Aspen and Sekafi walked through the darkening streets, kicking up dust with each stride. Sekafi heard him first. A faint sniffle ahead, a ragged breath. She looked up. Outside the potter's store sat a man, hunched forward with his arms around his pulled up legs. She tapped Aspen on his shoulder and he looked up.

'Gaen?' he asked. 'Gaen! What's happened?' He rushed forward, and Sekafi hurried after him.

What did Gaen do outside this late? They stopped before the man. He sobbed into his knees, not acknowledging them. Sekafi smelled his stress like a tangible cloud in the air.

'Aspen, something's wrong.'

'Gaen!' Aaspaelwin crouched by the potter and shook his shoulder. The man jumped, and looked up, his dark eyes wild. 'Gaen, what's wrong?'

'Aspen,' he whispered and sniffled. 'She... she...'

'Who?' Sekafi and Aspen asked at the same time.

'Malwi.' He sobbed again.

'Your wife? What about her?' Aspen asked, glancing at Sekafi. She shrugged, having no idea. She didn't talk with them as often as him.

'She... she died,' he sobbed, and looked up, tears running freely from his eyes.

They both gasped. They'd seen her only the day before, and she'd seemed fine. 'What happened?' Sekafi asked. It must have been an accident or something.

He looked up at her. 'I'm not sure. She went to work, and when she came home last evening she seemed sick. She struggled all night, and then...' He wiped at his eyes and drew a shuddering breath.

Sekafi's heart ached just from looking at him. He seemed so frail and broken. He always wore a cheerful smile and greeted them like family.

'Malwi, died this morning, shortly after you left.'

'Sick?' Aspen asked. 'But... she was fine! How could –'

'I don't know,' he interrupted, his eyes hardening. 'But it wasn't natural. Sickness doesn't attack people like that. It was something else. She...'

'There's something going around,' Sekafi muttered. 'We saw a woman die in the streets earlier today. Maybe she caught it?'

He clambered up to his feet and stared at her. 'She didn't die from a common sickness, Sekafi. She was attacked! She said a man in a brown robe had thrown something at her. I'm sure he poisoned her.' He glared at Sekafi as if daring her to protest.

Aspen patted his shoulder and gently steered him towards the shop. 'Let's go inside. We can talk more there. Without risking anyone overhearing. Right?' He gave her a concerned look over his shoulder as they went inside.

'Why would anyone poison your wife?' Aspen asked in a hushed tone. 'She's not that important, is she?' He raised his hands and added, 'No offence,' as Gaen's mouth opened to protest.

He slumped down on his working bench. 'I don't know. I mean, she is friends with a woman in the Council. Maybe she saw or heard something? Can you do something?' He eyed them hopefully. 'Maybe you can find out what happened? Please?'

'We can try,' Sekafi said. 'But where do we start?'

'I knew it,' Aspen mouthed at her.

'Perhaps you can talk to her friend?'

'Why don't you?' Sekafi asked. Surely they'd rather speak to him, her husband, than strangers.

'You work for the Council, don't you? I'm just a potter. I've never met her. Please.'

'We can try,' Aspen said.

Gaen told them where his wife's friend, Lady Sireli lived, and everything he knew about her. She lived in a mansion with her family. She worked in the Council, but wasn't in the top. She had met his wife in a meeting with a secret group called Silent Voices. They worked to help non-humans in the city from unfair treatment, which was common. He suspected her affiliation with the group and Lady Sireli might have been the cause for the attack.

They promised to look it up the very next day.

* * * * *

Aaspaelwin yawned and opened his eyes. He tried to move, but his legs didn't comply. A weight pressed down over them, cutting off his blood-flow. He looked down. Sekafi lay curled on top of his covers, like a huge cat. He smirked. She was too heavy to be a lapdog.

'Oi! Kitty, rise and shine.'

Sekafi groaned, flicked an ear, and resumed sleeping.

He poked her in the back, and her short tail bobbed, followed by a louder groan. 'Get up, lazy. You're killing my legs.'

She twisted her head around and looked at him over her shoulder. 'You're an excellent pillow, don't disturb me.'

He snorted and batted her across the face with his pillow. 'Do I have to tell you every day?'

She grinned and sat up. 'But I don't have a proper bed.'

She used that as an excuse to sleep in his all the time. Not that he minded much. Apart from his legs falling asleep from her weight. He'd suggested they get another one, but she always declined with the excuse that there was no room. Which was true, he supposed. But she had a mattress on the floor. If she bothered to pull it out from under his bed, of course. 'You're lazy is the word you're looking for,' he said and got out of bed, shaking life back into his feet.

