The Striped Xweetok knew that being the Duchess's secretary was not the most exciting task. She would much rather be doing espionage or research like the other members. However, it was hard to move up in the Sway, especially when you were often stuck at a desk, sorting through mail and keeping track of meetings.

No position in the Sway is useless, the Duchess's voice echoed through her head. Like chess, every piece has a purpose and every piece helps achieve a goal.

Adelaide's paw knocked into the ink well, sending black ink sprawling across the page. Adelaide jumped back before any of it could get on her dress. She shook off whatever ink seeped onto her paw and grabbed a towel. Of course it was black ink. It was surely going to stain her fur for at least a couple weeks.

As she was cleaning up the mess, there was a knock on the office door. That was strange. The Duchess was off in Shenkuu for business. There definitely wasn't a meeting.

"The Duchess is out," Adelaide called to the door. "Please come back another time."

The knocking continued. Adelaide rolled her eyes. It was clear they heard her. She sopped up whatever ink was left on the desk and opened the door, ready to confront whoever was on the other side...

Strange, Adelaide thought. The Duchess's Crokabeks usually delivered their correspondence via windowsill.

She started towards the window to check if there was something wrong with it, but the Duchess’s voice shouting “don’t go to the window!” froze her in her tracks.

Adelaide whirled around to glare at the Crokabek. It always startled her when they used the Duchess’s voice like that. But the irritation was quickly replaced with confusion. Why shouldn’t she go to the window? What was going on?

She took the letter from the Crokabek, which then promptly flew away to who-knows-where. It was addressed to her in a familiar spidery hand. Sitting back at her desk she carefully lifted the ornate wax seal of the Duchess with her letter opener, nervous and a little excited that something interesting was finally happening. She unfolded the letter and began to read...

Surely you must have been at least somewhat suspicious that I left you on your own.

Adelaide frowned. She supposed it had been... unusual. Neopians went to visit the Duchess, it was part of the Xweetok's duties to schedule visitors. The Duchess didn't go out herself, except on business of utmost importance. That was the balance of power at play.

Then again, perhaps you have not. I admit, dear Adelaide, that you haven't been a choice secretary. Truly. From your careless breach of protocol to open the door without first inquiring as to whom is there (or else how could you now be reading this letter?), to your general clumsiness, your ineptitude continues to amaze me. Have you ever stopped to consider, calculate, plan ahead? This is why I never sent you on any advanced (or even novice) missions outside the Headquarters.

Her frown deepened as she realized her error. Never answer the door without being sure of whom is on the other side, the Duchess had remarked. Adelaide's eyes started to sting, and she wiped away a tear with her paw... in the process, she smudged ink across her face.

Maybe she really WAS an incompetent secretary.

Unfortunately, this means that your time on our chessboard has come to end. I have arranged for your dismissal, and I hope you will find your memory erasure to be relatively painless. Your 'caretaker' will be with you shortly. (It's why I've left the office; I can't risk any second-hand effects of the hypnosis.)

Thank you for your services, and have a nice life.

Sincerely,

The Duchess.

Just then, there was a knock at the tower window.

The Xweetok, wide-eyed, looked wildly toward it...

This one also held something in it's beak, she could see it through the slightly frosted glass of the window pane.

"It's not the door," she reasoned to herself as she crossed the room, "and I can't very well expect a Crokabek to tell me why it's here. I may not be the most capable secretary but I'm certainly not incompetent!! I will ascertain it's reason for banging on the glass, then I will sit and await my formal dismissal."

Adelaide opened the window; the Crokabek was sitting on the sill, tilting it's head to the side. Bright black eyes fixed her with what felt like an interminable stare for a brief few moments, then suddenly another envelope was deposited in her hand . The Crokabek cawed sharply before turning and flapping away in a flutter of feathers. Adelaide stared at the envelope; again, it was undoubtedly from the Duchess, the handwriting was unmistakable. She broke the heavy wax seal and removed a single sheet of paper from within. The message was brief.

