The Silver Sphinx

 

"A secret's worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept." ¹⁾  

 

 

Fourth Lady's Day of Savorus Day, 126 HR

When Erin and Sarin approached the fountain, they were apparently engrossed in an intense conversation. Since they were not too far away, Naghûl quickly stood up and deactivated the crystal that created the sonic barrier around the fountain. The others looked at him in surprise, and the Sensate nodded briefly in the direction of the approaching factols.

“Sarin, wait a minute,” they heard Erin say, as soon as the invisible barrier had fallen. “Surely we can talk about this in peace.”

“What should we talk about, Lady Erin?” the paladin replied with an impatient undertone. ”You've made your point more than clear.”

Lereia, Jana and Sgillin got up as well when the two factols approached the benches, but they were so absorbed in their conversation that they hadn't yet noticed them.

“I love flowery periphrases,” Erin said placatingly. “Come, let's sit down and talk.”

“All right.” Sarin sighed audibly. ”Let's talk about it.”

Only now did they both look at the benches around the fountain and paused. The Chosen bowed in greeting, and Naghûl got a sinking feeling. Did Sarin already know ...?

The paladin's gaze darkened promptly when he discovered Sgillin. “Ha!” he exclaimed.

Naghûl closed his eyes. Of course he knew ...

Erin also knew what was stirring her colleague and put out her hand in a conciliatory manner, without touching him, though. “Sarin, please ...”

“Don't!” the paladin interrupted her unusually harshly and walked past her. “May I, my lady?”

She bit her lip but didn't say another word, while Lereia stared at Sarin in shock.

The Harmonium's factol approached Sgillin quickly and purposefully. “You!”

Naghûl exchanged a quick glance with his factol, who buried her face in her hands. Sgillin took a step back from Sarin, but the paladin closed the distance between them with two more swift steps. Without hesitation, he reached for Sgillin's throat with his left hand. He was very fast and the ranger was too surprised to react. Within the blink of an eye, Sarin had seized him by the collar.

“Fact...” Naghûl started to say, but swallowed the rest at a warning look from Erin.

Lereia, on the other hand, took a step forward, apparently almost unwittingly. “Factol ...” she said, breathlessly.

Sarin held Sgillin firmly by the throat with his left hand and gave Lereia a piercing look. “Silence!” he ordered her.

Although they had often experienced Sarin as stern and sometimes even brusque, they had never seen this side of him before. At that moment, there was nothing left of the paladin's chivalry; only the harsh commanding tone of a general and law enforcer remained. Lereia stared at him wide-eyed, but said nothing more. Probably it was better that way ... Sarin's blazing wrath, not hidden in the slightest, awakened in Naghûl the urge to hide behind his factol. Jana, too, had taken several steps back as a precaution. Erin, on the other hand, had the presence of mind to quickly reactivate the crystal at the edge of the fountain.

Sgillin squirmed in the paladin's grasp and coughed a little. “What's ... the point of that?” he managed to say.

Sarin's thumb lay over the half-elf's larynx, but apparently not firmly enough to really suffocate him. “What kind of game do you think you can play with me?” the paladin snapped at the ranger.

“I'm not playing any game with you at all,” Sgillin replied, panting. ”What are you talking about?”

Horrified, Naghûl shook his head at these words. It had to be clear to his friend by now that Sarin knew about him and the Razor Angels. Denying it would only enrage the Harmonium's factol even more. Which was certainly a bad idea ... Clueless and ignorant , the tiefling thought to himself. But that wouldn't help him here ...

“Don't!” Sarin growled immediately. “You're not nearly as clueless as you're acting!”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Sgillin insisted. He had since stopped squirming in Sarin's grip and kept still, whereupon the paladin loosened his fingers a little.

Erin cautiously stepped forward, but said nothing yet, while Lereia looked back and forth between Sarin and her, clearly frightened.

Jana was still standing a little further back, but now risked a shy interjection. “Um ... he's just a clueless, Factol.”

“Did I ask you?” Sarin cut her short before turning back to Sgillin. ”Which faction do you belong to?”

Almost unconsciously, Naghûl folded his hands and placed them in front of his mouth. In his mind, he pleaded with his friend not to do anything foolish. Sgillin probably had no idea how precariously he was walking on a razor's edge.

