Fable - Ask Fanning the Embers

[Lyssia D'avore]

"It is a waste of your time to try."

She ducked round another corner, feeling the searing heat of the beast behind her. The sound of timbers snapping and stone cracking, the screams of the innocents caught in the path of the beast, all of these things hammered at her. The terror pulsing through her only heightened with each moment, her heart hammering in her chest as though it were trying to break its way free of the cage of bone and sinew.

Thunder growled overhead, but the clouds would give no moisture, no rain to put out the fires. Smoke wafted through the streets of Dornoch, embers drifting through the air like a million stars brought to earth. Screams. More screams.

The diminutive girl rounded another corner, and came to a dead end. She spun to run back the way she had come, but it was too late. The Beast had reached her almost as soon as she reached this ill-fated corner. Fire blazed from its indistinct form, the fiery heart of the Elemental a blue-white blaze that burned her with its mere proximity. The power of the prim pulsed within her, a counterpoint to her thundering heart.

"There is no escape. There is no undoing the past. You have no power here, and you have no power there, either." The voice was unusual, the sounds of a blazing inferno somehow morphing into spoken words, words created from crackling wood, burning flesh, the roar of the flames itself, and the howling of the fire-wrought winds. Unnatural, horrifying to listen to. The thing lashed a tail made of plasma, and a building collapsed into a blazing ruin, the screams of its inhabitants cut short. "Face your fate, vile d'Avore. Stand in the way of progress no more!'

The beast lashed out with a clawed forelimb, fire giving nearly physical form. Lyssia raised a hand, calling forth the power residing in her flesh to create a shield of light and, for a moment, the magic wove itself into a barrier. Clawed limb slammed into something immaterial.

I stopped it! The girl felt triumph as the shield she had erected held, and started to dart forward, to try and extend the chase and buy herself more time.

But fiery, crackling cackles rolled through her head. "Useless. Utterly..."

Light flashed. The sound, imagined in her head, of shattering glass, as the quick shield she had erected to protect herself from the Elementals' fury, shattered into a million pieces. A look of almost bored triumph lazily crossed the creatures face, the face of a woman with a narrow face and hard eyes.

Bored. Careless of the life she took. No hatred, nor anger, only indifference to the destruction wrought in her wake. Lyssia had enough time to see the face of her enemy before the appendage smashed her into the stones, which cracked from the intense heat. To open her mouth and shriek in agony as the flesh was seared from her bones, hair from her skull. Agony.

"...useless."

She sat up suddenly with a violent gasp, bedding pooling round her waist a she she did. Sweat ran down her face, darkened the woolen shift she wore, dampened the bedding even. For a long moment, the girl sat there practically panting, her heart thundering in her chest nearly as hard as it had moments before...

"...in a dream," she breathed to herself, chest heaving. "Just a dream."

It took several minutes for her to get over the nightmare. Her nights had been plagued with them ever since the fire elemental had destroyed the inn she had been working at. Ever since she had to face the grim specter of death, and the horrors of what she could only imagine war looked like. Her hands still felt unclean, stained by the blood of those she had been unable - or unwilling - to save. She shame of those failures was as nothing, though, when compared to staring death straight in the eyes.

She had lived, but she now knew she was a coward. She had never felt so frightened in all of her life, standing there in the presence of a true monster, stinking of her own urine and terror. The fellow she had been with had seemed unfazed by the prospect of death, but it had taken every ounce of self control not to run from that scene, from that creature, and hide in an alley. She was a coward at heart.

Do I have the strength to go through with this? An unanswered question, but perhaps it did not matter in the end. She had little choice but to see this through the the end, and that end might be one of obscurity and ignoble defeat. Or with her head taken from her shoulders, her body flung to the wild beasts and denied a proper burial.

She looked to the window. The light streaming through was not that of early morning, but rather that of high noon. Blessedly, it was a cool day and this room had not become unbearably warm. She had not intended to sleep so late, but she did not sleep well of recent. She might not sleep at all tonight, so a little extra - for what it was worth - might prove useful. The thought of what she intended to do increased the anxiety growing steadily within her, but she crushed it mercilessly and refused to let it grow again. Swinging her feet out over the edge of her narrow bed, she rose and silently crossed her room to the only other piece of furniture in the spartan space. She opened the top drawer, checking to see that the two smaller wash-leather purses were still there. They were, nestled underneath her spare shifts.

They represented nearly all of her remaining money. Most of it had been spent to procure this tower house out near the tsagaan, and not far from where the elemental had razed a small section of Dornoch with its fury. The acrid scent of burned wood and other things still hung in the air here. It was a constant reminder of how close she had come to simply ceasing to be.

Closing the drawer, she went to the window, her steps heavy with weariness. Looking outside into the city, filled with its beauty and strength, made Lyssia feel even more weak, even more frail and useless. It seemed since that day that she had lost all control of her life, and the fact that she seemed to be incapable of making any meaningful change in her life terrified her more than the thought of death did, though she would admit to that no sooner than the other.

"It is time to do something about that," she said to herself softly. It was time to try and wrest back the reins of her life from the usurpers that had stolen them from her. It was time to clear the rubble, and restore that which had been lost.

