“Remember, stay in the back and cover the exits. If they get past us, stop them.” Nanomi was speaking with half a dozen deputized citizens, making sure everyone was on the same page before the raid went down. “Don’t try anything fancy, just tackle them.” Her group was across the street from the target warehouse, huddling in the back of a covered wagon that was nearly done unloading its delivery of foodstuffs en route to Opal. “Any last minute questions?”

A Pinky Suswhog raised his hand, the surplus armor he was wearing riding up. Nanomi nodded at him. “What if one does get past us? Do we chase after them?”

“No. Just let them go at that point. We’ll lose more if your line doesn’t hold. Grab them and slap those manacles on them.” She indicated the chain and metal implements they all had on their belts. “Then get ready for the next one.” A double bang was heard. “That’s the signal. Go. Go!” Nanomi jumped out of the wagon and charged towards the main door to the warehouse, hoping that her deputies were at her back.

Alonzo was already approaching the door with his cadre of deputies. They had been disguised as a work crew replacing some of the cobblestones in the road, and were using their heavy tools to break down the door as Nanomi’s group arrived from across the street. Similar breaches were occurring on all sides of the warehouse. Two straight days of skulking and tailing dozens of Santerfinks operatives had determined that this was the final staging area for the HornedTreeWeasels. Vika’s death five days ago had been one of the first known, but as more and more artists had turned up dead, the Council had begrudgingly authorized the expenditure needed to shut the smuggling operation down.

People were already fleeing deeper into the building as Nanomi crashed through the doors to what would have been a sales counter in any legitimate business. Instead it had the appearance of a break room, chairs and tables upturned by the escaping suspects to delay the intruders. “You, you, and you.” Nanomi pointed to three from her group. “Hold this door.” Alonzo’s group had made its way inside. “The rest of you, with me.” Authority radiated off of her as her voice cut through the commotion.

As Nanomi made it out of the room and into the cavernous interior of the warehouse, shouts and crashes could be heard echoing off the raftered ceiling. Shelves and crates rose sixteen feet high, creating maze-like corridors. “Alonzo, take your people that way.” Nanomi said, indicating to the right. He nodded, and the two groups split, moving deeper into the building.

The smell of HornedTreeWeasels had been present since entering the warehouse, but it became stronger as Nanomi continued. Cages of the animals soon became the only things occupying the shelves. Their distinctive scent, reminiscent of fried corn cakes, was mixing with the stench of excrement and decay. One of the creatures lifted its head at Nanomi’s passing. The small swept back horns rising off the whiskered ursine face glowed briefly, then faded as it put its head back on its paws. Its muscular tail, nearly the same length as its body, swished lethargically as the group passed.

Nanomi had left the last of her deputies at a junction and continued on alone. The cages had given way to a small abattoir section, then workbenches. It seemed like most of the personnel had retreated to the rear of the building and were being dealt with by others in the city watch, until Nanomi came across a trio of Halflings. They were stuffing jars into satchels and hadn’t noticed her approach. She got within ten feet of them before clearing her throat loudly. “Drop everything. Turn around, put your hands on your head, and kneel, and your compliance will be noted to the magistrate.” She said, not expecting them to comply.

She was not disappointed. They all attempted to scatter, but she was prepared. Nanomi raised her leg, bending at the knee. White fungi rushed out and encapsulated her foot, creating a massive trunk that hammered into the stone floor, shattering it all around the impact point. Two of the three were knocked off their feet, the third stumbled but continued trying to escape. He got another few steps before being yanked back by a whiplike tendril of fungi. Nanomi put a set of manacles on each of them, then tied them together with a length of rope and marched them back to her entry point.

Renda and Alonzo were at the entrance when Nanomi got back to the front of the building. Four more suspects were shackled and sitting on the ground. “Nanomi, you are developing a penchant for being outnumbered and coming out unscathed.” Renda said. “Alonzo, take the deputies and escort these suspects to the holding cells. Sayta and Lores are doing the same with all the ones that tried to leave out the back. Gamma team has spent the last few days rehabbing a few more cells, so we’ve got plenty of room until the magistrate can make time for them.” She said, gloating over the restrained people. “Maybe spending a bit of time in a cage will give them some much needed perspective.” Alonzo saluted, then corralled the people and headed out.

“How many did they nab coming out the back?” Nanomi asked Renda once they were alone.

“Twenty. Two got away, that we know of. Beta team is going to go through this building with a fine toothed comb.” Renda said. “Alonzo had a contact with some of the local Druids, they’ll be by around sunset to take any living animals. He’s asking for some time off after this to go with them. Might be gone a few weeks. I think it’ll be good for him. He’s always seemed to have an aptitude for that sort of stuff.”

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“I think we all need to take it easy for a bit, once this all calms down.” Nanomi agreed.

