A week passed in oppressive calm. Sekafi and Aaspaelwin told Gaen of his wife's dead friend, but couldn't do much more, having no real leads. Aaspaelwin went to the guild and asked them for work, but they had nothing for him and told him to wait. Sekafi took some small-time jobs as a hired sword to keep them from running out of money, but the lack of work ate away their meagre savings faster than they liked. They also heard about more victims of the strange plague from time to time.

The citizens' unease grew with each passing day, and by the end of the week, Master Owadro made an appearance in the city square. Flanked by guards, he walked through the assembled people and stepped up onto a wooden platform with a podium for speaking. He gazed out over the crowd in silence. Sekafi watched him closely, trying to figure out what this was about. Aaspaelwin stretched and stood on his toes beside her. If not for the raised dais, he wouldn't have been able to see the Council Mage at all in the press of people, most of whom were taller than him. She suppressed a smile.

Dressed in rich, finely decorated blue robes, Master Owadro stood out from the commoners like a king. A large golden pendant hung on his chest, adorned with a green gem glinting in the sunlight, and rings sparkled on his fingers. His narrow face held a dark, serious expression. His sharp brown eyes swept the assembly, seemingly noting everything.

'Greetings, dear people of Toin Caas,' he called out, raising a hand for silence. 'I have important information for you all, so I beg of you to listen carefully.'

The murmur of the people settled after a few moments. Sekafi wondered if the mage would tell them about the state of the High Council, or just talk about the fears of the plague. Normally, Lady Hennaja would have handled public relations, not the mage. What had happened to her? Was she sick after all?

'First off, I need to address the tragedy that's befallen our beloved city and the High Council. You may have seen or heard that people have died from a mysterious plague.' He waited for the assembled people to quiet down again. 'It's a true tragedy, and one that we wish to mitigate. To help the people in this time of stress, the Council has decided to aid the Temple of Heldest with any necessities they need to be able to accommodate the growing number of sick and heal them.'

The crowd cheered, but many shouted questions. Where did this come from? Why did the gods punish them? What should they do? Aspen got shoved in all directions from the press of people and struggled to stay on his feet, but Sekafi kept him upright. He stuck close to her side.

'The High Council is currently closed, and any who need to contact us will have to do so by letter. This is to make sure that the Council will keep functioning. If too many of us fall ill, we fear that chaos will overrun us. But do not despair about the current state of the Council, we have things under control. But you, the people, need to keep safe. After all, we are nothing without the people.' He stroked his beard, looking pleased with himself, and waited again for the commotion to die down. 'In order to suppress this sickness, please stay away from anyone appearing sick, but also from strangers. Keep extra distance from visitors from other cities. From what we know, the disease came into the city with a mixed group of non-humans. So we advise you to steer clear of any outsiders.'

The people closest around Sekafi and Aspen glanced at them. Some scuffled further away and someone grumbled behind them about stinky two-legged animals ruining good things for decent people. A growl rose from her stomach, but she managed to hold it back. It wouldn't help them to start a fight. But the comment touched on a sore subject. She gripped her golok and glanced around, then found Aspen’s pale face beside her. The little fart wouldn't make it if it came to blows in a crowd like this. She swallowed her anger and focused on the mage again. He spoke for quite some time, moving on to other things, like changed rules at the market and increased tolls for entry to the city. She lost interest and kept her eyes on the people around them instead. Several glowered at them but kept their distance as much as they could. Her size was a definite advantage, she thought.

As Master Owadro left and the crowds dispersed, Sekafi and Aspen wandered towards the shrine. Neither prayed and offered to the gods on a regular basis, but their unease weighed heavily upon them and they agreed to go. Passing the market on their way, they stopped to purchase some incense and grain. The first salesman denied them to Sekafi's aggravation, but the next one didn't appear to have any issues with them. Still, it left a sour taste in her mouth, and she wondered if the mage's speech would cause them more problems as time passed. The city had never been overly friendly towards other species, but it had changed much in the last decade. Seeing how just a few words could turn people around rattled her though. But maybe she was just overreacting?

