Lidia went back inside the lodge, finally settled upon getting some rest. Her second wind had rapidly died down. She had to fight not to fall asleep on her feet.
As it was, she managed to stay awake long enough to unpack her things and put them back in order in her room. She'd already cleaned off, so as soon as her pack was emptied, she curled up on her small bed and almost immediately fell asleep.
As Lidia dozed off, Aerie sat on her own bed with a small lantern ablaze on a side table, studying the spells she planned to memorize for tomorrow. But before long, she too put away her spellbook and shut off the light.
A few hours Lidia awakened, thrashed to one side and instinctively reached for her dagger before she realized where she was.
She sat up, rubbing her eyes, and held her legs close to her chest. She shook her head, vainly hoping that she could shake off the dream she'd had.
This dream had been a rapid display of confusing images, but she'd only remembered the last: she was barring a door that resembled the one she'd opened for Amuana, and Irenicus had been urging her to open this one, too. The only thing she'd perceived on the other side was some furious beast, pounding hard against the door and against Lidia with a steady, drum-like beat.
But what she had actually heard was a faint tapping on the window, the sound coming in as regular intervals as the ticks of a clock.
Lidia got up, threw on a cloak and went to the window, taking with her the small light gem.
Sitting on the windowsill was a brown mockingbird, tapping on the window with its beak. A tiny, rolled-up piece of paper was attached to its leg with a thread.
Lidia had spent enough time around Jaheira to distinguish ordinary animals from shape-changed druids. A person wearing a creature's skin had a purpose and intent in their eyes that transcended any animal's instinctive existence. This bird was staring in much a similar way, gesturing towards the window lick with it's beak. And no bird had a sense of rhythm quite like this one.
Lidia opened the window, and the mockingbird flew in, resuming her true shape with a thought.
Lanka stood in the room, her face hard and tired, carrying nothing except a piece of paper.
Aerie awakened, startled, pulling her covers closer together, her eyes wide. She said nothing.
"Hail," Lanka said to Lidia. "I will keep this brief."
Lidia pulled her cloak closer. "Lanka. What business do you have here?"
"Far more than you, I'm sure," Lanka said, with something of a wry smile. "But from what I understand, the people seem to consider you some kind of hero. Minister Lloyd even claims that you were sent here from the Radiant Heart."
"I'm not one of them, but they did send me here, yes."
Lanka gave Lidia a hard stare. "Of course, there's Crolus claiming the same thing, and he seems interested in preserving the status quo. But what do you think the Order wants?"
Lidia said, "It's simple – they want Imnesvale to hold this pass. Not only would it keep the Sythillisians from advancing into Amn, it would make defending Nashkel much easier."
Lanka tilted her head. "Yes…that does make sense," she said. "My question is, what does that have to do with the people? You've clearly aligned yourself with them, and yet they're not essential to the Order's goals."
"They are," Lidia replied. "They've lived here for generations, they're more or less self-sufficient, they're able and willing to defend their homes. And they seem to think they're being treated unfairly. If the Baron makes some concessions to them, that might be enough to keep Imnesvale from falling apart, if the Sythillisians attack again."
Lanka considered this. "I doubt the Baron is inclined to grant favors," she said. "But you may be able to make him reconsider."
She laid a document onto the footlocker at the end of Lidia's bed. "I will give you a weapon that the Order might be able to understand."
Lidia wiped her hands on a nearby clean rag, then looked the document over.
It was written in a language she didn't understand. The script was similar, as was the sentence structure. But the vocabulary, especially the spelling, was completely alien. She thought she could pick up one or two words' general sense by sounding it out, but not enough for her to understand what she was looking at.
After seeing Lidia struggle for a few moments, Lanka spoke up. "It's a bill of sale. Do you not know Thorass?"
"No, I don't," Lidia said.
"Perhaps you ought to learn, if you intend to stay here," Lanka said. "Here, official affairs among Amnians, in trade and courts and government, are written in the old tongue."
Armed with this knowledge, Lidia tried again. It still took her a couple of minutes before she had a reasonable guess. "This…it's a bill of sale for your person. Yourself."
"Aye, it is," Lanka said quietly.
"How did you get this?" Lidia asked.
"It was simple enough. The Baron entrusts me with his affairs, especially those of his property." Lanka said the last word with a tinge of weary resignation.
Lidia considered that the Baron might have Lanka do his dirty work, too. She fully expected resistance if she asked about it directly, though.
She turned the paper over in her hand. "I wonder how much this cost him in mithral?"
"He couldn't handle a red ink, nor would he care to," Lanka said. "All he wants is forested property well-stocked with game, and the finest horses for pursuing a single fox. I thought this could be a fine thing for Imnesvale if he had his way. The state of the land is important, but…" Her face fell. "But I did not agree to driving the people from it."
Lidia leaned back and half-closed her eyes, as though she were considering something. She cast her thought out towards Lanka.
She felt a twinge in her left arm. This wasn't helpful – it could just as easily be an indictment of any person's normal flaws.
Lidia opened her eyes and glanced at Lanka's face. For what it was worth, the other seemed full of regret. Regardless of what Lanka might have done before, it seemed unlikely that she was lying now.
"All right," Lidia said. "I'll see what I can do with this. If the Order realizes that they're dealing with a slaver, it might be enough for them to withdraw their support."
Lanka gave a nod, and without a word, transformed into a small mockingbird again. She jumped across the room on small feet, alighted on the windowsill, and, spreading her small brown wings, she flew off into the deep blue night.
"She's – she's a slave, or was," Aerie said, "but she was able to fly here, hand over her evidence against the Baron, and leave, just like that?"
"Just like that," Lidia said.
"If she can do all that, why can't she just get away from her master?"
Lidia remembered Yoshimo's geas. "There's more than one way to bind someone, especially if you need them free otherwise."
She looked at the bill of sale again, with a kind of morbid fascination. Slavery was theoretically illegal in Athkatla, but this transaction, the buying and selling of a fellow sentient being, was well-documented: stamped, notarized, and signed by two witnesses. She ran her fingertips over the raised seal, the wax colored with verdigris.
She brought the paper closer to her light. The letters on this bill of sale didn't seem to come from a pen; instead, they were slightly blotched and ragged around the edges, but uniform in shape and composed of much smaller strokes than the most skilled hand could make.
She'd heard of machines that could produce masses of leaflets and flyers with one stamp, though she'd never seen one herself. The monks and mages of Candlekeep saw little use for such a thing. To them, knowledge could only be properly conveyed with books copied by hand; without the faithful reproduction of the teachers with additions and annotations from subsequent learners, they thought, the words were lifeless.
In some respects, the Avowed may have had a point. For one thing, magical text refused to stick to a mass-produced page.
She asked Aerie, "Any chance you know what this bill of sale says?"
Aerie shook her head. "No, I never did any of the financial stuff. That was all Uncle Quayle."
Lidia got her journal and pencil from a side table, made a few notes, then asked Aerie for the pink scroll case.
"That's fine. I've taken all the spells I need right now," Aerie said, handing it back. "What about the Shade Lord, though?"
Lidia thought back to everything she knew, everything she'd seen, any evidence she'd found.
"This is interesting, but it doesn't necessarily absolve Lanka or the Baron." She tucked away the bill of sale in a back pocket inside the case. "I'll need more to see how it all fits."