[Ionia]

Be it known that when Trent draws a map, it should not be meant for use. A child could have done better, thought Nia as she held out the crudely depicted mess of Espurian streets. Looking over the top of the map, she looked past the merchant hauling his net of fish, the zanaryan haggling with a fruit vendor, and a rolling cart of crabs before she located a signpost. Seeing it, she frowned, for none of the street names were on the map! Her sidhe friend's street labels were clearly for his own deciphering only. Anyway, it was rather unbelievable for a street to be exactly S-shaped, as it had been drawn. Blinking incredulously at the paper, she figured that the only redeeming value of the map was that it showed her destination within a block (or two, or three) from The Great Library. A good start point. While Nia had little care for books—or even books as a form of art—she has been the library a few times within the century.

With renewed determination, Nia lifted the flap of her messenger bag to re-position its contents before jogging up the street. There wasn't much in the bag, and from the outside perspective the content took shape of a heavy box whose corners pushed at the fabric. The bag bounced against her left thigh as she walked, but she paid it no heed as she took her COM out of her pocket. Though pre-occupied, she kept moving as she read her housemate's text: “Hugo says take your time. But where are you? Are you using my map?”

With a snort, her reply amounted to this: Your map is crap. Ugh, the rhyme had been purely unintentional.

[Maaike]

Maaike was in town with Graeme, shopping. The once broken man wasn't quite as broken any more, his clothes better-fitting. He was smiling.

“It's nice to have you home. You've been away so much lately, Greenview was getting a little lonely.” He clutched a piece of paper with a list scribbled across it, torn from the estate's accounting ledger.

“Mhm.” Maaike stretched, one hand gripping the other over her head, as if thinking about all her travelling had brought back all the exhaustion and muscle fatigue. “Sammy's growing so fast.” She didn't say as much, but she more and more regretted sending him away. The reasons for it were still there, and still legitimate; she just wished, sometimes, that it was safer to keep him with her. “And that Guard I told you about in Alexandria? He's had more for me to do lately.”

Their shopping list took them past the library. Maaike had only learned to read because Ashton insisted that his wife be "civilised" (something she had delighted over, originally) so she couldn't help but sneer at the place now. Graeme noticed and patted her shoulder gently, almost unconsciously putting himself between her and the building as if afraid she'd either lose her mind and start vandalising the place, or that the building would suddenly rear up and attack them.

Patting his hand in return, Maaike smiled. “I'm okay. Thanks.” It was almost true. “It's just the litt--”

“Maaike?”

Eyes narrowing, Maaike stopped and turned to watch a Skotados on the other side of the street. “She looks familiar...” She couldn't place the woman, but she was sure she'd marked her face for something. A wanted poster? An encounter while hunting? Xanth forbid she'd ever seen Sammy...

[Ionia]

Right about the time when Nia ran past the library, a flash of something red caught her eye. Turning away from the giant landmark, Nia stepped around a faster-paced pedestrian to pause beside the booth of a glassblower. She had an errand to run, but it was hardly urgent enough to prevent her from taking a few detours.

Dangling upon a slanted wood display case was a bottle no larger than two of her fingers, tied to the case by twine. She'd been looking for a set of bottles to distinguish her poisons from Trent's normal supply, and the extra red tint would do the job. “How much is this?” she showed the square-shaped bottle to the shopkeeper, who had seemed more interested in scrolling through a COM. But upon realizing the higher probability of making business, the shopkeeper set aside the device. Eight xanthos per bottle--ninety-six since Nia wanted a dozen. And perhaps the kind lady would be interested a set of round blue bottles, which are seven xanthos each?

As the shopowner wrapped the bottles with old rags and packed them into a box with care, Nia glanced toward the streets again to determine her next path. At that time, she noticed a red-haired woman looking in her direction. As their gazes met, Nia's eyes narrowed slightly from instinctive suspicion. Whatever the woman was looking at, she seemed intent about it. Turning her back in dismissal of the stranger's attention, Nia counted her coins and placed them onto the cloth-covered display table. As she replaced the wooden box in her bag with the clinking box of bottles, she made one more request of the shopkeeper: “Do you know where Shevrock Alley intersects Shoreside Avenue?”

[Maaike]

Graeme grumbled, good-naturedly. “I've lost your attention completely, haven't I?” Maaike didn't even hear him, their shopping trip forgotten as her survival/protection instincts kicked in and she slowly cut the distance between herself and the Anyeli. It was too far to really see her at first, but Maaike was sure she'd seen that woman before.

