The Guild Meeting Hall was set in the center of the village. Generally, representatives of each Family were present at the hall on any given day. The hall itself was designed so that one could enter and stand before the Head, and his officers, and voice their concerns. The layout was very much like that of a congress building, where as there were many rows of seats in a semi-circle before the raised staged, where a central chair sat behind a desk with two smaller seats to either side for the Head's officers.

Ishiaki led Tsu into the hall and was shocked by the emptiness of the place. All of the usual bustle of the Hall was silent, the rows of seating deserted. The only person in the hall was Vannor, himself.

The man sat in the Head Merchant's chair, as was his right. He was elegantly adorned in a deep red robe of what appeared to be silk. He had rings upon each finger, as well as a massive pendant of solid gold strung about his neck. He looked up when the two ninja entered and a brilliant smile crossed his face. "Welcome! Welcome!" He said as he rose to greet them. "No doubt, you've surmised me to be Vannor. As I know that you, my good man, must be the great Blind Swordsman, Ishiaki Hirameki." He took Ishiaki's hand and shook it fiercely, before turning his attention to the other ninja. "And you, my dear, must be Tsuginohi Kerori. It is a wondrous pleasure to meet you both."

The look on Tsu's face was dark, like a little girl contemplating murder. She just gave a slow bow, eyes not leaving Vannor, little body tense as she watched their employer. She was anything but smiles right now.

Vannor blanched and held his hands up in defense. "Have I done something to offend you, Ms. Kerori? I assure you, I meant nothing of the sort."

"A little bit more information about our mission, please." Tsu said, just standing there and not explaining herself. Not that he would understand it. They just needed to get this done quickly. Learn the vitals, then get prepared.

"Did they not give you the packets I had put together?" Vannor asked her in retort. "I thought for sure that everything that you'd needed was there."

"Yes...everything about our adversaries, you provided quite well enough. I think what Tsu is really wanting, and myself as well, is the why." Ishiaki told him, stepping forward ominously. "You will tell us why these Masters are after you and your caravan. Then we will determine whether or not you're actually wasting our time."

"And another why would be nice. Why us?" Tsu said, watching the man intently "Why ask for us?" She was mostly mad about that. About him asking for two... two teams of kids.

"Really? You don't know?" Vannor asked her curiously, looking at her in disbelief. "The eight of you are the ones that rescued the Island of Eternal Frost from the Beastmen, aren't you?" He looked at Ishiaki and then back at her. "I would be foolish not to hire those responsible for that!"

"By accident. You do know the average age of the person you've hired right?" Tsu asked, almost glaring at him "That mission almost killed both teams. Did you know anything about the teams you hired, apart from what the fact they were involved in the Eternal Frost protection?"

Vannor smirked and held his arms out wide. "Take a look around you, Ms. Kerori. Does it look like I do anything without researching it? You don't become Head of the Guild on a whim. Alright, actually, it's rather easy to become Head, but the trick is staying Head." He let his arms drop and looked at the little girl. "The average age of your squads is 14, two of them are only 13 though. Age is not important. They have proven themselves in battle against far superior foes."

"They almost died, and several of their weapons were broken in the recent battles." Tsu pointed out to him "And while their enemies might have been powerful last time, they are nothing compared to the ones you wish to put them against now. And did you check the fatality ratings on the Eternal Frost village's attack?"

"The majority of fatalities occurred because of the sickness, not the actual attack of the Beastmen." Vannor told her, waving that off with his hand slightly. "Yes, they almost died, however they did not. As for their weapon situation, what is it that they could not purchase here? We have everything. Kind of pride ourselves on that, you know."

"It's not what you have. It's what we don't. And that's money." Tsu pointed out flatly "Unless you're willing to give up some top of the line equipment, these kids aren't going to be able to pay for your high priced goods with their pocket money."

"H-High priced?? High Priced?! Woman you offend me!" Vannor told her, his face streaked with irritation. "We offer the finest goods from the finest lands for the finest price! Never in my life have I heard such slanderous accusations!"

"They are children. ONE person has a job, as an assistant in a flower shop. To them, your prices are high. Any items that might be of use at all are high priced in their price range." Tsu said flatly.

"Ridiculous! Have you even set foot in one of our stores? I assure you, they will find no problems with our pricing. You people do get paid, don't you?" Vannor asked her, growing more irritated.

"Not. That. Much." Tsu said flatly "Specially since it's the starting coalition." She watched him intently "Look, your prices might be low, or whatever, but that still doesn't mean that they'll be able to afford anything."

Ishiaki stepped forward and set a gentle hand on Tsu's shoulder. "Let us leave it up to them as to whether or not they can afford any of the merchandise. We didn't come here to change their prices. We came for information. Vannor, you have avoided our first question."

