Barber's house was a tall, white pillared mansion outside the city. The white paint stood out almost blindingly against the brightly colored foliage and heavy blue sky. Inside the house, Treize, Anne, and James sat stiffly on hard wooden chairs in the parlor awaiting the appearance of Barber's son. Across the room sat the other beneficiaries. There were three of them, two older men and a young man. The two older men had long white beards and one sported a pair of spectacles pushed high on the bridge of his nose. The two old men had the same expression of haughty pride and aristocratic boredom, and they sat at attention the way retired soldier often did. Treize's attention was caught on the younger man, though. He seemed tall, even while sitting down. His feet were propped up on an expensive looking table, much to the annoyance of the older gentlemen sitting on his right. His eyes never rested, but darted across the room in a varying pattern, as though he expected a nasty surprise to come through the wall any moment. For a minute, the younger man's eyes met Treize's. Treize backed away first and almost visibly shuddered, they were the most dangerous eyes he had ever seen. One look into the his eyes made Trieze want to crawl back on that ship and head straight for London. Just then, what appeared to be Barber's son walked into the room, followed by a valet carrying a tray cluttered with cups. "Sorry I'm late, Gentlemen," Barber's son said. "But I have a matter of great urgency which I must discuss with you." Treize watched in amusement as Barber's eyes fell upon the younger man. "What are you doing here, Raith?" Barber asked coldly. "Haven't you done the family enough damage all ready?" "Now, now dear cousin," Raith said smoothly. "I'm sure we can put aside our differences and see what your dear father left us in his will." Raith smirked as Barber, who sighed abruptly. Barber glared at Raith and mumbled something indistinct under his breath. "As I was saying, all of you are here because my father left you a part of his will." Barber nodded to the valet, who set the tray of drinks on the table. "Brandy, anyone?" He asked, nodding his apologies to Anne and James. "My father, a very distinguished collector and buyer of antiques, passed away recently. The doctors were called, but they could not determine the exact cause of death. The best we could determine is he had a heart attack, but this is still uncertain even now." Barber paused and ushered the valet away. "When my servant comes back, we will determine exactly how my father divided up his estate." Everyone waited somewhat uncomfortably for the valet to return with the will. Raith looked interestedly at the others and took a drink of brandy. The old man on the right gave Raith a dirty look. Anne watched in amusement as Raith took another drink, grinning dangerously at the old man the whole time. "Is everyone ready?" Barber asked, seeing that the valet had returned. He spread the will out on the table and placed his reading glasses on the end of his nose. Everyone nodded, and Barber scanned the will. He looked up, a little puzzled. "My father has chosen to leave his will in a very blunt way. He leaves Mr. Serwell his antiques collection, Mr. Dendridge his property in Florence, Raith his collection of ancient maps and artifacts, and Treize his property in Paris." Everyone nodded respectfully. But Barber was not finished yet. "Gentlemen, be that as it may, I believe that there is a little more to this will than previously thought." Barber made eye contact with Treize, who caught his meaning. "Anne, James. Perhaps you would care to see the gardens or freshen up." Anne gave him a dirty look, and James looked depressed as they quietly left the room. "As I was saying," Barber said, seeing they were gone. "My father died in a very mysterious way. He returned from his last trip with this." Barber took something out of his pocket. When he held it up to the light, Treize could see that it was a small polished gem the color of blood. Barber watched as the others peered at it closely. "Where did he get this?" Raith asked. "Some temple or something, I think it was called Bal kai." Barber shrugged. "Anyway, Treize, I've heard that you have some experience with artifacts of this nature, which is the main reason I called you down here." Treize examined the stone closely, "I've never seen anything like it before." "Wait," Raith said, taking the stone from Treize. "You say this stone came from Bal kai?" "That's right," Barber said confusedly. "Well when I was in Calcutta, a street performer told me a story about a stone much like this one. He said something about it being protected by a supernatural power." "You can't be serious," Mr. Dendridge replied. "That's just a story." Treize looked at Dendrige, "You never know." Dendrige gave him an odd look, but decided not to ask. Treize seemed like the kind of man one would not want to mess with. "Anyway," Barber said, seeing