As they walk along Emi considers for a couple of seconds before she responds to Kayleigh's request.
"There's something you need to know." Emi gives her a sideways glance and continues.
"Pilts was close by and noticed the actresses's healing. I don't think this is over yet. It won't take him long to connect the fire with some people making off with Crayden, if he hasn't already. Going back might be more dangerous than you were thinking. But, if you still want to go back, absolutely. I'll come too."
"Let's see what the others think," Kayleigh suggests. "I know that going back sort of defeats the whole purpose of disguising myself in the first place, but...ignoring folks wounded and in need just isn't like me. If I don't go back, then I'm letting Pilts exert control over me and change who I am as a person. I want to go back...but I'll defer if anyone else thinks it's foolishly reckless."
Once back at the temple Emileva fetches her bow, arrows, and falchion. She leaves it to Kayleigh to make her case for returning and just gets ready to go, waiting for the others until they are ready as well.
The stout doors of the Temple open at Nebbin's knock. Garlan cries out in surprise and relief. He comes over to offer his help with Crayden, as if adding his unsteady strength is going to make things easier. Instead he takes up a lamp and leads you back to the priest's rooms. The children come out of the library, now a makeshift orphan campsite to peer at the addled priest.
Settled in his bed, among his meager possessions, Crayden seems a little bit more like himself. He's still wide-eyed and slow to respond, but he's no longer muttering nonsense. Carawyn brings a cup of water, and when Crayden's hands are shaking too bad to take the cup she helps him drink.
"He's coming off the shiver, isn't he?" she says as she retreats from the bed. She looks at Tassira and Neziana for confirmation as she flees the room, fright and hunger plain in her eyes.
Soon a second knock at the door announces Emileva and Kayleigh's return. The children cheer to see everyone reunited, but Garlan ushers them back to their beds before coming back to your group. He nods his agreement at Kayleigh's request.
"A priest's first duty is to his flock. It's the responsibility he bears for the power he wields. The dictates of Milani are no different than they were for our orders, before He passed. You cannot let such a man come between you and your covenant with your goddess. If you feel the compulsion to do this - then you should do it. I would go with you, but... I would be more hindrance than help. I will tend Crayden.".
Kayleigh thanks Garlan for his words of encouragement and admits that she's been letting anger and disgust at some of her fellow Old Korvosans dictate her emotions and override her own core values. She checks in with Kevlin and the other Lambs and tells the others of her sacred duty to return to the burned theater before going into Milani's shrine and changing back into her healer's whites.
As she puts the final adjustments on her tabard, she asks the others, "Anyone want to come with? We could also check our flats while we're out to make sure we still have them, what with all the fires and looting recently."
"I'll go with you. It's still scary out there, and I don't want you to get hurt."
Using the crutch, he belatedly limps to the other room and regains his big stick, returning with his normal gait.
He smiles at the healer.
"I... I think I should check on my home." Tassira gathers her things and scoops her cat into her backpack.
"And I need to check on my folks in the Heights too."
Neziana nods her agreement. "I have some things, some people to check on, too. Let me get my things..."
Kayleigh shakes her head at Nebbin's shenanigans with his fake limp but finds his smile infectious. "Thanks for having my back," she tells him before thanking all of her new friends. "Once things calm back down and we can return to our normal lives, if you ever need anything from me, just let me know. I owe you all more than I can ever repay."
Once again the stout church doors are barred behind you as you head out into the night. You find the streets of Old Dock are crazy tonight. The crowd on the Jeggare Bridge seems to be a permanent fixture now. There's no traffic at all getting over the bridge there. It's been blocked by overturned carts and wagons, and neither the guards in North Point nor the rioters from Old Korvosa have seen cause to clear them out. As a result, only foot traffic is getting over the bridge in either direction. Over the heads of all those folks - on the other side of the Narrows in the city proper - you can see the ominous red glow of another serious fire burning.
Your fire is burning merrily when you return to the square in front of the playhouse. The fire is hot and the building is totally engulfed in flames by the time you return. That storeroom in the rear so stuffed with backdrops and stinking of paint hungrily took the fire.
There aren't many burns but there are many broken bones among the crowd. People were trampled and some suffer from asphyxiation. The crowd drinks the divine power Kayleigh channels into them and she hears many thanks to her and her goddess over the next half hour.
When you feel like you've pushed your luck enough, you move up the street towards the flophouse that Nebbin calls home. Long before he gets there he can tell that something's very wrong. A part of the urban skyline is missing - the part made by the roof that Nebbin sleeps under for the building is no more. It has burnt to the ground, just like the playhouse is doing now. A patch of filthy black ruin and a couple standing chimneys are all that remain of the building.
