Vṛkā, come join us!

Gwrtheyrn's joy is infectious in its simplicity, and Auris smiles as she pulls the courthouse doors shut.  What are you doing?

Alboba made a rope slide!

A rope slide?  She makes her way down the dimly lit street, soon catching the bright rush of voices ahead of her.

Yes!  I'm almost faster than them.

Auris laughs, rounding the corner—a flash of movement, head height—Valerian?—she leaps backwards as he drops from the rope and tumbles to a halt.

"By the Mother—"

"Auris! Are you—"

Gwrtheyrn barks, pulling up short before he bowls the both of them over.

Auris stares at them, Gwrtheyrn standing stiffly, unadulterated shock written into every inch of his body; Valerian with his hair a mess, his concern already giving way to a guilty grin...

Auris laughs aloud, and Valerian can't contain it much longer.

"You should've seen your face!" he cries.

"My face?  You should've seen yours!"

"Incoming!"

A flash of blonde hair, and Clearshot lands the somersaulting dismount with a bow.  "I know you wanted a front-row seat and all..." they say as they look up at Valerian, all sparkling green eyes and flashing teeth, "but do be careful."

Valerian raises his hands in mock protest.  "You're the one who shot an arrow into the tavern!"

Clearshot winces, darting a glance to Auris.  "Hey, I learned my lesson on that one."

"Sorry," Valerian says, leaning in to give the elf a quick kiss.  "Shall we go again?"

What—

Gwrtheyrn barks his approval, nudging at them impatiently, and the trio departs as quickly as they came.

What have I missed?

Gwrtheyrn's mind is at once alight with joyful amusement, a rush of thoughts and images of Clearshot and Valerian sitting together in the tavern, sparring on the sands, sharing glances on that trip into the jungle...

Where have I been?

Paperwork! is the gleeful reply.

Auris shakes her head slowly, continuing towards the gate.

"Evening, Lieutenant."  Tareyna throws a salute and a lopsided grin to Auris as she passes, arm in arm with a blushing Danara.

"...Evening," Auris responds, bemused.  Has everyone paired off while I wasn't looking?

I don't know!  The answer is as distracted as it is cheerful, and Auris laughs, settling back against the gatepost.

Of course you don't.  A little ways beyond, before the jungle claims the landscape, a bonfire climbs high into the night, music and laughter mixing with the distant surf.  A shout from above, and she looks in time to see someone swing out of the tallest tree, gathering speed as they fly down the rope.

Three hundred gold...

A crooning voice rises above the others. Someone's climbed atop a log—a lizardfolk, if the flashing red scales are anything to tell by, and...Xiaptn, if the clothes—or really, the lack thereof—are as well.  Auris wonders for a moment if lizards really have the same things to hide—and quickly pushes the thought from her head.  There are some things better left unknown.

The crowd's roar of approval draws her attention back to the bonfire.  Asa's climbed up beside Xiaptn, the two women swaying arm in arm as they belt out bawdy lyrics, Xiaptn's drink sloshing out of its mug as she directs the crowd.

If the memories all came from them—well, if the visions were all memories in the first place, and...any number of other "ifs."  But if they were memories, and they did come from within the group—but Valerian was on that trip!  The Lunides trained him as an assassin; surely he witnessed the negotiations a time or two.  She straightens, her gaze roving the night in search of him.

A poke at her side, and she's turning, pulling Miris' power about herself—

Vṛkā, it's only me.  Gwrtheyrn stands just inside the gate, looking at her curiously, and Auris sighs, relaxing.

Sorry, eilie.  A beat, and she glances to Clearshot and Valerian just beyond him.  How did you get here already?

Gwrtheyrn lets out a barking laugh.  I thought you were watching.  He bows his head, rubbing his forehead against her arm.  You need rest.

...I always need rest.  "Valerian?  Could I speak with you a moment?"

Gwrtheyrn gives her a reproving look, but steps away.

"Is something the matter?" Valerian asks as he joins her a little aside.

"Hopefully not.  I do apologize for interrupting," Auris says, looking past to the waiting Clearshot and offering them a nod.  "It's only...well, someone approached me with concerns over a memory the swamp revealed to them.  Were you ever offered three hundred gold to kill someone?"

"Three hundred—?  I...I don't...think so, no."

"...Blast.  You're certain?"

"Mostly?"

"It was something estimated to take months."

He shrugs.  "Sorry."

"Aiy, I am too.  I was wishing it was yours..."

Valerian shrugs again.  "It seemed like old memories, at least?"

"That's what I'm hoping."  She waves him off.  "Go enjoy the night."

"Yeah...yeah.  You too."

"I will."

Belatedly, she realizes she should've asked something about Clearshot, but they're already gone, off to ride the rope again.  She wanders back to the gatepost, her mind adrift with half-formed thoughts of Clearshot, Valerian, three hundred gold...

"...taking watch?"

"What?"

"You taking watch, Lieutenant?" the guard asks her again.

"Oh.  No, sorry; I'll leave you to it."  Auris pushes away from the post, but the guard shakes his head.

"No need.  I'll be up there, anyhow," he says, gesturing to the small platform atop the wall.

Vṛkā, what is he saying?

He's—ah, what?  She turns, searching for Gwrtheyrn, but he's nowhere near.  The guard?

He smells like prey, but also not like prey, and he's speaking, but I don't know what he's saying.

What?

An image of Gash fills Auris' mind, and she nearly laughs aloud.  He does have a rather...prey-like look to him, now that she thinks about it.  Something about his eyes, maybe, how they're never still, or perhaps his posture, never quite straight...  She shakes her head.  Where are you?

By the trees.

She follows the sense of him, past the bonfire, and there he is, sitting at the jungle's edge.

"Wasn't 'spectin' that t' actually work."

"Oh—"  Auris covers her surprise as well as she's able.  How did she not see Gash before?  She'd practically have walked into him in a moment.  "Gwrtheyrn couldn't understand what you were saying."

"Was asking 'im if he coul' carry a message to ya, any'ow."

"Well, you have my attention."

"Got a warnin' fer ya, since laisho's headin' back t' Freeport, 'pparently.  Want t' hear it now'r later?"

Auris frowns.  Someone pushes past them, running on with a giggling, "'Scuse me!" as they angle for the tree with the rope slide.  Auris closes her mouth with a sigh.  "Find me later tonight."