“Why did you kick out Sandy if she had done nothing wrong?” Fin asked, trying to ignore the odd flirty look Mathilda was giving him.

“I found out she was giving out favors to some men for free, which doesn’t set a very good reputation for my business.” She winked.

“Why do you hide your identity so thoroughly?” He asked hastily, hoping to distract her with the seriousness of his questions.

“Oh please you silly man,” Mathilda laughed and crossed her legs. “I don’t even need to bother answering that.” The four of them had taken to the seating area of the Madame’s apartment. A cozy nook beside the only window in the room that was boarded up and covered with lacey curtains.

“Do you own all of these buildings that your mad maze runs through?” Antonio growled, earning a reproachful glare from Elizabeth at the blatant disregard of her earlier request that only Fin question the Madame.

“I do.”

“Are these establishments listed under your name?” The Captain continued ignoring the assistant’s displeasure.

“No.”

“I see.” The Captain continued studying the woman with a wary frown. “I will be conducting a search through all of the buildings you own on this street, and will need the names they are listed under.”

Mathilda let out a small laugh and waved her hand as though none of it mattered in the slightest.

What bothered Fin about it all however, was how Elizabeth Nonata kept nervously looking at her sibling.

“Madame Mathilda, if someone should like to smuggle in or hide Troivackian soldiers, what is the most effective method?” The witch asked slowly.

“Well how would I know? I ship in fine wines and silks, I dabble in some perfumes.”

“And drugs,” Fin pointed out, tilting his head to the side, and watching closely as Madame Mathilda’s expression twitched.

Elizabeth stilled and appeared to be holding her breath.

“Drugs, well… of… of course this establishment offers all… all kinds of…” Mathilda’s superior expression suddenly grew vacant.

“I think we have answered enough of your questions! This is bordering on harassment, why isn’t a magistrate here?” Elizabeth shot out of her chair, a panicked glint entering her eyes.

Fin was about to open his mouth to ask what was happening, when Mathilda’s hand suddenly shot out, and grabbed the assistant’s arm firmly.

“What the hell’s going on?” Mathilda’s voice was completely changed, instead of the light effeminate tones from before it was rough… gravelly… masculine.

Captain Antonio’s hand was on his dirk in an instant.

“No! Nothing!” Elizabeth turned to face Mathilda, and dropped to her knees. Gently clasping her sibling’s hand she lowered her voice, though given the close quarters Fin and Antonio heard each word clearly. “Jonesy nothing is wrong, I swear. They just had to ask a few questions. They’re leaving now.”

“Ms. Nonata your charade is up. Now you need to take us to the real Madame Mathilda or I will have you both executed before the sun sets. Am I clear?” Antonio’s voice boomed in the small space, and even Fin winced from the edge in his tone.

“I don’t think so.” Mathilda, or Jonesy… Fin wasn’t even sure anymore, rose from his seat. He threw down the feathered fan roughly, his movements completely different from before. “Bess, did these louts hurt you?”

“Good Gods man you were here the whole time!” Antonio rose, his body tense and ready to do some serious damage.

Fin dropped his gaze to Elizabeth who looked close to tears. There was a strange nagging sense of ill ease brewing in his mind…

“Ms. Nonata, I think you need to explain what is wrong with your brother,” the redhead urged quietly, his focus solely on Elizabeth.

Antonio shot a brief perplexed glance in Fin’s direction, then redirected his gaze to the assistant and waited for her to answer.

“There is nothin’ wrong with me. Now the two of you get out before I break open that window an’ toss you out.” Jonesy snarled shifting in his seat.

Elizabeth’s shoulders slumped forward before she turned, visibly shaking, to face Fin.

“My… My brother has… there are different versions of him. They c-come out at different times, and… it started when I was still young, and there just seems to be more than there was at first…”

Captain Antonio was frowning, but he no longer looked ready to stab Jonesy when he registered the sincerity in Elizabeth’s tone. Slowly, he seated himself back down.

“Look. We haven’t done anythin’ wrong. Get out.” Jonesy glared openly.

“They’re here from the King. Don’t… don’t do anything. W-What about letting Sid do the talking? Please?” Elizabeth remained on her knees, her hands gently gripping her brother’s forearms.

Jonesy shook his head and opened his mouth, ready to argue with her, but his sister then squeezed his arms a little more desperately, her fear palpable. Giving his head another small jerk, it looked as though the man was trying to clear his vision until, Jonesy’s expression once again fell blank. A dazed far off look in his eyes as his posture slumped forward.

A moment later he blinked, and lifted his eyes. A sharpness in his look told Fin that this had to be yet another person, and so the redhead glanced at the Captain who was watching the whole scene with an unreadable expression.

“What’s happening, Ellie? Jonesy was cursing about some problem…” No longer Mathilda or Jonesy, but yet another personality asked.

“Sid, you need to explain to these men about your… your condition. Please.” He looked skeptical over Elizabeth’s brief explanation, but once he registered her panicked expression and position on her knees, visibly caved to her insistence.

“Fine. Just let me change into something that is not so horrendous,” he muttered before turning and heading towards a chest on the ground a few feet away.

Rummaging around, he drew out a stained cream tunic, trousers, and a leather thong he used to hastily tie his hair back.

In a matter of moments Sid was back in his seat, and was studying them keenly as though taking in as much about them as he could.

“Well, as you may have heard, my name is Sid. I am here when matters become… tangled. When things are fine and business pertaining to the brothel need to be handled, Mathilda likes to speak out. She’s a conniving bitch, but she takes care of the girls and knows how to best lure in new customers. If you start to piss off any of the others, you’ll meet Jonesy. An idiot who loves to gamble far too much, but he will get rid of any problems that arise.”

There was a long stretch of silence where no one said a word, until Fin finally found his voice.

“Do you mean to say, you have many people living in your head?” He glanced to the Captain, and was surprised to see he still wasn’t showing any reaction to the news.

“In a way. Jonesy appeared when Warren was sixteen, and since then, more of us have… come forward to help out when we can. That was a decade or two ago now I believe.”

“And who is Warren?” Captain Antonio asked, his voice controlled.

“Warren is this young woman’s brother. We exist to protect him.” Sid gestured smoothly to Elizabeth whose eyes were fixed on the ground and hands were clasped in her lap.

“What does Warren need to be protected from?” Fin wondered aloud slowly.

Sid considered the question carefully before answering, his fingers laced together casually. “Everything I suppose. The world isn’t a safe place.”

“Well whoever is sitting there, I need to know their involvement in hiding and shipping Troivackian soldiers.” Captain Antonio’s voice was cool, but he didn’t start insulting or discounting what he was hearing, which surprised Fin greatly.

“I’m afraid I know nothing about that. Then again, I haven’t needed to come out in… how long has it been Ellie?”

“Two months.”

“My, my, you all have been doing quite well it seems. Well no matter, though I think you should investigate Jonesy’s bar before claiming complete innocence.”

Elizabeth’s remaining composure crumbled in that instance.

“He wouldn’t.”

“If Jonesy thought it meant protecting all that we’ve built, he would.”

“What bar does Jonesy run?” Antonio asked, but Fin’s mind was already working furiously, and he knew exactly the pub that had an owner as elusive as Madame Mathilda.

“The Wet Whistle,” he jumped in, drawing Elizabeth’s attention to him.

“That’s the one,” Sid confirmed with a nod before turning his attention over to the Captain. “You’re being rather quiet, Sir. Usually the armed types aren’t the most receptive to strange happenings.”

“I’ve seen men driven mad from grief and pain, and I’ve seen all kinds of people with tics and oddities that come from a long history of their souls being misused by others. Your affliction is strange, but I’ve seen stranger in my travels,” the Captain answered evenly, his blue eye not leaving Sid’s face for a moment.

“You don’t seem to share memories from your other people… otherwise you would know our names and all about Jonesy’s bar,” Fin observed carefully.

“Clever lad you are.” Sid smiled at Fin, revealing a missing eye tooth. “We don’t always know what the other has done, it’s true. Ellie tries to document our days and interactions best she can, but sometimes we like privacy.”

Fin immediately recalled the red book she had pulled out to record his statement when he claimed Mathilda had interfered with his business the night he first came to the brothel.

“Why don’t your own people record what’s happened?”

“Not all of us can read and write. Some of us are… quite young. At least two of them seem to be children old enough to cling to their mother’s skirts. Sometimes if there is something they would find interesting they overtake this body.”

Fin nodded while frowning. He was relatively confident he understood.

It were as though a group of different people all were aboard a ship, but some remained below deck while only one could steer…

“It must be frustrating,” the redhead voiced before he could think to stop himself.

“It was a little… off-putting at first, but Ellie here has always been good about helping.” Sid reached over and patted the assistant’s limp hands as though she were a favorite niece.

Captain Antonio stood then, and with a grim expression nodded to Fin.

“Well, I understand why you are hidden away now. However… I need you both to be guarded while our search is conducted.”

Sid cocked an eyebrow, it was the first time he looked ill at ease.

“Well, Sir, I recommend you post some men who are a little more worldly, because otherwise you are going to be getting some very distressed reports.”

Antonio gave a curt nod, and then gestured towards the open door.

“Shall we?”

*

Fin sat at the bar of Mathilda’s with Captain Antonio, Mr. Howard, and Mage Lee discussing what they had discovered about the Madame while a unit of Knights went to The Wet Whistle.

“Do you believe what he’s saying?” Mr. Howard asked while swirling the ruby colored beverage in his goblet.

“He’s either an incredible actor or telling the truth. No, I don’t doubt he has more than one person living in his mind, but… I do doubt that there aren’t more of them associated with this. Even Elizabeth Nonata I think knows more than she’s saying. That empty room is too convenient, and was oddly clean for not being used regularly as she says.” Antonio explained with a shake of his head.

“Well one thing for certain is that it couldn’t have just been them smuggling soldiers onto our shores. I’ve done a thorough search of Madame Mathilda’s assets, and the ships she owns are nowhere near large enough for carting an entire army over here. Even with multiple trips.” Mr. Howard sipped his beverage, and barely suppressed his pleased smile over the wine’s quality.

“So we need to figure out who is an enemy here in Daxaria that has the resources to contribute to this treason,” Captain Antonio reasoned, his blue eye trained on the bar, lost in thought.

“I didn’t want to believe it, but is it possible Viscountess Jenoure is actually involved? She certainly has the funds and connections to make such a thing happen. Not only that, but she could have arranged it in exchange for becoming the head of the Piereva family, and get rid of her ass of a brother if she bargained with King Matthais,” Mr. Howard pointed out, and then slowly lowered his goblet as he continued down the train of thought. “In fact… it actually explains… everything.”

“She has another brother,” Fin blurted out before he could stop himself.

When the men all turned to look at him in surprise- except for mage Lee who looked deeply unimpressed, he quickly added on.

“When I was courting Clara she mentioned it.”

The men all accepted this explanation, except once again for mage Lee, who rolled his eyes to the ceiling in exasperation. Fortunately, no one other than Fin noticed the response.

“I was definitely forgetting about her brother Charles… though to be perfectly honest it wouldn’t be difficult for her to have him killed.” Mr. Howard picked up his goblet and drank again.

“She has been close friends with the Queen for years and has inherited great wealth and freedom that she never had before in Troivackia. She has not once expressed an interest in returning to her home country…” Captain Antonio explained while shaking his head. “I don’t believe she would betray our King.”

Fin felt a small breath of relief escape his mouth at Antonio’s defence, and so decided to excuse himself from the conversation to best avoid any other dangerous outbursts.

“Well, I think I’ll be heading off. I tried to get the information without involving the Knights and failed. Sorry about that.” Clapping Antonio on the shoulder, Fin stood and moved towards the door, only to have the Captain’s hand curl around the front of his tunic and hold him still.

“Oh, I don’t think so, Ashowan. You need to go talk to your mother. When I had to relay to her that you fled the castle after hearing about our engagement, she was up half the night worrying about you.”

Fin’s head turned slowly to face the Captain, and the other men present stilled.

“How is it you know my mother was awake half the night?”

Antonio blushed, and the witch then peeled the Captain’s hand off of his tunic.

“This isn’t about me, Fin. It’s about Kate. Go see her,” the Captain tried again, but the demand in his voice was replaced with pleading.

“You know I might have handled the news better if I hadn’t been told in a room with multiple eye witnesses- one of which being the King,” the redhead managed through clenched teeth.

“In fairness to myself, your mother mentioned you blasting a childhood friend deep into the woods over some silly argument.”

“Jiho told her about that?!” Fin exploded, rounding on the Captain and ignoring the highly entertained mage and assistant that watched the whole exchange with gleeful smiles.

“He did. Do you now see how I might have wanted to take precautions once learning that?”

Fin’s eye twitched.

“Ashowan, I must say it is nice for once not being the one having to deal with your antics.” Mr. Howard sighed dreamily, until the redhead’s sharp gaze moved to him, making the man choke on his wine.

“Perhaps this evening you should go home Fin, hm? Stay out of trouble for once?” Mage Lee suggested while stroking his beard innocently.

“This is none of your business,” Fin snapped at the elder.

“He’s right, Lee, it’s a family matter now.” Mr. Howard’s smile could have guided a lost vessel to shore; it was so bright.

Fin on the other hand recalled a wonderful spot in the woods that would be perfect for an unmarked grave. Then after a glance at mage Lee’s matching delight, decided death would be too quick for them.

Storming out of the brothel, Fin reluctantly headed towards the castle, knowing his mother didn’t deserve to suffer because of the other idiots. Besides, the walk would give him the time to craft the perfect revenge for a nosy mage and catty assistant…