15[20:14] After the inconclusive meeting in the hold of Dryas's ship, the Four Fangs their way to the Blazing Shoal Shrine, a modest little outpost of the Immaculate Philosophy at the very limits of its reach. Most of its visitors are not native to Brightwork, and in this respect the hearth does not stand out. In all others (their wealth, their beauty, their being seven feet tall and winged) 15[20:14] they draw eyes and turn heads as they come up to, bystanders can only assume, make an offering to their odd and strict foreign religion. 15[20:14] They know better, of course. [20:16] 14Well, they're right. It is odd and strict. 15[20:16] Do they go and get anything — or anyone — before arriving at the temple? Or do they cross the threshold of the shrine, its main prayer-hall sparsely occupied by monks, nuns, and the few sailors who are up this early without any work to do. 15[20:17] *without any work to do, alone? [20:19] 14Unless Piu's been given an emergency meet order by Caedus or Tephen, there's nothing that could reasonably pull her away from backing her hearth's play here. 15[20:21] Either way, someone quickly realizes that the Dynasts are not just here to make an offering. "My ladies? My lords?" comes the voice of a young monk, a Coral islander by the look of him, who can be seen gently wringing his hands between his billowy sleeves. [20:21] 10It has to be strict, when the spiritual development of mankind is at stake. Regardless of his own recent lapses and indiscretions, he still believes the principle of the Perfected Hierarchy holds value. [20:23] 07Dryas has selected a few of the finer trinkets and flotsam from Mionzi she's kept in her quarters to make a donation to the mission. She makes sure everyone in the shrine can see her and hear her, and tell their friends and family about it, when she introduces herself. "Cynis Dryas, with a donation to nourish the spirit." [20:24] 4Piu smiles floozily and tries to fade into the background. 14She hates these places. 15[20:25] The monk's eyes widen. "Oh... oh!! My lady is very generous. Please, let me get the Abbess." And so he all but dashes out of sight, coming back moments later with a dour-looking woman who starts twice upon arrival — first at the glittering jade, and then again at Daizo. [20:26] 10Daizo: "May we have a moment of your time, Sister? We have a matter of some delicacy to discuss." 15[20:27] The abbess: "...how very gracious. How very generous. I was so sorry to hear of your kin's fate. We will feel her loss for some time." [20:27] 14Likely, and variously, true. 15[20:27] Then, with perhaps a moment's hesitation, she looks up at Daizo. "...yes, of course. Come with me." [20:27] 6We're very broken up about it. [20:28] 14Dryas actually is, so Piu has done zero gloating. [20:28] 6Zhangyu isn't particularly, but it would be in poor taste. 15[20:29] Then they're in the abbess's cramped little study at the western end of the shrine. Daizo's got to angle his head to keep from the weirdly sharp light fixture poking his scalp. [20:29] 14Still, it gives the Garden and its ah, allies full administrative control of large sections of the Brightwork operation. [20:29] 14And so Piu will pay the price on that one. 15[20:29] "My name is Mira. How may we be of service?" [20:30] 07Dryas will let the others do the talking. She is thinking about something, probably important. Maybe she's just hung over. Her grace and beauty makes it hard to tell sometimes. [20:31] 14Mmmm. [20:31] 14Well, this is principally Daizo's play. [20:31] 10Well, risking a crick in the neck is the least of his problems right now. At least they were all able to squeeze in. "Firstly, I'd like to apologize for any commotion I caused yesterday. It's not every day a visitor forces their way into the infirmary." [20:33] "But that wounded man's spirit called out to me, and when I saw the grievious condition of his body, I had no choice but to bring in help." 15[20:35] Mira, hastily: "We needn't dwell on it any further. Given the consequences... given the results..." She glances quickly at each of the Dynasts in turn. "...it all proved out in the end. Please, think nothing of it." [20:37] 10Daizo nods. "Ahh, I knew you would understand. We intend to take him into our care at the first opportunity—our traveling companion is a physician of no small ability." [20:38] 14She's quite obviously afraid of them. Daizo in particular. Hm. [20:39] 10It stands to reason. Daizo is a tremendously imposing figure, a mutant, and if anyone in the temple has a whiff of spiritual sense of their own, they'll know something very, very Wrong happened there. [20:40] 14No, it's good! Fear is useful. Especially given how few other ways there are to motivate monks. [20:40] 14Well done. 15[20:40] Mira: "...it gladdens me to know Master Deled is so cared-for. We were very afraid he was beyond saving." [20:41] 10Daizo: "How did he come to be at this place?" [20:41] 6Zhangyu can give Daizo tips later if he wants to be scarier on purpose. [20:42] 14No, let him develop his own methods. Being smart and book-learned and sorcerous opens up whole new practices that Piu and Zhangyu simply can't access for all their sex and muscles. 