Meryn flinched back when the man slapped her hand away, and just for a moment she was a child on the streets of Enn again, cowering away from another beating. 

But then her eyes narrowed and she was just pissed instead. She'd been trying to [i]help[/i] and this guy was shouting at her? Her frustration built when he demanded she speak and she reared her arm back to just chuck the damned rag at him, let him clean [i]himself[/i] up. 

But then a bolt shot through the air, embedding itself in the roof next to Meryn's hand. She jumped away from it, stunned. She looked up to see the man in an equal state of shock and –

The fairy was an unmoving thing on his leg. It'd been shot. 

Meryn hadn't even fully registered what was happening when the man surged forward, grabbing her and using his weight to press her into the roof. Apparently this was an attempt to… protect her? By laying flat out in the open??? Meryn struggled under him, trying to free herself. She finally managed to slip a hand loose and used it to wrench herself out from under him. Scrambling to grab Spook's mask she snatched it (and, as an afterthought, the crumpled up letter) up and dashed behind a chimney, still spouting black clouds of smoke. She grabbed the man's wrist as she passed him, trying to pull him with her and hoping he still had the fairy, until they were both out of sight, and hopefully out of range of the archer. 

Frantic confusion wrapped around her as she tried to figure out who was shooting at them and [i]why[/i] but the adrenalin pumping through her made it impossible to concentrate. In a flash of inspiration, Meryn dropped the letter in her bag and jammed the mask on her face. She was careful to stay below the wall as she looked in the general direction the bolt had come from, trying to find their assailant. 

[i]There[/i]. Through the wall she saw a far-away twist and turn of dreams, dark and dangerous. A tremor of fear reverberated through her body. Then there was a glowing warmth against her chest.

[i]North,[/i] came a whisper like a breeze through her mind. There was urgency to it, a pressure that demanded attention. [i]North.[/i] She didn't understand how or why, but she knew she needed to follow the instruction.

Meryn looked up, searching for the sun. It'd already begun to dip below the horizon, painting the sky a fiery crimson to her left, and stains of deep blue to her right. North was directly in front of her, then. But… she'd have to get out of the city first. Would they have to go all the way back towards the gate, where the mob had been? Her eyes found the man, her unlikely companion through all of this. Would he know any other exits? Would he be sober enough to remember them?

She looked back towards the chimney, seeing the attacker's dreams through it again. They had to go, to keep moving behind cover before they got skewered. The buildings of Cogswall, though rusted and grimy, were at least packed closely together with flat roofs. Hopefully the man would be able to jump over them, even with his shredded ankle. 

On the next roof over, in the direction of the clocktower, there was another structure to hide behind, some sort of bizarre… sculpture? Meryn had no idea. But it was tall, wide, and solid looking, meaning it was useful even if it [i]was[/i] ugly. Meryn tugged on the man's wrist to get his attention and pointed to it. She glanced through the chimney again and back at Ronken. Not letting go, she got ready to make a dash for the next roof.