Two hours later Cylus found himself standing inside a small, dimly lit shop. The address Ashenbach had given him lead several blocks into the Lower Ward where a greasy black haired, long finger nailed, clearly Virensian proprietor gave him a disinterested gaze.
     “So what is it needs sewing?” the proprietor asked in his scratchy voice.
     “I don’t – uhh…” Cylus was at a loss.  He couldn’t imagine Ashenbach’s wise advice was simply to have a nice outfit made and go wander into the noble district.  Cylus was almost as classically Virensian looking as the proprietor.  There was no way an outfit alone would do the trick.
     “Well, I don’t have time to guess so how about you come back when you know what –“
     “Ashenbach sent me,” Cylus blurted out.
     The tailor’s dark eyes became slits as he studied Cylus more closely.  “Oh he did, did he?”
     “Yes.  He gave me this.”  Cylus pulled the note out and handed it to the shopkeeper, hoping he’d recognize the writing.
     The tailor pulled out a surprisingly expensive looking monocle and studied the sheet for a second or two.  Cylus let out a breath of relief when the tailor’s demeanor suddenly shifted.
     “Ahhh, well then… You and I need to be going into the back and getting you properly made up then.  Would you put this in the window for me please?”
     He handed Cylus a little square sign that read, ‘Back shortly.’
     “Lock the door too if you could.”
    

     The rest of the afternoon was spent transforming Cylus into quite a proper looking Aachenite gentile.  Nanzo, “My friends just call me ‘Rags’” was meticulous and spent a great deal of time showing Cylus how to prepare “the disguise” for each time he wished to adorn it.  He assured Cylus that once he got used to the process it would take no more than an hour.  The amount of strange powders, pastes and other assorted unknown sundries involved astonished Cylus but he studied closely and felt confident he could pull it off.  The finishing touch was a blonde wig that Nanzo assured him was made from the finest real Aachenite hair to which Cylus was unsure how he felt.  Something about festooning another person’s hair over his own just seemed rather morose to him.  Just the same though, when all was said and done, Cylus looked in the mirror and could barely recognize himself.
     “Amazing…” he said almost involuntarily.
     “I know,” Rags smiled, satisfied as he looked over his work one final time.  “Take that bag over on the table when you go.  It should have enough in there to give you twenty or so applications.”
     “Thank you very much!” Cylus said as he sprang up out of the chair.  “I’m… uhh… how much do I –“
     “Ashenbach sent you.  First time is on me.  When you need something else or more supplies, then we can talk price.”
    

     Excited about his new disguise, Cylus decided he would test its mettle by going into Mama Chesca’s and playing the part of a noble first time visitor.  If it could fool the girls he’d seen every day for the last many twelve moons, there was no doubt it would work on the nobles of Fountain Hill who’d never even met him.
     Inside the place was quite crowded with the usual dinner rush.  Cylus scanned the room for an open table and saw two.  He chose the one near the fireplace, not wanting to be close to where Rachele was working at the moment.  As much as he was keyed up about testing his new persona, he wouldn’t feel right about duping Rachele or Mamma Chesca for that matter. 
     As he made his way across the room, Cylus thought about just what the details of that persona should be.  He needed a proper Aachenite name, a decent background story that couldn’t be checked on easily and hopefully a few of the types of details that made him a compelling character to those he met.  By the time he ordered his first drink and found it resting on the table in front of him, the whole thing was pretty well sketched out.
     “Good evening fine sir,” a smooth, sultry voice caressed his ear as a delicate touch ran over his left shoulder.
     Cylus almost giggled, gleeful it was working thus far.  Then the beautiful woman attached to the voice and soft touch slid into the open chair across from him and Cylus almost spit out his mouthful of brandy.  Staring at him from not two feet away was Lissandra.  Her look belayed no sign of recognition though and Cylus quickly gathered his wits.
     “My lady,” he drawled, using the best Aachenite accent he could muster.
     “I’m Lissandra.  I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.” She extended a hand, palm down.
