Hope

Irwyn was left staring, unsure what to do. Behind the corner he was not in immediate line of sight, however, he was hardly well hidden. It was only a matter of time until someone stumbled upon him, not to mention there could be people on the lookout. And peeking from behind a corner was generally not a good place to be found.

So Irwyn had to either go away or approach. Would that be awkward? Irwyn took one more glance at Desir dressed in clothes that would make some prostitutes blush. On the other, he was willingly dancing in a kind of public area. And considering the crowd, it was not like this was something Desir might be trying to keep secret. At least not something he wanted completely secret.

The music was beginning to wind down and with a deep sigh, Irwyn decided to approach. Well, he did want to meet the blue-eyed man just earlier. It just so happened that this wasn’t how he had expected that meeting to come about.

When the music came to an end Desir walked off the stage, as did the other dancers, and took what looked like a robe which he proceeded to dress himself with it. The next moment Irwyn was pretty sure it enveloped him without the use of hands. Either Irwyn was miss-seeing or the robe was self-dressing. Either way, in just a few moments Desir no longer looked that out of place, considering many of the mages present also wore similar robes.

Irwyn also noticed that Desir was in company. A young woman, around Irwyn’s own age, with silver hair and a relatively conservative but bejeweled white dress seemed to immediately engage Desir in a conversation. From the chuckles, laughs and the girl’s occasional blushes and swoons, Irwyn judged she was quite taken, at least at a glance. That was another thing to consider. Irwyn certainly did not want to intrude.

So he made sure to position himself in Desir’s line of sight and looking in his acquaintance’s direction, making sure to not blend into the background. It took a few seconds for Desir to spot him. The man’s slightly uncanny eyes widened ever so slightly but Desir’s smile did not waver as he said something to the young woman and beckoned Irwyn to come closer.

As Irwyn approached, another song and dance began, this one a stark contrast. The music was much slower and the dancers were far more conservatively dressed. Maybe even traditionally since the thick cut of dresses that hid everything was unlike any Irwyn had ever seen, not to mention the men wearing suspenders over white shirts and strange pants. Though that was frankly not important to the situation Irwyn was more concerned with.

“Irwyn, my friend!” Desir exclaimed as soon as they were in mutual earshot. “You should have told me you were coming for the festivities! I had no idea you had any interest!”

“It is merely a passing thing, mostly a coincidence that I happen to be here today,” Irwyn replied politely, eyes turning to the young woman who had managed to tear her eyes away from Desir’s handsome features. “It is, of course, a pleasure to meet you.”

“Yes, Irwyn, meet Alice,” Desir immediately became the intermediary. “She is an exceptional young woman, coming here all the way from Steelmire.”

“Pleasure,” she nodded with surprising enthusiasm.

“And of course, Irwyn here,” Desir nodded. “Much like you he hasn’t been in Abonisle for long, though he is much less enthusiastic about socializing. Not to give him demerits though, he is an extraordinary mage for his age.”

“Is that so?” her eyebrow raised in curiosity and… competitiveness? Irwyn wasn’t certain but it seemed that way. She was one of those people who were able to hide their actual power from his senses, however, he assumed that she would be no slouch. Nor did he believe she would be on Elizabeth’s, or his for that matter, level.

“Yes, though I am certain you are not average either,” Irwyn inclined his head slightly. “I will confess that I do not know much about Steelmire, however, I have read that your people have reputations for raising great mages,” he praised the best he could while trying to remember what he knew.

Steelmire was a large mercenary enclave based at the border between the Duchies of White, Black, and Teal; though really, they were supposedly more of an expanded clan who offered mercenary services; whatever that meant. Just the fact that this kind of entity was allowed to exist at all at the tripled border was a great advertisement for their competence. He also remembered reading somewhere that they were known for being extremely selective with recruitment and something about marriage pacts to join their inner circles. Not much else though.

“Steelmire’s name truly has spread far and wide that even a recluse like you knows about their outstanding mages,” Desir laughed out loud immediately after the earlier comment, which gave Irwyn a pause. That was borderline rude to Irwyn and Desir had to be aware of that. Irwyn did not think the other man had such a good read of him to know that he would not take offense, rather Desir would have known and decided it was worth the risk, fully aware of Irwyn’s real identity with the Guild. Which meant it must have had a purpose. And a glance at Alice’s abating frown revealed that she might have taken offense… to Irwyn not knowing much about Steelmire?

“Yes, I suppose it is a testament to our glory that such reputation has spread all the way to Abonisle,” she seemed to accept Desir’s version.

“But say, Irwyn, what brings you here today?” the blue-eyed man was eager to change the topic. “I truly had lost all hope you would attempt any such gathering after all this time.”

