Private Tales Let's Keep a Secret

[Akiza Sonshal]

Akiza invited the man into her home and shut the door. A very modest home, little more than single room, recently vacated by a career soldier who had found a wife and, naturally then, needed larger accommodations. Akiza herself would've loved larger accommodations, but for her present purposes as well as the foreseeable future, this would do.

"A pain getting in through the gate today," said the man. "What's the cause for the heightened vigilance?"

"There was a murder."

The man—a Vestian, quite accustomed to that—laughed a little and said, "Just one?"

"It's unusual here."

"I suppose so."

"And, worse, it was a Regulator."

"Who did the murder?"

Akiza snorted. Alright, maybe he did have a sense of humor, even if unintentional. "No. Who was murdered."

"Ah."

The man's name was Poelan Ambustus, and how he and Akiza had come to meet—and establish their present arrangement—was strange indeed. Akiza had recently gone afield with Regulator Boesarius Terral, off to Vestia, Gild's belligerent eastern neighbors. Vestia proved a most acceptable hunting ground for her to feed, as Akiza found Vestian culture to be repugnant. After her trip with Boesarius she went by herself. She happened upon Poelan, a small-time lone merchant traveling the road by night. She descended on him, fed, and yet when she made to leave...he begged her not to go.

Turned out Poelan actually enjoyed having his blood drained—specifically by female vampires. Some manner of kink for him. Where for his fellow countrymen it was the fashion to keep women as property and thereby lord over them, Poelan enjoyed being dominated, taken and thrust under the heel by the very thing his culture asserted he should be master of. Akiza didn't quite know what to make of that, funnily enough.

Nonetheless, they came to a mutually beneficial arrangement: these periodic visitations. Both of them were inclined to keep one another's secret. For Akiza, having the convenience of Poelan was too good to pass up. And it neatly satisfied Boesarius's terms that she never feed on a Gildan citizen. Her sense of practicality rejoiced.

Now they each sat on the sole bed of Akiza's home, the small radiance of the lantern the only light.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes," Poelan said, his breathless voice full of anticipation.

And as Akiza slowly bit into his neck, she could feel the delightful tensing of his body. Then came the euphoric warmth of his blood, and the sinful bliss of which mortalkind could never know.

Aylin Denizal

 

[Assistant Nemeska Elissal]

Nemeska Elissal knocked on Akiza's door. Little did she know that moments prior Poelan Ambustus had sheepishly departed from Akiza's dwelling, but even if she'd seen it herself she wouldn't have paid it any mind—except maybe to tease the Devils' resident vampire about her poor choice in men ("By the Saints, dear, has death robbed you of dignity too?"). No, she was here for a different reason.

Akiza opened the door, and afternoon light from the outside spilled in through the portal. "Nemeska."

"My dear Akiza," she said, smiling with her perennially effortless cordiality. "I assume you've heard the news?"

"How could I not?"

Good. She was already informed. Spared Nemeska the trouble, and she could get straight to the point. In cases like this, often was it the fashion of the Sanctum to call upon certain well-known Penitents, rather than actual Regulators, to deliver the forthcoming message and request to other Penitents. The Church deemed it a gentler touch. "Some dreadful business, that. Yet that is why I have come. You see, questioning has begun, and as the murder had something to do with magic..."

Ever so slightly Nemeska's smile stretched under strain. Vexing! Truly vexing, not just this "dreadful" business of murder (sloppily done, oh must have been a rube) but rather the business of Gild, her home, as a whole. But patience, Nemeska, patience.

Akiza, oh sharp little creature wasn't she, happened to fill the second of silence with the correct answer, "...then it had something to do with me."

"Wonderful, you've deciphered my meaning! Now doubtless you'd nothing to do with this"—and if she actually did, oh by Regel, Nemeska would've expected better form from a vampire!—"so really it ought be little more than a rote chat with our good friend Boesarius. Then this mess can be swiftly swept behind us."

If fortune unlooked-for could be theirs, why, the real murderer would be caught even before they arrived at the Sanctum. Matters such as these were a distraction, anyway. Interruptions of the more important work her father, the Vaiz Onder Elissal, was planning for his Devils.

