Sorry for the sudden, one week vacation. My family caught a really mild strain of the cold. Nothing dangerous, but it's meant a constant annoyance. I'll begin again Saturday.

This post is a missing part of the story behind Wolf's Pawn. Before the story begins, Sestus formulated a plan to abduct Benayle and it was in motion during the opening scene where Benayle is talking to Sajani about her resignation. You never actually see the plan. You just hear about a couple things in the background.

Sajani finds some manacles in the captured transport. Those were meant for Benayle, who orginally was going to meet Rameum outside the city. I didn't mention their target because it required a lot of back story.

Later, when Sestus is looking over the report from some unidentified locals, he thinks about how his first attempt had failed. You don't know it at the time, but might be able to put it together later, but that report was from Rameum's people and after discovering that Benayle would be going home over sea, Sestus risks the capture again.

This story show the arcane elf response to the tech elves trying to sneak into Vharkylia through an air drop.