"...Mmm.  Now I'm wondering if we should try catching up with them.  Given as I'm not certain how or whether my overall decree has made its way down the chain of command as of yet.  But I think that unless they're very recently gone it's an unjustifiable diversion."

"It's been at least hours, and probably a day or two," says Colus, "So best we stay on the previous course."

She nods, firmly.  "Let's get moving, then."

The rest of the day is uneventful, and sending signals at sunset works fine.

The next day, Colus calls for a pause as they reach a crossroads and approaches Ophelia.

"Fatebinder, here's another place we might want to scout briefly - this is where a party headed to cross the Matani would turn. It might be valuable to scout down and north and see whether the Chorus or Guard have been traveling that way. I'd suggest Antenor, Aethra, and Verse fan out for a half-hour, extending to an hour if they find tracks worth investigating. But it's your decision whether the information is worth the delay and temporary division of forces."

"Hmm."

"How much would you wager," she muses, "that information obtained in this way would be of use to anyone to whom we could communicate it?  My immediate thought is that the Matani is the Guard's business, and we'd see tracks here if they were attempting to make themselves ours - so is knowing if the Chorus has gone through here lately something the Marshal would desperately like to know?"

"'Desperately' is probably pretty strong. But last I heard, it seemed like most of the Chorus was headed to the uplands. One possible response from the Guard would be to pull back to the Matani, leaving us in the middle, and the Marshal would certainly want to hear if that was looking likely. Alternately, if the Chorus was sending forces to try to cross the Matani, we'd want to know that, both for military strategy and diplomatic strategy. And, of course, if the Guard is coming outward, that's a problem. I expect they won't find much sign of travel, but if the area has been active that would change the Marshal's priorities, if not immediately then before the fist is out."

"Hm."

"I think we can't afford to not catch any surprises.  But on the other hand, if the Chorus is marching here - they couldn't afford to not do it in force.  If they know there's a Tidecaster about, at least.  And Nerat tried to rub that in my face; I think he'd have at least mentioned it to the rest of the lot.

"I don't think I want to risk fanning.  Not everyone alone.  There's enough likelihood of needing to stage a fighting retreat from Choristers that we should not be far from healers - can't deliver intelligence when you're dead, after all.  But we could split the group down the middle.

"Two scouting parties, myself with one, Lantry with the other.  We both probe the area a bit, then meet back where we started.  Thoughts?"

"I trust the three I named to detect any enemies present before making contact, and be able to retreat to the four of us in the rear - at worst with enemies on their tail, more likely without the opposing force's notice. And I'd expect the four of us to be competent to handle an attack if it came from another direction while the others were out."

"Two larger parties are more likely to draw attention if enemies are present, and won't cover as much ground looking for traces. But it would be likely to win any engagement that resulted - if the other force is large enough to be a major danger, I'm much less worried about our ability to see them and retreat."

...She is, honestly, torn.

"...Antenor, Aethra, Verse.  You're the people Colus wants to tap for this.  Do you think he's right about it.  About the enemy and you."

"Yeah, I can handle it."

Antenor says, "We've done this before. Not opposing the Scarlet Chorus specifically, but scouts of similar quality." Aethra nods as well.

"...Then you go.  And you come back."

"...Fate be with you."

Aethra chuckles, at Ophelia's choice of sendoff, but off they go without comment.

They're back in a little less than an hour, having apparently grouped up in the field.

"We found some tracks headed downhill," Antenor reports, "two days old at least, and not more than five. Small party, looks like they were staying along the road but not in it. Not very good at woodcraft, or else not really trying, and if they weren't trying why go through the woods? I think three people, two of them in heavy armor-"

"I still say four. One of them an actual scout."

"-but there is room for ambiguity. They camped, lightly, without a fire, and then moved on, still following the road for as far as we checked. We can safely conclude it wasn't a major troop movement, but I'll refrain from any further interpretation."

Colus nods, "Good work, squad, Verse. Fatebinder, your thoughts?"

"...Hmm.  Could be the diplomatic party, could have been the Tidecaster's escort...Either way, I think we won't gain anything by concerning ourselves with it.  Back to searching."

"That matches my first thought, but I had a second one," says Colus, "Verse, how skilled would you say Nerat himself, and an armored Crimson Spear, would be at traveling while concealing their trail?"

"...Much better than what we saw. Unless the Voices were trying to trick us into following."

"Probably not, then."

"...Yeah I considered that it could be the Voices...But I think they need to be on their home front if they want the Chorus to not collapse.

"On the third hand, maybe Nerat has extra bullshit we don't know about - but I can't imagine he has had the time to somehow develop instant movement magic and the sort of things this would indicate."

"Not that I have any specific knowledge, but I'd be shocked if they didn't have plans in progress to subvert the Guard garrisons, at least one for at the river and one for the citadel. They might go for it early; wouldn't be a good idea unless some other plan was set up to follow it, but that's not saying much. But this trail wasn't them unless they want us to go chasing them."

"I'm not sure what they think they'd get.  The defensibility of the river depends upon their Tidecaster; the citadel...well, it is the citadel, it's useful for being a defensible position - but it's almost more a trap than a boon, considering who has what magics, and who's hostile to whom.  Still.  That's a bit...speculative.

"Diplomatically speaking we should probably let the Matani know we saw this.  Maybe offer assistance in counterespionage; I'm not Calio but I do have a twisty sort of brain.  But we shouldn't do that now, in case the Chorus is better at birdwatching than us.  So.  Onwards we go once more.  I hope we find the Earthshakers soon; they're bound to be running low on supplies."

"They're resourceful people. Brain a bear with a rock the size of your head, feeds a few squads. But if it's a large group they're probably in trouble, one way or the other; it'll be another day at least."

"If they actually took my suggestions in the wake of the Edict of Stone they might have enough Life sigillists to force-grow fruiting plants.  I wouldn't count on that, though.  So let's try and make up for lost time."

"Yes, ma'am."

They take slightly less care to check for enemies for the rest of the day, so progress is slightly faster. When the party breaks to camp for the night - well off the path, Colus insists - they're still not to the edge of the area where the Earthshakers are believed to be, but they're not far off.