15[20:44] Mira: "He came to us during a storm, three days ago. No, four now. In the middle of the night. It was terrible weather. A novice mistook the sound of his banging on the door for the wind rattling it in the frame. But it persisted for over an hour, and another of us finally opened the door to find him lying there in the rain." 15[20:44] "Having had no limbs with which to beat the door, he had used his head." [20:45] 14That's a metaphor for something. [20:45] 14Three days ago...Dryas is right not to want to linger here. Furia can't have gotten so far. [20:46] 10The most terrifying people Daizo has ever known were polite and conscientious to a fault. "It must have been quite shocking. Had he visited Brightwork previously? I understand his duties as a shikari send him ranging far and wide." [20:46] 14That said, Piu is in no hurry to actually find the wayward admiral. They're building something out here. Why tie it up so soon? What, so they can be called home to the doorstep of a war? 15[20:47] Mira: "It has been many years since the Hunt came to Brightwork. Before his time. Before even mine. I knew him only by reputation." [20:49] 14Piu: "How much does he know about...the situation here." [20:50] "A man of his virtues probably should have certain current events kept from him." 15[20:51] Mira draws in a breath that seems to go on for some time. Finally she says, "Given his condition, it's only just become possible to speak to him. And he expressed an immediate desire not to be disturbed. At this point, what he learns — or doesn't learn — is a matter for your discretion, since you'll be taking him into your care." [20:52] 14Piu: "Excellent." [20:56] 10Daizo: "Well, that saves us quite a bit of explaining. Sister Mira, your understanding in these matters is greatly appreciated. If we don't bring him out today, please make it known among the caregivers that no one is to speak to him about matters other than pleasantries." [20:56] "And especially not the condition that he was found in." 15[20:57] Mira nods. "Quite right." She produces a key from within her habit. "Do you remember the way down?" [20:57] 14Perhaps for the best if we move him before he can walk. If we can enscone him in a palanquin, there's less of a chance he'll see a fucking food riot and decide to ask why it's going on, and some idiot civilian chime in, 'Oi, it's the Deathknights, me lord.' [20:58] 14Ensconce. Enscone is something else entirely. [20:59] Daizo: "Of course. We [21:00] 10Daizo: "Of course. We'll keep you informed, should he prefer to remain here for the time being." 15[21:03] Sister Mira's face gets strangely tight. "Do let me know if there's anything more we can do for you, or him." [21:06] 14If it comes down to it, Tephen might have a way to get Deled out of here and to the ship without causing a street fight or, mothers forbid, an ersatz Wyld Hunt. [21:08] 10Daizo accepts the key, then presses his hands together and bows to the Abbess. "A blessing upon you this day, Sister. We will all be out of your hair quite soon." [21:09] 10Let's head on down. [21:09] 6That would be for the best. 15[21:11] The abbess bows in kind, and the hearth descends. Daizo knows the way, with monks and nuns scattering out of their way as they approach the infirmary, whose door is heavy, locked, and unguarded. The scents of salt and incense are overpowering in the hallway outside, the ritual purification equivalent of washing your hands until they bleed. [21:15] 10Well. Either it'll come out or they'll have to consecrate a new plot. What's done is done. Daizo knocks five times on the door before unlocking it.  [21:15] 14Daizo and Caxi really got up to some shit, huh. [21:16] 10The knock pattern says: "A fellow student, with friends." 15[21:16] The man's voice is high and tight, muffled by the door. "What now?" [21:20] 10Daizo looks left then right; the hall is empty aside from them. "It's me, Tepet Daizo. I need to talk to you about Furia." [21:20] 10He opens the door without waiting for the response. [21:22] 14Piu will slip in behind him and seek a quiet corner. [21:24] 10Yeah, once everyone piles in Daizo will llock the door. 15[21:25] The door creaks open, and the hearth walks into a room thick and sweet with smoke. It hangs in the air, stinging the throat and enveloping everything in sheets of haze. But the gaze of the man within seems to cut through that smoke, wide and intense beneath his heavy brow like the watch-fires of a border-march. Peleps Deled opens his mouth to speak one, two, three, four times, seeming 15[21:25] to take little sips of air as each of the hearth ducks into view and the door shuts behind them. [21:25] 6Zhangyu will sort of loom along a side wall. Not on purpose, he just kind of does that. [21:26] 14She finds her place and leans against the walls with arms crossed. If this happy warrior wants to go for Daizo, which is a possibility, she's in position to intercept. And the Chain is wrapped around her fist. 15[21:29] His voice isn't quite as high as it sounded through the door; it