Lilith didn't return to the guild station until suppertime. As she walked through the front door, she rechecked her cloak of anonymity. I'm just another dark-side adept, one of many, not even worth a second glance, she reiterated, letting that conviction and impression flow out of her into the environment around her. The receptionist glanced up, saw just another adept, and looked back down without even bothering to do more than nod. After leaving the rod in her room, she went to the dining room and came into the door just in time to hear Vika holding forth on the events of the morning. It made for interesting listening as she walked up to the counter and picked up a meal from the few left there. She sat by herself and listened closely as she ate.

"There really wasn't much to what she did, it was all a nice show. What I don't think was good was the fact that she did it apparently on a whim. Dropping half the people in town to their knees on a whim is not the sort of thinking you want in someone charged with enforcing the peace."

"Having that ability, though, comes in handy for the job," someone observed.

Vika looked a little irritated. "Anyone in this room could've done it, it was mostly a psychological con job."

"I can't hold the life threads of more than three or four at once," one rat adept remarked thoughtfully. "How could she do it for a couple of thousand?"

"I told you, she didn't do it that way! Look, you know as well as I that the simpler the move you want, the less control you need of someone's life cords."

"If no one resists, " the rat adept reminded him.

"Yes, yes, " Vika retorted testily, "but that's where the other part came in. That aura focused everyone's attention on her, and that gave her control over all of their life cords at once. Even then, she couldn't do anything really complicated to all of them. All she did was send one simple command- to kneel- and she had everyone caught up in the same emotional hysteria when she did it. A simple trick to do, once you've got the right preparations made."

"Simple, yes, " Sechan said as he came back from dropping his tray in the wash basket. "But not necessarily easy. It takes a fine sense of control to get everyone to reach the right pitch at the right time. That alone could have volumes written about it."

Vika glared at his training Master. "Magicians manipulate furs' emotions all the time, Sechan."

"Perhaps more than they ought to, " was the cool reply, "but the difference between just manipulating emotions and what you describe is the difference between someone banging on a door with a hammer, and someone using a couple of thousand hammers on the same door- banging them all in unison to snap it open."

"You overestimate the importance of it, Sechan. It was a cheap trick, nothing more. Now if there is nothing else around here that's any more interesting, I think it's time for everyone to finish their meal and get back to training-- Training Master."

Sechan raised an eyebrow. "Training is over for the day-- Guildmaster. And now, since that is taken care of, I believe I will spend some time on my own business." He left the dining room.

Vika was left staring into space until he noticed the silence and everyone watching him. He shot the room a frown, then remarked in a bland tone, "I do believe the training master is right. Minding your own business is a virtue that is too often underappreciated." He left as well and did not quite slam the door behind him.

"I do believe I heard a rat's tail in a knot there," Lilith remarked as snickers began flooding the room. Laughter broke out at that, and a cry of "you said it!" even brought a very short round of applause before the quiet descended again as everyone looked at their neighbor before carefully returning to their food.

Lilith felt someone coming towards her, and glanced up to see Stoy sitting down. She frantically scrambled mentally to figure out what had happened. Why me? Why here? He doesn't know who I am, does he? A quick look answered it. Oh. My anonymity cloak showed me as being just another listening ear for anyone upset with Vika when I made that remark-- and that's exactly what he's looking for. That's ok as long as he doesn't insist on a face to go with it.

"You've got more nerve than I have, adept. You know as well as I that what you said is going to be reported back to Vika."

Lilith shrugged. "It's not like he doesn't know already."

Stoy looked thoughtful. "I used to think the same thing, but lately I've wondered just how much he understands, and how much he's entering into his own fantasy world."

"Self-deception is the most convincing of all?"

Stoy laughed. "I hadn't quite heard that old phrase used in that context, but I suppose you're right at that. Now if I could just deceive him into thinking that I'm no one to worry about when I get married to a local, I'll be all set."

"He already thinks vixens are just about useless. Convince him that you agree with a lot of his viewpoints, and that you're doing it for simple convenience."

Stoy's brow wrinkled. "Not a bad idea, but I don't know... I'm not good at this sort of thing, I'm afraid. I've never tried deception on another magician, much less a master."

