Random 32

"That's the point, isn't it? Stories get changed in the retelling until things appear larger than life."

"Uhh, no. Not all stories. Not church lore, like," Auker said with a frown. She sounded resolute. Except... she sighed. "I'm starting to think that whoever's been chronicling the Pawn wasn't really involved..."

"But writing from hearsay?" Sylvie's manner cooled. She knew what "pawn" was supposed to mean in such a context, and hated it used as a name even more than the concept.

"Probably. Damn fools," Auker said, entirely missing the coolness exhibited by Sylvie. "And anything he says feels like he's saying next to nothing. That's not helping either. Suppose I'll never know anything," the priestess said and turned a corner, bringing them to the general area where the shrine lay.

The only answer that complaint earned her was a noncommittal hum. While Sylvie could see how it was frustrating, and sympatise, she didn't like the implication that Auker or her church were entitled to such knowledge. On the third hand she really couldn't say she understood the relation between the goddess..es, the churches, and Sebastian.

Better not to ask about any of this right now, there was enough work at hand as it was.

Sebastian had greatly wondered when a cart had wheeled past him just one block away from the Saba estate, found a bump (in this wet, wet street?) and thrown ten yards of rope on him as it passed. It hadn't stopped, but Sebastian had, amazed that he was still standing. Looking around, there was nobody to comment on his sudden new possession.

So he shrugged and walked on, giving it ample thought. A rope? When he stopped to watch the Saba estate, it became clear to him. He glanced at the rope, then at the estate again. "Thank you," he said politely to the rain and nobody that was there.

Sebastian smiled to himself as he stared the walls surrounding the estate and sank a hand into one of the back pockets of his belt. The walls looked fairly sturdy. Maybe even recently built, which was just dandy. He looked left, right, left again, then walked over to the wall and tied the rope to the retractable grappling hook.

Times like this he was almost happy he had been properly trained for this sort of thing. So he snuck about the more or less square grounds of the estate, smiling happily at the few guards standing miserably in the evening rain. He took his time -- surely Auker would take her time with Montmore. The man was hospitality itself: they would probably be there for hours on end.

He thought upon this for a while as he snuck behind the second largest of the buildings on the estate. What a miserable thought, Sebastian-Kai thought, to be here alone when there's possibly some perfectly good discussion to be had, and --

Sebastian ducked behind a corner, immediately cursing himself for his lapse of alertness. One of the guards had abruptly headed that way. He rolled, got on his feet and found that the complications were compounding. As if the guard wasn't enough, the Fox really wanted to whimper a few choice words when he realised that someone had come out of the back and -- oh bloody hell, he didn't know. All he could see was someone throwing a bucketful of something somewhere, their back turned to him.

So the Fox did what he supposed was the best idea. He slipped inside, through a kitchen (hoping they wouldn't notice the tracks), through a few corridors (once ducking behind a grandfather clock), up a case of stairs when beset from all sides by unaware residents...

Finally, after what was probably an eternity of running around and hiding in the unlikeliest places -- inside a populated house! -- he slipped under a bed in some two-room suite and just covered his head for a moment. There were people muttering and grumbling downstairs about someone being an ass, walking around with wet, sandy boots.

Sebastian covered his head tighter. It was the only way to keep himself from bursting into gods-honest-tears-coming-from-his-eyes laughter.

When he had calmed down, is seemed not unlikely hiding under the bed had not been necessary: By the sound of it at the moment no-one had business in this corner of the house.

The mobiliar - the huge bed, a dressing table with a mirror of generous size, and a wall full of cabinets - was dark and antique. The thick carped and velvet drapery seemed newer, and the candlesticks very of a very recent style, showing stylized female figures.

Sebastian took a few deep breaths and crawled halfway out from under the bed, took stock of the room -- and blinked. He made a guess, discarded it, then took stock of the room again. "I see," he whispered, looking around for -- and finding -- a window.

He retreated back under the bed to consider his next move. It was interesting in a way, Sebastian-Kai thought. There was no upset husband this time. Instead... well, this could have gone better. He could have, for instance, just walked in and given the impression that he was here on business. Too late for that now.

He would have to get out before the owner of the room came -- or after they fell asleep. Oh well. At least he knew the layout now, he thought, and steeled himself. He was going to leave. Although not empty-handed, oh no, no, no... in fact, once he was on his feet, he immediately headed for the dressing table and inspected its contents.

The desktop held little of interest to him, but a swift look through the drawers yielded far more interesting things. A jewelbox, to begin with. And a diary. Sebastian looked at the diary for a while, only opening it once the curiosity became too great. Why am I not surprised? he thought after that first glance and stuck the diary inside his coat.

He had a great big, amused smile on his face when he entered the other room, changing his plans. There was another desk there -- this one an escritoire. He footpadded there, giving the rest of the room a wholly unsurprised glance. It was more of a... salon. A living room. The escritoire was the only bit that seemed to have anything to do with work.

As such, it was not at all surprising to find several letters from its desk, in the right corner, next to the ink bottle. He took those, too, intentionally screwed the ink bottle a little open and raised the sloping door shut.

He began to read one of the letters and walked back toward the bed with quiet steps, listening for trouble. (He did snatch a grape from a fruit bowl along the way.) Nothing ominous about it. Just talk of business...

Then he heard voices and footsteps.

He lifted his gaze to the bed in front of him and made up his mind almost as quickly, having already thought through the options. Either he made a clumsy, noisy escape now or he waited until things quieted down a bit. In the first case they would be instantly looking for someone. In the second case... well, in the second case it was probable it would take a bit longer for them to realise the items were gone.