“No ... no faction,” the half-elf managed to utter as Sarin tightened his grip a bit. “Still not ... just a group ...”

“Oh, really?” The factol's eyes seemed to spray sparks of rage. ”And what group is that?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Naghûl saw Erin watching everything intently, waiting for the right moment.

“They call themselves ... Razor Angels,” Sgillin replied, not without some difficulty.

Sarin frowned and shook the half-elf briefly. “By the Lady's Blades! I want to know if you're an Anarchist!”

“No, of course not,” the ranger replied. ”Why should I?”

The pressure of Sarin's hand on Sgillin's throat seemed to increase noticeably, and Naghûl closed his eyes.

“You have the audacity to lie to my face?” The paladin's voice had gained volume and his tone was more than alarming.

Lereia was trembling with tension and fear and looked helplessly from one to the other. “Please, Factol,” she turned to Sarin in a pleading tone. “Please let him explain.”

“He doesn't know any better,” Jana added quietly.

Naghûl could see how, after the initial shock, another emotion replaced the feeling of being overwhelmed in Sgillin's eyes: anger. “I'm not lying!” he retorted fiercely. ”I'm not an Anarchist, a terrorist or anything else. The politics ... of the factions in Sigil ... don't interest me in the slightest. I ... am with a group that saved my ass ... and that, in my opinion, is doing the right thing ... and that has ... nothing to do with what I've heard from the Anarchists so far ...”

He had to catch his breath a few times because Sarin's hand was still tight around his throat. Then he looked the factol in the eye and held his withering look firmly and with a distinct expression of anger. Sarin's wrath, on the other hand, seemed to cool down suddenly, he became much calmer ... not a good sign, Naghûl was sure of that.

“As you say,” the paladin replied to Sgillins words. ”I can take you to Mallin right away.”

Exactly what he had feared ... The tiefling sensed a certain panic reaching for him with sharp claws, and a quick glance at Lereia told him that she felt the same way.

But this was the moment Erin had apparently been waiting for. “Sarin, please,” she said, gently but firmly. “If you respect my title or my person in any way, then not here. Not in my faction headquarters and not in this way.” She looked at him calmly but seriously.

The paladin returned her look for a few moments, and Naghûl, both relieved and fascinated, could see that his whole expression became a little more compliant. “You know that I respect you,“ he assured.

“Then accede to my request,” Erin replied, still calm and without breaking eye contact for a second.

A certain irony found its way into Sarin's voice. “Shall we talk again?”

“Yes.” The factol of the Sensates smiled gently. “Please let him speak.”

“First of all,” Sgillin added, now with a certain amount of caution again, “First of all, Factol, you could let go of me.”

“Please,” Naghûl added quickly, as if it were said by the half-elf.

Sarin sighed a little, then he actually let go of Sgillin, but not without immediately giving him a rough push in the direction of the bench. “Sit down!”

Erin breathed a sigh of relief and Lereia apparently wanted to rush to Sgillin's side, but then held back. The half-elf stumbled towards the bench, his eyes still sparkling with anger. Naghûl prayed inwardly that he wouldn't do anything stupid now. But luckily he was not that rash, he knew the Cage at least well enough to know that in his situation any reckless action towards a factol of Sigil would have been suicide. So he merely adjusted his clothes and then sat down, his face stony.

Sarin took a seat opposite him and scrutinized him. “Stop it,“ he said in a warning tone. “Kiyoshi has told me everything.”

A little hesitantly, Naghûl raised his hand. “With all due respect, factol. May I say something?”

“No,” Sarin replied curtly.

The brusque answer did not surprise the tiefling, who lowered his hand again and remained silent.

The paladin turned to the half-elf. “So. Have you joined the Anarchists or not?”

He seemed calmer now, but Naghûl knew that utmost caution was still in order. He hoped by the Lady's Blades that Sgillin was aware of this as well.

“As I said, no,” the ranger replied earnestly. ”I have not pledged allegiance to the Anarchists or anyone else. Neither to them nor to their goals, which I only know from hearsay. Why should I? Since I arrived in Sigil, I have fought for what I believe is good and have been on the brink of death more than once because of it.”

