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The room seems to take a breath as those who notice you enter grow silent, but there are enough people who didn’t notice you enter, who continue about there business, that it is a subtle drop in volume. When you lean against the wall, for a few moments you get the sense that all eyes are upon you, but then, after a few moments, it is the opposite. It is as if everyone in the place is avoiding looking at you. You wonder if this is a sign of respect of disrespect. Whatever it is, it is some kind of decorum. It is too consistent to not be purposeful. No one is looking at you, not a single soul..and then you see her.
A young woman in a simple, but elegant gown is walking directly at you, directly in the line of your vision. Even as the rest of the room continues to ignore your presence, she alone seems to acknowledge you in fullness. At two arms length she pauses and performs a practiced curtsy.
“Humbly I ask, that I might provide… does the handsome master come to parlay, drink, or do both this evening?”
As you approach, the figure at the door hurriedly straightens up and heads inside ahead of you.
You brush open the doors and see a cavernous and shadowy common room crowded with people and supplies…it is part saki house, part tavern, part warehouse, and part market place all in one. No sign of the guy who went in before you, but it would be easy to vanish in a place like this. The smoky tang of lamp oil mixes with that of steamed rice and fried fish. This is about what you see inside, except lit my lamps and candles instead of natural light:
In the dying light of dusk, dressed to the 9s, you walk down towards Laketown. It’s just the 3 of you and Evon’s personal lantern bearer. Most of Fanlu is at making dinner in this hour, so the streets are quite most of the way out of Redtown. Everyone who does see you, makes exaggerated bows in your direction, eager to make sure you see their acknowledgement without being bothered by it. The people of Fanlu give you a respectful distance, but go out of there way to let you know they recognize you in some pretty awkward and interesting ways. There’s no doubt you are celebrities.
You stroll east down the hill through Fanlu’s quite, rural parts, passing the path that branches off the main road and heads up The Sleeping Mountain.
Evon and his lantern bearer lead you off the main gravel road, in the opposite direction, across a shallow ditch, and into a dense plum orchard heading north east. There’s no clear path, and you’re shocked for a moment as Evon nonchalantly straddles his way over a hedge and bids you to follow him. For a moment it feels like you are out in the country. In the dense orchard the old trees hide any signs that an entire town is out there just beyond them. This seems to be a well traveled path for Evon. Both he and his Lantern Bearer make several turns in the grove without conversation, as if they have traveled this path before many times. You have that feeling you’re trespassing on someone else’s land, that bit of excitement like when you would sneak into an orchard as a child to steal some farmers fruit. You do not feel in any danger, only that tinge of nervous excitement when you think you might be somewhere you’re not allowed to go. Evon makes small talk as you go, though his voice has noticeably gone from loud and clear to somewhat hushed. Almost seamlessly you enter a part of the orchard that feels over grown. Nature has begun to reclaim it. Other trees grow among the plum trees, breaking up the neat rows. There is still no sign of the town you know yourselves to be in. The last rays of sunlight are lighting one side of the trees, even as the other side is being lost in the grey of dusk. It will be dark in minutes.
