Wapasha Cat Triplets

Misae, Wayra, Ujarak

Species	Cougar èlanè (anthro)
World	Dragondeep (formerly the world of Èlanè)
Gender	Male, Female, Male
Age	17 (3rd, 1st, 2nd)
Stats	Stat Misae Wayra Ujarak Strength Average High Low-Med Agility High Hi-Med Average Dexterity Hi-Med High Average Speed High Average Average Health Low-Med High High Intellect Average Average High Magnetism Low-Med Hi-Med High Willpower High High Average Perception Very High High High Appearance Average Low-Med Average Instinct Low-Med High Low Civility Average Low-Med High
Size	6'2, weight varies (medium, heavy, lighter)
Description	Misae is an albino Cougarform, his fur is almost white but has detectable markings in faint grey and orange. Wayra and Ujarak are typically colored Cougarforms, with orange-yellow fur having some darker markings on face and ears. All three (even Misae) have bright green eyes.
Distinguishing Points	Being last born, and excessively pale, Misae is the outcast of the bunch, but his siblings are fiercely protective of him. In no other way is he hindered, just pale. Wayra is loud, outgoing and the leader of the bunch even though Ujarak is better at leading others. Ujarak is a bookworm and mage, differing strongly from his more physical siblings, and while not weak he's not a fighter.
Family Symbol

The Wapasha family line had always been warriors. Soldiers, guards, mercenaries, hunters, scouts.

So why oh why did Ujarak decide to forgoe this, when his siblings saw their way to continue? Ujarak is no fighter. But of course, if one was to consider the family's long traditional religious beliefs and magic, they should have allowed pale, shivering Misae die when he was born. The outsider coloration, the distinction and lack of camouflage would have doomed him in the wilds. But this was not the wilds - this was civilization, and Wapasha are strong.

Of course, the tribal leaders blamed it on the City-born woman that Kyol found and married. She was an 'adventurer', she had too many names (who needs so many names? When you have a family sigil and a word to call you? "private name" indeed...) she was still a cougar and still stronger than many in the tribe. Kyol loved to listen to her stories of fights and rescues, and Cortan obviously enjoyed the wild life that her husband gave her. City born... but with a heart that pulled her toward the tribal lands.

But she would not have any offspring of hers die, so Misae was given equal care as an infant. And he thrived just like his siblings, which Cortan expected if no one else did.

It was Ujarak that surprised her. Even as a young boy, he could think circles around her, but he also could make her laugh with his tricks and word play. Never let it be said that Ujarak's humor is 'refined' after all, he knows just as many foul words as a sailor and uses them like his mother does. But he took to the civil trappings that his father's tribe shunned, learning to read easily and quickly, and showing some promise as a Sorcerer or Wizard. Most of the tribe's priests wouldn't be able to help him learn to worship or use miracles, he wasn't that type.

Wayra is of course the gem of this family's children. She takes after both her parents in the best ways. Strong, healthy, quick on her feet and an apt hunter. She has all the qualities that the tribe values, though there's a bit of worry - would she really let the chief's son near her, unless he can best her in her chosen combat? She fights two handed - and using a two-handed sword in one hand... is no mean feat. Her off hand is occupied with an interesting bladed blocking knife, and it's that knife that gives any opponent pause for thought. If they thought they could take her while she's hefting a huge sword around one-handed and off balance, they're the weak one in that battle.

Misae as he grew into a lithe and quick footed boy was not quite befriended (no one quite befriends a white-fur) by the hunters and scouts of the tribe. Even though he's almost blindingly white, he sprints faster than almost everyone else, and can spot the smallest detail on a complicated scene. Most of his finest hunting is done in the evening, not full night, and he's been known to simply say "I'm going out to get food, be right back," and mean it. He comes back within a few moments, two hares and a pheasant slung on his bow.

***

Ujarak wanted to go to the city. Everyone knew what that meant: an argument from the chief's son. The Chief it seemed couldn't care less whether the brainy cougar went anywhere, he was more concerned with getting the tribe to agree on his latest scheme to take the next tribe over's hunting ground. But his son... Wayra's stalker, he couldn't be said to be 'wooing' her because she wasn't having any of it. Chaer wasn't as good at anything as his father was - nor as his younger brother Chulan. Mayra wasn't interested in either of them.

Chaer growled, paced, and tried looking as menacing as he could. Which wasn't impressive considering that even Ujarak's unmuscled form outweighed him by a few stone. "I forbid it, it's madness. Going there, it's never good. Not for anyone."

"I need a book. It's important." Ujarak said simply. "If you do not like it, I am not asking you to come along."

Snarling again, Chaer turned on the cougar. Chaer was a panther, but a different breed. Many tribes were led by such cats - though this tribe was composed of deer, felines and canines in almost equal amounts. "You are asking for our tribe to ignore you while you do it. That isn't going to happen!"

"To hell with what you want to think the tribe wants - I'm not asking anyone to ignore me, I'm asking if it's safe." Ujarak sighed. He rolled his eyes at his siblings, both of whom thought it would be a perfectly good excuse to get away from Chaer and see the sights.

Their mother's wanderlust had obviously worn on them a bit... Ujarak a little more than the others. Finally, Wayra sprang up and struck Chaer across the shoulder, hard. "If my brother wants to go, we'll go. He wants to make a spell, and I can't wait to see what it turns out to be. So shut up. Your father won't stop us."

"It's 'my father the Chief' to you," Chaer spat, but he turned away and stomped off. Later he'd probably try yelling at someone else about it, but as usual if it invovled the Wapasha triplets no one would bother doing anything about it.

"So let's go," Wayra said, "Do you have everything you'll need?"

"I always do," Ujarak said of the satchel at his side. It contained things that most in the tribe wouldn't bother with except to use as tinder: paper, quills, an ink bladder, other books. He had candles, wax, some cloth and assorted other objects in there too, more like a tribe's medicine bag. Only he would go in and use them. The ones that others in the tribe kept in secret spots were to be prayed over, worry stones the only thing that came out of them regularly.

Not so for Ujarak's collection of items. Feathers that he could imbue with memory, sending notes to himself distantly, bits of string that came alive with a command to bind things, a vial with some kind of horrible smelling substance that purified water instantly. But these were all things that even his siblings knew were small time. Magic indeed, but private, personal. Wizards required more. Space, stuff, money, time. Sorcerers - the kind that Misae knew he was but kept hidden quite well - used only their mind and willpower to focus energies. Healing themselves, causing rain of stone, sheeting things in ice... They could get away with knowing only what they were born with, and fudging.

But Wizards needed more.

So more, was what Ujarak wanted. It was clear that his siblings wanted him to succeed. It was also clear that none of them truly cared whether they were kept in the tribe, or left to wander. Their mother wandered in, they could wander out. They'd been to the nearby cities before, and they knew what all awaited them if they were to begin their own career in adventuring. Taverns were especially of interest to Wayra, since she claimed she wanted to try all those fancy ales and drink from a proper mug some time.

They had a joke among the people of their tribe. If you didn't want to burn your hand you wouldn't have tried the soup. Ha. Ha. It wans't funny to the Wapasha kids much either. To them, even to Wayra whose wildness was never in question, if you wanted the good stuff in life, you had to be more civil.

You had to wear shoes. The tribe did - but only in so far as they had to save their feet from injury. Wayra would certainly balk at any fashion statements in town, and Misae would insist upon something comfortable as he was apt to be climbing trees or cliffs. That left Ujarak, and he was okay with stuffing his toes into something hard and unyielding in order to fit in with a crowd.

