Searing 32 121
Using the information that Lord Thanh had given him was easy enough to do. It had him on the ground in running to find new contacts that might have known Ong Yun in her human life. Simple, easy work. But there had been a problem all its own in the days that had followed taking that lead. It was the matter of prying information from others that proved to be something else. Mino had already found a handful of mages with some connection to the noble lady, but nothing particularly concrete. The last man that the rathari had visited had seemed most perturbed by the mention of her becoming an abomination. Which meant that what Mino had thought initially was true: that while there was some truth to what Bui had told him, enough had been fabricated to make her disappearance more believable.
He supposed she couldn’t be blamed for wanting to escape the trappings of nobility. There was so much fanfare and farce involved in even the simplest of conversations. Exhausting to keep up with, sometimes, even for him. He licked his lips as he reclined back against a wall, considered the sun and the shade and the people milling by. Some who glanced his way and those who seemed content to go about their business without a care for their surroundings. At his feet, a kitten purred happily over the free meal that had been tossed in its direction. It might have been meant for him at one point, but Mino hadn’t been paying much attention.
“How does Lady Sage do this?” The question went to no one in particular. This wasn’t, to be fair, what his responsibilities were within the house. Sure, he did his fair share of interviewing others, but those were usually sent to him. Not him running them down. And as personable as he could be, there was something about these conversations that was just terribly — exhausting.
His shoulders sagged as he dropped down to scratch the top of the kitten’s head. In the corner of his eyes, a familiar feline form slunk around a corner and he paused momentarily to watch it. Pumpkin was not a strange sight to see, but it was strange to see her round a corner more than once. This had to be the third time, and each time she came from a new direction. Which meant there must have been something calling her back. But her mouth had been empty so she couldn’t have given up her rights as queen of the strays yet.
He watched, a fourth time, as she trotted past him to the same corner. Consider his interest piqued.