Forcing herself to quit with the obvious staring, Maaike tugged down the brim of her hat and made out like she was more intent on the street stalls than than the Anyeli. She turned to Graeme, intending to hook her arm through his so they'd seem less conspicuous, but he'd stayed behind on the other side of the street, discussing something with a street vendor.

“Damn.” Before she could get close enough to study the woman for real, the Anyeli had set off, forcing Maaike to follow her for real, looking around for the best route up to the roof where she could tail the Skotadi with less chance of being spotted. “This is probably a waste of time,” she told herself, but that didn't stop her from following.

[Ionia]

With the box of bottles now safely in her pack, Ionia followed the glassblower's instructions and turned into a smaller alley that linked to a larger street. As she turned the corner out of the alleyway, she thought she'd heard the movement of roof tiles. However, when she swiveled to face the skies, there was nothing to be seen. Huffing suspiciously, Nia sought to mix herself into the crowds before she found Shevrock Alley. Between Trent's history and her own job as a hunter, Nia had made enough enemies to be wary.

After a little more walking and a lot less window-shopping, Nia broke out of the crowd to continue down Shevrock and turn at Shoreside. Here, the neighborhood seemed quite decorated yet humble at the same time. Locating a creamy-looking house lined with green fencing, Nia strolled up the walkway and knocked on the blue door. The man who answered it was well past his prime, his hand firmly gripping a mahogany cane. “Good afternoon. Mr. Lavrent? Trent sent me with your blue willow tea...” Upon confirmation, Nia offered the wooden box to the customer. Inside was a short wooden container with tea leaves accompanied by a jar of Calcia's finest honey.

After the brief exchange, Nia hurried down the steps to retrace her way to the portal. However, something nagged at her mind. As she turned the corner and into the alleyway, Nia strolled under an overhang and blended into its shadows with the aid of her Cloak. If anybody showed up, he or she had better have answers.

[Maaike]

Maaike had been on the verge of deciding this was boring and a complete waste of her time when the Skotadi left the market stalls to head down to Shoreside. Forced down from the rooftops by the wider gaps between the streets, she was just in time to see the Anyelos hand over a box, but not nearly close enough to hear what was in it.

Ever more suspicious, Maaike followed on light feet. She hesitated when the black-winged woman disappeared down an alley, scanning the street for a way back up to the rooftops. Since that alley connected two fairly busy streets, it stood to reason the woman was taking a short-cut rather than meeting someone nefarious. That and the fact that getting roof-side would make her far more conspicuous than she liked to be sent her into the alley, at ground level, with much less caution than she should have been carrying.

Most of the light was blocked by the buildings, so Maaike was slow to realise that she couldn't actually see the Skotadi. Her first instinct was to dash the length of the alley and race out onto the next street, thinking she'd been outpaced. She was halfway down the narrow non-street when her instincts warned her to turn around.

[Ionia]

It's not paranoia when the person you think is following you, actually shows up. As a plus, the suspect didn't look like any of Faolan's moron, which was a welcome surprise to Nia. The stupid therian and his crew had been causing trouble for Nia since she'd met them and thrown a bump into their thieving ring. Didn't help that she'd stolen Trent from them, either. But even though the person wasn't Faolan's, she definitely seemed familiar. The woman's hairtips were red, just like the color Nia kept glimpsing peripherally. That type of hairstyle was rare in Elysia, and Nia knows she's seen it (and this no-named-person) before. Immediately, Nia's eyes turned steely, and the shadows rustle out of her wings. Wherever they had met, Nia had not received a good impression.

Trent might have suggested to wait and see what the woman was up to, but Trent wasn't here and Nia had never been the type to wait things out. As the woman ran past Nia and turned in confusion, like a tracker who'd lost the trail, the expression was all the evidence Nia needed. The shadows of the overhang pooled unnaturally below the anyeli, at the ready. As Nia stepped forward, the tone of challenge colored her voice. “Explain. Who sent you to follow me?” If the tracker tried to run, Nia's shadows would materialize and block the path.

[Maaike]

Maaike probably should have been more cautious given that Anyeli had inherent advantages over Therians, not least the ability to fly, but one look at that face brought the words to her lips unbidden: “It's you!” Now she could get a good look, she recognised the Skotadi. They'd met on a mountainside, Maaike's defences hindered by her son and the Anyelos' by her injuries. Like all good soldiers, the woman had refused help, and they'd passed with scant interaction like two strangers in the night.

Well, they were two strangers on a mountainside, at least. No wonder her brain had buzzed with insistent familiarity without actually connceting the dots. It was hard to recognise someone she'd met for all of ten seconds.

