Impact (Guards)

[Kender Bard]

Word had reached Talen'sul as to the events that occured in Khelek.

It had been a massacre. Guards mulled around, stunned, unsure what to do or say. They went about their duties woodenly, thinking too hard about the events. Thieves. Thieves were rising up in bloody retribution against the guards. Their one dead comrade was, perhaps, the prelude to many more.

"This is a disaster," Quintin murmured, pressing his palms into his eyes and sighing deeply. "The horror of it aside, Ace is going to flip. He's going to be pushing for maximum security in Ronduin."

"For what that's worth," someone of the Talen'sul branch commented offhandedly, making Quintin growl and look all around for the wag. Not finding the culprit, he slumped in his seat again.

[hisdivineshadow]

A hand came to rest on his shoulder, squeezing gently. "Hey, what's with the face, hm?" Anko stepped out from behind Quintin and turned to lean against the desk and look at him. "You look like I did a few weeks ago."

[Kender Bard]

"We just got news from Khelek," Quintin murmured, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. "The thieves slaughtered the guards. I mean that quite literally. There's, maybe, a couple of them still alive. The rest are dead... all dead."

[hisdivineshadow]

Anko nodded, her smile fading for a moment. "I'd heard. So." She stretched her arms over her head nonchalantly. "What're we going to do about it?"

[Kender Bard]

"There's nothing we can down, "Quintin murmured with a thread of anger in his voice. "We're not in our jurisdiction, the fight is there and not here. All I can do is sit here and dwell on it - and that's not something I really want to do."

[hisdivineshadow]

"C'mon now, there's always something to be done." Anko cocked her head and smiled slightly. "Even if you can't change the situation there, you can do something here. Take your mind off it. Or make ready for when you can do something about the problem."

Straightening up, she cuffed him lightly on the shoulder. "I, for one, can't stand doing nothing. So you can either stay here and stew by yerself, or we can find a way ta keep busy."

[Kender Bard]

"I'd like something to do," Quintin agreed, leaning back in his seat. "Can you suggest anything though?"

[hisdivineshadow]

"Well, we came here lookin' for that Wind, right? The one that left his feathers behind in Ronduin. We still haven't found 'im, so we should keep looking." She tapped her chin thoughtfully and tilted her head. "He could be one of the local thieves, maybe?"

[Kender Bard]

"Yeah," Quintin agreed, frowning. "And how many winged Winds are on the street right now? We don't exactly go up to every one of them and go 'excuse me, sir, are you a thief perchance?'"

[hisdivineshadow]

Anko smirked. "Well, that'd certainly keep us busy." She shook her head. "But I think someone here is bound ta know where we can find a few. And we can use them to find others." With a shrug she concluded, "Might be a slim chance, but it's better'n sittin' around, right?"

[Kender Bard]

"I suppose," Quintin sighed, getting up. "I miss Ronduin, Anko. Talen'sul is nice, but it's colder here than it's ever been back home." He stretched and then frowned. "Say, where's Dmitri? We should keep him notified of what we're doing."

[hisdivineshadow]

"Heh. Cold is right," she agreed, running a hand along the hem of her new clothing. The usual abbreviated furs she was accustomed to simply wouldn't cut it this far north, nor this high in the mountains.

She tilted her head thoughtfully, a hand on her chin. "I think I saw him in his office a couple minutes ago." With a shrug, she turned and headed in that direction.

~~~~~~~~

Dmitri was seated at his desk, leaning back with his hands folded in a pensive gesture. Across from him were two women, both civilians.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" he asked them.

[Deleted]

Loni rolled her eyes. "No, Dmitri. We don't at all," she grunted sourly. "Of course we do. We brought it up, didn't we?"

Mireya nodded her agreement and smiled at him. "You know we can do this, Dmitri."

[Kender Bard]

Quintin stopped just outside the door and knocked softly. "Are you busy, Lieutenant Dmitri?" he called out.

[hisdivineshadow]

"Just finishing up," Dmitri answered, sitting a little straighter in his seat and gesturing toward the door. "Please come in, sir Laska. I take it you've heard the news from Khelek?" His tone was somber, but not overly emotional as so many of the guard were right now.

Anko frowned slightly and held back, trying to make sense of the signals she was getting from Dmitri.