"That was who I thought it was, right?"
"For sure."
"Both of them?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
"What the hell are they doing slumming in a place like this?"
"Is that a serious question?"
"Why wouldn't it be?"
Emmy took a long, deep breath. Sometimes, sometimes she really wondered how her brother and Finn had survived this long. "Where else would you go if you wanted to go unnoticed?"
Finn looked around. "How do you do unnoticed in a place like this?" He hissed. "Even if you don't see someone, you can smell them!"
An argument rose at the table next to them and Finn jumped in his seat, turning to stare at the four soldiers as they started to shove one another.
"Or hear them." Finn inched his seat closer to Patrick's.
"Believe it or not, most people would avoid even looking at a place like this. Let alone the people that frequent it." Emmy drawled.
Finn's look assured her he didn't believe her and given that he hadn't been able to stop staring at anyone that walked by was unfortunately proving his point instead of hers.
It was also going to get their asses kicked if he kept it up.
"Stop staring." Emmy muttered under her breath.
"I can't help it!" Finn stared at the barmaid walking by. The sheer amount of skin she was showing left him wide eyed and speechless every time she went by.
Patrick stared too, but at least it was mostly appreciation, and he didn't stand out among the drooling masses.
Bringing Finn was supposed to be funny. And yes, okay, it was a bit of bullying. But mostly it was supposed to be funny. Bring the great and noble Vermeer to the slums and watch him squirm.
And it had been hilarious when they'd walked in and Finn had stopped dead in the doorway, horrified by the noise and the smell. They'd had to drag him across the threshold and then apologize to the barmaid when he refused to touch anything.
He'd even wiped down their table and chairs himself before he'd let them sit down.
It had taken nearly an hour to convince him to try the bar mead and until they'd spotted Fox and Snake, he'd still been complaining that pieces were stuck in his teeth.
She wasn't sure if she was relieved by the distraction or not.
"They must be investigation something." Patrick was so excited he was practically bouncing in his chair. "I wonder if they need help?"
Finn perked up.
Emmy shot them down. "Not from you two."
Finn pouted. "We could still offer."
Patrick. "Yeah, you never know."
Emmy sighed. She could already see where this was going, and it wasn't anywhere good.
"Help don't hinder." Finn preached. "It's the Vermeer family motto."
"I thought that was 'beauty above all else'." It was written on the family crest Finn wore around his neck.
Finn tucked his pendant in his shirt. "It's the unofficial one."
Emmy didn't believe him, and she made sure her expression showed that, but Finn and Patrick scrambled out of their seats before she could stop them.
She groaned. "This is going to end terribly." But she got up and followed them anyway.
***
Fox slipped into a group playing a card game the people in Sorrow loved. Something about the suits and Fox couldn't care less, but they played it everywhere and a lot of gold changed hands.
Fox thought it was a stupid way to lose your money, but the tribes had a game with dice that they adored so apparently the only thing people like more than getting gold, was throwing it away in stupid games.
Snake was in a corner talking to a man Fox didn't recognize. Most of his face was hidden by shadow and a hood, but there was a distinctive jagged scar across his chin.
Fox could use it to find out who he was later. In the meantime, he would give Snake credit for her sleight of hand, he barely caught the exchange of gold between them.
She was selling information.
To whom remained to be seen, but the act itself was a violation of the laws and ethics of the Camelia. Specifically, those that governed the First Eye and his agents. While the buyer could also be punished, Snake would take the brunt of it for betraying her oaths and the price was so high that few would ever risk it.
So why the hell would Snake?
Fox believed her feelings for Yuze to be true, though that didn't mean she felt the same about the Camelia itself or anyone else in it.
That she'd risk execution, because that was the price any traitor paid, was significant.
It must have been a hell of a lot of gold.
How long had she been doing it?
Was it part of the plan to destroy the Camelia that Lord and Lady Ye were already fighting? Or a completely different one?
Was it even one? Maybe Snake was just greedy and didn't care what happened to the Camelia as long as she got her gold.
The man with the scar left through the back door and Fox was going to follow him until he caught sight of the last two people he expected to see.
He sighed, tossed his cards down, and excused himself from the game.
What the hell were they doing here?
They must have been in the pub when Snake and Fox arrived, because Fox would have noticed if they'd been following her too.
Snake herself headed out and Finn and Patrick nearly tripped over each other in their haste to follow her.
He spared a moment to wonder where their third was, hopefully staying well out of the way, before he dodged the drunken bodies and caught up to them just as they made it out the backdoor.
Snake's scared friend was nearly out of sight already, heading towards the southern bridge and Finn and Patrick, completely unaware of Fox right behind them.
~ tbc