"LEAVE NOW," it read in bold letters underlined for emphasis. "Go down the back stairs, speak to no-one. Meet me by the Obelisk at midnight." There was no signature.

Without pausing to think Adelaide swiftly moved to the door of the chamber. Turning the handle carefully she pulled open the door just enough to peek out into the corridor. It was clear in both directions. Grabbing her cloak from the coat rack she moved silently into the hall, pulling the cloak on as she headed for the stairs...

Her stealthy, relatively undisturbed escape gave her time to weigh up what transpired. She thought to herself, "Both letters were in the Duchess' handwriting, but the second letter came from a Crokabek at the windowsill... No other Crokabek would have come to the door-- they never do. So was the first one impersonating...?" Her train of thought was interrupted by a sound she heard echoing from the side corridor leading to the porters' room. It was the Duchess' voice, the compromised version that comes from the beaks of the Crokabeks. "Another message? To someone else?

The voice rang out, "Dear Porter Paul, your gatekeeping duties have been remarkable. Based on your body of work, I would like to promote you to my top position: lead agent."

Adelaide heard the porter literally jump for joy in response to the eavesdropped announcement. The update confused Adelaide even further. She continued to think, "The clumsy porter? Whose entry-level position requires less experience than mine? To lead agent?! I don't understand the strategy, but someone is surely trying to foster discontent among the Sway..."

Adelaide reached the final flight that would lead her to the security of darkness in the late night's shade. She needed to meet the Duchess at the obelisk and find out what's going on. As she descended onto the last landing and grappled with the exit door's handle, she was jolted by its immovability: it was locked. This exit is never locked from the inside.

As if this blockade wasn't enough, Adelaide was startled by the sound of a Crokabek croaking the Duchess' voice from two flights above. The voice echoed down to her and warned...

But how was she supposed to hurry? The letter which was presumably from the Crokabek that was less likely to be impersonating the Duchess - considering that it had not tried to enforce Adelaide's alleged termination from service - had told her to take the back stairs and leave, only to lead her to a dead end. Her position had not granted her the privilege of having all the keys to the Sway's doors.

She knuckled her temples and gritted her teeth as she tried to think. In every game of chess, it pays to be one, no, two steps ahead. Every problem has a solution.

The Xweetok looked around. She didn't feel like she was two steps ahead at all; in fact, this was one big step back. But there should be a solution. If there was none here...

She started up the stairs once more, drawing her cloak more tightly around her and straining to follow the direction from where the Crokabek had spoken. Perhaps, if she was, hopefully, with the Crokabek giving the Duchess' correct orders...

"The Duchess was right, Adelaide. I should never have recommended you to join the Sway. But no matter; after today, you will be free."

After climbing two flights and expecting to see a Crokabek, she did not see the Crokabek at all. The voice bore no resemblance to the Duchess' familiar lilt, not even in a distorted manner. Instead, the voice was deep, almost monotonous - and it came from the beak of a Shadow Eyrie.

The Eyrie was dressed all in blacks and greys, with the exception of a blue pendant around his neck. The pendant was much like the Duchess' favourite necklace, except that it was icy cold in appearance, yet inviting like a pool in the summer, into which Adelaide wanted to dive, and she could almost see herself floating away, away from her predicament and all the trouble the Sway only brought -

"No!" Adelaide cried, slapping herself on the face and smudging ink onto her cheeks. She took one look at the Eyrie and immediately averted her eyes from the pendant he wore. "Ronzo...y-you're my..."

"Caretaker? Of course I am," he said, clutching the pendant and tilting it toward her face, but she backed away, looking anywhere except at the mesmerizing blue. "I was told...to watch over you. To ensure that you are a piece worth keeping on the chessboard. Unfortunately...in chess, sacrifices must be made."

He hovered in the air and flew toward her, and Adelaide ran, dodging him and shielding her face from the terrible necklace.

I'm not incompetent. The thought bubbled up from within the deepest recesses of her mind as she tried to think of a way out. That was just the other Crokabek talking, right? Just when she had thought she could find another exit, her old friend had to show up, prepared to hypnotize her just like the first Crokabek had said.