Nebbin's jaw drops as he realizes his home is gone.
"Oh no," he says, looking around. "Now I'm going to need to find a new place to stay. And so is everyone else who was here!"
He looks around, as if another home will materialize for him to move into.
"I hope no one else's house has burned..."
Just beyond the burned out apartment are the lamps of Eel's End. This is a pier at the mouth of the Narrows with several hulks moored to it. Each is an establishment of a different sort. The House of Clouds is a brothel. The Dragon's Breath a drug den. The Twin Tigers is a gambling hall. There are others and all of them are controlled in one way or another by the man they call the King of Spiders.
The businesses of Eel's End are busier than ever tonight. The pier is covered with folks unwilling to pause the party long enough to see the walls coming down around them. Beyond them the glow of that fire in North Point pulses angrily.
---
A surprisingly short distance down the road is the tenement where Emileva lived with Ansel. Though the door lock to her flat is intact, Emi finds her place has been swept clean of every possession. Whoever rolled this place was thorough. They took everything she owned that she wasn't carrying on her person.
---
To get to Kayleigh's place in Bridgefront you have to weave your way through the crowd that's gathered at the Jeggare Bridge. The favellas start just past the bridge, and her small place is tucked into a second story corner of one of the first connected apartments in the district. These streets are insecure at the best of times.
The dark streets are filled with the echoes of the crowd at the bridge, the higher walls of these buildings lit by the light of the fires behind you. There's no one in the streets here, and sounds in the deep shadows make you jump as Kayleigh picks her way through the maze of halls and steps to her flat. But she finds that all of her things are there, and there's a convenient foot bridge over the Narrows out back of her building that will let you bypass crowd at the Jeggare.
Tassira's face falls as she sees how many people have been affected by the riots and the fire that consumed the playhouse.
...my heavens...
The sight of Emi's looted apartment is a sobering one for her. I hope my place is still alright...
Ravnos peeks her head out of Tassira's backpack and hops out, walking over to Emi and gently rubbing against her leg. She meows softly.
As she looks around her place, Emi shrugs off the robbery.
"A mattress and a couple of blankets, a couple of changes of clothes and a dress that had seen better days, a few cheap books. There was an old table and a couple of chairs. Oh, and a iron pot that never got used. Nothing worth anything. It'll make moving easier."
She drops the key on the floor and walks out. "All done."
Helping the wounded folks at the playhouse--even though more than a few deserved a bit of burning for their wickedness--soothed Kayleigh's frayed nerves. Although the madness rampant throughout Korvosa (Old and in general) still ran wild, she was back to doing what she knew and loved.
Visiting the homes of Nebbin and Emileva, though, again plunged her faith in the people of Old Korvosa (her people!) to new depths. "You can stay at my place for a while if you'd like," she tells Nebbin. "I'll be staying at the temple for the next few days at least, to see Amistan buried, Garlan and Crayden recovered, the place cleaned up and consecrated, and the Lambs watched over."
To Emi she adds, "Once I have those duties tended to, I'd be happy to help you clean up Madame Zellara's place, if you plan on staying there."
Taking a deep breath and letting out a tired sigh, the priestess says, "Let's go check on Tassira's place and family."
Tassira sniffs and nods, scooping up her cat. "...yes, please."
The foot bridges dump you at the Narrows wall. Tracking back to the Bridge Gate you enter through a postern door and circumvent the crowd at the bridge. As the rumors foretold, Dock Trade, the sprawling open-air market of North Point is closed and its space taken by a camping crowd. Your knot of well armed and purposeful individuals attracts some discrete attention, but no direct challenge. You bear to the right, towards University and the quickest way through town toward Tassira's. To the left is City Hall and the Longacre Building, together the center of civil administration in the city, and therefore the target of many protests and grievances.
University is really not much better than the square in Northpoint. Students have the very best ideas on governance reform, and have taken to the street to demonstrate for or against these multitudes. Passing through this crowd you hear that there has been an assassination on the steps of city hall today, one of the city's magistrates who'd come out against the new Queen was killed.
From the University area you follow one of the hillside streets that make up the Slope district. This narrow way eventually dumps you in Southern Korvosa at the ancient and massive Pillar Wall. When you get to the Pillar Gate that leads into South Shore you run into your first major check. There's a strong checkpoint of Guardsmen at the gate and they're challenging anyone who seeks to cross into the South Shore district. You overhear them challenging two pedestrians as you come up.
"The Queen's Curfew passed at sundown. No one leaves the district until dawn and you are discouraged from being in the streets after dark. You may pass, but go where you;re going and stay there."
