Thar Shaddin

Jacel admired the bag of bishani and shrugged. Paying up front was rare enough these days. Annalise was lucky he was a man of his word. Of course, she wasn’t stupid. He doubted she would have so gracefully given him the bag if he hadn’t had his own interest in the operation.

He stood and walked over to her. Keeping his voice muted, he said ,“Next time, just meet in the Bite. I’ll let you in through the back doors.” He thought about it for a moment. “To be frank, I doubt the company you keep is likely to show up anywhere near the place.” He took the money from her palm and turned his attention to the animal spectacle before him.

He swaggered up to the girl and Iarei. The cobblestone floor clinked at the touch of his cane, which he twirled slightly as he walked.

“Now now.” He crouched to push his hand firmly onto the dogs head before petting the mutt vigorously. “The neighbors are sleeping. Can’t let the good boy go and wake everyone, it would be unforgivably rude.” Jacel was used to working with dogs. Compared to the violent beasts he usually dealt with, calming this one down was a cakewalk. “Who’s a good boy, who’s a good boy!” The dog’s tail served back and forth, happy that it had succeeded and pleased the humans. He panted once or twice before closing up his mouth. Jacel sympathized. The night air must be hard on a big sloppy tongue like his.

Still petting the dog, Jacel looked over to the girl. “My friend here is a collector of exotic animals. That precious little owl you have there belongs to her. We were out all night helping her look for it, and it just stumbles into your arms! The chances.” He smiled warmly, shaking his head.

He turned to Iarei and said, “We should be glad she found it, before some dog or cat.” He head a thumping noise, and looked down to see a grey tail smacking against the stone. "Other than ours, of course."

Jacel was, in many ways, Iarei's superior. In all but the ways that mattered most. He was the equal to her superiors; in theory he held the power that the boss of her immediate boss held, a man whose name scarcely passed her lips. It was not because she didn't know the name, or that she was afraid of using it: Ghobad was simply too far beyond her for her to use his name with any regularity. He ruled the group she belonged to, as Jacel ruled his own.

It was a very, very pointed statement, therefore, when Ghobad used Iarei to treat with the leadership of other groups in partnership, business, or alliance without going himself.

Iarei knew herself in truth for the proverbial messenger who courted the fine line of death when the intended message -- be it that what passed her lips, held in her hands, or within she herself -- was not met well. It was therefore a most exhilarating game that she played with Jacel, because she herself was the messenger with which he might return Ghobad's political maneuverings: her death would be a fine statement, indeed. Oh, Jacel did not often use her as a means through which he passed his own messages to Ghobad; there were men he had, or women -- Iarei did not always have the time or means to keep up with those -- he sent likewise and with like purposes.

There was a delicate balance between Jacel and Iarei, and the quality and cost of her life depended much on the even more complicated relationship that passed between Jacel to Ghobad: lord to lord of the gross criminal underbelly of Marn.

And now, in the present, Jacel was making his intent known.

He was stepping on her, in the proverbial sense.

Hard.

"My apologies," she said softly, looking down at the dog with a grimace as she lowered the flailing arm that had no hand to grace it with. A stump was a clumsy thing; an awkward tool and a blunt weapon. The girl was quite nervous, and Iarei was not sure if it was herself, Jacel, the dog or Lise (and that woman, that Lady Lice, was someone Iarei intended without fail to find out more about, if she was forced to do the footwork herself), planes, maybe even a combination, that had caused the girl some distress. She gave herself leave to look rueful, and offered the girl a hesitant smile: a stranger's indulgence in her own clumsiness, and a sharing of it.

Iarei had long ago mastered the art of body language. Had to, in order to stay useful, and therefore alive. She'd learned much since she'd been a foolish youth, and had been forced to set aside the passions of such a youth in order to flourish beyond the petty naivete she'd carried when she'd first entered Marn.

"Again," she said, in the lee of Jacel's words. He was incurring her debt. She wondered where he'd want to spend it. But she looked upon him with some measure of fondness, and gratitude; though the fondness left her when she looked at the girl, the gratitude remained. And warmth, and kindness. She did not overstep her bounds as a stranger, but she gave those quiet hints of honor, and friendliness, that often passed between strangers and turned wariness into something with fewer edges. "My apologies."

Iarei had her value, after all. "I had to borrow this dog, and he is not well trained for it, to find the creature you carry. I've been half beside myself, and I was so excited when I saw you -- " she broke off, and bit her lip, lowering her eyes to the ground, where she studied it. "I was so angry with myself. May I have back my pet? I would gladly offer a reward," and she looked back up, skirting the edges of shyness to present a manner of confidence. "I will even take you to see my collection, if you'd like."