Lereia nodded in acknowledgment of these words and did not take her eyes off Sarin and Sgillin, although she seemed a little more composed since the factol at least no longer held her consort by the collar.

With a sigh, the paladin leaned back. “I don't even doubt that you want what is good. But I doubt that you will achieve it this way. So you don't carry an Anarchist amulet?”

“Factol, to be honest, I don't have the slightest idea of the heraldry of Sigil.” Sgillin shook his head. ”I only know about it since Morânia and Naghûl almost went at my throat because of it.”

“So you carry it,“ Sarin stated, unyielding.

“Yes, I carry it,” the half-elf admitted. “To me, it stands for the group that helped me and whose goals I consider to be rather honorable. But I don't support the Anarchists.”

The Harmonium's factol raised an eyebrow. ”Certainly not a legal group, I assume.”

“Whatever one can assume to be legal in the Hive,” Naghûl interjected.

It had just slipped out, and he immediately bit his lip when Sarin and Erin gave him a sharp look.

“I don't know,” Sgillin readily explained. ”But they stand up for the poorest in the Hive, that's enough for me. Should they ever use means that I disapprove of, such as terror or the like ... I'll have worn the amulet for the last time. By the way, they also helped us indirectly when we solved the Hive Strangler Murders.”

Sarin scrutinized the half-elf closely, taking in his every word. A certain hardness gradually faded from his gaze, even though his expression remained serious. “I see. And these people are an Anarchist cell, yes?”

“I have no idea.” Sgillin shrugged. “I haven't known them that long.”

“But they gave you the amulet?”

The ranger nodded. “Yes, but I don't know what they associate with it. In any case, what they told me doesn't match what I've heard about the Anarchists so far.”

“Small wonder ...” Sarin remarked sarcastically.

Sgillin buried his face in his hands for a moment and sighed deeply. “Factol ... Why should I join a faction that works against everything I consider good, in a city like Sigil that I have no real interest in? Have I given you or anyone else reason to accuse me of such a thing?”

“If you had given me reason to do so, you would have been arrested long ago,” Sarin replied seriously. ”But unfortunately Kiyoshi's report gives me reason to do so now.”

Erin took advantage of the brief silence that followed to quickly and quietly take a seat on the bench next to Sarin like a shadow. “But based on Kiyoshi's report,” she said, trying to mediate, “we also assume that it was an ... accident, right?” Lereia nodded in confirmation of Erin's words, and the factol now turned to Sgillin in a relatively friendly manner. “The reason why Sarin reacts so sharply here – and why I myself am anything but thrilled, too, even if I show it less – is that the Anarchists pose a threat to most of us, that they undermine the governmental system of Sigil and often resort to violence. Sometimes to quite extreme violence.”

Sgillin nodded gravely. “I am aware of that, Lady Erin. But I am not and will not be one of them. I was once told that in Sigil, you don't seek the faction; the faction seeks you. I was found by this group, and since I am neither a fanatic nor a terrorist, I assume that the Razor Angels do not have those interests either.”

There were some remarks Naghûl had been dying to make ever since Sarin had arrived, but so far, he had controlled himself with great effort. Now, however, he dared to raise his hand again.

Sarin saw it and shook his head in exasperation. “My goodness, you Sensates are a pushy bunch. What is it?”

Erin smiled gently and Naghûl hurried to bow gratefully when the paladin allowed him to speak. “Thank you, Factol Sarin. I just want to make a few important points. For one thing, there are indeed Anarchist cells that, while not approving of the system, pursue goals that may even be partially commendable.”

Sarin snorted disparagingly but listened.

“Of course, this is rare,” the tiefling admitted right away. ”But one of these cells helped Sgillin. Furthermore, we may have to operate in the Hive again sometime. And it certainly doesn't hurt to be able to hope for some support there. Thank you, Factol.”

Sarin had already started to make a remark during Naghûl's statement, but Erin had gently placed a hand on his forearm and he had let the tiefling speak. “Thank you for this little lecture, factotum,” he then replied. ”I will now be kind enough to fulfill my duty to explain the legal situation on this point. Anarchy is defined as any conscious act that directly or indirectly aims to or tends toward destabilizing or damaging the governing institutions of Sigil, that is, the factions. Each faction represents an important aspect of Sigil, so an attack on the factions or on one of the factions is an attack on Sigil itself. This is punishable by death without the possibility of appeal or pardon .”

