[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/992864037962526720/1000801172313092126/silas.png[/img][/center][colour=7B68EE][hr]
[b]Deserted II[/b][/colour]
[sub]Tethered Refuge - Stables
Seen & Mentioned: None[/sub]

Knowing the Refuge's lay-out and gift for easy conversation, Felix left with the strange woman to leave Silas alone with Ispiritu and the other horses from the arrival party.  He had little experience with animals, particularly ones so large, but they needed little care or attention:  Something that should have stood out to the young man, true sight or not, had he the experience to know how a long-ridden horse was meant to look.  As it was he was much more preoccupied with the possessions remaining in the saddlebags he'd so carefully removed from each horse. The tetherd boy's presence had stayed his sticky fingers throughout most of the morning's work, but alone with nothing else to do, Silas quickly fell into old habits. 


He knew immediately not to touch those belonging to Ispiritu's master, they were as carefully put together as the woman herself had been, and he doubted any tampering would go unnoticed. There were coins and the odd jewel to be pocketed from the items of the lower ranking officers, but eventually Silas couldn't stop himself from approaching to opulently embroidered and jewelled bags of the Duque's eldest.

Even without true sight, the contents were a marvel:  A sleek thin dagger reaching half his arm, with a hilt too intricate for him to sense in any way but touch. More money than he'd ever seen in a single Lapis-Lazuli coin, buried among the other wealth of jewels and coins. A long wand studded with so many riches as to make it almost unwieldy heavy. Much as his fingers itched and heart quickened, Silas resisted the urge to bundle the whole lot and make for it.  Firstly there was no where to go but the desert, and even if he survived that journey it would only lead him further into the Duque's lands, and even he wouldn't take losing such wealth lightly. Second, and perhaps more importantly, he had a responsibility.  It wasn't the same comradery as he'd found with the children in Mudville, but the fellow students at the academy were counting on him to at least not make things horribly worse in their already dire circumstances.  With a sigh, Silas pushed the most precious items aside, palming only a handful of lesser-value Neskals before his hand brushed against a final hidden treasure beneath the others.  It was simple in comparison; a smooth ivory handle ending in a blunt end etched with a design he couldn't distinguish. A stamp, he realized, thinking back to the warped wooden one used by the Madame to mark payed loans.  

There was shouting in a language Silas didn't recognize, causing him to nearly drop the haul in surprise. His excitement had gotten the better of his attention and the Duque's men were closing in. Hurriedly stuffing the seal into his pockets, he gasped and slipped on the side of the stall.  On the second attempt he had the wherewithal to employ the Gift, allowing him to steadily scale the walls, then ceiling, even after the doors swung open. Two soldiers walked, continuing their indecipherable argument. Not that Silas was in much position to pay attention. He hardly dared breath and he moved at a snails pace towards the stable's loft.  Upon reaching it, he stilled hearing the men end their discussion to beginning to re-saddling and reining the horses. As silently as he could the small boy folded himself up into the loft, tightly packed between bails of hay.