“Please, you exaggerate, I was simply busy,” Irwyn shook his head slightly, “Though today I have come because while in my studies my spacial pouch has unfortunately decayed,” well, it was a white lie. Better to say his old one broke than admit that he had never owned one at all.

“Ah, I see, not an uncommon conundrum,” Desir nodded with such empathy Irwyn almost damn believed the man actually felt that connection. “Though then your timing is quite fortunate,” he glanced at Alice who raised and eyebrow for a moment, then her eyes widened slightly in realisation followed by a quick nod. “You see, Alice’s father is an extraordinary craftsman who has come to Abonisle to gather ingredients. In fact, one with expertise in creating such spacial bags of superb quality. And it just so happens that you may be of help to him which I am sure could result in a certain discount.”

“Are you then a Light Mage?” Alice apparently deduced while Irwyn was thinking about what kind of father would let their daughter into this kind of enviroment. Another song was ending at the stage and new dancers with another style stepped up. He suppressed the curious part of him wondering what that was all about, he had more important things to focus on.

“Yes, that is my specialty,” Irwyn confirmed varily. He was not sure how good of an idea it would be to confess to his full affinities. Desir was dropping him hints but there was not enough information yet. For example, Irwyn had no idea how much danger he might actually be in. Though in all fairness this all seemed mostly above board, which likely meant no back-alley executions and whatnot. Not to mention Irwyn did have an Ace in his sleeve if a catastrophic mess ever came down to law and background. Her name started with an E.

“I was going to discuss the possibility with Irwyn just tomorrow morning,” Desir nodded along. “Though given that he is already here, perhaps we could bring him to see Master Daut.”

“Hmmm, I am sure father would be overjoyed to get on with the testing,” Alice nodded after a moment. “I could go ask while you bring Irwyn over?”

“That would perhaps be ideal,” Desir said as he glanced at Irwyn intently. That was probably his last chance to back out though those blue eyes were quite intently asking him not to.

“Indeed, Desir can show me the way,” Irwyn nodded. He would trust that Desir would not completely screw him over like that.

“Then see you again soon,” Alice said and skipped away, seemingly quite overjoyed at the situation, Desir waving at her back.

“You are damn difficult to get in touch with for someone who supposedly ‘never leaves their room’,” Desir sighed as soon as the girl was out of earshot, already leading Irwyn over to the side and activating some sort of enchanted stone Irwyn assumed was meant to ensure privacy. He noticed no effect except a burst of magic as it activated. He quickly switched to a more reserved personality than the outgoing enthusiasm he had been showing Alice. “I had a messenger sit in front of your hotel from dawn to dusk yesterday and you never once came out nor could the receptionist reach you.”

“I have been… focusing on my magic for the last several days. I might have shut out the rest of the world in the process,” Irwyn went with. Frankly, it was bad luck on Desir’s part considering Irwyn had returned just a few minutes after dusk, as he always did. “But that’s beside the point now. I assume the girl is a lot more than your pursuit?”

“Girl… she might be older than you, you know,” Desir shook his head lightly. “And yes. There is plenty of ass out there that I don’t have to risk my own for any specific one; not to mention she is a couple years too young for my tastes. Rather a certain bird asked me to keep her company while her father visits the city. Not to brag, but I am known as a fun person to be around.”

“Who is she really then?” Irwyn frowned. The Ibis would not take interest for just anybody.

“Alice of Steelmire, though that much is obvious I suppose,” Desir nodded. They were leaving the music area, walking through an archway that seemed to isolate the sound. “She is the granddaughter of the current head of Steelmire, Mavin, nicknamed the Thousandstep Magus. Moreover, she is what they call ‘a preferred heir’, which essentially means that her gramps is grooming her to take over if they ever decided to retire.”

“Strong connections and bright future,” Irwyn nodded in understanding. Desir was no doubt overjoyed at the opportunity. 10 or 20 years down the line this kind of acquaintance could blossom into a serious alliance or at least mutually beneficial trade. “Does that make her father the son of the current head, or is it the mother?”

“The latter,” Desir said. “The father had married into the family decades ago. Though there is an extra reason our Fowl wants his daughter looked after. Before engaging into wealth, Master Hen Daut was known as the Young Rook in our circles.”

“I see… Wait…” Irwyn paused. “Is that a pun?”

“No one is sure,” Desir shrugged. “But the dossiers on him indicate that he has always refused to even acknowledge that there is something there, so he is probably taking a piss. Don’t say that to his face though.”