Jana raised her eyebrows when the Harmonium's factol had the wording of the law at the ready so quickly, without having to think about it, and Lereia put her hands on Sgillin's shoulders while she continued to eye Sarin with great concern.

“So.” The paladin looked sternly at the half-elf. “This is the letter of the law. And since you are carrying the amulet, you will find it difficult to deny your membership. But you will surely notice something in the wording of the text.”

Sgillin nodded slowly. “Yes ... the words conscious act .”

“Correct,” Sarin confirmed calmly. ”Any conscious act is considered anarchy. You should know that this is an interesting and unusual point. The laws of Sigil rarely grant leniency for ignorance.”

“And I will not be committing any such conscious acts either,” the half-elf assured. “I want to fulfill our purpose here and then never set foot in this city again.”

The Harmonium's factol looked at Sgillin earnestly for a while and then nodded. “I believe you. But this matter might take longer than any of us would like, and our attitudes towards it won't change anything. I would therefore like to say a few words about your new membership. I'm not happy about it, that's for sure. I also find it questionable that you turned to some gang in the Hive in your situation and not to your friends or a faction like the Harmonium, which is responsible exactly for such matters. But I believe Kiyoshi, that it was a kind of accident that you ended up with the Anarchists. And I also believe your own words. Therefore, in this case, the laws of Sigil do not require immediate punishment. However, I openly admit that I do not yet know exactly how to proceed with you.”

“We should also discuss this with the others,” the factol of the Sensates gently interjected.

Sarin furled his eyebrows. ”You see, Erin, that's another thing. Suddenly having to discuss everything with you, Terrance, Rhys and Ambar ... that also sticks in my craw.”

“It sticks in your craw to talk to me?” Erin put on an indignant expression. “You're being particularly ungallant today.”

“You know what I mean,” the paladin explained with a placatory gesture. ”I only refer to faction matters.”

“Yes, yes.” Erin raised her eyebrows, but grinned a little. “You may prove me wrong by visiting the next opera.”

“But not the Ysgardian,” Sarin replied immediately.

Naghûl smiled a little, relieved that the more than critical situation seemed to wind down a bit. He gave the still nervous Lereia an encouraging look and was about to say something to her when the fountain caught his eye. Was there a glow in the water? Yes, indeed, it looked like a faint glow emanating from the lowest basin of the cascading fountain. The tiefling walked around the bench behind which he was standing, and approached the rippling water. When he looked into the basin, he actually saw something there ... Similar to what had happened recently at Lake Serene in Elysium, a sign formed in the water. But this was different from a few days ago.

“Naghûl?” he heard Erin's astonished voice behind him. ”Are you looking for something?”

“Yes ...” he replied, almost absent-mindedly, without taking his eyes off the water. “A sign ...”

Curious, Jana now also approached the fountain. “Do you see one right now?”

Naghûl nodded, eying the sign in the water, memorizing it carefully. He thought for a moment, then drew a small dagger from its sheath on his belt, that was more suited for peeling fruit than as a real weapon. He went to one of the benches and began to carve the sign he had just seen into the wood. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Erin folding her arms next to him.

“The benches are made of Arborean gold pine ... Just thought I'd mention it.”

Naghûl gave her an apologetic look but continued carving. He didn't have any paper or a coal pencil at hand and didn't want to forget the sign in case it should simply disappear after a while.

Sarin looked at Erin and raised his eyebrows meaningfully. “Interesting what you're doing here in the Festhall,” he remarked in an undertone of irony.

“Ha ha,” the factol of the Sensates replied, stepping closer to get a better look at Naghûl's carving.

Lereia, Sgillin and Jana also came over. After the tiefling had finished, he put the dagger back into its sheath and looked at the intricate sign he had carved into the armrest of the bench.

“What does it mean?” Erin asked curiously.

“It's a sign I just saw in the water of the fountain,” Naghûl explained. “I wanted to write it down here so as not to forget it, so ...” He interrupted himself as the sign on the bench began to glow as well. “Do you see that too?”

“Yes,” Sgillin said. ”Or rather no. It's gone.”

