…..:::::|. Havvenchael Sixth .|:::::…..

As laid in plan, Elsa and Ruu shadowed a solidly determined Kodlaa to go search for the merchant with a baby candle.

Halycind put strong footfall toward the western city gates, relaying her position to Siin only once.

Veygornne and Veyorlin walked beside Siin, knowing he would need their wisdom as he scouted out this slaver and mancer.

...

The sun was nearing high-rising. Siin watched Veygornne peel off to the right through crowds of ladies wearing frills and men in velvet. He moved at the speed of the crowd but kept sliding eyes back to the young mage. Veyorlin raised his hand to flick at one of the Grui. It and a scattering of others burst to a violet light as he silently walked alongside Siin through the crowds. His eyes then flashed the same violet glow. This must have been how he was going to keep track of the mancer once he was spotted. Siin grew viciously envious then remembered himself. He was a rogue and a thief, he needed no fancy fine-craft to track someone in a crowd. He started to study the footfalls and conversations and sounds of the jammed throng.

Siin whistled out a sound and scratched the nape of his neck. Three ladies in frilly dresses and two children immediately switched their directions, ascended the stairs of the buildings and started walking the linking walkways above them. By the time he'd passed one of the ladies overhead with a red fan at her face, she'd whistled to signal her position. The others soon followed with whistles.

He felt covered now and would have to show thanks to these strangers come hunt’s end.

...

Kodlaa's worry wasn't that she'd find the crooked merchant, shifty people were easy to find, but she was still at a loss of what she might say to convince him to let her have the candle in question. It was an Immortal thingy and Immortals ought to keep better watch over their thingies. Kodlaa shook her head. Ruu offered his thoughts as Elsa, alone now, shadowed their walk through the streets of Havvenchael.

He told her of how he'd met Percival's mother and how she'd been such a strong wife and mother. How after three children she'd kept her glee which had made her the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He told her of how the vicious capture of his wife by a transmuter made Percival seethe with a hatred he still hadn't been able to let go of. When they had found his mother she had been made the homunculus pet of that transmuter and kept in a cellar as a rejected experiment. The transmuter had left her and several others there to rot and as Ruu had stayed to free the poor creatures, Percival had gone to hunt him down. The transmuter had been from Gaen a Nce.

That's when he learned of and got to know the Agency and the Kaehnnah, and soon enlisted the aid of the Immortal Bookkeeper and Engineers to help him murder his mother's captor. They aided him by using three of the blue candles to teleport him across Dureyr as such travel would have been impossible without them. He’d found the transmuter just in time to sever his head in front of a crowd of frightened onlookers about to be spellbound under his sway. Directly after his slaying of the mage, Percival was asked to join the Agency and Ruu had followed his son's lead.

Kodlaa in all her life's travels suddenly felt like she knew nothing of the world. The heart in her chest beat a solid thump of determination. As an Agent she would be ridding the innocent of dangers unbeknownst to them and keeping high Powers in solid check. She, at once, really wanted this candle and her eyes steeled on finding a crooked merchant.

...

On the way out of Havvenchael’s Third Gate, Halycind thought to pass the Bowyer's shop. After procuring what she learned was a gastraphetes she felt profoundly more secure in her hunt of the Aagenite on the outskirts.

Shaw Warsun stared oddly at her as she approached with the large weapon.

“Just assuring a successful hunt.” She said as she walked on passed his scathing glare.

...

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Veyorlin, whose purple cloak and robes had now gone neutral as to blend in with the crowd, picked up his pace into an open area just near one of the markets. Siin felt weirdly validated in his scolding everyone on rogues needing to match the colours of their surroundings but he was angry he’d received this validation in the form of a Jemedh action.

Veyorlin had seen a smear of salt on one of the shop's stoops. He scanned for unusual behavior and though his eyes had gone a subtle violet he saw nothing new in the wide web of the Grui.

Siin had let him walk forward readying himself for the inevitable signal the Jemedh was going to give. And he didn't have to wait long. Veyorlin stepped sideways four or five paces around a stone statue and pointed his mark out to Siin. Siin's heart jumped to a racing pace and he knew he needed to keep on the mancer's tail. But he hadn't seen him and he knew not what to look for, save piles of salt.