Aylin Denizal

 

[Aylin Denizal]

"The Closet -- is it being used?"

"All yours, honey."

The bedraggled young woman tossed a copper coin on the bar and headed to the tiny room at the end of the hall. It was the cheapest of the establishment's rooms for good reason: It was barely big enough for two people to stand up in. But an hour of solitude and safety was worth the expense, even if solitude wasn't normally why people rented rooms here.

She shut the room's ramshackle door, lit a candle, and felt around the far wall. It was just a wood plank that was slightly off from the rest of the panelling; something anyone could miss among the rest of the building's cheap construction. Finally her finger brushed against it. She pulled the hidden door open and crawled through to the secret passageway on the other side. Old and forgotten, the only others who still used these strange corridors built between two layers of wall were the spiders. At least in here the smells of living bodies and cleansing smudges were buried beneath old dust.

Aylin knelt on a mat before a small altar that she'd set up at an intersection between two of the narrow passages. She lit a second candle sitting on the altar with the first while repeating the sing-song cadence of words that her mother used to say when she held similar ceremonies.

"Eh-noy-hee, Sah-na-to-vah, Sah-ul-hee..." Aylin didn't know what the words meant, nor if she was even saying them right, but it didn't matter to her.

Once the candles were lit, she placed a scrimshaw figurine between them. It had also once been her mother's, and one of the few items Aylin had managed to hide from father. It had an animalistic quality to it, though it seemed to be a combination of animal features on a vaguely humanoid shape. She couldn't remember what mother had called it, or what it was supposed to represent. She only knew that all of this made her feel that connection again, and that her mother had made her swear never to tell anyone else about it.

The straw mat made a soft crackling noise as she shifted her weight from one knee to another uncomfortably.

"Hello, mama. I hope you are well," she spoke into the flickering light around her. "I'm doing alright. Got some money now. I've been working in -"

She startled as a frantic banging started on the door of the Closet. At first Aylin ignored it in hopes that they'd go away, until she heard:

"Aylin? Aylin, please! I need to talk to you," a familiar voice pleaded distantly. Well, there goes a day's wages for nothing. Aylin sighed, crawled back out into the room with one of the candles for light and slid the secret door back in place.

The woman on the other side of the real door was taller and bigger-boned than Aylin and usually quite a bit more cheerful. Today she had a haunted look as if an army of Praetors was after her. Aylin noticed that she almost seemed to have a strange, dark halo around her.t

"What's going on Caelia? You look terrible."

Caelia looked around nervously before trying to pull Aylin back into the room. Aylin firmly stood her ground, silently demanding an explanation.

"Please, something's happened and I... I can't trust anyone else."

Aylin didn't like the idea of being stuck in a tiny room with anyone, even her friend, but she reluctantly conceded.

"I killed a Regulator," she whispered. Even in the dim candlelight, Aylin could see that... not quite light, not quite shadow around Caelia. Something that was neither.

"How, did you strangle him a little too hard during playtime?" she asked sarcastically. She couldn't believe Caelia could hurt an ant, much less a Regulator. Still, there was something strange about her that Aylin couldn't quite place.

"He wasn't a client! Please, I need a place to hide. If they catch me... well, you know what will happen!"

Aylin still gave her an incredulous look. "Why can't you just lay low here? It's not like any of the clients are going to rat on you. There'd be some serious questions from the holy rollers as to what they were doing in a 'den of sin and debauchery."

"Because I think some of the girls saw me. Some that would benefit from me disappearing, especially if there was money involved. What if they put out a bounty?!" Caelia's face crumpled into tears.

Aylin sighed. "All right, look. I know a place. It's not as nice as your place here, and you might have to drive off a scumbag or two, but nobody will look for you there."

Caelia nodded and managed to pull herself together with a sniff. "Thank you, Aylin."

"Don't thank me yet. It's by the Widower's Boulevard." That was a fair distance through the city. One of the outer districts, one of the few of the Church's blind spots but with a significant area of guard activity between.

