Sailcloth Moray
Bleme Astra: "Mind that blue one, or she could take a finger."
Geralda Rightnex: "Yeah, yeah, I know you're our senior, but I have been doing this for 8 years... What's with the ring?"
"The sailing ring? I've always had it, you never asked about it before..."
"No, it was silver before, now it's golden."
"So you did pay attention."
"And there's a stone now, there wasn't one, why a blue stone?"
"A blue Zircon? Oh I just like it."
"Come on, you told me that was your Fenici Sailor's ring, you wouldn't mess with it on a whim..."
"Oh, I told you that huh?"
"You did, that one time..." Her eyes were wide, and clearly, she had a fond memory of the event...
"Well, I... got a jeweler friend who..."
"Converted your silver ring to gold? We all should have a friend like that..."
"Wasn't silver, was steel, like all fenici sailor's rings."
"Steel? Out at sea? They're out of their gourd!"
"Err, oiled steel..."
"But now you have a gold ring... So it's no longer a sailor's ring..."
"Err..." Damn, how did she find out that much... Wait, I almost married her, should I be surprised she'd see right through me?
Riana Tanith: "I'd like to report a man for sedition." Random Puma Squire: "Those are very serious accusations, little missy." Riana: "I'm no priestess, so I can't know what I'm talking about, is that it?" "No, just wondering if you really hate someone enough to report them, where they'll be captured, tortured and put to horrible death." Riana gulped. "I'm not the judge to puts them to the worse possible fate, I only know if I do nothing, there's a Fenici First cell that'll strike the Tzekaukus Docks at dawn." "I'll take your deposition, now. Please come with me." He took her to an internal room, where a two way mirror hid a body language expert. "So let's start at the beginning, you are?" "Riana Tanith." "Tanith, I know that name." "My mother, Viana Tanith, is the Mayor of Tzekaukus." "Oh, I thought I'd seen your face someplace, so it's your mother I saw, on jade broadcast." "Yeah." "And your address?" "15 Main Street, Tzekaukus, Jiggi, 98567." "Jade code?" "0x 0F F0 BA D0 DA B0 41 23 BB EA D1 23 F0 B0 EA 23" "And you want to report who, exactly?" "Senior moray catcher Fingus McMellon. My friend, Gerarda Rightnex, left this letter..." "She's... already a missing person, isn't she?" "She's been missing for twelve days, I only got the message today, I came as soon as I could free myself from school." "And you know her how?" "She was a family friend, my babysitter when I was younger, always had two-three jobs. And as mom was the head of the guild, they had met before I was born, and became friends. Now she's been missing, and she names her abducter, in the letter." "Bleme Astra, huh? I'm sure you picked him on the limited amount of fuss he's able to throw at us, too." "What? I don't understand." "Your mother may be the head of the guild, but as the senior moray catcher, he has an impeccable reputation, and a lot of authority." "Well, if something's happened to Geralda... And if they do strike the docks on the day of the thirty-seventh, you'll be sure, of course, by then, it'll be too late." "Whoa, whoa, little lady. I didn't say we were going to do nothing. Does anyone else know about this letter?" "I took a picture and sent it to my mom." That was a lie, she hadn't been thinking that far ahead. But, she realized, maybe he did have friends in the Pumas... Viana Tanith: "I came in as soon as I could." Of course, she had told her mom where she was going, just not in any detail... Puma Squire: "Honourable Tanith." Riana: "Mooom." Viana: "Young lady, you should have waited for me, and our attorney." Riana: "Mom, Gerarda doesn't have that much time!" Viana lowered her eyes, her daughter was probably right, twelve days was a lot of time to be gone. Puma Squire: "Do you want to add your own deposition, Honourable Tanith?" Viana: "I'd only be a character witness, can I see the letter?" Riana handed it to her mom. The Puma Squire cursed himself, he hadn't asked for it yet, so he couldn't make it disappear. Then Viana, made it worse: "Puma Officer, please set to record." And she began to read.
