[centre]Chapter 1: The Key[/centre]
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"People in masks?"

"[i]No[/i], no mask. A missing eye. Have you seen someone missing an eye?"

"I don't really remember."

"Of course. A man with one eye; you see people like that everyday. Nothing memorable." Leffi rubbed at her temple, holding back her increasing frustration. No one on this Sphere seemed to know [i]anything[/i]. Whether the house across the street existed would be a complete mystery to them. She wanted nothing more than to start forcing answers out of people, but the Bulwark Empire wasn't the best place to cause an unnecessary ruckus.

"People see all sorts of things, talk about even more. Can't believe any of it, really." The man she was talking to was slight, constantly looking around. Reminded Leffi of a twig in a breeze. "Mostly stories-"

Leffi held up a hand. "No, stop," she said, finally done. "Go home. Go drown in a lake. This little talk is over." With a thinly veiled sigh of relief, the man scampered off into the fog. As he disappeared, Leffi started to walk towards the airfield. She wasn't going to get any useful information anywhere on Garude, and had few options beyond continuing to Bulwark proper.

Pulling a flask from her belt, Leffi took a deep swig. She had become accustomed to the acidic bitterness of the liquid mana, and now simply grimaced instead of coughed as it went down. Within a few seconds, she could feel the usual warmness spread outwards from her core. "To the good Doctor," she said, putting the flask back where it came from.

Drawing up the airfield, Leffi waved her ticket at a dockhand and had him show her which boat would lead her to her airship. It was time to leave this useless Sphere. A segmented metal ladder was hoisted down as she drew up the airship, on which she quickly ascended aboard.

The interior was spacious, lined with a wealth of seating along its sides. Already a number of people had boarded before Leffi, either occupying the edges with a variety of luggage or standing about the middle. The airship had yet to lift off, and so the worry of falling to one side of the ship wasn't an issue at the time. Nevertheless, it appeared a few of them were anticipating it and sat patiently with their seats buckled.

Angled windows peered outside into the sluggish waters and grey clouds, situated just above the seating along the walls. Two supporting beams stood in the center of the room, and to either end a pair of separated doors led off into the rest of the ship.

With time, an attendant entered the passengers cabin and announced over the hushes that the ship was about to take off, and that everyone was required to take their seats and secure themselves. A gentle hum emanated from underneath the metal flooring, indicating the ship had begun to power up for the journey.

Those standing about sat themselves down, leaving quite a number of options for Leffi; it appeared few people journeyed to Bulwark from Garude at this time of day, or even the season.

After brief consideration, she chose to sit in a corner seat next to someone heavily involved in reading their book. She'd have preferred sitting on her own, but empty seats attract unwanted neighbours. Best to choose her poison, instead of drinking the unknown, after all.

With a brief but sudden jolt, the ship broke into motion, lifting with an increasingly louder hum escaping the engine perched below their deck. Sights of water beyond the windows turned into scenes of mountains and clouds, and finally even they were replaced with something entirely different.

The room was filled with a short and loud buzzing noise, signalling that the vehicle was approaching the boundary between the shpere's gravity and that of the Infinite Ocean. As it passed the invisible threshold, Leffi found her body drawn forward, now suddenly looking [i]down[/i] instead of straight ahead. Through the windows on the other side of the ship, she looked down into the turbulent waves of the ocean many, many miles below.

As the airship brought itself to bear, however, the scenery once more changed to that of an broad sky filled with clouds and the tiny but distinguishable appearance of another sphere in the distance. From then on, the true voyage would begin, and she'd find herself aboard the airship for three hours at the least.

The cabin remained relatively quiet throughout the voyage, and though she sat beside an individual, Leffi found that the engrossed book-reader would take no notice of her in the end, far more interested in reading than herself.

It was only until the airship had apparently stepped into Bulwark's influential zone that things had begun to pick up, unfortunately for Leffi. With the times, it wasn't uncommon for rather strange individuals to seek out answers across the entirety of Aurora, and the Empire took notice of the issues they had caused in their experiments and attempts. No airships passed their defense perimeter without being checked on.