trouble brewing. "I think that my father's death is somehow connected to this stone." "And..," Serwell replied, his tone impatient. "Just because your father picked up some stone from a temple? There's no such thing as curses, and for what we know your father's health was in very poor condition all ready." Serwell gestured wildly, "What do you think we should do, rush out to Bal kai with the stone and hope to bring your father back?" "Not exactly," Barber said, looking a little embarrassed. "But I do think we should take the stone back. It might have been stolen by the person my father bought it from and could mean something to a lot of people. I propose that we take the journey to Bal kai and return the stone to its rightful place." "Well said," Treize replied calmly. "What do you think, Raith?" Serwell asked snidely. Raith shifted positions in the chair he was sitting on, "For you information, Serwell, I'm all for going to Bal kai and returning the stone. From what I've heard its guards are never far away." Raith pushed his hair back away from his eyes and smiled, "Besides, I could use a little adventure right now." Treize groaned inwardly, who did Raith think he was? For someone whos relative just died, he didn't look in the least bit disturbed. He wondered not for the first time just how much Raith could be trusted. Later that same evening, Treize was sitting at the huge polished mahogany desk in Barber's study. He sighed as he examined the maps spread out on the desk, they might as well have been written in Chinese, as they made no sense to him either way. For some reason, this bothered him more than it should. It seemed like lately little things seemed important, like the way Anne had laughed at a comment Raith made at dinner that night. He'd barely seen Anne all day, she had kept to herself. He'd have to make it up to her somehow, he'd been distant also. Treize coughed aloud, the dust on the maps was beginning to irritate his sinuses. As if he didn't have enough to be annoyed about all ready. "You all right?" Treize turned to see who had spoken. Raith was leaning casually on the doorframe, awaiting his reply. "Fine," Treize answered. Raith chuckled under his breath as he watched Treize study the maps intently. He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out his knife. Raith aimed carefully at the maps on the table. Treize looked up just in time to see the knife go flying at him, he shielded his face, expecting to feel a piercing blow at any moment. Instead of hitting Treize, the knife fell short of him and landed point down on one of the maps, leaving the polished desk scarred. Raith walked over as though nothing were out of the ordinary and plucked the knife from the desk, a little tattered hole was left behind on the map. "Bal kai," Raith said simply, pointing to the place on the map where the hole was. "How did you know?" Treize asked. "There are many who know of Bal kai and its legend. Someone told me that it's surrounded by the thickest jungle, blackest water, and many other dangers that lay yet undiscovered." Treize scoffed, "If there's a temple there we must be able to get to it." Raith raised an eyebrow. "I'm not talking about we, I'm talking about you." Raith turned and looked Treize in the eye. "The question is, can you handle it?" Raith sat down gracefully in the nearest chair and put his feet up on the desk. "You don't exactly strike me as the adventurer type." "I can handle it with ease," Treize replied smoothly, setting down the maps. "Good." Raith smirked. Treize noted once again his icy gaze which contrasted highly with his bright smile and darkly handsome features. Not knowing what else to say, Treize picked up another map and pretending to be reading it, watching Raith warily all the while. "So," Raith said. He struck a match on the sole of his boot and lit the lamp so they could see better. "Tell me about Anne Une." "What is there to say?" Treize asked, his voice dangerously questioning. "Are you two engaged, married.." Raith's voice trailed off. "No," Trieze replied, "It's nothing like that. She is nothing more than a sister to me." Raith nodded, "So you're telling me that you can live with a woman like her for over four years and still have it mean nothing?" "I would never take adavantage of our situation," Treize said, angry at Raith's meaning. "Some of us are able to control our hormones." "Touchy," Raith commented. "I was just curious." "So do you really think Barber will go through with this?" Treize asked, eager to change the subject. "Sure," Raith said. "He looked up to his old man more than I ever realized. The only question is whether we can get Serwell to come without chaining him to the cart the whole way." Treize didn't respond, knowing Raith wanted him to laugh, "Actually, I was just thinking about retiring for tonight. It's late." Raith nodded, "Keep the lamp burning." Treize nodded, giving Raith one last inquiring look as he headed toward his room.