The Artisan District

Robert walks up to the bar, and sees Inam sitting alone on the steps.

"Inam! Are you alright? You don't look well."

He runs over, kneeling beside her.

"You look so worried. What's wrong? Has there been another attack?"

As Bennik runs up, Robert has a sudden realization and looks about.

"Where's Rafaela? Is she ok?"

Putting his arm around her waist, he lifts her to her feet.

"Come inside, you'll catch a cold out here."

He leads her back to the table where they sat just a little while earlier.

"What happened, Inam?"

If he was looking for Inana's scent, Fenris would most likely smell it vaguely on the lovely native girl that stood when he approached. Like most of the native women he had seen, she had long, flowing brown hair and generous curves, decorated with gold. "The Mayor's Home is that way," she pointed North. Inam frowned. "But she won't be in residence now, she is expected at the memorial."

When Robert's voice drifted over to her, Inam fled down the steps to him and into his arms. Warm, supple, the flesh of her back naked to the white haired man's touch, she looked up at him. "I am so sorry, Mr. Mayor, but I don't know where Rafaela has gone. She was saying something about a statue and when I looked next, she was simply gone."

Inam didn't go inside, the entire exchange made viewable for Fenris.

Oleanna chews on Neferet's question for a silent minute. It was a tough question and one she had known she would have to answer eventually. If the council asked her this she would have lied but Oleanna feels like Neferet deserves the best truth she can provide. The issue was articulation of the myriad of reasons she had for wanting this position. Oleanna eventually let's out a long sigh and say's.

"I fight it's what I do I've done it as long as I can remember. I have fought for every reason under the sun and in doing so I gained a reputation. After all these years though I feel... worn? Ragged? Stretched? I don't know I don't feel right anymore and I don't know why. I figured I'd try starting somewhere new somewhere where no one knows me. I can't stop fightning though I can't imagine that."

Oleanna shrugs her shoulders.

"So I figured why not travel to a new country to a city in the mountains where no one knows me. And if I have to fight why not do so for an unambiguously good reason like keeping the law."

Oleanna chuckles despite the lack of humor in what she has said it is a chuckle of helplessness. She then asks Neferet tone curious but with a bit of the depression she is feeling in it as well.

"What about you miss mayor you're not a local either what brought you to the city? Also if it's not rude to ask why don't you avoid touching other?"

Oleanna winces at herself and her clumsy ploy to move the conversation to a topic she would find less uncomfortable.

Neferet chastised herself, mentally, ashamed of her moment of conceit. For a split second, Neferet had been expecting Dame Oleanna to say that she had come to Gaiaton looking for Neferet, especially once the female knight began to speak of how worn and tired and lost she felt. Many had felt this way, and had come to Neferet, expecting the Oracle to provide clear answers and a determined path.

Neferet smiled a little to herself. Dame Oleanna clearly relied on her own strength to get her out of seemingly hopeless situations. It spoke more for her character, and Neferet appreciated her all the more for it.

"My story is a long and sad one," Neferet said, and laughed quietly in the dancing darkness of the Gaiaton night. "In the end, I found Gaiaton to be peaceful and I found a purpose here. The people welcomed me, and I have grown to love them like my own."

It wasn't nearly as illuminating an answer as what Oleanna had given, but to get into the details here and now felt a poor decision. And no one really asked Neferet about her history. It was enough to know she was the Oracle; it was the only thing about Neferet that mattered to people.

"I am Blessed with the Eye of Amun Ra," Neferet explained in her steady and soothing voice, no change to indicate that she was proud of her power or regretful of it. To Neferet, it just simply was. "When I touch people, indeed when I touch living things, I see their destiny. Their future. I am a vessel for Amun Ra's will. My body is but a theead that connects the Angel to His people, and as a thread, I can only endure so much."

This question she answered a bit more thoroughly, as it was a question she had been asked many times. She lifted her face to look at Oleanna, her tawny eyes bright. "Will your soldiers want to stay in Gaiaton?"

A stunned look crosses Oleannas face at the revelation that the mayor is an oracle. The look then flickers to cautious concern and Oleanna says in a flat voice.

"Meaning no offense or impertanince Madam Mayor but I will make a personal request right now. Should you ever touch me for any reason I would prefer you keep any insights into my future to yourself. My destiny is my own and I'd rather not find myself second guessing my actions over some prophecy."

Her voice then takes on a softer more reflective tone.

