Deyna followed Xander out of the shop and back onto the streets. The mouse was silent as he walked beside Deyna, his eyes darting here and there as if he thought they were being followed. They turned a corner near the shop and then Xander walked into a small dark alleyway, cut off from the streets. He stopped around three quarters of the way into the alleyway. The wall in front of him looked no different than any other part of it in the alleyway, so Deyna was suprised when Xander slid his fingers into a small hard to see crack in the wall and slid the wall sideways, revealing a steep staircase leading downwards.
"Follow me please" Xander said quietly as he walked down the stairs. Deyna nodded and followed close behind him, both of them coming to a wooden trapdoor, the wall behind them closing by itself. Xander opened the trapdoor.
"After you" he smiled in the semi darkness. Deyna dropped down into the room below, and was immediatly met with a sword at his throat.
"Who are you?" Deyna looked down the sword to see a pair of yellow feline eyes glaring back at him. A tall female cat, white furred on the face and the rest of her body from what Deyna could see. She was wearing a dark blue shirt and a silver necklace with wings on it. On her legs was half a light blue skirt, her left leg was bare up to the thigh, her sword sheath at her side.
"Easy Alexei, easy, he's with me" Xander said as he dropped down, pulling the trapdoor shut as he did with his paw.
The cat, Alexei, lowered her sword slowly.
"Thanks for the nice welcome" Deyna said sarcastically. Instantly the sword was back at his throat.
"Careful otter, Xander's friend or not, I won't mind killing you."
Xander stepped next to Deyna. "Alexei, this is Keyla's son, Deyna, he's the new guardian of the key. So calm down, I brought him here so maybe he could help us out!"
Alexei lowered her sword once more and strode away, her white tail swaying behind her as she did. "Huh, some guardian. I could have killed him in a second the way he dropped in like that. He's got a lot to learn."
"Never, ever, ever make her mad. Just trust me when I say she means well" Xander whispered very quietly to Deyna. 
"Noted" Deyna whisepered back with a grin. Xander and Deyna walked forward, following Alexei's steps. Deyna looked around as they walked. The room they were in was pretty big, five beds were lined alongside one wall, tables and chairs on the other side of the room scattered with papers. Small lights were set in the ceiling giving the room a warm light. The mouse and the otter walked towards the largest table set at the back of the room, Alexei was behind it rummaging through some papers. A notice board was set in the wall behind her, it was completely covered.
"So, you are Keyla's son?" Alexei said as they approached her. 
Deyna nodded. "Her youngest son, yeah."
"I see. I was sorry to hear that she passed away, I learnt a lot from her and had a lot of respect for her."
Deyna leant forward a little. "You knew my mother?"
Alexei nodded. "Yep. I had just joined the wings, and she showed me the ropes, even though she wasn't much older than me at the time. Your mother was one of the few furs I could call a friend. Show me the key please."
Deyna pulled the dagger out of the sheath and handed it to Alexei. "It's been many years since I've seen the key. Your mother gave it to you?" she asked.
Deyna shook his head. "No. I took it when I ran away from home. But my mother always told me that if anything were to happen, that I should find Xander Dew."
The mouse smiled. "That shows that she did give it to him, not directly, but she told Deyna about me. Keyla wanted him to be the next Guardian!"
Alexei gave the dagger back to Deyna. "Perhaps, but you have a lot to do before I can even think of you as a guardian."
"I'll do whatever I can" Deyna said.
"You understand though that I don't yet trust you. These are strange times we are in right now, things are happening right now, the Wings are having to be a lot more active as of late." Alexei said.
Deyna leant forward more towards her. "Then give me something, let me earn your trust."
Alexei leant forward, her face so close that Deyna could feel her breath against his fur, her yellow eyes looking deep into his green eyes. "Hmmmmmmm...a fire in your eyes, your mother had that in hers, I think I do have something you can do." she said, pulling away from the otter.
"Well what is it?" Deyna asked her.
Alexei didn't turn around. " It's simple enough, shouldn't be much dangerous either. I want you to go with Xander to the Redroux bar. There you will meet another member of the Wings. I want you to escort him to a meeting, I doubt anything will happen but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Just keep quiet and let them do the talking. Afterwards return here, and we will see what happens next."
Deyna nodded. "Ok, got it, seems easy enough."
Alexei sighed and turned around, glaring a little at Deyna. "Again, you have so much to learn. I'm suprised you even made it this far thinking the way you do. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems Deyna. You should be prepared for anything to happen. Now go. I don't want you to be late for the meeting. I'll see you both when it's done."

The otter and the mouse left the Wings hideout. Walking side by side in silence. Xander took a look at Deyna's face and smiled a little.
"Hey, I know what your thinking, you shouldn't worry. Alexei is like that with everyone."
"Don't worry I'm not. I'm just thinking about everything that's happened today"
Xander nodded. "A lot to take in I know."
"And my mother. She never said anything about all this, ever." Deyna lowered his head a little as he said this.
"It was most likely to keep you safe. She was the gaurdian after all. Furs were always goung to be searching for her, folowers of Vargus still exist. It was your father that convinced her to leave the Wings you know."
Deyna stopped walking, shocked. "My father knew about this too?!"
Xander nodded. "He did. He wasn't a member of the Wings but he helped us out a lot by getting information for us if we needed it. Jayden was pretty much a free spirited otter, I think that's why your mother fell in love with him."
Deyna shook his head. "You don't know my dad that well then. The reason I left home was cause he was trying to get me to join the Darna army."
Xander stroked his chin thoughtfully. "hmmmmm...interesting."
What is?" Deyna asked.
Xander spoke slowly, as if he was thinking on every word he spoke. "Just some things we've been hearing lately. You've heard about the attack by Colva on Lunatera right?"
The otter nodded.
"Well, from what we know, Darna is in talks with Colva over what has happened. Darna to be fair, isn't one for attacking unless they need to, and it seems they want Colva to leave Lunatera. And of course, you now know that Colva was Vargus's kingdom. My theory is that your father knew you were the next gaurdian, and instead of joining the wings, he wanted you to join the Darna army, so you would have had a lot of backup in a fight, much more safer than the Wings."
Deyna shook his head. "I doubt it Xander. My brothers all joined the Darna army, he just wanted me to follow them."
"Perhaps Deyna, perhaps. You'll just have to ask him yourself someday. Now come on, we'd better pick up our pace, don't want to be late now do we."