"Wouldn't work, I know, but if you can nudge Vika into the right track, he might do it for you."

"I don't know..." Stoy muttered gloomily. Then he looked up as the door to the dining room opened again. He continued looking, so Lilith turned around to see what was holding his attention. Tralis had come into the room, looking worried, and-- if Lilith wasn't mistaken- a bit hunted himself.

Her attention attracted his, and her cloak was only saved when his eyes flicked across to Stoy and he hurried across to ask in a low tone, "What's going on around here? I walked in the front door, and Yunis looked ready to collapse. And there's such a wave of hatred, or something, coming from Vika's room that I had to practically run to the other side of the reception hall to maintain my balance! He might as well have been out front ready to hit you over the head--- it is Vika, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," Stoy replied. "Things didn't go too well for him during dinner and he stalked out on us. Sounds like he's busy having another temper tantrum."

Tralis sighed and slid down onto the bench beside Lilith, who smoothly slid over so that he wouldn't look at her. He rested his muzzle on his paws as he slumped. "My nerves just aren't up to this. I'd rather take my chances with an ordinary thunderstorm than have to walk through that cloud of thunder out there. So what did go wrong, anyway?"

Lilith by this time was gathering her own plate up and leaving, so she risked a last riposte over her shoulder. "He tried to eat a vixen for supper and she gave him indigestion." The remark carried farther than she had intended, and in the round of laughter that followed, the attention directed at her went past any sort of fooling she was capable of. Several of the other adepts recognized her- well, bringing herself up that way when she was standing and the single source of motion in the room would do it, wouldn't it. But no one said anything out loud, and she managed to leave without Stoy and Tralis doing anything more than giving a smile or two of their own before continuing their discussion.

Stepping into the hall, she took a look to the left with her own magic senses, and quickly decided that she agreed with Tralis. Whatever was going on down there, she didn't want to be near it. She turned the other way, and went around the building the long way to go to her room.

Ow. Ow. Ow. Lilith was sitting on her bed, massaging her feet. You wouldn't think that simple leather sandals could hurt so much after you'd spent a couple of sixes in the saddle with some nice sturdy boots, no less. On the other hand, I was riding most of the time and not walking. Lilith's sigh was interrupted by a knocking on her door. A quick look assured her that whoever was on the other side wasn't angry with her- an important concern nowadays it would seem. She opened the door to be confronted with Tralis and Stoy.

"It was you, wasn't it!" Stoy blurted.

The slight grin that Lilith had on her face as she motioned them in was all the answer he needed. She shut the door and turned around to find them both staring at her in wonder."How did you do that?" Tralis asked.

Lilith looked innocent. "Do what? A cloak of anonymity? Surely you've both done plenty of that sort of deception- you just about have to to be an adept in the first place."

Stoy nodded. "I know, but all I did was walk from one end of a vix-house to the other in a dress with no one thinking it was odd." He gritted his teeth as Lilith doubled over in a fit of giggles, and Tralis' nostrils pulled back in embarrassment. "Ok, so it was a wild stunt..."

"I wish I'd been there to see that!" Lilith gasped.

"No you don't, you would have been about six years old at the time. They don't let girls that young into those places."

"Depends on the vix-house," Lilith muttered darkly as she sobered up. "But as long as we're comparing wild stories, I became an adept not long after posing as a receptionist for a day." As the others looked at her blankly, she sighed. "It's something of a long story. The short version is that the guild wanted information from a company owned by rats. The rat president had a vixen for a receptionist, and he never noticed that she was going through his files one day- or that it wasn't his receptionist at all, for that matter."

Tralis whistled softly as he thought that one over. "You're good, Lilith."

Lilith shrugged. "Good deception depends on the ability to understand reality and manipulate it. You might say I acquired an early need for that sort of thing." The others decided not to question the reason for her somber tones. "Look, foxes, what say we take an after-dinner walk and get out of this madhouse?"

"Sounds good to me."

"I'm up for it."

"Good, c'mon, let's go-- and this time, if you don't mind, I think I'll choose to sneak out the back way in order to avoid recognition."

