Revenant Day 3
The sound of the steady rain on the roof of the inn was a nice sound for Margarita to wake up to. It was relaxing enough that she was tempted to roll over and go right back to sleep. If only she could. She rose and headed out to the dining area, even though only the staff were out there. She asked the proprietress to make her some sort of breakfast that could be ready in about ten minutes if it wouldn't be too much trouble, and told her that she would be right back. Stepping out of the inn, Margarita strode along the main highway that passed in front of the inn to the eastern edge of town, where as she expected, the roadblocks were already in place. One of the guards that was stationed there walked out to meet her. "I'm sorry, Miss, but the road is closed for the time being."
"May I ask why?"
"Of course, Miss. There was a murder last night and the magistrate wants to make sure that the culprit remained in town while we do our investigation."
"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," Margarita said, trying to put the right amount of pity into her tone, but it was hard between the rain and the fact that she was reasonably sure as to what the answer to her question was: "May I ask who it was that has passed away?"
"…I guess you may. It was a member of the Town Council, Mr. Michelada. You're a traveler right? Does that name mean anything to you?"
Only it that it was the answer that she was hoping for. "No, which is a relief to me. Thank you for being up front about all of this."
"Of course, Miss." And then the guard headed back to the roadblock.
Margarita walked back to the inn, intent on picking up the breakfast that she had requested. So Bonarda was doing what he intended to do. Margarita had decided not to try to prevent the councilman's death mostly so that she would know that the timeline was still headed down a path that she knew of. Unfortunately, it did leave her with the question as to whether it had been the Beast or Bonarda that had done the deed. That being said, it was likely that Bonarda was the one who was causing the Beast to even be a thing. Margarita had a few unknowns on the 'how' front, but for the moment she was chalking them up to 'he's a devil' and just moving on. Unless it was someone other than Bonarda or Ribbon, it didn't matter, and there wasn't really much of a chance that it was anyone else that she could think of in town.
She ate breakfast without dallying. She made sure to thank the innkeeper's wife for helping her out, and then left the inn, intent on the shop that was the center of the events in this looped week. Of all the things to happen, though she was not expecting to find Councilman Bonarda waiting just outside of the shop. Margarita couldn't help but let the surprise show on her face. She managed to limit it to raising her eyebrows for a moment before blinking and returning to her neutral face.
The worst man in Sallah — and given what brought Margarita to the town in the first place, that was saying something — didn't really look like the devil he was outwardly. He wasn't as tall and lanky as the Silver Star Tower's devil, though Advocat never really hid his nature. Bonarda was average in height, average in his greying hair, and even average in his typically mostly-kempt beard. He wore mostly black, with a white shirt showing under his black coat and looked out into the rain under his black top hat, tapping his cane against the walkway he was standing on. It looked like the man hadn't noticed her when she noticed him, but that was hardly proof of anything. In fact, as Margarita continued to approach her original target, she noticed him casually turn his head to look at her from under the brim of his hat. Margarita wondered briefly if the devil was standing in the rain instead of under the eve of the shop for the intimidation factor, but dismissed it as irrelevant. She wasn't in any danger of underestimating him.
"Good morning, Miss, I do not believe we have met before now," Bonarda said, with a just a hint too cultured voice for a town like Sallah. "I am Lorenzo Bonarda, a member of the Council here in Sallah. Who do I have the pleasure of the acquaintance of?"
"Gertrude Silvaner," Margarita said, pulling out the smile she used on her future victims all the time. She continued to walk until she stood under the eve so that she didn't have to actively deal with the rain hitting her own hat. "Is there a particular reason you're standing out in the rain right now, Mr. Bonarda?"
"It helps me think," Bonarda replied easily.
"I see. May I ask what you are thinking about?"
"There are many trials and concerns that anyone in a position of leadership has to deal with all the time," Bonarda replied. "No one thing has my attention right now, but a great many things instead."
"Ah," Margarita replied. "Well then I wish you luck in your endeavors." Not really, but it wasn't the first time she had said that to a sack of shit. She nodded her head in farewell before stepping into the shop. She would probably have to be a little more careful than usual with what she said, but her plan for the morning already required a bit of a deft hand, so she told herself that it really didn't change anything. The key was probably believing that.
"Good morning," Astoria Waldorf said as Margarita entered and closed the door behind her. "Joining us again, Miss Silvaner?"