"All I'm saying is, if he wants to stay alive, give them some weapons to use while they're here. Let them have access to something more than they have right now and they would be of more use." Tsu grumbled, stepping back and letting Ishiaki speak.

"It would not matter, Oita will not use a puppet that was not of his own creation or at least one that he could not practice long and hard before using. Being pressed for time does not help him out at all." Ishiaki clarified and crossed his arms, looking at Vannor suspiciously. "What is so important in this caravan that you have brought the attention of the Masters? Even if it wasn't them, you worried enough about whatever you have that you hired us."

Vannor nodded as Ishiaki explained and shrugged. "What can I say? As far as I am aware, we don't really have anything worth the attentions of such killers." It sounded like a well rehearsed line.

"Okay, you're only making this worse on yourself," Tsu said, mostly actually considering El's guitar more than anything else "As you can tell, we're already uncertain about protecting you. Keeping things a secret won't help you. It's also what the Frost Village did, and there were fatalities because of it."

"Let's just say they are rather disgruntled customers, then." Vannor said with a shrug. "I paid very well for your services and you will abide by your own mandate and fulfill that contract." He smoothed out his robe and took a foreboding step towards the ninjas. "Trust me, you do not want the Merchant Guild set against you and your little coalition. You will protect my caravan and my person from these would be thieves and that's that."

"You hired two teams of children to fight against 'disgruntled customers' over something you won't tell us about. If this goes sour, believe me when I say that YOU will be the one suffering from it most." Tsu said flatly, taking a step forward herself "We're not the kind to drop a mission, but you are acting very dodgy for a 'reputable businessman'."

"I hired two teams of ninja who brought down a group of rogue ninja calling themselves the Beastmen." Vannor said in his defense. He was not ruffled by her attitude at all. "Age is of no importance. The Masters want what I will not sell to them. They intend to steal what is meant to be given as a gift for another. Is there anything more that you need to know more than that?"

"What it is." Tsu said flatly "We have people who use fire jutsu and people who can cause explosions... Just how stable is this item? Is it a weapon? Will it explode if it's shook? Is it alive? Is it dangerous to go near? If you tell us what it is we will know exactly what we're dealing with. You haven't even told us if we should avoid doing things around it."

"It's not as though it's magical or anything like that. It is simply highly valuable. I don't really see why they would want it anyway. They cannot hope to sell something that they steal from the Merchant Guild." Vannor explained with a shrug.

"Unless they have no intention of selling it." Ishiaki replied. "It isn't unheard of after all. They may intend to steal this item and keep it for themselves or deliver it to someone else entirely. Without knowing what it truly is, how are we to guess at their intentions?"

"So it's something unique then? Something everyone will spot from the first sight of it. Other wise, they could get it through sales easily..." Tsu said, frowning and scratching her head as she thought "And why you wouldn't sell it to them... that's a mystery."

"We cannot sell what has already been sold." Vannor replied simply. "It is a very basic rule of the Guild. Once at item has been purchased, it cannot be sold to another customer, it is not ours to sell." He hoped that she understood that, it was a rather simple concept.

"Who did you sell it to? Why don't they just attack them?" Tsu asked, raising an eyebrow and watching Vannor "Surely it would be much easier than attacking a caravan of traders who have money to throw around?"

"You think it would be easier to attack where the merchandise would be kept safe in the arms of the customer? To me it seems simpler to attack us in the caravan." Vannor answered her with a shrug. It made more sense to him to attack the caravan than the final destination.

Tsu shrugged "Whatever. Where is it going? We need the address at least so we'd be able to protect it." This guy was giving them nothing. She was not enjoying this mission. It had dodgy written all over it. What exactly was stopping them from just opening up the crate and seeing what was being sold anyway?

"It is going to the Land of Cogs. It was ordered by the Kugutsuo, himself." Vannor answered finally.

"The Kugutsuo is the ruler of the Land of Cogs." Ishiaki replied, figuring that Tsu may not be aware of that on her own. He had traveled to just about every one of the Island Nations during his time before the Coalition. "We cannot open the crate, Tsu. Not only would it be a taboo on the part of client/merchant confidentiality, but it would also go against the Edict of Nobility. As a ruler, the Kugutsuo has more rights to privacy than we dare to trespass upon."

Tsu just cast a glance at Ishiaki. it wasn't as if she didn't KNOW they couldn't open the crate, that was why she hadn't said anything about it. That had been rather rude of Ishiaki. "Where do we find the cargo?" she asked, crossing her arms and wondering how bad this mission was going to go.

