"What now?" Meric said to Pali as soon as they entered their room.

"I think it would be best for the children to have the rest of the day off," Pali replied, looking over the children. They all looked exhausted.

Meric looked at them as well before saying, "I was thinking I would look around the streets tonight. I should be able to move around without being seen by anyone."

Pali nodded slowly. He was not sure he approved of Meric being alone at night and by herself, but she would be far more safe than he ever would.

"I dislike you being out there alone in this city at night, but no one else can do it," Pali said.

Meric nodded. The look on her face told Pali that she was not looking forward to it either.

"What about you?" Meric asked Pali after a moment.

"I will visit several of the bars," Pali said, almost gagging at the thought of spending time with drunk Toa Miran men.

Meric put her hand on Pali's shoulder. "I will pray to Sorris for your safety."

"Thank you," Pali said.

Pali looked at the children. Ferra was the only one that appeared to still be awake and was watching Pali and Meric, but she looked like she could join the two boys at any moment.

"What say you we get some rest?" Pali said.

"Yes, we still have time before nightfall and we will need to be as rested as possible."

Pali unrolled his bedroll next to Dario and Calren's on the floor while Meric settled down beside Ferra on the bed. It did not take long for Pali to fall asleep.

The night had been horrible. Pali had spent the night buying drinks for various Toa Miran men hoping he could find out anything. Little did he know how much over his head he would be getting.

Once the men realized they could get a drink just for a little gossip, they had swarmed him. What made it worse was that most of the things the men had told him were far-fetched and as the night wore on and the men became drunker, the stories had gone from far-fetched to unintelligible. When this happened Pali moved to a different bar but found that the situation was just as bad there.

It wasn't until Pali gave up for the night that he got his only real new information.

"Hey buddy…" Pali heard a man's voice behind him, the man's voice slurring the words almost beyond recognition.

Pali turned around and saw a man staggering towards him.

"Yes?" Pali said, stopping and waiting for the man to catch up to him

"Ya have not heard my story yet." The man stopped just in front of Pali and stared at the ground for a moment. He could smell the stench of alcohol pouring off of the man. "What was I going to tell you?" The man added a moment later, telling him the man probably was only after the free drink like all the others had.

Pali sighed. "I am not buying any more drinks."

"Come now. You bought all of those other fellas drinks, why not me?" The man said and then nearly fell on top of Pali.

Pali pushed the man back just enough to let him regain his balance.

"I think you do not need any more to drink tonight." Pali tried pushing him away.

"Nonsense! I am still…" The man trailed off and stared at the ground again. His face then appeared to turn green, and the man covered his mouth.

Pali had expected the man to vomit but his face returned to its former bright red.

"Have not drank enough if you can still hold it down." The man said laughing awkwardly, the smell of his breath rolling over Pali again.

Pali shook his head, partly in disgust at the man and partly to shake off the nausea the man's breath made him feel.

"Look for someone else to buy you a drink," Pali said and turned back towards the road that led to the inn.

Not long after he had turned around, he felt the man slam into his back, knocking him on the ground. He then felt a slam on his back as the man fell on him.

"If you will not give me a drink, I will take your coin and get it myself!" The man screamed in his ear. The smell of the man's breath nearly making Pali vomit.

Pali tried to roll the man off of him but no sooner had he tried then he felt a fist hit the back of his head. Stars appeared in his vision.

Pali push on the ground as hard as he could. It worked, and he found himself on his back with the drunken man between himself and the ground but this did not phase the man because Pali soon felt another blow on the back of his head.

"Get off of me!" Pali shouted at the man. He knew shouting at a man this drunk would be futile, but it made him feel better.

Pali struggled with the man's arms and slipped out of them with more ease than he had been expecting and quickly jumped to his feet.

The man looked up at Pali, his eyes filled with anger. The man then began to attempt to get back on his feet.

Pali had no desire to wait for the man to get back up so he took off running in the opposite direction.

"Halt!" Pali heard a different man shout at him. It was gruff and sounded very authoritative.

Pali stopped on the spot and looked to where the new voice had come from. It was a pair of soldiers.

"What is going on here?" The lead soldier said.

"That man," Pali said, turning to the drunk man was now on his feet, swaying back and forth. "Tried to rob me."

"Another drunken fight?" The second soldier said, bored.

The first guard eyed Pali. "You do not appear drunk. What are you doing out so late?"

"I am looking for someone," Pali said, not able to think of anything better to say.

"Oh, did your girl run off on you?" The second soldier said before giving a half-hearted laugh.

"No, I am looking for a bounty," Pali said.

The guards both laughed.

"You!? From the looks of it, you could barely hold off that drunk." The first guard said.

"Was running away like a scared child." The second soldier added.

"Fighting him would have been a waste of time," Pali said, his cheeks turning red.

"Yes, but I would rather have fought off a drunk then get caught running away in fear!" The first soldier said.

Both of the soldiers laughed again.

Suddenly Pali realized he had an opportunity on his hands.

"I imagine you must see a lot of drunks get in fights," Pali said.

The guards stopped laughing.

"Lots?" The first said. "It is unheard of for a patrol to go the night without seeing at least half a dozen."

"Yours was our fourth tonight." The second soldier added.

"Must get tiring," Pali said.

"We used to ignore them, but since the Night Trickster appeared we have been ordered to check every fight." The first soldier replied.

"Oh? The Night Trickster?" Pali said, happy he had gotten them to the topic successfully.

"Yeah, got to make an example of someone that kills our comrades."

"Any luck with that?"

"No. The coward stopped coming out as soon as we began looking for them."

The second soldier spit on the ground. "Filthy coward."

"Where was the last place they were seen?"

"To the east of here. Hard to miss thanks to the fires."

"Fires?" Pali had heard there had been a large fire a few days ago that was rumored to have been started by the Night Trickster.

"Yeah, huge fight. The king's assassins were even involved."

"The king's assassins? What would they be doing going after a rumor?"

"No idea. All I know is that by the time anyone arrived there was no sign of the Night Trickster or whoever had killed the assassins.

"The strange thing is that some of them looked like an animal had attacked them, and two did not have any injuries at all."

"Why are you telling him all of this?" The second soldier said to the first.

"Why not? Better than walking around and roughing up the occasional drunk." The first soldier replied.

"I can say one thing." The second soldier said to Pali. "If the Night Trickster can kill even a single of the king's assassins then I do not want to be the one to find him."

"Wimp." The first soldier said and punched the second on the shoulder.

Pali looked back towards where the drunk man had been and saw that he was shambling off back towards the bar.

"Looks like he gave up on you." The first soldier said.

"I think I better go before someone else comes after me," Pali said. He was not sure he would get anything else useful from the soldiers. He was not sure what to make of what they HAD given him.

"Running back home to your momma already?" The second soldier said.

Pali sighed and began walking away.

The soldiers said nothing more to him and walked away laughing.

Pali touched the back of his head. It certainly hurt but there was no blood so he was not too concerned. He only hoped none of the others would see it.

By the time Pali had come back to the inn he saw that Meric was still gone and that the children were still sleeping. He was tired and there was still plenty of night left so he joined them. He was worried about Meric but waiting for her would just mean he would be tired and unable to do anything so he unrolled his bedding and joined the two boys sleeping on the floor.