Random Encounter Story

This didn't sound too good as far as Sebastian was concerned, and he was about to speak his mind -- but it was too late. Montmore was speaking already: "He's a factor, a force, an agent -- I can't be too sure which they call it these days, but I perceive he's shady enough to look like a summoned demon for as far a citizen or peasant on the street might be concerned."

"Oh for the love of the Ladies," Sebastian groaned and leaned back, exasperated.

"Also, it seems as though either one of you or someone else figured out the pattern. From the outside, I can't say; I haven't enough proof. I've only heard of shady business, and that's a piece of copper a dozen in this city. So, I'll make no guesses as to that. I'll only say it was effective," Montmore continued cheerfully. "Are you sure you don't want any wine?"

"...yes," said Sebastian.

Sylvie looked at Sebastian when he finally made a noise. This probably was not the time to point out that by the definitions she was familiar with, he would be a demon, summoned by his goddesses from another world. She turned back to Montmore. "He is. An agent I mean." With a slight frown she asked, "Would you tell us what you have heard?"

"Good!" Montmore seemed pleased, but not inordinately so. Sebastian didn't, obviously, and was quick to point it out by saying, "I'd want to hear that too. What is it you've found out?"

"Well, let us just say that there have been some... advances toward certain merchants and high society about some nearly philanthropic amounts of grain and goods. Grain, yes, well, that seemed fine. Livestock? Also fine, keeping in order. But building materials? Well, that caught my attention, finally. If you're certain it's the Sabas, they're trying to milk the city out of it with some nasty, greedy folk from Canyet as well."

"...oh Ladies," Sebastian moaned. "I hope the rain ending stopped most of these deals?"

Montmore raised his eyebrows. "Well thought, agent. You're not just muscle after all. Say, who is it you--"

"The damn Lady Luck and the Old Lady. Do I need to get angry? I'm starting to get angry. I really am, and far closer to being rude in someone's house as a guest."

They began a staring contest.

Sylvie covered her eyes with a hand. "Please just tell me those other people don't need our attention, too."

"I should think not," Montmore said, not breaking eye contact with Sebastian himself; the half-elf turned to look at Sylvie, worried. "But I should think that might be useful. So, I'd rather not guess: how many people are going after the Sabas?"

Sebastian still couldn't help but feel a little suspicious.

"How do you mean 'going after', exactly?"

His glass was empty, but Montmore kept examining it anyway. "Well, two foreigners even if one is an agent of certain creatures --" Sebastian bristled at this point "-- are not going to be able to take down a very wealthy family. You came here to find resources, which suggests that the agent in question is hardly going to make people disappear in a typical, criminal manner. Am I right?"

Sebastian looked blank. Not in that manner, but...

Sylvie did not mind what Sebastians so-called patrons were labelled. "The clergies we presented the proof to were Fortuna's and the Old Lady's, naturally, the Tin Coin, the Gold Coin, and the Jackites. The first three are with us on taking it to the authorities. I'm not entirely sure about the other two. The Jackite we talked to talked kneecaps. But then I suspect he was a rather junior member." She frowned and her eyes glazed over when the idea the Gold Coin could somehow be involved with the shady business Monmore had mentioned occurred.

That was exactly what Sebastian was worried about. Extremely so, especially when Montmore deigned to look a little concerned himself. "Well now. That might be a problem, the Gold Coin. Before I continue, I'd like to say that some of my customers and acquaintances happen to be at least nominal members of said cult."

"...cult?"

"Oh come now, you know what I mean," Montmore said to Sebastian, wagging a finger. "They're religious only when it suits them. Myself, I ascribe to no faith though I acknowledge deities exist. Perhaps you understand... Sebastian. Or is it something else I sh--"

"Sebastian is fine," said the half-elf, whose heartbeat had risen suddenly. "So you mean to say that the Gold Coin might be in on it?"

"Wouldn't put it past them. Consider that a religion does not encompass only one city."

Sebastian gave Sylvie a <em>look</em>. "Oh shit."