"Right now, it is being loaded along with the other items for the trade." Vannor told her with a nod. "It is being guarded by our own men, but here in our village, it is unlikely that they would even be needed, really. It is just a precaution."

Ishiaki wasn't going to apologize for his comment. He was thinking along the same line as she was anyway. There was nothing to stop them from opening the cargo and seeing for themselves what they were protecting. Now that they know it was the property of the Kugutsuo, though...

Oita could probably tell if it was a puppet by smell through a wooden box anyway. The boy was odd like that. Tsu just stood there, arms crossed as she watched their employer. She was not used to dealing with such a uselessly secretive person, let alone with someone who got so easily offended.

"And I take it that we are to protect the entirety of the caravan because you do not intend to tell us where in it, you'll be placing the precious cargo?" Ishiaki asked him curiously, beginning to see the method behind all this madness. If they were to be taken captive and actually tortured into revealing intelligence, they would not be capable of disclosing where the item was, simply because they did not know it.

Tsu paused, then shook her head "So if we have to lighten the load to escape the attack, you'd rather we dump it randomly, not knowing what it is?" she asked. Sometimes people needed to get carts moving faster, and to do that, they lightened the carry load. Not telling them just heightened the risk in some cases.

"You don't need to concern yourselves about lightening the load." Vannor told them both simply. "Let that be the concern of my own people. Even if the rest of the cargo must be dumped, so be it. It will be a painful loss of profit, but not one that was not to be expected on such a course."

"So your own people know which case it is, but the armed guards you hired aren't allowed to know?" Tsu asked. She still wondered if they could forfeit this mission now. While they didn't before, the more they talked, the more reason they had for just leaving.

Vannor shook his head slowly. "No, no you misunderstand. My people will only, if they must, lighten the loads of their own carts. The person who will be carrying the item in question will not be burdened with the problem of lightening the load. That simply will not be an option. Now please, we must speak no more of the cargo." He held his hand up to stop her before she should even begin again. "I will not reveal anything further about the cargo. Is there something more that you have questions about?"

"Does your mother know how to stitch?" came to mind, but Tsu was pretty sure that the colloquialism wouldn't get recognized outside of her village. She huffed, then said "Where was the last place you SAW the people trying to attack you? Why aren't they attacking right here right now? And before you say that it is foolish to attack here, you lot are shopkeepers and guards. These people slaughter entire ships of people by themselves, let alone as a group. Why aren't you dead yet?"

"Why aren't we dead? Because they have yet to attack." Vannor told her, finding it hard to believe that she hadn't reached that conclusion herself. "We received word that they were coming and sent for you immediately."

"If you received word that these highly skilled ninjas were coming, they're probably already here. We had to learn about it and travel ourselves." Tsu pointed out "Do you have any idea where they are, if you're so sure they're not around here? Because if they are here, you should have said that immediately, and not let us leave the kids out there."

"They are on their way here, naturally. I'm sure they'll come upon us as we are on the road between here and the Land of Cogs." Vannor answered, growing irritated again by her attitude. "The whole of the Merchants Guild is not here in this village, Ms. Kerori."

"Which makes it even more vulnerable." Tsu pointed out. She was also pretty sure that the people were closer than he thought. "Whatever. You're not giving us any useful information anyway. Lets just head out already. Unless you have any more questions?" She looked up at Ishiaki.

Ishiaki looked at Vannor a bit curiously, "I do have one more question for you, Vannor. These Masters...they don't seem the type to simply try and steal something. In all encounters with them, they've never stolen anything. Are you certain you can rely on your intel?"

"They sent a representative to purchase the item. When we turned them away, the man said they would still have it either way and left." Vannor explained calmly. "Then the reports came from outposts along our trade route, the Masters had been spotted traveling along our route. They have every intention, it seems, to ambush us along the way and the steal it."

"So you knew you had time, and you certainly had money, and you've only hired the protection from ONE village. From kids." Tsu said, watching him with a small frown. She wouldn't be surprised when he died a horrible death. Now or later, it didn't matter.

"No. I hired protection from 8 separate villages." Vannor countered her, crossing his arms and glaring at her. "The Coalition Village has two squads comprised of ninja from a total of 8 Island Villages, does it not? And I was assured that each of your students had been proven capable by their own Village Leaders before joining the Coalition for further training." He paused and glanced at Ishiaki as if to confirm his information. "It was my understanding that these 6 genin would have become chunin by now, if they had stayed in their home villages. Does that not make them all the better?"

"Not by that much." Tsu pointed out, "You ordered people who MIGHT be chunin if they had stayed at home. In fact, you ordered ONE person. You just admitted it. You ordered one person, eight times. A chunin six times, to fight an entire team of ninjas who are in the bingo book, who slaughter hundreds individually. I don't know what kind of maths you're doing, but you're seeming very overwhelmed right now to me."