They wave the couple through the gate and turn their eyes upon you.
...oh, dear.
Tassira looks over at the rest of the party, squares her shoulders and walks up to the Guardsmen.
"Excuse me, sirs? I live here. May I pass?"
"Yes, you can go. But you must go home and remain until sunrise. The Queen has placed a curfew on the city until order is fully restored in the north." The fact that you've just passed the length of the city and this is the first you've heard of the curfew is troubling.
There's four of them here at the gate, but you can feel the eyes of others from atop the Pillar Wall. The guards spread out and surround as you move into the light of their torches. Their numbers match your own - Neziana is missing.
"Do you others also live in the district? If not, you are directed to return to your homes and come back on the morrow if you have business here." He looks doubtfully at Nebbin, less so at Emi.
"Are you close to home from here Tassira? Maybe we should just come by to pick you up tomorrow morning?
"I am." Tassira nods. "And it has been an exhausting day..."
The big man nods at Kayleigh's offer.
"You think that's OK? I mean, I wouldn't want to be indecent or anything," he says with his usual sincerity. Apparently the idea of staying at a woman's apartment is a bit scandalous for him, even if she weren't there at the moment.
He mulls the idea over, blushing faintly, as the group makes its way to the bridge. Once there, he waits for the others to decide what to do.
"My home burned down, sir," he tells the guard, not meaning to tower over the man. "So I don't really live anywhere, I guess."
"Of course it's not indecent if I'm not there!" Kayleigh tells Nebbin. "It's just one friend looking out for another."
Kayleigh remembers the waking vision she had of the town guard while the group had escorted the Lambs to the Temple of Aroden: Bestial and wicked, with the Demon's Lantern glowing above each man's head. Her vision here is clear and absent of...what exactly? Hallucinations? No matter--Kayleigh also remembers that a city guard was with the monsters that killed Amistan, left Garlan for dead, and dragged Crayden off to be ritually murdered. Normally one to respect the Korvosan Guard, this time Kayleigh doesn't back down.
"The streets of the city are dangerous right now," Kayleigh tells the guard leader with a frown. "Surely you wouldn't object if we escorted our friend to her home and then left immediately afterward?"
"Not these streets," the guard answers, but he doesn't press the point. He notes Kayeigh's tabard as well, and relents.
"Just go where you're going quickly and discretely and get off the streets. I can't swear a patrol won't pick you up and stick you in jail for violating curfew, so you'd best be about it."
The guards wave you through their checkpoint.
The streets beyond the wall are dead quiet. The people of South Shore are indoors, presumably, though there aren't that many lights in windows either. For all the violence in the rest of the city, you might think nothing's amiss from the state of things in this district. Of course South Shore is a world apart form the rest of the city on normal days. It's reserved for new construction of upper class homes and high-priced establishments. Properties are larger, newer and in a more modern fashion than other parts of the city. And the embassy of Mierani Elves in this part of the city lends the place a certain air.
None of that is in evidence tonight. The streets of the district are dark and quiet. Your group finds Tassira's home, secure as she left it.
Tassira breathes a sigh of relief as she reaches her apartment building. "Oh, thank the heavens--home sweet home."
She slides the key out of her pocket and unlocks the door to her apartment. "So, um... would any of you like to spend the night here?" She offers, turning to the others. "I mean, there's the curfew..."
"I need to visit the Grand Cathedral of Pharasma tomorrow to see about having Amistan interred," Kayleigh says slowly. "It would be a lot easier to stay here tonight rather than walk the entire length of the city again tomorrow...."
Kayleigh looks to Emileva and Nebbin for their thoughts.
"I guess that would be OK. I just wouldn't want anyone to say anything. Maybe I should sleep on the stoop or something? To make sure no one comes in or thinks ... things."
Emileva is unsure what to do.
"I'm inclined return. I'm not completely confident the church won't be revisited by Pilts' people. They also need food."
Emi sighs. "On the other hand, I've no idea where I might possibly buy food on the way back."
She asks Kayleigh:
"If I went back tonight, I could try to find a place to get some here on the way to drop off Tassira. If there's nothing open here, do you think you could get something on the way back tomorrow? Zellara also needs a decent burial, could you ask about her when you go to the Grand Cathedral tomorrow? Given the circumstances involved with her, it might be easier for priestess to explain than someone like me.
Nebbin looks conflicted as Emi discusses leaving.
How can I make sure they're all safe if they go different places...
He looks back and forth between the three women, wondering what they're going to do.
"Maybe we should all go back? I don't want the church to get attacked again."