has a hoarse note to it like the spent-fuel aroma of Juche bog brandy. "Daizo. Daizo! They got you too. What have they done?" [21:30] 14Oh this is going to end well. [21:32] 10Daizo's got to fold his wings in to pass through the door. But he's not wearing the concealing capes or the like he resorted to back in Abalone. His silhouette is rather gargoyle-like. "Long story. I got into a brawl with the Little Chosen of Hamoji and he laid a curse on me. I've been trying to break it ever since. Learned a lot about curses, though." [21:37] 10Daizo grabs a stool and hunkers down by Deled's bedside. "Good thing, too. Someone did a real number on you." 10A pause. "Was it really Furia? Did you see her?" 15[21:40] Deled flexes his fingers - his bare arms are slender and shapely, almost delicate, a fact belied by the fact that his skin's so dry it almost looks scaly. "Not just me. Not just you. There is a corruption winding its way through the Realm, spreading and feeding like fire. Like cancer." [21:40] 14Well, that'll make it more difficult to get between him and Deled if this goes bad. And Piu respects the crusader enough not to try to sneak into his blind spot. So she'll just casually relocate behind her hearth brother. 15[21:40] Peleps Deled: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPscLRj8z-I - Brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod. 15[21:43] He scowls into his row of incense holders. "Furia, or something wearing her face." [21:44] "He's not wrong," 07scoffs Dryas softly. [21:47] 14Lot of that going around. [21:47] 10Daizo: "The further I we sail out here, the more and more I see that I fear can't be set aright." [21:48] I— we— [21:49] "Will you tell me about it? We're with Commodore Ratel, Furia's sister. We're hunting her too." 15[21:50] Deled: "The world is losing its center. Meru is fallen, rotted through and crumbled from the peak to the roots, and their Realm — I cannot call it our Realm — has become the dwelling-place of demons." 15[21:50] "What do you know? What were you told?" 15[21:50] He squints at the others in the smoke. "Who are they?" [21:50] 14Piu: "Hearthsisters and brothers." [21:50] 14Piu: "Tepet Daizo talks for us." [21:51] 10Daizo: "My sworn kin. V'neef Piu, Tepet Zhangyu, and Cynis Dryas. This hunt brought us together and I mean to see it finished." [21:52] 14Piu nods at her own name to make it clear which she is, while maintaining eye contact. This is about maintaining the mode of seriousness. [21:52] 14He needs to know we can kill him, or kill for him. [21:54] 10As for what we know? How much do we tell him? The briefing and Catela's story are the relevant parts, for the purposes of hunting Furia, and the less we let slip about anything else, the better. [21:56] 10We need to talk about the trace at the Maw, as well. But that's one to tread lightly around. [21:57] 07Dryas: "Peleps Deled, it is an honor." [21:58] 6Zhangyu steps forward to be more visible, hopefully, then retreats back to the wall. [22:01] 07Dryas: "Where did you find Furia? Did you speak with her? Did she tell you why she's out here, who she thinks she's found?" [22:01] 14Piu nods in agreement with her sister Dryas without saying anything. Doesn't shy away from eye contact though. [22:02] 14Deled is every bit as impressive a man as she'd been led to believe. Even like this. 15[22:02] Deled: "Who sent you? On whose authority are you out here?" [22:02] 14Piu: "V'neef herself, for me." [22:05] 10Daizo: "My House elders requested that I joun Ratel's task force. I assented because it seems to me that even a slim chance of locating the Empress is better than sitting idly by while the Realm rotted." [22:05] 07Dryas: "Then surely she did, or you surmised it. Our commanding officer is your kin, Peleps Ratel and this is, in theory at least, a mission of the Merchant Fleet." [22:06] 10Daizo: "To put it bluntly, we're out here doing what the Navy doesn't seem willing to." [22:07] 10Daizo's gambling that Deled doesn't give a rat's ass about the proper command structure.  [22:07] 6Zhangyu: "The same for me as for cousin Daizo." 6First words he's spoken in a while; they come out in a low rumble. [22:08] 07Dryas looks at the others. "For my own part, I've been given plenipotentiary authority by the Triad of Cynis. For now." [22:21] 14Piu: "It doesn't really matter the authority we're here under. Mnemon's fleets control the near Threshold, and now Abalone itself. They've sent in new administrators. It's only a matter of time before that call comes in from the Scarlet Throne." 15[22:28] Deled scowls. "Mnemon is better than some. Not many. But some." [22:29] 14Piu won't argue the point, honestly or otherwise. [22:31] 10Daizo: "I'm not going to beat around the bush with you, Deled. I've seen you debate, and I've seen you rip people to shreds when they try sophistry with you." 10This also happened literally, but Daizo wasn't there for that particular event. "You're absolutely right. The Realm is crumbling from within. The Houses are preparing to march on each other and destroy the Blessed Isle pretending they're saving it. Authority and chains [22:31] of command don't mean a damn thing anymore and you know it." [22:31] 10Daizo: "We are out here because it's righteous." [22:32] "And if we have to crawl through the mud and the filty and the corruption to restore the righteous order of things, then so be it." 15[22:36] Deled's a tall man, but Daizo's still got a whole head on him. The former walks up to the latter and seizes his upper arms in an odd, stiff-armed embrace. His fingers dig in and Daizo realizes that for all the neomah's fine work, the Immaculate's fingers still end in something like talons. 