137. Lore Society: Ruku.

I sat in an outdoor cafe area across from the Lore Society. I was dressed in my fancy clothes, and I had purchased one of the shoulder bags that were popular here. In the Kingdom, it would be looked at as a woman's bag. It was bigger than that, but everybody had them here. They were made from fabric and were quite colourful. I ordered a strange drink, made from some type of beans, called a coffee. We will see what it tastes like. I was waiting for Gwaed.

I finished my pastry when a very colourfully dressed human woman sat opposite me.

“It is good to see you have gone native,” Gwaed said. She had done something to conceal her elven features again. I had forgotten she could do that. I am really floundering here.

I nodded at her, “It is good to see you. I guess you have somewhere to stay?”

It was her turn to nod, “I rented a small apartment not far from here. It is on the second story with a balcony, so has easy access for Sugnwr. It has a spare room if you need somewhere.”

“I am good. I have an Inn where I have a view of the harbour. You have started searching already?” I asked.

“Yes. Merch is moving through different market areas, trying to find the markets we saw her in through their smell. Esgyn is over the city now, trying to sense major decay. He is a bit too obvious, though. I will send him away soon. Sugnwr will go out tonight,” Gwaed replied.

She moved quickly. It is a big city, and even if we find her, it might take some time to work out how to kill her.

“What about you?” Gwaed asked.

“The Navy is super busy. Two ships came, and three departed overnight. Prep for war, probably. I am going to need to get in there, as that is almost certainly where the civilians are. I don’t have the skills for it, though.” I replied.

“You don’t need the skills,” she said pointedly, looking directly at where Wai was under my shirt. How she knew he was there, I don’t know. Probably a blood thing. She had a point. Wai could get in and find something specific. I had spent some time with Abigail and could give Wai enough for him to find her. It is a shame I didn’t have Olfaction then, as tracking by smell would be the best, but visual would work as well. It would just take him longer.

“Point taken,” I said.

“What are we going to do about that?” she asked, nodding to the Lore Society across the road.

“First, we must consider if we really need to get in there. Is it worth a possible manhunt?” that was one of the results of it going wrong.

“It would help with my alchemy. I am close, but I am missing something, and I think it is an ingredient. I think they will have what I need. There is no civilian alchemist in fire or explosives. They are all recruited into the military or trained by them,” she explained. “Besides, we might also find something to inform us about slavery.”

“I don’t have the skills to get in and out without it being noticed. I am used to a smash-in-the-front door type of approach.” I said.

“I don’t have the skills either,” Gwaed said.

“Your life of crime didn’t teach you that?” I asked.

“I was more into enforcement and discipline,” she replied. “What a waste of two decades,” she added regretfully.

“I guess Merch and Wai can explore, but they can’t read,” I said.

“I might pay for a consultation with a Society member. The trouble is if I ask about anything that can be weaponised, I am likely to get a visit from the Inquisition,” she said, “I can ask about general alchemy, and I might get a glimpse of what they have.”

“Take Wai with you, and we can get some idea of the layout of the place.” I reached over and shook her hand, and Wai slipped out from under my sleeve into hers.

She stood up to leave. “My apartment is on Fifth Ave, three doors down from Cobble lane. It is above Albert’s Astute Attire, apartment 2D. The balcony looks out over the backyard and alley, and it is an easy climb.”

“I am at the Harbourview Guest House, just inside the Seaman District on Harbour Boulevard, which is the main road to the docks.” I watched her wander across the road and enter the Lore Society building. She was only in there for about ten minutes before she came back out.

She came back over to me, “I made an appointment with the Society Alchemist for tomorrow. You might want to find somewhere less obvious to wait.” She had left Wai in the building, so I would want to concentrate on the senses coming through the bond for a few hours. “Follow me. I saw a place down this way.”

I got up and paid for the lunch. Coffee was not my favourite, but I could get used to it. It was better with goat's milk. She led me to Cara’s Bath and Masseuse and booked us the full session, which would take us about four hours. I was assigned a curvy female as a bathing assistant and masseuse, and Gwaed got a well-built male. Both were slaves and barely dressed. It was clear there were additional services available, but I declined. With a slave, you could never tell if they wanted to be there. Gwaed declined as well, but I think that was mostly because she couldn’t maintain the image of being a human if she had sex. Female Elves only looked different to humans with their eyes and ears, which Gwaed was well practised at hiding, but they were very different on the inside. Apparently. I don’t have personal experience. Elven males were more obvious as they had retractable male organs.

Relaxing in the baths and on the masseuse's table meant I could give my full attention to my bond. It was afternoon, so there were people in the Lore Society, so Wai had to be very careful. He was making good use of his Stealth and Camouflage skills. I was using my Sense Spiritual Skill through the bond. It would be better if Wai had the skill, but it was still a new bond, and we had come a long way in a few months. Some books had a spiritual component, for example, Skill Books, and others absorbed Spiritual effects when they spent extended time with people who used Spiritual Skills frequently around them. For example, Enchanting and some Alchemy books. There were no such books on the ground floor.

There were stairs down to a basement and two stories up. I had Wai go down first. The basement had an open area and then a series of cubicles that could be curtained off. Consultation and reading spaces, I assume. There were also two vaults with a lot of enchantments. Wai followed a Lore member into one of them, and they felt like they were Skill books. I had used Skill books to train Commandos and had a class for it, so I was sure of what they were. Wai very nearly got locked into the vault. He was very lucky to get out still unseen.

It took Wai some time to get to the first floor. As he worked his way around the shelves, there was a smattering of books giving off a Spiritual vibe. I had no way to tell what they were, but if we did break in, I knew where to look first. There were reading spaces scattered around the floor, and it was halfway around that Wai struck trouble. There was a cat sunning itself in one of the reading nooks. I couldn’t tell if it was a bond or just a cat they kept to keep the pests away. It was sensitive and seemed to sense Wai or that something was there that shouldn’t be.

Wai had to use Water Sprint to avoid the pounce, and he ran up the wall where the cat couldn’t go. Unfortunately, he was quite visible against this wall, so he dashed for a bookcase, went into camouflage, and waited. The cat settled down, and he stealth along the books away from the cat. Hearing Aid would be useful, but neither of us had it. The remainder of the floor was a lot slower to avoid the cat, but I got a sense of the layout and where groups of Spiritually marked books were.

The top floor was more open and had a lot of scrolls and books locked in display cases. Most were giving Spiritual vibes. The top floor was only half the size of the building and opened to a rooftop garden. Wai didn’t bother going back down inside but went out into the garden and down the outside of the wall. As Wai was making his way towards us, we were lying on the masseuse table in post-massage bliss, knowing we had to get up but not wanting to.

We eventually made it outside. There were benefits to being in a city. Wai joined me, and we split from Gwaed to head to the Guest House. I am glad I had a relaxing afternoon. We all need downtime. It was also going to be a long night. There was an added benefit of the soaps and oils masking my scent tonight.