“I want to thank you, the both of you.” Renda said, not forgetting about the help Myca had provided. “Councillor Numegan wants to see me tomorrow. I’d like you to be there. You don’t have to tell him anything about Myca, but word is spreading about the Tenkan guard who manifests white weapons out of nowhere. You might want to come up with a cover story.”

“We’ll come up with something.” Nanomi said. “It will probably be close enough to the truth, just leaving out some pertinent details.”

“Do what you need to do.” Renda said. “We’ll head to his estate after the first batch of suspects are taken to the courthouse. No patrols tomorrow. Sayta, Weej, Mitri, and Lores will just be escorting duty all day. We’ve already got transportation arranged to take them up river, way up river.” Renda chuckled at her joke.

“Did I tell you about the time a team from the Grey Company broke into Haellen Prison?” Nanomi asked nonchalantly.

Renda narrowed her eyes, not sure if Nanomi was joking or not. “No one has ever broken out of that prison.”

“I didn’t say we broke out, I said we broke in.” She said with a smile. “Funny thing about those kinds of reputations, the reputation is itself a deterrent, and they do better if any evidence to the contrary is buried.”

“Ja’Nanomi, it’s good to finally meet you.” Councillor Numegan said, reaching out to shake her hand. His chestnut was hair long and tied back in a stylish tail. “Your name has come up several times in my conversations with Renda, even more so in the last week.” He had stepped out from around his enormous desk to greet Renda and Nanomi.

They had waited for an hour in the antechamber next to his private office before being shown in by Zedram. Renda had no problem mitigating her boredom, but Nanomi was not used to being surrounded by the rich furnishings and spent much of the time rapidly tapping her fingers against the parcel wrapped in sackcloth she had brought. “Thank you Councillor. Supervisor WindyRiver asked me to accompany her here today.”

“Much of the credit for busting this smuggling ring was thanks to her.” Renda said. “It felt right that she got the credit she deserves.”

“Ah yes. I’d been bringing up the issue in Council meetings for two weeks. But it was only when the deaths were connected to it that some of the other Councillors, like Wender Nesterson and his toadies, agreed to take action.” Councillor Numegan said. “It wasn’t something we could wait for Tranquility to deal with.”

“I was getting the distinct feeling that Tranquility wished that us yokels down here in the south would just sit down and shut up.” Renda said.

“Well, with the HornedTreeWeasels only found in the Red Maple Forest, their import restrictions will fall to us, not the Most Exalted three hundred and fifty miles away.” Councillor Numegan said. “A new one thousand percent tariff on HornedTreeWeasel, whole or parts, is going into effect tomorrow. Artists wishing to continue producing these paintings will need to register with a new office the tariffs will help fund. Paintings by unregistered artists will not be able to be sold.”

“Won’t that just turn into a racial test?” Renda asked. “Some races have innate magical talent, but most don’t.”

“There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” Councillor Numegan said. “Anyone can spend a year or two at the Lyceum and learn a few spells. From your investigations, it seems like that was all that was needed. Any small access to the Weave prevented the magic being drawn from the artist’s very life force.”

“I hope that will save lives.” Nanomi said.

“Well if people have all the information available, I hope so too. But Nanomi, tell me about these new abilities you have been seen using.” Councillor Numegan asked, returning to his seat at the desk.

“To put it bluntly, I have a parasite.” Nanomi said. “You may have heard about the creature that attacked the researchers at the Lyceum the other week. That was it, it invaded me then. It doesn’t hurt me, and I’ve learned to control some portions of it, so I’m not going to have it removed, for now.”

Councillor Numegan looked at Nanomi, then to Renda. “And you’re ok with this, Supervisor WindyRiver?”

“Nanomi says she’s fine, she’s fine.” Renda said. “If anything, she’s even better at her job now than before. Which I wouldn’t have thought possible.” She said, giving her senior most guard a smile.

“Well, I’m not one to tell you how to manage your people. And I thank you both for what you’ve done. I’ll see what I can do about a funding increase. Maybe enough to hire on a few more guards.” Councillor Numegan said.

“We’d appreciate that sir.” Renda said. “Now, before we take our leave, I believe Nanomi has brought something for you.”

“I was going to ask about that wrapped thing you carried in.” Councillor Numegan said, rising from his seat as Nanomi placed the item on his desk. “I wasn’t expecting it to be for me, though.”

“I believe you should have it.” Nanomi said. “I traded a friend for it. I owe him a favor now.”

Councillor Numegan unwrapped the sackcloth and found brown paper underneath. That was also removed and a painting was revealed. The scene contained a young girl, maybe five or six years old, splashing and playing at the side of a lake. Her bright red hair was evident even at the distance where the rest of her features were obscured. A man, obviously her father, stood on dry land a dozen steps away, a familiar tail of hair shaking back and forth with amusement at her antics. The scene played out for several heartbeats. Waves rolling in, splashing water flying and falling back, and the two figures, a father and daughter, bonding in the moment. “Is…is this..?” He asked, tears welling up in his eyes.

“Yes.” Nanomi answered. “It is. I thought you should have it.”