Private Tales Let's Keep a Secret

The Market's matron had successfully run her business under the law's nose for quite a few years now, and much of that success had been in keeping snooping parties away from it. She was fiercely protective of her working girls -- of which Aylin was not. Wisely, the matron decided whatever trouble or curiosity these two had about that girl was business better taken elsewhere and quickly.

"I apologize that I don't know this person of interest, but I can direct you to someone who might." She indicated she would return before disappearing behind the heavy curtain. After a few minutes, she came back with a pretty young woman who greeted them with a wide smile.

"Octavia was working for most of the morning. She likes to socialize with the customers, so she might have seen your 'Aylin'," the matron explained as kindly as a marble statue could manage. The two women exchanged a glance only they could decipher before the matron excused herself.

"Ooh, I love your outfit!" Octavia gushed at Akiza before remembering why she'd been asked to the counter. She turned to Nemeska. "Oh, right... you say you're looking for someone named Aylin Denizal?" she asked sweetly. There was a yearning behind Octavia's friendly gaze that bubbled over with excitement at the prospect of sharing gossip.

"Why, I believe my co-worker Caelia has an acquaintance by that name!" She gave a short description that matched Aylin's.

"She's got a terrible taste in friends -- Caelia, that is... looks for trouble, that one -- Caelia, that is. Anyway, I'm sure I saw them leave together not more than an hour ago. No idea where they were headed, but they looked like they were in a big hurry."

Octavia could have gone on all day, especially if it was somehow at Caelia's expense. It helped that the matron had not been overly specific about how she was to convince these ladies to leave, only that she was to convince them.

Akiza Sonshal Assistant Nemeska Elissal

By Regel, why did they even listen to that imbecilic dancer? At least it was Akiza who had parted with her coin. And here Nemeska thought vampires were supposed to be clever.

So now here they both were, circumstance leading them around by their noses, hardly a step closer to finding Aylin even though, if this Octavia's account was to be believed, she had departed from this very shop only an hour ago. What a bother! If but Boesarius could see the lengths to which they were going!

Well. Best to worry about the present. And for the present, Nemeska worried about preserving her ears from Octavia's endless idle chatter.

"Marvelous! You've been a fantastic help, Octavia," interjected Nemeska at last, clapping her hands together as though pleased. "Wherever it is that Caelia and Aylin have absconded, perhaps we shall catch up with them. No time to lose! Akiza, we ought—"

Aylin Denizal

The dagger was reasonably made out of good-quality iron, sharp and free of rust. The maker's anagram was engraved upon the hilt: RD. More interesting was the phrase engraved upon the dagger's blade: Egredere cum visione. The motto of a Beyar house, or perhaps an Insan family with illusions of nobility.

Having only ever given the dagger a brief glance, Octavia hadn't noticed any of this. The matron had told her it was Aylin's, and left it behind the counter probably expecting that silly girl to pick it up at some point, but if it disappeared and Octavia had a few more sikke in her purse, who would know?

"How's four sikke sound?" she asked Akiza.

---

Go forth with vision was the motto on Aylin's dagger. A motto coined by her great-grandfather in imitation of some great Beyar house-or-other. The inscription meant little to her, but the trinket still held some sentimental value...

...which was why she was now making her way back towards the Market with an air of annoyance. She could have gone back for it tomorrow, but with Caelia safely hidden, she had nothing better to do. It also gave her time to ruminate on what it was about her friend that would drive her to murder someone from the church. What that unexplained aura around her was. Caelia had been unusually tight-lipped about it all.

There was just something to it that didn't quite add up.

Assistant Nemeska Elissal Akiza Sonshal

Dear Regel, Akiza had better be onto something here. Oh but it was one thing for Akiza to pay the dancer, but to come panhandling to her for this? What a turn. Good for her that they were such good friends, hmm?

Nemeska and Akiza wandered then to the front door of the Market, not leaving just yet, but standing beside it. Akiza held the dagger between her hands and flipped it over casually. They talked between themselves.

"Now what is all this about?"

