Hope

Although it was certainly an opportunity, Irwyn would be careful. He was not so desperate for information as to risk his life. No, he would try to figure out what the group was doing, who they seemed to be working for and maybe see if he could follow them after they left if that seemed worthwhile. Frankly, he would have to play it by the ear and it might be a waste of time in the end.

If things went awry Irwyn had every intention of just escaping. Though he would much prefer to be stealthy; he did not want his first interaction with the local underworld to be hostile. That ran the risk of pre-emptively ruining his reputation before he got to know enough people to start developing his connections.

First, he did a simple pass by the three lookouts, using the still relatively busy streets. He glanced at them as subtly as he could when none of the three were looking directly at him. Behind them was a long and not particularly wide street with no direct illumination, though Irwyn could spot through the ambient light that it led to another dark alley directly in between buildings seemingly in the direction of his hotel.

He was also now close enough to identify the bird better: It was a greenback fowl with a needle-like beak as long as its body, a single musical note sewed in next to the head. Well, if Irwyn was to guess, that was probably a hummingbird. Desir had told him that there were 4 Old Fowls in the city that monopolised people into their factions, one of them was probably the Old Hummingbird then.

The location also gave Irwyn another idea. Instead of stopping, he averted his gaze towards the road before any of the three spotted him and headed straight to his hotel. If the alley lead in its direction, perhaps he would be able to sneak a glance from a window inside; considering Irwyn’s limited ability at stealth he would not be able to slip by them.

He entered the lobby and, although he looked rather disheveled considering all the scarless stab wounds peppering his clothes, the staff on the shift either recognised him or were not bothered by his frankly subpar appearance as he headed towards the lobby level bathroom. It was at that time that he felt more magic being cast, much subtler than the previous surge, however, distinctly very close. In fact, coming from the direction of the bathroom he was headed for.

Irwyn prepared for an ambush of some kind, but the magic was gone in a few moments and he proceeded, on alert and with his invisible barrier up. It was only when he opened the door that he realised that there was actually a person hiding on the other side, hidden in one of the most subtle stealth spells Irwyn had ever felt. Felt being the keyword as Irwyn had clearly encountered several that he could not, though, considering he was fairly sure that this spell was Light based he might be getting an advantage when it came to seeing through it. Irwyn also now wanted to know how to make himself invisible with Light, but that was a concern for later. The invisible man used the opportunity to slip right by Irwyn, who had to slightly retract his barrier to avoid a collision. Thankfully, that was a skill he had developed across the month of pretending to be a mundane traveler.

Inside the bathroom, there was an open window, probably how the mage got inside. On a second glance, Irwyn realised that its enchantments were disrupted. Not broken but inactive for a while. He would guess that they would snap back into position later with no one the wiser.

Irwyn considered what to do. It was no longer just about sniffing out some hints: Someone had literally snuck into the establishment he was staying at. He was not really sure what to do about it. Should he stop them? Leave them be? Considering Elizabeth he could probably get away even if things escalated, however, still same applied: He did not want his first contact with the guild to go so wrong. And he could be recognized afterwards.

Then Irwyn had an idea. He did, after all, have a mask. And he was nowadays a young Fowl, declared such by Old Crow and made as close to official as a criminal’s title could be by whatever strings needed to be pulled as far as he understood.

Perhaps Young Mockingbird might not need to be the same identity as Irwyn. There could be benefits to that if he could keep the ruse up. And even if he could not, it could soften any troubles that might arise if he played it right.

He needed to head upstairs for that though, since he kept the mask there. And the suit. It would be fitting for that persona yet it was simultaneously mundane looking enough that it would not be recognisable.

Irwyn looked at the open window again, a plan forming in his head. Then he left it open and left.

“Too loud, you moron,” Arthur flinched at the surge of mana. That was probably felt half a street over.

“It’s open, isn’t it?” the idiot pointed at the now wide-open window. It was insulting he had to work with this half-wit. Unfortunately, remotely disarming enchantments was not in his skill set. He was far better at slipping past them; unfortunately, getting through physically closed windows was beyond him.

“Give it a moment,” Arthur grunted. “If someone comes, we ditch.”