"It has been pleasant being with you, Ms. Waldorf. It has also been nice to speak to your kind apprentice. Given the… difficult events of last night, I figured a kind face would be… comforting. If you would rather I not be here, though, I will find another place to be for right now."
Astoria glanced at the back, where Amy stood with a blank look on her face, having just come down the stairs. Then Astoria turned her smile on Margarita again. "We would be happy to have another smile here, I think. Even when it is difficult to smile."
Margarita did smile at that. "Good; I can ask you questions again."
"If that's what you'd like to do," Astoria said, before she turned to Amy again. "How's Sammy doing?" Amy shook her head, and Astoria made a disappointed sound. "Ah, well, the three of us will be fine; you can check on her again in an hour, alright?" Amy nodded.
Margarita knew that asking after Sammy would be fraught, so she didn't. She had a few guesses as to what had happened, but so long as Sammy was still alive, it didn't matter. "Since you're here, Miss Foster, I wanted to ask you about your apprenticeships."
Amy stiffened, but not so much that Margarita thought she'd have spotted it if she hadn't been looking for a reaction like that. Her response came quickly enough. "I guess, but if Astoria told you about them, you probably know all that you need to know about it."
"Well, I certainly do know that it would be quite a bit more work than I think I could take on to do two apprenticeships at once, but I don't really know that much about being an apprentice in a magical discipline," Margarita said, sitting on a stool that was near the entrance. Astoria had returned to her own seat by the money box, while Amy was leaning on the wall that framed the stairway. "Which would you say is the one that takes the more out of you? Not necessarily harder, just the one that leaves you more drained."
"Alchemy, definitely," Amy replied. "It's not really close. There are many things about Glamour that are designed to be restorative, and there's a bit that comes back into you, even leaving aside the possibility of an Elf just straight up healing you if you really need it. Alchemy is almost entirely results per efforts, so there isn't really the possibility that you'll get out of it more than you put in. It's too much… math."
That was actually far more insightful than Margarita was looking for. Perhaps Amy had dealt with this line of questioning before, so it only got more imperative that Margarita tread carefully. "How did it happen, anyway? Did you seek out being an apprentice when you were already one, or something?"
"Not… quite," Amy said. "He — that is, Mr. Ribbon — came to me and, uh, I think his term was 'head-hunted', me to be his apprentice."
"So he convinced you," Margarita said.
"…Yes. He convinced me to do this. It wasn't an easy decision, and sometimes I second-guess it, but I still think it's the right thing for me to do."
That was the most loaded sentence that Margarita had heard all week. Any time through. And that was including what she had said herself.
"Hmm. I wonder if I could have that much surety about a decision that hard," Margarita mused out loud, though she didn't really believe that, considering the whole reason that she had empathy for Amy's situation was how much it mirrored her own. "How are things going right now? I'd imagine it's a bit more… fraught… than usual."
"Yeah… I have to say that it has been," Amy agreed. "I don't know why, but something was bothering him yesterday when we talked. I thought that he'd want some time with me in the evening, but he actually told me my time was probably better spent here on my Glamour."
Margarita was almost startled by the noise of footsteps on the other side of the wall. Was the councilman leaving? It would be too dangerous for her to check. Hmm. That meant that it was probably time for her to reveal a little more of who she really was to Amy and Astoria. "Thank you for letting me pick your brain about that a bit; in return, I can tell you a bit about the Silver Star Tower."
"You attended the Silver Star Tower?" Astoria repeated, impressed. "I'm surprised you didn't mention that when we were talking about the Magical Society."
Margarita shrugged. "My reasons for keeping that close to the vest aren't the sort of thing you hear every day. But that's not really what I wanted to talk about; the fun thing about the Silver Star Tower is that you're expected to learn at least the basics of all four schools, and the students that were there during my tenure were given some pretty good reasoning as to why that's the right move. So I have a lot of respect for you doing the double thing here. It's probably more intense than the rather liberal approach of Professor Gammel Dore and my other teachers, but it's certainly just as valid. I wanted to ask you those questions because I had a very different path to what seems to be a similar place."
Amy nodded slowly, while Astoria had her head tilted to one side. It was Astoria who asked the question. "Why is it that you don't talk about your time at the Silver Star Tower? Don't get me wrong, it's nice to meet someone who was educated at the Tower that is humble enough not to shout their good fortune from the rooftops, but it is not the norm, you understand? Not with the encounters I had at the Magical Society."
