. On the first day he confirms the new from Vanyra and Zelpuz regarding the lack of military checkpoints, and careful observation reveals that the soldiers that were occupying his family compound are gone. Erring on the side of caution Yuu elects to wait for someone to exit the walls rather than enter and risk being caught. On the second day, relatively early in the morning, his mother exits in full military uniform and with a small detachment of six house guards. From his concealed position in a shrubbery down the road from the main gate, Yuu dons his nether-spectacles for a closer look a the guards. His suspicions luckily bear no fruit, he recognizes each of the guards as members of his mother's personal guard. In the intervening moments before they reach his position Yuu ponders his next move.

The young mage considers his situation. He doesn't want to reveal himself, but he needs to know what the home situation is. He can do very little without knowing this answer. He pulls out a piece of paper, and scribbles a quick note. He folds it, and twirls into existence one of his little demons. Passing the note to the impish creature, he orders it to openly and politely pass the message to his mother, and leans back into the shadows to watch.

As expected the guards react quickly to the approaching imp, drawing then weapons and forming a protective ring around Yuu's mother. The imp halts its progress obediently and holds out the note. With a nod from Po Lok Jin one of the guard retrieves the note with more than a little trepidation as his companions maintain their vigil. After a cursory examination of the note, apparently checking to see if it was indeed a note rather than some dastardly contraption, he hands it to Yuu's mother. She quickly examines the note's exterior before opening it and scanning the contents. A moment later and without reaction General Po Lok Jin motions for her entourage to continue forward. They continue down the street and then take a right at the first intersection, disappearing out of Yuu's view.

Yuu watches the entire interaction, not daring to blink. And it seems, not daring to breath either, as he gasps for air excitedly, sputtering and coughing, having just seen his mother turn right.

"Oh my god." He looks down at the imp, a smile splitting as wide as his cheeks can take. His imp companion stares up at him, like a puppy who's watching an owner acting a little odd. Yuu has also been hopping excitedly, it appears. He stops. Composes himself, and gives his companion a high five before returning it to the ether planes.

Next, the young mage pulls a talking radio from his bag, and flips the switch. "Hey guys. Do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, what's going on so early in the morning?"

"Hey. So, home is safe. I'm going back now, I'll be there if you want to stop by later."

"OK, just to make sure, let us know once you are home having a tea and confirmed everything is OK."

Following contact with Zelpuz and Vanyra, Yuu heads home for the first time in what seems like months or years. As he approaches the main gate, in spite of all appearances of normality, he fears the worst, some sort of trick or ambush. He quickly runs through a check of his nether gadgets and mentally readies a couple of easy spells in case things go south. The ornately iron wrought gates are shut and with only a moment's hesitation he strikes the knocker three times. A slide opens mid-height on the right gate and a voice politely demands Yuu's identify and business.

Harren, the guard, is pleasantly surprised to find it is Yuu at the door and quickly lets him in with an apology, and then quickly informs the mage that his mother just departed for the ministry (of Defense) though his father is in his study at the moment. Yuu decline's the man's offer to call the steward of the House, insisting that he can make his own way and the family is better served with Harren at his post.

Yuu quickly moves off through the front courtyard where barely a trace of battle remains, and indeed would be completely hidden if not for his familiarity and keen memory of the place. He is quick to note that there seem to be fewer guards and servants around than he remembers, though that is to be expected he figures.

The interior of the house is in even better shape than the garden, with everything in place as he remembered. Shortly Yuu arrives at the study and finds his father engrossed in a pile of documents on his desk. It takes a few moments until he looks up, first with an expression of surprise and then one of relief and joy, then finally getting up to embrace Yuu.

After the heartfelt greetings the conversation turns into a rapid exchange of news and events, with Yuu explaining that Qwe is up in Hasheli with their cousins, that he saw mother, and a very basic explanation of their flight from and back to the city. His father in turn explains that following the night raid a number of high ranking generals came to visit to explain the situation and the rule of martial law in response to what they believed was a credible threat from a dissident group within the kingdom and that it was related to the warehouse explosion earlier. The house arrest was deemed as the most politically expedient method of handling the situation, allowing them to execute unpopular orders without putting key parties in a tough position, like the Jin family. In essence by holding Yuu's family in place they were conveniently removed from the situation, and would have a plausible defense against whatever outcome transpired.

Yuu absorbs his father's explanation of events, unraveling the minutia and nuances of one slice of Ossylian politics, as best he can. Yuu never did like studying political theory, even less than military theory, and this was a deep dive into both. After the explanation both father and son sit in silence, processing everything.

