Frank Poe

Month 12, Day 25, 8:00AM

Frank and Marie bundled themselves up to sit on the roof while big snowflakes fell all around them. A finger’s depth of snow had already fallen in the night. As the sun rose, the snow covered the city and roofs in white. Grey-White clouds drifted overhead, continuing to drop the snow, making the city feel dreamlike, with the buildings fading to the shapes of memory. People shut themselves indoors and quiet descended with the snow.

They had come up in the grey dawn light to settle something that Frank put off for a few days: Should he try to contact Lord Dryden?

Frank dug the iron bowl out of the snow, and set it up on a crate that they’d pulled from the attics. Poe had them sit on a couple of rough wooden stools. Well, he sat. Marie had chosen to kneel on her stool, covering her legs completely with her skirts and the cloak she wore. Snow lightly fell on her shoulders and hair. If it hadn’t been for her pale face watching the sky, she would have looked like a miniature snowcapped mountain made out of black granite.

Frank smiled inwardly a bit at his thought; she certainly had granite’s toughness.

Frigg took longer to appear than usual, and they’d already waited nearly an hour in the cold but he didn’t want to rush her, even though the agency should have opened its doors.

Frank spread his will out into the world around him. He hoped to feel Frigg approaching, but, for now, he could only sense some crows gathering on a nearby rooftop. The local owl seemed to have snuck away; Frank observed that crows and owls never got along. The small rodents he could feel had tucked themselves into their dens.

He felt he’d had a bargain with the mice. So long as they stayed away from his books, he left them alone. They seemed to agree.

“Master Poe,” Marie began at a whisper.“Who is the Mariner?”

Frank had learned that Marie started all the least enjoyable questions with ‘Master Poe,’ so the tenor of her question didn’t surprise him. Frank sighed.

“Me. I’m the Mariner. It’s a name I use to protect my identity from being leaked at the masked meetings. Please keep it secret.”

“You said that the Mariner agreed to help the Morrows with glamours; why didn’t you just say that you would?”

“The August Agency should be open to anyone who wants a fair deal. We are seekers of truth, not favor. Admittedly, I prefer our customers rich enough for them to pay well too.” Frank smirked. “But, if it gets out that Frank Poe has been bought by the Morrows, then the already shallow puddle of customers might dry up entirely.”

“How are you going to teach someone, if no one can remember anything you tell them?”

“I’ll swim that canal when the Morrows identify a candidate to train. But, I do have a plan. I’ll consult with Frigg when I have more details, but for now … let’s consult her about Lord Dryden. She’s coming.”

Frank saw a black speck flying through the lazy snowfall. The raven queen had arrived.

She flew down and landed on the crate next to the iron bowl.

Frank drew a loop of horsehair from his pocket, and dropped it in the bowl. It seemed to suit Lord Dryden’s obsession with horses, and fit with his family.

“Frigg, mistress of Fate, should I confront Lord Dryden about the Siobhan Naught?”

Poe had the sense the Frigg eyed his gift carefully. She did not, as usually the case, play with object. She carefully moved her beak under the bowl and levered it off the crate and into the snow.

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“So, no then.” Frank bowed his head. “Thank you for your consideration.”

Frigg did not leave immediately, like Frank had come to expect. Instead, the raven sat and fixed her stare on Marie.

Frank inhaled lightly. The cold tickled his throat.

“Do you have a question for Frigg?” Frank asked Marie.

Marie looked back at Frank blankly at first, then she smiled. “I do.” She seemed surprised by this. Marie reached in a pocket, and drew out a green glass marble.

“Remember to ask a yes or no question. Frigg can’t explain herself, and I only get impressions.” Poe said. Marie acknowledged Frank’s words, then turned back to the bird.

Marie picked up the icy cold iron bowl and placed it on the crate. Marie soundlessly placed a green glass marble in the bowl.

“Will Cory be a friend?”

Frigg picked up the marble in her beak, shuffled closer to Marie, and put it down on the crate. Then, the raven picked up the marble and shuffled backward, and put it down again. She did this twice; too many times to be coincidence.

Frank got the sense the answer was conditional.

“Whether she becomes a friend depends on you.” Frank explained. Frigg nodded in an almost human-like gesture, then picked up the marble and flew away.

Poe began to pack up the crates and the stools, and dropping them through the roof hatch, but Marie watched Frigg grow farther and farther away, until she was just a speck in the white clouds over the Mires. Then they climbed down into the offices.

“Tea?” Frank asked. Marie nodded, and they returned to his couch filled room, where she made a hot spiced tea mixed with a milk.

They lounged on the couches, relaxing. Frank had some warming runes the kept his rooms at a comfortable temperature, even with the snowfall. The silence felt restful, rather than ominous.

It was past time to open, so a pounding on the front door drew them both down the stairs to see who had ventured into the snow to meet them. Waiting in the snow was a woman that Frank invited into the office. She brushed off the snow in the foyer, and they all gathered at his desk.

“Mr. Poe, I’ve message for you from the Pack.”

Frank raised his eyebrows. He liked the Pack, and its leaders. They’d done him a good turn when he’d first started the Agency, and Gera in particular. ‘I wonder if they managed to meet the Raven Queen.’ The Pack had resources he did not, and it would be able to command the favor of her presence much more easily than he could.

“A good message?”

“Yes, the Raven Queen has granted us a boon for Miles. We appreciate your help and foresight in this matter.”

Frank relaxed in relief. He felt an overwhelming curiosity to ask what happened, but considering how he might use that information … he did not want the cross the Pack.

“Good. How is Miles?”

“He is improving already. He sleeps now without dreams.”

Frank leaned back in his desk chair. That would be an amazing feat of magic. He was right then; the Raven Queen did have some domain over the dreams. Or, perhaps, in Miles’ case, over nightmares.

“Good.”

The woman reached in a cloak pocket and withdrew a small box.

“A gift for your help.” She said. “There is a token inside. You may present it to any member of the Pack, and we will know you are a friend, and will help if its in our power.”

Frank felt a nervous shock. The Pack tended to be careful in its choice in friends.

“Also,” she continued, “the Pack has decided that it will more closely align itself with the Verdant Stag. We want to warn you, specifically. Stay away from the Morrows, for your own safety.”

Frank nodded.

“Why?” Marie asked.

“I am not free to say. I was only told to deliver the warning.”

“I understand.” Frank replied.

After the woman left, Frank started work on his enchanting array in anticipation of receiving the pearl. Marie, hung around his desk for a few moments, but Frank did not mind her attention.

“Marie, do you have a question?”

“Master, are you going to remain neural between the Pack and the Morrows?” She gestured at the box.

“It wouldn’t be much of a commitment to neutrality if I didn’t.” Frank replied. “The Pack didn’t ask for my help, and I think it best if we stayed out of any conflict that might be coming.”

Marie frowned slightly, but she went back to her table and returned to studying.