10 Cylus 720
The Scalvwing was already unruly and Balthazar had not really put in the work to tame the powerful steed. He knew how to ride once he was on it's back but he had never paid the most attention to the training of the creatures. He left things like that to the Menagerie to handle. Typically they turned out very well trained beasts for the Elements only Tornado had not been given to Balthazar for his service with the Elements. Tornado had been given to Balthazar as a reward for his efforts in the Scholar's Nook's game. Tornado had been trained, and then Tornado had sat for the better half of an arc where he was only visited by a woman who fed him and passing citizens.
Fortunately Balthazar learned rather quickly that all animals were alike in one key way, they could be motivated by food. Tornado seemed to enjoy chewing the weeds outside Balthazar's house so Balthazar presented him with a different type of food, an apple. Tornado seemed reluctant to accept it at first but when Balthazar unsheathed a knife and cut a slice for the horse to try, Tornado consumed it like a vacuum. Once the steed had been given his treat, it was easier for Balthazar to creep up onto Tornado's back and from there the mage knew what he was doing. So he took off, heading back to Almund on the back of his Scalvwing.
The storm on the eighth was only predictable because the elements warned Balthazar it was coming. He thought nothing of flying through a little rain but about a break into the flight, he began being struck by large chunks of ice. The elements rallied to defend him, wind knocking aide the chunks of ice as they came towards the mage. He had the benefit of sight that most others did not but with only decent riding skills the assault was nearly enough to knock him off his horse. In the end it was the elements that saved him from that fate as well but pushing him back into the scalvwing's saddle. It was a hard, and unpleasant flight so about half way there Balthazar was forced to land and find shelter beneath some thick trees. As soon as the hail stopped, he set off again.
I have a bad feeling about this. Fuego's voice echoed Balthazar's own thoughts as they reached Almund very late on the tenth of Cylus. Tornado descended from the skies just outside the city and Balthazar found a good tree to hitch him at while he went in for his investigation. He was walking on thin ice now and he knew it but he didn't want to report anything without some evidence. His web of contacts worked for him but the Elements had questioned his methods before so this time he would be certain before he stuck his neck out.
Honestly, I'm not feeling too great about it either. Balthazar thought back to the diri on his shoulder while he adjusted his cloak. His hands were wrapped in a black cloth like a fighter might have wrapped their hands if they thought they were going to encounter trouble. He didn't carry any obvious weapons with him, just the two daggers hidden beneath his cloak at the back of his belt and the two daggers hidden beneath the grave gold vambraces on his arms. The vambraces were the only armor he wore and he only wore it to conceal the second set of blades. He'd soothed both his Defiance and Rupturing sparks to hide his identity as best as he could. Soothing Rupturing hid the etheric cracks he'd become known for and soothing Defiance helped take away the glow and warmth that made him stand out in the Cylus dark. It would have been wise to adopt a further disguise and to dye his hair or perhaps conceal it with something significant, but all Balthazar did was throw on the hood of his dark cloak.
You shouldn't have invited Elisabeth. Fuego's voice echoed with concern that Balthazar had not heard before but what surprised him most was that the diri had said, for the first time, Elisabeth's full name. He didn't call her by some description like he normally did for people.
I agree, something is off about all this, but she has to learn sooner or later. Balthazar could not argue that he didn't feel like he was putting Elisabeth into some danger but the danger would have come one way or another. She hadn't arrived yet and so that meant he had time to work until she did. Part of him wished that she was there with him to go through the very tedious pattern of questions that he knew he would have to endure in the coming breaks while he worked, but the rest of the mage was glad his apprentice had escaped the footwork. She wanted to learn to be a mage, not a detective. She didn't need to be bothered with the mundane part. Looking for leads. Balthazar hated the looking but he loved the small rush when the pieces began to fall together. Soon, he was hoping the pieces of this puzzle would snap into place... but he doubted it.
Balthazar found his settlers spread out through the Almund Bazaar haggling for the best prices they could find on lumber and building materials. It helped to have a force of people working under him because it seemed to alleviate some of the costs. That didn't change that the settlement couldn't really grow until they could produce something. If they wanted nels to buy supplies they needed donations or they needed to produce something people wanted. Until then they'd be incurring a debt Balthazar was worried that his settlers would not know how to pay off. Then again, was it not his job to show them how? The only thing he could think of was alchemy and blood magic. It had been a rather consistent weight on the mage's mind since his last visit with Doran but he'd done nothing with it yet. He had more materials for it that most living people and he'd done nothing.
Perhaps he needed to build his lair beneath the Serenity Garden. The settlement would be able to protect it and he would be able to use the lab to churn out useful materials for the people...
I have a bad feeling-
You said that already, little friend. Tell your feeling to stop being bad, we have information to get. While his settlers worked around him, looking to get wood and nails for the best prices they could, Balthazar traveled from stall to stall with a slightly more mischievous purpose in mind. He, like the settlers, opened with discussion about supplies but it never lingered on that topic for long. He would generally start with a soft jab about how he wished he had more workers to build the homes across the sea on Faldrass. Then, because that never once got the reaction he was looking for, he would add that he didn't even need good workers. He just needed 'affordable' hands to bring back. Yet even then he did not find much success. It was a good ruse and the presence of settlers who were more than willing to confirm that they were building a new home on Faldrass only helped strengthen the lie.
A good lie and a persuasive man with golden eyes didn't seem to be enough tonight though, he needed something more than a smile and the right words. He thought about mentioning the name Sparrow but he didn't. Mentioning that name would tip his hand to anyone who was watching him and if he'd learned anything about Almund it was that by now someone had to have been watching him. He had, after all, just spent a few breaks walking around the bazaar trying to find the cheapest labor possible and even if slaves weren't in play that would draw some eyes. So he didn't divulge that he knew the name Sparrow. No one was willing to spill what they knew but the more people Balthazar asked, the more he began to recognize a similar pattern. It wasn't, in every case, that they did not know, it was just that they would not tell him what they did know.
Why?
Probably because someone had told them to keep their mouths shut. Who had that sway here in the bazaar? Jacien Raque. Balthazar had never had the misfortune to deal with Jacien in person but he had heard things from the venders and others outside the net of influence. Balthazar had to respect the rumors he had heard. It seemed like Raque was a self-made man who worked for everything he had. It was unfortunate that he now stood in the detective's path. It never ended well. One way or another Balthazar would get what he wanted. So Balthazar went to speak with the master of the bazaar.
