The hiatus was cold, and Sebastipole was uncomfortable. Travel-stained and tired, he had come looking for Rossamünd in the last place he had known him to be, but was denied a warm greeting by a severe looking man a few decades his senior. The former-Marshall had elected to remain in the inn where they were staying for the moment, and Sebastipole needed to be back to him soon, but there had been no sign of anyone, let alone Rossamünd for the better part of an hour.

Women's voices seemed to echo through the door, the words unintelligible. He stood as the door opened to reveal the same fulgar to whom he had silently, gratefully entrusted Rossamünd and his care. Behind her stood a shorter, less menacing figure in grey, though he marked the spoor under her lip as he bowed deeply to them both.

"Master Lamplighter's Agent, how unexpected of you to call upon me."

"And for that I am most apologetic, good lady. I have come seeking Rossamünd. He has not responded to my letters."

She cocked her spoored brow, face darkening slightly. "Yes. You have written a great many letters. He is not here. I suspect you know where you could find him."

Sebastipole felt the flush rise up past his collar, turning ears and cheeks deep pink. It was foolish of him to come looking for a boy he barely knew in the lair of this most terrible of women, and doubly so to persist when he realized she was shadowed by a fellow lahzar.

Nothing had been the same, after Numption's death-not-death. He had found himself a pawn in a great game of wills set out by an urchin lord, more complex-though possibly less deadly-than those played by the wills of grand lords and emperors. Yes. Sebastipole suspected he knew just where to find Rossamünd. He watched as the pair of fulgars watched him, waiting for some verbal reaction, and considered if he could outrun them if necessary. Neither seemed to be in the ideal harness to fight, but he also didn't have his sthenicon, which would make it decidedly harder on him to not be ambushed.

The woman in grey finally spoke, her voice soft. "I think, dear sister, that it is high time we have an adventure in the sparrow downs. It would be delightful to have another leer with us, lurksman or not, don't you think?"

Sebastipole could have loved her at that moment.