Thine Brother’s Keeper pt.2

(Part 1 can be found here.)

Three Nights Ago…

Along the side wall of the tavern hangs a painting of the Dawn Throne in Yanxia, and beneath that sits a simple shelf with a photo of Rosetta and her best friend Urso, in their dragoon and paladin gear respectively. She smiles at the picture and runs her hand along the frame, before motioning to Kaede to follow her. “My office is in the back.” When Rosetta and Urso had built the Chocobo’s Rest, she was still a courier, but also working as a hostess at a variety of venues. They had amassed enough money to buy the plot and Rosetta had hoped to leave her courier days behind her and start a business with some friends. An inn, tavern, and bathhouse for the weary traveler…

But things change. Sometimes for the worse. Sometimes for the better.

With her fortunes ebbing with the whims of the star, Rosetta found herself with an inn, a tavern, and a bathhouse that mostly sat empty. But also, an office in the back she’d intended to use to conduct venue business and keep the books. Down the hallway and to the left, with Kaede in her pink frilled dress bobbing along behind her, they enter the waiting room of her office. A simple desk to the right of the door as you enter has a typewriter, and a long cold cup of coffee. A liquor cabinet frames out the desk with a water wall and fixture flowing gently and rhythmically behind.

Kaede’s eyes flare as she takes in the waiting area. “Oh, this is lovely. You must be quite successful as a detective.”

Rosetta tries to keep her poker face as she coughs. “Just, uhhh… Gimme a minute to get the conference room ready.” She says with a smile. As she enters the corner room next to the stairs, she can feel the sweat against her dress. She was being coy with Kaede the other night, of course. Like she does with most, she was trying to explain what she did without really explaining it. She was good at finding things, but that’s because she had connections that made things easy to find. Some less than savory connections. Some criminal connections. So by that very nature, if they knew where her brother had gotten off to… that probably wasn’t a good thing.

Now…

Rosetta cracks her neck, and stretches out her arms before grabbing her bag from the stay-room, and heading above deck to disembark. With such an uneventful sail, she feels almost disappointed. Meanwhile the ship’s quartermaster grins ear to ear as he bids farewell to everyone. She smiles knowingly at the Lalafell standing effortlessly on the railing, and he offers her a pitied shrug and a wink in return. These voyages had a high cost due to the nature of the open waters and the beasts and pirates that roamed them. A quiet sail was a rare thing, but meant heady profits for the officers.

As she descends the gangway onto the wooden pier, she smiles taking in the sight of Kugane tower, faintly aglow in the setting sun. The dragoon, having half a mind to climb it before bed, decides better of it. Long day tomorrow, she thinks to herself as she foists her bag over her right shoulder. She was going to look in on her apartment in Shirogane, but Matzugi’s letter said he’d meet her first thing on Pier #1, and she couldn’t risk being late. Matzugi, a former Kojin of the red and now a sell sword, wasn’t a fan of the city proper, but agreed to meet her because of their history.

His letter said he had news of Kaede’s brother, but whatever it was, he couldn’t risk discussing it in a channel that might be intercepted. This didn’t bode well for the young man, but if he were dead Matzugi likely would have just said so.

As Rosetta walks up the stairs and through the ground floor of the tower, she offers a cursory wave to the proprietress of the Shiokaze Hostelry, Kotokaze. The Hyur woman, busy with customers, does a double take then tries to wave her over, “Rosetta!” She calls out, her voice only slightly raised so as not to cause a scene.

“I’ll stop by tomorrow!” Rosetta calls back as she heads up the stairs. Kotokaze was nice enough, but with her own sordid connections she likely had some less than honest work for her, and the dragoon didn’t have the time. She was wrong, of course. On both counts.

After climbing the steps to the town square, she turns left to head over the bridge to the Rakuza district. The cool night air caries the sound of the bustling market over the small bridge as shop keeps ply their wares and trade, trying to grab the attention of passersby. The streets are crowded with people heading to and fro, mostly locals, she surmises given they’re all wearing kimonos, making Rosetta in her long green jacket and purple gauntlets and grieves stick out, never mind how much taller she was than most everyone else.

She makes it to the stairs at the end of the street only bumping into a small handful of people—a small victory considering the crowd. At the top of the stairs, there’s a stall outside of ornately painted walls. Amaji, the owner of the Bokaisen Hot Springs, offers her a sly smile behind his well kempt grey beard. Rosetta rolls her eye at him and shakes her head. She could use a soak after the long journey, and the smell of the water is tempting, but she’s not in the mood to have the old man ogle her either. She turns to offer him a line about maybe next time, when someone else crafts the excuse for her;

“AIEEEEE! HELP!“

Rosetta hears a woman shout from the alleyway behind the market. Without a moment’s hesitation she drops her bag and takes up the spear from her back. She leaps up the stone wall to the second landing that overlooks the alleyway, and there she spots the victim and her would-be assailants encroaching upon her menacingly. Turning to a young woman beside her she commands, “Call for the Sekiseigumi!” Before leaping over the railing and into the alleyway below. She lands gracefully, as a dragoon should, and immediately leaps forward, her spear drawn out and ready to knock the attacker standing over the girl to the ground.

But as she swings her weapon she hits nothing but air.

Expecting to have the impact counterbalance her, she rolls forward and crashes onto her backside. She looks back up the street to see the three assailants turn to her and grin eerily, before their shapes dissipate into mist, revealing the assailants to be grey-ish imps. The woman on the ground cackles as she stands. “You were right Bar-Weith. She didn’t suspect a thing.” She grabs her kimono and casts it aside, revealing a skin-tight ninja garb in hues of purple and black.

Rosetta moves to get to her feet and spring free of the trap, but a massive furred fist comes down on the back of her neck, and she falls to one knee. Her vision blurs and her hearing echoes as she fights to stay conscious. She looks up to see the swimming image of a hulking Hrothgar with golden fur and dark spots coming around beside her. He grabs her hair and hauls her up so close she can smell the stink of his breath. “Tell her he’s dead.” He says, his voice low and even, but menacing all the same.

“Luh—Lu—Liar. You—” Rosetta gasps out, trying as she might to struggle, she can feel her mind starting to slip.

The Hrothgar nods. “Yes, I am lying. But you will make her believe it. There will be no other warnings.” He drops her to the ground as darkness takes her.