A small crowd gathers to watch the landing of a bright yellow airship with the Star and Anchor emblazoned proudly across her envelope. The watchers appear to be mostly Rhians, though with a few Khattas and Katthas mixed among them. From the deck of the airship, a Kavi Templar turns to her poodle companion. "Welcome to the Golden Peninsula," she says, her voice half a sneer, "Lady Secundus. Do you know what to do now?"

Executor Secundus, her title by no means including "Lady", simply nods and appears to ignore the subtle insult. She drops her voice and answers her superior quietly, "If they have not already done so, the friends of this man will soon think to warn him. I suspect he will flee, or if not fled, that a messenger will be sent to him to warn of our search. I would recommend we begin by contacting the local mayor, ostensibly demonstrating our authority while ensuring the village is aware of us. We will then search the homes of those known to be associated with the man. That completed, we will monitor the most likely exits or buildings day and night if need be for signs of fleeing parties – either he himself, or an accomplice. We will locate him through the accomplice if he is not to be found."

The Kavi snorts. "Monitor the exits of the most likely buildings? Do you keep an army in your pocket just for such occasions, Puffball?" By now, the crew has tethered the ship to the ground and lowered a rope ladder over the side for the passengers to disembark. "We'll start by talking to the local officials. At least you got that part right."

Without waiting for a response to her comment, Kaalaas turns away to step to the top of the ladder, prepared to climb down.

Puffball? The lady blinks, but nods slightly. Seeing Kaalaas is departing without waiting for clarification, she just follows along after her, and keeps her thoughts to herself for the moment.

On the ground, Kaalaas directs her unfriendly gaze across the small crowd, looking as if she'd like to shoo them away. "I'm surprised even Al Bawaba hasn't coughed up someone official to greet a Temple ship," she remarks in Rephidim Standard, presumably to Elise, or maybe to herself. "You know the way to the town hall, Secundus?"

"Yes, ma'am," replies Elise. She lifts a hand and points in the direction of the walled city beyond the crowd of people. "A small building off the town square. Simple to reach."

Kaalaas gives an elaborate, sweeping mock bow to Elise, gesturing ahead. "Lead on, then, O Lady,"

Elise inclines her head and begins forward. "I assume since you have taken the manner of a servant, I expect you mean to carry our luggage as well." After a few steps the lady pauses, raising a brow inquiringly.

"No, Puffball," Kaalaas says, needled by the bait. "I'm not your servant. But since ostensibly you're qualified to be an Executor, you can hardly prove that to me if I let you sit back while I do all the work. That means you lead, I follow. And I only step forward when you prove you can't hack it. As for the luggage – since I'm sure it's 'beneath' you to carry it, we'll leave it at the ship until we know where we're going. The crew will take shore leave until tomorrow in any case. Don't worry, your pretty dresses won't fly away without you."

"And here I expected it might have been some elaborate plan of yours." The Executor Secundus turns back around, tilting her head in consideration. "A training technique perhaps. A pity. Well then, shall we?" And with that, Elise begins off again towards the town square, waving the crowd to move from before her.

The Kavi snorts again, and follows in Elise's wake. As they advance through the crowd, small, raggedly-dressed children mob about, clamoring in heavily accented Khattan for shekels, and variously offering themselves as guides and porters. They target Elise first, as she's in front.

"You, there," Elise addresses one of the children in Khattan – a Rhian girl quick of motion who manages to make her way past the others despite their pushing. "Walk with me a moment."

"Yes, ma'am?" the young Rhian says, looking attentive, while the others paw at Elise's robes, still crying out for cash in high-pitched voices. She moves with quick strides alongside the poodle woman. As Elise continues to push past the crowd, some of the children turn their attention to Kaalaas.

The Kavi doesn't bother to address the children. Instead, she draws one of the long knives sheathed at her side – so quickly and smoothly it looks as if the blade sprung from the palm of her hand. As small hands reach towards her, the knife darts between them and herself, teeth bared in a snarl. The children draw back, palms bared, and give her quick bows before fleeing into the crowd. "Vermin," she growls.