He glanced all around the area where Veyorlin had pointed, looked back again but the Jemedh had disappeared, then panicked that he'd not picked up on the right signal. Siin collected himself and started listening with his craft.

Mancer's were nothing more than well bred mages, with generations and generations of magecraft in their blood. He could calm himself and focus on the Power in craft itself; on the la’as of the planet, and he’d surely pick up a scent on the mancer’s whereabouts. Just as his skin began to crawl with foul energy, Siin heard a whistle up high along the balconies. A child pointed just to where Veyorlin had pointed before and where he had sensed his skin crawling toward. With three assurances, he finally exhaled.

Bolstered by a bold blending of confidences, the rogue battlemage took to a far follow, keen on his glorious game, now.

Ruu looked down to the woman from Dorari, her eyes having gone a deep amber as she scanned the stalls. No matter the kind of hunt, wolvkin still swelled at the opportunity to seek and find. Their will would always rush to their eyes when they deeply wanted whatever they hunted for. She was so quietly gleeful in her colours but he could see the fierceness of her heart’s rushing power through her veins. He could see she felt alone, too, all the time. He could see she needed the power of her heart to be recognized by those who could see it pumping. So he spoke to it, her need for someone to know her.

“When the time comes for all of time to rejoin, you will have played the part of champion. Never let anyone tell you different.”

She glanced eyes up to him and almost whimpered. “My grandfather told me you would say these things. You are Scerci. He saw you in his smokes.”

“A good capnomancer would. And he did not lie to you. You will not like how some of this will go for you. But you must remember your devotion. It will show the truth of its face in the end.”

“The truth that I’m the world’s dirtiest liar?”

“That you are one of Dureyr’s greatest champions...from a clan of champions.”

Some reassurance entered her gait and she exhaled. No one else knew her this deeply, no one save the grandfather she loved. Kodlaa held on to his words, tightly. They walked on, she, more confident in her search.

...

The mancer was indeed tossing his salts in the wind discreetly, reading their fall and making knowing faces at their supposed guidance.

Siin needed a better vantage point, the mancer was weaving swiftly through crowds of fair-goers. Siin knew not if Wiylin understood they were tailing him, but he knew he needed to see the man better. He hooted a different sound and two doors to his right opened. Veygornne grimaced at Siin’s movement and took the follow Siin had kept. He saw the young mage disappear into a parlor then lost him.

He turned the ring on his wrist and about four Grui slid just to him. They were still glowing violet and he whispered his location and his loss of Siin into some parlor. Veyorlin, on the ground walking a covered promenade, pursed his face and scanned the crowds in front of the tight-ropers for the mancer's whereabouts. He caught Siin's brisk follow instead. He was overhead snaking a weaving walk through crowds along the connected balconies on a closer tail of the mancer. Veyorlin wanted to call to him. Wanted to warn him not to get too close and let the mancer lead them to his capture. He could see the boy was eager and he whispered into the Grui for Veygornne to close in.

Above, looking down on the mancer's balding scalp, Siin rushed to follow for he truly wanted to keep range on him should he have to leap. He didn't trust him at all. The foul energy Siin felt was igniting his skin and he was anxious to end this stalking follow. He wanted to crush him for all the lives he'd ended and set him on fire for all the slaves he ravaged. Veyorlin broke the battlemage's thoughts.

“You think too loud.”

Siin said nothing, having not even realized Veyorlin had grabbed his arm to hold him back from the rails. He was truly about to jump. Siin nodded and calmed himself. “I just don't want him to get away.” He said through gritted teeth.

“He won't.” Veyorlin nodded a head toward where the mancer stood inspecting the wears of a merchant. “He is comfortable.”

Siin took one final exhale and nodded his patience. Veygornne flicked a sign to the two men on the upper-walks and moved to round the mancer for he was reading Wiylin’s stance as a change in his behaviour. The mancer moved to inspect yet another merchant's wears as they had caught his eye and he smiled to them. A foul grin. But one that offered the three men following an opportunity to scope where the others of their hunting party had gone.