***

The building was a four story affair that had been vacant only a short time; the merchant that had occupied it had moved out shortly after the conflagration had consumed part of the city. Surprisingly, Lyssia had been able to find someone willing to help her find a place to live whom had not asked many questions about why she needed such a large place within Dornoch. Though it had been unsolicited, the reason was simple enough; she had healed his sister in the aftermath of the elemental attack, and saved her life.

Apparently, that was enough to overcome the stigma of being accused of having a hand in the plot to assassinate the Dynast. Of course, most of the commons did not know much in way of details, only that her family had been disgraced and cast down. It was not every day that one of the great Families, let alone a Bursar, was cast into the wilds headless on the charges of treason.

The place had been cheap enough, considering. Questions might be asked about what a dispossessed noble would want with an entire building to themselves when they ostensibly had been stripped of all land and titles and all wealth, but this fellow did not seem to care. It was a start, anyway.

The same fellow had also put word out that she was looking for people up for hire that could dig up some information for her. She was careful not to say what, though, or why. She had not worked out how she would offer the job to any prospects, should there be any; she couldn't very well just come out and say that she wanted to break into one of Bursar Adora Ki'ionte's properties to dig up dirt that might implicate the woman in the whole affair with her family. Even outlanders might run to the Royals, then, and then she would shortly be joining her mother in the great beyond.

She stepped into the main room on the lower floor. The fellow - Damon, as she recalled his name - had said that a couple had expressed some interest in her offer. She had not pried into where he had found them, nor what sort of people they were. The commons were, by and large, cut from the same cloth as far as she was concerned. A year and a half of abuse and shunning, of living in the worst possible situations, had done little to curb her attitude towards commoners. She still believed, even now, that there was something bred-in-the-bone that made her better than they were.

Sometimes it was damnably difficult to maintain that notion, though. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she cast a look into a sconce on the wall. It was reflective enough to give her a rough image of herself, and all that earned was a grimace. Pale flesh, fiery red hair bound at the nape of her neck with large, intelligent eyes a peculiar amethyst shade that seemed to glow faintly with an inner light. That was all well and good, but the rest? Instead of silk or even linen, she wore a nearly shapeless sack of a woolen dress. The cut was a little better than she had had since her expulsion from the ranks of the aristocracy, but it was still plain compared to what it should have been. At least it wasn't brown, a color she had come to truly detest. This one was deep blue, but it lacked any embroidery, frills, or lace. It was a commoners' working dress, which was just as well since it was work she was about.

At least she had boots this time.

The fae scowled at the room. It was as spartan as the room she'd made into her bedroom, sporting only a few wooden chairs and a cold fireplace. It did not indicate someone of means lived here, which was the unfortunate truth. For now, at least; perhaps some of her other investments would pay dividends and give her some income, however meager it might be.

All in all, the place felt as empty as it was. Ghostly memories of people scurrying about, busy with the work they were being paid for, thse haunted her. The townhouse was bereft of wait staff, of butlers, of any kind of staff at all.

But at least its a roof. At least it gives the appearance of not being completely penniless. Sometimes, the illusion was all that was needed. That was what statecraft often was, and it was statecraft she had been training in before all of this had come to pass. Perhaps she could wring something out of nothing, and begin the process of clawing herself out of the hole she had been dumped in.

All there was to do now, was wait.

 

[Kala]

Kala squatted quietly on the roof top opposite the building that she had been given as the meet up location.

She was shrouded in a thick black cloak, hidden away from sight and the rain with the background of the dark night behind her. She clung to herself quietly, frowning for a moment as she waited for any others that might appear for this little shindig.

The Tiefling never like being the first one to arrive to...anything.

Generally speaking she liked to see what sort of partners a job attracted before she entered in it of itself. So far she had not seen anyone else come, and she was keeping her options open. When she saw whoever else was helping...then she would decide.

It was only smart.

After her more recent experiences she was more weary than ever.

Slowly the Tiefling glanced down at her gloved hand. A frown flickered for a moment, knowing that beneath the leather was hidden a golden arm. It was a replacement, forged through the magics of an artificers from Alliria.

She had lost her real arm due to previous foolishness, and she was most determined to make sure that it never happened again. Caution now clung to her as fleas did to a rat, and this job would not break that.

 

[Malphias]

A wise woman had once told him, that freedom was the power to choose one's own chains. Malphias had been relishing his new found freedom, proudly wearing those invisible chains he had chosen like fine jewellery rather than an ever-tugging leash around his beautiful neck. He was no longer a dog to be summoned, the thread between he and the foul bitch who'd inhabited his mind for over a century had been severed, her omnipotent grip on whatever accounted as his soul, released. His thoughts, his actions, his power, his life was his own - and Malphias intended on savouring every ounce of it like the finest Oban wine...Or, more fittingly, the finest fae blood.

He could still taste the coppery tang of blood on his lips as he staggered out onto the street, though unlike the sweetness of the much sought after fae blood, human blood was always so bitter and did absolutely nothing to get him high. The high came from the pain his bite inflicted on whatever pour soul he'd seduced into sharing her bed with him for the night. In last night's case, that woman had been one Lady Rebecca Heart, and since it'd been customary that the betrothed spend the night before the wedding apart, well her bed had a vacancy with his name on it, and so he took the opportunity to ruin her for any other man by giving her the wildest night of her boring, mundane, monogamous life. It was a kindness, really.