"I hired your squads based on the reputations that you, yourselves, created. I could have just as easily, and far cheaper, gone to other Islands for assistance. I purchased your assistance because I believed the 8 of you would be capable of the job at hand." Vannor told her hotly

"One successful mission does NOT a reputation make." Tsu countered "A difficult mission, yes, but one? One mission convinced you these kids are capable of taking down bingo book members? Either you are REALLY easily impressed, or you wanted us for another reason." If that was true, if he did it on one single mission, he deserved to get robbed and murdered.

"Yes. Against the odds, your squads defeated the Beastmen. A squad of ruthless murderers who, in case you've missed them, are also in the Bingo book. Granted, they are further down from the Masters, but still they were in the book." Vannor told her, expounding further upon his reasons. "And like the Masters, the Beastmen are in there individually. Before you came across them, they had not worked together. "

"We also wound up breaking into the treasure we were guarding, and only through use of great magical artifacts could both teams defeat the enemy. You won't even go so far as to let them take some weapons from your supplies. You have no heart of ice. You have even deadlier enemies, and the kids don't have half their weapons anymore because they are broken. Can you not see why I think that you have made several key, and dramatic, errors in judgement?" He was so up himself, she was the sensei of one of these groups. Why didn't he trust her word?

"You believe I am incorrect, because you do not trust your own students." Vannor told her sharply. "It is not only myself that believes in their ability, it is all of the Guild that has decided on this course of action. We put our trust in you fully. If you require additional supplies, I already stated that you can purchase them."

"Good items. Items kids couldn't afford." Tsu pointed out to him "And no matter WHAT items they buy, you still have no heart of ice. Which was what turned the battle last time. And just because a group of people made this choice, doesn't mean a group of people couldn't be wrong." Tsu shook her head at him "And I don't believe we can do it because I know what happened last battle. I know how that went. I also know the students. You seem to be obsessed with the fact we have a reputation, but you are ignoring the words of the person you hired."

"I am ignoring your words because all you insist on saying is that you are not good enough for this mission." Vannor shook his head and sliced the air with his hand. "I've had enough of it. You are duty bound to fulfill your contract. It matters not to me whether or not you think yourselves capable of it. You were hired for this, and you will do your duty."

Ishiaki nodded and gently placed his hand on Tsu's shoulder. "He raises a good point, Tsu. Whether or not we want to, we will do the mission to the best of our abilities."

"It is not an argument over whether we shall do it. It is a warning. A warning that you have made terrible choices. That you have hidden things from those protecting you, and that you are insisting that children are capable of defeating highly trained killers with minimal supplies, and in a few cases, no weapons. You chose to hire a team of children at their most vulnerable state. We will do this, but if we fail, you could have done something a thousand times over to at least make it easier on the people trying to protect your items. It's as if you want them to steal it."

"Girl, you are irritating me to no end. You have voiced your warning, several times over now. I cannot disclose to you what the product is, nor will I inform you as to its location in the caravan. I do not even intend to tell anyone but the one who carries it in their wagon. You and your students will see us safely to our destination. I would really hate to have to demand a refund of the Coalition." Vannor issued his own warning to her

"Oh no. A threat of a refund. That puts the deaths of several children into perspective." Tsu said dryly, noting that he ignored her requests for free supplies again. She stood there, arms crossed as she watched the man "I'm looking out for the kids in my care. I don't care if I piss you off. I'm here to do the job and make sure they don't die."

"Then do your job." Vannor told her, his voice cracking. There was a vein throbbing in his forehead and his face had become quite red.

Ishiaki gently squeezed Tsu's shoulder. "Come along Tsu. I think we should go check on the others." He was a little afraid that if they continued here, one of them was going to do something they would certainly regret.

Tsu sighed and placed her hand on Ishiaki's gently, "Alright, we'll head out." That guy still made her angry though. Oh so very angry... but she wouldn't have to deal with him much longer. And his inevitable grisly death by the hands of someone he fucked off was pretty much assured.

Ishiaki nodded to Vannor. "We'll be ready as soon as you are, Head Merchant." Choosing the title, rather than his name was simply a play on the formality of duty.

"Yes, yes. You do have some time, we'll be leaving first thing in the morning. Your teams will be permitted to rest up, at a discounted price of course." Vannor said, nodding to Ishiaki as well. He would spread the word, that the ninja were to receive...discounted prices...for their services.

"We're sleeping outside then." Tsu said gruffly, shaking her head "Honestly. It's as if all you care about is money." She sighed, moving away. They were done here. She was going to leave before she stabbed him in the foot. They didn't need him.