Aylin stepped out of the room and snuffed the candle. Caelia followed behind, wiping away her tears and trying to look dignified.

"That's fine. Just give me a short while to pack." She glanced over at Aylin's impatient expression. "What? A girl's got to have some comforts... don't we?" she joked, trying very hard to smile despite the fearful quavering of her voice.

"Just behave yourself," Aylin retorted and rolled her eyes.

"The boys say I always do," Caelia called back.

"Yeah, except when you off someone," Aylin muttered to herself once she was out of sight.

Akiza Sonshal Assistant Nemeska Elissal

 

[Akiza Sonshal]

Simple procedure, as Nemeska said. And not precisely one stamped with urgency, for the summoned Penitents were not charged with anything, nor were they—strictly speaking—obligated to assent to the Sanctum's request, not even the Second Penitents. To Akiza it was hardly a bother, and she might even have a little fun of it, seeing how much or how far she could toy with Boesarius.

Nemeska had a few other Penitents to summon, and Akiza went with her on this errand. Company was company.

"I see you've decided to Gildanize your family name. Excellent," said Nemeska as they passed by the grand structure of the Great Bath.

"It's not my true family name."

"Details, details, my dear. All the better for you to become part of our big Gildan family." Nemeska sighed. "Some rubes, like that Instructor Garren Pontus, ugh, they simply refuse to do so. I couldn't care less if he's a Praetor, I am more Gildan than he will ever be, that mud tart."

A sly smile crossed Akiza's features. "Sounds like you fancy him."

"Fancy him? Fancy him? My dear Akiza, spare me your cruel teasing! Have you seen him? Well, have you? The top of his head is as barren as Amol-Kalit. Men bereft of hair in that fashion are men bereft of manhood, I say. Revolting." Nemeska laid a "friendly" hand on Akiza's arm. "Perhaps you would like to become more acquainted with the esteemed Instructor?"

"Tell him I don't bite."

Nemeska snickered, then tittered, and then finally the fullness of her stifled laugh came out as they continued.

Aylin Denizal

 

[Assistant Nemeska Elissal]

One last Penitent to go, and then they could go and pay a visit to the lovely Boesarius. Oh but of course Nemeska had been called to answer a few questions herself, but truly, even if she hadn't, she might well go simply to see him—offer him a little company, mayhap? She knew he detested being saddled with a duty that didn't involve the hunt. She was well aware of Boesarius's delightfully frustrating inclination to dislike her, yes, but now that they were on the same team surely he wouldn't be too adverse to a little kindled warmth between them?

"Aylin Denizal," Nemeska said, answering Akiza's inquiry of the last Penitent.

"Hm."

"Friend of yours, mayhap?"

"Me? No. I'm not good at making friends."

"My dear Akiza, you're charming. But it must be for a lack of trying, no? What with your frightfully red eyes, taciturn nature, and standoffish character, who could resist?"

"Next festival, I'm making a fool of myself. That's a good way to make friends, I hear."

"Bold plan."

Akiza smirked. "Bad advice adds some spice to life."

They arrived at the Denizal home in short order. But as luck would have it Aylin wasn't home. Akiza shrugged and was ready to simply head to the Sanctum, but Nemeska, with true Elissal earnestness, suggested they at least make an effort at asking of her whereabouts. A neighborhood ogre, sitting across the lane outside his own home, said that he had seen Aylin leave some time ago, he pointed in a direction, but to where exactly she was going he knew nothing.

Off they went, then, to see if word of mouth could lead them to the last Penitent on Nemeska's list.

Aylin Denizal

 

[Aylin Denizal]

The ogre's directions led them into a neighborhood of apartments interspersed with small shops and a central square for weekly markets and gatherings. There were currently only two people in the square: a single merchant and a street dancer playing a tambourine.

"Never heard of him... oh, it's a she, you said? Nope, never heard of her neither," said a shifty-eyed peddler hawking cheap copper jewelry from a roadside cart.

"I might have seen who you're looking for.... I can't quite remember. But for a kind stranger, I will try," said the dancer without missing a step of her graceful routine. She tried to emphasize her point by looking down at the empty tin cup near her and smiling.