15[22:36] "We will bring them to light." 15[22:36] "And the light will burn them clean." [22:36] 14Well. No question it's him. [22:38] 07Dryas: "And what about Furia?" [22:38] 14If he can walk that solves the problem of moving him. [22:39] 14Piu: "Furia's on a ship. If you want to chase her...you'll need a ship." 15[22:40] Deled stands like this, staring into Daizo's eyes longer and more intently than anyone has in quite some time. Well, anyone but Caxi. Well past the point of awkwardness he lets go. "We were on a vessel looking for unruly gods. Storms had been smashing ships in out of Wu Jian, off every trade route. Well in excess of proper conduct. Even in the rainy season the storm mothers know their 15[22:40] place." [22:40] 10Daizo gives Deled a grim nod. Yeah, that's the man he knew. 15[22:41] "So we endeavored to remind them. We met them in their eyries, and we were frank. The storm mothers denied not just wrongdoing but responsibility." 15[22:43] "The entire time we're out here, I'm trying to send messenger birds to the Fleet Admiral, who near as I can tell is sleeping on the job. No responses. I even went to the trouble of securing a sorcerer's help. Nothing." 15[22:43] "That being Furia." [22:44] 10Daizo: "Rank dereliction of duty." 15[22:48] Deled: "We're out here for weeks chasing storms. Lost two ships, half a crew, and one of our junior shikari. No closer. It's almost by accident that we get a lead, finding a floating wreck of a navy ship drifting toward the Gyre. A message to the Board — who still answers messages, at least — informs me that, as far as they knew, the shipwreck we found was in active surface. Under 15[22:48] Furia." 15[22:49] *active service [22:51] 6Zhangyu's eyebrows are steadily raising at the story. 15[22:52] "At this point, I make a determination that the storms are of secondary importance, and that finding Furia is what matters. Pressing for information in Wu Jian gets me reports of half-wrecked vessels lashed with barrels and logs, for ballast. These vessels, I was informed, were flying Realm battle flags." [22:52] 14Piu's incredible dedication to craft is what's keeping her from cracking up. [22:55] 10Daizo: "The history books, if there's anyone left to write them, are going to record Furia as the Water Fleet's greatest enemy. Just how many wrecks is she responsible for already?" 15[22:55] "But there were no good leads, and it's a big ocean. So we had to be thorough. Starting from Wu Jian and working outward, we drew a line from known settlement to known settlement. No matter how tiny, no matter how insignificant, and we interrogated people until we were sure they didn't know anything." 15[22:57] "Until some did. A small confederation of fishing communities on a spray of little islands between Coral and Wavecrest. Their villages were all but leveled, stripped for timber, their people impressed into shipwright's work using the harvested lumber. Ballast for foreign ships. Realm ships." 15[22:57] "The experience was so traumatic for them that the first natives we encountered fought us on sight. The second group saw reason." [22:58] 10No points for guessing what happened to the first group, and why the second were so willing to see reason.  [22:58] 14It's so amusing, because you're in the Iselsi schools and everyone thinks the All-Seeing Eye and the other secret police are all looking over their shoulders, when the truth is, they don't even know we exist. [22:59] 14And that's what gets you into the room with Peleps Deled, foremost psychopath for justice, an incredible man of significant weight and eyes that burn, as he tells you about killing natives on the beach for fun. 15[23:01] "Their wounds were still fresh. The fleet hadn't gotten far. How could it, in such a bizarre and crippled state? We found them, splintered and squat, anchored on open ocean. We hailed the flagship. Were permitted to board. Navy officers — my own countrywomen! — pointed their weapons at me while the Admiral met me on deck." 15[23:01] "She was cordial, professional, but her hand never left the hilt of her sword." [23:02] 14The fleet sounds pathetic. 15[23:03] "I questioned her. She didn't answer me, or worse, evaded. I grew impatient. I lost my temper. I failed to appreciate the balance of power." 15[23:03] "When she drew her sword, the sky went black." [23:03] 07Dryas's knits her brow as she hears this description. Even if Furia found what she was looking for, would she even be in a state to bring Her back? [23:03] "Black?" 07Dryas interjects. 15[23:04] "As a moonless night." 