And so the airship had stopped on its way to descending upon Bulwark, situated a few kilometers away from a sky fortress hovering beyond. Two smaller ships carrying four troops approached the ship from the side, hailing it to open up and let them in. Before they even entered, a few of the cabin's occupants visibly tensed, either afraid, nervous, or having something to hide.

The airship's side doors unlocked, and the Bulwark troops stepped in, hands trained upon their sheathed weapons. They looked about cautiously, scanning over the room first before directly gazing into the faces of everyone present. Their purposeful and calm movements indicated they had little worry of what they had seen thus far, but they walked through nevertheless, gaining a closer look at the passengers.

As the soldiers entered the airship, a content smile settled on Leffi's face. Their boarding meant they had finally arrived at their destination. She was drawing close to her favourite part of her job. The smile faded, however, as she noticed her hands were shaking ever so slightly. Her flask was pulled out, and another long swig went down her throat. The seat beneath her crackled as she leaned back into the old leather, closing her eyes and waiting for the soldier's inspection to be finished.

The procuring of her strange drink had caught the attention of one of the passing guards, though given its opaqueness, little could be said about its contents. They merely passed it off as a country bumpkin sipping their hard drink. They made a single pass across the room before turning, and with greater haste, returned to their hovering ships just outside. After a few minutes of waiting, the ship moved along once again.

The familiar alarm signalled that gravity was to shift, and the cabin braced for the strange feeling that accompanied it. Descending upon Bulwark proper, the airship's windows allowed a gaze into the vast ecumenopolis below. Not a single inch of the terrain was without urban development. A giant, grey, spire-filled expanse.

Leffi was let off the ship and found herself atop a massive platform that carried two airships of similar size as her own. A marked path directed her towards a set of stairs leading down into the city's airship station. All throughout, a host of formidable guards stressed that her [i]mission[/i] was to be kept as inconspicuous as possible. Few areas offered refuge from their gaze.

At the bottom of the stairs, Leffi turned north and began heading down a midsized street. The warped visage of one of Bulwark's legendary soaring platforms scattered as Leffi stepped through a puddle. Eyes looked side to side, keeping her eye out for a particular pub. Heron's Shield, above which lived a contact of hers. She hadn't tried to get into contact with him for a few years, her work rarely taking her to the sickingly idyllic core of the Bulwark Empire.

Still confident of her memory, Leffi found her way to said establishment, easily detecting the unique crest of a large white bird upon a metallic backdrop hanging from the side of a building. Given its proximity to one of the major airfields, the pub was strangely busy for a place harboring someone like Leffi's information broker. Bodies squeezed amidst one another as they moved about the streets, struggling to make it from one side to another. They were surrendered to the flowing status quo, swimming in the river of faces, mustering strength to reach their destination. Keeping far to the side, however, Leffi managed to proceed relatively swiftly, practically scraping alogn the walls of buildings lining the way.

Eventually she made it to the Heron's Shield, and once inside, was spared from further jostling. It would do her well to check her pockets and ensure nothing was stolen without notice.

The interior of the pub was well-kept, brightly lit, and full of rather high-ended individuals. It seemed almost more of a gentleman's club than a place for gruff men to drown in alcohol. Nevertheless, mugs and simple meals were what dominated the tables, as opposed to wines, cigars, and prinny conversation. The bartender looked up to meet Leffi's gaze, and finding nothing of interest, resumed his work.

The stairwell leading to the upper floors of the building were preceded by a wide-open door, welcoming but dark.

The barkeeper's attention was soon regained by a knocking on the hard wood of the bar. His eyes raised to meet Leffi's once more. She pulled out a couple of copper coins and placed them in front of the barkeeper. "One of whatever that will get me," she asked with a casual smile.