Elise drops her voice to a whisper, turning her head to speak with the child … and keeping a hand and eye on her belongings. "I imagine you are looking for work? Lucrative work? Take this shekel. You will thank me for it, as if I gave it to you out of charity for you to buy something for these children here. You will take them with you, and you will make your way in stealth to an alley near the mayor's house. When I leave, you will stop me subtly and take me to your friends. There is more money to be made, and I will explain there." She draws out a shekel and hands it to the girl. "Now go, and remember to thank me as I explained."

As the noble poodle gives the speech, after opening her pouch and producing the shekel for the Rhian girl, she feels a hand touch the purse, and when she turns to look at the source, she sees one of the children, a ratty creature with a bushy tail that looks almost Kadie-like, reaching out with a knife to cut the cord tying it to her belt.

Meanwhile, the Rhian has snatched the coin from the noble's hand, crying, "O thanks to you, great noble Lady! O many thanks to you, beautiful light that shines as the moon in winter." She bows theatrically to Elise, a grin on her face.

"Coins or your life," says Elise. She turns and shifts her gaze so that its weight falls fully on the Kadie-like child who would rob her. "Chose now." Distracted, she can give no acknowledgement to the other child.

Caught in the act, the squirrelly creature squeaks and turns tail to flee.

"Kaalaas, stop her," says Elise. The lady draws her knife, and spins back around to face where she had been looking, lifting her knife to throw it as she scans for the thief who grabbed her sword.

The urchin who slit the leather holding the scabbard to her belt could hardly get far before Elise noticed the weight missing – part of her is still marveling at how she could miss someone removing her sword. Kaalaas barks in laughter, but dives gleefully after the bolting Kadie child. The poodle spots the scrollwork of her sheath, bobbing along at the side of a Khattan child ducking between the legs of the adults milling around. He's headed for the shanty houses built outside the city wall.

The Rhian girl, all the while, holds up her shekel and continues to heap flowery thanks upon the poodle, who at this point has to wonder how much is typically Khattan politeness, and how much might be simple sarcasm.

The lady's eyes narrow. Try and offer honest work … , she snarls in thought. Without delay, the poodle sets off after the fleeing child who stole her sword and keeps her knife ready, both in preparation of using it and to ward off any other wandering hands. She tries to follow close enough to be in range without the crowd in the way.

Not being lame, and with a head start already, the child gains ground on her quickly. However, the crowd isn't thick and doesn't attempt to hinder her. Moments later, she breaks out of the press and sees the Khatta boy in the open, perhaps twenty yards ahead of her, scurrying for the shelter of the shanties.

Elise hoists her dagger aloft, aims, and flings it after the thief who stole her sword.

The dagger thunks into the dirt yards away from the boy. If he notices, it only spurs him to greater speed, and a moment later, he darts in among the shanty houses.

The lady's empty hand clenches in to a fist for a moment before she forces it down and begins limping after her dagger. As she moves, she unlatches her crossbow and proceeds to cock it with help of its stirrup lest someone think to take her dagger as well.

The remainder of the crowd – now devoid of children, as all the other urchins, whether guilty or not, have fled – appears interested only in gawking, not in further molesting her. A few minutes after she recovers the thrown dagger, while looking around for her companion, she finally spots the Executor Majoris. The Kavi wears a lopsided smirk as she saunters closer. The Kadie child is with her, arms bound behind her back with a length of cord, and Kaalaas holds the bound wrists high, forcing the child to walk hunched over and sniveling. The Majoris stops in front of Elise, and looks pointedly at the spot where the lady's sword had hung. She says nothing, however.

"Yes, Executor Majoris?" asks Elise in a tone that is ice for its near-dead lack of inflection. She watches her superior, neither smiling, nor frowning, but simply watching her with an expression as suppressed of emotion as her voice.

