Inside the Museum was a recently opened exhibit by
Shadowcaster Orae. The display cases were filled with items from a collection
called 'The Heard'. On entering Lily had been given a thick brass bar. As it
came into the vicinity of an artefact, sculpture or painting, it's surface
would become etched in relevant details, the turning on the brass object itself
scrolling the text. She tried to seem convincing interested as she moved from
piece to piece. Such curiosities included a wooden mosaic of a black hand,
carved into a diameter of a tree. A sculpture of a cliff face with tendrils
coming up from its shadow, and a still functioning carrousel that created
morphing shadows of beasts on its crystal screen. To the left of the carrousel exhibit Lily
caught the distinctive hunched figure of the old woman. She had scurried over
to a crowd that had gathered in front of a painting by an unknown artist. It
depicted a silhouette, a black bastion with an army pouring fourth, while it's
shadow was the detailed reality, of a stronghold under siege.
Lily carefully approached, trying not to disturb the crowd.
However as she drew nearer she noticed she was a good foot in height above the
crowd. The old woman shuffled forward a little to get to the front and pushed
several of the others out of her way. There were various complaints but all in
the same voice, overlapping. One stumbled backwards and bumped into Lily. She
looked up, revealing her face to be the that of the old woman, and then howled.
The group all turned, six more faces, exactly the same. Lily, confused and
potentially outnumbered slowly stepped backwards. The one she had been
following approached her and smiled. She explained that she, as a child, grew
up in the villages in the pastures and countryside of Thaemor on these
fairytales. She pulled out a large sack, supported by her seven copies, the
sack and it's opening was now comfortably large enough to step into. The old
woman offered Lily to put her hand inside. Thinking this was probably for the
best, she stuck her hand out as far away as she could from her rest of herself
and reached into the unknown.
As she felt around she could imagine some metallic sculptures,
a box or two, something definitely with scales and then something soft. She cautiously stroked it, skin. A few light
touches more, the skin of a hand, an old hand. The woman smiled at Lily as her
eyes darted to her. She was considering whether to grab hold of it, when it
tried to grab her. The brief handshake reminded her of the hands she had felt
pulling her through the stone brick wall. Her mind started to make sudden and
terrifying connections, with facts based in fear. She ran out as fast as she
could, almost falling off the edge of the platform outside. She grasped her
chest with her arms and tried to calm herself down. Perhaps her blind hearted
confidence was cracking, that or long forgotten fears were resurfacing. She
straightened herself up, refusing the help of passersby, who most ended up
leaving muttering how they nearly helped an undistinguished servant. She tried
to focus on something else, Styenbeck. Her eyes darted across the crowds on the
opposite side. He was stood outside a bookshop talking to what she presumed to
be the old woman, or a version of her. He seemed a little annoyed, while she
seemed worried.
They quickly departed around the promenade. Purposely
walking into the dense crowds. Lily strained her eyes, she could barely make
out their position, and there was a walkway that lead off from there, nearly
directly across from her. She couldn't let them escape so she took a running
jump to leap across. Her jump seemed to be to the more observant, a throw. Two
flesh stripped hands had risen up from the floor and hurled her heels. It was silent,
and un-dramatic. Her arrival however, was unfortunately unsubtle. She had
landed gingerly on a table outside an tavern, somehow not knocking the cups off
the table. The crowd around her seemed more impressed than shocked ,with most
carrying on, seeing it as another one of the numerous street performers trying
to garner attention.
Lily leapt off the table and tried to follow her quarry.
They too hadn't noticed her jump and fortunately were nearly turning the corner
when she landed. Lily checked her surroundings before following.
The walkway
was empty, bar two back entrances on either side, to the spires. To the right
she could hear a bolt locking and voices being raised. She traced the outside
wall trying to listen in. The old woman was arguing with Styenbeck. Floorboards
creaked and a door was slammed shut.
Lily moved around the back to under a window. The glass here was fractured,
encased in layers of dust and grime. Styenbeck mentioned that Uncle Silas was in the city, all reports
were to go through him now. She protested, scared about what her failure would
mean. There were heavy footsteps next, even the wall Lily leaned upon felt their
tread. A door creaked open and both Styenbeck and the old woman seemed to bow
to a rotund figure barely short enough to fit through the doorway. The man spoke plainly, as if he had learned
the truth from the countryside. In fact, some of his references revealed to what
was possibly a farming background. He threatened to slaughter the old woman and
send her to the butcher if she was not careful, it had taken a lot of time and
care to put her in the position she was in. The old woman bowed to the point of
grovelling. Her snivelling thank-yous were soon silenced by a broad handed
slap. Styenbeck stepped back and tried to calmly report a successful
assignment. The man replied that his success would be measured if the crop
would provide a yield and told them both to leave his sight. Lily carefully and
quickly walked around the opposite side of the building to the door to join the
crowds. Her eyes adjusted to Styenbeck's arrival back into society and then she
bumped into him.
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