So the trio set off that morning, after a good breakfast of cold meat from the day before. Ujarak muttered to himself, and his siblings made sure that he kept to the path and didn't lose his way. His words were akin to a shopping list, repeated and added to, shuffled. For two hours they walked down the long, sloping hillside that blocked the tribal lands from the civil ones. Any idiot coming up the slopes would either be on their way somewhere else, or in a heap of trouble very soon.

Six tribes lived within an equal number of days travel from this one city, Renmark. To the west were hills and later mountains, and two tribes were there - including the one that the Wapashas lived in. Northwest the hills were more steep and crumbly, commonly said to be haunted, and only the craziest of people lived there. One tribe remained in the dark, grey land there and were rarely challenged. To the North east was more open land, gentler hills and grazing lands where large animals roamed. The other three tribes settled there and were a little less ready to fight than the hill born ones. All the tribals lived on their wits, rarely remaining in a roofed building more than a day - they were all but supersitious about sleeping in beds, and more often than not finding some way to fight anything that came their way.

They liked to trade, but they also liked to steal. Some more than others, and the rival tribe which ran just past this one's land often came through to pillage. Of course, the tribe that the Wapasha triplets belonged to often was blamed for their antics when they got into town.

At the edge of Renmark, Ujarak stopped his siblings and made sure they had what they needed. He checked them up and down, sighed at Wayra's choice of foot gear, and decided they were good to go. As good as they could be anyway, they didn't want to steal someone else's clothing and wander into town wearing it.

There were guards at the gates, but the trio of cougarforms were known to the pair working it, and they were allowed in without any fuss. One of them called down, "there's a commotion about something, and it's a gather day - you might be careful to keep your wits about you, thieves and dissenters are about."

Wayra knew what thieves were, but had to ask quietly what 'dissenter' meant, but even Ujarak had to admit he wasn't certain what there was to be dissent...ed about here. Had the leadership gone through a change? Was there something amiss? Well, it was a gather day anyway, and that meant that everyone in the town and all its surroundings were present for shopping and trading. Barter and buying, entertainment and lodging were all around.

Renmark sat at the edge of the hill lands, but was on a bigger road that led to the coast many days travel east. It often avoided being invaded by hostile forces, having tribal lands to cushion it. But there was always a trade war going on, or a caravan from somewhere that had caused insult to the local royalty. All these things were in fact subjects of conversations everywhere. Politics escaped Wayra, not so much her brothers.

"So there has been an assassination," Misae said, "I wonder who, and who did it!"

"Everyone is wondering that," Ujarak replied. "And no one seems to be in agreement about why it happened either."

The shop that Ujarak needed to reach was on the far side of town, but with all the festivities and discussions going on, it became clear that walking straight through town was not an option. They had to take a side road, narrow and jagged with homes and businesses on both sides busy on their far ends. This alley was well-traveled but only on foot, no cart would be able to maneuver through half the turns. They all felt slightly more comfortable here, where it was just a tad quieter, they didn't feel so many hostile eyes on them.

It was true that they'd been in town a few times, but not when so many people were out to look at them and pass judgement. Filthy foreigners some called them, idiot tribals, religious nuts, even someone was heard distantly to call them four-footed. While that was a grave insult to anyone else, the trio just walked on, because honestly they knew they were kin to four-footers. Some of the tribal priests actually used miracles to turn into animals and hunt. It was no secret that tribals weren't cared for for just that reason.

It was good to get out of that, even just for a while. So they made their way around, knowing that to get to the eastern side of the place they would have to navigate these cobbled streets. Ujarak had to restrain his brother from climbing up the side of one white-washed building to check their progress.

"They'll think you're thieving! Get down from there!" He said, and that got a tumble of noise from someone inside a house.

"What's all this!" An old beaverform male grunted from his doorway. He looked them up and down, narrowed his already small eyes, and grunted. "Hunh. Tribals, just what we needed."

"Forgive us, sir," Ujarak said, "we're just trying to avoid the main street, it's packed with people. I have to get to the shop above the pastry baker."

With that, the beaver's black eyes widened and shone a little. "Oh aye, you fancy yourself a Wizard do you?"

"Well I - no sir I mean, I do, but not--" Ujarak stammered, suddenly not sure what he was supposed to say to that. He was not in training, never formally schooled. But he was talented, and he did do Wizardry! Fortunately his sister came to that rescue.

"He is trying, and he's good at what he does already. He's the only Wizard in our tribe, that's for sure." She said, voice straining to be more quiet than loud. All the talk and noise on the other side of the buildings could still be heard clearly, and it all made her want to shout.

"I'm sure that's true," the beaver said. "No tribals I ever heard of been Wizards before. They don't have it in em, or too much other stuff running around in their heads. Er," he suddenly realized that these three young cougarforms were probably six times his size total, and were still carrying their gear. "Not that I mean... er, if you're talented, then you're talented, eh, who am I to say you're not. Why... don't you come through here, there's a dead end in that alley shortly, you won't want to be walking too much father. Only have to turn back."

When they took him up on his offer to come through his place, Misae muttered, "so it would have been better to know that if I'd climbed up..."

The old beaver was clearly a widower, by the portraits and objects still cared for in his home. He had an old upright piano which had lace doilies and smelled of pine, which Misae actually went up to and sniffed at, before being pulled along by Ujarak. The place was taller than it was wide, had two floors, with a narrow staircase that led up, and that was where the beaver took the trio.

The second story was one open room that had a large balcony - one which led to the rooftop of the next building, and so on. It was obvious that more than just a few people had used these homes and structures in this manner, by the wear on the roof tiles. The beaver might not have noticed it, but Misae certainly did. He was always looking for ways around, ways up, through, or under.

"You can get to your shop directly from here," the beaver said, pointing along the rooftops until Ujarak recognized the sign above the pastry shop. It was also one of the few buildings that had a wide awning in colorful cloth that was still bright - and likely it was the magic shop that kept it that way. Almost all the other shops framing the main market place were in varying states of repair from gaping holes in the plaster to bright new paint.

The market was stunning from here, as it was slightly depressed in the center of the city, with a large fountain breaking up the mass of people. Every 'form you could imagine was there, from the stately wide-racked elk nobleman framed by his guards, to a porcupine woman who got a wider berth than he without a word. Tables and chairs were set up near the fountain, and an orchestra sat preparing for their afternoon performance. Shops that framed the area also had many chairs, long benches and stools set up.

Misae noticed but didn't comment on the look that the beaver gave the trio. He clearly thought at first they were messy undesirables, but his attitude changed rapidly. They were charming, this trio of kids from the hills, and they didn't seem to have any of the guile or trickery that some folks came with. They looked as though they were open to new ideas - and if they had a Wizard in their midst obviously they weren't your run of the mill tribals.

The cougars looked at the crowd, and then at their brother, Ujarak who was still trying to convince himself to step out to the rooftop nearby.

"I can't help but wonder if you're ... a Wizard, too," Ujarak finally said to the beaver, who blinked in surprise when the lad said it.

"No, no, I used to be a pharmacist myself, not quite alchemy - a mediciner," he saw the blank look on Wayra's face, "a healer with herbs," he clarified, "and then we had that run-in with the ... oh, my... Well, with the tribals up in the hills. That wasn't you lot - and I won't hold it against you. This was thirty years ago, but my eyesight isn't what it was, my hands tremble now, I can't keep mixing pastes if I can't hold the tools, eh?"