Alas, he was rudely awoken to the sound of screams as he so often did, dodging projectiles as he fled the scene as he was now so adept at. Malphias never took women against their will, in that they never fought him. The illusion of his strapping human form, with his flawless pale skin, crystalline blue eyes and wavy, blue-black hair along with his dashing white smile and voice like rolling thunder was very rarely turned down when he so shamelessly undressed each one with his gaze. They never protested to his methods when they were screaming out for their Gods, for him in all manner of euphoria, but the next morning was always the same, when the illusion had died when sleep had rolled over him, when they saw the same beautiful form with skin the colour of spring violets and scribbled in runes. They never appreciated the ornateness of his handsome, curled horns or his elegant, prehensile tail that lashed exultantly to the song of their terror when they saw him in his true form. They never swooned over his crimson orbs they way they crumbled like sand under the gaze of ice cold hues. No, they clutched at those bite wounds as though they had not begged for them and kicked him out of their beds and called for help.

Groan. It was always fun whilst it lasted.

He could still hear the chaos that had erupted in the manor two streets back as he so casually wandered up the middle of the road, still preening himself, smoothing out the silken sleeves of his jacket and turning up his collar, sweeping back his raven hair until he was sure he was immaculate and not a strand was out of it's proper place. Malphias rubbed the sleep from his face and rolled his shoulders as he stopped in front of the address that Damon had given him. He didn't have the torpor to bother hiding himself under his blanket of aesthetic charm today - though despite every demonic feature, even with his jagged canines and clawed fingers, he was still a fucking work of art. More-so, he considered, in his true form. If whomever this woman was wanted his help, she could take it or leave it, he would find other ways to cure his oppressive tedium.

The tiefling draped himself against the wall of the building, lifting his hand to rap his knuckles coolly against the door before folding his arms back across his chest. He felt eyes on him, and his ruby gaze rose up to wander across the rooftops, settling on the figure perched there, watching.

"Hello Blue." the devil grinned, his voice a deep purr. "Come to join the party?"

 

[Lyssia D'avore]

Staying seated had not lasted long. The sidhe paced in the small room, skirts swishing as she went to and fro.

Everything she had done prior to now amounted to very little, in the grand scheme at least. There had been an interminable period of time where she had stood and ran in place, trying to achieve goals that lacked the focus and the determination required for the seemingly insurmountable task before her. In truth, there was almost no chance that she could overcome the odds that had been stacked clearly against her from the outset.

But she had to try, anyway. The options were grim; she could struggle against the unjust punishment or she could do what many of the aristocracy would likely have considered the more honorable option and simply hang herself.

That last struck too close to home. She had already tried - and failed - to do just that, but not for the reasons the other Bursars would even have considered.

"You should have stayed away. This is not your home anymore, traitor." The fae's fists closed in a white knuckled grip at the memory of that confrontation. Sadly, it had not been the first with the Bursar and likely would not be the last. Especially after tonight. Tonight would change a lot of things. Before now, she had merely stuck her toes in the pool of illegality, but this was another thing altogether else. It was not unheard of for the aristocracy to use the commons to do deeds such as she even now contemplated doing, but the hands that did the did were never theirs; that sort of filthy thing was reserved for the lowly commoners that were set the task.

After all, the Bursars were supposed to uphold the law, not skirt round its edges. Politics and court life, however, were far more dirty and dangerous than the commons would ever think them to be...and mostly because the dangers were seldom obvious.

A rap at the door made her stop her pacing and internal fretting. Now that she was not focused on her own problems, she could feel...something. Something different, although not necessarily unknown. The little redhead tilted her head to one side, giving the door a sidelong glance. She touched the little knife at her hip as though it were some kind of protective talisman, and took a deep breath.

It is time...to begin. No turning back, now. No turning back.

The girl glided across the clean-swept floor to the door, moving soundlessly. She could hear someone outside speaking to another, and shivered a little in anticipation. Opening the door, she blinked her oddly colored eyes and looked up.

And then up some more. Why do they always have to be so tall? The inhuman visage that crowned the mountain of a man was, she had to admit, a touch disconcerting. She knew a tiefling when she saw one, though; her own house had not been innocent of the Great Game that went on amongst the high and mighty, and some jobs just were too far beneath them to be done by their own hands.

"Yes?" she said to the stranger in her door, the notion that she should reach for and seize the prim, taste the sweet flow of sorcery as it filled her flesh, becoming insistent. She ignored it. Even if she held that power within her, he was so close to her that she wouldn't have time to do much with it. Judging from his appearance, he could snap her in half like a twig. "May I help you?"

She very well was not about to ask if they were here for a job or not. If they knew the address and about the job, they could broach the subject. The fewer that knew about this whole affair, the better.

 

[Kala]

Kala let out a small groan as she recognized the man, her eyes threatening to roll up into the back of her head. "Malphias."

She said the name almost like a curse.

He was familiar to her of course, and though on their lat little trip they had both tricked each other half a dozen time she had come out on top...at least in her mind. He probably would have disagreed, or made some sort of argument that had him come out on top.