15[23:04] "The sky wasn't clear, it never is this time of year. But the storm that came so suddenly and so fiercely was beyond unnatural." 15[23:06] "The wind alone bowled some of us, good people, straight into the sea. They didn't see what I saw. The face in the sky. The voice in the thunder." 15[23:06] "I did. That's why I didn't see her sword move." 15[23:06] He flexes his hands again. [23:07] 07Dryas: "The Empress?" 15[23:08] Deled: "What? No. Something far less than human." 15[23:08] "I remember falling into the sea, rolling and diving like a sick little buoy. The storm blew my ship to pieces. The crew, scattered on the waves. Furia's ugly little fleet just bobbed there, the ballast holding them steady as the sea pitched back and forth." 15[23:10] "I don't know what happened after that. I prayed to Daana'd for intercession. I prayed and I prayed. A siaka came for me, smelling my blood in the water, sensing my weakness. I had nothing but my own jaws to kill it with." 15[23:10] "These things happened over days, weeks, months, I don't know. What's the date? Where are we?" [23:10] 6What is the date? [23:11] 07Dryas looks askance at the others at the siaka remark. 07Goodness gracious. 15[23:11] The date today is 15 Resplendent Wood, RY 768. [23:12] 14Tell the man the truth. Then you can manage him with less than that. [23:12] 10Daizo relates that. "And this is Brightwork." 15[23:13] "Brightwork?! Ten days and hundreds of malms." [23:14] 14Piu: "How're you feeling?" 15[23:14] "Angry." [23:14] 10Daizo: "They told me that you were found writhing outside the temple door three days ago, beating against it with your head because you had no control over your limbs." [23:14] 14Piu: "How useful is that?" 15[23:15] "Clarity is always useful." 15[23:15] "Anger is always clarifying." [23:16] 6Really not sure about that one, hoss. 15[23:16] To Daizo: "I've been mutated somehow. I can feel it. These limbs are not mine." 15[23:16] "Furia took them from me. Perhaps her demonic patron saw fit to curse me on the way out." 15[23:17] "I will rip from her every piece of what she took from me." [23:18] 07Dryas: "She didn't tell you what she was after?" 15[23:19] Deled: "She wouldn't. She was clearly sizing me up. Whatever test she lay before me, I failed it. And for all it cost me, my people paid far more." [23:20] 07Dryas: "She thinks she's on the trail of Her Majesty. But it sounds more like she's gone mad." [23:21] 10Daizo: "Even many of her own sensed a change in her. We rescued a survivor from an island not far from Abalone—they'd fallen prey to a malicious spirit like nothing I'd ever seen before." 10Daizo will relate Catela's tale if no one else objects.  15[23:27] Deled: "What could Furia have succumbed to? What sickness? What sin? If we can't root it out then it will just take hold of someone else after we kill her." 15[23:28] Somewhere outside, above, is the distant sound of trumpets. [23:28] 14Seems like it would be a bad idea to answer that. [23:29] 14Peleps Deled doesn't want to hear 'she has surfeit of belief in a higher power.' [23:30] 07Dryas: "You have correctly ascertained that finesse must guide- oh, dear." [23:30] "...There are some things you'll need to know before going outside." [23:31] 10Daizo: "Mm. Prepare yourself. This will be as shocking to you as it was to us." [23:31] "I won't ask which news you want first; I'll start with the bad. Brightwork is in thrall to Skullstone. It aims to cement that relationship permanently within the next two sunrises." [23:31] "A marriage." [23:31] "Skeletons walk about openly. It is a disgrace." [23:31] 10Deled absolutely raises a strong point here re: Furia's madness, though. 15[23:33] Deled blinks once. His face betrays no other expression. "A disgrace easily rectified." [23:33] Dryas: "The third deathknight has just arrived, judging from the calls. We will strike when the time is right to stymie them, at least. And, if it proves necessary, we will return with the legions and wipe it from the face of Creation." [23:33] 14She raises three fingers. "There are three to be concerned about. First, the Knight of Ghosts and Shadows. He aims to marry Mox Lapis. Second, the Abbot. Not an Immaculate officer. Weird little dead guy. Least of our concerns, honestly; he seems at odds with the Knight." [23:34] "And the third...yes. [23:34] "The Moray." [23:34] "The good news is all three will be in the same place at the wedding." [23:34] "Which is where we'll be." [23:34] "With all of our friends." [23:34] 14Piu: "Are you committed to this violence?" [23:35] 10Daizo: "There is no 'least' when dealing with the dead, Dryas." 10This correction is, of course, stage-management. 15[23:35] Deled, calmly: "Oh, yes." [23:35] 10Pray he never catches sight of Sadako. [23:36] 6He won't. [23:36] 14She nods. "Then we're on the clock. I'll begin preparing to get you as close as possible before you have to start expending yourself." [23:36] 6Not if he knows what's good for him, which I suppose there is no proof of that yet. [23:36] "Start in the middle, then work out from there." 