Ash 30 4621¤
A great Ash wind shifted the trees on the streets lit by lamp-light. Leaves stirred as the smell of something unsavory yet sweet lingered on the porch the three women sat on. Miki was stoned. Pogma had used part of the spoils to get the good leaf. The black sacks Miki had procured from the cat burglar's home admittedly wasn't Pogma's things, but she was grateful for the help. There were whispers in the rumor mill that an arsonist had been caught in Amoren. No one had come for them yet. Miki had told Izul everything that had transpired and after the verbal lashing Izul confessed that she was worried this wasn't the last they had seen of either Egert or Cloak. Taking a long drag from her corn pipe she coughed, great spittle leaving her mouth, leaving her breathless, passing it on to Pogma. The night life was quite the splendor here, even in the poor districts Miki was fascinated by humans and their garb. Curious and pompous place Daravin was. The slight memory of her home came to mind but she pushed it away, the smoke's paranoia wouldn't get her this time. Would it?
Standing up she waited for Cloak to arrive no longer, half of her thought had she sat on that porch all night she may arrive but no, the game was still on. She would have to be found. What happened to her gold pile? It would be too hot to head out to check Cloak's great lair of coin and goodies, instead perhaps she would find somewhere else the thief has stashed away. She shook her head, admitting to a stranger she had many hideouts was a stupid move. Novice, young, gullible, or stupid she wasn't sure. But what Miki was sure of is she would find in these pratty streets the hideout of a certain gnome.
Supposedly gnomes were a rarity among common folk but Miki knew of them. Settled in the mountains when they arrived they had heard the tales of the little ones in the deep bowels of the mountain. Curious things Miki had only seen another one once, he was a broker at a bank in another city in Greater Daravin. So tiny and such a large mustache, his accent was interesting-- like he said all of his words wrong or exaggerated. Oh what a mess this whole thing was, Cloak may have been naïve but there was something Miki liked about her. Burning down her home was wrong and spiteful, should this mess press neater than cotton under a hot iron she vowed to never admit what she had done to Cloak's home.
'It was Egert who did it,'
Miki convinced herself,
'When he broke into my friend's house. Fuck him, I hope the Halamire got to him first.'
Her meandering, and it was meandering, found her in a rather shitty part of town. She was clearly on the outskirts as houses were getting farther and farther apart being replaced with stones and shrubs instead of lights. As the night let on the moon shown the way as she figured she was gloriously lost. There was no way her sense would help her find Cloak's hideout and with no signs of the curious or eccentric she threw up her hands in the air saying,
"Fuck this. Wild orb chasing bullshit."
While spitting on the ground. Heading back home she was sure she saw the flash of a black fabric but it was there and gone down an alleyway.
'Could have been a cat.'
She sighed. Miki's tail flicked in anger while she wrung her hands and walked looking to her left and right. That was when a deep voice stirred her from her thoughts.
"You lost?"
Miki swung around, almost jumping out of her skin, to see she had passed right by a Halamire. He was only partially in his uniform, is shoes were missing and his hair was disheveled. He looked drunk as he lounged on the side of a building.
"Not at all, I was just headed back home."
Miki said slyly, without missing a beat.
"You're lookin'-hic-for something at least. What's that?"
The coy and slow way he spoke to her, the hiccupping, this man was off duty in his uniform drunk as any skunk she had seen.
"Looking for what we all do, I guess. Home. Goodnight, ser."