But then "the shadow lady"'s words sunk in and Maaike gawped clumsily. “Bit arrogant, aren't you? Who said I was following you?” It was probably a bit far-fetched trying to cover up her motives, and her suspicious nature was all the more convinced now that the woman was up to something. Her injuries back then hadn't really impacted Maaike's thoughts because the mountains were always dangerous, but when coupled with today's activities they seemed much more interesting. “You a courier?” She almost hoped the woman said yes so she could get back to Graeme with a clear conscience. He'd only tell her she'd been paranoid, anyway, tracking a complete stranger through the city — especially when it had turned out that her motivation for doing so was as innocent as a single meeting on a mountain track.

But the very fact that the Skotadi had reacted so violently, even to the point of drawing out her shadows to look menacing (which, even Maaike had to confess, was working), suggested that the woman had something to hide.

[Ionia]

Of course it was Nia, and the woman had no reason to be surprised about it, since she'd tailed Nia for quite a while—or so Nia thought. Nia was not amused, and her shadows flared as she scowled. “Your face says so, so don't give me that bull.” Facial recognition was all Nia could get. She still couldn't recall where she'd seen this woman before, but she remembered the feeling of being very, very wary. Fists clenching, Nia slowly rolled her right wrist to loosen it up. The woman had to be nymph or therian—she was definitely not 'vari, and was too confident to be human. Nymphs and therians fit the bill as one of Faolan's, and if so, this meeting would surely end as a fight.

“Who said I was following you? You a courier?”

See—a normal person would have stopped at the first question. Instead, the woman's answers seemed evasive, which mean that she was stalling for time. And for who? Nia half expected another familiar face to pop up at any minute. However, a quick check of the peripheries revealed no one, so her moving shadows coiled languidly toward the ground to rejoin Nia's real one. Most people other than skotadi would think that the shadows had disappeared back into the ground. In truth, they were still in Nia's control, like a trap.

“Pfft. Are you?” she responded with a tilt of her chin. It wasn't a direct answer, but Nia's tone and contemptuous expression showed her clear disinterest in the profession. It wasn't really a question either, because even though the stranger seemed to be built for speed, her stance was too battle-ready to be a normal runner's. “Here to relay a message for your boss? I'll send one right back.” Nia's face took on an almost taunting expression as she took a step forward. “So spit it out. What are you here for?”

[Maaike]

Well done, Maaike. This could be a bit of a pickle. Though confident in her ability as a hunter, that skill was mostly reliant on the element of surprise. Facing off directly with a Skotadi who was clearly battle-ready probably wasn't the best idea she'd ever had.

Then again, it wasn't like she'd deliberately sought a confrontation, which only made things worse. She thought she was done with stumbling around like an idiot.

Being called a liar put her back up, but Maaike couldn't very well deny it, so she raised her chin in defiance instead and said nothing. The woman's next words were enough to draw a very confused frown upon Maaike's face, though, and she stared at the woman as if seeing her for the very first time. “Are you all right in the head?” Again, really not the best thing to say in this situation, but a few things were occuring to her:

One, this woman had mistaken her for someone else. Two, that someone else was apparently an enemy, or somehow related to such an enemy. And three, Maaike's next words would be the difference between getting out of this situation alive — because she was under no illusion that she could defeat a woman stronger, faster and shadowier than herself, even if she could somehow find the time to morph into something tougher or flightier — or becoming just another corpse found in a dark alley.

Any denial she made was going to fall on deaf ears, she was sure. "I'm a bounty hunter", more often than not, brought out the big weapons rather than settling a situation. Question was, was this woman the type to gut the messenger, or send them back on their merry way with a message of her own?

“So long as I'm not the message, then.” Eyebrows arching, Maaike stared back at the woman, still defiant. Racking her brain for something innocuous, something that could mean anything according to the woman's previous experiences with whoever she thought was sending her a message in the first place, Maaike landed on, “We're watching you.” Because better to lump herself in with them than pick a gender that had a 50-50 shot of being wrong, or saying "they're" if there was just the one to worry over.

[Ionia]

“Tch.” Nia immediately scoffed at the messenger's warning. So they were watching her—was that supposed to scare her? Make her paranoid? Derail her? If this was all that Faolan wanted to say to her, then he was wasting both of their times. Nia had been on the alert for Faolan and his damned lackeys since their first encounter, but she'd barely lost sleep over it (even after they'd tried to ambush her during a visit to Danurai). However, she'd become more careful about watching her back in crowded cities, which was how she'd earned this fortuitous confrontation.