Usually, he would have already canceled the job after that fuckup, however, they might not have another opportunity. And the Singing Man really wanted to know what exactly was up with this place. He gave it a good half minute though. If there was any remotely competent mage close enough to notice, might as well give them the chance to reveal themselves. This noise was barely better than entering through the damn front door; people always had the best detections enchanted into the main entrance.

“Fine, I am going in. If anyone comes for you, just draw them away. I can find my own way out. Air step,” Arthur cast a spell to reach the actual window - it was relatively far above ground - and proceeded to silently manifest his signature invisibility veil, a Light based illusion he was very proud of. By the time he was through the window, he had completely disappeared from mundane and even magical sight. Few people outside the inner districts would be able to notice him even if they knew he was right next to them.

He found himself in the bathroom, just as they had planned. The annoying part was that now he would need to wait for someone to actually come in so he could slip out around them. Thankfully it did not take long for someone to do so. A rather haggard-looking lad entered the washroom and Arthur slipped out without him noticing and gave the boy no further thought.

In the lobby itself, his work was much simpler. He did not risk making the illusion over a whole door to enter - mostly because some mages were very good at noticing strange changes in mundane airflows - however, drawers were a different thing. With the best control he had, he slowly layered illusions to hide the sound and visual cues of his snooping, the auditory part being by far the harder one due to his lesser affinity.

He took what documents he could find and snapped pictures with his photographic tool, one prepared by himself that remembered the exact reflected state of natural light and allowed him to later re-create a high-quality image from that. It was not quite as convenient as the commercial models but it was several degrees more subtle, cheaper, and far less incriminating if he was caught with it. Few people in the Duchy of Black were good at working with Light after all.

He was done with that very quickly as he was not actually reading the documents. That was not his strength. There were people who would be able to figure out any discrepancies later, Arthur was a field agent. He looked around the lobby but spotted nothing else of particular interest for his mission. He would double-check on his way back, however, it was unlikely that what he was looking for left any blatant hints here. Considering the lack of increased security, the opposition was being subtle.

Next, he would need to have to inspect each floor. He left the lobby and approached the stairs, suppressing a sigh. There were a lot of stairs. And using the elevator by himself was not an option. Just because he had found no one watching so far did not mean there really was no one. Best to be careful. This neighborhood was considered neutral when it came to Guild business, however, that was in big part because the highly concentrated Hotel and Restaurant owners funded a communal security company which made the whole district not worth the meager profit due to the increased risks.

It was at that moment that the very same lad he had seen entering the washroom earlier left from the lobby and called the elevator. Arthur decided to take the opportunity to hitch a ride. Traveling with someone might allow him to avoid any proximity detection placed on the stairs themselves and it would make his life a lot easier if he could start near the top and then just go down.

He trod into the elevator together with the lad who, on second look, seemed in an almost sorry state. His shirt was damn near falling apart from many holes and he recognised the tired hunch in the posture as well as the absent stare. He looked a lot like an overworked warehouse hand, only allowed to leave their shift after dusk. Arthur wasn’t sure what they were doing at a hotel, though neither did he care about another mundane nobody. They arrived at the 13th floor and exited the elevator together, one of them still invisible. Arthur immediately headed up the stairs, deciding to first inspect the topmost floors and continue down from there. The lad’s room was apparently in the opposite direction than the stairs and that was the last thought Arthur gave the boy. Next, he was up and starting his search.

Arthur was not actually sure what exactly he would be looking for, though the Singing Man had briefed him in depth. The simple facts were that just the day prior one of the topmost Time/Space enchanters in the city had come here from the inner district incognito. Thankfully, the man was no expert at stealth and there happened to be a trace on him. On alert, the Singing man had a temporal wave-reader brought to the neighborhood and indeed, in the morning it caught the waves of two spatial teleportations.

The Enchanter, that smelled of the Ibis - only they had the connections to reliably hire from the actual upper-class mages - then followed by two teleports of who know what to here. Considering this area was technically bordering the territory of 3 Fowls including the Ibis himself, the Singing Man smelled that they might be trying to set up a secret safehouse. Considering the investment, possibly a high investment one. That possibility understandably put the Singing Man on edge: With the infamous brat returning under Ibis’ wings, it smelled like they might be setting up for steal turf. Arthur agreed that it was the most likely scenario with the available information, though it was up to him to try and figure out the actual truth.