"And your wife," said Misae looking at a portrait, "she was beautiful, was she rich?"

"Misae!" Ujarak hissed, but the beaver laughed it off.

"She was beautiful, gave me two wonderful kits, and she made my life richer by far than any gold could." He sighed, and even Wayra took a long glance at the painting - the beaver woman had a flattering smile, and patience if she posed for a portrait that way. "But the ... profession I was in, we shared a lot of ingredients with the Wizards up the street, I will say that much. Always wondered about it but no, never had the talent. Nothing I mixed was good for anything but a cold or the mange..."

One would think that now would have been the appropriate moment for the beaver - whose name the trio had yet to learn, and whose stories had obviously just begun to be told - to invite them to a lunch or cup of tea in the shop beside his home.

Unfortunately, this was the moment, much to the cougars' surprise, for the elderly beaverform to gasp out a strange sound, bulge his squinty eyes a bit, and topple over face first onto the worn rug.

Dead.

Misae knew it first, and his green eyes grew very, very wide. Wayra in turn took a slow breath in and out, staring down at the prone form.

Ujarak's shoulders went down in a droop. He too blinked and sighed. "Well that complicates things doesn't it," he said.

"We have to get out of here," Wayra said, abruptly.

"No, we have to stay," Ujarak interrupted her pacing toward the door. "We have to clear this up. If someone out there sees us, three Tribal nobodies, they're going to presume that we had something to do with his death."

"But we didn't do anything to him," Misae whispered. "He just died." Suddenly the idea of being out here in the city really didn't seem all that smart. Thankfully, since they were tribals, they didn't think of rifling through his desk drawers to look for any kind of appointment books to see if he had visitors on the way. That would have looked rather bad, since he did in fact have visitors on the way - very shortly.

The trio froze when they heard below a series of knocks and a loud laugh of a male voice followed by the sharp tittering of a woman. Ujarak looked at his siblings and bade them to remain where they were. "I'll handle this. Don't touch anything."

He walked down the stairs carefully and then approached the back door, swallowed at the lump in his throat though it wouldn't go away. He reached for the door handle, and saw on the other side of the step a large warthog male and a diminutive but long-necked stork woman. They looked in and he got to watch their eyes shift from happy-fun-time to who-are-you.

"There is a problem," Ujarak said, lowering his eyes and making sure that he didn't look like he was going to draw a weapon (he didn't have one on him, he left that for his siblings anyway) and he backed up into the room beyond. "Your friend... I - we don't even know his name... he ..."

"What have you done," said the stork, brushing by the young cougar and hurrying into the house. Seeing nothing in the lower floor she headed up stairs like it was all she'd ever done. Her companion entered more carefully and stood by Ujarak, staring though not unkindly.

"I don't think he's done anything, Claire," said the 'hog, "this boy's hardly ever been in a house let alone killed anyone." He started up the stairs when he was sure that Claire had found their friend's body.

"There are more of them up here! What is this!? Who are you lot, what've you done!"

"Claire," the 'hog repeated, placing his hard fingered hand over her slender shoulder. "Claire, Barlen was old, and you know he had that incident last month."

"He was being very kind to us," Misae whispered, hardly able to get words out. Wayra remained thankfully silent. Normally she'd have bullied her brother until she got her way - but this was his domain, the city, and she realized moments later that she'd have nowhere to run, no explanation for running, if they had left the area.

"He was a kind man," the warthog said, kneeling and feeling for a pulse. "Yes, he's gone. This wasn't so long ago, when...?"

"Practically the moment you knocked," Wayra finally said, looking away. "He had just shown us the balcony, we were trying to make our way past the main street. Barlen, that's his name? He was a good person," Wayra gulped. "He didn't have any reason to bother with us, but he did."

"And now he's dead," Claire said, harder than she needed to, and her companion whose name it turned out was Pyln, once more sternly cleared his throat at her.

"Not their fault, Claire. There's no injury, nothing to indicate they even had an altercation." He looked around the room as he said this.

"You're... very observant, sir," Ujarak said.

"I'm a judge, I ought to be. Barlen lost his wife a few years back, and he's never quite been the same. She kept him healthy and made sure he ate his herbs, he had some condition that the physicians told him would do this." His pale red eyes landed on a bottle of tonic, he picked it up and examined it, then tsked his tongue. Handing it to Claire so she could see the 'culprit', he said, "that's supposed to have been all drunk down by now, I've got its replacement here," he pulled out a similar flask and shook it. "Whatever it did, it wasn't going to work if he didn't drink it."

"Oh Barlen," Claire sighed, kneeling and gently folding her hands in her lap.

There was a considerable moment of silence. Wayra spoke first, not sure whether the other two had been praying or just observing silence. Tribes didn't do much of that, they prayed over the body and left it to the wilds. "But now what? We're on our way to the store over there, Ujarak is, anyway... can we go?"

"Hmm, yes, yes you may go," Pyln grunted. "We'll have to take care of this. I'll summon the undertaker, and somehow we'll get this settled. His children will have to be found and informed."

At the word they could leave, Wayra all but lept out of the window to the balcony, and onto the roof nearby. She glared at Ujarak to come along, Misae had shown up by her side like he often did, unseen.

"Thank you for not... well, not accusing us of anything. We had no idea this would happen... We're not really ... well we're not from here. I don't think we'd last very long in court." Ujarak told Pyln the judge, who grunted out a laugh while drawing out onto papers, his friend's family symbol to be passed along to the children.

"As I said, you certainly don't seem the type." He looked up briefly, cracked half a smile, and added, "don't let this happen again, mind you..."

Ujarak bowed and joined his siblings on the roof.

They went along, silent, stunned, until they reached the bright awning and saw a small ladder that had been welded to the wall to get into the magic shop. They dropped to the wider tile covered balcony (and noticed ... there was no stairway outside from the ground, ... there had to be one from inside the bakery below, right?) and entered the store.

It was dark, smelled richly of exotic things (in addition to the pastries below) and was blissfully silent inside the shop. Magic of course, magic the likes of which Ujarak's siblings suddenly understood why he wanted to be more of a Wizard than he was already.

It was powerful stuff. Misae's senses were tingling - there was more than just Wizardry here. His silent hours spent watching the distance for his tribe were filled with more than just muddled thoughts of what was for dinner or who it was that had left their spear on the trail last week. Most others would of course have left it at that - perhaps not, he didn't want to think that his whole tribe were actually stupid. Only Chaer was. With that he chuckled and moved to his sister's side when she chuffed looking for him.

"This place is ... weird," she said. She was correct of course - there were all manner of items and pieces of things that ought not to go together. Skinned things and semi-animate portraits, bags of glowing powder, rocks that floated.

Ujarak wove his way around the displays and up to the counter at the back, where there was a wide, round table, and a birdform sitting at it. The cougars had never seen a Puffin before, outside of Ujarak having met this woman. If Barlen was old, then this puffinform was ancient - and looked it. Her dress was new, as was the makeup that she had applied to her beak - lacking bright coloration in a bird of her species was poor form, of course... She recognized Ujarak and obviously surmised his siblings were those which he spoke of the first time he had come here.

"Well now you three look a bit spooked," she said, cackling. When they didn't much laugh, she sobered up a bit. Misae muttered something that he wasn't sure he wanted to actually say, but she caught it anyway. "Oh. Well I see now, that old man could have asked for some help but..." She shrugged. Clearly even though this was what the Tribals considered a big city - it was still a small town in terms of gossip and people knowing one another. That and of course, she'd sold and bought things to and from him for years.

