Seas of Change

[Aevylmar]

"And that, sir," she says happily, "was a most excellent move to gain the advantage. I had been expecting a calm and noncommittal response, which would force me to continue explaining how little I knew. But I'm afraid, Quicksilver Falcon, that your first deduction was in error. Your analyses of me are of course correct; I am a former patrician official of the Realm, and I do have both acute hearing and a disguise."

She smiles faintly. "But while I am here for a reason, it is not to make use of you. It is to determine if you are a dangerous criminal who has evaded justice, or an upright citizen in need of aid against the manifold threats to this city and to his life. If the latter is true, I will offer you all the aid I can provide until such time as another, more urgent, task calls. If the former, I am here to kill you. The same, naturally, goes for all others of like power in Paraia."

She casually lifts her hair for a moment to show the fringe of spikes by her ear.

"And, to place my cards on the table, I have more than a little interest in another Anathema myself."

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And all of this is true.