A/N: I know where this is going, don’t quite know how I’m getting there. I’ve been out of writing for a while.

Spoilers for, well, in this part, “Ariel”, and a little from “Safe”

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“You want me to do what?”

Ten years Anna Faun had known Gabriel Tam, this was the first time she had ever questioned him.

“Teach me,” he replied as if he were speaking about a garden.

“Teach you what?”

She knew what, she just had to hear him say it again.

“Teach me everything you know about tracking people. All your tricks.”

“Why?”

“I have to find them. I have to do it myself.”

“Do what now?”

“I have to, Anna.”

Anna leaned back in her plush chair and surveyed her old friend. She knew he was a good, trust worthy man, that wasn’t the point. Gabriel not only had money, it was all he had ever known. He had grown up w/ servants to acquiesce to his every demand, rich food always on the table, people gravitated to him for social standing, nobody had ever told him “no”. Even she rarely did. Gabriel Tam had never walked in dirt, let alone work it.

He wouldn’t last a week doing what he was planning on doing.

“Gabriel, you don’t quite understand what you’re asking. You don’t know what the border worlds are like.”

“I’ve heard-”

“Hearing and experiencing are two vastly different things. Basic things like good food, clothing, or even baths in some places, are expensive, and draw attention. You do not want attention drawn to you. You will be required to interact with people that could get you arrested for mere association. You cannot be Gabriel Tam, you must become somebody you, yourself would never, ever associate with. It is not remotely easy.”

“I have to, Anna.”

“Why do you have to do it yourself? There’s plenty of people who would go looking for them.”

“They would go looking for the reward.”

“You don’t want them brought in?”

“I want to be sure before they are.”

“Gabriel, Simon was paranoid. What do you want to be sure of?”

H