Ujarak and she got to business - he'd be needing things that he probably couldn't afford. Misae and Wayra busied themselves and tried not to touch anything - they got one look from the Puffin woman when Wayra almost dropped a fragile glass and didn't move their hands from their sides since then. The fact that the place was almost dead silent started to unnerve them when they saw something slightly bright happen outside - and couldn't hear it.

Wayra motioned Misae toward the door with her, and together they left the quiet haven into the bright afternoon.

***

Ujarak looked at the purse that he had, with all of it's one Crown - the equivalent of a typical gold piece anywhere else - two Silver and assorted small rocks and stones. Maybe they were gems, if they were he might be able to sell them. Mrs. Talda Mar tried not to tilt her head too much when she peered at the purse's contents from across the low table. She knew her beak stuck out like that, making it obvious where she was trying to look.

"Oh dear boy, you're ... you really are from the middle of nowhere aren't you..." She said quietly, and regretted it. It was bad enough that the boy had just been through a very strange death an hour before, but to embarrass him by saying something like that... "I'm sorry - wait, wait," she reached for the bag. "Now these aren't precious stones, no," she examined one and then another. "But these would make good enchanting stones. And that one, pound it into powder and it can be added to fires to make them spark brightly," she leaned in, "excellent for stage magic, trickery, distraction. I used to do a bit of that, before getting serious with my own work."

"I know where to find more of that," Ujarak said, just a little less listless. "If I could gather more, would you buy it?"

"Of course I would dear," Talda said, "and more of these lovely red stones. They work remarkably well for fire imbuements, and you can't have too many easy-made fires, can you?"

"I suppose not," Ujarak said. "I don't even know why I tried to..."

"Ujarak," Talda sighed. "You come from people who don't know how to manage their magic. You're obviously not suited to life there, why not stay here? After you find me some more of that flash-stone and these red rocks..."

"I'm not even sure I'd be welcome if I go back there now, we have... Issues with the chief's son." He leaned back, remembered there was no back to the stool he sat on, and balanced carefully. At least he wasn't a complete failure at physical things. "So if I bring - how much do you want? I think there's a huge flat of it, the flash-stone I mean. Not so sure where the red rocks came from, maybe the tall hill." He was pondering to himself now, but Talda looked toward the open door and suddenly stood up.

"Oh my, what's happening there?"

***

Outside, it was nearly a riot. Misae and Wayra were still standing on the balcony overlooking everything, but had engaged a young thief who'd managed to lift someone's purse - not without going unnoticed. That, and there were three burly nobleman guards pushing their way around the fountain with a prisoner between them and people were all trying to get a look at him.

"Put me down!" The squirrel lad angrily screeched, but Wayra glanced at him calmly with her emerald eyes and he froze. "Yo--you stop that, don't look at me like I'm dinner! You're -"

"I'm not likely to eat you, you're very skinny and stringy, you wouldn't taste good." She said, and he stiffened up a bit. "HEY! You over there, you want him?" She waved the boy (who was at best as long as her arm and about as skinny) in the air above the balcony's ledge, toward the pig merchant whose purse had been stolen. His face and demeanor brightened considerably when he spied his velvet moneypouch in the boy's hands. Coming to the pastry shop's yard, the pig nodded and laughed.

"Well I'd toss him down there, but he might break, hold on hold on," Wayra said. Just as she cleared the balcony her brother and the puffin woman came to the door. Wayra landed on the marble covered ground and startled several couples who had been trying to concentrate on their muffins and scones. She brandished the squirrel boy at the pig, who snatched his coin purse back from him angrily.

"Thank you, young miss," the pig said and then took a look downwards... at her feet - which were largely unclad save for the wrappings for travel she usually wore. "Oh, my... well, being a leather merchant I'd like to offer you a reward - I insist, you need new shoes and you need them right now."

The merchantry of most towns were dominated by such men and woman as he, busy swine that sold soap and shoes and brushes, fineries and mirrors to view them. The world revolved around civility in their eyes - and he was so proper that he couldn't even conceive of insulting her for being a Tribal - instead offering to civil her up instead of letting her remain thus.

Misae peered downward at them, "what are you going to do with the boy?" He asked, and the squirrel turned halfway around in his skin trying to make sure she didn't just throw him back up to her equally toothy brother. "Hey, we know where a judge is," Misae suggested. "We should bring him back there!"

Had he been looking, the squirrel would have seen the pig's expression change to one of sheer delight, and Wayra's to a sarcastic grin. However, Wayra decided to show off a little instead. "Wait, look, they've got that guy over there... Is he the one who killed somebody?"

"Why I declare I think he is," the swine merchant said, "and ... oh my," he gasped, "they've brought the gallowsman."

The squirrel boy passed out. Wayra thought about chucking him into the crowd but that would likely ruin someone else's day. Instead she tucked him near the waste bin that was between this shop and the next, hopefully he'd think harder before stealing anyone else's earnings - at least while she was there.

Talda and Ujarak stood by Misae, squinting in the sudden brightness outside. "They have found the culprit," the puffin said.

"Who did he kill?" Asked Ujarak, echoed by his brother.

"Oh - you didn't hear? The Emir's daughter, lovely thing - found her throat cut two days past. Someone saw only a bedraggled canineform of some breed, and it looks like that one fits the bill." She nodded, as though finalizing the culprit's guilt.

"Did he do it?" Asked Ujarak, and Misae tilted his own head at that. His eyes didn't leave the group of guards, as they were setting up a gallows rather abruptly.

"Well of course he--" The puffin began to say but Misae gave a strange breath of air that shocked them both.

"He's not guilty of anything - he's not... guilty at all." Misae stood transfixed, unable to decide what to do - until he saw that Ujarak and his Wizard friend were staring openly at him. He looked away, down at his feet, up at the awning, and then back to the gallows. It would be a bit before they would have it all assembled. But by the looks of it, the process was going to end before evening.

"But he isn't guilty," Misae said slightly more strongly. "How could they know for sure? When did they even find him? If she was killed only two days ago? The body'd still be fresh where we're from..."

"I'm sure that they have ways of finding out--" said the Puffin, offhand, but worried. "Your brother shows some skill in sorcery doesn't he."

Ujarak furrowed his brows, knowing that if Misae did have some kind of talent he'd certainly be worth more to the tribe than he was. Or, he'd be thrown out as a travesty of an albino complete with weird magics.

"We have to find out," Misae said, abruptly. "I''m going back to that beaver man's house. Maybe the judge is still there." Before they could stop him, he'd bolted up the ladder and back onto the rooftops. Down below, even Wayra had heard her brother's words, as well as that weird exhalation of air he'd given. That was something magic, weird magic.

Everyone in the little cafe area had felt it too, apparently, because they were all sort of sitting there quietly now, staring at their food and wondering if he was right: how did the guards know? There had been no trial, nothing but the announcement and now this execution...

Wayra thought she heard snippets of people's conversations starting back up, was this really right? It was anger before - anger that the young woman chosen to lead the local area when she was older, was killed. Now it was a mixture of confusion and leftover rage. We should do something. We should wait.

Ujarak clasped his hands over Talda's and said, "I will return with more of your flash-stone, later." Then he beckoned his sister back up to the rooftop as well, after their vanishing brother's tail.

