In Eramini

"Good stories travel fast, Zara, especially when those who tell them are merchants who travel widely."

"Alleyne is my real name," said Astra. "Please don't refer to me by that ridiculous stage name."

"You certainly have a lot of names, Alleyne. How do I know that that's your real name? You seem to be someone who has many secrets."

Astra shrugged. "I'm a fortune teller. Being convincingly mysterious is a skill that is quite useful in my line of work. I don't have any real powers, you see. Anyone who wanted to make money off of my supposed skill for telling the future would be quite disappointed." She smiled archly. "I made some sufficiently vague remarks which my customer interpreted as saying that he would be better off cancelling his trip. Shortly afterwards, the carriage he would have gone on was robbed. That sort of thing happens all the time in Daelin. He naturally put two and two together and assumed I had told the future. The story spread and got blown up wildly out of proportion, so I left before people started thinking of burning me as a witch. If your information syndicate or whatever it is wants to spread the truth, that's what they should tell."

"I see," said Turik. "How did you end up in Daelin, though? You didn't seem to be from here."

"I am a merchant from Aqualaria. Bright red hair such as mine isn't all that uncommon there. It's interesting how much you thought I resembled Astra. My grandfather was said to have been the bastard son of the Queen's consort, so perhaps I am distantly related to her after all. At any rate, I made some poorly thought out gambling decisions during a stopover in a port in Daelin, and lost almost all of my money. I racked up consiberable debts to one of the major... businessmen... there, and I was only barely able to escape with my life. I fell in with a travelling carnival, using an assumed name of course, and worked there until the fortune-telling incident."

"That would make sense," said Turik. "Of course, if we choose to divulge that information, we will rigourously check every facet of your story. Not that I believe you are lying, of course."

"Now I'd like you to answer some questions," said Astra. "What exactly is it that you do?"

"I sell information. Mostly to town criers throughout the Three Kingdoms and in some of the city-states to the west. I also sell more discreet political information to those to whom it might be useful."

"Do you have any information which might be useful to an Aqualarian merchant?"

"Not really. The only news I've heard from there lately that might have impact here is that some Cistyrgian would-be revolutionaries trying to restore that backwater to its former glory who've been holed up in Mount Keiron and set up some kind of false Pythia [cf 29218] are now working with a pretender to the throne to assassinate the rightful queen Heliastra, as well as her family. This is only a rumor, of course. But if you're at all loyal to the Aqualarian Royal Family, you should be careful in this city. The baron who rules this city- state, Radu, is rumored to have made a deal with the false Pythia."

This was disquieting news, for many reasons. Obviously, it must have happened during the long period she'd been on quest to kill and later imprisoned by the Dragon, because she'd heard nothing about any of this. Her family was at risk, her nation was at risk, and as the true heir to the throne (And quite possibly the true Pythia as well? No, she was not even going to think about that possibility, she just had too many problems.) she was at risk here. She wanted to know more, but Turik would probably charge more than she was willing to pay. He had doubtless noticed that the news had perturbed her, but she didn't say anything.

Instead, she looked out the window, through the streets of Eramni. It did not seem to be a pleasant place. The wooden buildings were in disrepair. The streets were crowded with poor people. Each street corner was manned by heavily armed guards. "So what else are you willing to tell me about the political situation here?"

"It's quite turbulent, in case you haven't noticed. The economy is deteriorating, the baron grows more and more tyrannical, and everyone is afraid of a revolution like the one that happened in Kharak not far from here. Ah, here we are." They had pulled up to a dingy inn whose sign proclaimed it "The Drunken Vampire."

Standing among the rabble in front of the inn was a somewhat well-dressed woman. She was quite beautiful. Her hair was brown and her eyes were light blue. She did not seem quite well-dressed enough to be an aristocrat (but then again, Astra knew by now that you can't always judge such things by clothes), but she had a kind of poise. She was quite clearly waiting for something. "Would that be your contact?" asked Astra.

"As a matter of fact, she is our contact. Her name is Irena of Vjoricia."

"You mean your contact." Astra raised her eyebrows.

"You mean you're not interested in working with me? I doubt you'll be able to find much other employment here. Besides, you might find this mission quite interesting."

1. Astra accepts Turik's offer.
2. Astra declines Turik's offer.
3. Astra wants more information.

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