The Kavi's smile grows, and her shoulders shake with laughter. "Lead on, Puffball," she tells Elise at last. "The town hall, I believe? We can drop the baggage off there." To emphasize what the "baggage" is, she tugs on the cord binding the child's hands, and the Kadie whimpers.

Elise simply nods, and turns to walk off towards the town hall.

To take her mind off her latest adventures, and discipline her thoughts, Elise reviews what she knows of the case in her mind – and particularly how they connect to the city she is currently in.

Of the three people starring in the plot Faith spun out for them, Nadia had the closest ties to Al Bawaba. The Investigator's file suggested that Nadia was native to this town, though Faith was careful to note that she was not certain of this. However, the gray Rhian woman had letters of reference from a couple of Al Bawaba merchants, which she'd used to gain employment in Rephidim. She spoke with the kind of accent peculiar to the Peninsula's dialect of Khattan.

Not a great deal more is known about Nadia, except that she was considered uncommonly pretty among other equines, with a delicate head and dappled gray fur. Not even her exact relationship with Fateh is clearly known. The man often called her "samasi," a word similar to the Khattan word for "sister," but unlike Fateh, Nadia avowed no surname, and "samasi" may have been a slang word from the Golden Peninsula, with a meaning closer to "close female friend." She worked as a gardener while in Rephidim, up until her first supposed "departure," at which point she'd quit in preparation. The file does include the names of the merchants given in the letters of reference: a Mr. and Mrs. Fareesa, and a Mr. Shaay.

Fateh Nyorga was born to a herding family in a village on the east coast, and at some time as a young man, migrated to Al Bawaba, where he reportedly worked at the docks. Nadia and he left Al Bawaba together to emigrate to Rephidim, where Nyorga worked seasonally at the docks and occasionally on farms in the countryside. He spoke of being "great friends" with a Rhian who owns a public house in Al Bawaba, Maarouf Kabir. Kabir had a brother who lived in Rephidim and worked at a tavern there, which was a common hang out for Nadia, Nyorga, and Ordway.

Temple Ranger Ordway, Elise's assigned target, met the other two Rhians in Rephidim. Ordway was a Rephidim native, and apart from Nadia and Fateh, doesn't appear to have any connections in this part of the world. However, everything in the file supported Faith's contention that Nadia, Fateh, and Ordway had all, at the least, gone to the Golden Peninsula by way of Al Bawaba, even if they were not still there.

By the time she finishes ordering her thoughts, Elise and Kaalaas have reached the town square. The Kavi's bared knife and the Kadie she holds on a leash appears to have deterred any one else, beggar, thief, or merchant, from approaching them.

As the group makes their way in to the town square, the Gallee amongst them lifts a hand to point at a small building. "That is the home of the mayor directly beside the temple there," she points out.

By Elise's standards, the mayoral home certainly qualifies as small, and it does look modest by comparison even with the temple adjacent. However, at three stories tall and a hundred feet long, the residence looks nice by the standards of Al Bawaba. It compares to the town hall across from it. "So it is, Binadantake," Kaalaas remarks. "Are we going there first, or to the town hall?" The arm holding the Kadie child drifts from side to side lazily, while the girl sniffles, bushy tail drooped.

"The hall first, the home if the mayor is absent," answers Elise. She turns from the house and gestures the Kavi to follow her.

With Kavi and child in tow, the poodle noble enters the town hall. The entrance has a high ceiling and open, glassless windows, currently unshuttered – as close as they are to the coast and the equator, the weather is pleasant despite the lateness of the year. Elise's boots click against the elaborate tile of the floor, attracting the eye of a Rhian seated on cushions before a low table.

The Rhian official rises as they approach, starts to bow, widens his eyes as he spots the bound child, then completes his bow anyway. "Welcome to our city, Honored Templars," he says, speaking in Rephidim Standard. "It is our pleasure to have such distinguished visitors, and we look forward to learning more about the illustrious representatives of Rephidim, such as what quarrel they have with a young girl of Al Bawaba."