“Gone?” The tiefling looked at the armrest of the bench - and realized that his new “decoration” had indeed disappeared. The wood was smooth and unscathed again, as if he had never used his dagger on it. But just above the corresponding spot, formed from fine, glowing lines, hovered exactly the same symbol as he had carved. It rose slowly, floated over to the fountain and sank into the water, exactly where he had originally seen the sign. The water began to glow again: a warm, golden light that pulsated slightly.

Naghûl ran to the fountain and stared into it. “Do … do you see that? Not, right?”

Sarin folded his arms and looked at him skeptically. “No, we don't see anything, factotum. What are you doing?”

“Could this symbol be meant to summon the Keeper and the Proclaimer?” Lereia wondered. “They did say that Naghûl would be able to find them with his gift.”

The tiefling nodded enthusiastically and looked at the symbol with shining eyes. “Yes, a good thought!”

Next to him, Erin clapped her hands with excitement, while Sgillin suddenly looked irritated at the dark bag he was carrying. “What ... is that supposed to mean? Something's moving there ...!” He quickly opened the bag, looked inside and then pulled something out.

It was a lantern in the shape of a skull. Naghûl recognized it immediately: These lamps had been distributed at Rock in the Ring last year, as a small souvenir for the audience. He had performed as the Blue Jay back then, together with his group Aucupium, with Sgillin as guitarist. He himself also had one of these lanterns, and actually they were just funny, harmless fun items. But now ... now the skull moved its jaw and wiggled back and forth.

“By all the hells ...” Sgillin exclaimed. “The lamp! It seems to want to say something ...”

He held the lantern a little higher, while the others curiously stepped closer. And indeed, the skull began to speak ... “ Symbol recognized ,” it said in a slightly creaky voice. “ Symbol ’the Keeper’ received. ”

It sounded vaguely familiar ... Yes, exactly! Naghûl remembered. The grotesque face in the Hive that had spoken to Kiyoshi near the Mortuary. Its voice had sounded similar, only older and more brittle.

“No architecturally anchored registration,” the skull continued. “No information recorded.”

With a questioning frown, Sarin looked at Naghûl, but the tiefling could only raise his hands in ignorance. “I don't understand it either ...”

“Symbol ‘The Keeper’ not geo-registered ...” the lantern continued. ”Symbol self-active ... Taking effect in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...”

Instinctively, they all took a step back from Sgillin and the lantern.

“Symbol is activated.“

At that same moment, the glow in the water faded and Naghûl's symbol had vanished again. “No!” he exclaimed. “You said it was activated! Why is it disappearing?”

The others looked at him helplessly, and Sgillin lowered the lantern, which had become lifeless again.

Naghûl looked around frantically to see if he could discover the symbol anywhere else, or perhaps a new one. Again, a glow caught his eye, but this time it emanated from a bird bath a few steps away. “I have an idea!” the tiefling exclaimed. “Come!”

He started running even as he spoke, and the others followed him, some of them curious, some of them confused.

Naghûl stopped abruptly at the bird bath and looked into it. And indeed ... “There it is again!”

“What is there?” Jana asked, frowning.

“The symbol!” The Sensate jumped up and down with excitement. “In the bird bath! Can't you see it?”

“No, unfortunately we can't see anything,” Lereia explained.

Sarin crossed his arms with a frown, while Sgillin let the lantern shine into the basin but also shook his head.

“Damn it, this is so unfair!” Erin put her hands on her hips. “Naghûl, you have to make your sensory stone accessible to me.”

“Of course, Factol!” the tiefling replied enthusiastically. ”It would be an honor and a pleasure! I ... oh, no! It's gone again ...” He quickly looked around as the symbol faded. “Maybe it moves?”

“Oh. Like a trace?” Lereia asked.

Naghûl nodded eagerly and ran to the next fountain, near the entrance to the Olympic Wing of the Festhall. And indeed, its water was glowing now, and he could see the sign inside. ”Yes, there it is!”

“Maybe it will lead us to her?“ Lereia said hopefully. “To the Keeper.”

“Oh yes!” Erin clapped her hands with excitement, while Sarin sighed a little, but followed the group into the Festhall.

“I hope we don't have to look into all fountains in Sigil now ...” Sgillin interjected, still holding the skull lantern in his hand.

