Snippet #1477435

Pandora followed the discussion as best she could, but so many of the names involved were unknown to her, and truthfully she was still a little overwhelmed by the fact that her hostess was none other than the heir to the crown. So puzzled was she that most of what Mr. Vernazza was talking about missed her completely, though she did regain enough of her faculties to speak next.

"Underground laboratories... um, I might be able to help with that," the healer stated sheepishly. "Er, that is... as most of you know, I'm a healer in District Delta, but my magical leanings are also partially metaphysical and..." she paused, trying to sort her thoughts into an order that would make some semblance of sense to anyone else. "I recently treated a patient that had been poisoned, you see. The good doctor was there, and I really know nothing about chemicals, so he's probably the one to ask about that, but... the thing is, I saw a laboratory without windows, and it smelled like citric acid or some kind. Well, at least that's what the doctor told me it was. I just smelled strawberries."

Her lack of proper terminology was beginning to embarrass her. It figured that she was in front of these important people and couldn't manage to sound like much more than an inarticulate child. "The two people working on it seemed to be hesitant for anyone else to discover them, even down there, so I think maybe it's being done in secret?" She flicked a glance around the room, half-expecting to be thrown out at any second, though why, she was only vaguely-conscious of. Contrary to this, the older gentleman who had fought with Eos was looking rather encouragingly at her, though she wasn't certain if this was a good thing or not. "Unfortunately, that's all I could see. Sound was difficult, so..."

"Did you see a face?" the assassin (for surely that was what he must be) asked, and she shook her head.

"Nothing so useful as that, I'm afraid. Magic is... tricky, sometimes."

---

"I saw a face," Zade murmured from her seat at the opposite end of the table. "Not the same one, obviously, but now that I get to thinking about it..." the thief hesitated; she had little desire to reveal her chosen profession to the room at large, but then she figured if the bloody Princess already knew, it probably wasn't that secret anyway.

"I... steal things, occasionally, from nobles. I happened to be working the estate next door the night Goldwater was killed. Place was a bloody uproar afterwards, too, and I have no doubt those damn guards thought I was the killer." She sounded disgusted, and rightfully so. Zade left the killing to people who had a taste for it- she rather preferred her day job, thank you very much.

"Well, I didn't think much of it at the time, seeing as how I was busy running for my life and all that-" her hand hovered over her upper arm, but she did not touch it- "but there was a man there, nearby. Black cloak and all. I didn't think much of it at the time, since I had no idea anyone had just died, and really you see assassins all over the place in Gamma. I remember him, though, because he had only one eye." She shrugged. "No idea who he is, and I'd never seen him before, and haven't since, but he was there."