15[23:37] Deled: "Where are you stationed? I need to speak to your commanding officer." [23:37] 14Piu: "Peleps Ratel is our commanding officer, but her ship is being watched. Dryas?" [23:38] 07Dryas: "Hm. You are enormous, Peleps Deled, but perhaps not so enormous that I can't move you there without attracting undue attention." 15[23:41] Deled: "Work out the logistics. You know the situation on the ground here. As long as I don't have to sit in this profaned hole for too much longer." [23:42] 14Looking at Dryas: "Twelve hours?" [23:42] 14She can get the resources together to move him by then. [23:42] 14Tephen owes her. [23:42] 10Daizo: "Will you need weapons?" [23:43] 07Dryas: "I can do it in three. The gunzosha?" [23:43] 14Piu grins. 15[23:44] Deled focuses, and his anima shivers. Black jade spreads like water over his torso, stopping at his shoulders and thighs. He looks down at his hands and scowls. "My weapons... my armor... taken from me." [23:45] 10Daizo: "Furia or her pet were fools, though." [23:45] "They left you with claws." 15[23:46] Deled smiles thinly. "I'll leave them with less." 15[23:47] "But you all have work to do. We can daydream later." [23:47] 14Piu: "We'll be in contact very shortly after leaving here. Our only request is, no matter how debased it is in the streets now -- wait for the wedding. We get them all together, and the dead die." [23:48] 07Dryas: "In three hours we'll send someone for you. What do you want their code phrase to be?" 15[23:48] Deled: "Reach Heaven through violence." [23:49] 14She grins wider. [23:49] 14Under different circumstances... [23:51] 07Dryas: "See you soon." [23:52] 10Daizo takes a good long look at the zealot, that the four of them have somehow successfully manipulated long enough to help them do some dirty business. 15[23:52] As the hearth leaves the shrine and comes back out into the street, the trumpets grow louder and the festival air in the streets is apparent. Citizens of Brightwork - sailors and laborers, bound and free - are gathering at the streetsides falling like dogs upon the food being hurled from wagonback as a black silk caravan rolls from the docks. 15[23:53] The food is coming from baskets and barrels, fresh fruit, fresh fish, bread to match the circus. The hands moving it from crates to mouth are half flayed bone, and half gray revenant flesh bolted down with copper. [23:54] 10The light will burn them clean. 10True of sunlight, true of fire, but also true of the mad, viridian, poisonous rays of Ligier that he glimpsed in a vision. [23:55] 07Probably beats ration bricks from the stores of Mionzi, in the eyes of the lower folk at least. [23:57] 14That'll make Zhangyu's job harder. And maybe convince Piu to rotate him some help. [23:57] 14Ideally you don't show up in the one fortnight that they decide to go all in on the bread and the circus. [23:57] 14But it looks like we did. [23:57] 10Daizo snaps himself out of his reverie. There's work to do.  [23:58] 07Dryas pushes her way through the crowds, hoping for a glimpse of the Eel. [23:58] 14To her hearth: "I'm going to be in the wind for the rest of the day. Restructuring. Dryas, if you need me, send someone for Samperson." [23:58] "Got it." 15[00:00] He's not hard to spot. He's standing on top of a palanquin, throwing silver and apples into people's hands, practically glowing with praise. The Moray is a a sturdy man with thick red hair pulled tight behind his head, and a pale, aristocratic face. His clothes are all silver and silk, ruffled at the wrists and the neck. Every gesture that isn't dispensing treasure to the needy people 15[00:00] is a sweeping, magnanimous wave. 15[00:00] His eyes are black from lid to lid. [00:01] 14To Dryas: "This guy?' 15[00:01] Moray Starving in a Prison of White Coral: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0NlXKPaqZg - I'm very well-acquainted with the seven deadly sins — I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in! [00:01] 07Dryas: "That's him, all right." [00:01] 10Daizo: "Looks like a real charmer." [00:02] 14Piu: "Gold from the teeth. Silk from the shirt. We can grind the body down and sell the vanity." [00:03] 14Stepping away to leave: "Fuck them if they can't take the yoke. Fuck them if they can't take the joke." [00:04] 07Dryas laughs as she melts back into the crowd to settle Lena's affairs. 15[00:05] NEXT TIME: ...and business is good 15[00:27] Lot going on in the streets of Brightwork today, but if you want to melt into the background that's a good thing. What's on Piu's mind as she slinks away from the Burning Shoal Shrine, and what's on her agenda? [00:28] 14'What good's a weapon if you have nowhere to point it?' and 'Mothers, but he is a weapon' in equal degrees about the fanatic Deled. [00:28] 14The agenda is the work, same as always. And Tephen owes her. She hasn't called markers in yet, but she does want to meet this apprentice. [00:28] 14And Tephen wants to do it with himself there, so fine. 15[00:31] Piu knows Tephen'll be working with his master, Overseer Tern, in the Customs Office, if she wants to see him. 15[00:31] How direct is she about getting his attention? She can absolutely just