That was what it was always like with their people. No one could ever stand to be on the bottom for too long.

Her tail flicked back and forth in aggravation, and she was about to open her mouth to say something snarky when the door besides her fellow Tiefling popped open. A woman stepped out, small of stature and with a look as though she had just seen a demon in the flesh.

Kala frowned for a moment, then stood to her full height and let herself drop down from the roof top. She landed with a soft thud her boots making almost no noise as she struck the cobbles. "Well someone sure as shit should help him."

She said as she walked over.

 

[Malphias]

The tiefling's cheek dimpled with a crease of amusement as he smirked at Kala's chagrin to see him, it was just a subtle pouting of his lips; a narrowing of the eyes in cool detachment and a playful tilting of the head. "Don't seem so pleased to see me.." he breathed out with a feigned wince, his hand pressing to his chest as though mortally wounded. "And we had such fun last time.." he groaned, dropping his gaze to the porch floor and shaking his head in defeat for a moment before lifting his grinning visage back to her with a wink.

It wasn't the click of the door, nor the feminine voice that answered that dragged his lingering regalement from the other tiefling. It was the sudden and succulent scent that wafted from the opened door that, the tendril of which tugging at his senses and sending them into a wild flare of voracity, a famishment that made his jaw ache and his mouth salivate.

A fae.

"Well fuck me, this is a good day." he rumbled without answering her and his neck rolled as he turned to face her, leaning a shoulder casually against the door frame as he looked down, way down, at the little fae. Fuck she smelled delightful. He dragged in a deep breath, filling his lungs with the sweet scent of that blood beneath her skin, and flashed her a charming smile, his ruby orbs sparkling with malevolence.

"Don't listen to her. She loves me really.." he quipped, his hand hiding his mouth from Kala as he spoke, his head twitching to gesture to the approaching tiefling. His dark, clawed fingertips drummed against his forearms as he folded them across his chest, studying the tiny woman with a charmed curiosity, his lips stained with a contemplative smile..

"Well, pretty thing. You called. Seems we answered.." he quirked a groomed brow with a glance to Kala. "Are you going to invite us in?" he asked, his voice tumbling from his lips like warm honey.

 

[Lyssia D'avore]

She sniffed delicately at the taller of the two of them, her chin rising just a trifle. Although she was normally decent at keeping her true emotions veiled, in this particular instant she failed rather miserably; she scowled at the one. Pretty thing? The absolute nerve of this common thug! "Yes, come inside," she said in a flat voice. This was not starting off as smoothly as she had imagined it in her head. "The only help I can see that he needs is to mind his tongue," she added.

How had Mother dealt with such people? Well, at least any uneasiness at the fearsome appearance had been quelled by the beginnings of anger. She had to remind herself to keep that legendary temper in check, though.

"You can address me as Lady D'Avore if you wish; I am not a 'pretty thing'," she added as she turned to lead them inside. There might have been just a wee touch of acid on the last statement, and if he took offense, well, she did not care. It did not help his case that she did not recognize his language for what it was: flirtatious. She was, after all, an unspoiled flower. She was only thirty three, after all.

Once inside, she indicated the simple chairs in the main room. There was not much else here; a table in one corner, a door leading to a kitchen that she never used (she did not require food, after all). Right now, it might have been nice to offer refreshments for her guests, but she had no staff and she absolutely was not going to lower herself to cooking food for others with her own two hands.

Once they had decided whether they would settle themselves or stand, she turned to them with her hand clasped in front of her, resting just below the gentle swell of her chest. "Well then, how shall I call the pair of you? You seem to know one another." A blessing or a curse, that.

 

[Kala]

Kala looked at Malphias for a moment, a frown touching her lips.

From the way he was practically drooling over her one would have thought he had been trapped inside of a monastery for the last few months. Kala did not have Malphias'...nose?...Sense of these things. She did not immediately pin-point Lyssia as one of the Fae.

She did not often met their kind, and probably for good reason. Her hand gently rested on her hip as she watched what she assumed to be some sort of extraordinarily pretty halfling rebuke Malphias' obvious advances.

"Can't help yourself, can you?" Kala asked with a click of her tongue, shaking her head as she followed Lyssia into the building.

The inside was not the most grand she had ever seen, but she hadn't really expected that. Her gaze flickered over everything once, assessing value and paths of escape, then slowly she wandered behind one of the seats that had been indicated.

Her hand floated over the back of the seat. "Kala."

She said by way of introduction.

The Tiefling had never kept her name a secret. What was the point of being an infamous thief if you couldn't get your name out there after all.

 

[Malphias]

Crimson eyes flared with surprise at the tiny woman's reprimand, his brows rising and his cheeks dimpling with a grin, that chiselled face of his suffused with a coy and menacing light. "Oh, my tongue has a mind of it's own, there is no controlling it." he simpered salaciously. He straightened himself as she introduced herself, not just a fae, but a Lady fae. He'd been about to speak but the venom coating her words caused another quiet chuckle to work it's way passed his lips, and Kala's own little chide drew his attention.

"What?" he asked with a husky laugh. "Oh don't be so fucking uptight." he snored, and followed the pair inside.

A brief, investigative gaze drifted over the sparse room before settling once more on the Lady of the house. He opted to stand, the chairs not looking nearly up to his high standard of comfort, and he did enjoy being the tallest figure in the room. After Kala's introduction, Malphias swiftly followed suit, his hand placed on his chest as he bowed low, his other arm flourishing theatrically. "Malphias. At your service, Lady Red." he rumbled and stood up straight again, sweeping the dark tresses that had flopped petulantly across his brow back into place before giving his collar a tug to straighten it.

His shoulders rolled. "Well, best be getting on with it.My time is a precious thing." he prompted with a dip of his chin, his gaze narrowing with a smile as he studied the woman. He pulled his arms behind his back, his fingers curling around his wrist to stop himself from fidgeting and his chest rose and fell in a sigh, another subtle breath of the magical taint on the air. He bit back the craving, and cleared his throat before falling to silence, a brow quirking expectantly.

 

[Lyssia D'avore]

Don't lose your temper, don't lose your temper, don't lose your temper...

Lyssia repeated the litany in her head over and over. She had to have expected that she was not going to get the proper respect. After all, none of the rest of the city really gave her any respect, either. The stain of the crimes her family had supposedly committed were born on her name as well, and too many saw her as just as culpable as the rest of her family had been.

Still, the familiarity that the one in particular spoke to her with... The Sidhe ground her teeth, but let it go. It was a lot more difficult than it should have been. She cast a sidelong look at Kala, and managed to hide the surprise at recognizing the name. A thief was definitely something that would come in handy for a task like this.

Schooling her face to stillness, she regarded one, and then the other. "As is mine," she said simply. "So lets not waste it with idle talk."

This was the part she had been unsure of. She had never used people in this capacity before, and the waters were rather uncharted. Still, she knew what she needed, and she knew what she needed out of them. "I need to get into the estate of one Adora Ki'ionte. She is a Bursar here in Dornoch. The trouble is that I do not have any of the skills to actually gain ingress to the residence." She looked to them. "That is where you come in. I need to get to wherever they keep their records, or the Bursar's office. Or both. And I need to do it without anyone seeing me."

She did not add that if anyone did, they could not be allowed to live to tell of it. This was the line she was about to cross, and it gave her gooseflesh to think of it. Breaking the law in Erdiniin was not typically advisable, and the penalties for it could be...harsh.

But what do I stand to lose? They have already taken most everything from me, anyway. The expression on her face grew grimly determined. "You will be compensated, of course."

 

[Kala]

"Oh good I was worried we were doing this for free." Kala said sarcastically.

She didn't know the little Fae, nor did she really care to, but she did enjoy breaking into the home of Rich people. There was always something thrilling about thieving, that was half the reason that she did it in the first place.

Money was always nice, but over the years she had collected more than enough of it.

When her and Kek had robbed Oban of it's crown jewels they had stashed away so much gold that she could have made a throne of it. Now she worked for the fun, the glory. It was always amusing to watch the reaction that cascaded out into the street after a job. "Do you need to go?"

She asked for clarification.

"Or can we just take what you need?" If Lyssia didn't have any 'skills', then it would make the job harder.

Though not impossible.

 

[Malphias]

Oh he could feel that pugnacity simmering under her skin, and how he enjoyed scraping at the surface. He watched her with that corruptive, perpetual grin as she spoke, a slender brow arching at her confidence despite being in a room alone with two of his kind. She had fire in her veins, a particularly sweet, valuable fire, and Malphias was already enraptured.

"Of course she needs to come." he answered Kala without drawing his eyes from the little fae, before she could answer herself. "I'm sure she wouldn't want us having all of the fun on our own. She can't wait to get her hands dirty. Can you little-- My Lady?.." he flashed his canines in a roguish smile, his heels twisting as he turned to start a slow, deliberate pace as he pondered. As though he hadn't decided to take the job the moment he'd known what she was.

"My blue friend and I would be more than happy to assist you, for the right fee." he glanced between the two, his heels swivelling in the opposite direction, arms still behind his back as he carried himself, as always, with confident regality.

"So what, pray tell, is on the table for us exactly?.." he purred.

 

[Lyssia D'avore]

A forced reassessment. She had never considered this work to be fun, only necessary. But these two...they were surely cut from a different cloth than she was. It wasn't just class, either; it was a thing of substance. They were creatures of action and she?

What am I?

She ignored the sarcasm. Mostly. "If you want to do it for free, I won't stop you," she said in a level voice. "But I thought coin would suffice. Gold is useful, yes?" She honestly did not have much coin, but this little venture could not possibly cost that much.

"And to answer your question...I know what I am looking for, and it would be difficult-" ...read as I am not going to... "-explain it to you. I might find more than I am looking for, or less, or something entirely different. I am not after materiel; I am after information." Information I can use to blackmail the Bursar or, preferably, that can lead to some way to undermine House Ki'ionte. There was a fierce determination in the little fae, and it burned bright. Determination to bring about vengeance against the ones that had brought her low.

Unfortunately - for her, and for them - she had never done anything remotely like this. Fanciful, romantic tales of thieves sneaking into estates to steal coin and crown abounded in the fictional libraries of the elite and low alike, and she had imagined this to be some grand adventure. Of course, she was not excited to be about it; the risk of punishment from the Royals was a serious thing to consider.

But she never considered that there was also danger in the act.

Her face was a mask hiding everything going on beneath the surface - she thought, at least - as she stood there, hands laced beneath her bosom. She looked up to each of them in turn.

 

[Kala]

Kala did not seem entirely enthused at the idea of having to carry a small person around with them into an infiltration mission, but if that was the job then that was the job.

Her eyes rolled at Malphias once more, though this time she didn't say anything. "Alright then."

A breath filled her lungs, and she reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose with her gloved hand. After a moment of thought she took a step around the back of the chair and plopped herself down. A hand came up and ran through her hair.

"Okay." She said. "What do you know about this estate?"

Kala asked. "Layout? Guards? Will anyone else come to...assist if an alarm bell is rung?"

The Tiefling was not entirely sure if Dornoch had a City Watch or the like.

 

[Malphias]

That silver tongue of his rolled over his upper lip as his grin grew and a husky chortle worked its way from his throat at the mention of gold. He bobbed his head and quirked a brow in mute response to it's sufficiency, of course it was sufficient, and yet.. "How very original of you." he breathed out as though succumbing to the ennui of it all. Oh gold bought him the finer things in life which he so obviously enjoyed, but it was simple, boring.

"If we are to put our precious freedom or lives at stake, Lady Fae, it depends on how much worth you believe us to hold in ourselves. How much gold exactly?" he snorted, unwilling to further discuss the job until he knew that payment could and would be made. He was still pacing in slow, fluid movements, casting his tall shadow over the little fae quite purposefully, his ruby pools settling on her as his lips twisted in amusement.

"I'd be quite willing to accept a less mundane method of payment - of less cost to you and more, palatable restitution? to me." his dark brows rose. "Your blood, Lady Fae. Three vials, and my services are yours." he grinned and turned on his heels to look down at her. "Three vials and my lips are sealed." he added in a honeyed tone, the threat unsubtle.

"A small price, and you can use me til your little hearts content..." he winked, an invisible claw idly scratching at the mask she wore.

 

[Lyssia D'avore]

She was about to respond to Kala when Malphias rudely talked right over her. Truth to tell, the violet skinned beast seemed to nettle her a lot more than he should have, and she could not put a finger on why, precisely. Something in his mannerisms, in his way with words.

His request, though, was shocking. Whatever she had been about to say died on her lips, and the faint, nagging sense of unease that had been lying so close to the surface chose that moment to peek its head up and send a chill down her spine. My....blood? For a long moment she stood there with her mouth hanging open and any pretense at trying to veil her thoughts simply having gone out the window. For a moment, she was as easy to read as a book.

Fear, disgust, unease lay right there on the surface, along with a deep and abiding anger. The source of all these things were unclear, and after that brief moment, that brief look into her soul, she slammed the proverbial door shut in her face, replacing genuine emotion with a frigid mask that betrayed absolutely nothing.

My blood. What could he possibly desire that for? Learning her true name would be more valuable than that, but in the blood of the sidhe, in that of any fae, there was power. She did not like to think what he could do with such power, nor what damage could be wrought to the precious balance of the world with it.

"Crowns," she said suddenly, flatly. "Gold crowns, fifteen to each of you, and of the heaviest weight." Flat, cold. The temperature of the room seemed to have dropped a degree or two, and it may or may not have been perception. "If I find what I am looking for, perhaps more. A princely sum for a little breaking-and-entering and picking some locks. Being a look out, and making sure I don't do anything stupid." She knew she was no thief, and knew she could cause problems. That was why the price; if she could simply send them to steal something, well, she would have given them silver instead.

She regarded Malphias with hooded eyes. Well, they were meant to be; in them was the inferno of a raging volcano. a pyre of rage barely restrained. It could have been real or feigned, or simple fancy. "You find what I need to bring that bitch down, and we'll...talk," she said. Clever use of words, because talking was not saying that she would agree to any of his foolish demands for her blood. But there was always a chance, and perhaps his desire for it would lead him on even knowing her word play.

She was no thief, but she was - had been - a member of the courts. She could speak out the side of her mouth and, if she lacked experience, then the commons seldom had any reason to employ half truths, quarter truths, and clever evasions.

"If that is acceptable, we can get on to Kala's question." That said with a tone of voice that clearly showed none of the uneasiness that Malphias had managed to unmask, if but for a moment, mere moments before.

 

[Kala]

Ah. It all made sense now. She had thought the woman was some sort of halfling, perhaps a thing twisted by magic, but the moment Malphias made his demand things were made more than clear. A rueful smile touched her lips.

Kala rubbed her face. "Bloody fucking addict."

The tiefling murmured into her palm for a few moments as the two bandied back and forth over payment. Her hand pinched at the bridge of her nose, listening to the offer of fifteen crowns for both of them.

It was a tidy some, not enough to make someone rich for life, but enough to see their life bettered. For a single nights work and some lockpicking it was almost too much, but Kala wouldn't complain. Especially because she planned to take more.

What was the point of wandering into a rich mans estate if you weren't going to leave with some of his things?

Especially if they went into his office.