     Cylus took it and gave her the obligatory peck, noticing the sweet hint of her perfume as he did.  “No m’lady, just traveled up from Ensdorf and my guide told me about this fine place off the beaten path that any gentleman just had to visit.”
     Lissandra smiled demurely and Cylus thought, not for the first time, she certainly was expert at her craft.  
     “You’ve not told me your name kind sir,” she queried.
     “My apologies, how rude of me.  I am Konrad.  Konrad Bodmer, son of Lord Brendon Bodmer the third.”  Cylus dipped his head in a slight bow.
     “Well Konrad, your guide has directed you well.  I believe after this evening you may even see it fit to give him a raise.”  Lissandra deftly turned up the sultry charm as she looked sharply into his eyes.  Cylus got butterflies in his stomach for a moment and then suddenly felt very wrong about the whole thing. 
     Misreading his uncomfortable shift, Lissandra reached across the table and placed her hand over his. 
     “It’s okay dear, we don’t bite here.”  With that she let out an impish little giggle and stood up. 
     “I’ll just run over to the bar and get you a refill on that brandy.  Enjoy the ambience will you?” Her voice was smooth as silk.
     Cylus just swallowed and nodded.  Watching her saunter over toward the bar, he shook his head for a moment then moved his gaze around the room.  He stopped cold when he made it directly across from himself to a table where Rachele was working.  Through the small crowd of people between them, he could see Rachele was studying him rather closely.
     ‘Uh oh,’ he thought.  ‘She knows something is up.’
     Nonchalantly, Cylus leaned back in his chair, moving slightly to the left so his line of site to Rachele would be blocked by one of the customer’s heads.
     For the moment she didn’t follow and Cylus got busy figuring out how he was going to get out of this little encounter with Lissandra.
     Just then, a cacophony of noise burst forth from the kitchen.  Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked back over in the direction of the bar.  It sounded as if an entire shelf of dishes had come crashing down.  Lissandra moved quickly around the end of the counter and went for the kitchen doors.  Rachele was only a few steps behind.
     Cylus’ first reaction was to follow and see if everything was okay but then he caught himself, remembering who he was here as.  For the second time in as many days, he took an opportunity to duck into the lobby, through to the stairs.
    

     It turned out that removing the disguise was a much easier task than employing it and Cylus, as himself once more, was on his way down the stairs within ten minutes.
     Bursting through the kitchen doors he found Mama, Rachele and a few of the help picking up the shattered pieces of dishes off the floor around the wash basins.  Cylus looked up to the shelf that housed the dishes and saw it was intact.
     “Who put the shelf back up,” he asked as he joined in the effort.
     “Oh hi dear,” Mama said, half forcing a smile.  “Everything is fine,” she added, seeing the concerned expression on his face.
     Rachele stopped what she was doing and looked over at Cylus, squinting her eyes ever so slightly. She opened her mouth to say something but one of the other girls beat her to it.
     “Yeah Mama, what knocked all the dishes over?”
     “Oh Bela, don’t you worry about it now.  Everything is fine back here.  I think Cylus and I can pick up the rest.  You girls get back out there and tend to the customers.  We’re going to spoil a good busy night cleaning up in here.  Go.” 
     She shooed the girls out with a wave of her hand.  Cylus made a big show of digging up some pieces behind one of the counters as Rachele came past him.  He wasn’t sure if she had figured out his Konrad disguise but he didn’t want to deal with that look she had given him just now.
     “Mama,” he said as he came up with a handful of jagged white ceramic. “What happened?  Is everything okay?”
     “Everything is fine Cylus,” she replied firmly as she swept a small pile of pieces into a dust bin.  “The corner of the shelf popped is all and everything slid off.”
     Cylus took a quick glance at the far shelf corner.  The bulk of the pieces of plates had flown too far across the room to be just a loose corner and some sliding plates.  He was about to press further but the look on Mama Chesca’s face stopped him.  It wasn’t a look Cylus had ever seen before and he couldn’t even say quite what it was.  Whatever she was thinking at the moment though, it was clear he should leave her to it. 
     It took only another ten minutes to help clean up and with nothing else to say and no desire to go back in the main room and possibly face Rachele, Cylus decided to slip out the back and take a stroll around the docks in the cool night air.