go in and demand to see him, but... [00:33] 4There's other ways. [00:33] 4Anyone hot boys in the office he's in charge of? [00:33] *4Any 15[00:35] For sure. There's slaves working under Tephen, guards, even that guy Piu's pretty sure is a Guildsman is pretty hot. [00:35] 4Because she'll just go ruthlessly flirt until he has to come out and sternly lecture the young buck. [00:37] 4She'll catalogue the face of the Guild guy for later. It'll be all business with him. Then she'll find a young unmarried man and sort of ruin his day. She'd prefer a guard over a slave, obviously, but if that's what it takes...well, she'll go easy. 15[00:40] Piu's able to enthrall the first of the guards who crosses her path, a well-built local boy who gives his name as Ku. Ku's not especially young — probably within a couple years of Piu's own age — but he flusters very easily. A few minutes after he's abandoned even the pretense of paying attention to his actual job that familiar hoarse voice barks, "KU! Don't bother the dignitaries. 15[00:40] C'mon, kid. Splash some cold water on your face, get your head in the game." 15[00:41] "Spend your whole shift talking to pretty girls, you won't even notice if someone dangerous comes in. Go on. Get!" [00:41] 4Piu's eyes go wide and she apologizes profusely, of course, until he's safely away. 15[00:42] Tephen: "Lady Piu, was it? I'm afraid the Overseer is occupied; a very important ship's just come in to port." [00:43]  [00:43] 4Piu, 'guilelessly': "Oh! I heard the trumpets." [00:43] "I can talk to you, then. There's Lena's whole, like, thing, to go over." 15[00:46] "Why don't we step into my office." Turns out he actually means a candelit storage closet. Smells like ink in here. "Lineup's been delayed a few hours, but everyone's in position." [00:47] 14Piu: "Deled is onboard. And at least mostly recovered." [00:47] "So handle with care, but, it's looking like a red wedding." 15[00:48] Tephen grunts. "Good work." [00:51] 14Piu: "Not until it's done it's not. We need to push all our chips in here. Zhangyu -- the big man, quiet, likes men who want to kill him -- is working the food riots. Any help you could give him there would be appreciated, and further our own goals, but is secondary to getting everything we can focused on the Knight and the Moray." 15[00:56] Tephen: "Alright. Sounds like the lever you're not pushing is the Watch. I'll do what I can there. Northern Cross is a foreigner, and a hardass, but she's not a sadist. If it looks like something different is on the table, she'll jump at it." [00:59] 14Piu: "Those three things in conjunction sound like a winner. We don't need Dynast rule here either. Plan is, we call off the wedding, put the dead to bed, and sail off with the sad Mox girl, the garrison commander, and the loyal 'slave' who controls the entire administrative portfolio with their hands on the wheel." [00:59] "Deled's going to want a crusade anyway, if we live to see the other side." 15[01:02] Tephen: "We can work with that." [01:03] 14Piu: "Cool. Cool cool cool. There was someone you wanted me to meet?" 15[01:04] Tephen: "Yeah. You free now?" [01:04] 14Piu: "Free? Never. But I am available." [01:05] 14This is delivered vaguely jokingly. 15[01:07] Tephen: "Man, I hear that. Head into down, go west around the Inner City wall, there's a pond and some houses. I got to pick something up but I'll met you there." [01:08] 14Piu: "What kind of first impression is this? Should I dress down or wear my killing gear?" 15[01:09] Tephen: "Start with the mask. Take it off when you feel comfortable." [01:09] 14Piu slips out of the closet, and heads back her cache to change into Silk Shadow and the demon mask. 15[01:13] Dressed like that, it behooves Piu to sneak through the streets of Brightwork before getting to the meeting spot, in the shadow of both the Inner City wall and a couple of palm trees. The pond is small, and so are the houses huddled around it, a sort of village within the city. [01:14] 14She's already done the work to figure out how to move unseen in this city before, so this is second nature -- strange what becomes second nature after being done once. What shadows are there to live in? 15[01:18] There's the trees, if she wants to climb. The nooks between the houses if not. [01:18] 14Always climb. Then you get to pounce. Everyone's uncomfortable when you pounce. Instant social advantage. 15[01:19] Tephen's around a bit later, carrying a basket. Does Piu signal to him or does she want to get the drop on him too? [01:19] 14She told him she'd be here. She'll rely on him to have faith. 15[01:24] Tephen whistles once, low, and then says, "Biadh an seo." The Cant sounds weird in his froggy voice. 15[01:29] A girl emerges from one of the houses — Piu'd make her for 14 or 15 at the most. She's got chubby cheeks and short black hair in a childlike part. But her gaze is restless and hollow. Piu watches her check all the sightlines, every point of ingress and egress. She gets awfully close to spotting Piu, but Piu's able to subtly weave her way out of sight. [01:30] 14Hmm. Either this girl is a prodigy, or she needs to be more careful. Or both can be true. 15[01:31] Tephen: "Tha aran agus iasg agam." [01:34] 14Bit concerned about him calling her like a dog. 15[01:34] The girl takes a step closer. Tephen crosses the rest of the distance and sets the basket down. The girl squats and then sits beside it, close enough to dangle her feet in the pond. 15[01:35] Tephen: "Tha mi airson gun coinnich thu ri cuideigin." 