“Oh, by the Lady!“ Naghûl waved off the half-elf’s remark, not willing to let his excitement and enthusiasm for what was happening be dampened in any way. “Onward!”

Without looking back to see if the others were following him, he ran to the next fountain, which was located near the famous group of figures The Beast and the Huntress . As he had hoped, the water glowed and showed the mysterious symbol. As soon as the glow faded, Naghûl looked at the fountain further back in the main hall – but nothing.

“I don't see anything back there,” he said excitedly. ”So it's probably in front of the main entrance!”

He hurried past Splitter, the golden-skinned guard and reception master of the Festhall, and stormed through the tall entrance gate, the others close on his heels. The bystanders looked rather bewildered as the group left the Festhall, including a childlike enthusiastic Erin, a somewhat strained Sarin and a half-elf brandishing a skull lantern ... Most of them needed a while to compose themselves and hastily took a bow, and everyone stared curiously after the group. Naghûl, however, saw a glow in the water of the fountain in front of the Festhall, as he had hoped. It jumped to a nearby bird bath, then to a puddle and to a barrel of rainwater. The tiefling didn't stop, but sprinted from water surface to water surface, assuming and convinced that the others would follow him. Since it was a rather rare sight to see two factols walking through the Clerk's Ward in such a hurry and excitement, numerous curious glances followed them. Neither Sarin nor Erin seemed to mind at the moment. However, Naghûl could see out of the corner of his eye that the factol of the Harmonium didn't leave his colleague's side and occasionally shooed some overly curious bystanders away so that they wouldn't get too close to Erin. Despite all the excitement about the invisible sign, he apparently saw himself primarily as a member of the Harmonium who had to ensure the safety of a factol of Sigil.

Naghûl hoped that Sgillin wouldn't be right and that the sign wouldn't lead them through half of Sigil and possibly even into the Hive. Erin wouldn't hesitate to follow him, but this scenario would have went too far even for the usually carefree tiefling. But luckily they seemed to be spared this dilemma, because the sign finally jumped from a small wall fountain to a water bucket that was standing right in front of the Limbo Bar. Naghûl had not been there since he had introduced his wife Morânia to the others as one of the Chosen. However, it seemed that they should enter now, because the sign in the water of the wooden bucket faded and otherwise no glow or shine was visible in the street. Without hesitation, the tiefling therefore opened the door and stormed in. It was still early in the evening and not many guests were present yet, but the bar was clearly in a nervous uproar at the presence of the two factols. Sarin made a placating gesture to signal to the people to stay calm and just keep drinking their Changing Beer.

Erin, on the other hand, excitedly tugged at Naghûl's sleeve. “And now? Where is it?”

The tiefling looked around – it was no longer as easy to see a trace of the sign here inside the bar as it was outside. The glass lanterns filled with chaos matter, hanging by the dozens from the ceiling, bathed the room in a diffuse light that changed color and brightness at irregular intervals. The colorfully illuminated shelves behind the bar did their part to make it difficult to discern a soft glow here. Naghûl had to walk to several tables before he finally spotted the sign in the glass of a fire genasi, who looked at him irritated and immediately moved his chair away from the table when he saw Sarin approaching.

But by then Tiefling had hurried on. “This way!” he shouted, following the glowing trail from glass to glass across the bar.

The trace ended at another door, the one to the rentable rooms of the Limbo Bar. Without thinking or waiting, Naghûl opened it and stepped into the hallway behind. Several doors led off from it, but which was the right one? Feverishly, the tiefling let his gaze wander through the corridor. And then he actually recognized a soft glow in a vase of flowers that was standing on a small table next to the penultimate door. In his excitement, Naghûl forgot all decency, simply opened the door without knocking and stormed into the room. And indeed, directly opposite the entrance, on a low sofa, sat a lupinal with light-gray fur and a turquoise-green dress, who had just been reading a book - Elyria. Her sapphire-blue eyes looked at Naghûl kindly, but not particularly surprised, when he burst into her room in such an unannounced and also uncouth manner.

“There she is!” he exclaimed triumphantly.

Lereia entered the room behind him, but more measuredly and slowly, then paused and smiled when she saw Elyria. “Keeper, I greet you,” she said, bowing her head politely.

The lupinal stood up and curtsied, deepening the bow when she caught sight of the two factols. “Mishakal's blessing.”