'Many people here today,' Aspen mumbled as they approached the large shrine. A raised, round stone platform surrounded by pillars. The pillars supported a partial roof, leaving the centre of the shrine open, but protecting the many statuettes of the deities and their individual altars. In the centre rested a larger altar for joint worship of all the gods during festivals or holy days. On those days the open roof could be covered by colourful cloths, and the pillars decorated with banners, flowers and paint. The people of Han Baerin held no deity above the others, and Toin Caas were no different, but rather encouraged people to worship all of them depending on their current needs. As it was, most of the visitors to the shrine gathered around the Heldest statuette, Irin, the goddess of life, and Adéna, goddess of fertility. A small crowd had gathered around the statuette of Ailet as well, the goddess of natural order.

Sekafi headed towards Kinirin, the goddess of the hunt. An antlered woman with a large drawn bow. Aspen followed. Probably for the best, she thought. While he could pass for a petite human, most of the people here knew he was a half-elf, and right now she didn't think that was good.

They lit the incense and placed it in a holder by the statuette and burned half of the grain they'd brought on the small altar. Then they did the same thing by the Eldon altar, the Sungod and protector of the weak.

As they stood to leave, a familiar figure exited the shrine ahead of them. A large rotund man in a white robe with golden hems, his bald head shining in the bright sunlight. Aspen lengthened his steps and headed in his direction.

'That's Serigel,' Sekafi said.

'Yeah, I saw. Let's catch up with him.'

The healer's round face brightened as he spotted them. 'If it isn't my adventurous friends! I'm glad to see you both alive and well.' He folded his hands over his stomach, looking them over.

'Thank you,' Aspen said. 'We're glad to see you're well too.' He glanced at Sekafi before continuing. 'If you don't mind, can we ask you a few questions?'

Serigel nodded, his customary friendly smile gone, and combed his unkempt grey beard with his fingers. Bags hung under his eyes. Aspen hadn't seen it at first, but the man looked exhausted.

'Since you work at the Heldest temple, do you know anything about this new plague?'

'I'm afraid I don't know much. All I know is that there's a large increase in sick and dying, and...' He glanced about as if fearing being overheard. Leaning in closer, he whispered, 'I'm afraid we haven't been able to do much in ways of healing them. We can ease their pain, but there's something... not right about it.'

Sekafi didn't like it one bit. Hadn't Gaen's wife said a robed man threw something at her? 'Could it be some curse or hex?'

Serigel gave her a sharp look. 'Do you know something? Or why would you say that?'

She shrugged. 'Something I heard. I'm not sure.'

His gaze softened and he sighed. 'I don't know. It's possible, I suppose. It's very mysterious, doesn't behave like normal diseases.'

'How so?' Aspen asked.

'There are quite many afflicted in such a short time, but the ones fallen ill die very quickly. Too quickly.'

'What do you mean too quickly?' Sekafi asked. Wasn't that how it usually went when sicknesses spread like this?

Serigel thumbed his silver necklace, the unicorn head sparkling in the sunlight. Briefly, Sekafi wondered if unicorns were real. She'd never seen one. Serigel cleared his throat, drawing her eyes to his dark face. 'When I was a child, a plague ravaged my city. More than half of us died. We had no healers, but it was nothing like this one. It was slower. People who got sick lived for at least three or four days, which allowed them to infect more people. I lost my family to that plague and promised to never let anyone die in a plague ever again if I could help it. But with this, they die in less than a day. It shouldn't spread like this. It acts more like a poison.' Serigel pursed his lips and glanced back to the shrine. 'It's not natural.'

Sekafi met Aspen's look. That's what Gaen had said too. Not natural. But in that case, what was it? And who caused it. She had a suspicion but wanted to speak to Aspen alone about that. She was almost certain he'd agree.

'Have many... non-humans died?' Aspen asked.

Serigel raised his eyebrows and rubbed his bald head. 'Not that I have seen. Some. But mostly humans so far. You might be onto something there.'

Sometimes Sekafi admired Aspen's ability to pick up on things like that. It made sense. If non-humans had spread it to the city, they would have died too, right? Unless it was only dangerous to humans. Or mostly humans were targeted. 'The people who have died, where were they from? Were they poor or rich? Do you know?'

I'm sorry, I don't know. I don't handle everything at the temple, but I'll make sure to take more note of it.' He folded his hands in his wide sleeves again. 'I have to go. Stay safe, and avoid anyone looking ill.' He gave them a short blessing and left.

'What do we do now?' Sekafi asked.

Aspen frowned and pulled his hood further up to shade his pale face. 'I would like to go and see if Lady Hennaja is available.'