"Quite." Sylvie kept looking in the middle distance. Her voice was quite calm, and she did not move, but she was frozen with tension. "Help me here - how might that go? Worst case scenario, they manage to pin blame for the weather on us, best case, they play at being good citizens, collaborating and pretending they knew nothing?"

"I think with so many others knowing about the matter, they might go with the latter," Montmore said, raising an eyebrow. "If so many know about the weather, how would they prove it?"

"I think so too," Sebastian said, eyes narrowed. He was slowly gaining momentum and determination again. "Still, I wouldn't put it past them to screw us over even so. I think we might need to hide sooner than I thought, Sylvie."

"Ah. Good, you're prepared," the mage said, smiling and rubbing his neck. "Very good, and well reasoned, Sebastian. But tell me, why... screw you over, as you said? Perhaps... the past, or just modern business sense dictating?"

"...you know too much, magicker," was all the half-elf said, eyeing Montmore even more warily.

"Don't make me call you children," Sylvie said, giving Montmore a cool look.

Sebastian just barely managed to keep his face straight, whereas Montmore looked sufficiently put down from his throne of intellect partially due to confusion. "All right, I apologise. This is just a bit too exciting."

"Believe me, excitement has a way of turning into nuisance," said the half-elf, raising his open hands into a show of surrender. "Truce, in any case. Deal?"

"Perhaps so," Montmore said cheerfully enough, heading over to fill his glass again. "So, that fun over, what is it you wish of me? Support, yes, but which kind?"

Good question, Sebastian had to admit. "How about insight and some official support? You seem to be well-liked and respected here. Your word carries some weight, I'd surmise." He hoped so, at least, looking at Sylvie for confirmation.

Sylvie shrugged. "Magic artifacts, get a mage's expertise. He's certainly more respected here than I am."

"Don't get me started on how respected I am," Sebastian muttered, staring at Montmore. "So, sir?"

The mage leaned back and grinned. "It ought to be interesting at the very least. Ah, and my thanks for the courtesy, fair Sylvie."

Sebastian's expression betrayed just who that fairness ought to be for, but he still put on a sideways smile.

She sighed. "I am being rude, am I not? I'm sorry. We've been risking our necks to save this city, and what we get are complaints, and more problems because people who live here were in on it? It leaves me... cranky." She was unfocused, still worrying if the proof and other measures were enough.

Sylvie's explanation caused the man to pause and raised his eyebrows, to stare at her, examine her outwardly. "Not the least, my dear, I might say preliminarily. Would you and your... associate mind relating what exactly it is that rankles you so?"

"I'll take that drink after all," Sebastian said quickly and headed over to the flasks and glasses, looking as though he had a headache.

She focused on him with a wide-eyed "are you stupid"-look. "You don't shit where you eat." She winced and added not-that-hostile, "You don't destroy your own city. It's... mountain-size stupid."

Montmore at first stared, then grinned. "You are a feisty one aren't you? Good comparisons." In the background, Sebastian was filling a glass. "Oh, I agree. You'll have my help. Resources, too," Montmore said. It was at that point that Sebastian's neck began to tingle. There was something, just something wrong about this...

The mage yawned and stretched. "You know, you're not the only ones who have been suspicious about the weather."

Sebastian dropped his glass after only having sipped a bit of it. He stepped back from the pool of liquid and the shards, eyes squinted in alarm.

"What's wrong?" Alarmed, Sylvie sat forward and almost automatically flicked a few of her feelers in his direction. She looked from Sebastian to Montmore and back.

The half-elf was busy staring at Montmore, who in turn was looking at Sylvie very calmly. It appeared that Sebastian was very, very suspicious. As was, on the other hand, Montmore. "Would you mind stop groping him ? I assure you, I'm no threat to either of you. I already promised," the mage said to Sylvie. "Calm down."

"Who the hell are you?" Sebastian asked, backing away, trying to keep escape options available -- but they all failed. First and foremost, he wanted Sylvie safe, which messed with his usual escape plans.

Montmore leaned back and sighed. "I'm a secular agent. I've been at this for some ten years, representing the city, region and country. My, I'm surprised to see you, sir."

