Corvo offered no protest as Gerhardt guided him through the marketplace, but he cast a final glance towards the direction where the Courtesan went and found himself hoping that they might cross paths again. [i]Focus,[/i] he chided himself as he shook his head and snapped his eyes forward. [i]You're here for a purpose, not to play around.[/i] Try as he might however, the image of the fiery haired Courtesan still lingered in his mind's eye and no amount of shaking could banish her from sight. Her beauty seemed ill fit for a city of Leongarde, but then again there was already much Corvo had seen that was seemingly at odds with the Priestdom's reputation.

After arriving at an area known as Hill Point, Corvo once again felt as though he had arrived in some other far flung part of the world, away from the hustle and bustle of the marketplace and into a relatively quiet neighbourhood. Where the market had been vast and grandiose, this part of the city was full of narrow streets and labyrinthine passageways. Without Gerhardt leading the way, Corvo was quite certain that he'd become lost.

After a few meandering twists and turns, they had seemingly arrived at their destination when the spymaster stopped before a tall stone building standing behind a wooden wall, though it lacked an entrance... Or so it appeared anyway. As it turned out, the wall itself [i]was[/i] the entrance and when Gerhardt found the hidden latch that allowed him to open it, Corvo couldn't help wondering what would necessitate such a deception and whether he should expect to see anything else of a similar nature. Who was this Zathre character exactly? 

Stepping through into a small courtyard, Corvo looked around as he tried to guess which of the people gathered there was the one they were here to see. Surely not the old woman hanging up laundry on a clothesline or the little boy apparently learning how to read, which left the elderly man who seemed to be teaching him, sitting in the sun the with the appearance of a wise sage, staff and all. Corvo was on the verge of introducing himself before the spymaster asked, "Is the master home?"

So not the old man then. Still, Corvo was shocked to see Gerhardt suddenly fall as the old man swept his feet out from under him with his staff. Even more shocking however was seeing the spymaster completely unbothered by such a way of greeting and going on to speak with the old man with such warmth and familiarity that it made Corvo wonder whether they were related. He had never seen this side of Gerhardt before, ever the calculating man of focus serving at his father's side. As he conversed with the old man, apparently named Castille, it occurred to Corvo that he never really knew the spymaster that well at all despite seeing him for many years.

When the man they were here to meet finally appeared, it surprised Corvo even further to learn that this Owen Zathre was Gerhardt's own brother and even more roguish in appearance than the spymaster himself. As Owen invited them inside the house and Corvo sat upon the chair offered to him, he began to wonder if Gerhardt was ever truly Belisian in the first place or a native of Leongarde and if so, how did he come to serve the kingdom?

With an eye of suspicion, Corvo listened as Gerhardt finally came to their point of business while conversing with Zathre, "So we came to you, we need a seal of approval so we can stay in the city and attempt to offer the young prince some time to grow, in both skill and in allies."

Owen sighed a heavy sigh rubbing his brow at that.

"Much of what was is gone, dear brother. Time are difficult. The merest inkling of a rebellion of any kind is crushed. If you’re going to do this, you’ll need to go up top to get their approval first before you can start recruiting and who is to say how long that will take? By the time you’re done Belisio will have ended under Vaim’s complete control, there will be nothing left for the Prince to rally. If I were the both of you I’d forget about this whole notion and start a new life. I’ll help you regardless of what you choose, but for the sake of your own skins, don’t raise your head up too high above the cornfield so to speak. You’ll be noticed by the Enders."

"What are Enders?" Corvo asked, speaking for the first time since he arrived. "And why did Leongarde not come to our aid when we needed it most?"