"That's the thing," Margarita said. "For most people, it is the height of good fortune to be offered a place at the Silver Star Tower. I know that. But while the invite I guess could be construed as that, the way that it was acquired was not. I was… forced to do it. My village is not precisely the most… forgiving of those with magical talents, and mine was — at minimum — big enough that it was not easy for a child to hide. The result was only not my death because of a couple factors, but the biggest one was Gammel Dore showing up when they were preparing to burn me at the stake."
Amy gasped, while Astoria had an understanding look. It seemed that Astoria was familiar with issues of some sects' anti-magical stance. "So, yes. I went to the Silver Star Tower and was educated in magic there. That doesn't mean that it was all sunshine and rainbows, even ignoring the workload, which you should be able to guess with some accuracy, being rather adept in magic yourselves."
"I… I see your point," Amy said. "Though that does make me wonder… are you… no, never mind." She turned to Astoria. "I'm going to check on Sammy." And then she went up the stairs before either of the other women in the room could say anything to her.
There was a short pause before Astoria said, "That's probably a good idea anyway." She looked outside. "My attempt to divine the weather earlier today indicated that the rain would stay around all day, and the thing I usually need on a rainy depressing day is a cup of hot tea. Would you like to join me, Miss Silvaner?"
"Please call me Gertrude, and I would love to," Margarita replied. Success!
Margarita left the shop about lunch time, not wanting to impose on Astoria any longer, and Astoria was starting to worry about the girls that were upstairs more and more as the morning went on without another appearance of Amy. Margarita hoped that it was more about Amy's thoughts about Margarita's condition rather than Sammy needing the help, but knew that it was most likely a mix of both that kept Amy upstairs with Sammy and away from the newcomer. Margarita headed back to the inn with a feeling of pride and progress, and was cornered almost immediately by Bartido asking her to join the other three Silver Star Tower graduates slash teachers for lunch.
This was also going to be tricky, though for entirely different reasons.
Margarita didn't really see a way around accepting the invitation; she was hungry and couldn't afford to just put off a meal like that, and if she ate without them right then it would be the height of an insult that she could ill afford. She made a little show of being a little exasperated at Bartido's invitation and flirting, but didn't really put up any real resistance to the idea of a meal with the three of them. She was gratified that the meal was going to have all three of them; it was the first time that she had seen the three of them together in a long, long time.
"Really, Bartido? You're going to invite someone else to our little gathering of friends?" Opalneria said.
"Even for you, that's a bit cold," Hiram said.
"Your best friend and his love and this is who you bring?" Opalneria piled on.
"Miss Silvaner is a friend. And for all you two knew I was bringing my own love to the table."
Opalneria snorted, covering her mouth and banging the table.
Hiram just rolled his eyes. "With the way she looked at you when you asked? Hardly."
Bartido sighed and gave Margarita a sidelong glance. "I get no respect."
"Try deserving some?" Margarita asked innocently. She sent Opalneria into further hysterics and an amused smile from Hiram. "Hello. My name is Gertrude Silvaner. It is nice to meet you both."
"I'm Hiram Menthe," Hiram said, and Margarita instantly recognized his 'undercover' name. "This lovely if out of control woman is Opalneria Rain."
"And you two are an item, then?" Margarita asked as she sat down. Bartido sat down beside her just a hint further away from her than Hiram was from Opalneria.
Opalneria had managed to recover enough to reply to Margarita's question. "That we are." She turned and patted Hiram's cheek. "He had to convince me a bit, but I still think he's right."
"Well if you're happy, then there's really nothing to worry about, right?" Margarita said. That wasn't strictly true… but seeing the two of them look at each other… Margarita found it hard to believe any qualifiers were necessary for the two of them.
"They're sickeningly sweet to each other," Bartido said, confirming Margarita's thought. "It's probably a good thing like you said, though."
"Only probably?" Hiram said.
"Only probably; I'm just not really the one anyone should ask about matters of love," Bartido said, shrugging. "And don't bother telling us about how true that is; no one here would be surprised."
"Oh, you've already broken Miss Silvaner?" Hiram asked with a bit of a grin. "That's a shame. I was hoping that she'd keep hope in you for a bit longer than that."
If only he knew Margarita's true knowledge of Bartido's faults and foibles. "What sort of faith and hope should I have in Mr. Ballentyne, anyway?"