She giggled and he glanced back. She had lain back down again, stretching out on the bed and enjoying it to herself. It fascinated him how she could go from being a big muscular warrior to a stretching house cat as soon as she was out of her armour and in a comfortable space. He walked over to the window and pushed the shutters aside, letting in air and light. The sun had already risen about the roofs and the heat hit him in the face like a wave. He huffed and squinted. Another burning day of trying to hide from the sun. Another day of worrying. They had to get going. They had to help Gaen. He'd promised to pay them for their trouble by allowing them to live here for free for a while, if they could find anything out about his wife's killer. They'd declined, wanting to help him anyway, but he'd insisted.

'What have we gotten us into,' he muttered.

'Hmm?' Sekafi stood from the bed and reached for her clothes and armour, getting ready.

'I said wh –'

'I heard you, elfling. I have ears.' She flashed a grin. 'You got us into it, pretty sure,' she added.

Aaspaelwin raised an eyebrow. 'I think you helped.'

'Naaah.' She pulled on her lamellar armour and fastened her belt with the golok. 'I miss my spear. I need to get a new one.'

'Can we afford it?'

'Probably not.' She turned her yellow gaze on him. 'Should you go ask the guild if they have any work for us since the Council no longer seems to have any?'

'Yeah, probably.' He watched himself in their copper mirror, just a slab of polished metal propped up against the wall, and ran a comb through his flat hair. 'It's been a while. But they had a deal with the Council that I should work for them, so I don't know what happens now.'

Sekafi nodded. 'You ready?'

He sighed. 'Yeah. Let's go find Lady Sireli.'

They went downstairs, exchanged a few words with Gaen and promised to bring back any information they could.

Aaspaelwin and Sekafi walked to the outskirts of the city, where the rich merchants and new nobles lived in grand mansions behind high spiked walls. The nobles of old lineage lived outside of the city, away from the smell and hustle. Away from the crowds and the sickness. Probably a smart move in these times. It was impossible to not get in close contact with basically everyone in the streets. Aspen dusted himself off as they approached the gates to the mansion, wondering if they'd be allowed to enter.

Two guards stood by the gates in red-lacquered lamellar armour and helmets bearing a sun disc above their foreheads; a polished mirror to ward off evil. Their wary eyes narrowed as Aaspaelwin and Sekafi approached, but they kept their halberds raised.

Aaspaelwin greeted them and introduced themselves before asking them about the lady.

'We'd like to speak to Lady Sireli, please. It's of utmost importance.'

The guards didn't even bother to reply.

He looked as Sekafi who shrugged, none the wiser.

'Please, there are things going on in the council and the city that need to be addressed.'

Still no reply.

'She could be in danger!'

'Sir, you should probably leave,' one of the guards finally said.

'We've come here on behalf of Malwi, a friend of Lady Sireli. Please, we only ask for a few minutes of her time. Can you at least ask her?'

The guard who had spoken glanced towards the house, then to the other guard. He gave a slight nod. 'All right. I'll go and have a word with the folks. Don't cause any disruption here.' He stared at them, and Aspen shook his head, wanting no more trouble. He just wanted to help their friend, and find out what was happening. He was certain something bigger than he could currently see was going on. But what?

The guard returned shortly, followed by a young woman in a black, figure-hugging dress. She could be no more than twenty, probably younger. Aspen had expected someone older. Odd.

'I hear you see an audience with Lady Sireli?' she stated, making it clear it wasn't her. 'Who are you?'

Aspen explained again, and she let them enter the garden. She waved the guards aside when they followed. She stepped quickly into the shadow of a wide tree near the wall. Despite her age, she carried herself like a queen, and her face displayed a hard edge. Tanned skin, bleached blond hair, trinkets, and rich clothes gave away her noble blood as clear as day. She raised her pointy chin and looked them up and down. 'Well?'

'We have bad news, and we're worried about Lady Sireli,' Aspen began.

'You don't care about her, you don't know her,' she stated.

'Ah,' Aspen didn't know what to say and stuttered.

'What is the danger you talk about? Spit it out.'

'Malwi, a friend of the Lady and,' he lowered his voice, 'a member of a group I know the Lady also was a part of, died. Possibly murdered. We thought Lady Sireli might know something about what was going on. Please, may we speak with her?'

To Aspen's surprise, sudden tears sprang from the young woman's eyes. She wiped them off with a stiff gesture. 'So she's not the only one, then.' She stood stiff as a rod, her gaze lingering on the house.'

Aspen and Sekafi followed her gaze, only then seeing the sombre assembly of darkly dressed nobles around the corner of the mansion. They mingled as if waiting for something, mumbling in low voices. Some cried. Dread passed through Aaspaelwin like a cold wind despite the hot weather.

'My mother... Lady Lireli passed away this morning. You're too late,' the young woman managed. 'The Silent Voices have been dissolved, and many members are missing.'