As they entered the street from the side of the guildhall, Tralis looked down at Lilith's feet. "Hey, you're going out for a walk barefoot?"

Lilith grimaced. "Better than trying to torture them with those things they call sandals. Still.... you wouldn't know where I could get a good pair of soft rope sandals at this time of evening?"

"Most stores are closed by now, but there are several who stay open late. What with the textile industries around here, it shouldn't be too hard to find rope sandals."

Lilith restrained her sigh of relief at Stoy's competent reply. "Lead on, adept," she said.

For a while, the only sounds were the soft padding of a pair of bare feet between two pairs of shoed ones. Finally, Lilith interrupted the silence to say, "now that we've got some free time, Stoy, why don't you fill me in on all of this inside information you have?"

Stoy pulled himself out of his sad-eyed stare to tell her as he had promised. On the way over to the store, Lilith learned that there were about seven families who pretty much controlled things in the town. Four of them owned slaughtering and shipping businesses, the other three textile industries. It turned out that Yewith owned one of the textile mills, and was becoming known for mechanical innovation. "Not that she's thought it all up herself, mind you. She just knows how to find a few good furs to do it for her." A bit of questioning revealed the fact that the only members not connected with a prominent family were Nurans and Skythirst. Nurans, apparently, had been a canny politician, but his bright promises were wearing thin- or maybe it was just him wearing thin. Skythirst was something of an enigma all the way around. "No one really understands a weasel except another weasel- and even then, I wouldn't be too sure." Still, he had managed to get in, and legitimately as well.

At this point they came to the store that Stoy had been looking for, and he turned in with Lilith and Tralis following. The owner, an elderly rat, looked up and nodded politely. "Good evening, adepts, I..." the words froze in his throat as he stared at Lilith. She thought he might sink to his knees again- he'd been there this morning, no doubt about that, the marks were still in his aura for her to see.

"Good evening, sir," she said politely. "I was wondering if I could buy a pair of rope sandals?"

The rat nodded while his eyes bulged and his tongue stuck. He finally managed to shake out, "of course, peace enforcer, no problem, no problem at all. Got a good selection, I do, yes ma'am no doubt about-t-t it."

Lilith sighed to herself as she remembered why she'd been anonymous most of the afternoon. It was hard to find out something about a town when everyone either ran in fear, froze in terror, or fell in worship. She'd seen all three reactions too many times already today. "Look, storekeeper, " she said, projecting calmness. "I'm a vixen with a pair of sore feet, and right now my biggest desire is something that will fit them decently. Now, where are the sandals?"

The rat did relax some, and he paused only to point out to his helper- a young weasel- that another lantern needed lighting behind the counter. His helper only nodded, but the look he sent Lilith made her wary. Somehow, it was just a bit too calm and calculating. She wasn't ready for a weasel circle- yet, that is.

Dismissing petty concerns, she soon managed to find herself a good pair of sandals, and after agreeing on a price, she gave the storekeeper a guild credit disk after embedding the amount and everything else- more information than he or any other normal knew about- in its life thread patterns. To outsiders, it was always simply said to take it to a guild station and they would get the agreed upon amount of money. Small variations were purposely made in the disks, but they were meaningless except to serve as a distraction to people without magic sight. It tended to keep people honest, and the few furs unwise enough to try and turn it in for a higher amount, or who horror of horrors stole one and tried to turn it in, found themselves in a very bad condition-- although not for long.

Lilith's feet delighted themselves in a massage from the cords of rope beneath them when she walked out into the street. She paused for a minute to simply rock back and forth on them and sigh in relief. "Thanks, Stoy, I needed that."

He smiled slightly, but began to look anxious as he stared at the darkening street. "I'm afraid we came too near the wrong part of town to get them, though. We really ought to be headed back now."

"Wrong part of town? Don't tell me, it's murder alley, right?"

Tralis' breath hissed, and Stoy's ears flicked down for a second as he replied, "yes, it is, but that's not territory you need to go into."

"On the contrary, I think it must be my prime target." As she looked at their horrified expression, she stressed it again, "I said target. Remember, I'm supposed to enforce some peace and security around here. Would you expect a fire-fur to ignore a raging blaze because they might get singed?"

