Rawaria, like most of the old northern factory-towns, was small and dusty, with a fair dose of dilapidated. Many of the houses were abandoned and most of the store-fronts were boarded-up or simply left to collect dust in unattended darkness. Even the few buildings that were still occupied seemed unkempt and wanting for maintenance, as if the residents were just biding their time to pack up and leave. Most of the street-lights no longer worked and the few that did flickered ominously at irregular intervals. It was a place where one would have been hard pressed to find cheer, even under happier circumstances. And it certainly wasn’t happy circumstance that had brought them to Rawaria.

Ruban thought back over the clipped, urgent conversation he had had with Simani over the phone just before they’d had to rush to the semi-abandoned little town in pursuit of a lead nobody really thought would pan out. There had apparently been rumours of an Aeriel sighting near an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Rawaria. And some people in the IAW evidently thought that it might have been Reivaa, based on the descriptions they had received from witnesses.

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Simani had been apologetic. She hadn’t wanted to bother him while he was in Surai. But this new lead was a long shot and they both knew it, and it made no sense for her to abandon the investigation in the capital and rush out to the hinterlands on what would most probably turn out to be a wild-goose chase. Especially not when Ruban was already in the neighbourhood anyway.

He knew all this, of course. He couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed about having to leave Surai so soon, however, especially after what he had just found out at the Varnas’. Still, he knew that his partner was doing her best, and it did ultimately make more sense for him to make a quick trip to Rawaria than for her to drag a team from the capital all the way to the district to investigate a rumour that was as likely to turn out to be a dud as it was to turn up anything useful. Besides, there was the off-chance that the lead might turn out to be legit after all, in which case Ruban knew he would want to be there on the scene, no matter what the opportunity cost.