[b]Silsila! Birsi![/b]

The city of Sjakal opens up before the two of you, spreading out like a brand on the world, all lit up by lanterns in the gathering dusk. The light makes it harder, down there, to see the stars spread out across heaven. Down there, it's a labyrinth, a city built above and below another city, an orderly city of wide streets and gardens devoured by the need for more housing, more warehouses, more markets, more wealth and more bodies, by bright canvas and wood, by the irrepressible spirit of the Faithful.

Turn to look southward, and you can see the most likely place for your investigations to begin tonight: the 78 Heavens, a neighborhood built entirely within the old Circus. Where once chariots raced and the crowd roared, now there is a city within the city, one that never sleeps, one where any traveler can buy a bed for the night, companionship for the night, spectacle for the night, and things which the Stewards very much frown upon being sold. It's a confounding maze of signage and noise inside, but there are very few ways in, and all of them controlled by Mother Bes and her family.

Silsila: the Fire Wheels view the 78 Heavens as being beneath them; they're in the lap of luxury, they're not going to go slumming it. Why go buy overpriced drinks to see a fight when they could watch you and Rosethal go at it? That's good, by the way. If the Fire Wheels let loose inside the 78 Heavens, well. It's very flammable, it's got few exits, and it's full of the dregs of Sjakal. People would get really hurt. Maybe that's one reason Hai Lin is sending you here; the reason she [i]gave[/i] you, on the other hand, is just that the House Guard must be proactive in defending the Sultan. (Funny, given that she's not been very proactive against possible threats inside the Adamant.)

Birsi: the 78 Heavens are a raucous den of iniquity. Or so you've heard, because you've never been. You keep your nose clean, don't you? You're above all that sort of thing; you thrive in the knowledge of a job well done, the simple pleasure of being praised. But here you are, red-headed and doing your best to scowl. Maybe even try spitting in the street, if your heart can take it. You're unveiled, given equal parts deference and glares by the people you pass, and walking into a dangerous assignment.

At least you have surprise on your side. Tell us about making your way through the lively streets, as people make way (or shout insults from the safety of an alleyway mouth), and how you plan to barge your way into the 78 Heavens like proper Fire Wheels.

[hr]

[b]Soot![/b]

"Hey, Soot~"

Bowlyn melts out of the shadows as you take a shortcut between Mercy and Largesse, accompanied by two of her Rats (as the gang calls themselves). There's a bounce to her step, all anticipation and nervous energy. "You sure you want to be out tonight?"

"It's going to be messy tonight," Tall Rat says, with naked glee. They're a gangly one, usually involved with climbing and clambering and shimmying out of windows. "[i]Sword[/i] work. Big work."

"A lapdog [i]and[/i] a kettle." A member of the House Guard? [i]And[/i] a Host? Giggly Rat (that's the best nickname you've got for her) seems pretty jazzed at the thought.

"You might want to go home and bolt the windows," Bowlyn says, and she does a pretty good job of hiding from the Rats that she's a little worried about you. "There's a difference between painting and... well, dealing with [i]this[/i]." But if you insist, she won't stop you. You've got her gift, after all. You've got style. And even if she loves your graffiti, and might indulge in it with you after the sword work (if she wins), well.

She might be in the market to commission art of a House Guard and a Host in a compromising position, if she wins. And as long as you've known her, Bowlyn has [i]always[/i] won.

[hr]

[b]"Iris!"[/b]

"Jasmine" comes up coughing and red-faced, but a sniffle or two and clinging to your sleeve and she's fine. What a brave girl, holding it all in until you helped her out. "I am [i]never[/i] complaining about what our maids do again," she swears. "Imagine having to... well!!" (She says it like she complains about them all the time. She doesn't. She'd probably lie to cover for them if Ruz found something to criticize about their work.) Then she giggles, and takes you by the hand, and pulls you along as she [i]runs[/i].

She nearly gets both of you run over by a cart pulling out of a narrow street.

But she barely notices, and she's giddy as she lets herself run in a way she hasn't been able to do ever since you met her, and likely before then. She's drinking in everything around her, but she's got an end point in mind: the top of a hill, topped by a statue to the legendary hero that built this place, on the other side of a bridge. By the time you reach the statue's base, both of you are hitting the wall pretty hard, though she's definitely more pampered than you. But that doesn't stop her from looking out over the southward swell of the city and putting her hands to her chest and making a sound like she's either about to start laughing or crying.

"It's [i]Sjakal[/i]," she says, and she's definitely losing the battle against crying. And, to be honest, can you blame her? This is the biggest city you've ever seen in your [i]life[/i]. It glows like a fire underneath the almost-black sky, and you can make out the bright colors of the streets (where they're not covered by gaudy banners or makeshift archways) and the stateliness of the city's many cypress trees pointing up at the sky. It's beautiful. It's dangerous. It's unexplored. It's brooding. Anything could be around the next corner. [i]Anything[/i] could be around the next corner.

Then she turns and throws her arms around you, and she's hugging you like she hugs one of her pillows. "Thank you thank you [i]thank you[/i]," she says, the words bursting out of her like water pouring through a broken dam. "Nahla, I-- Iris, I mean, we did it, we [i]did[/i] it!!"

You're going to be in trouble tonight. Whatever you do, whatever you say to her, she's going to end up in trouble somehow. But maybe it'll be worth it for how happy she is, right here and now?