With hooded eyes, the anyeli responded with a sardonic tone, “Think that'll scare me? Spare yourselves the trouble.” Last she'd checked, Trent had sold everything that he'd accumulated during his time with Faolan's group, and the morons were not getting a cent of it. At that thought, she tilted her head to reveal a smug grin. “And unlike you, I've got nothing to hide.” That was a lie, but Nia wasn't going to show any weakness to the lackey. As she spoke, Nia's attention drifted quickly from the end of the alley, up toward the roofs, back to the brunette, behind toward Shoreside, and back to the stalker. Once satisfied that nobody was trying to ambush her, she gazed directly at the messenger's face. “If that's all, then I've got a message to share as well. If your crew ever comes near my town...” The corners of her lips curl slowly as she smiles, but the glint in her eyes are not from humor.

This is when the snake strikes. A thick dark shape split from the ground in a motion to pull Maaike off her feet.

[Maaike]

OOC// Che, I had this written out yesterday but then I lost it.

Oh, shi— was as far as Maaike got before the smirk in the Skotadi's eyes turned into an attack. Her feet were yanked out from under her and her arms flung up into the air as she face-planted, her hands stinging as they impacted the ground a second before her nose could smash into her brain. The pain jarred up through her shoulders and into her neck, stunning her briefly, and she groaned as she rolled over, both feet kicking out in a bid for freedom.

She really shouldn't have taunted the woman. "Maybe it's not supposed to scare you," wasn't the best comeback, anyway. She was in way over her head.

“Guh.” She was alone, so she couldn't call Madga or Cailean for help, and Graeme would just assume she wasn't coming back. “If you kill me...” Nothing would happen. The only people who cared about her weren't capable of tracking down her murderer, and she was pretty confident the Espurian Guard would be glad to have a bit of slack with her gone. Aiden might miss her, but only because he'd have to figure things out for himself; she was pretty sure he'd be glad to be rid of her, too.

Sammy... Thank Xanth he was safe in the Territories with her family — just in case. But Maaike wasn't lying down just yet: With a heave, she flipped back to her feet and swept a leg out in a roundhouse kick. She wasn't banking on doing any damage, but if she could distract the woman long enough to allow her to morph, she could duck out of here in her archon form, small enough to lose herself in some nook or cranny if the winged woman tried to give chase.

[Ionia]

Too easy. As her stalker was yanked flat to the ground, Nia tilted her head with a snicker and sneer. “Kill you? Not worth it...or do you have a bounty on your head?” She didn't expect an honest answer, but she wouldn't be surprised if it were true, given the shady sorts of people that Faolan kept. But bounty or no bounty, the woman was in over her head—there was a reason that Faolan's people worked in groups—they couldn't bully unless they ganged up on somebody. For an instant, Nia looked with suspicion toward the rooftops and down the alley for a person, or an animal that didn't belong.

Or stalker-girl could be a nymph playing weak. Just in case, her shadows dissipated away from the woman to reform around Nia. In an explosion of movement, the brunette leapt up with a kick that Nia could only half dodge. As she side-stepped, the kick caught Nia's left wing and sent her against the wall. Elbows scraping against bricks, Nia scoffed and lashed out with two whips of shadows, fully intent on catching and throwing her opponent against the wall too (it's only fair), and then down the alley behind her like a ragdoll.

((Question is, will there still be a humanoid for her to catch? ;P))

[Maaike]

Maaike did have a bounty on her head, thanks to Thanatos, but she wasn't going to 'fess up to this hydra's head. She was already morphing anyway, and the tiny archon barely avoid the lash of those shadow whips as it fluttered up and into the air.

She couldn't take a straight path out of here, though. There was every chance the Skotadi would fly after her, possibly expecting her to lead the way to whatever gang Ionia thought she was mixed up with. Or she could send those shadow whips after her, or bludgeon her to death in one blow. Better to duck and weave through the obstacle course of an alley until she could dart through an open window or — no, that would be worse, trapping her inside!

The archon's long tail blazed behind it as it fluttered to the left and then doubled back, always on the up. Maaike glanced back at the Skotadi to see if the woman was giving chase, then darted off down a cross section.

She wasn't giving up, though. The Skotadi was clearly involved in something dodgy, so as soon as she was clear, she was headed right back to the roof in her human form to see if she could track down the woman and find out what she was up to once and for all.

OOC// Despite Maaike's determination, we can end it with this if you want and just say Maaike couldn't track her down after escaping?