"We'll have to send a message to Uncle Rez. He and Auntie were worried as well. I mean, is it okay for Qwe to come back? Do you think things will fire up again?""

Yuu also inquires into the actual night of the attack and who actually approved the attack. "Was there a dissident group?"

Yuu's father assures him that it should be fine for Qwe to come home as there was never really a direct threat to the family, it was more a move to incapacitate them. The attack on the family was perpetrated by special forces units under command of one of the higher ranking generals in the royal forces, as he admitted as much. Similar such assaults and house arrests were conducted against other families closely associated with the military and royal family. This was to remove them from decision making and potential blow back from those decisions.

The real attacks were conducted against apparent extremist groups of the Novian faction. There was evidence tying some Shen Zue to a smuggler's ring and the harbor district explosion a number weeks back. That explosion was incidentally the result of a huge illegal cache of chlornetherium, though the exact cause of the explosion was unknown. Military intelligence was understandably quite distressed that such quantities could be smuggled in under their noses and took some 'extreme' measures to ferret out those responsible.

There are still many questions to which Yuu's father does not have answers, as he is just relating the version of events he has heard. Though he does agree the chlornetherium was of concern, he is concerned the military may have jumped the gun with their operation and allowed some parties to escape. Further investigation may prove dangerous, both physically and politically, depending on how things shake out.

Yuu listens more, poking in a question here and there, trying to add scope to what Zelpuz and Vanyra may need answered. When these questions are exhausted, and his father is sitting there, the young mage turns to silence. There's a comfort to being in the presence of his father again. The idea of sleeping in his own bed tickles his mood. He's home.

"Did I do okay?" he asks at last.

His father smiles back, "Better than ok, nothing short of remarkable given everything that's happened to you." He pauses for a moment, staring out the moment as if lost in thought and then continues, "Now things will get back to normal, for the most part, but I fear this will not be end to such events. When your mother returns this evening we will need to have a discussion about the path forward."

After the meeting with his father Yuu heads to his room to discover everything exactly where he left it, save for one of the non-functional gadgets he had been working on. He suspects someone took an interest in it, and then placed it on the opposite side of the desk away from his work station. Though he has been gone for only a few weeks a wave of relief and sense of nostalgia for the memories here washes over him. After relishing the moment he starts tidying his room and then changes his clothes. He was never into fashion but wearing the same couple of outfits for weeks was starting to get old. It was then he remembered that Zelpuz and Vanyra may be dropping by later, and that he should alert the gate guards given their heightened tension.

The next few hours pass uneventfully, with Yuu getting cleaned up and grabbing some food from the kitchen; a few local delicacies he unconsciously missed. Eventually the house steward finds Yuu and informs him that he has a couple of guests, and that they are awaiting him in the sitting room. Yuu follows the man to the room where Vanyra and Zelpuz are seated in silence. A feeling of deja-vu passes over the three of them. The steward excuses himself.

A feeling that somehow everything is nearly back to normal, or didn't even happen lays in the room. But the trio finds back to reality, exchanging the events of the past days, discussing what it all means and musing what would have happened without the big explosion.
After enjoying the quite time at Yuu's residence with tea and brisket, they come try to decide their next steps.
"Good that your home is safe again. I guess there's not much left to do. But I would really like to find out more about Lasrane's accusations about the Order. I'll stick around and keep investigating. Maybe I can find Lasrane again some time, or the people that seem to be the outside contact, too."

Yuu has been enjoying the feeling of just... relaxing. Back in his home. After a bit of craziness, some stability will be welcome.

After a bit of chatter, the conversation seems to drift into territories of the immediate future. "Is there anyone else you know from the Order you trust who you can speak with about Lasrane's accusations?"

"This is not my chapter. I was just sent to capture Lasrane. I guess the only thing to do would be to try and shadow the Order a bit longer. Besides that, Myrria hopefully has reported to the higher offices already. assume they will send someone to investigate further, so if I can't find any connections soon, I guess the best thing for me to do would be get out of town before the local Chapter hires someone to pick me up."

Squatting on a chair instead of reclining, Vanyra adds, "They will be looking for you, where do you want to go?"

"Good question." Zelpuz scratches his imaginary beard. "I think the only two options are to live in hiding here and infiltrate the Order here, or leave this city, at which point they probably loose interest in me." He stares at the wall for a while. "Let's keep an eye on the Order for a bit, but if nothing happens, I would just move on. Any suggestions?"