Hiram chuckled, while Opalneria had to hide her face once again. Bartido sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up."
As Hiram and Opalneria recovered, Margarita thought that it would be a good idea to move the subject onto something other than Bartido's own troubles. And she wanted to ask after her old… were they friends? She doubted it, considering her own actions, but she felt a sense of camaraderie regardless of their feelings on the matter. "So what is it that brings the two of you to the town of Sallah, then?"
"We were collecting artifacts from a recently discovered site," Opalneria said. "We're now bringing them back to the Silver Star Tower for analysis."
"Oh wow!" Margarita said. That felt a little more like Alchemy than Necromancy… unless of course, the 'artifacts' that they were referencing were dead bodies, or bones or something like that. Since it didn't really affect her at the moment, she decided it wasn't important to press for the details. "Anything interesting yet?"
"Lots of possibilities, but we truly know very little from what we have right now," Hiram said. "The only thing that we have any idea about is a bone dagger that appears to be infused with spiritual energy. While we can't be quite sure what it can do, precisely, we have determined that it has the most anti-Sorcery energy I have ever seen."
Margarita felt goosebumps crawl up her legs. She clamped down on her vacuous smile. She didn't even twitch.
"More than I have ever seen, either," Opalneria agreed, apparently not noticing Margarita's distress. "Which is saying something. But it comes with a drawback — in order to manifest the energy, it steals from the user. Enough to be dangerous to their health. We're… not sure how yet."
Hiram nodded his agreement. "And that's the only dangerous one we have any understanding of! Unfortunately, that's just how it goes. We won't know what we have until we test it in a safe place."
"Well, we could test them in any place, but we would risk the lives of everyone around us. Gammel Dore would have my hide if anything happened, so I went with the safer option," Opalneria said.
Hiram sighed. "That's a bit of a callous way to put it, but…"
Bartido waved it off. "Professor Opalneria has always been like that."
"That's a bit frightening," Margarita pointed out, managing to recover.
"Yes, well, we love her anyway," Bartido said.
"Odd thing for you to say," Hiram said with a hooded look.
"There are many kinds of love," Bartido said. "Believe me when I say the one I feel for our dear professor is not the same as the one you feel."
"It had better not."
"Eww," was Opalneria's only contribution.
"Do remember that Opalneria is her own person, Hiram," Margarita said. "With her own opinions and feelings. Unless she actually feels something for Bartido, what would it even matter?"
"Seriously, it would never happen," Opalneria agreed.
Bartido shrugged. "Also true."
"Of course," Hiram said. "It's just so disgusting."
"Then let's talk about something else," Margarita said. "Do you two often leave the Silver Star Tower to collect these, ah, artifacts?"
"Not really," Opalneria answered. "It's kind of rare that we get an opportunity like this."
"I see." That… was disturbing. What a coincidence that brought them into the town at such an unfortunate time.
"What about you, Miss Silvaner?" Hiram asked. "What brings you to Sallah?"
Bad luck? Not as bad as theirs — Margarita probably deserved it anyway — but it was possible that she was caught in a coincidence just as bad as theirs. But she couldn't say anything like that. "Oh you know…"
Margarita enjoyed talking with her old fellow Tower residents that she lost track of time. They had talked for over an hour after finishing their meal when Opalneria stood up. "Well, if we're going to be stuck here for the time being, we might as well get something done with one of the artifacts that we're sure we can control."
"Didn't you say earlier that it was dangerous to do that outside of the controlled conditions back at the Tower?" Bartido asked, his eyebrows high. "Are you intending to kill us all today?"
"I'd really rather not," Opalneria said, exasperated. "But there are things that don't have the risk of the items that I was referring to, so I don't have to worry about it!"
Bartido and Margarita looked to Hiram who nodded in agreement with his beau. "There are things that we know what they are, but not who."
"Right. I'd rather not know anything further about that," Bartido said. "You enjoy yourself, so long as you don't burn the inn down or explode or something else equally distressing."
"Oh don't worry," Opalneria said. "I will make sure that if we kill anyone in the process of our experiments, it will be you." She turned to Margarita with a smile. "It was nice to meet you, Miss Silvaner. I wish you luck on your travels."
Hiram got up to join her. "Yes, it was nice to meet you, Miss Silvaner. I hope we may have the opportunity to enjoy your company again." The two of them waved and departed up to their room.
Bartido looked after the two departures with a little bit of wistfulness on his face. Margarita gave him a look with a raised eyebrow and he smiled. "They haven't changed much since I met the two of them."
"Was that before they were an item?"
"Yes."
"Are they good for each other?"
"Yes, though I didn't think so when they first met. But that was more because of the fact that she was his teacher, rather than who they were. Now that their professional relationship is closer to peer, I have no legitimate objections."
"That's good to hear," Margarita said. "They're cute together." The first time that Margarita had spotted Opalneria in her… younger guise, she had been quite shocked. Now that she was used to the way she looked, the thing that shocked her more was that she had a lot more energy to use, and definitely intended on using it in more positive ways than Margarita was used to. But no longer being obsessed with someone who was possibly missing a heart in Margarita's opinion would probably help anyone seem more… themselves. Margarita didn't know how Opalneria was before she had been obsessed with Professor Chartreuse, so she had no idea if this was a return to form for her or what, but she couldn't deny that it was better.
And, perhaps more importantly, her more active mindset even had a chance to help with the situation at hand, if it came down to it.
"Well if you'll excuse me, Mr. Ballentyne, I have something that I need to accomplish today."
Bartido looked at her with a bit of a calculating gaze, but he said, "Of course. Have a good rest of the day, Miss Silvaner."
"May you as well," Margarita replied before she headed back into her room.
While she didn't have as much time as she would have liked to find what she was looking for, there was still a chance for her to get everything she wanted out of the day. After collecting her rain gear and making sure that all of her defensive bindings were in place, Margarita left the inn from the front door in her regular Gertrude Silvaner look. Well, plus a certain useful spell on her spectacles.
The first thing she checked on was the church, and what she saw when she walked in was so promising that she made an excuse to walk right back out: Amy and Alex were sitting together talking quietly in one of the back pews. That answered a few questions at once, and was precisely what she had hoped to see. Indeed, the danger sign her specs were spelled to see was not present in the graveyard that was adjacent to the back of the church.
The next stop on Margarita's tour through the rainy town was Grot Greenham's house, where she was going to need to be more circumspect. Her caution was immediately justified when she spotted none other than Bartido banging on the door. But walking around to the back of the house she did not see the danger sign there either.
The following stop was a swing by the prison, which also contained the Magistrate's office. While there was no way that any of the guards would help her or let her into the building, she did not need to. There was a strange little nook that the prison made as it turned away from the office area where the guards were that she needed to look at. And the sign wasn't hidden in the nook, nor did any of the guards spot Margarita on her little recon mission.
The fourth — and hopefully last — stop on the tour was the was the house and lab of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Unfortunately, unlike any of the other stops thus far on the trip, she didn't know where the sign would be if it were present, which is why she had saved it for the last place that she would check. While she had become somewhat sure that the Golems were nothing to worry about, it was still important to not be seen by them as she snuck around the outside of the house.
Surprisingly, one of the windows' blinds were open enough for her to see that there were people moving around in the main area of the house. She couldn't see it clearly, even when she found a nice spot to look into the gap in the blinds that she had found without having to worry about being caught out. She thought it was more than one person, but she would need a better angle or more information to confirm it.
She continued her trip around the house when a flash of light forced her to dive between the trees that she had been stalking around to make sure she was not seen and peek out from behind them. A droplet of what seemed to be pure red light was falling slowly from about head height to the ground just around the corner hidden behind two trees. It was hard to see clearly what was happening because of the orientation of the house plus the two trees that were on that corner, but that was probably the point. Margarita was surprised that she was lucky enough to see this in action, if she was right as to what it was.
The droplet touched the ground and stopped moving downward. Instead, it started to grow upward and a little outward, forming a blocky shape. It looked something like a tombstone, and the instant that Margarita realized what shape it was forming into she clenched a fist and pumped it. Slowly the red light faded into a slate gray color, looking like but not — as Margarita knew from experience — feeling anything like stone. While she was reasonably sure waht it likely said on it, Margarita stepped forward carefully to a place where she could read the words that were still glowing faintly with the liquid red light, so long as she looked through her spelled spectacles.
Pabst Blue Ribbon. For Revenge.
Margarita snarled. He had taken the bait. There would, indeed be revenge taken. But not what Ribbon wanted.
Before that though, there was one more thing she wanted to take care of that night.
