[coronatiger]

20th of Ratanu, year 412 (continued)

One of the Golden Arrow servants scrutinized the document. He didn’t just look at the signature as I had expected, but presumably looked for any changes “Platycon” may have made to the document. I asked for my three gold pieces back. The servant thought I was hilarious, but I said I thought the money was only a deposit for the papers. He opened a drawer and took out three coins. “I think it was these three…”

“Of course, you’ll get them right back when I pay for the apartment,” I told the servant. We tossed a couple of jokes back and forth before I turned serious again. We agreed that I should pay twenty-five gold for two weeks’ rent. I counted out the money, but he returned one of the gold coins, since he liked me. I put that coin into a pocket instead of the pouch where I kept the rest of the money.

We joked some more before I asked for keys to the apartment. Since it was me, he waived the deposit for them, and handed over two keys, which I put in the pouch. After a few last witticisms, I said goodbye. He said he’d look forward to seeing me again soon, but I revealed that my master hadn’t told me whether or not I would return to the Golden Arrow with him.

I kept an eye out for anyone following me on my walk back to the poor quarter. I couldn’t see anybody, but that could just mean that they were skilled. More likely, nobody followed me. It would be bad for business if the customers of the Golden Arrow discovered that the landlord was spying.

It was approaching lunchtime when I got back to the inn, at least for me. I was getting hungry, but there weren’t many people in the common room. None of my friends were there, so I went up to the room I shared with Yana. I knocked and let Yana hear my voice before I entered.

“Hey there, Sweetie! How did it go?” Yana looked up from her flower sewing and beamed at me when I came in. She put down her work and stood up while I crossed the room. “Hey there, yourself,” I replied and gave Yana a hug. “It went as well as could be expected. We can move in tonight as planned. Are you as hungry as I am?” “Yeah, I could eat,” Yana said. I asked if she preferred to eat in the common room, or if she’d like me to fetch food up to our room. Yana answered that my current disguise didn’t fit in at a dump like this, and decided to go herself and fetch something for us. On the way out, she asked if she should inform our friends that I had returned. “Sure,” I said. “And you can invite them to eat with us if you want.”

Wolfram came across the hall and asked what the plan was. I reminded him that we’d leave for the Anati temple so we’d arrive before sunset. After the bath, Yana and I would check in at the Golden Arrow, and tomorrow, we’d fetch Xipil so he could search for artifacts. Wolfram thought we needed to talk again before Yana and I vanished into the Golden Arrow, to decide how we were going to communicate since the others couldn’t simply walk in and ask for us. I said we could talk while Yana and I were putting on our disguises. Wolfram was fine with that. To my surprise, he left.

Yana brought lunch shortly thereafter. She only had enough for the two of us, so I asked if none of the others wanted to spend time with us. Yana replied that she hadn’t asked anyone to join us; she had just informed them that I was back and that everything was going according to plan. I didn’t take offense at Yana’s selective hearing; being alone with her was as nice as lying in a snake pit.

Yana offered to go and hire a wagon for our trip to the temple district. I said it wasn’t necessary. Wolfram needed my river thistle to get through the crowds at the gates to the temple district, as wagons weren’t allowed to drive through. If I dosed him before we left the inn, it would last more than long enough for him to walk across town and into the Anati temple. Hiring a wagon would only be a waste of money.

After we had eaten, we discussed the disguises we would use at the Golden Arrow. I would be Platycon, a young nobleman who had taken rooms there to spend some time with his mistress; Yana would play the part of the mistress, Lind. I’d reuse the Biskutello outfit, but we spent some time composing Yana’s disguise. It had to be classy.

When we were satisfied with Yana’s disguise, she started making flowers again. This seemed to be her new hobby, and unless she gave them away while I wasn’t looking, she had to have a sack full of them by now. We talked about the latest fashion, and time just flew by.

Yana did pause her flower work to take my measurements for the dress she had promised to make. I asked when she was planning to start working on it, and she said I had to be patient. “I have to get through this flower phase first. Then we’ll see. If nothing more urgent comes up, I can start on the dress.” I didn’t think it was necessary for me to be completely naked while Yana took the measurements, but she insisted. It was quite chilly in our room, but Yana’s eyes and hands warmed me right up. I put on my own clothes when Yana was done groping me; I wasn’t going to wear a disguise to see a priestess.

An hour before sunset, I alerted Grogg and Hylda, and then Wolfram and Xipil, that it was time to go. I asked Wolfram for permission to inject him with river thistle and prepared my syringe. “Sit still,” I instructed. I knew what I was doing, but piercing someone’s neck with a sharp object is never totally safe.

I took the party to the east temple district gate, believing that route would pass the fewest people. There were some people outside that gate arguing about Ratanu’s money book, of all things. It was the wrong place to have that discussion, right in front of the book and the temple guards, some of whom were surely Ratanu worshippers.

Wolfram grabbed my hand to steady himself for passing these people. I wasn’t worried that Yana would get jealous; she held my other hand and was surely aware why Wolfram acted so clingy. I was more concerned about having neither hand free to draw a weapon should danger present itself, but I couldn’t let go of either of them. I told Wolfram it would be fine; I’d get him safely through the gate. I spoke soothingly to him all the way through and didn’t let go of his hand until we were inside and had put the crowd behind us.

Xipil was concerned that we didn’t have a guide to the Anati temple as last time. I didn’t share his concern. I said we knew where we were going. I planned to stride into the temple like I owned the place, and if we were challenged, respond confidently and politely. I knew social interaction wasn’t a strength among my companions, but there was no need for them to worry while Yana and I were there to handle it. They weren’t quite on the level of incorrigible barbarians, so I was reasonably certain they wouldn’t mess things up.

I led the way inside the temple the same way we had gone before. We passed a large room where some worshippers were being washed in alcoves on the far side. The priestesses attending them paid us no mind, but Xipil’s eyes were all over the place, which caused another priestess to pick up that he didn’t think he had a right to be there. Xipil was walking behind the rest of us and held back at the door out of the big room. The priestess asked him if we knew where we were going, and he said yes, which soothed the priestess and she continued on her way. The rest of us waited outside the dressing room for Xipil to catch up.

Wolfram was as uncomfortable as always when we all took our clothes off and put them in chests. To break the awkward silence, Hylda said, “An Anati temple, Grogg? You know you won’t get anything here.” She was of course talking about sex. The priestesses here had frowned on Yana and me sitting near each other in the pool.

Yana and I sat on a bench, watching the room and waiting for the bell to ring. We showed no signs of amusement to the others, but it was funny to witness especially how Wolfram looked up at me from time to time, as if to ask how long we were going to wait, but one glance at my nudity chased his eyes back to the floor.

After ten minutes with no bell, I got up and peeked inside. On the other side of the pool, a few priestesses were doing some tidying-up. “Wait here,” I said to Yana, but I swept my eyes over the others as if to include them. I went inside and let the priestesses notice me. One of them came over and asked me to wait, so I went back to the dressing room.