     The waterfront in the Lower Docks was unusually quiet which was fine by Cylus.  He wandered to the end of Tacito’s Pier and sat under the sign which simply read, “Pier 17,” the official Aachen city name for the pier that everyone in the Lower Ward still called by its unofficial name in honor of the legendary mute warrior who stood against the Aachenite incursion.  More than a few times some vandal had painted over the sign with the citizen’s preferred name but it never lasted there more than a day.
     Gazing out over the moon’s reflection on the waves of The Shurishad, Cylus ran over the events of the day in his mind.  It had been quite an eventful one between the morning meeting with Ashenbach, Rags’ disguise, the uncomfortable encounter with Lissandra; and then that strange, unreadable mood of Mama Chesca’s.  Try as he might, Cylus could not hazard a guess as to what had sent the normally unflappable woman into such a strange way.
     “I see Cylus has avoided the guards yet again.”
     “Not all of us can disappear into the woodwork,” Cylus replied, turning his head in time to watch Ponto as the halfling plopped down next to him on the pier.
     “You owe Ponto eight gold and a drink.”  Ponto extended a pudgy hand under Cylus’ chin.
     Cylus reached up and pushed the hand back toward its diminutive owner.  “I don’t think Ponto finished telling me the information we agreed to.”
     Ponto let out a sound somewhere between a “hurumph” and a snort.  “You know all you need to know to find your beloved obsession.”
     Ponto looked up at Cylus now, clearly holding on to something more and enjoying the moment of advantage.  Cylus wasn’t going to play into his game, though and so just looked back out over the water in silence.
     Ponto waited it out for a couple moments and then cracked.  “You must be wondering what had Mama Chesca so upset.”
     Cylus whipped around and grabbed a hold of Ponto’s shoulder.  “Information for me is one thing Ponto, but if something is wrong with Mama you don’t sell me that!”
     “Okay, okay!” Ponto squealed as shrugged away from Cylus’ grip.
     Making a big show of brushing himself off, Ponto took an extra moment before beginning.
     “Well I think it was about sunset, or was it pastsun?” Ponto paused for dramatic effect, not willing to completely let go of making a show of it.  “No matter.  Ponto was bored and looking for a good smoke.  It just so happened I remembered where I stashed a box that one night on the run from those overzealous dock hands.  You know, the ones working the tobacco ship from where was it again?  Do you remember that night?”
     Cylus tried to maintain some patience.  “Yes Ponto, I remember.”
     “Well then you remember that coincidentally I put the box in that brick cubby in the alley behind Mama Chesca’s kitchen yes?  I say coincidentally because as the fates would have it I was sitting in that very back alley, having my good smoke when two of the most unkind, surly looking gentlemen came bursting out from Mama’s back entrance.”
     Cylus sat up straight now and gave Ponto his undivided attention.  “Okay… Then what?”
     “Well, Ponto wasn’t sure if he should follow them or go into the kitchen and see if maybe there might be some courtesy treats for a friendly regular there such as myself.”  Ponto stopped there, blinking at Cylus innocently as if that was all that need be said.
     Cylus dipped his head ever so slightly and through gritted teeth asked, “What did they do to Mama Chesca?”
     Ponto let out a long sigh and finally continued, “I can’t say but when I went to the door, Mama was there picking up quite a mess and since the lovely Lissandra came in to help just then, Ponto though it better he leave them to their mess, so Ponto followed the smelly humans.”
     Ponto looked ready to try for another dramatic pause but he read Cylus’ expression and quickly finished his story.
     “I followed them all the way up to the Arena Docks.  They went into some building there that looked like it had a small warehouse attached and the sign over the main door said, ‘Blackmore Trading.’”
     Cylus looked back out over the water again as he considered this. He couldn’t recall anything about a Blackmore Trading company and certainly had no idea why a couple brutes from there would have visited Mama Chesca’s.  He needed more information.
     “Ponto saw a window open on the top floor by the warehouse…”
     Cylus sprung up onto his feet in one smooth motion.  “Let’s go.”