***

"And that's when I saw that there was no blackness, just ... tired, achy, confused. I know he's innocent, why would they want to kill that man if he didn't do what they say he did?" Misae's words tumbled out of him and judge Pyln was listening intently when the boy's brother and sister appeared on the balcony of the beaver's house. Misae didn't look up, instead he continued. "I've never seen it so bright. Everyone around him was dark, but he was bright. Why is that?"

Pyln drew in a long breath. His companion Claire had gone a while before, but the body of the beaverform was still laying where it had fallen, now covered with a cloth tucked under him and being readied for transport by two eerie males, neither of whom the cats could identify the species.

"If you've got this gift, a Sight gift, it's rare and useful indeed," he said. "But you're a tribal, with no experience in the city, and ... I don't know that even I could get you an audience this late. Wait - wait, they were assembling the gallows? Already?"

"Yes, yes, they were putting up boards," Misae said. He didn't know what they were for - nor the word 'gallows' - but he knew that it was significant and it seemed that it would cause a satisfying death for the crowd. Pyln knew that his first impression of this group was correct. They were utterly guileless, honest and straightforward. What he wouldn't do to have a few more people like this in his court...

"Well that isn't right, we have procedures in this city, and cursed if I'm not supposed to be a part of them." He stood from the chair he'd been seated in, and added, "don't know how we're to stop it, but we must try. Ach, this crowd..." He looked down at the still-milling and now expectant city gathered below. "Back to the roof. We must get down to the courtrooms, and they're even farther than your shop."

Misae noticed then that his siblings had arrived, and he shrank a bit. But they encouraged him to follow the warthog, who was surprisingly spry for a man who looked to be in his fifties at least. They made it back past the magic shop, and continued along a kind of walkway assembled of awning bases and planks. Past the first and second rows of houses and shops, into a deeper portion of the town than Ujarak had ever been in, they finally got to a location that had wide steps down to the cobblestone street. It was a wider, but less traveled street and it looked like it led more toward the official buildings and castle than anywhere else.

It did indeed, for Pyln beckoned them into an imposing black-painted structure that had a burning torch lit on either side of the massive wooden doors. Entering, they noticed immediately something that Pyln might not have: it was completely empty.

"Sir, is it usually like this? Even on a gather day?" Asked Ujarak, pulling on the warthog's shoulder a bit.

"We've got to get to... eh?" Pyln looked around suddenly and stiffened, "this... is not right, at all. Where are the accountants? Where is my accountant?" In the wide dark hallway, many doors stood open, but there were no people moving around. Pyln stepped toward his office, a nice plaque of his formal title and family sigil on it. Only Ujarak could guess that it was a title, he could read only simple things even yet. "This is...odd." Pyln muttered.

He held up a small statuette, pale red in color and shaped a little like a monolyth, but more octagonal. The moment he saw the judge do so, Misae lept toward him. "Don't touch that!" He said, batting it out of the man's hard hands, and onto the floor - where it shattered into several large pieces. "It... I'm sorry - I ..."

"That's not mine, whatever it is, it's not supposed to be here. I think you did me a favor, boy," Pyln said.

"It has the same aura - the same colors as the men taking that dogform to the fountain. It's ... like tainted water, bad meat." Misae said, dazed. It was clear he didn't really know what he was saying, at least its significance.

"Fey Taint," Pyln said, and the trio stood perfectly still. They were often accused, Tribals were, of being Fey Tainted. Anyone who knew better would never say such a thing. There was a difference between being wild and uncivil, and being evil. "On the guards, you say. This same thing... I've never seen its like before. It isn't artistic, just simple." He examined the pieces, waving his hand a little to assuage Misae's worries. "It's broken, now. And now that I see it for what it is, it has no hold on me. You're a Fey Hunter, boy, that is a skill that you should treasure... Or fear. Hunters like that often wind up in danger."

"Well I never saw anything like this, before," Misae admitted. "Now our tribe will never let me back..."

"Why not?" Pyln said, standing and kicking the pieces of the plinth into his waste bin. "Surely there is need out in the wilderness for someone to keep the Tainted away."

"I don't think our tribe has ever seen anything Tainted," Wayra said, "My brother's right. It's taboo, like you said - people with this sight get into danger. That brings the tribe into danger."

"Which would be a compelling reason to shun those with this sight, I understand," Pyln said. "Well, something else is going on here and I don't like it one bit. Normally there should be six judges present, Claire and I were taking our lunch time with our friend, bringing him his medicines... That leaves five others." He looked at the odd expressions on their faces. "Claire is my wife, not my assistant or another judge, if that's what those looks are for. I can tell even tribals need to count heads," he chuckled.

Wayra almost burst out laughing at the thought of a crane woman and a warthog being married, but that was life in the city for you! After a few moments when Pyln searched around his office for any other untoward items, he cleared his throat and said, "you, ... I don't even know your names." They introduced one another, and Pyln committed their names to memory quickly. They all got the impression that he was an exceptionally smart, and very fair man. A good person to be a judge, most tribals wouldn't have given thought to it but many were corrupt in some way.

"Misae, I realize you don't yet know the extent or uses for your abilities, but bear with me. I want you to 'look' around you. Close your eyes, I suspect that might work best. I want you to tell me if you see anything like this," he waved his hand at the ruined object nearby.

Misae nodded once, and did as he was told. Slowly he turned his head around, stepping around a little apparently to get a better 'view' even though his eyes remained shut. "There are a few more - small things, but not shaped like that. I don't know - maybe they are, it's hard to tell, they kind of squirm. It's like looking at mud while it's moving around your fingers."

"In each of the other judges' chambers?" Pyln asked, and Misae nodded hesitatingly. "If we guide you, can you walk toward them?"

They took turns gently nudging Misae as he walked around the doorway and then down to the next room, a well-appointed but very feminine area, and he pointed at a small round stone which sat prominently on the desk. Then to another, where a goblet-shaped item rested on the corner of a mantle. Each room had one, and then Misae opened his eyes. He blinked and looked a bit befuddled. "It's hard to adjust once you know what you're looking at," he chuckled.

"This mystery gets deeper and deeper," Pyln said. "At this point I can't say we'll be able to save that dog they picked up, if what you said is true - it might be better to let him fall, and solve this mystery in more easy time. Now I know... that doesn't sound good to you does it." The group shook their heads, and Pyln nodded. "Not to me either... But I just don't know whether we'd have the time or not. With an angry crowd anyway."

"Misae's voice did calm them," Wayra commented. "At least nearby, at the bakery."

"Calm them you say?" Pyln perked up. "Well that could be interesting, but again dangerous."

"What if it won't work if I need it to?" Misae said, worried.

"When has anything you've tried, failed?" Wayra said to her brother, with a wild smile on her face. "Misae, you've overcome more than either of us, you're almost always able to do things when we can't get away with them ourselves."

Ujarak tilted his head, and then glanced at them both, and back to Pyln. "We can get away with things you cannot, Judge Pyln, we're tribals with nothing to lose." His hand was fiddling with the rock in his purse. "I have to go back to Mrs. Mar's. I'll meet you ... at your friend's house? Is that all right?"

"It would be fine, I think no one would expect to find anything out of the ordinary there," Pyln said. "Head due east, after the ramp up to the rooftop." They watched him speed away, able to retrace his steps well because there were few distractions on this street at least.

The other three remained in the courthouse, bringing the waste bin around and plopping each offending Tainted item into it. "I'm not certain it would be wise to destroy these just yet," Pyln said, "if whatever put them here is watching them, somehow, it would know, wouldn't it?"

Misae nodded, a bit queasy at that thought. It obviously got Wayra thinking. "If something can keep track of these things from a distance... That means they're connected to it, somehow, right? I mean I don't see any eyes floating around, right?"