"Right." Kala said as she drew her palm away from her face. "That sounds a good price. Now...Layout?"

She was eager to get this job done with, if only so she didn't have to watch practically drool over this poor woman.

 

[Malphias]

Ah, that shock and disgust. The fear. Each a delight. His grin widened, and sharpened canines pinched at that lower lip to suppress a chuckle. He soaked in each of those little emotions, his crimson gaze fixed upon each idiosyncrasy, appreciating the subtle struggle quite visible on her pretty face.

He let the dry chuckle work it's way free and turned to continue his pacing as the woman persisted with the details of her preferred payment method, his shoulders rolling and his focus remaining solely on her. It was certainly a tidy sum for what she was asking, but he'd pay three times that amount for what he asked instead. His lips pouted and twisted as she made her little deal. Oh he'd known enough fae to know of their ways with deals and debts, but he simply laughed.

"Yes we will." he agreed, and waved a hand nonchalantly for her to go on with answering Kala's question.

"But do go on.. If Blue's bedroom antics are anything like the way she conducts business, then I pity her partners.." he snorted. "Don't be in such a rush to get it over with, love. Relax, enjoy yourself, take a bite." he turned to shoot the tiefling a coy smirk and laced his fingers together behind his neck.

 

[Lyssia D'avore]

She did not know what he meant by taking a bite, and she did not ask. Instead, she settled herself into the chair, which was sized, blessedly, for her. It was a child's seat by comparison, at least, to the ones they had been offered.

The sense of potential filled the room, the air taking on the scent of burned tin. Lyssia had reached within the well of her soul, seizing the prim - source of all magic, chaotic and wild and untamed. For a brief instant her eyes clouded, ecstasy hammering through her. The taste of that source was sweet as ice wine, intoxicating in a way one among them might understand.

The feeling passed.

Lyssia gestured with one hand, and threads of magic spun themselves out. A wavering silhouette of a manner took shape, and in moments it firmed into something that looked real enough to touch. "Bursar Ki'ionte's manor," she said simply. "The Lady is not currently in the city; she is out touring her holdings in the countryside. Regardless, there are guards present. She has her own House guards, as well as Royals from the city at her disposal."

She indicated the places where the guards could be found on the exterior; the main gate of the cramped estate (for all such places in Dornoch were cramped and tight; the city had little room to spare for her nobility and the Dynast was not one to permit clearing vast estates in the city proper for her Bursars); the main entrance to the manor itself, and of course within. She could not indicate where they would be found once they were actually in the manor house properly, of course.

"We....the Bursar's do not live in the city year round," she said in a smooth voice, ignoring the hitch in her own speech at the start. "Their holdings in the countryside are the primary residences." She was banking on the fact that these residences within the city were not would allow for some carelessness on the part of her enemies. She was banking on that, and the fact that the House that had been their enemy was no more.

A gamble, but it was all she had without going down a truly dark path.

"Bursar Adora's study is on the fifth floor. I know the layout of the place loosely, having been a visitor there a few times. There may also be...unofficial parts of the manor that are not accessible normally." A polite way of saying hidden passages and rooms. All of the noble families had skeletons in their closet, some more notably dark than others. "As to numbers, I do not know how many guards there are on site. Probably as many as a dozen." She looked to the other two to see if they were following.

 

[Kala]

"My bedroom antics are as lasting as your cravings, I assure you." Kala rebuked softly, waving a dismissive hand towards Malphias.

It was a hard task not to hate the man, though she had to admit something. There was a certain sort of...homeliness about working with one of her own kind. Describing it would have been difficult to anyone else, but it was a commonality she understood. "Shame you'll never find out."

Kala offered him a smirk, then changed her attention back to the Fae.

The description was not exactly what she hoped for, but she listened carefully and made sure to map out what little information she had in her mind. It was something she had always been good at, something she recounted in her head.

"There are servants, yes?" She asked. "Night maids, those of the like?"

That would be a neat and tidy way in.

 

[Malphias]

Malphias dragged in a sharp gasp at Kala's hurtful comments, a grimace of pain on his chiselled features as he pressed a hand to his chest as though he'd been mortally wounded. "You cut me deep, Blue." he hissed and returned the tiefling's smirk before Lyssia's magic yanked his attention back to her.

Oh now she was teasing. He could just about taste that magic in the air, feel it undulating across his bones and tingling at his spine. His tail gave an approving lash and he did nothing to suppress his shudder as he watched the little display with utter enthralment. "Very nice." he commented in a rumbled groan, his gaze narrowing as he approached the little manor as she explained, unable to resist the urge to reach out and touch it.

His eyes rose, catching that hitch in her tone and his lips curled as he examined the building. "Alright." he answered coolly, unfazed by the matter of guards. "So what information is it that you're looking for?" he asked, his brow furrowing slightly as his eyes wandered back to the little fae.

"You know, if there is a person with the information you seek, it might be easier to just..Hand them over to me, and let me take a look.." his brow quirked, and he examined his claws with a smug grin to himself.

 

[Lyssia D'avore]

Talk of bedroom antics went clean over her head. They were unimportant to the task at hand, in any case. She did not necessarily have limited time, but she certainly did not want to wait any longer than she already had to gather information. There would come a time when too much time had passed, and no amount of proof would do her any good.