15[01:37] The girl's voice is slightly hoarse, the way you get if you don't talk much. "Cò?" [01:37] 14She can compartmentalize her anger about a lot of things. And it looks like she's going to have to. But she was counting on this child at least being fucking socialized. [01:39] 14What's his answer? Piu is still trying to decide whether she should drop out of the great darkness on Tephen's head. 15[01:40] Tephen: "Piuthar." A pause. "She won't bite." 15[01:40] The girl: "Uh huh." 15[01:41] Her mouth's already full. "Where is she?" [01:41] 14Now there's the cue. [01:42] 14She hits the ground like a silent black pool, behind both of them, and stands in black finery and a skull face. "An seo." [01:43] "Bidh mi a ’bìdeadh mar as toil leam." 15[01:43] The girl whips her head around and hops into a low crouch, arms akimbo, fingers curled... she meets Piu's eyes as best she can through the mask. 15[01:44] She adds, "Well?" [01:45] "You were eating. Don't stop on my account. A full belly makes a strong mind." 15[01:48] The girl grunts and reaches for the roll she was eating without breaking eye contact. 15[01:49] "What about you? Are you hungry?" 15[01:49] This is the girl again. [01:49] 14Piu: "Always, and not now." [01:50] 14Looming over the girl: "So you are ready to begin?" 15[01:51] The girl responds, "I'm eating." 15[01:51] She looks up at Tephen. "Now?" [01:53] "After you begin, you have to be ready all the time." [01:53] "So you're eating, but you're also ready." 15[01:54] The girl blinks. "Oh. Begin-begin. Yes. I've been ready." [01:54] 14Piu: "How would you have killed Cynis Lena?" 15[01:57] The girl: "Her guards rotate out every 6 hours. Drop on the balcony during the pre-dawn shift change. Only time she sleeps." [01:59] 14Piu: "Can you kill her before she raises the alarm? She has the blood. And you've engaged her in the middle of her retinue, during a shift change, when guards are at their most attentive." 15[02:02] The girl: "You can't scream with a throat full of blood." [02:05] 14Piu: "You can. This can be solved by a garrote, of course." 15[02:08] The girl: "Or an ethered rag. Or a pillow. Or a headlock. A free hand." [02:09] 14Piu: "No, a headlock wouldn't do it." [02:09] "Or an ethered rag. Or a pillow." 15[02:12] "Why not?" [02:15] "Lung capacity and leverage. Lena's a very tall woman with the health of the blood in her. You're too short to exert leverage on her standing, and prone, you're too tiny to stop her throwing you off her long enough to yell. You need something that applies leverage and kills at the same time, and allows you to lean into it. A piledriver spike through her sleeping throat might work too, [02:15] but again: can you get the violence behind it?" [02:16] "What I did was poison her with arrow frog venom in her cocaine to stun her, then snap her neck, then throw her out a window to make it look like she broke her neck on the fall, then did the rest of her cocaine and pretended I was the one who screamed." [02:17] "And so Cynis Lena died by accident." 15[02:17] "But she knew, didn't she?" [02:18] 14Piu: "Yes. It only seems fair she should." 15[02:20] The girl: "So if Lena's dead, who's next?" [02:21] 14The baleful skull turns to Tephen. "Well?" 15[02:22] Tephen: "To secure your hearthmate's position, you want to undermine her competitors. Not the Factor, we like her where she is. But one of her mid-level guys. One of the ones trying to hustle for a better gig." [02:23] 14Piu: "There we are." [02:23] 14She sits down next to the girl and gestures to the basket of food. "Mind?" [02:24] 14If the girl has half a brain she knows who she is already. 15[02:26] The girl shakes her head. [02:27] 14She touches the mask, and the jaw swings down beneath hers. If there's a big hunk of meat, she'll grab that. [02:28] "Mind if I ask you an intensely personal question, related to our family?" 15[02:28] Pickings are pretty good. Tephen eats from the Inner City stores, and so this girl does too. 15[02:28] This girl who shakes her head again, as her mouth is full. [02:29] "Càit a bheil do mhàthair?" 15[02:29] "Chunnaic mi i a ’bàsachadh." [02:30] 14Probably one of the better outcomes in this House, she doesn't say. [02:31] 14Instead she just nods. "Alright. We'll do the Guild job together. When you pass, we'll get you into the real show." 15[02:32] The girl: "Should I call you Piuthar?" [02:33] "Piu will do." [02:33] "It's my name, after all." [02:33] 14She takes off the mask fully and really just chomps into the meat. 15[02:34] "Piu." She nods. This time she does speak with her mouth full: "Mine's Caska." [02:35] "Mmmph." 14She'll dig in. And hopefully Tephen will put together a kill sheet. [02:35] 14She likes this kid already.