"That is correct," Pyln said, waiting for her to speak again. Every time these wild cougars did something new, he was more interested in their well being, and possibly in their future. He fortunately knew a bit about sorcerous magic, having family that was talented. "There may be a connection visible, it might be quite faint."

Misae took that as his cue to close his eyes once more, once they were back at Pyln's office. He looked toward the basket full of Tainted items, and almost had to fight back a shudder even at seeing them. He breathed in and out slowly, the same rhythm that he might have if he were drawing an arrow on a distant but fleet prey animal. And at last, he opened his eyes.

"I can see it," he said.

***

"You don't have anything new, do you, something brought in recently? Today or yesterday?" Ujarak said, rushing up to Mrs. Mal and startling her. "Something I'm sure you would say is bad - tainted."

"Oh my, no, I don't deal in Fey items!" She said, clutching her hand toward her neck. "That's not only illegal, it's downright foolish. Madness takes those who use the Fey."

"Good," Ujarak said, and explained what he knew of the situation at hand to her in quick, simple words. "And what I need is... well, more of this flash-stuff you mentioned. Do you have any?"

"I might, it may be a bit old but I can spruce it up... but why? What would you need it for?" She asked, while rummaging around in an older trunk she had to clear of a pile of knicknacks and magic items.

"I need it for distraction - a troupe once came through our lands, and gave us entertainment for an evening or two. I remember it now, it was a long time ago. They did magic, but it wasn't real magic like this. They surprised everyone by disappearing off their cart stage - using a plume of smoke."

"Well that certainly is showmanship," Talda laughed. Then suddenly she stopped. "Oh. Oh my boy you... can't! It's dangerous!"

"The man's innocent, and he's running out of time!" Ujarak stood and looked out of the store, the gallows were coming along nicely but nowhere near done enough to hang someone. The crowd still milled, those closest to the guards and captive kept their distance but remained louder than the rest. But those underneath the magic shop, those who hadn't gone home with a weird sensation in their gut that wasn't bad pastries, they were silent.

When Talda passed him the sack of powdered stone and mixed ingredients, she explained rapidly how they were used - she showed him with a pinch of it thrown onto the ground. Producing a small eruption of smoke, she slumped and took the bag back. "Wait a moment."

She began to mutter, careful words spoken clearly and aimed at the contents of the bag. Minutes of this went by, as Ujarak paced around, sometimes glaring at the crowd outside and occasionally patting himself down for things he thought he might need. This shop didn't have any rope - maybe he could steal that long cord of it they were going to use to hang the poor captive. Though if they were going to string him up, it'd be easier to cut the rope off than try and unwind it. Ujarak had hunted only rarely with his tribe, more often with his siblings when they needed an extra hand. But when he did hunt, it was for dangerous, large prey.

So that required some planning - and planning was something Ujarak did very well indeed.

He'd taken stock of his personal items, and then took the bag back from Talda when she offered it. She was panting a bit, whatever she'd done with her magic incantation took a bit out of her. "It will work much more potently now. But use it soon - that spell lasts one fortnight, I can't see needing it later than this evening."

Ujarak bowed deeply, and lept back onto the rooftop ladder. He didn't even bother saying anything more, he was sure that she understood he would be back - unless of course something went very wrong.

***

Back at Barlen's home, judge Pyln and Ujarak's siblings were busy plotting. Literally plotting: Pyln had broken out a map of the city and asked Misae to try and trace where the lines of Fey Taint led.

"It'd be a bit easier if the guards down there weren't giving off so much of it," Misae said. "And I've never... seen such a map. We have maps at home but not like this."

It was a masterpiece, drawn by hand and in detail - small images of people walked the little hatchwork cobblestone streets. The perspective was a bit odd, because it showed only the south sides of the buildings, and they were on the north-west side of the city. Finally Misae turned the map upside down, and fiddled a little more in his mind.

He touched several spots, "there is a clump here, that's the items in your room. And here, that's the guards... And here," he pointed north, toward the castle. Pyln slumped, knowing that just had to be where he'd say the Taint ended. "There are one or two smaller bits... Moving around, people I guess. I wonder, one of them must be the one who put those things in your office."

"Can you see them clearly?" Wayra asked. "I'm bored. If I'm going to be bored, I might as well be doing something important, right? Show me where to find them... I want to hunt."

Though that shocked Pyln a little he realized she didn't mean to eat, but to catch.

"Well one of them seems quite large, very large. Bigger than Harut." Misae said, of their tribe's biggest member, a bisonform priest who was well known for spending as much time as a four-footer as he did on two legs.

"There can't be that many people even here that are much bigger than him," Wayra said. She turned to Pyln. "He's quite large," she eyed the room, "his head would brush the ceiling."

"Oh my no, there certainly aren't many that big around here! But you can't think of capturing someone of that size, and Tainted as well, could you? Not alone."

"She won't be alone," Ujarak said as he re-entered the room. "But first we need to get that dog away from the guards. And I have the way to do that. We just need to make sure no one follows us back here." He looked right at Misae, "and you need to make sure that no one can track him. You said that he was 'bright' - but was that just because of the Fey around him, or because he's brighter than normal people?"

"He's just a normal person, Uja, they blotted him out a bit. I don't think they'd be able to find him just by his aura." Misae thought a moment, "but I will make sure that he doesn't have anything on him that they could follow - now that I know what I'm seeing, I can see it more easily."

"Good - some action," Wayra said, cracking her knuckles and grinning broadly. Since they were Tribals, and were somewhat 'untouchable' in towns that had tribes nearby, they had been allowed to keep their weapons in town as long as they were not brandished. So Wayra removed her huge sword from its sheath and began saying a little hunting prayer over it. She broke off a moment later, laughing. "I promise not to turn all magical, brothers. You both have enough to worry about with it. I'm happy enough the way I am!"

While the trio prepared themselves for a hunt and rescue operation, Pyln gathered his wits. The body of his dear friend had been removed, and the undertakers indicated they would be in contact, using a simple note they'd left where the body had fallen. Pyln considered options - he knew that the person responsible had to be in the castle, and that complicated things for himself. If he was the only judge that had been left unTainted, he was in a poor spot when it came to their judgements. If they behaved normal at all of course, and it may have meant they simply would be in a stupor enough to be slaughtered...

He breathed out slowly, "I wonder if it's the Emir himself... That would be very, very bad indeed for us all, if he is Tainted."

"Would someone tainted kill their own daughter?" Wayra asked, putting her sword into its battle sling on her hip. Her other weapon, her sword-catching claw, rested on her right wrist, flipped back toward her elbow. With but a few flicks of her hand, she could turn it to her palm and facing outward again.

"Of course, that is what the Fey is all about, it ... removes any Humanity from someone if you let it." Pyln sighed, "I lost an uncle to it - my family has always tried to be careful about such things. He was taken in by the allure, whatever it offered him he took it. It consumed him, finally he didn't even recognize us any more. So I have no doubts that this is a true Fey infestation." He sighed again, more deeply and more troubled. "How we will get it out of this city is a more difficult matter. I believe you will be safer than I, in that case..."

"I'll try and make ... I'll try and get the people in the courtyard to listen to me," Misae said. "I think they'll hear me. When people hear the truth they will know it."

"Some will, some I fear will not." Pyln said. But he shook his great wide head, and put his hand on Misae's shoulder firmly. "You will do fine, son, you will do fine. Never have I seen such a day... I hope it passes quietly."

***

Pyln stayed in Barlen's house, though he clearly wished he could send a message to his wife on the other side of town. It was yet mid-afternoon, such a long day. The cougars formed their plan quietly, almost silent against the still-loud city populace. Pyln knew they would be bringing the dog to this place, so he started readying the home. While the Wapasha triplets took further stock of where they'd have to run, how much time they might need, and who would be doing what at what cues, Pyln began locking the lower doors, and drawing the shutters closed. He thought about moving the piano against the front doors, but realized that he was not going to really need to go that far. Honestly they knew it too: if all things went bad, they would give up the 'convict' and allow things to run their course. It wasn't worth all of their lives, was it?

Clearly to Misae it was, and his siblings would obviously back him up as far as it took. They would be fierce allies, Pyln thought. He actually caught himself admiring their simplicity: nothing like this probably ever happened in the tribal lands, did it? Maybe later, after today was said and done, he would find out. He'd ask, he didn't want these young fiery kits to go out of his life after today.

"It's time, they're not going to be waiting much longer," Misae said. "Shut the balcony doors, but keep watch."

To Pyln they looked to trade off leadership roles - Wayra would clearly be putting herself in the front line of any battle they would have. Ujarak handled things behind the scenes, so to speak, and Misae played the crowd. It seemed abnormal for him, he was clearly ill at ease with the idea of even standing near a crowd that size, let alone addressing or even commanding them. But he had to - he was driven to do this. It was his life blood right at this moment, who knew what might replace it in a day or a year.

"I will give a whistle," Ujarak said, and emulated a songbird's trill. "When you hear that, it's us. But we will not knock on your door - anyone that does is not us. Only the whistle."

Pyln nodded, heart racing. "Good luck to you, once we have this poor lad in here the hunt will have to begin for the other Tainted. My work will begin then."

They bowed to him, and vanished out the balcony doors. Instead of heading down the rooftop lane, they went straight down into the crowd. Very quickly, they vanished - even though they were shoeless, wild creatures, they blended in as though they'd done nothing else their whole lives. Pyln thought he saw Misae's pale head bobbing through the main crowd, though it might have just been the sun on someone's hat.

And down in the crowd, the trio of cats hunted their prey as though they were side by side. Even if there were a hundred people between them, they spotted each other flawlessly. Eyes to eyes, easy communication with the flick of an ear or the twitch of a whisker. Things that these city-born folk would hardly ever recognize. They stepped on no one's toes, didn't trip anyone with their weapons close at hand. Misae's bow wouldn't do much good here, but he kept it slung on his back anyway. He had two knives at the ready, as did Ujarak.

The guards hardly looked from the crowd, their black eyes simply steaming with taint. How had no one noticed this before? Were they palace guards that had been changed with this foul magic? Or were they made of it entirely? Misae choked back bile, they were large and imposing males, as big as a lion but not bigger than their friend Harut. Each had a single long sword - held in their hands at all times - and what looked to be a small dagger behind their backs. If they were wearing armor, it was swallowed by the dark aura that projected from them - though only Misae would say that.

With Wayra to lead an attack, Misae coming straight through the bulk of the crowd, and Ujarak moving around the back of the gallows, they struck as one. Wayra shouted as she lept up from the orchestra pit (unoccupied since the gallows were being constructed), pulling the guards' attention away from whatever it was they were gazing at. She swung wide, not intending to cut them straight away - she needed them to be distracted, not to be slaughtered. And, mindful of the crowd, she jumped up to the platform that had been built holding the ropes. Two of the guards immediately went into action, wordlessly, making a sound that may have been a growl but was so inhuman and un-animal that it made Wayra's fur stand on end.

That left the third, standing behind the captive. He wasn't touching the dog, the man stood there looking bewildered and helpless all by himself. Wayra's actions prodded the large mass of people to gasp - and then alternately begin to cheer, or shout in anger. Farther back, the stunned crowd was more cheering for her, while up close, they were apt to throw things or yell curses.

To Misae that meant that largely the group nearest the gallows and the guards would be the ones to need his magical concentration. That suited him fine. From back here, where the view wasn't so good of the proceedings, he had a bit of time to put his mind in order. He could clearly feel the Taint from the guards, and there around the neck of the prisoner was the source of his befuddlement, a small stone on a cord that had a sickly black-green glow and a faint string line away from it - heading toward the tower of the castle. Now he knew there was a locale to work on later - tower, easily climbed and easily scouted.

Not so easily gotten away from - and, not the task at hand. Misae realized either he or Ujarak would have to take out that guard. Wayra was busy slicing and hacking - she'd hit the gallows pole at least twice, severing the rope and causing it to dangle. That would put a bit of a crimp in actually hanging anyone from it, at least. Her sword arm was strong, ridiculoulsy so at times. When the guards came at her they were faster than any natural enemy, but they met with the same block and parry as any foe ever had - her left hand adeptly carrying the fierce bladed 'catcher. One made the mistake of allowing his sword to remain caught a little too long - and Wayra brought her sword down upon his sword arm, severing it with a queer noise.

It was more like the sound of metal sheets tearing from stress, shrieking from weight pulling on it, than of blade cutting flesh. Wayra danced clear of the spurt of black inky blood - it was like no human blood she'd seen. The guard spun, fell, and picked up his sword in the other hand all in one movement. But he was imbalanced, and it was time for Wayra to move on to the other one. She did so vigourously, with glee - now she knew they could be hurt, even if they continued to come after her, she'd willingly throw her sword into their bellies.

Misae saw his brother come up behind the other guard, and plunge both of his daggers into its sides, like killing a boar in the wilds. Puncturing what should be its lungs, and again sending a stream of black ichorous blood out, Ujarak kicked free of the guard's form and pushed him with all his might to the fountain. It would be needing to be purified - when the guard fell in, his blood spread very quickly lke a mad swarm of insects on a hot day. The fountain spat blackness, in minutes. However, that guard did not rise as his companion did, he remained still, face down in the water.

Misae knew this was his chance to rid the prisoner of his burden, and swept up with equal amounts of care and speed. He was careful not to touch the stone itself, yanking the cord hard enough to break it and throwing the stone straight at the second guard Wayra was fighting. If he threw it, it would land either in the fountain or in the crowd, and neither of those things seemed wise. Before too long, the captive lost the glazed look on his face, and looked around in a panic instead.

"They're going to kill me," he hissed, but Misae was way ahead of him. He'd risen to the edge of the gallows, where his brother now helped dispatch the first guard, and Wayra sliced another long gash in the chest of the other.

"People of Renmark, you've been decieved!" He shouted, and suddenly his voice became all anyone could hear. Their heartbeats were as loud as his voice, in their ears, if there were shouts from anyone, they ceased almost immediately. This was strong magic, primal magic. "Hear me, you cannot allow this man to die - he has committed no crime!"

Misae glanced at his brother who nodded urgently.

"There is a Fey Taint here - these guards are not human, something dark has happened in this city! Your princess wasn't killed by this man, it is time to find out who really did it! The Taint comes from somewhere in the castle itself!"

With that he paused, and saw that for the first time consciously, he'd affected the way that people were thinking. Perhaps with his words, perhaps with them and his newfound gift. Those people who were hostile in the front became more cautious - did they really mean to kill an innocent man?

As he heard someone muttering about that, Misae went with it. "He has not been judged - and there is reason to believe that the justices here have been harmed by this Taint! Whoever killed your princess wants you to believe what they say, and not have any proof otherwise!"

