Nikiro and Sin stood outside of the dollhouse waiting to be escorted in. As long as they were covered by their veils no one was the wiser. They simply passed by, assuming they were one of the many young men that came wandering to the dollhouse out of curiosity. They didn't wait outside for long though. A woman brushed the curtains in the entryway to the side, her long dark braids falling gracefully to her side as she stepped outside to greet them.
"Welcome to the Dollhouse sirs. How would you liked to be served today?"
Sin crossed his arms nonchalantly. "We'd like a private room, one as warm as a kiss from the sun."
The woman raised her head to look at them and smiled. "Of course, right this way please."
She led them to a private room away from the crowds outside. As soon as they were inside, Sin took his hat off and flopped onto the ground, propping himself up on the table with an arm.
"It's good to see you Zarah! It's unfortunate we didn't run into each other the last time I was here. You're as beautiful as ever!"
Zarah laughed, shutting the door behind her. "Watch yourself little Prince. I'm far too old for you."
Nikiro raised an eyebrow. She didn't seem that old. She looked like she was in her late 20's at most.
"What? It's only been like a hundred years tops since you died. That's not too bad!"
A pillow smacked Sin right in the face, stopping him from talking. "Don't you know it's rude to comment on a lady's age like that?"
Sin laughed. "You're the one that brought it up first." He shifted, sitting up lazily in his seat. Sin seemed to have caught the confused look on Nikiro's face and chuckled. "Oh that's right, you don't know. All the ladies who work at the dollhouse are demons and spirits from older underworld brothels that mom brought over. Zarah here was a princess before she took up this work."
"Ah...I see."
Zarah flashed her fangs in a toothy grin. "That's neither here nor there. It's been a while since you've used the secret code. What information are you looking for today?"
Sin cleared his throat. "Right, we've got a tip on the instigator behind the Scarlet Night but before we head off to apprehend him, we wanted to check in with you guys first. The only information we're going on is the testimony of their accomplice. The man she described matches the profile of Sindaria's little pet, Gabriel. Avarice's report mention that he's from the Nightless City but that's about it."
"Prince Avarice was investigating the Nightless city right? Where is he? I thought he would come with you," said Zarah.
"About that..." Sin pulled Avarice's letter out from his pocket and handed it to Zarah.
She scanned over it, looking back up at Sin with a look of unease. "You have doubts about the validity of this letter?"
"Yeah. I haven't told anyone else. The writing is similar enough but it's unlike him to not let someone know where he'll be when he's gone off by himself."
Zarah thought for a moment. "Hmm, I don't know if it's related but there have been reports of some suspicious movements in Raeha. We've heard whispers from merchants doing business in the Raeha countryside that a local apothecary just sold out of their entire stock of Anamnesis."
"What's that?" asked Nikiro.
"An amnesia inducing drug. Small doses give you a temporary high but too much of it could cause permanent memory loss. If you believe this letter to have been forged, there's a good possibility that Prince Avarice has been kidnaped. When did you last see him?"
"After he informed me of the accomplice's confession he left to clean up the base we had near the Nightless City. I haven't seen him since," said Sin.
"And you say that Prince Avarice mentioned that Gabriel was originally from the Nightless City..." Zarah trailed off.
"So now we're adding kidnapping to his list of crimes."
Nikiro put a hand on Sin's shoulder. "We don't know for sure that he has Avarice."
"Well he doesn't exactly have best track record. Colluding with Sindaria, injuring a prince, instigator of the Scarlet Night, and now kidnapping the one person that could put all the pieces together. He's the most obvious person all of this points to."
Zarah handed back the letter. "If he's the one that sent this letter instead, I doubt that he's already killed the Prince. If we assume the lack of Anamnesis at the apothecary is due to him as well, then he probably wants to keep Avarice until the drug takes affect and then he'll let him go. Logically it would make sense to simply do away with him, but for whatever reason, it seems that he wants to spare Avarice."
Nikiro looked down in contemplation. "That does sound like a likely scenario...all the more reason to pay a visit to the Nightless City."
"If he catches wind that we're coming he'll just hide Avarice. I don't think showing up in Raeha with a Solarian ship will avoid suspicion," said Sin.
"Where is your ship?"
"We took a ship to the coast of the Geyser Plains so nobody would see us leaving the palace to come here."
Zarah hummed in response. "I'll arrange for you to travel with one of the Raeha merchants. They'll be able to get you into the Nightless City without raising any suspicion."102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡktMPLPeo17