In previous loops of time, Margarita had tried to interact with Oplaneria and Hiram as little as possible. She had judged it too risky, but it turned out that there was something that she could have learned from them. The existence of a Necromantic bone dagger in their belongings. Something that was designed to be anti-Sorcery was often not precisely that but anti devil, which would be invaluable to her if she could get her hands on it. The trouble, of course, was sneaking into Hiram and Opalneria's room… but she had a few advantages.
Margarita returned to the dining room of the inn, spotting Hiram and Opalneria at one table and Bartido at another. Bartido waved her over, and she came, rolling her eyes despite this being actually somewhat helpful to the show that she wanted to put on. "Yes, Mr. Ballentyne?"
He gave her his flirty smile. "Oh, I just wondered if you wanted to join me for dinner this evening."
Margarita looked up at the ceiling and off to the side, thinking, but she ended up smiling. "You know what? Alright. I'll give you the opportunity to entertain me this evening, if you dare."
"You make it sound so dangerous," Bartido said, though his smile did not slip in the slightest.
"No more than it actually can be," Margarita replied. "Just give me a few minutes, I need to take care of something in my room."
"I'd be happy to wait then," Bartido said.
Margarita nodded at him and returned to her room. Going into her rather meager luggage, she fished out a less… conspicuous outfit just in case she would be spotted, and changed her disguise to one of the faces that she couldn't use in public anymore. Given how much Hiram and Opalneria were staring into each other's faces down in the dining room, she didn't think any of this was truly necessary, but it didn't take much time and helped her nerves to do a few things just in case.
She exited her room via the back balcony, but instead of just heading down to the ground, she climbed the building upward. While she carefully ascended to the upper floor of the inn, she amused herself by musing that her parents would be scandalized by her actions right then. Not only was she doing something so unladylike that several of the elders might just faint, her attire was hardly appropriate for an unmarried woman her age. If there was anything that she was truly thankful for in her little… journey that brought her to Sallah in the first place, it was the ability to just not care about any of that. Not that she didn't enjoy a nice conservative dress from time to time, but the freedom to wear what made the most sense was a treat she still hadn't really gotten used to.
Hiram and Opalneria's room wasn't the one directly above Margarita's, but it was only a couple rooms over. Thankfully it was one that actually had a balcony that she could climb onto, leaving only the magical protections that the two of them had left on the door. She was able to alight on the small balcony without getting too close to the door, and tried to make sure that she knew what she was looking at. A small smile alighted on her face. It was exactly as she had expected. This was clearly Hiram's work. That made things much easier, as anything that would help her through the defenses that Opalneria created would make far too much noise. But she had something that would be just subtle enough to do what she needed.
The rune, thankfully, was tiny enough that not only did it fit onto the balcony without getting too close to the door, but it also took only a few moments to draw. When she poured her mana into it, a tiny sprite popped out. "I'm here!" it said. Margarita put her finger to her lips, and with a little giggle, the sprite copied the gesture.
Margarita flicked her eyes over the sprite's head, and the little one turned around to look into the darkened room behind it. Margarita subvocalized her instructions, and the sprite heard them despite the barely audible volume and the increasing distance as the sprite separated from her. It started by becoming astral and passing right through the wall in the upper corner; a tiny little hole in the ward that Hiram had set. Margarita closed her eyes in order to more easily use the sprite's eyes to navigate. The little one flitted around the packs that the two denizens of the room had left — and there was quite a bit — until she was sure that the dagger was not there.
That made everything so much easier.
Dismissing the sprite, Margarita quickly returned the way she came to her own room, and stripped off the clothing she had worn for the climb almost instantly with the ease of long practice, and then slipped into one of her favorite formal dresses; the only one that she had with her. Oh the times that she regretted leaving her stash far away from Sallah! But it's not like she could have guessed that she would need everything she could get her hands on while she was in Sallah…
No. Margarita shook her head, looking at her reflection in the mirror as she reapplied the Gertrude disguise to her face. She was ready. And she would probably have an enjoyable dinner, since Bartido wouldn't dare be on anything but his best behavior with Opalneria in the room. And then, once she was done, she would go to the stables, where the rest of Hiram and Opalneria's haul was, and slip off with her prize. And because of the inn staff, that stuff wouldn't even be protected. So long as she wasn't seen, she would get away cleanly. And if there was something that Margarita had gotten very good at in her little journey, it was not being seen doing what she didn't want traced to her.
