“Oftentimes, rumors are worth listening to, because there are usually some truths mixed in with all the false information and speculation in them.” - Andrea Utghwes, Duchess of Dvergarder, circa 20 FP.

From the small town, Aideen and her charges slowly made their way towards Vitalica’s capital, Danna, which was also the former capital of Junora. Back in the past, when the Bone Lord annihilated the people of Junora, he also left the buildings mostly untouched, so the city was swiftly repopulated after the incident and soon reached its old populace numbers by the time of the rebellion.

In the present day, the city served as the seat of power of Vitalica’s reigning King, who Aideen learned was the nephew of the princeling she helped catch back in Antemeia decades back, the one who ended expiring on a stake like so many others. The current King would have probably never made it to the position if not for that, as said princeling was the Crown Prince back then.

Since Kino’s and Eilonwy’s mission as agents of the Death’s Hand was officially over once they left the northern regions, Aideen took lead of the group once more to ensure that nothing untoward happened. While she had no worries for Kino, her three grand-nieces were still mortal after all, so she couldn’t go as wild and uncaring as if it was just her and Kino around.

The present-day Danna was a sprawling city of over fifteen thousand people, more populated than it was even during Junora’s heyday. The city itself formed a stark display of inequality and disparity, however, which was hidden from sight at first but soon revealed itself to keen observers. Needless to say, Aideen had lived far too long to be hoodwinked by such petty tricks.

At first glance, the city looked clean and prosperous, with various establishments and well-made houses lining the sides of the main streets. The city center, where the Spirit Servant’s palace was, had been rebuilt and made into a palace for the current Vitalican royal family, and also housed the most grandiose and opulent houses that belonged to the Vitalican nobles.

Those mansions and manors around the palace and in its vicinity formed the obvious upper class of the city, with only a few of the richest and most influential merchants being able to squeeze themselves into the region. Most of the rest of the middle class, that was, people whose work revolved around the various establishments that lined the streets and other, less wealthy merchants, lived in the houses in those very same streets.

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All those combined to give the city a look of prosperity, but was in fact little more than a facade of powder and rogue to hide the ugliness beneath. The upper and middle class of the city totaled maybe a fifth of the city’s total population, whereas the rest belonged to the lower class. The laborers and workers in the employ of the various businesses fell into this category, as they were nowhere near as well off as the business owners and second generation wealthy people that populated the middle class.

They lived in hovels and shacks hidden from sight by the businesses and houses where their masters and employers lived, their homes hidden behind the facade of prosperity and only accessible through small alleyways that most people simply ignored. While it was inconvenient for the siblings to go to such places openly – especially since the city itself actively dissuades people who didn’t already live in the lower class districts from visiting there – it was trivial for the five to check the actual situation in the night.

All of them were trained in infiltration or had experience anyway, so they changed to dark clothing that blended better with the night sky and stealthily left their room at the inn to traverse the rooftops of the city while most everyone was asleep. Even in the dark, the deplorable situation of the lower class district was appalling to them, to the point that Aideen wondered if maybe she should ask if Grandpa Aarin has any whim to “take care” of Vitalica when she gets back.

Even in the dead of the night, some places still had activity. Some hovels still had sound emanating from them, typically people who had to work in the night and had just returned from their work, pouring out their grievances to those who would listen. From the chatter the group learned more about the general situation of the city and dissatisfaction spreading amongst the lower class, but again, there was little they could do with just the five of them.

Another interesting tidbit they heard was a rumor about frequent disappearances of late. The people who vanished were all little children under ten years of age, and if the rumor was to be believed, at least a hundred or so children had gone missing over the past month alone, which made many people fear allowing their children outside their houses.

Of course, the rumor was mostly hearsay, the sort where the person in question heard it from someone he knew who in turn heard it from someone else they knew that someone in a different district had lost their child, but given the number mentioned and the prevalence of said rumors amongst the district, Aideen felt that there might be some truth to the matter waiting to be discovered.

That said, they were newcomers to the place, and things could not be done overnight, so they felt that they needed more information first. They returned to their inn rooms that night and went through the next day as usual, though paying more attention to the rumors they heard from the various workers they came in contact with.

Later in the same day, when it was nearing midnight, the five dressed up in their dark clothes once more and prepared to go out to find more information. That night happened to be a dark, moonless night, an even rarer occurrence than having both full moons out, something that only happened roughly once a century or so. For some reason, Aideen had a foreboding feeling when she looked up at the moonless sky that night.