“Oh … yes.” Naghûl was still elated, but now remembered his manners and bowed. “Lady's Grace, Keeper.”

Sgillin, Jana, Sarin and Erin had now also entered, and the factol of the Sensates closed the door quietly behind her.

The paladin bowed slightly before the lupinal. “So you're the Keeper?”

“That's right,” Elyria replied with a smile. ”I knew that Naghûl's gift would find me.”

“And my lamp,“ Sgillin interjected with a grin.

Naghûl was still beaming. “This is incredible.”

Lereia also seemed excited and pleased. “Yes, that's what Lady Elyria told us in Elysium,” she explained, addressing Sarin and Erin. “They want to partake the next time we meet.”

The paladin eyed the lupinal, then let his gaze briefly wander across the room, but could not discover anyone else. “Excuse me,” he turned to Elyria. “May I ask where your ... cavalier ... no.” He interrupted himself. “Poorly put, isn't it?”

Elyria nodded. ”Sir Lorias.” She didn't seem to take offense at Sarin's wording, but she became more serious when the paladin of Nobanion was mentioned. “Well, there was a small ... incident.”

The enthusiasm faded from Erin's face, giving way to a worried expression. “What happened? By the Lady ... He's not …?”

Sarin's gaze was alarmed as well. “Is he all right? Is he ... still alive?”

“In a manner of speaking ...” The lupinal sighed deeply.

Sgillin frowned. “In a manner of speaking, he's all right or in a manner of speaking, he's still alive?”

“Well, that ...” Elyria's ears twitched a little. ”It's best if he tells you himself at the meeting we'll be sure to hold. It wasn't planned that way, but ... it won't deter us from our task.”

Perplexed, Lereia looked at the others and then back at Elyria. Naghûl also couldn't make sense of the Keeper's words and was about to ask a question, but the lupinal fended him off with a brief gesture. “I fear I have already said too much. Forgive me, I do not wish to tell more in his absence. But I can assure you that Sir Lorias will attend the gathering.”

Sarin frowned. “You're doing quite well as a mysterious Proclaimer, I have to say.”

“Keeper,” Lereia corrected quietly and then cleared her throat apologetically. “Excuse me.” When the paladin merely waved her off graciously, the young woman turned back to the lupinal. “And now you will remain here in Sigil?”

Lady Elyria nodded. “I think that is my task for the time being. But I can only tell you everything when Sir Lorias is present as well. We have to do this together.”

There was one thing that Naghûl had been dying to ask all along, and now he couldn't hold back any longer. “The only question is where you will stay during this time. Not here in the Limbo Bar, I assume.” He glanced at Erin. “Factol, may I?”

She nodded with a knowing smile. ”Go ahead.”

The tiefling bowed to the lupinal. “Lady Elyria, it would be our pleasure to invite you to stay at the Civic Festhall during your time in Sigil. We will make your stay as comfortable as possible.”

“In the Festhall?” The Keeper smiled. “How could I say no?”

“Wait a moment,” the factol of the Harmonium objected immediately. “Is it safe enough there?”

Erin shot him a reproving glance. “Sarin, please ...”

He raised his eyebrows. ”The question was a sincere one, Lady Erin.”

Naghûl saw Sgillin roll his eyes briefly, taking advantage of the moment when the paladin was completely focused on the Keeper.

The lupinal gave Sarin a hesitant look. “Um ... the Barracks are certainly an honorable and ... interesting place,” she said cautiously. “A very safe place, but ...”

“But no one is assigned there against their will if they haven't done anything wrong,” Erin said reassuringly, eyeing her colleague with a stern look. “Right?”

Sarin raised his hands in defense. “All right, it was just a remark. Calm down, my lady, what's the matter with you today?”

“Strange.” Erin arched one of her copper-colored eyebrows. “I wanted to ask you the same thing, earlier in the garden ...”

Sarin shook his head, though not without a slight amusement. ”Very funny.”

Naghûl had to suppress a smirk and Erin turned back to Elyria with a small grin. “You are cordially invited to the Festhall.”

“Then I gladly accept the invitation,” the Keeper replied with a smile. “Let's meet in two days, and we'll tell you what we know.”

 

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played October 12, 2012

1) Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind