Morning twilight began to dispel the night. Slowly, birds stirred and began their songs, chirping sweetly to anyone willing to listen. A gentle breeze rose and rustled the trees, their leaf laden branches being pulled up into an almost yawning stretch. A few people were already up and about. This time in the morning was usually only reserved for those who enjoyed the brisk air and soft light, and the greetings one gets from such people are always heartfelt, though never so loud as to wake the neighbors. All in all, it was fine morning.

But Kevin didn’t notice any of that. He sat on a bench, elbows to knees, eyes on the ground, thinking. He thought hard. He might’ve even been willing to emulate a silly old bear from his childhood, tapping his hand to his temple and saying “Think, think, think,” if he’d thought it’d do any good (that is, if he could spare the thought to think about how he should be thinking his thoughts).

There was no sign of Jack. An entire night of searching and questioning didn’t bear any fruit. At one point Kevin donned a disguise and tried bribing some guards for information, but was chased away, nearly incarcerated. Much the same happened when he asked the circus people. Wandering around wasn’t doing any good, so he sat and thought. Perhaps there was another angle, if only he could see it.

Two thick legs wandered into his field of view. “There’s a bakery,” said Topher, jutting a thumb behind him, “around the corner that sells fresh rolls with cheese baked inside them. After all those hours of searching, I thought we deserved something nice.” He grabbed a roll from his bag and held it under Kevin’s nose. “Want one?”

Kevin didn’t feel like he earned anything nice, but he’d need food to keep up his energy.

“Good,” said Topher, who then produced another one. “Kryx? You interested?”

Kryx was sitting at the next bench, only partially enjoying the misery Kevin was feeling. “No, I’m good,” he said, holding up the back of his hand. “Magic ring. Don’t need food.”

“I don’t care if you don’t need it,” smiled Topher. “Would you like one? They’re pretty good.”

“No, I’m fine. Thanks, though.”

Topher sat down next to Kevin. “No sign of the girls yet?”

Kevin shook his head.

“Oh well. You know what I really wish this place had? A coffee shop. There’s practically no way to get caffeine around here. I think I’ve seen a little chocolate, but do you know how much it takes to get the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee?”

Kryx leaned back to get a view of Topher over Kevin. “What’s caffeine?”

Topher brightened. “It’s a stimulant. It prevents the binding of adenosine to—“ Kevin cut him off with an elbow. “It, uh, keeps you awake.”

“But I don’t think Kryx would need any,” said Kevin. “That magical ring is a Ring of Sustenance, isn’t it? You only need four hours of sleep with that.”

Kryx nodded. “Right. And I’ve been trained to stay awake for days at a time, if need be.”

“Oh, good. Then I can just head off to bed while you continue the search,” said Topher.

“Do what you want,” said Kryx. “I was told to try and bring all of you back. If you want to leave finding your friend to me and Linore, we’ll do that.” Kevin didn’t trust him as far as he could throw him, so there was a fat chance of that. “Oh, there they are.” Kryx stood. “Hey! We’re over here.”

Sweat drenched, Jenn approached with Linore. “Any luck on your end?” asked Jenn.

“No,” said Kevin, who then pointed at Jenn. “Praecantatio.” As though there was a burst of wind, Jenn’s clothes billowed. By the time they settled down, all trace of dirt and sweat were gone. “Anything from you?”

“Not even a trace of his lute on the Locate Object spell,” sighed Jenn, exasperated. “Two castings, a thousand-foot detection range, ten minute sprints. No luck.”

Kevin slinked back into his thinking pose. “We can try again once you’ve rested. You probably didn’t get the whole of the town.”

“Yeah, and I was thinking about it,” said Topher. “Would the spell even work if the lute was destroyed? Or would it lead to the pieces if it was broken?”

“I don’t know,” said Jenn. “But we don’t have the time to test it.”

“It wouldn’t,” said Kryx. “According to our divination class, that is.”

“I wonder if it could find Theseus’s ship,” muttered Topher. “So Jack’s lute might’ve been destroyed if he was captured, but what if you cast it to find his coat or something? Less likely, maybe?”

“It probably doesn’t matter,” said Kevin. “If he was taken, they probably accounted for people using magic to find him.”

“Don’t you dare tell me I just sprinted four miles for nothing,” said Jenn.

Linore finally spoke. “No, it means we can likely rule out anything random, like a mugging or whatever. He was probably either taken or in hiding because things were too dangerous for him.”

“Or he was killed,” said Kryx.

“He wasn’t killed,” snapped Kevin. “We’d have known if he was.”

Topher scratched his chin. “Not necessarily. But we can discuss that another time.”

“For now,” said Kevin, “we have to assume he was captured. The rumor mill is saying all kinds of things about what happened to the Consul, but if he’s really dead, then our best bet is the circus.”

Linore was about to say something, but Topher spoke first. “I did meet Heller yesterday. He seems like a big shot in the circus - if anything happened, he was either there or knows what went down.”

Jenn shook her head. “We’re not going to trust him. If something went wrong with Jack’s cover, he might also want to question you. And if they didn’t believe the letter we made that Teague guy write, we might all be in trouble.”

“We can’t just run and hide now,” said Kevin. “Not when we don’t know where Jack is. With the Consul dead and his entourage likely on edge, our only hope is to check out the circus.”

“Like they’re not on edge, too?” said Kryx.

“I think the Consul is alive,” said Linore. All eyes went to her. “On our way here, I heard some people talking about how the Consul is going to light a beacon on top of that tower they’ve been building. They said it was earlier than scheduled, but it’s supposed to be a big event.”

Kevin felt a streak of anger at not having been told this earlier. “That changes things,” he said.

Topher nodded. “Yeah, if he’s alive, Jack might not’ve blown his cover after all.”

“Or the Consul did die, and he’s just been Resurrected,” grumbled Kevin. “He’s probably rich enough.”

“If he is alive, he probably wants to quell rumors of his death,” said Kryx.

“Did they mention when it’d start?” asked Topher. “After dark, maybe?”

Linore shook her head. “No, early afternoon. They don’t want to interfere with the circus.”

“Good. Until then, we’ll have Topher ask to see Heller,” said Kevin.

“That’s still a bad idea,” said Jenn. “If things went wrong with Jack, they’ll go badly for Topher.”

“And if things went right, has Jack been missing so long that Topher would think there’s a problem?” asked Kryx.

Topher shrugged. “I could just say I heard some strange stuff happened last night, and was worried about my friend. And if they try anything nasty, we’ll know Jack’s probably in trouble.” He bit into another roll.

Jenn eyed the food. “Is that bread filled with cheese? Are there any more of those?” she asked.

“Oh! Uh… no. Sorry, this was my last one,” said Topher, sheepishly. “But if you want more, the bakery’s just around that corner. They’re really good.”

“I’ll get them for you,” said Linore. “You were the one who had to cast the spells and run.”

Jenn rolled her shoulders. “You know, I’m not going to fight you on that. Thanks so much.”

Kryx stood. “I’ll come along.” They left together, resisting the urge to hold hands until they were almost around the corner.

“Cute couple,” said Topher. “It’s a shame young love never seems to pan out.”

“They might surprise you,” said Jenn.

Topher huffed. “I’m rarely surprised. In fact, I plan on taking a feat just to be sure.”

They all sat on the bench. Dawn had begun, and golden beams were illuminating the tops of the buildings, all under a purple sky.

“Do you guys actually trust them?” asked Kevin.

“I trust them to not poison my food,” replied Jenn.

Topher sighed. “We’ll be fine, at least for now. They’ve had plenty of time to turn us in, so they don’t want that. They haven’t really had the opportunity to kill us, so we’ll see if Jenn keels over from the rolls. If she doesn’t, then they at least want us out of here, so why not use them? We’ll keep an eye out for any sort of betrayal after this business here in Colme is done.”

“I just hate being on edge,” said Kevin. “And worrying about Jack is taking a toll.”

Jenn put a hand on his shoulder. “You did everything right, Kevin. Except not telling me about the slave auction, of course. Wherever Jack is, he knows that we’re looking for him. That he’s not abandoned.”

Kevin made a noise through gritted teeth. “Yeah, well that doesn’t—“ He stood. “Get up. Linore’s heading this way, fast. She looks freaked.”

Linore was walking very briskly. When she saw the three of them had stood, she made a slight hand wave to tell them to start walking away.

They did so. When Linore caught up, Kevin asked, “What’s wrong now?”

“Move faster. There were guards walking down the street, asking about the three of you. They had very detailed descriptions. Kryx is giving them the whole ‘I think I saw them, but where’ routine, but there’s no guarantee how long that’ll keep them occupied.”

“Are you serious?” snarled Topher. “I thought we had papers that absolved us of any wrongdoing.”

“Doesn’t mean they won’t just make us disappear,” said Kevin, his face dark. “They’re just looking for the three of us?”

“Yes.”

Kevin shivered. “Then they already have Jack. If our descriptions are detailed, then they probably got him to talk.”

“Or maybe Morris and Teague snuck back,” said Jenn.

“Either way, we’ve got problems.” Topher gnawed his lip - a nervous habit that he suddenly vowed to stop, as his tusks were much too good at gnawing. “If they just started looking, they might not have our inn rooms under surveillance. You need your armor, Jenn.”

Linore shook her head. “You need to get out of town. If they catch you, I can’t guarantee we’ll be able to do much in time to help.”

“We’re not leaving Jack,” snapped Kevin.

“I never said you shouldn’t come back,” said Linore, checking behind them. With no one in sight, they ducked into an alley. “Get some rest where you’ll be hidden. Kevin, you can cast Disguise Self and help us get eyes on the Consul for the lighting ceremony, and if that doesn’t give us what we need to know, you all can come back once it’s dark and we’ll go through the circus while they’re busy with their performance. Kryx and I will take care of whatever’s in your rooms, and we’ll keep looking while you’re away - maybe we’ll try the jail over at Fort Gaine again.”

Jenn planted a heel. “What if we went on the offensive?”

“Don’t tell me you want to attack the Consul,” said Kevin.

“I mean figuratively,” said Jenn. “Linore, you and Kryx represent some powerful people, right? And you have that letter that absolves us of apparent crimes? What if you went to the Consul and outright said you were looking for us? That your teachers or whatever were very interested, and wanted to find us?”

Topher shrugged. “That’d put pressure on them. They’d probably just kill Jack, or maybe throw him further into a dark hole, keeping him alive to prevent even a True Resurrection from bringing him back.”

“But if they wanted to do something to Jack, they’d have to go there and do it themselves, or send someone to relay a message,” said Jenn.

“And you think we could follow that person back to Jack,” Kevin finished the thought. “No. We can’t risk it. There’s a spell, like my Message cantrip, only its range is infinite. If the Consul has someone in his employ who can cast it - and if he’s been risen from the dead, it’s likely - then he can send the message to whoever to put Jack down without betraying his location.”

“It’d also put her and Kryx in danger,” said Topher. “They might just attack them then and there. Which, come to think of it, might send them into the same hole they sent Jack.”

Linore shook her head. “Maybe. If we made it clear that Master Gerard would come himself to find us if anything happened, they’d likely just smile and say they’ll help, but be sure to get rid of you on sight. It would get us closer to the Consul, but it’d also make them very careful about everything, and we’d likely never find Jack. We’re all better served if Kryx and I aren’t known to be associated with you.”

“That, and you could simply walk away if they do get us,” grumbled Kevin.

“What if one of us turned ourselves in?” asked Topher. “Think they might throw us in with Jack?”

“Walk up and say we’re giving up? Not if they’re smart,” said Jenn. “It might work if one of us gets caught, though. Or they might kill us.”

Kevin’s neck was getting sore. “Depends on why they want us. And why they have Jack. You’re right, Linore; we don’t want to play any of our cards yet. We need information. And we need rest. But we’re all staying in the city - everyone needs to be close by in case of a crisis. That, and the guards are likely paying extra attention to everyone that comes and goes. We have to find a place in the city where we can rest away from the guards, undisturbed.”

Topher perked up. “Hey, I just happen to know of a brothel that entertains some seedy people….”