JustAddWater/AThousandLiespt2

Violet eyes went briefly out of focus as their owner bent, studying the images that the shimmering, woven threads presented to him, the sounds of the spiders chittering mindlessly as they wove.

"Well?" the soft, harshly musical voice of the blue-eyed woman behind him broke the silence.

"It's almost time." the man said, brushing his brown hair out of his eyes, and turning to his companion, who stood there robed in blue, arms folded across her chest.

"How long?" she asked.

"Didn't you look at the Loom yourself?" he asked dryly, taking some things out of a pouch as the two began to walk away, and beginning to mix some medicine to help with his massive headache. Looking into the Loom always gave him a massive headache, which was why he preferred not looking, but this was something to be determined.

"Of course not." she snorted. "The spiders hate me, and my head practically explodes every time I look into the Loom."

"You need to stop skipping out on Loom-watching duty." her friend said sarcastically, taking the potion he had just mixed, and drinking it down, the pain-crease between his brows easing slightly. "But to answer your question, which you could have seen the answer to yourself-"

The woman rolled her eyes, but he continued speaking, "There isn't much time. A day or two, at the very most."

She nodded. "I think I'd better get him, then. You don't have such a good way with bringing the young ones back...remember Sariel? You tried to bring her in, and she bolted the second your back was turned because you scared her half to death. I have a better way with younglings, and you know it."

"Fine, you do it. We can't have this boy go running off, especially not to *them*." he said. "The Gold Faction would love it if the one bearing Shizuka's shard went running off to them, and we can't let that happen."

She nodded. "But *you* be careful with him when you're teaching him. This will work, if you're careful. If we're careful. Very difficult, yes, but if we work carefully, we can perhaps get him to see our point of view. "

The two continued speaking, quietly, as they exited the building and did not notice the shadow lingering in the corner. The green-eyed man smiled, slowly.

"Plan if you may, but plans have a habit of going awry."

And nearby, a spider chittered.