Riana Tanith: "I'd like to report a man for sedition." Random Puma Squire: "Those are very serious accusations, little missy." Riana: "I'm no priestess, so I can't know what I'm talking about, is that it?" "No, just wondering if you really hate someone enough to report them, where they'll be captured, tortured and put to horrible death." Riana gulped. "I'm not the judge to puts them to the worse possible fate, I only know if I do nothing, there's a Fenici First cell that'll strike the Tzekaukus Docks at dawn." "I'll take your deposition, now. Please come with me." He took her to an internal room, where a two way mirror hid a body language expert. "So let's start at the beginning, you are?" "Riana Tanith." "Tanith, I know that name." "My mother, Viana Tanith, is the Mayor of Tzekaukus." "Oh, I thought I'd seen your face someplace, so it's your mother I saw, on jade broadcast." "Yeah." "And your address?" "15 Main Street, Tzekaukus, Jiggi, 98567." "Jade code?" "0x 0F F0 BA D0 DA B0 41 23 BB EA D1 23 F0 B0 EA 23" "And you want to report who, exactly?" "Senior moray catcher Fingus McMellon. My friend, Gerarda Rightnex, left this letter..." "She's... already a missing person, isn't she?" "She's been missing for twelve days, I only got the message today, I came as soon as I could free myself from school." "And you know her how?" "She was a family friend, my babysitter when I was younger, always had two-three jobs. And as mom was the head of the guild, they had met before I was born, and became friends. Now she's been missing, and she names her abducter, in the letter." "Bleme Astra, huh? I'm sure you picked him on the limited amount of fuss he's able to throw at us, too." "What? I don't understand." "Your mother may be the head of the guild, but as the senior moray catcher, he has an impeccable reputation, and a lot of authority." "Well, if something's happened to Geralda... And if they do strike the docks on the day of the thirty-seventh, you'll be sure, of course, by then, it'll be too late." "Whoa, whoa, little lady. I didn't say we were going to do nothing. Does anyone else know about this letter?" "I took a picture and sent it to my mom." That was a lie, she hadn't been thinking that far ahead. But, she realized, maybe he did have friends in the Pumas... Viana Tanith: "I came in as soon as I could." Of course, she had told her mom where she was going, just not in any detail... Puma Squire: "Honourable Tanith." Riana: "Mooom." Viana: "Young lady, you should have waited for me, and our attorney." Riana: "Mom, Gerarda doesn't have that much time!" Viana lowered her eyes, her daughter was probably right, twelve days was a lot of time to be gone. Puma Squire: "Do you want to add your own deposition, Honourable Tanith?" Viana: "I'd only be a character witness, can I see the letter?" Riana handed it to her mom. The Puma Squire cursed himself, he hadn't asked for it yet, so he couldn't make it disappear. Then Viana, made it worse: "Puma Officer, please set to record." And she began to read.
Trinum twenty-fifth,"
Tzekaukus, I think
Gerarda Rightnex,
To whom it may concern, I doubt I'm still alive by the time you read this letter. Bleme Astra, my senior at the Tzekaukus Sail Algae and Moray Catch corporation, and an ex-lover, has kidnapped me. I managed to sneak a letter out while pretending to be getting his mail in. If he finds out, I will be severely beaten, or worse, perhaps even fed to his pet morays. I probably should be thankful he's not a surveillance expert or anything, nor that practiced as a terrorist. His cell, the Fenici First thirty-seventh, plan to assault the Tzekaukus Sail Algae and Moray Catch with a powder that I have not observed, but that was described to me as Sodium tetrachloropalladate, on Tercium Thirty-Seventh. This will kill all this month's crop of the fish, and damage all the algae we planned to make into sails. However, their plan is more insidious, they plan to have those sails installed on ships in the harbour, who 'won't need them' apparently. Gerarda Rightnex
The corpse of Gerarda Rightnex was found last night, half-consumed by wild, or perhaps, semi-domesticaed Sailcloth Moray, in Tzekaukus bay. She had been missing for thirteen days. Public authorities remind residents that the moray is exceedingly dangerous, being able to feed of anything smaller than itself, and capable of eating anything that it can put in its mouth, lined with exceedingly sharp teeth. Living all over the Fenician Ocean at shallow depths up to ten meters, but only within Sailcloth Algae groves. It is the only vertebrate that the algae tolerate, their long cilla-like tendrils punishing any other fish that comes close. Current theories speculate that the Moray, the apex predator of the coastal shallows, exhudes phenol markers that the algae accepts as marking it as a friend. The current catching method for wild moray, making it imbibe alcohol followed by a sharp blow to the head, has the side effect of neutralizing such phenols, so any fish dropped into a sailcloth grove will see the fish beaten to a pulp by the action of the extremely strong, dangerous algae.
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