"Unlikely while the residence is unoccupied," she answered Kala. "But possible. The place is often empty, though always at least lightly guarded."

She maintained the illusion for little more reason than the sweetness of the prim it forced her to hold. Malphias might have his own addictions, but then she did as well. Magic was intoxicating, after all, and only the strong willed could resist drinking it all. Folding her hands in her lap, she cast a darker look towards the silver-tongued Malphias.

"Information that I can use to blackmail the Bursar. Anything of a compromising nature, but especially in relation to the events of a year ago. The fall of House d'Avore," she said in a silken tone. Every word true, but not a single word really detailing the what. She had no intention of blackmailing Adora. She had every intention of bringing the House down, and doing so by any means she could lay hands to.

"Well, if you really mean that..." she began, and for the first time she smiled. It was not a nice smile, and there was something decidedly dark in her eyes. "You could always capture Bursar Ki'ionte herself. I am sure she has a wealth of information I can use." Of course, if he actually thought that was a wise idea, he was a fool. Kidnapping, torturing, and then murdering a Bursar of Erdiniin was certainly a thing that was possible, but it was also signing a death warrant. The deed could not be hidden - it would be akin to killing a ruling monarch. "For that, I would pay three vials of my blood," she said. It was difficult to hide the disgust in her tone, though.

 

[Kala]

Kala looked over towards Malphias for a moment, already knowing that the man would practically jump at the chance to get some of the Faerie's blood. "She's not around."

The Tiefling reminded her Kin before he could suggest that they simply did that.

There was no doubt in her mind that given time they could track down this Ki'ionte, but Kala had no intention of remaining in this city for that long. She'd already gotten a few odd looks when she was here, and it made her feel uneasy.

A sigh escaped her.

"Let's pluck the knowledge she seeks." A gesture of her hand. "Then perhaps you can hunt the Bursar herself, yes?"

Kala suggested, formulating a plan within her head. If there were now Servants, then they would have to go over the walls and be quick about it. The more guards they could avoid the better, but that would be easy enough with Malphias' magic.

They would have to be careful, but it would be easy enough.

"There will be a safe." Kala stated, knowing how these nobles worked. "That is likely what we'll have to break into."

An easy enough task.

 

[Malphias]

His grin grew razor sharp. At what the fae had said, at the darkness in her smile, clear as crystal. He was of course absolutely determined to get his three vials of blood regardless, one way or another, he almost always got what he wanted. He stared at the little fae for a moment longer, considering Kala's words and letting that pregnant silence linger before nodding firmly.

"Alright." he agreed, running his fingers back through his sleek hair and lacing his fingers together at the back of his neck as he took up his usual pacing.

"You can handle the locks, Blue.. I'll throw a little illusion magic here and there, shouldn't be a problem." his lips pursed and he shrugged nonchalantly. "I suppose we'll need to be in and out without causing any fuss." he snored.

 

[Lyssia D'avore]

She said nothing about the idea of a safe as a place for keeping documents that might be incriminating. She honestly had no idea what she expected to find a year after the fact, especially of a nature that would be damning. But if there were ever to be anything to be found...it would be found within the estates of her enemy.

"That will work," she said, having no idea whatsoever how they would go about the work they were being paid to perform. Thieves had their own talents, and she had hers. "Well. I need to go and change into something more suitable to the task," she said. As if she knew what that would be, but she knew that a dress was certainly not going to help things at all. "We will leave once I am ready," she added.

No time to waste. An hour or a day or a week would make little difference in what she found, but what she did not want was the Bursar to return before she'd had a chance to poke through her belongings.

***

The Ariun Khana stood tall behind them, a darker backdrop to a washed out sky upon which glittered thousands of stars. It was not yet the deepest part of the night, and in the areas further out from the center of Dornoch, the night life yet thrived. Here, though, the only activity that continued were the parties for the wealthy courtiers; the Bursars and lesser Ladies and their Lords, the exceptionally wealthy merchants. Here and there, among the grandiose manors that despite the wealth of their owners yet remained crowded, light pierced into the sky, people dressed in extravagance mingling under the stars or indoors.

Here, though, was different. The city residence of the Bursar Ki'ionte was, by and large, dark, the windows shuttered and the gates shut. Lamps flickered here and there about the grounds, casting dull light on garden paths and shimmering, black pools. Here and there, a guard walked, sword-and-bow ready for the slightest trouble. They were not fools, these ones; well trained, vigilant and observant.

Lyssia stood in the alleyway between the cramped garden that surrounded the manor, the access way for servants and deliveries so as to not bother the actual occupants of the great manors when they were home. She wore a loose blouse and trousers that only just fit. Her only nod to the danger involved in this was a knife at her hip, but she wore it awkwardly, as though unaccustomed to it.

Which was true.

She peered through the gate. There was a fifty yard band roudn the outside of the manor itself given to a garden that encompased all but the front drive. She had seen at least three men with chain and leather armor, armed with sword and bow, since she had been watching. On this side of the building, there was a door and four windows with delicate wrought iron grillwork set across them. She looked for the pair of tieflings in the darkness that she could only just barely see in.