At this time, then, as the guards bled out whatever substance kept them alive and stained the waters as well as the stones of the ground nearby, Wayra and Ujarak came to the side of their brother. He held on to the prisoner and gave only a single glance at him. Then, Ujarak took a handfull of the flash-powder from his pocket and threw it hard on the ground.

They vanished, like the stage magicians had long before. Leaving the crowd to turn on the bodies of the guards - they really were disgusting! Dead things, not just freshly dead, but long dead. Maybe they were lions, perhaps a wolf... no one could tell, and no one wanted to look too closely. As they were all distracted by this, only a few people near the back, the edges of the busy streets, minded where the cougars and their companion went.

And those folks weren't talking.

***

Their hasty retreat was made easier by the hard blinking and coughing that those in the nearby crowd were doing. The rest were staring at the plume of bright white and grey smoke that erupted, fascinated. The trio and their shambling companion made quick work of navigating the street back up to the alley behind the stores. They climbed up to the rooftop earlier than they had before, by several turns and houses. No one was in the homes, they didn't notice the faint sounds of handholds being established, footholds being tested - nor the dragging of the half-dazed and still-clumsy man up with them.

Ujarak let off his birdcall, and they went to the balcony. The door opened and was quickly closed once they'd hustled inside.

The trio found Pyln, obviously walking back to his work, crafting something on the wide dinner table. It was a wreath of some kind, which the canine nodded at and said, "who died?" Then he chuckled, coughed, and whispered hoarsely, "I am forever in your debt that it was not me."

"The owner of the house," Pyln said, looking at his work. "This will at least keep people from knocking unduly, a death wreath means mourning, no interruptions," he explained to the tribals. "Now... Let's get a look at you. Come away from the doors, and make sure those cloths are secure." The cats went to work camouflaging the windows again, they hadn't really had time to notice the care which Pyln had used to make it look natural. They would sling another of these wreaths on the outside of the balcony door shortly.

The judge examined the canine with a careful eye. "You've made certain that he's clean?"

"I did, there was a stone around his neck, it's gone." Misae said, and they noticed the dogform reach for his neck slowly.

"It was like... a huge weight, but it carried me along too, like ... being bound to a boat and not knowing where it was headed." He said, "May I sit?"

They made room for him, he looked very tired indeed. His drab clothing indicated to Pyln that he was a military man, but whose? Over the next few minutes they learned what he could recall clearly: he was a mercenary, but had been injured and taken back to the castle for treatments. Next thing he knew, was he was being paraded out by these monsterous beings to be hanged!

"Do you recall anything about the princess?" Pyln asked, and the man shook his head. His fur was greying around his muzzle, if he was a mercenary, he had surely seen his best days long before.

"Has anyone actually even seen the body of this girl?" Asked Ujarak. He was looking at the wreaths, pondering. "Wouldn't it be ... more normal to - I don't mean disrespect, but to show it off? Nobles do that, don't they?"

"You are not mistaken," Pyln said, "though some cities cultures forbid it and others ignore that tradition. Usually there is a state funeral, a large ceremony. And it is usually within three days of the death - today is only two days past. They do not have very much time to make this seem ... up and up."

"Wait, someone ... the princess is dead?" The mercenary said, shaking his head. "What's the point... this is madness."

"Do you know more? Are you remembering?" Asked Wayra. The canine looked at her with admiration.

"You're quite the fighter, miss, good arms and swift on your feet." He turned back to Ujarak and said, "well, from before. The princess would send us out, she was quite good at tactics and formations - I think I heard a rumor that her father was angry she'd gone to the guard to be trained, he said she was a woman and not fit for such things if I recall."

"I do remember, it was a bit odd," Pyln said, "but we thought that it was merely because he had no adult male heirs, and she was the eldest to carry on his line."

"Well, she was trained, and good at thinking battles. Too frail to hold a sword like you do, miss," he again nodded toward Wayra, "but too strong willed to sit by idle. Good woman, that. She's gone? That is a shame."

"Well... we don't know she's gone," Wayra said, furrowing her eyebrows and picking at a stray thread on her leg wrap (she would have to find that pig! he was going to give her boots!). "What if she isn't dead?"

"There is a strong possibility," Pyln said, "that every bit of this is a lie..."

"If it's Fey Taint, that's the root of it," Misae said. "Every time I look around me, I see details now, it's stronger every minute it seems. Especially after I had to make that speech..."

"That was a brilliant moment, it was such a hush outside," Pyln congratulated him. "You did well."

"It felt strange, I would think that such things would be the realm of the gods, not of sorcerers." He admitted.

"But you're saying that she might be alive?" Asked the dog, and they finally coersed his name from him, Rudyn. "Well we need to make sure one way or another... That's the only way to solve this."

There was a general sense that while he was an older 'form, and not a ranked military man, Rudyn was a competant soldier whose fighting days were merely behind him. That certainly didn't mean he wasn't going to be of use here! Plus, though a mercenary, he'd spent most of his life here in this city, only going to a new venue a handful of times. This was his home, and damned if he wasn't going to defend it.

"Do you think that Mrs. Mal will be helpful?" Ujarak said, "I... might feel more comfortable if I had someone who knew what they were doing, around for me..." He looked at Pyln, who had clearly taken a liking to Misae, and to Rudyn who was at the same time enamored with Wayra as she was asking him how he would handle the fight they'd been through.

Pyln nodded, "aye, she's a bit lightheaded sometimes, but she's a very strong Wizard. Can't have too much of that, especially now. I'm sure she'll be able to work up something to keep you hidden on your way back here."

Ujarak slipped outside, the courtyard was still milling with people, but their tone was now quite different. With the black goo spreading from the undead creatures in the fountain, citizens were realizing that they had to fix things now, and that things weren't all what they seemed. Things he heard along the way included talk of how the regular guards - where were they? Why hadn't their plumed hats been seen recently? And what about the princess? Any proper Emir would have set the funerary arrangements up by now!

It was as though a thick daze had been lifted from the populace, and they were just now coming to terms with it. The shop keepers were doing record business, keeping people fitted with drinks and apple pies and meat sandwiches this whole time. It was a boon - but then any event here was.

Ujarak made it to Mrs. Mal's and she was still standing on the balcony, tilting her head occasionally and making little chirps to herself about conversations she was listening in on. Startled, she popped up in the air and made Ujarak laugh.

"Oh dear I -- you really are quite silent out there aren't you! I didn't even hear you, and that's what I'm doing," she aimed one eye at him, "listening in on people from afar... I'll teach you to do that soon enough."

"We want you to come along, ... I mean, I - I want you to come with us, we have work to do." He pulled her into the silence of the shop, where he knew no one outside could hear them speaking even as the outdoors were silenced to them. "We have found the captive, and he's fine, but we're not sure that the princess is dead - we need to find her, and we need to stop this Fey Taint from spreading."

"Oh my, oh my," the puffin said, her head doing a bit of rolling, if she'd been younger and slightly sillier she would have bobbed in a circle dancing a little at the thought. "But I'm old! I'm not-"

"You're ... you're my mentor, and I need you. Judge Pyln is helping my brother Misae, and Rudyn the mercenary out there, he can teach my sister some tricks. I can't do this by myself!" Ujarak said, holding out her pouch of flash-powder. "This was of great help."

"Hold on to it, boy, you're probably going to need it again soon." She gave a heaving sigh, and looked around. "Well, I'm sure the place can keep itself company for a little bit. You're right, I should come along with you.