If either of the church agents chooses to give the dancer some money: She halts her dance to face them.

"I thank you for your charity. I do remember now... I saw her earlier today going to the whor-" she stops herself, realizing it is probably not the best idea to call some things what they are in the face of certain law-abiding citizens. "-the market of fine perfumes and incense." She points the way up one of the straight avenues and gives basic directions.

One particular fair-haired man approached the two women, giving them a gildan salute in greeting. By his dress, he looked like he was probably a Beyar.

"Pardon me, but did I hear you asking after Aylin Denizal?"

Akiza Sonshal Assistant Nemeska Elissal

 

[Akiza Sonshal]

In a quieter square of Gild did their search bear some fruit.

Though it would have been for nothing if not for Akiza. The peddler knew nothing, and made no pretense at anything suggesting otherwise—he simply did not know Aylin. Fair enough. Then came the dancer, who did suggest that she might know something. The manner of her suggestion left Nemeska disgusted, and in a huff and with a flick of her hand she was ready to spin on her heel and walk away. Akiza, the more practically-minded of the two of them, had no problem depositing a few silver sikke into the dancer's cup.

The market of fine perfumes and incense. Now they had a better idea of where to go.

"See," Akiza said to Nemeska. "Was that so hard?"

"The nerve!" Nemeska said, still quite annoyed. "As if Zekat isn't enough for those of her ilk."

Aylin Denizal

 

[Assistant Nemeska Elissal]

Before Nemeska and Akiza could take a step in earnest in further pursuit of Aylin, why, a far more helpful fellow—unlike that scrounging dancer beating that poor tambourine to death—came right up to them. How pristine! And though the name of Elissal, despite her father being the Vaiz Onder of the Church, was not yet made into a Beyar Clan, Nemeska saw immediately that the man before them surely was such a one.

Nemeska pressed her hand to her heart and bowed her head deeply in return to the man. Akiza, still a bit unaccustomed to the typical Gildan greeting, did the same after a little delay.

"Salt and silver, friend!" Nemeska said to the Beyar. "Why, that would be so. We are asking after Aylin Denizal. Might you have seen her?"



Aylin Denizal

 

[Aylin Denizal]

"Salt and silver!" He returned the greeting warmly, but frowned and shook his head at Nemeska's question. "Alas, I wish I had. I may well be on the same search as yourselves.

"She is my betrothed. We were to be married two weeks ago, but she disappeared before our wedding! I have been by her house on multiple occasions and even left her a note, but it looks almost abandoned. Neither her father nor our friends have seen or heard from her. I'm worried something may have happened to her! I've even asked the district guards to keep an eye out, but to no avail thus far."

The young man appeared genuinely distraught -- or at least troubled.

Akiza Sonshal Assistant Nemeska Elissal

 

[Akiza Sonshal]

A wordless communication went on, quick and then gone, between Akiza and Nemeska at this news.

Now Akiza thought the man's news to be merely odd. Oh, perhaps the ogre and the dancer were both independently mistaken. It wasn't impossible. But when Akiza met eyes with Nemeska she had in her glance a coy slant of her brow and a fanciful light in her eye that to Akiza said: Some of your work? Akiza narrowed her brow but nevertheless smiled at her fellow Devil.

In fairness, she wasn't wrong to suspect.


Aylin Denizal

 

[Assistant Nemeska Elissal]

Nemeska spoke to the Beyar.

"Never to fear, madi, I'm sure this is all little more than some mishap or fanciful mischief. If we should come across the dear Aylin ourselves, we'll promptly send word. Might we have your name, so as to facilitate this? Oh, but look at me! I've forgotten even to introduce myself: Nemeska Elissal."

And after a short sidelong glance to her companion, Akiza said: "Akiza. Akiza Sonshal."




Aylin Denizal

 

[Aylin Denizal]

The young man bowed politely. "Ah, yes and forgive me in my haste as well. "Crispus Domital. A pleasure, though I wish we were meeting under better circumstances. Please, do keep me informed, even if the news is..." he paused for a moment, as if fighting with himself to finish his statement.

"...dire. I don't know how much longer I can bear not knowing what happened to my beloved. I can only hope it is merely a temporary case of faint heartedness."

He handed Nemeska a slip of paper. It was an advertisement for a local winery that was a popular place for the more affluent Insan and younger Beyar to socialize.

"I've asked a friend of mine who works at İyi Üzüm to be a contact for those of us looking for Aylin. If you find anything and I'm not there, just leave a message with the barkeep. And thank you again, Akiza and Nemeska. Your assistance means the world to me and Aylin's family."

Akiza Sonshal Assistant Nemeska Elissal

 

[Akiza Sonshal]

Akiza peered over at the advertisement which now Nemeska held. Oh. Lovely. A winery. So it was true, what she'd said to Nemeska earlier. She wasn't good at making friends. But that didn't mean she couldn't make them. And while she was fine with being alone, she didn't like to feel lonely—there really was a difference.

Maybe she ought to visit the İyi Üzüm sometime. For pleasure, not business.

Akiza looked back to Crispus then. Nemeska had been tactful, yes. Maybe trying to ingratiate herself with the nicely dressed young man. But Akiza was not concerned with tact—not if it didn't help them. And there was the plainly obvious question to ask Crispus:

"Do you think it might be more than just a temporary case of faintheartedness? Do you think she could have fled Gild for good?"

Aylin Denizal

 

[Assistant Nemeska Elissal]

Nemeska intervened casually.

"Now Akiza, there's no reason to go grasping for conclusions."

Even if she might be right. That or perhaps the Regulator of the day wasn't the only one murdered. Two in a row, oh, how that would be invigorating! But did poor Crispus need to be bothered by these likelihoods? He could yet indulge in the intoxication of hope for at least a little while longer.




Aylin Denizal

 

[Aylin Denizal]

Crispus glanced between Nemeska and Akiza, a new anxiety on his face as he briefly contemplated that thought. His lips twitched, nearly forming a grim smile before frowning deeply.

"Would she go so far just to spurn my affections? Into the harsh wilderness, or to the strange cities beyond? No, I do not believe she would so easily leave Gild, even if she'd -- dare I say it -- become caught in some rogue's affections. She's spent her whole life here. I could not begin to imagine where else she would go."

---

In fact, Aylin was very much still inside the city, moving like an alleycat between narrow walkways and side streets in a working class neighborhood.

"Are you sure you know where you're going? I'm sure we've passed that fountain three times already," Caelia commented as she followed Aylin onto yet another side street that looked like it circled around to nowhere.

"Yes," was all Aylin replied. She was too busy paying attention to their surroundings to hold a conversation. The path was marked, but the small brown symbols were almost ingeniously painted in inconspicuous spots: in corners that never saw daylight, on the sides of cisterns and beneath the eaves of old apartments doorways. Sure, they were cleaned up on occasion, but the unnamed street artist was persistent.

Daylight poured in between the tall apartments as the side street met up with a main thoroughfare. Here Aylin stopped and looked around. Some sixth sense she couldn't place made the hairs on her back stand up, and this time it wasn't the strange sort of... greasiness, for lack of a better word, that she had felt on Caelia.

"What? Guards?" Caelia asked as Aylin outstretched a hand signalling for her to wait.

"Worse," Aylin reported gloomily after poking her head around the corner. "It's Daezan. Damn! He's hard to shake off. And it seems he has Church friends today."

Akiza Sonshal Assistant Nemeska Elissal

 

[Akiza Sonshal]

Well.

Crispus didn't think it possible for this to have happened with his betrothed Aylin. But Akiza would be a liar if she said she had never fled a place and left a lover behind. She'd never absconded with some "rogue's" affections in her sails though. That would be novel. Matters of survival and practicality bid her leave some place, not a wild tryst—yet.

Regardless, despite her own experience being the women who fled, at least with Crispus's word it seemed more likely that Aylin remained in the city.




Aylin Denizal

 

[Assistant Nemeska Elissal]

Some rogue's affections. Oh, she would never, of course. It tickled Nemeska now to find Aylin merely for the truth of it all, and less so on behalf of the Sanctum. What could she say? She adored a bit of succulent gossip. Dear Akiza might find no fun in all this, but she could do with getting out more—bothersome secret of hers or no. Didn't Akiza know that the best way to hide a secret was to act like there was nothing to hide?

"Well, Crispus-gazi, I think there is strong cause to believe Aylin will be found soon. Surely with enough eyes and interest it will be done. And mind, do not fret, as this isn't a bad thing"—necessarily—"but the Sanctum itself has an interest in finding her."





Aylin Denizal

 

[Aylin Denizal]

Crispus raised an eyebrow. "The Sanctum? That is... unexpected. Well, it is comforting to know that her disappearance has been taken so seriously. I thank you again, Nemeska-gazi." He saluted her before saluting Akiza. "And you, Akiza-gazi. I eagerly await the news. Until we next meet."

He frowned once he was well away from the pair. Daezan's little 'Crispus' performance had been well enough received, although looking back now he thought he'd been a tad overly dramatic. Luckily, neither of them seemed to know Aylin directly, or else they might have been more suspicious of her devoted little fiancé. At least they didn't seem to be any closer to finding her than he was. Her father would not be happy -- nor pay him well -- if he learned that the mercenary had not only lost her, but had allowed her to get into trouble with the Sanctum.

Daezan had thought to ask the women about why they were looking for Aylin, but he would probably get more information from his own network of contacts. He had to hand it to that girl: she was reasonably good at keeping her head down, which was fairly impressive given the amount of eyes and ears he had around Gild. It seemed as soon as he came across a lead to her whereabouts, she was no longer there.

His next contact lived two streets over. Unless that old drunk had a real lead, he figured it was time to stop by İyi Üzüm for a glass or two. This asking around was thirsty work.

---

"Who is he? A friend?" Caelia whispered, watching Daezan's departure as she and Aylin hid behind a stack of barrels in the alleyway. Aylin pried open one of the barrels to see if there was anything inside. Seeing they were full of clothes and bedding, she opened another. Then she took a long look up at a stairway leading to the apartments above.

"More like a thorn in my hand," Aylin retorted with a huff. "We'll wait here until he's gone, and then we'll cross. We're not far from the place."

"I've been meaning to ask: how do you know about it anyway?"

Aylin shrugged. "Long story for another day."

Wobbly footfalls echoed dully on the flagstones behind them. Aylin turned to look, only to be assailed by an alcoholic miasma. Behind it was an older man built like a twig with white-blonde hair and an unevenly-trimmed beard. He narrowed his eyes at the two women.

"Heeeey, I know youuuu!" he slurred loudly and tugged at his beard with one boney hand.

Aylin retreated as far into the cowl of her hood as was possible. "No. You don't."

"Yeaaaah I doooo. Yooou still owe meeee thirty sikke! Zakat doesn't payyyy for allll of an old man's neeeeds!"

Aylin had been hoping old man 'Wino' had forgotten about that in the haze of his continual intoxication. Of course, he had to make a scene. Now.

"Get lost, you drunkard!" she hissed between clenched teeth.

"I waaant my moneeey!" It was clear he wasn't going to let the argument go without making a very loud commotion. Aylin did the first thing she could think of:

"I hid it in the bottom of that barrel," she said, pointing to one that only had a few rags in the bottom. "Now leave us alone!"

She made a signal to Caelia as soon as his back was turned. The drunk mumbled again about his money as he lumbered over to look in the barrel, whereupon Aylin and Caelia shoved him inside and took off running back the way they'd come, hopefully before the old bastard had drawn too much attention to them.

Akiza Sonshal Assistant Nemeska Elissal

 

[Akiza Sonshal]

Salutes and farewells given, it was left now to Akiza and Nemeska to try their luck with the perfume and incense market. Crispus took his leave of them, and the first thing Akiza said to Nemeska when their eyes met again was:

"I didn't want to go chasing a ghost."

Nemeska brushed aside Akiza's excuse with a flick of her hand, "Oh, never to worry, dear Akiza, it did need to be asked. But perhaps the esteemed Aylin eloping with a ruggedly handsome rogue is the least of Crispus's concerns."

Akiza glanced around in "innocuous" fashion, then lowered her voice and asked, "Do you think the dead Regulator really is Aylin's doing?"

"Heavens, no," said Nemeska, laughing. Then with a broad smirk she added, "I'm just saying it certainly could be. How fun!"

Then came the inebriated yell of a drunkard from around a nearby corner, in some alley a stone's throw away. Akiza glanced that direction.

Aylin Denizal

 

[Assistant Nemeska Elissal]

How fun!

Ah, wouldn't that be fanciful? To be on the track of the actual murderer? Not that it was likely, no, her luck was much too rotten to stumble upon something so exciting by sheer chance and accident, but if it were though? Oh Boesarius would be so envious, it'd be brilliant.

The yell of the drunkard came, something about money, and Akiza glanced toward the mild commotion.

"Come along now," said Nemeska, ignoring the drunkard (what a dreg, ugh) and stepping off toward the lane that would lead them to the market. "Some people simply cannot handle their raki."

Akiza held her curious gaze toward that blind corner for a moment longer, then nevertheless caught up with Nemeska. And now this comment, of course, she had to keep low and between them: "I remember what that was like."

"I'm certain your constitution has improved dramatically with one simple trick, if I may say."

Akiza snickered, and they walked on, each unaware of the growing distance between themselves and the object of their search.

Aylin Denizal

 

[Aylin Denizal]

A temple was probably one of the last places Caelia had expected to find sanctuary in given her position in life, especially considering the blood on her hands. As the two women stood in an overgrown garden surrounding the squat, yellow-white cement and stone structure, it was an irony that Aylin found perplexing. Its current incarnation was as a safehouse for a gang of thieves. Was holy ground still holy when all of its caretakers had moved on?

"I'll bet this place has a story," Caelia commented while staring up at the two pillars at the entrance, built in an obvious attempt to make the humble building look much grander than it was. It paled in comparison with any of the other temples around Gild. Realistically, it was not much more than a shrine.

Aylin moved on to the side of the building, where a bench sat against a shady wall. Aylin took hold of one side of the bench and started sliding it out into the tangle of forgotten flowers.

"Some rich man who used to live around here paid to have this built. I guess he didn't like the bigger ones or something." She shrugged and continued while pushing the heavy bench. "When he died, the clergy went back to the real temples."

"Lucky us..." Caelia muttered with a skeptical look at the door that had been behind the bench. While the bench certainly didn't serve to hide it, it made the door quite annoying to access.

Puffing from exertion, Aylin knocked on the door. After a minute, the door opened just a crack and someone muttered something from within.

Caelia couldn't hear the exchange that occurred between Aylin and the person behind the door, but after a pause she heard a tremendous scraping from the other side of the wall, and the door opened.

Aylin ushered her inside, where a mountain of a man greeted her silently with puffy eyes and a gap-toothed grin that promised no good intentions.

"Well, hello there-" he began in a gritty voice before Caelia cut him off sharply.

"You couldn't begin to afford my company," she interjected with a huff. Aylin turned to her with a smirk.

"I have a feeling the boys won't be bothering you. Here, let me show you around the 'church'."

She should have felt better now that they were inside the safehouse, away from the church officials and that unbearable mercenary, but something felt amiss. Aylin realized what it was -- or at least part of it -- when she instinctively reached for the comforting presence of her dagger hilt to discover nothing but empty air. She must have left the damned thing back at the Market!

Akiza Sonshal Assistant Nemeska Elissal

 

[Akiza Sonshal]

They chatted on the way to the Market:

"So what happens if we don't find her?"

Nemeska massaged a silky hmmm in her throat and said, "Then maybe Crispus's worst fear is true."

Akiza snickered. Then clarified, "No, I mean with the Sanctum and the questioning."

"One can hardly question a vacant chair, now can one?"

"The Sanctum won't be...concerned that the chair is vacant?"

"Well of course it won't look glamorous for our esteemed Aylin if she's nowhere to be found. There is after all a murderer on the loose—oh dear!—and the Sanctum doesn't quite know who it is yet."