For that he had brought a Time attuned mana detector. It was just a simple gem, much like the widespread regular version, however, because of its limited attunement it tended to be a lot more precise and sensitive; a perfect tool for figuring out where a teleportation had actually taken place, even if that was over half a day ago. He went down, slowly walking through the hallways.

Arthur finally got the first reaction when he reached the 12th floor. He almost wanted to swear, that was just one floor below where the elevator had brought him originally. Then he turned a corner from the stairs and stopped. Because there, leaning against the wall, stood a masked figure in a black suit. The artisan piece that hid his face had some black and shades of grey adorning it, seemingly made out of wood, though it did, to Arhur’s heart palpitation, look rather much like a bird, given the beak. And anyone from the Guild did not use those lightly.

He did not, however, recognise this one. Was there a new Fowl in the city? He felt not a trace of magic from the man beside the lightly enchanted suit itself. Or perhaps it was just a pretender, Fowls rarely stayed quiet for long. Part of him hoped that it was a coincidence, though that was needlessly optimistic. There was also the issue with the gem: It was quite clearly showing him that the remnants of teleportation started not far after the man. With a slight gulp, Arthur steeled himself and decided to walk past the man.

High on his guard he trod forward, the bird-masked person did not so much as move. Arthur was not even sure they were breathing with how still they were. Each step he came closer there was no reaction, until exactly the moment his foot touched the ground in front of the figure.

Then Arthur was blasted with such an overwhelming, condensed wave of Light magic that he was physically pushed backwards despite it being his own most attuned element. His disguise was shredded into nothing before he could so much as attempt to keep it together before the spell. He stood there for a second startled at his exposure as he realised that there was not a trace of that flood of magic left in the air. The madman had actually re-absorbed all that. Devouring magic like that carried massive risks of a Vessel overflow or even Funnel implosion in anyone who did not know exactly what they were doing and was therefore considered a very dangerous trick; Arthur wouldn’t damn dare even attempt it.

At least the man was not subtle about where they stood in relative power.

“Good evening good sir,” Arthur decided to be polite. “I hope that I have caused no offense and any misunderstanding can be sorted out.”

“I was promised that this area was neutral,” the man’s voice sounded rather young, though no less harsh for the intent stare from behind that mask. Arthur realised that he could not tell what colour the man’s eyes were. “Is Old Hummingbird meaning to insult me so shortly after my arrival just last week?”

Arthur felt a bit of colour drain from his cheeks. Whoever the man was, there were good odds of a Fowl. And how did he know about the Singing Man? Arthur, as an infiltrator, obviously wore nothing that could possibly identify him. But the moron and his goons outside insisted on wearing those insignias on a stealth mission. Remote viewing was the most likely conclusion. Although it usually bled a lot of noticeable mana or left clear visual clues, the man before him seemed to have such exceptional control of magic he could have feasibly snuck it by Arthur even in his own favored element.

“As I said, this seemed to be a misunderstanding,” Arthur sweated. “My employer had reasonable suspicion this place was being prepared as a high-grade secret hideout by one of his rivals.”

“And here you are, sneaking around like an assassin near my residence.”

“I assure you that I am merely a spy, sir,” Arthur sweated further. “My goal has always been merely to investigate the work done.”

The man did not reply to that immediately. As if he was measuring Arthur, deciding whether to trust him.

“Very well,” the man eventually sighed, allowing Arthur to take a breath of relief. “I will admit, the favours I have exchanged since my arrival had clearly attracted unexpected attention,” he paused. “However, tell the Old Hummingbird that Young Mockingbird will certainly remember tonight. Be on your way.”

“Yes, sir Fowl,” Arthur bowed slightly before he turned to leave. There indeed was apparently a new Fowl in Abonisle and the Singing Man was not going to be happy about the dent in their relationship before even meeting.

“Oh, and one last thing,” the Mockingbird called from behind him, the voice fully serious again. “You should watch out considering how dangerously close you have skirted to breaching the Third tenet tonight. And I do not think I need to remind you...”

…Do not mess with house Blackburg, lest they knock down your door and leave no trace of yourself or anyone who ever so much as associated with you. Arthur nodded, paleness returning to him as he quickly fled the scene, only stopping halfway down the many, many stairs to reapply his stealth magic.

No, the Singing Man was not going to be happy at all.