Side A – Yasgrid
Naosha M’Kellin was waiting for them, alone, when Yasgrid and Kayelle breeched the sanctity of her lair. A pleasant aroma of freshly brewed tea greeted them before Naosha acknowledged their presence but when she did it was with a calm smile that seemed to fall only an eyelash short of reaching her eyes.
“Would you care for something to drink? Or eat?” Naosha asked, gesturing to the tray of confections waiting beside the tea on the low table in front of her.
“Tea would be appreciated,” Yasgrid said, taking one of the seats beside the sofa Naosha was on. “It was a longer trip to return here than I had realized.”
Naosha nodded, the news coming as no surprise to her, and poured Yasgrid a generous cup of the hearty red tea which seemed to have been perfectly steeped. Kayelle sat as well, and took the next cup, which her mother offered after no more than a shared glance between the two.
“You are in need of my assistance,” Naosha said. “You wish to identify one of the former Bearers?”
Yasgrid blinked and paused as she brought the tea to her lips. She’d expected she would need to explain the events of the last several days but Naosha seemed well enough informed that she didn’t need a recounting, at least not as the first order of business.
“We do,” Yasgrid said. “She seems to have become something else.”
“And is likely the one behind the army of Troubles which attempted to overthrow Blue Falls,” Naosha said.
“Possibly. We don’t have proof, but she does seem to be able to command Troubles, so…” Yasgrid left the idea lingering there.
“So she has capabilities we are not aware of,” Naosha said, and sipped from her own tea.
“Including the ability to scry distant locations, potentially anywhere in the Darkwood,” Yasgrid said. Which, of course, meant the woman-in-shadows could be listening to them as they spoke.
“Not here,” Naosha said. “We may discuss matters safe from prying eyes or ears here.”
“You arranged for runes to be carved into the room?” Yasgrid asked. It was the only measure she knew for blocking inimical magic out, but it was a Stoneling technique, no one in the Darkwood could have access to it, could they?
“No. The tea,” Naosha said. “You may take a pouch of it if you like. The brewing is simple. So long as you allow the aroma to spread, the area it covers will deceive the eyes and ears of the unwelcome.”
Yasgrid breathed in and searched for the magic in the scented air. She felt nothing like the magic she was familiar with, but there was something which filled her lungs, something small, and subtle, and oh so easy to overlook.
Rather like the woman before her.
“If we can speak freely, there’s a lot I can tell you,” Yasgrid said.
“There is much I would like to know,” Naosha said. “The foremost of my questions being how the person you called the woman-in-shadows is still alive when I’m reasonably sure I killed her several decades ago.”
Side B – Nia
Nia and Margrada shared a glance which spoke volumes. The sign on the tavern door spoke of a madwoman. They both knew exactly who that was, they both knew roughly what they would find if they managed to get inside, and they both knew that, no matter how little they wanted to deal with the fallout of Osdora’s passage, skipping past the tavern wasn’t going to be an option.
“We could go back and get Pelegar to deal with this?” Nia suggested. It wasn’t a terrible idea. Drum Master Pelegar had been on the road for decades. She knew all about dealing with temperamental band members and the havoc they could cause. Nia guessed Pelegar probably even had access to a warchest of money to pay for the damages a traveling Shatter Band was bound to leave behind.
“If we’re gonna catch her, we don’t have time to get Pelegar,” Margrada said and marched up to the door with Nia in her wake. “Hey!” she shouted as she knocked on the door with the bottom of her fist.
From inside, Nia heard the sound of breaking glass.
“Gods burn it! We’re closed! Can’t you read!”
Margrada knocked again and Nia heard someone large jump to their feet and stomp towards the door.
“I said we’re closed!” The tavern keeper was just as big as Nia remembered him being.
The black eye was new though.
“Yeah, we’re not here for food,” Margrada said. “Which way did she go?”
“Who?” the tavern keeper asked.
“Who do you think?” Margrada asked.
“Oh. Her. Straight to the bottom of a caldera for all I care,” he said.
“That’s not helpful,” Margrada said. “Which way did she go when she left here?”
“Helpful!” The tavern keeper’s good eye couldn’t have widened any further. “You want to be helpful, you’ll tell your band of miscreants to never darken my doorstep again. We hear any of you are in a party that comes in, none of you are getting served!”
“I’m not going to ask again,” Margrada said. “Which. Way. Did. She. Go?”
“And I’m telling you…” the tavern keeper began to say but Nia cut him off.
“You’re telling us what we want to know, so we can bring Osdora back and make her pay for all this,” Nia said. “Plus a tip big enough to cover the hassle she caused, and your, um, medical concerns.”
It wasn’t anywhere near as smooth as Naosha would have been. Nia knew if her mother had been present, the tavern keeper would have wound up blessing the day Osdora had wrecked his fine establishment. She wasn’t her mother though. She was just Nia, clumsy, unintuitive, Nia.
But sometimes that was enough.
“She’ll do that?” the tavern keeper asked.
“Of course,” Nia said, certain that once Osdora calmed down, she’d want to make things right where she’d caused unwarranted trouble. “But we need to find her before we can bring her back.”
“You’ll need a demon’s own luck for that,” the tavern keeper said. “Not to mention some wings of your own.”
“Wings?” Margrada asked.
“Aye. Wings. Seeing as how she flew away from here, I can’t see you catching her without them.”