"They call it that for a reason, Lilith." Tralis' voice was almost pleading. "You really don't want to go there, even for an adept it can be dangerous."

Lilith faced her companions and put her hand on her hips. "Dangerous for three adepts?"

Stoy looked at Tralis with a look of annoyance as he replied, "it's not just what's in there, Lilith. Some of us have had fun- maybe too much fun- in there, and Vika finally told us not to go in there again."

"He hasn't told me, and since the whole town is now my worksite, there's no way he's going to be able to keep me out of there- lawfully."

"He can be nasty when he starts getting underhanded, Lilith."

"So don't give him a reason. If I put it to him right, he'll find it very convenient to stick me down a dangerous area and hope some criminal will get rid of me for him."

Stoy's mouth twitched, but all he said was "very well, come on then."

It didn't take long for Lilith to see why the area had gotten its name. She'd been raised in the big cities, so she had seen worse streets- but not much worse. Side alleys had garbage and sewage so thick that only a narrow twisting path in the middle was free. Leaping from patch to clear patch was enough to keep your mind occupied, but she knew that you would need to be on the lookout for more if you were foolish enough to venture down there.

Somehow, none of them were surprised at some sounds coming from a side alley. As they came to the opening, a bright life cord, so bright that it nearly blinded Lilith, held her attention for only a split second before she grabbed it and pulled with all her might. She knew instinctively what that cord had been.

Tris snarled with rage and frustration at the weasel laying on the ground below him. "I'm interested in cold hard cash, you scum. I don't want pretty mouth sounds about what you can do if I let your fleabag hide loose." He forced the weasel's head back to get a clear shot at the throat. As his concentration on the sight of the target area increased to its limit, he stabbed downward with all of his strength. Halfway down, the strength left his arm, his eyes blurred, and the knife wobbled off course to land on the ground beside his intended victim. The weasel, feeling Tris' momentary paralysis, took the moment to let out a squeal of terror and start to wiggle free. As Tris grabbed for the front of his robe with his left hand, the weasel's desperate lunge pulled him around to face the front of the alley. A nightmare awaited him there. Twin red coals of eyes glared at him, reddish light reflecting off of a golden mask between them, and the silver claw of a hand reached out for his throat. He choked as he felt the grip. There were about ten yards between him and that hand, but it felt and was more real to him than the weasel who now huddled on the other side of the alley with eyes the size of saucers.

Tralis and Stoy were quiet and unmoving as Lilith grabbed harder on the lifecords of the fox mugger. He was pulled towards her, scrabbling on the ground for her with all four feet, then rising towards the end so that his throat actually did fit neatly into the death cradle of metal that awaited it. "Sssooo" Lilith hissed. "A quick knife stab in the dark, and it was all going to be over. It's not that easy, vermin. You've pronounced your own sentence. Carry it out."

Tris' paw tightened about the knife he held and as he slowly brought it up, the blade edge began to glow until it was hissing white with heat. As it came towards Lilith's hand, she snarled and said, "nice try, but you're not going to get away from this one. Higher!"

A weak whimper formed in Tris' throat as the blade rose higher. A horror filled his eyes as he saw the flame of white heat that he now held. It was forced back towards his face, and his lips writhed as he tried to scream or yell or something-- he was beyond thinking of what anymore, it was a near-mindless struggle which only found a reference point as the blade dug into his forehead and sizzled as it continued up and back. A choked scream came from his gaping mouth, and then the blade wrenched itself loose as the stink of burned fur and skin filled the alley.

Lilith threw him down at her feet, and the knife blade suddenly twisted itself into a crumpled heap of molten metal. "Those who use the knife will be marked with the knife- go live, and tell the world of the Enforcer's verdict-- scarface!"

Lilith turned away from the sobbing, crumpled heap and saw Tralis on the other side of the street, dry-heaving against a wall. Stoy had backed away several paces and appeared a bit sick himself, but he met her eyes calmly- or fairly so. "A fireball would have been cleaner," he said softly.

"A fireball would have charred his fur, Stoy. I'm not in the business of simple singed fur, I'm in the business of singing wicked souls."

No one said another word as they left the alley. No one needed to.