Hypnotize...

As she ran down the corridor, Adelaide chanced a single glance over her shoulder at Ronzo. His amber eyes, usually alight with the thrill of a new assignment, were glazed and dim. And he moved with a dogged, almost desperate gait. Before she could change direction, she slammed into a small table on one side of the hall, upon which was a clay vase with several Crokabeks painted on it in a pattern. The vase would have fallen to the floor and shattered into pieces if Adelaide hadn't caught it in time with a yelp.

Every problem has a solution.

She stared at the vase in her hand and turned around to face Ronzo.

"The hypnosis will be quick. It will be painless. Just look into my necklace," the Eyrie intoned.

"That might be painless, but this one won't!"

With all her might, Adelaide swung the vase toward the side of Ronzo's head. Though the vase did not break (thankfully), it was enough to daze Ronzo, who teetered before crumpling to the floor in a heap. Adelaide's body seemed to move on its own as she lunged forward and stomped hard on the blue necklace, crushing it into pieces.

Breathing hard, she hurriedly set the vase and knelt beside Ronzo.

"Sorry, Ronzo. But I want to keep my memories just a little longer."

She heard a fluttering of wings and saw the Crokabek - hopefully the one that had sent the warning - perch onto the vase, preening itself.

"Wh-where am I?"

Ronzo groaned as he opened his eyes, and the Xweetok couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief.

"Are you all right?" Then she paused. "Um...well, aside from...me hitting you with the vase?"

The Eyrie clutched his head and sat up. "Yeah...I think so. I was always the hardheaded one, anyway."

Adelaide couldn't help but let out a nervous chuckle before asking, "Ronzo, were you hypnotized? And are you really my caretaker, or something?"

"What?" He blinked, not even looking at the remnants of his blue necklace on the floor. "Wait. The last thing I remember was..."

“Do you remember if anyone was there with you? Or anything before the light?” Adelaide pressed.

There was a pause as Ronzo searched the recesses of his mind. “I… I remember… I was accompanying the Duchess somewhere… We were on our way to Shenkuu when we were stopped by members of the Order of the Red Erisim. There was… A confrontation. I don’t remember the details, they’re fuzzy and jumbled… But the last person I saw was… Rasala.”

“Rasala the Bright…” the Striped Xweetok repeated as if thinking aloud.

Ronzo blinked a few times, as if clearing his eyes, and then looked at Adelaide with concern. “Adelaide, did I… Did I hurt you?” he asked, quietly.

“No, but I hurt you,” she giggled.

The Shadow Eyrie smiled back as he struggled to sit up with a wince. There was a sconce on the wall, throwing dim light in the corridor.

“Ronzo, do you have a key to the exit door? It’s usually open… I’m thinking that you must’ve locked it in your fugue state.” Adelaide said, extending a hand to her colleague.

Ronzo grabbed her hand and hoisted himself up. “I’m not sure, but let me check…” He patted his topcoat in search for the key. “Ah, here it is!” The Eyrie pulled a key ring from out of his breast pocket and held it with the tip of his claw.

“The Duchess sent me correspondence requesting my presence at the Obelisk at midnight. We have to hurry to make it on time. Let’s go.” Adelaide said, grabbing the corner of her cloak and heading towards the door.

Ronzo followed. Once they made it to the exit door, he unlocked it silently, and they slid out, absconding behind bushes that lined the Headquarters.

“Alright, I don’t think any groundskeepers have seen us. We’re in the clear.” Adelaide said in a whisper.

Confused, Ronzo asked in a hushed tone, “Why are we whispering, and why can’t we let any of the groundskeepers know of our whereabouts? They’re loyal to the Duchess too…”

“I received a letter from someone impersonating the Duchess, as did Porter Paul. Even worse, you were hypnotized and acted against the Sway against your own will. In this case, no one is to be trusted. We’ll even have to be wary of the Duchess herself,” Adelaide explained as they made their way to the Obelisk.