"In regards to my soldiers they would all stay if I asked. I don't intend to ask though Gaiaton is a far cry from what they are used to. I wont force them to stay in this place just because I want to. That being said I imagine a few will stay on. I had about a 110 fightning women in my band and I would say about a third would refuse to follow anyone else."

Oleanna tries to think of another question to ask Neferet but comes up blank. The mayors questions had cut to the heart of the knights troubles and had put her in a melancholy mood. Oleanna favors Neferet with a wane smile.

"Sorry if I seem a bit off introspection is not a great strength of mine yet I find myself plagued by it. At least my mood is as somber as the memorial we are attending calls for. Still I'll snap out of it as soon as I can sink my teeth into this damn demon problem."

Oleanna gives Neferet a fierce grin the fire in the Knights one good eye is almost palpable.

Robert turns to Inam.

"Hmm...I'm going to look for Rafaela, and you should come with us. It isn't safe for you to be on the streets at night, all alone."

Bennik chirps in agreement, tugging gently at Inam's sleeve. Robert offers her a comforting smile, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Come on, we'll find my stupid troublemaking cousin and go home. It won't take long."

Pulling her along behind him, he walks after Fenris.

"I only reveal what is asked of me to reveal," Neferet assured Oleanna as they walked, noting the vehemence for which she spoke. It made sense, given the bold knight's personality, and it only made Neferet like her all the more.

Neferet was content to walk in quietness, and a gentle smile touched her lips at Oleanna's quiet explanation of her mood. "I understand. We are almost to the theatre as it is," the dark-haired woman said, and gestured to the large columns with fire ablaze ontop.

There was a crowd of people waiting to get in, but Neferet made no attempt to try to part through them, or go around them. She did, however, seemed to get nervous, and her hands were clasped together in a white-knuckled grip. The thought of being touched, even brushed, seemed like it was a very real fear for Neferet, but it wasn't long before people glanced over their shoulders and saw that she had arrived.

Whispers floated in the air, and the people parted of their own accord, without ever being asked. Neferet's smile was tight, her eyes guarded as she nodded to them and walked forward. A few reached out and she immediately stopped and spoke to them, their hands never quite reaching her skin.

All in all, it might have been an odd experience for Oleanna to witness; like people looking upon a true Saint.

Neferet made it through the people, her naked shoulders stiff even though she was trying to look as serene and welcoming as she usually did. Although there was reverence in most people's eyes, she saw anger and blame and malice in others. Inana's words echoed in Neferet's mind.

If she was the Oracle, how had she not seen what terrible darkness would befall Gaiaton?

She forcibly swept it from her mind, and idly wondered where Akbar was. Having the large guard around went a long way to making her feel safe, even though she knew he was a crutch. He would have to be replaced soon, for Neferet could see how the man looked at Rasha, and how in his older age he seemed to want... peace.

Letting out a small breath from between her lips, she forced her shoulders to relax and her own grip on her hands to soften. She turned and looked at Oleanna. "This way," she comme.ted with a tilt of her head.

The theatre was reminiscent of Roman ampitheatres, set up in much the same way, but the pillars for illumination and the braziers that hung from them were distinctly Gaiaton in style. The booths for the wealthy were there in front of the stage, not above them, and gilded with gold and precious stones, like lapiz and turquoise and rose quartz.

A curtain hung across the stage, once more cerulean, a color that Oleanna had seen on Neferet, and painted in broad strokes in a temporary swath of color over doorways, much in the way the Hebrews brushed lambs blood over their doors during the final plague of Egypt. The curtain was decorated with illuminating figures that must have been people on earth, kings perhaps, mourning a dead brother, and a god lifting him into the sky with great celebration.

Neferet led Oleanna to sit in one of the booths with cushions for comfort. The jungle night was very, very warm, and no shawls or cloaks were needed. They sat there, with an ability for polite conversation, until some of the sconces and braziers were let out and the pan pipes of the troop of musicians began.

Robert sprints into the somber amphitheater, running straight for Neferet.

"Hey! I need to talk to the mayor! It's important!"

Pushing through the crowds and bodyguards, he runs up to the oracle, gasping for breath.

"Neferet, I know what happened. I know why the monsters are here. My cousin, she stole the artifact! Not the one coming to kill the monsters, a different one! She's going to put it back now. But if you see a girl with white hair, named Rafaela Fletcher...that's her. She did all this. Please don't be too harsh on her. Actually, don't worry about that. There's no way you could catch her. She's tricky and fast."