"Alright. Say it was me in Aylin's shoes." Nemeska glanced sidelong to Akiza with a narrowed eye and amused smirk that was certainly a nod to Akiza's being a vampire, and how that would violently alter the Sanctum's response. Akiza waved off the acknowledgement. "Forget that part. Say it was me who decided not to come, or was just missing. What would the Sanctum do?"

"Again, it's simple procedure, and you can play nice or say no to the Sanctum's request. Really, it's not as if the Sanctum doesn't know what kind of magic you, Akiza the dutiful Penitent, are capable of—though that's not quite enough to render one free from all reasonable doubt, now is it? You see, what the Sanctum is trying to do is whittle down a terribly large list of persons into a much leaner list. All the frightfully boring questions help with that, and I for one prefer having my name so whittled."

"Hm. And if I were missing?"

And here Nemeska shrugged. "I don't know. This is something of a novel occurrence with our lovely Aylin, what with a particularly heinous kind of murder and her being missing at once—well, provided of course that she didn't do it." Nemeska tilted back her head and enjoyed a bout of laughter. "But a missing person is a concern regardless. Maybe those faithless Allirians with their cold and swollen city would hardly have a care, but I assure you, Akiza my dear, that in Gild it is quite different. We care for our own."

They walked on.

Aylin Denizal

 

[Assistant Nemeska Elissal]

And now both Nemeska and Akiza found a sweet greeting in the form of the Market's aroma. The moment they walked through the tall doors the various scents like friendly neighbors welcomed them in. A number of women, some men, mostly humans, but some dwarves, and even an elf, were about the Market's vastly decorated interior and browsing over what wares were available.

"Regelishah, she will still be here," Nemeska said.

"I hope not. Then we can just stay here and smell things all day."

Nemeska gave Akiza an odd, questioning look.

"Too deadpan? Sorry. I'll try to use some more inflection when joking."

"Oh, no, no, no, don't let me stop you from parting with exorbitant amounts of sikke and buying half the market."

The two Penitents went up to the Market's main counter, and Nemeska with a Gildan salute asked of the minder:

"Salt and silver, friend! Might you know of a woman, a Penitent like us, by the name of Aylin Denizal? We've been told that she was here recently."

Aylin Denizal

 

[Aylin Denizal]

The establishment's middle-aged matron appeared beautifully statuesque both in physical build and personality, although it seemed the artists had sculpted her out of pre-weathered marble. The difficult moments in her life were chiseled in wrinkles around her curved lips and in a scar across her forehead. There was a hard, unmovable quality to what began as a soft smile.

"Salt and silver," she responded with a graceful nod to Nemeska's greeting, though her eyes took stock of both of the women as professionally as any appraiser would an uncut stone.

"It's possible she was. I get a great many clientele from all walks of life, but I don't make it a habit of asking their names."

The men that had been milling about were doing their own appraisal of some of the other shoppers. A couple of the elaborately-dressed women sauntered over to one of them to hold a private conversation for a few minutes before leading him through a curtain at the back of the shop.

If one of them decides to take a closer look around: The cloth-draped counter displayed a couple glass bottles of more expensive perfume, but what gleamed coldly from the back of the countertop was not a bottle, but the hilt of a dagger that looked to have been left there carelessly.

Akiza Sonshal Assistant Nemeska Elissal

 

[Assistant Nemeska Elissal]

"Ahhhh...possible, yes," said Nemeska to the matron. "We mean to be no bother, but Aylin is gently being asked for, you see. Little more than a dull afternoon awaits her, shared in common with my sister Penitent Akiza and I both. Maybe you haven't made a habit of asking your customers their names, but perhaps, if fortune is ours and your memory serves, might you have, oh dear me, hmmm...mayhap overheard her name? A passing familiarity from a fleeting glance, maybe, from which you could recall some detail of her description?"

Dear Regel, if this woman too made herself a leech and suggested that a few sikke could be the grease to her wagon wheel, Nemeska had half a mind to torch this place! But this sentiment she kept keenly hidden behind a genial smile.



Aylin Denizal