Des had stopped by The Oracle office building after making sure that Miles put in his time behind the bar that evening. She was going to pick up some notes on one of the stories she was working on for the coming issue when she felt a presence and knew she was not alone.

Navy blues warily glanced around as two of her "diamond" placed their hands on the hilts of their swords and the other two had their bows in hand and arrows at the ready upon seeing their Queen becoming uncomfortable.

She couldn't see anything but she could feel that she wasn't alone. "Show yourself! I know ya are in here! If ya don't there is gonna be trouble!"

Des quickly held up a hand to forestall her guards. ?Tampa! N?ndengina ta!? As soon as Mask showed himself to her she recognized It from the Arena and knew It meant her no harm. It?s words only confirmed this which was a relief and her royal guards replaced their arrows and bows as well as removed their hands from the hilts of their swords upon her command. They would not attack unless she gave them the command or she was attacked first.

She smiled and motioned to the chair beside her desk as she took her own seat while the four dressed in their armor fanned out in a protective diamond shape around her desk facing outward in the four directions each ready at a moment?s notice to protect their Queen. ?I?m kind of sorry about that Darlin?. They are just doin? their job honest. They didn?t mean no harm. Well I guess they did mean some harm but it ain?t nothing personal against ya Mask. Ya say ya got an update for me Darlin???

The reporter nodded to Mask with another smile. ?Well I do see a lot of police reports in my work as a reporter Darlin? so I have seen this here crimson moon and dagger which is the symbol of the Nightblades Guild on a few of them there reports which means that they have been responsible for doin? some not so nice things here around town in the past few weeks.?

She reached for a notebook then flipped through a few pages before finding the one that she wanted and after scanning the words written there she glanced back up to It. ?Okay now this here Pidane that ya are asking about I have seen them in the common room of the Inn and they do have this here crimson moon and dagger symbol on their robes so I would figure that they is a part of these here Nightblades now what part I can?t tell ya yet cause I don?t personally know. I ain?t got that far in my investigation of ?em and I ain?t seen ?em lately in the Inn either to actually have a visit with ?em or to be able to listen in on their conversation. They do have some powers though because they conjure their own drink that...? She glanced back at her notes quickly. ?Apprears to be some kind of golden liquid if I got it wrote down here right.?

The pages on the already dog-eared notebook flapped again as it was riffled through to yet another page while she darted a smile up to Mask in between muttering to herself a word here and there read from the pages as she searched for the next. ?Hmmm okay Vanion. He was last seen in the Arena dueling just a couple of weeks ago and made no moves to harm anyone that particular night. He was looking for peer wins and I was on duty calling duels. Now the interesting thing about this here night is he actually was kind and dueled a commoner for me when I asked him nicely because there were no peers to duel and this here commoner was really wanting to duel something fierce.?

She flipped her notebook closed and set it down on her desk with a bright smile to It then glanced to her ?diamond? as they stood silent sentinels to all that went on around her, unobtrusively watching over her yet ready to step in at a second?s notice or less. Each of the warriors were ready if need be to give their own life to protect hers. Des smiled radiantly to Mask at the compliment on the hand-picked guards her beloved husband had arranged at her request.

?Thank ya Darlin?! I am very proud of them. I feel very safe now with them around when Gav can?t be with me. They are only with me when he isn?t and my husband has also made other arrangements that I won?t reveal, as well as the guards, for my personal safety at all times so ya don?t have to worry about me and neither does my husband have to worry about me no more when I have to be out on my own.?