"I'm leery of leaving the temple unguarded as well," Kayleigh admits. "We could all go back there tonight, I suppose. Or maybe Emi and Nebbin could return now and I could stay here with Tassira tonight, visit the Pharasmins first thing in the morning, and then we could do some food shopping and reunite at the temple for a late breakfast tomorrow. How does that sound?"
A moment later, Kayleigh sees a flaw in her plan. "Oh, yeah--I'd need some money to buy food. I generally don't carry much on me when I'm out in the city."
"It's alright. I'll be fine going back, and I think Pilts has enough on his plate with the fire right now to keep him busy. It's just insurance in case I'm wrong. Nebbin, you should stay here. Things aren't much better in the daytime so it will be better for Kayleigh and Tassira to have you with them. I'm pretty good at getting around without being noticed if I need to be."
Emi hands Kayleigh five gold coins. "I do tend to carry everything with me. For reasons, well, you saw why."
Tassira opens the door to her apartment suite and sighs in relief. "It feels great to be home."
Ravnos seems to agree with her, leaping from her backpack and making a beeline for an easy chair sitting next to the couch in the living room. She promptly sits in it and refuses to move.
-------------------
Tassira's Crib
-------------------
You improvise to find sleeping places and everyone has an opportunity to get as many hours as they want or need.
-------------------------
Emi's Night Stroll
-------------------------
There are only a couple ways out of the South Shore district and back into the city proper. The most obvious way is the gate you came in by. The guards said they weren't letting people out of the district, but they also agreed to let you take your friend home with the implication that you'd be going home afterwards. Are you headed there? Also, there are, of course, a thousand ways back through the city to the Temple in Old Korvosa. Do you have a preferred route or any side business that would draw you one way or another?
After telling Emileva to be careful, Kayleigh prepares for an early night and an early rising on the morrow. After making certain that Nebbin isn't really sleeping on the stoop, the priestess says her good-nights and falls asleep. Her internal clock has her up just before dawn, and she prays to Milani silently for about an hour.
------------
Emileva
------------
Emi makes her way back to the gate, making her presence on the dark street plain to the guards there. The guards ask her more questions. Where were her other friends? Why didn't she stay with them? Where was she headed and on what business? But their questioning seems half-hearted and mechanical to her, like they're unsure or unhappy with their present task, and her intuition that just about any answer delivered respectfully would satisfy them proves correct.
As she leaves, one of the guards winks at her and tells her that patrols up and down Eodred's Promenade were likely to stop her with the same questions, but by shifting two blocks she could avoid the hassle.
Some surreptitious scouting from the deep shadows confirms the guard's advice. The Promenade from the Heights to Eodred's square is thickly patrolled by the guard. Lower midland itself seems locked down just about as tight as South Shore. She imagines the Heights to be just as bad or worse. So at least initially, she follows the same path through Slope as they took coming.
Once north of the castle, she takes a side street that steers back towards the riverfront and into the neighborhood of her Uncle's business. She doesn't see any trace of the guard on these streets. She moves through an urban wilderness.
The fire that so dominated the skyline as the party left Old Korvosa still burns brightly up the street to the north. The building that's on fire is hard by the river, close to the Old Fishery and directly in her path back to the temple.
But first, a side trek down a soggy and happily quiet lane brings Emileva to her uncle's home and business. There are no lights in the windows of the place, but it is late and he's an early-to-bed kind of guy. As she stands there convincing herself that the old man knows his business, a man at arms comes around the corner of her uncle's warehouse. He stops at a door and checks the lock then continues down the walk toward the home. A private guard.
Reassured that her uncle's no fool, she continues by the most direct path - back through North Point and over the bridge. As she gets closer and closer to the fire, her heart begins to sink. The building that took fire was an orphanage called the Riverside Building. It was easily the largest of the city's orphanages, and had a reputation of being packed to the rafters with wards of the city.
As Emi arrives on the scene the fire has burned out its fury - the multi-story building long-since collapsed on itself. Again the city is spared a catastrophic spreading fire by the isolation of the building, but this is no kind of mercy. The volunteers say that no more than two score escaped the fire. That the building collapsed, partially into the river fairly early in the catastrophe, and that as many young ones drowned in the river as burned in the fire. The survivors who could be caught were taken to the nearby Scrapper's Hall (another orphanage) to be treated and probably housed somehow.
Beyond the fire is North Point. The guard still stands at City Hall and on the streets around the Longacre Building, but they could not be said to be in control. City Hall is surrounded by a makeshift camp of protesters. The aisles and booths of Dock Trade, her one real shot at finding something for sale at this hour, are deserted and trashed. The desperate paw through the rubbish here and Emi finds herself hurrying through the dead market towards the bridge.