On the horizon, the pair were able to see the jagged rock formation with light pouring out of its face and crevices - the Mysterious Obelisk. As they approached, they noticed…

Adelaide gasped when she and Ronzo drew closer and saw that there were two Duchesses.

"Took you long enough to figure out that we have been infiltrated," the Duchess on Adelaide's left - the Left Duchess, the Xweetok decided to call her in her mind - said, folding her hands primly over her staff after glaring at her counterpart. Her Crokabek squawked as though in agreement.

"Don't listen to her!" the Right Duchess interjected. "Really, Adelaide, as my secretary, you ought to know which one of us is the real Duchess."

"R-Ronzo?" was the first word out of Adelaide's mouth as she turned to the Shadow Eyrie, who looked equally perplexed.

"That's..." He shook his head and whispered to Adelaide, "No. I think one of the Duchesses is Rasala the Bright. Someone impersonating the Duchess...me getting hypnotized...the encounter with the Order of the Red Erisim..."

"I heard that." Adelaide and Ronzo both whipped around to look at the Right Duchess, who had spoken. "You are correct, Ronzo. One of us is Rasala the Bright, and it isn't me."

The Left Duchess tut-tutted, a familiar tone Adelaide recognized from the times she had not organized the mail to her mistress' liking. "Bah. Do not listen to this pretender. Adelaide, as expected, you received my letter. Now, we can - "

"No! Listen to me! Surely you know - that imposter is Rasala the Bright, who wants nothing except to take over the Sway! To destroy our organization, once and for all!" The Crokabek accompanying the Right Duchess flapped its wings agitatedly.

The Striped Xweetok opened and closed her mouth as she glanced from one Duchess to the other, both Lennies tensed yet not making any further moves as they watched her.

"Well, what do you think, Adelaide?"

It was a relief to hear Ronzo's voice - for one thing, Adelaide didn't think she could stand to hear from two Duchesses at once. And it jerked her back to reality; her next test, after escaping the headquarters, was to figure out which Duchess was telling the truth, and which one was not even the Duchess at all.

She gritted her teeth and stroked her chin. Perhaps the time spent around the Duchess' correspondence and ministerial tasks would finally be put to better use.

Ronzo watched as his friend's face changed from bewilderment...to thoughtfulness...to revelation.

"I know which one is the real Duchess..."

The Xweetok nodded. The twin Duchesses and their Crokabeks continued to squabble, each trying to convince Adelaide of their identity.

“Yes, I’m positive,” she replied. “But how does that help us?” The Duchess was known for having a tongue as sharp as her beak...and although Adelaide was a dutiful secretary, she was also painfully aware that she was a pawn on The Sway’s chessboard. It was a thankless job. Furthermore, the real Duchess maintained an air of secrecy, even among her closest advisors. Nothing that the Right Duchess said rang true.

“Which one is Rasala?” Ronzo hissed.

“The Right one.”

“Okay, Adelaide. I’m trusting you. I have a plan. No time to explain. Keep your eye on our Duchess and lead her to safety. If The Oracle wills it, The Sway will win.” Adelaide couldn't tell if Ronzo was confident or just putting on a brave face. But what choice did she have?

Adelaide’s heart was pounding in her chest. She had heard rumours of the battlefield but had never set foot on it until tonight. For a moment, she almost missed her tiny office full of paperwork. Suddenly, The Obelisk’s light became blindingly bright and her Eyrie companion let out a piercing caw. On cue, hundreds of Crokabeks stormed the Tyrannian Plateau, plunging everything into a black chaos. Adelaide focused on The Duchess, The Real Duchess...

How will this story end?

Mustering all her strength, Adelaide swung the bat (it wasn't too different from a vase) and fought her way through the sea of Petpets. With her free paw, she grabbed the real Duchess's wing and together they fought their way out of the fray.

