Kyla raced down the hallway, gasping for breath as she tried to make it in time for the big meeting amongst the leaders. As secretary, she absolutely had to be there to record the meeting. She was running late because she had slipped into technicality mode when an agent asked for a clarification on his mission and so she had ended up spending a good portion of the hour going over every tiny detail of the agent's mission.


She forced herself to slow down when she reached Habynthia, the highest meeting room; the meeting room where the leaders usually met. As she slowly walked to the door, she caught snatches of the conversation.


"-continue this, it's very likely she'd get fed up," one was saying.

"But to have her wander, that's too dangerous!" she heard Sir Ghlath saying. "She has no idea what kind of trouble she could land herself in."


Kyla's heart sank. So they had started the meeting and they were already talking about an agent who was no doubt giving them issues. Perhaps it was Agent Ishtalli; she had too many close calls, so now her mere presence would cause assassins to appear. But Kyla believed her capable of handling assassins; so why were the leaders so worried about her?


"She should have more freedom," the first said. "We all know the saying, 'A horse with a loosened rein will obey; but a horse with a head-high* rein will fight'. These aren't some random words of a babbler; these words have wisdom in them."


"There is also another saying," Sir Ghlath reminded him. " 'A bird released from its cage too often will become prey'. And it's not like she-"


"Enough," Sir Fanrar cut in. "We'll discuss this another time." Raising his voice, he called, "You may enter, Secretary Lennith."


At his command, Kyla entered and quietly took her usual seat at the end of the table. Knowing it was useless to pretend that she hadn't heard some of the conversation, she said, "Has another agent become targeted?"


"Of a sorts," one of the leaders responded quickly. He flashed her a mischevious grin before turning his attention to Sir Fanrar.


Kyla forced herself not blush as she took out her folder and pencil to start taking notes. The leader who had smiled at her was James, the youngest, most carefree leader of PAAC and whom Kyla had a major crush on. He did not like the name Sir James, which was his proper name, but insisted that everyone just called him James. He said that Sir James made him seem stiff "like those other sir dudes."


"So, I believe we've all heard about Sandtime's increase in activity," Sir Fanrar announced, starting off the meeting. "Secretary, how much of an increase?"


"It's increased about ten percent since the last report a couple of days ago," she replied quickly, glad that she was allowed to be "to-the-last-detail" in these sort of meetings. "Overall, since a month ago, Sandtime's activity has increased by a disturbing fifty percent. Reports handed in by three agents who had been tracking down some of Sandtime's members suggest that there's been a leader change. Unfortunately, unlike Balmatar, whom we're used to and know how to deal with because of the obvious patterns he uses, this new leader seems to be a lot more on the ball and knows how to get around something like patterns. It's actually hard to say that there's one leader of Sandtime, or if they had switched to having several leaders, like us; thus making them unpredictable."


"So, a fifty percent increase in activity and only three agents were spared for Sandtime," Sir Fanrar said. "This is a problem."


"We have only so many agents, we can only do so much!" Madam Seria protested. "We still need to carry out our goal; I still say we should forget about following around the odd doings of criminal groups. If they get in our way, then we shall deal with them! But, for heaven's sake, this is getting ridiculous! If add more agents to the Sandtime cause, we'll lose sight of our noble goal."


"I disagree!" Sir Driflith stated, standing up. "These 'criminal groups' are more of a threat to us than regular criminals! For the time being, the police can deal with the fugitives; we'll lend them help we see fit. But, I say that we should continue trying to rid Kaotack of all 'criminal groups'! Don't you remember what that one Sandtime assassin did?"


"I'm quite aware of what Storm has done," Madam Seria sniffed. "He should be dealt with . . . in time. But we need to concentrate on our noble goal."


"Ah, but Madam Seria," Sir Pero said, coming to Sir Driflith's aid. "If we only concentrate on worthless criminals, don't you think that groups like Sandtime and Farfetched will be down on us in a blink? Why don't we just go and announce at the police station that we want to become one of them? Why, we can't do that! Peace At All Costs. Meaning, we've got to do what others aren't willing to do. If we become unofficial policemen, groups like Sandtime and Farfetched won't be dealt with, and they'll soon rule the world! We can't let that happen, can we?"


"But to focus all of our attention on just these criminal groups?" Madam Seria challenged. "They're criminals! Their little group will crash in mere months! Why are we getting so uptight about these groups that are no more than mere fruitflies that will die very soon?"


Before anyone else could answer, Sir Fanrar cleared his throat, calling for a silence. Everyone stopped and looked at him.


"Before we continue this argument," Sir Fanrar began, "I'd like to consult our Secretary, to see what she thinks of this."


Everyone's attention turned to Kyla.


She took a deep breath, quickly reviewing everything that was going through her head while she recorded the argument. "Forty years ago, PAAC decided that the police could be left to with the loose criminals while PAAC itself chased the groups, like Sandtime and Twister. However, fugitives started to find that as long as they didn't form an alliance, and especially didn't name the alliance, they wouldn't be targetted. The criminal groups were at its lowest in all the history of PAAC, but in retaliation, crime was so high it was unbelievable.


"When PAAC first started, they vowed to just deal with fugitives and criminals; nothing else. Criminals started alliances, one of which is Farfetched, and started to oppose PAAC, not as individuals, but as a single, organized group. PAAC, in keeping with their noble goal, did nothing to retaliate against these groups, as they vowed they wouldn't be caught up in it. However, PAAC suffered the most loss of agents in its history during that period. Since then, PAAC has been balancing out dealing with individuals and groups.


"Another thing: Not all of these groups are just petty little alliances that will end in the first argument. Let's put this in perspective: PAAC has been around for a Turn** and a half, so about three thousand years. Farfetched started about a century after PAAC, so they're younger by PAAC, but they're still grouped together and are even a terrible threat to us. Sandtime was created by criminals, for criminals, and that before PAAC, way before. They're about five thousand years old, and have always been a danger to PAAC.


"So, in conclusion, given what history has told us, we should find a balance, so we don't put too many agents on individual patrol when more are needed to research Sandtime, or vice versa. Also, we can't just wait for these groups to die out. The only groups that will die out are the ones that pose no threat and are honestly just nuisances. Sandtime and Farfetched have weathered many storms; a few more months aren't going to kill them."


A tense silence came up to meet her words.


"My suggestion," Sir Fanrar said, "is that we send Agent Ishtalli on this research mission. If anything, she'll be a match for Storm, and with luck, he'll be brought down."


"I'd love to help her," James said excitedly.


"We'll see," Sir Fanrar said shortly. "All in favor for sending Ishtalli on this mission, raise your right hand." Only two did not. "That's the majority," Sir Fanrar said. "It's settled, then. Now, on to finances. . . ."


Kyla sighed as she bent down to erase a spelling mistake in her record. Now it was time for the boring part. She wished that more interesting things would be discussed in this meeting, but Sandtime's increased activity was the only thing of concern; the rest was about finances, little squabbles in certain departments, and the such.


And by the way that Sir Fanrar was droning, it was going to be a very long meeting.



*head-high rein- A carriage rein that forces a horse's head up at all times; a bearing rein.

**Turn- Kaotack's calender works on an eighteen month year. Every two thousand years, the year flips, so the last month is then first, and first month then last until the next two thousand years. So, after every two thousandth year, it becomes a new Turn. Turns, when a specific year is brought up, MUST be specified, or it would leave confusion. Example, Year 1998 of the 4th Turn is very different from Year 1998 of the 9th Turn.