This was going to be very embarrassing, Sebastian-Kai thought as he half-slipped, half-dove under the bed.

"-responsibility. With the bloody bureaucracy if you ignore paperwork, nothing works." An urgent would-be whisper.

Ludovic answered, somewhat irritated, "I did not ignore it, I -"

The door clicked shut and Brice dared to raise his voice. "You told me you'd taken care of it, a week ago, and now I hear the order never arrived, you -"

"Do not talk to me in this tone."

"Sorry." reluctantly, but 'Vic's tone had been cold, and he was in charge here, regrettably. At least he then found back into something resembling grace.

"I remember, I was nearly finished, then Langoll came over and I put it down. In a book I'd left lying open... Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Langoll was here?" Brice asked in a flat, very calm tone, that had how can anyone be as stupid as you? written all over it.

"Yes."

"The idea was that if something goes wrong, no-one can trace a connection between him and us, and you -"

"Calm down. There is no problem, and there will be no problem. He won't be back, either, but I wanted to talk to him face-to-face. Here's the order, too."

When Ludovic gathered implements for a simple signature, he noticed that the lid was open, but at least the ink wasn't half-dried, like last time. After signing and blotting it, he handed the paper to Brice.

"Send it out right now. It's still on time."

"Only just," Brice muttered as he hurried off.

Ludovic spent a short time putting ink and quill in order, and closed the escritoire with an irritated snap, before leaving more leisurely.

Langoll. A week ago. It was an easy enough name to remember, pondered the criminal under the bed. What he was curious about was the connection mentioned by Brice. Sebastian didn't for a moment suspect it was something unimportant: after all, this wasn't only the Lady Luck involved anymore...

He sighed and slipped out from under the bed. It was going to be easier to think about it as he made his way back; thus Sebastian-Kai immediately headed for the window and opened it. The diary and the letters felt a bit heavy inside his coat -- oh, Ladies, he wasn't feeling ashamed, was he?

Bah.

After a single peek left and right, the uninvited guest left the house just as abruptly as he'd entered. He did feel a little guilty about leaving the window open like that, but by the time he had made it to the rope he didn't care anymore.

It was just as well, in a way, Kai mused. A while later he found himself at the shrine again. Sebastian entered through the back, looking quite wet and quite thoughtful.

Sylvie walked Auker at the shrine before making her way back to Old Ivy. It was later than she would have guessed; the clouded darkness confused things. The streets weren't much emptier than in the early evening, because they had been already nearly empty by then.

Old Ivy was already dark. Sylvie put a hand over her eyes to work one oof her most practised spells, to help her night vision so she didn't need a light, and went to her room as quietly as she could, feeling odd about it.

Ayu-Asra was sleeping there, curled up on her pillow, and woke up when she came in. It took some effort to calm him down, but apart from the first call that worried her a bit, he cooed and chirped quietly enough it shouldn't be audible outside the room.

Finally Sylvie set up the glowing orb on the bedside table, and herself, in a dry nightshirt, sitting crosslegged on the bed, for a first sighting of the books she'd borrowed. The poor, neglected dragon curled up in her lap.

Naturally the next morning she wasn't the first to rise, but after hurrying she was still in time for breakfast.

As she came down, there was a theatrical gasp. "Ohhh, good morning," singsonged Riya, in the process of pouring herself some tea. "When did you come home? We were starting to wonder if we should be worried."

"Sorry about that." Sylvie considered a moment, and meanwhile Gemma threw in, "Ah, anyone who can kick off the wolves and bears in the woods for a month can manage city streets for a couple or hours."

Sylvie accepted the half-joking compliment with a nod, while sitting down, then answered Riya, "I really don't know. The dark days seem to mess with my sense of time. Closer to evening than morning, though, I'm sure." Surpressing a yawn, she pulled the dragon away from the jelly pot, getting a half-hearted hiss.

"Thanks," Riya said as she cast a suspicious look at the dragon. Then she continued a little doubtfully: "You don't look like you slept too well, though."

Sylvie shrugged and reached for the teapot, thanking Garren automatically when he handed her a cup, and following with a very grateful smile when he distracted Ayu-Asra with a crust of bread.

"I'll be better once I've warmed up a bit." She handled the teapot with care, and wrapped her fingers around the cup.

"Okay," said Riya. She glanced once at Ayu-Asra. "So, how did you sleep?" At least she wasn't asking how much Sylvie had had to drink. Not much, anyway, considering how nobody had heard her arrive.

"With something scaly trying to crawl under the covers."

There. Perfect scapegoat. It was true, too, but still Sylvie wasn't really comfortable with the situation.

Riya shuddered. "Okay. So badly then," she chuckled weakly, then twitched again as she sneaked another look at the scaly thing.

One of its heads looked back, while the other continued gnawing on the bit of bread. Ayu-Asra was rather quiet; maybe he, too, would have been better with more sleep.

Sylvie was vaguely aware that Riya was uncomfortable and mumbled "Mm, sorry" in answer.

Gemma observed not entirely seriously, "How odd. From looking at you one could get the idea that spending time cooped up with books and papers is better for you than getting out and, presumably, having some fun." It was just as well Sylvie was just at that moment sipping some tea, because without hiding behind her cup her expression would have seemed odder. As it was, she had a moment to change it to an amused smile which she garnished with a shrug.

Riya chose that moment to hide her uncertainty. "I hope you had fun, then. Goodness knows I think you needed a break, and worry not. Nothing new under the sun here. The weather is being a burden on business..."