[Orb] GHB 17, Late Morning

[shadow_sage]

I would like very much to speak with anyone the locals have called 'prince' or 'princess.' I have a proposition for you.

Bakura, do you know anything about what has been happening to the refugees? The people being forced out of villages and homes by the thorns? Where are they going, what are they doing?

Does anyone run any kind of a business, by chance? I seem to recall a bakery, and a smithy, though the latter isn't running, the last I heard.

I know I'm going to regret asking, but is there anyone in the city familiar with complex spells? Magics. Whichever. Specifically, would it be possible to link two locations, separated by a large distance? And is anyone capable of this?

And what does anyone know about a disembodied, female voice?

[A moment of silence, then a heavy sigh.]

Also, if there is someone who is familiar with the use of a sword, I'd like to speak with you about the basics. I would rather not make a fool out of myself.

Oh, and Shin, perhaps we could speak later.

Comments

[shadow_sage]

[Her face softens a little.]

If there is anyone who knows the layout of towns and lands inside of the thorns, it can help us try to make plans about fighting them. And if these people aren't being cared for, I intended to change things. We'll find them homes, work...whatever they need.

If no one knows anything, we'll try other channels.

[shiromadoushi]

[[he nods]]

I just don't think there would be anyone who knows anything like that... Unless it's gossip, people don't know anything outside these walls.

Besides, asking about something silly first hides asking about other stuff better.

[shadow_sage]

I doubt it, myself. I'd pay money to talk to anyone who knew Schwanheim well enough to actually give directions, but I'm not going to abandon something because it might not work.

Do you know how the King communicates with the rest of his kingdom? The city on the sea, the old capital, all of the villages?

[shiromadoushi]

I'm not sure... There must be messengers or something, right? Since I doubt even he would rely just on gossip... I know he talks to the soldiers who come back from the Thorns... but I don't know how often that happens.

[shadow_sage]

Even if he does rely upon gossip, it has to move from town to town somehow, wouldn't you think?

I wonder if anyone knows. I'll have to ask around when I return.

[shiromadoushi]

Return? You're going somewhere?

[[Guess who's been a bit distracted and has no idea who's where?]]

[shadow_sage]

[Liara smiled.]

I'm actually in the old capital at the moment. It was a rather...sudden trip. I'm sorry I didn't leave a note.

[shiromadoushi]

Aaa-- I hadn't realized! [[So embarrassed!]] Sorry!

[shadow_sage]

It's not your fault. I had...something urgent to deal with.

[shiromadoushi]

Hopefully it resolved quickly?

[shadow_sage]

We'll have to see. There have been developments, at least, but I'm not sure exactly what the end is going to be.

[shiromadoushi]

Something happened while you were there?

[[a pause]] Aaa! There was that sword everyone was gossiping about, right?

[shadow_sage]

Someone had to grab it, and we couldn't risk it being a local.

I recall what happened the last time someone from the Kingdom appeared to fight the thorns.

[shiromadoushi]

Aaa... un, that didn't... go very well...

[[understatement much?]]

[shadow_sage]

The way Ginia explained it, the entire thing was pretty much a gigantic fiasco.

[shiromadoushi]

[[he nods]] Yeah... the fabric of time seemed to warp because of it. It was really weird...

[shadow_sage]

[Something about what he said seems to the her by surprise. She stops, frowning, and considers it for a moment.]

Bakura, are you at the Hero's House right now?

[shiromadoushi]

Eh? Un... I am.. [[nods]] Why?

[shadow_sage]

Do you recall the books left in the library? The one with the clasp we broke, specifically.

Can you find it for me?

[shiromadoushi]

Eh? The one-- Aaah! Right! [[he smiles, nodding]] Sure! Just a moment...!

[[and he gets up, Orb following as he heads out his room, down the hall, down the stairs and to the library where the books are.]]

[shadow_sage]

[While he walks, Liara gives him instructions.]

When we were looking at it, the last entry was about that fight. I haven't seen a new one, but I also haven't looked at it for a few days.

It said something...I'm sure it used that word, 'warp.'

[shiromadoushi]

[[pardon the pause as he gets out the book and flips through the pages, skimming down the words before starting to read]]

'...As the sands of the shattered hourglass blew away in the wind, so too did the effects of the warping of time fade away. The King returned as if he had never left, the clock in the town began to run with it's old reliability and signboard in town returned to its former inane glory, its caretaker resuming his job with no word to where he had been.

And yet, all was not as it had once been. In that spot where the battle raged, there is a strange point of magic. A warping of space that seems to pulse. It is only visible to those who hold magic deep within them, or those who have been touched by it and those whose magic can see into the future may find themselves drawn to it and their arts touched by its strange power. '

[shadow_sage]

'Warping of space.' What does that mean? Bakura, do you know where the fight happened?

[shiromadoushi]

Not too far outside of the City, I think...

[shadow_sage]

I should have read it more carefully. Damn it, I'm letting things slip.

[She sighs.]

I'll have to look at it when I'm back. I'll put it onto my list. Right after emptying the treasury, buying a lighthouse, chartering a boat, and hiring some runners.

This is why I need agents.

[The last is said softly, and is almost inaudible as she looks off to the side.]

While you are about the town, would you ask after the field? See if anyone has said anything about unusual occurrences happening? Sightings, encounters, experiences...anything that is not what should have happened there? Let's face it, there are a great many more townspeople than there are the rest of us.