Soul Bound

1        Soul Bound
1.3      Making a Splash
1.3.3    An Unrequited Love
1.3.3.27 Ensconced

Less than a handful of minutes later, three figures walked into Corvid Court. The first was carrying a yellow glass lantern on an arched metal pole; she or he was young, red haired and short enough that the hem of their apprentice robes trailed in the dirt, hiding their boots. The second wore the robes of a full priestess of Cov; she was carrying a book and, bent over to read it as she walked, the embroidered hood of her robes hid her hair and half her face. The third was carrying a spear and the insignia on his armour identified him as a member of the Watch; from the way he scowled at anyone who came near the priestess and her apprentice, it was clear he wasn't enjoying being their escort and wanted nothing better than to find someone to take it out upon.

Alderney spoke quietly, out of the corner of her mouth: "Not far to go now, you're doing well."

Kafana hissed back: "Everybody is looking at us."

Alderney sounded smug: "Good. It's better to be seen easily then dismissed as being too bold to be dishonest, than be seen with difficulty then watched for sneaking around like a thief. Especially if you are a thief."

A small patrol of Watchmen was moving towards a wide road leading south from the court. Five of them were dressed much the same as Bungo. The sixth, their leader, was carrying a brass lamp. He was an older man, with bushy eyebrows and a white scraggly beard, who stumped along while muttering to himself. The lamp was giving off a pinkish light and he paused to pull a lever on the side of it, every time he reached an unlit streetlamp, causing it burst into flames - much to the annoyance of the perching ravens, who felt they deserved a rest after a hard day spent scavenging offal from butchers.

Rather than slowing down, Alderney headed straight towards the group.

Kafana: {Alderney, aren't they going to recognise us, if they get a close look? Can't we wait a few minutes until that patrol has gone, and tell the person running this meeting we were unavoidably detained? They can't be that much of an ogre, surely. Who is running it?}

Tomsk: {You are.}

Kafana barely avoided responding out loud: {WHAAAT?}

Tomsk: {We moved fast enough to get copies of the Charter out to Mercato and beyond, before Pazzi finished blockading traffic out of the Ghetto. And we've messages from the leaders of guilds and other powerful groups, to prove it. To avoid a massacre there's now only one last remaining thing we need.}

Kafana: {Which is?}

Bulgaria: {Someone he can negotiate with. Someone who can make a commitment on behalf of the Chartists and rely on the Chartists backing them up.}

Bungo: {And for that, a Provisional Leader isn't sufficient. I've seen the mechanics that Soul Bound uses for this on the previous server. The formal creation of an organisation is always an event. The bigger the organisation, or the part it will play in plot events, the more dramatic the event.}

They'd nearly caught up with the patrol. Bungo moved ahead of herself and Alderney to talk with them, leaving the others to finish up the explanation.

Bulgaria: {I'm at the meeting venue, talking to people as they arrive. All you need to do is get here on time, stand on the stage to say a few words, and accept the support of respected local workers from different professions.}

Wellington: {You don't even need to admit you are Kafana Sincero. In fact, it might be best for the Basso Redevelopment Project if you wore a mask and pretended to be someone else entirely; someone local. Less chance of being sued.}

Tomsk: {When enough have voiced your support, the game will let you know, and you'll be able to appoint a delegation to speak to Pazzi on behalf of the Chartists. Then, as soon as you're out of sight, you can remove the disguise and you'll be safe. Well, safer.}

The patrol leader was now giving her an extremely cynical look, and Kafana found it hard to worry about the future danger. She desperately caught Alderney's eye, and nodded towards the patrol. Alderney sent her back a direct message, avoiding even the Womble's private group chat.

Alderney: {Trust me. Dio's from the Mercato guard, not Pazzi's lot; he's just here to illuminate things and continue his own personal eternal search. As long as you don't lie to him, he won't care who you are.}

Alderney stood aside as Dio, the bearded patrol leader, walked up to her and raised his lamp to examine her face as he addressed her.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Dio: "I am looking for a man"

He left the question hanging as the now combined group started down Carryin Crescent, but continued at the next streetlamp, just as she opened her mouth to respond, interrupting her.

Dio: "or women"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "who is honest"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "in their stance"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "upon claims"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "that are unlikeli"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "-er than the reliable evidence"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "they have available to match it."

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "Well?"

Kafana: "Err, I'm not sure? What do you think their stance should be?"

Dio snorted: "Ignore it, of course!"

Dio muttered something under his breath about priests, but continued in a more reasonable tone at the next streetlamp.

Dio looked at the other two: "If someone tells you that it is decent to wear yellow robes, and indecent to wear white robes, but the amount of evidence they show you doesn't match the weirdness of the claim they're asking you to believe, what would you do?"

Alderney: "Wear white robes."

Bungo: "Not wear any clothes at all?"

Kafana: "Seek out additional opinions on clothing colour?"

Dio: "Wrong, wrong, wrong!"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "All of those responses would mean you'd been influenced by the person making the claim."

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "The honest thing to do is act like you'd never heard the claim or even considered the issue."

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "Keep wearing what you want to wear and asking the questions you want to ask. That's my advice."

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Where was Bulgaria when she needed him? She wasn't any good at answering these sorts of questions. Although... perhaps it was now her turn to ask some?

Kafana: "It seems like the question is one that matters to you a great deal. What keeps you going, on your search? Why is it so important to you?"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "I grew up the small town of Taglia"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "where I was raised by my father, Hicesias the Trader"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "until one day everything we owned was taken away"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "by the town authorities"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "who imprisoned him"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "on a charge"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "of 'defacing the currency'."

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "I was never able to discover"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "who laid the charge, or why, or if it was true;"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "I didn't get to see the evidence."

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "I just saw that I no longer had"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "the books and silver plates and friends"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "that I'd had the previous month."

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "I still had my ears and could learn new things."

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "I still had my eyes and could find food in the woods to eat."

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "I still had my hands and without rich 'friends' to worry about impressing"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "I was free to use them to lift water to my lips"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "without the weight and worry of carrying around a cup."

*stump* *stump*

Kafana timed her next question for the gap between the streetlamps, hoping to avoid being interrupted by Dio adding yet another continuation to a sentence.

Kafana: "So why did you become a member of the Watch, like those who'd taken everything from you, rather than a self-sufficient hermit living in the woods?"

*stump* *whoosh*

Dio sounded a bit affronted: "Not like them."

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "There is nothing dishonest about earning coin for protecting others against theft and violence."

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "But I do not act against someone based on baseless claims."

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "With my Spody lamp I guard people's physical valuables."

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "With my words I guard people's mental valuables."

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "Their freedom to think for themselves."

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "Their freedom to be themselves"

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "Nothing is more important than being authentic."

*stump* *stump* *stump* *whoosh*

Dio: "Because if you let your 'self' be stolen."

And here he did pause, looking directly at her as he spoke.

Dio: "Then what is left to 'own' anything else?"

He nodded firmly, then continued on his way. Leaving Kafana just standing in the street, feeling small and alone, watching his retreating back.