Like the camp at City Hall, the protesters on the bridge and in the square before the temple have retreated to their evening hearths, such as they may be. The square on the north side of the bridge is just as crowded with squatters as it was when the group left earlier in the evening. At the temple door itself, a bleary-eyed Garlan answers her knock and opens the door for her. The temple is apparently secure.
Tassira helps Kayleigh & Nebbin get settled in.
"Here--the couch is really comfy. It's not exactly meant to be slept in for a full night's rest, but it'll do until the morning. Oh, and don't try to take Ravnos' chair--she really likes that chair..."
"--and there should be a few spare pillows and blankets in my room... yep. Here we are."
By the time Emileva reaches the temple she is exhausted and heartsick. She isn't expecting to get an affirmative answer, but after briefing Garlan on where the others are and when they will return, she asks "do you have any strong drink here"?
----------------------
Temple of Aroden
----------------------
"No," Garlan answers somewhat wistfully. "The mob drank or broke all our stores." He bids you good night, checks in on Crayden, and shuffles back off to his own bed.
Gozran 15, 4708
----------------------------------
The Grand Cathedral of Pharasma
----------------------------------
A sea fog murk lies over the town the next morning, trapping in the campfire smell of the scarred city and making familiar corners seem strange. The guards at the Pillar Wall Gate have retreated as the sun's come up and the curfew is lifted. The group has the Promenade almost to themselves at first, but by the time they reach the gates of Gray District the city is coming to life. But when you pass the ancient gates into Gray District you put life behind you and enter the district of the dead. For a graveyard, the Gray is huge, sprawling and unmanageable. It houses hundreds of years of the city's dead, but is also built to encompass the burial grounds of the old Shoanti, the same folk who once raised the Grand Mastaba (the pyramid that Castle Korvosa is built upon). The Grand Cathedral stands on the far side of the district among the mausoleums of the city's lords, a long and somber walk among family crypts and statues. Off to the left, in the area folks call Potter's Ward you can see a team of men working around one of the church's notorious wains.
The Cathedral is an inspiring construction with flying wings of black marble and huge beautiful stained glass windows. Beyond the unlocked door, the interior of the place is overwhelming. The huge volume of space above your heads coveys a sense of the divine that's hard to match with a simple chapel. As you start across the floor looking for someone to talk to, a man you did not see stands across the room and starts toward you, his heels clicking on the polished floor. He wears the grey robes of a Pharasman priest, with the blue white swirl on his breast.
"Good morning," he says. His tone is guarded, his face tired. "What brings a sister of Milani to the house of Pharasma this morning?"
-----------------------
The Temple of Aroden
-----------------------
With its stone walls and stout barred doors, the temple feels like something of a fortress and Emileva's able to sleep some of yesterday's stress away. She wakes to the smell of onions frying, the orphans are busy in the kitchen's again. As Emi is just getting herself together there's a knock on the temple door. Hal checks the door's spy window and reports an unknown visitor.
Dressed like a lord." He reports. "Apparently alone."
After the long night on the too-small couch, Nebbin tries to walk softly as they approach the graveyard, not wanting to disturb any of the dead.
He waits for Kayleigh to answer.
Emi throws on her armored coat and buckles on her sword belt.
"Go find Garlan Hal, and quickly."
She goes to the door to take a look herself, and asks "may I have your name Sir, and the reason you have come calling?"
----------------------------
The Temple of Aroden
----------------------------
"My name is Orisini. Vencarlo Orisini. I come to pay my respects to the gods and inquire about the priests who live here."
He's a fit, attractive gentleman by appearance. Perhaps on the older side of middle-aged. And dressed not like a lord, but like a duelist, in trim leather with a rapier on his hip and black leather gloves.
Garlan comes along from the kitchens trailing two orphans.
"Orisini? Yes, let him in please."
He directs the orphans back to the kitchen and greets Vencarlo at the door.
"We have no service today," he says apologetically. "We've suffered a tragedy, had a run-in with some ugly elements of this mob. And we've lost brother Amistan."
Vencarlo shakes his head in grief and disbelief as he recognizes Amistan lying there in state. He speaks to Garlan but his emerald greens are on Emileva.
"When I heard that Execrables was running that vile play again I thought there was a chance of trouble. I heard a rumor that the priest of Aroden they had was the real thing, and that he was going to kill himself on stage. I couldn't believe that of one of the brothers here."
Garlan introduces Emi as a friend of the house of Milani. Vencarlo's takes in the fighter and the sword and he smiles appreciatively as he offers his hand.