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[Hikiko]

---

"Sleep well," the ninja who had escorted her for the evening said as he left the temple.

Manners dictated that Hikiko bow her head and thank him, and this she did.

It seemed that regardless of all the guarding and escorting, nobody realized that sleep was not coming easily to Hikiko. Her nerves felt frayed, and lately it seemed that when she walked it was without grace . . . as if she was trying to move through a world filled with thick honey.

As the ninja took his leave she remained kneeling upon the carpet in the corner, yearning for sleep in a way that was physically painful.

[Hikiko]

---

Dawn crept across the city in its near perfect silence, broken only by the soft calls of night birds and the soft lull of the nearby surf. Such things of nature's beauty were not so much sounds, as they were simply part of the serene existence known to the inhabitants of Zento.

Hours before, Hikiko had carefully removed the makeup from her face, and the kanzashi from her hair to let it fall past her shoulders. It seemed that in her time at the temple she had read every book upon the shelves, some more than once. Though not seen to her, she knew that very nearby was the ninja who was charged with her safety for the night. Perhaps they were downstairs, perhaps just outside, but always, eternally, present.

Hikiko laid on her side, the blanket wrinkled beneath her, and watched the new day shift from inky blackness to pink to golden light through the panels of the temple wall. She heard the sounds of Zento awakening, and wondered how it was possible to suddenly feel so alone amid so many.

Where did the floating world go?

[Drayden Calamyr]

---

Moonglow as quiet that night. Well, the rest of the city was desolate. As Drayden rounded the corner to the Militia's headquarters he could hear the sounds of celebration coming from the south. He had stayed away from this place for some time. However, if things were as he was told earlier in the week, he would not be welcomed here. This was the reason for his tactics while walking through Moonglow this very evening. It seemed that someone had kidnapped a Tokunese woman and released her here. The attempt at stirring distrust between the two had failed and thus there was a notice at the bank that Drayden noticed almost immediately. If they truly didn't want any drow in their city, then he would have to be extra careful. Though he had been captured by the militia in the past, they had been rather ignorant of the Drow threat that loomed then. But now, they had some reason to suspect that his numbers would care about some fancied up Tokunese girl. The rumors had come to him from his contacts in Umbra. That both the Blue Lotus and Moonglow had sent people to investigate Umbra and question the Matriarch. Luckily, the Drow Quarter had been spared such a visit. He doubted that the Matron wanted their company, especially after what the Lotus had done to her Patron. That was aside in his mind for the moment though, he was here to observe and gather information, nothing more. Besides, he didn't want to deal with getting caught by them again.
As Drayden approached the tavern on the southern point of the island he noted how many people were there. Immediately he noticed several of the Lotus ninjas outside, they seemed to hover a rather young, yet attractive woman. Quietly he crept through the shadows. He was close now, he could have spit on the ninja that guarded her from his vantage point by the tavern. He could recognize a few faces of the Blue Lotus and the other groups that had gathered here. There was an unspoken air of tension about. None of the Moonglow Militia spoke of it. But Drayden recognized it, and it justified the recent actions taken by both parties involved. He could smell fear amongst the humans. Fear akin to what he sensed in Minoc and their people, as they were herded off away from a tyrant.
Such irony. The tyrant is awakening here. And it isn't a drow...."