"These walls are manned by soldiers from the Firestone manor, sent over to help the city with its gang problems."

Jacob leaned back in his seat with the comfort of someone who had learned early that talking filled silences better than letting them sit.

"As an apprentice I’m in charge of a few of them personally. If you encounter any trouble in the city, my hand is always out."

He said it with the specific generosity of someone who expected the gesture to land as impressive.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,

The carriage Derrick had sourced was already filled to the brim.

Treasures packed in careful arrangement from one end to the other, energy rich materials that had taken most of the evening to locate and purchase, leaving absolutely no room for two people to sit down inside it without disturbing something that probably shouldn’t be disturbed on a moving road in the city of Dogs.

Arian had looked at the situation and immediately disliked the available solution.

Jacob’s carriage was right there. Jacob was offering. Jacob was, by every observable measure, extremely pleased with himself about being in a position to offer.

But leaving a carriage loaded with that volume of materials sitting on the streets of this particular section of Davos while they walked or found alternative arrangements was not a reasonable option either. This was a cesspool. Someone would make a decision about unattended valuables within minutes.

Arian weighed it.

She agreed.

Visibly unhappy about agreeing, but agreed.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,

The inside of Jacob’s carriage was nicer than the street outside suggested most things in this part of the city would be. He sat across from them with his hands relaxed in his lap, the picture of a young man who was accustomed to having people sit across from him and listen.

Arian and Ember were not listening.

Arian was watching the street through the window with the focused attention of someone cataloguing the route. Ember was sitting straight, hands folded, expression set to something that could generously be described as neutral.

Jacob recalibrated.

"Sister Arian." He shifted to warmth. "I must compliment your beauty. There are very few women even in this city that match up to you. I, Jacob, am very lucky to have met you today."

He deployed it with the confidence of someone who had used this particular tool before and found it effective.

"Thank you."

Arian said it without turning from the window.

Underneath the word her assessment of the person sitting across from her was moving in a direction that had nothing to do with gratitude. Shameless was the word that came to mind first. Persistent in a way that seemed completely unconnected to whatever the other person’s face was doing.

Her eyes moved without fully turning her head.

Ember.

She caught it quickly, the way you catch something you weren’t looking for.

Ember’s gaze had drifted to Jacob’s wrist. To the bracelet sitting there. Something about it had hooked her attention and wasn’t letting go, the quality of the focus slightly too fixed, slightly too still.

The envy curse.

It had taken root again, quietly, the way it always did, latching onto something in the environment and building from there. Arian didn’t know what specifically about the bracelet had triggered it. But she recognized the early signs and knew what came after them if nothing interrupted the progression.

This Jacob would not make it home if Ember got much further along that road.

Arian filed it away and kept her expression level, adjusting her position slightly so her shoulder was closer to Ember’s without making it visible.

A small anchor. Enough for now.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,

The carriage pulled into the eastern courtyard near the wall.

The corpse guards stepped forward immediately, moving to the loaded carriage alongside Derrick and the maid, beginning the process of transferring the materials inside with the kind of efficiency that came from things that didn’t get tired or distracted.

Jacob stepped down.

He stood in front of the courtyard entrance and looked at it.

He wasn’t inexperienced. He understood what daily life in this city looked like for most people, the texture of it, the ceiling it put on what you could reasonably expect to own or occupy. He had walked through enough of Davos to know what a courtyard like this said about the person renting it.

In the middle of the slums.

Adjacent to the wall.

A pool visible from the gate. A wide circular layout. The kind of space that cost real money in a part of the city where real money was not common.

Something didn’t fit.

He stood there and let the idea form without rushing it.

Top grade beauties. Real resources. A luxury courtyard in a bad part of town. No visible male presence when they were out shopping. Corpse guards answering to no one he recognized.

Young women of this quality living in a place like this did not arrive at that situation through ordinary means.

The conclusion assembled itself with the particular speed of someone who wanted a conclusion and found one waiting.

They had been taken.

Some older man with money and no principles had snatched them from wherever they belonged and installed them here, far enough from their families that nobody was looking in the right direction.

Jacob straightened.

As a member of the Firestone manor he had a certain obligation to justice. To the protection of people who couldn’t protect themselves. To the correction of situations that offended the moral sensibilities of someone in his position.

He would correct this situation.

He would liberate these two women from their circumstances and in doing so demonstrate the kind of character that the Firestone manor’s apprentices were known for producing.

"Ladies." He turned back to them, his expression now carrying the particular gravity of someone who had understood something important. "I think I understand your situation. I apologize for not seeing it clearly before." He nodded once, eyes moving between them with what he clearly believed was meaningful depth. "Give me some time. I will come back and help you."

Arian looked at him.

Said nothing.

Ember had pulled her attention back from the bracelet and was now looking at him with an expression that had settled somewhere between exhaustion and something sharper underneath it.

Jacob took both of these as confirmation.

He got back into his carriage, and a moment later it was moving, rolling away from the courtyard at a pace that suggested purpose, a young man with a plan and the self-assurance to believe the plan was a good one.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Leon came out of the courtyard as the carriage disappeared around the corner.

He looked at the materials being carried in, ran a quick eye over the volume and variety of what had been sourced, and then looked at the retreating carriage.

"Who was that?"

"Some random young master." Arian shook her head with a slight smirk that carried the specific tiredness of someone who had met this exact person in different clothes many times before.

She had.

They were very annoying.

Leon watched the carriage go for another second, then turned and followed the materials inside.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​