Now relatively safe, Adelaide turned to look at the Battleground. Within the black feathery mass, she could spot neither Ronzo nor the other Duchess -- some member of the Order of the Red Erism, no doubt, who was likely controlling the rival Crokabeks.

The Xweetok turned back toward her master... but the Duchess was already gone.

***

A longterm Sway victory had not been willed by the Oracle.

Crokabeks had completely swarmed the organization's Headquarters. Though their presence was not unusual, it was now thoroughly impossible to tell reality from fiction. The codes had been broken, the Duchess's seal copied precisely; whomever leaked the information to Rasala's faction must have been incredibly high up in the Sway... or high up in the Order's espionage, if they even had something like that. There had even been pleas to get rid of Crokabeks altogether. After all, Ronzo had disappeared (though he was apparently spotted by an untrustworthy source on Roo Island). Many of her friends and acquaintances, one by one, gone. (Though Porter Paul was still here.)

And yet... despite the broken code, the disappearances, and the clear infiltration of their clandestine organization, the Duchess refused to do anything. "What would be the fun of the chess game if you show all your capabilities in the first 5 moves?" she said.

Adelaide couldn't help but shake the thought that maybe she was wrong. Maybe she rescued the wrong one. Maybe neither of the Duchesses had been real.

Through the office door, she peaked at the Lenny. She seemed... too perfect. Too calculating. Too heartless. Like a soulless clone.

Or maybe she had always been that way, and Adelaide only recently noticed.

The Xweetok looked at her clock. It was lunch time. Slowly, gingerly, she picked up her things. She walked out of the office, and swore never to return.

***

Adelaide found herself by the Obelisk, reflecting on her seemingly misspent youthfulness. She had originally joined the Sway because, as a child, the Xweetok had always been fascinated by the idea of secretive organizations and the covert adventures one could have; when the Sway first revealed themselves as part of the Obelisk War, she was mesmerized, and she joined the first day she was old enough.

Though she was still arguably in her prime, she couldn't help but feel as though she had given her best years to something that, in the end, didn't matter. That didn't care for her. But she still felt like she lost something. Something important.

Her musings were interrupted by the croaking of a... no, not a Croakabek. It was a Batterfly. It made a clicking noise, clearly trying to beckon her over.

Though it has startled her, with growing resolve, she turned and strode quickly away from it.

She had a life to put behind her.

***

"Hmm," she said as she set down her teacup. "Adelaide certainly should be here by now."

The Elderly Gnorbu looked out through the window of the Coffee Shop on Roo Island. Yes, it was not her preferred species, but alas, all looks were temporary -- even the matronly Lenny persona she had used for many years.

The Duchess not only let Rasala and her faction infiltrate the Sway... she helped them. Under the guise of a top Sway defector, she sent the information and a copy of her seal to the Order.

With the advent of the Obelisk War, the Sway had simply become too well known. It was nearing a decade since the Sway revealed themselves... and for what? Ultimately the Obelisk was worth far less than their obscurity. So something had to be done. After all, it was difficult to function as a secret society if the society wasn't... well, secret.

Sure, it retained some of its secretive elements... Thankfully, she had brought those with her into her new clandestine organization. Most of her most loyal agents, too.

But still not Adelaide. Adelaide... such a sweet Xwee. She almost felt sorry that it had been Adelaide to walk into her trap and save a Duchess who wasn't real. But she needed someone to front the old organization whilst she got the new one running.

Adelaide...

Adelaide. Her chosen successor. It was why she was never sent on any missions... it was for her protection. The ones sent on the most exciting missions tended, eventually, not to come back. And what better way to know the inner workings of an organization than to be the secretary of its commander? The Duchess was the secretary to the previous Sway leader, after all.

Hmm... Adelaide.

The Elderly Gnorbu frowned and checked the clock; it had been almost an hour since the time the Xweetok should have come, and her tea was cool.

She sighed; maybe Adelaide hadn't gotten her message. Well, she had a few other tricks up her proverbial sleeve.

She quickly finished her cup, and, giving one last solemn glance out the window, exited the cafe.

The End.