It was enough to cause severe consternation and the need to put on an act, but Sebastian -- resolute in his self-made promise to not put the mask on again in front of Sylvie -- merely frowned. "I think it's all right, love," he said to Sylvie, then glared at Montmore. "I thought you hinted a bit heavy-handledly as to what you knew."

Sylvie gave Montmore an exasperated look for his choice of words, but did retract her feelers, filing away the fact that he could sense magic without her sensing how he did it. She returned to her last thought before Sebastian's little freakout. "Well, I for one am glad to hear someone else had an idea, too, so there'd been a chance things would have turned out all right if we'd failed." Looking at Sebastian, she added, "Or if Lady Land had not put you on this case to start with."

"Oh, there was some suspicion about that. On my part, at least. Please understand, I sense rather than act," Montmore said, standing and moving closer to Sebastia. "However, once I saw <em>him</em> I knew there was at least one agency working on it. I've pieced together some of it through the grapevine, rumours, contacts. Interesting, then, that it's the one person several decades ago that comes back to... meddle, let's say. My predecessors wrote some tales about you, even sent the Hound after you so we could examine you and make some guesses, educated ones."

Sebastian, for his part, stared at the approaching Montmore. A sensing one, was it? He addressed Sylvie first: "I think that would mean this is no coincidence, dear. He's bluster, all right."

"Perhaps," Montmore replied in silken tones. "For myself, it's an honour to meet a legend."

"You know what?" the half-elf said.

"Hm?"

"Fuck you. Help us fix this and I'll be out of here before you can say--"

Whatever Sebastian said, it contained a lot of consonants and very few vowels. It was enough to stun Montmore, now only a foot away from Sebastian.

Sylvie had her eyes half closed and took deep breaths. "Sir, would you please kindly <em>stop</em> talking about Sebastian as a research object? I'm not sure if you're baiting him or merely over-excited, but it is tedious, either way."

"Well, that was polite enough," Montmore said, turning to look at Sylvie, tense. He attempted to a make a gesture with his hand that Sebastian promptly dodged; it would have resulted in physical contact. There was a tingle in the air that Sylvie would have sensed as well.

This in turn elicited a comment from Sebastian: "I would listen to what the lady has to say. I don't know much about magic, but I can sense it, and I'm going to assure you I know when to run the hell away from it. Now, please listen to the nice lady. She's got common sense nailed down."

Montmore sighed. "Fine. You can't blame a person for trying, though, can you? All right, yes. I'm willing to help. I just hope there's something in it for my superiors, too."

For a moment, Sebastian settled for staring at Montmore. He finally glanced at Sylvie. "What is it with people these days?"

"Apart from not having Canyet flooded worse? You're getting proof that the Sabas were causing a disaster here. Those artifacts," though this struck her as a bad idea now, unlikely to lead to their destruction or safe storage, "and signed confessions by one of the people involved in the scheme."

She titled her head. "I believe where I'm from that would mean their property went to the state, first to repair the damage, the rest, well. How is it here?"

"Perceptive. It would be more or less like so here, perhaps most of it to recoup the losses the industry and people have suffered. But, ah, there's always bureaucracy," Montmore replied, crouching to pick up a shard of glass. "That's fair enough, by way of explanation."

Sebastian retreated toward Sylvie, just in case. "Well, deal with that. I don't even mind if you hog all the praise, honour and such. I for one don't care."

"You two will be in my report in any case," Montmore said. Once again, Sebastian looked like he wanted to hiss.

Instead, he said in solemn tones to Sylvie in Interworld: "This is why I've kept my work private."

"I'll be happy if we don't come out of this with prizes on our heads, or the like," Sylvie said in the local language.

"I shouldn't image you would," Montmore replied. "Auker would never forgive me."

Sebastian muttered something more in Interworld; it was more less along the lines of Montmore finding himself with a pole up his ass, in another city, no clothes on if he pissed off Auker.

Sylvie smiled, keeping her eyes on Montmore. "We left the paperwork with her."