'How do you train replacements? ' Yue asked.

'Huo finds them during his field work, ' she peered over her glasses at him for a long pause.

'Ah, and we are his latest 'finds '? ' Maomao wasn 't shocked, she was perplexed, amused, and a little baffled.

'Well short of his grey wing stunt that he didn 't tell any of us about, yeah. Something about 'liberating a noble of significant status ' or something to that effect. Why he starved you two in the isolation cell is beyond me. ' She sounded pretty miffed.

Maomao smacked a hand over her mouth to stifle her snickers, Yue had buried his head in his hands and his thumbs were rubbing his temples, 'Okay, how many know of the noble background and first week? '

'ONLY the council, though judging by your reaction he probably glossed over details. Huo made it very clear that your path is your choice, but if you haven 't figured it out yet, he is ready to hand you the proverbial

keys to the kingdom