Akiza offered the dagger to Nemeska hilt first. "Take a look."

Nemeska smiled a thin smile. "My dear, I can't hold that. I'm a Second Penitent. It's against the law, you see." Though less annoyed was she about the law and more annoyed that she and Castulo had gotten caught those years ago, and thus did she go from First to Second. What a bother.

"Alright. Don't touch it then. But look."

'"R.D.' So what of it? 'Denizal' is hardly the only surname that starts with a 'D'."

Akiza flipped the dagger around again, drew it partially as she had done back at the counter, revealing a portion of the blade. "Can you read this?"

Nemeska peered closely at the writing. "Well it certainly looks like an old script. Not of the Turkal language, that's for sure."

"But it is bespoke and finely made."

"Sure." And then Nemeska got it. Akiza, you cheeky devil. "So she might come back for it. If she remembers."

And if she wasn't truly on the run, or in some manner of sordid affair which might make her consider writing off the misplaced dagger as a loss. Dear, dear Aylin, just how interesting are the times in which you currently live?

Aylin Denizal

Unusually, Aylin had come in through the front door, though it wasn't only to avoid being accosted by a client who assumed she was one of the prostitutes. She also hoped to avoid the attention of Matron Fatma, who had a policy against customers bringing weapons into her establishment. Even if Aylin had never gone to the Market for pleasureable company, Fatma had made it known in the past that the rules applied to her equally, client or not.

She was usually quite careful with the dagger, which she only used in those silly rituals of her mom's anyways (excepting one time when she threatened a man with a most serious consequence for harassing her, but he most certainly deserved it). It really irked Aylin that she had left it here, of all places.

But it wasn't the matron that she came across as she walked in the door. She immediately recognized the two women from the Church she'd seen on the street speaking with Daezan earlier that day. And one of them was holding her dagger.

She promptly decided the dagger wasn't worth it. Instead, she pretended to be extremely interested in one of the shelves of perfume near the door and walked confidently towards it as if she hadn't noticed them at all.

Akiza Sonshal Assistant Nemeska Elissal

A gambit which might amount to nothing, this waiting in the perfume Market. Still, if the Devils' pet vampire had the right hunch, then it would be worthwhile endeavor. Nemeska also had to suppose that, well, where would they even go after the Market? Cold as a cloudy winter's night, Aylin's trail had gone, and oh what a tragedy that she and Akiza were only an hour or so late. In any case, the supposed sentimental value of the dagger was all they had to rely upon. Well, gods, would it not be funny if the murderer was already apprehended in the course of their waiting?

She'd have to fabricate some other excuse to chat with Boesarius if that were so.

So Nemeska and Akiza idled, chatted with each other, chatted with this patron or that patron (a rather fine looking gentleman, perhaps a Beyar's son, had caught Nemeska's fancy for a time before he departed with his purchased incenses). And as Regel would have it, their patience and their gambit paid off.

Octavia had given a fair description of Aylin, and a woman of that very likeness came through the Market's door. And Nemeska by now, ready to have done with this (before more of their sikke leaked from their pockets!), spared no thought for anything other than: my, here she is, the woman we've been waiting for.

Akiza glanced to Nemeska, and Nemeska took the lead, Akiza following. Their dear Aylin, coyly or innocently, was looking now upon the Market's wares, back turned to them.

"Ay~lin~," Nemeska said as she came near, speaking as though this were a reunion long awaited and deeply cherished. "Salt and sil~ver, friend. Why, you seem to have forgotten something, if I and my friend Akiza are not mistaken."

Aylin Denizal

Aylin bristled at the mention of her name, and unsure of whether to turn around or stay where she was, she ended up only half-turning towards the speaker. She gave Nemeska a confused glance before her gaze slipped to the dagger.

"Do I... know you?"

Wherever this conversation was about to go, Aylin had already decided it would mean nothing but trouble. At least Caelia wasn't here to make things worse. Though the other woman with the red eyes made her feel uncomfortable, like she was a mouse being stared down by cat.

Assistant Nemeska Elissal