“He needs help with something you mentioned,” Irwyn nodded. If the man wanted to be called by a joke name Irwyn would. “And this better not screw me over considering you borderline strong-armed me into accepting.”

“I am sure you can find a reasonable agreement,” Desir shrugged lightly. “And if not our bird friend will most likely be willing to cover for your losses. And it’s nothing complex really. Master Daut just needs someone to test a Light-based enchantment.”

“Light-based?” Irwyn frowned. Those were relatively rare in the Duchy of Black and considering the crafter needed someone to test them out it was probably not for someone they knew personally.

“Don’t ask me, the man has been very secretive about the whole affair,” Desir shook his head. “I know he had been looking for Flame mages before, though that got settled easily enough. Light is much rarer around these parts.”

“Fair enough,” Irwyn nodded. “It’s not a bad deal for me, though please talk to me about such things first next time.”

“Pinky promise and whatnot,” Desir grinned lightly.

“There was actually another thing I wanted to talk about,” Irwyn said as they trod across the top floor. It seemed like it was split into several themed environments separated by isolation wards. Desir had also set a very slow pace, though Irwyn did not know how much further away they were headed. “It concerns the recent attack on Abonisle.”

“Dangerous stuff,” Desir immediately frowned. “I hear some bastard leveled a building and vanished. Haven’t looked into it though, not my kind of thing.”

“Not just any building, a military facility,” Irwyn said. If he wanted Desir to get interested, he needed to be honest about most of it. “Nothing too special, I overheard they had stored some ‘middling’ magical weapons and such there; though it was supposedly very impressive the perpetrators had managed to get past all the security measures undetected.”

“You clearly know more than I do,” Desir nodded but frowned. “This is headed somewhere and I am not sure I like where.”

“As I have told you, I made some connections in very high society hear in Abonisle,” Irwyn explained. “What I have overheard from a trustworthy source is that someone very high up the pecking order has taken the attack as a slight against their pride and took personal interest.”

“And you want me to look into it,” Desir kept frowning. “While you reap profit as a middleman.”

“One of several,” Irwyn smoothly lied with a shrug. “Though most of them will sell it upwards for favours from their superiors. And these are not stingy interest groups were talking about. You would be compensated very well for anything useful you find.”

“Damn,” Desir was frowning even deeper, though he was clearly in thought. “How time-sensitive is this?” he asked after a few moments.

“Not particularly,” Irwyn said. He had days before Elizabeth returned to Abonisle, maybe close to a week. “From what I have gleaned, the official investigation has found no clues so far. The last thing they are trying now is retracing a plethora of teleports and hoping to find the culprit that way but even if they find a clue like that it probably will have long been swept clean. I specifically want information from the corners where the official investigation wouldn’t or couldn’t look. Even rumours and small clues to pursue might be worth a good amount, especially if they result in something. These people have more manpower than directions to send it towards,” or so Irwyn guessed at least.

“Better to sell breadcrumbs to the starving than fresh bread to the fed,” Desir nodded, the frown gradually leaving his face until he sighed deeply. “Fine, I will see if I can find something, though I cannot promise much. And keep in mind I will have to inform the Ibis about this, at least of the rough outline, and give him a small cut.”

“Fine by me,” Irwyn shrugged. “You are the one experienced with the local way of doing things.”

“Well, you have certainly put a damn bug into my head,” Desir sighed. “We are here thought.”

And indeed, they stood in front of a strange building forged entirely out of seamless gray metal. The floor was large enough to have buildings after all and this one went from floor to ceiling. Entering immediately revealed that it was not really a store but more of a hub for several workshops at least as far as Irwyn could tell. Alice was already waiting for them there with a receptionist, though seemed to be mostly ignoring the other person. Her eyes, however, lit up as soon as she spotted Desir and Irwyn. Probably mostly because of the former.

“Father will see you in a few minutes,” Alice explained with enthusiasm. “He is working on a different item at the moment.”

“I see, then we will wait,” Irwyn nodded.

“Actually, I had a thought,” Alice smiled. “While we have the time why don’t we have a small competition?” she said and Irwyn suppressed a frown. He glanced at Desir.

“That is a good idea,” Desir was already on the task of hinting to Irwyn the best course of action. “Steelmire has an established tradition of friendly competition. That being said, even in these friendly matches you are expected not to hold back! She certainly did not against me.”

“Hey, you were pretty damn good considering you had no experience in the games we played,” Alice quickly rushed to Desir’s defense.

“Our pride is not so fragile,” Desir laughed again. “Though I will admit that I would be quite interested in seeing how Irwyn might do against you.”

“Well…” Irwyn said. He certainly hoped he was reading Desir’s clues right. “What are the rules?”