When Mei woke up the next morning, she was not sure if what she had seen the night before had been real or a dream. But as she got ready for the day, she noticed something strange. There was a black feather on her pillow, and it had not been there before she picked it up, examing it carefully, it was soft and smooth and it had a strange shimmering quality to it. And then she noticed something else, the feather was etched with the same mysterious symbol that she had seen before.
That evening,she made her way to the office of the head of the elite guard. She knocked on the door, and a deep voice called out 'come in'.
Mei entered the office and the head of the elite guard turned to face her "what can I help you with? He asked ' I found this in my room, she said " do you know what it means? The head of the elite guard examined the feather unreadable, ' Where did you find this? He asked. Mei told him everything from the last night. When she was done, he looked at her, his eyes dark and serious. " This is no ordinary feather, he said ' it is a symbol of the shadow Guild, a group of sorcerer who have long been enemies of the Empress. This must have been left by one of their spies. " I must inform the Empress at once.