Sekafi snorted. 'You know they won't let us in to the Council anymore. Why bother?'

'I meant at her house. Not the Council. She probably isn't at the Council anymore. Not if the mage is doing everything.' He pointed down a street. 'She lives in a mansion not too far from here. It'll only take an hour or two to –'

'Aspen.'

'What?' He crossed his arms defensively.

She laughed. 'What makes you think they'd let us in?'

'She knows us. If she hears we're there, she'll let us in for sure. And if she's...'

Sekafi's smile faded. She nodded. 'Alright. We can try.'

As the sun sank, glowing goldenrod on the horizon, Aaspaelwin and Sekafi approached Lady Hennaja's mansion. Like all the rich people's abodes, a tall spiked fence surrounded the mansion and guards stood by the entrance. One guard stood much taller than the other and looked like a smaller version of Sekafi. A male ikelos. It didn't surprise Aspen that Lady Hennaja hired non-humans. She had long worked for the betterment of their status in the city after all, and he'd heard talk about letting them in on the council, which was unique. The other guard was a lean, grim-looking human. They straightened as they spotted the pair.

'State your names and business,' the human guard snapped as they stopped before the gate.

Aspen introduced them as usual and asked for Lady Hennaja, telling him they worked for her.

'No visitors are allowed, I'm afraid,' the guard answered.

'Could you tell her we're here? Maybe she'd like to know that –'

'No. I'm sorry, no visitors.'

Aspen sighed and pondered what to say when he noticed the ikelos guard stared at them, or rather, at Sekafi. She blinked, flicked an ear, and looked off towards the sunset. Aspen wasn't sure but he could have sworn she looked embarrassed. He spent so much time with her, and yet there were things he didn't know. Did she meet with other ikelos when she wasn't with him? Was she considered pretty by their standards? She was big and muscular, which was normal for ikelos women, but that was as far as his knowledge went. The human guard cleared his throat and Aspen returned his attention to him again.

'What are you waiting for?' he said in a bored tone.

'Can you at least tell me if she's all right?' Aspen said, getting straight to the point. 'We haven't seen or heard anything from her for over a week. And with the plague going around, we're worried about her. Please.'

The guard sighed.

'Listen, one of her close friends died the other day. It's important.'

The man frowned and glanced back at the mansion. 'Wait here.'

To Aspen's surprise, the guard sauntered off and disappeared through the doors to the house. The ikelos guard said something in Sekafi's language. She replied after what Aspen felt was a too-long pause. But what did he know? He smirked. Maybe something was going on. Or maybe he read things into it that weren't there. He looked for the guard as he listened with half an ear to their conversation. After a while the human guard returned, flanked by a dwarf woman in servants' clothing. A dark fine dress, covered by a pearly white apron and with a fine headdress in spotless white on top of her tightly bound hair. She stepped up to the gate and eyed them with sharp brown eyes. The guard took up position by the gate again, and the male ikelos quieted. A smug look sat on Sekafi's face.

'You are Aaspaelwin Selksem?' the dwarf asked, drawing his attention again.

'Yes.'

'Lady Hennaja has spoken about you.'

He hadn't expected her to say that. What had he expected? He wasn't sure.

'I believe I can trust you to keep things quiet. Can I?'

'Yes, of course. But what is this about? How is she? Is she coming back to the Council soon? I'm worried about the state of it. Things are... weird. People have been acting odd, and I –'

The dwarf stared at him, and he realized he'd started a rant. He snapped his mouth shut.

'Can I trust you won't speak about this to anyone? Can I trust her?' She nodded to Sekafi.

'Yes. You have my word. I'd never betray the Lady,' Aspen said earnestly.

'Then I'll tell you the truth. But you must keep it quiet. But she trusted you, and I'll do the same. Lady Hennaja passed away this morning. She was very ill for...'

The dwarf kept talking but Aspen didn't hear it. Lady Hennaja was dead. The Council stood without a leader. He stood without an employer. He'd liked her. What would happen now? Who'd take over? Was this why Lady Illaana had been so shaken a week ago? Had she known? Had the robed man Gaen's wife mentioned attacked Lady Hennaja too? So many questions. His head spun, his thoughts raced around, making no sense. This couldn't be a coincidence. As the shock settled, anger burned in its stead. He'd get to the bottom of this.