A mug was quickly filled and passed to her, which she scooped out and took a long swig from. "Mind if I take this upstairs?" Leffi asked, gesturing. The barkeeper gave a 'go ahead' nod and starting talking to another customer.

Swerving around various tables, Leffi made her way to and up the stairs. The darker light made her make most of the way by touch rather than sight, as she waited for her eyes to adjust.

At the top, rows of doors lined the hallway. Each was wooden, sturdy, and nigh indentical. But memory served well, and Leffi made her way to the door that should lead to her contact's home. Raising her hand, she knocked twice upon the door. A brief and sudden noise of clacking shoes beyond the door, and it was opened. Below Leffi's gaze, a small, dirtied boy stood with a sullen look on his face. He sniffed once and greeted her rather grimly.

"What you need?" He wasn't a face Leffi had remembered, but the room behind him wasn't different; she was still certainly at the right place. Her contact hadn't moved. Piles upon piles of papers and miscelleanous objects sat atop desks, chairs, and tables. Practically none of the floor was maneuverable. The boy made no motion of inclination to let her inside, standing taut in her way, expecting an answer as if he were the one in charge.

Leffi leaned against the doorway, "Need the man of the household, young pup." A brief second of silence seemed to indicate he wasn't satisfied with the answer, but it was probably the sudden recollection that this woman was clearly much stronger than he was that made him move aside. Holding the door open, he allowed Leffi to pass, scraping some stacks of papers aside as he did so. Free to proceed, Leffi made her way through haphazardly. In the back, her target sat hunched over a somewhat cleaner desk space. A lamp illuminated the back of his head, frazzled and dirty.

Noticing, the boy walked ahead of Leffi and abruptly slammed his hand on the desk, just beside the sleeping man's head. A single strike was enough, and the boy knew it. Rising with a deep inhale, he turned first to the boy, then to Leffi, drowsiness clear in his eyes... until he realized who was present. Quickly rubbing the sand away, he greeted her.

"Ah, Leffi. On... absolutely no notice at all. Whatcha need?"

"You know," she said, passing her still mostly full mug off to the boy, "the usual kind of thing. Looking for find someone for my boss and give them a nice talking to."

"Mm, right," he passively responded. The man scratched his head instinctively, as if readying for whatever was coming. Leffi had never truly troubled him, but the work she did was always of the sort that drew in trouble incarnate. He was lucky such hadn't been the case just yet.

Varce, as he was called, was your common information broker. He dealt out what other people needed to know, for a price. Where normally most in his business would call him mediocre, having such a low interest to his work and methods. What they lacked was subtlety and quietness. Varce dealt with things in as an inconspicuous manner, it seemed, never once attracting the attention or ire of the ones who opposed his work; namely the Bulwark Guard and the people who lost something thanks to his dealings.

No doubt the kid that stood in the room was a part of his methods. The shadiness in his eyes reflected that of a boy who knew the streets well, and how to get in on things he wasn't meant to learn about.

"Who is it this time?" he threw a glance to the boy, who promptly pulled out a notebook and pencil. 

"Hate to disappoint, but I don't got a name. What I do have is that he's missing his left eye, that he arrived no more than several days ago, and I think he came here from Garude." Leffi cleared some papers away from a chest so she could sit down. "Oh, and he stole something from Fermham. Seeing as I've been sent after it, it's probably something worth pawning off."

Varce scratched his chin and made a noise of contemplation, looking briefly down at his tiny compatriot. He had written a few snippets from Leffi's account, and awaited further descriptors. An eyepatch or scar would be easy to distinguish, but there needed to be more.

"Nothing else huh?" He gave a gesture with his head to the boy, who hurried off out the room in a flash. "I'll see what I can pull up. Until then I can only say you'd be wise to look in on it yourself, or just rest."

Leffi glanced outside at the darkening sky. "I'll start looking tomorrow," she said. A chair was cleared of papers, and a cushion rescued from even more. Combining the two, Leffi leaned back and closed her eyes, the faint rustling of papers and pens lulling her to sleep.