Anna was about to leave - good riddance - when she'd heard why Iarei had drawn the girl over. A precious animal? Anna stopped and turned slowly, her eyes on the owl. It wasn't a normal owl, it didn't take a genius to know this much. Her eyes narrowed at the mention of a 'collection'. Obviously it wasn't the cripple's collection, but her masters. Her master had a collection of rare and valuable animals, likely the illegal sort judging from how well she knew Jacel. Jacel only ran in dog fights, this was true... so what would he gain from a contact like her or her master...

She was interested. And she hated herself for it. She came back, her body language suggesting curiosity. "So this is the little beast you were trying to describe. And here I was thinking that it would be bigger." She kept her face hidden as she eyed the girl intently. Middle-class, probably poor, her sagging frame suggested she was tired - working class. Obviously not fashion with that outfit. Anna eyed the owl, sensing it wasn't a normal critter. Magic it was, something that was very illegal in Marn. Interesting.

"Perhaps I should see this collection as well, dear, you've never given me the pleasure of seeing it." The voice was a playful sulk as her eyes turned to meet Iarei's own. She also wanted to see what the woman would do to the finder of the obviously illegal animal. Enslave her? Feed her to the animals? Oh the fun they could have~ All that blood... her eyes flickered with excitement. She'd always enjoyed a good show. Something about watching the inevitable happen... her tongue ran itself, unseen, across her top lip. Delicious.

Relief washed over Soneya when they were all relatively nice and when the woman with the stump for a hand told her that she had been looking for the precious little thing in her arms. She was a bit sorry that she wasn’t going to have the animal in her care for a while longer but at the same time, she was glad she had already found the owner. It really did make things quite a bit easier and would save her the hassle of rushing all over town the next day to find the little one’s home.

“Oh, well here you go then. No need to look further,” the girl replied with a smile. The all around smiley atmosphere did a lot to appease her and the dog obviously seemed to like the man, which said something. Animals generally disliked those who treated them ill and considering the reaction of the dog, this did not seem to be the case. She also could see how the woman might be struggling a bit with the animal tugging on its leash so much, seeing that she only had one hand available for such endeavours.

The only one still somewhat at odds was the hooded woman, though even she finally stepped closer and seemed relieved as well that the animal had reappeared. While Soneya still found it a little odd that they had gathered here in the middle of the night to apparently look for an animal – which clearly wasn’t the only reason after the exchange of a bag which could only contain something valuable if not just bishani – but the girl tried to push such thoughts from her mind. The animal was back with its owner, it was all that mattered. She would hand it to one of them, bid them goodnight and be on her way out of there and back into her bed.

“Oh really, there is no need for a reward. I’m glad I could help!” Soneya replied, offering the woman a smile at her obvious distress. However, as soon as she offered to take Soneya to see the collection, the girl’s resolve of instantly going to bed was wavering. And if the other woman, well technically, if they were all, there couldn’t be any harm in it, could there? For a moment, Soneya’s initial bad feeling had returned but she was trying to ignore it, instantly rewarded by a headache.

“I would love to...,” Soneya began when suddenly she screamed out in pain. “What..?!” Unexpectedly, the owl, which had comfortably nestled itself into her arms, had bitten her. And not just bitten her, but really opened up a flesh wound that was badly bleeding within seconds. Quickly, she pulled the animal away from the wound and held it out in front of her, eyeing it carefully while glancing back to her wound regularly in between. Blood was already oozing through the fabric of her clothes all around the wound and was already beginning to pool into a drop. How could it even be bleeding so quickly? The wound could not be that deep from just a small bite, now could it?

Generally not the one in need of help but the one doing the helping, Soneya was momentarily at a loss at what to even do with the situation before she thrust the owl into the man’s hands and frantically applied pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding. Was that even what she was supposed to be doing? Would any of them know?
Should she even dare to ask? But she would be stupid if she didn’t. Surely they would help her! They had to!

“Is there a doctor close by?” Great way of asking for help, Soneya’, she scolded herself.

Jacel considered himself a practical man. He almost always preferred ease and comfort to danger and excitement. So it was that Jacel felt he had suddenly lost control of the situation.

He had no idea what Iarei was thinking. Obviously, her “collection” would be composed of nothing but these owls. Magical creatures rarely mixed together well, so he figured the sane thing to do would be to ship them by species.

But here she was, inviting the girl to a collection he had just made up a few seconds ago. His eyes narrowed suspiciously at the Iarei for a nigh-imperceptible fraction of a second. She couldn’t possibly be planning to have the poor girl killed, could she?

“Now hold on there, we don’t even know each other’s names.” He tossed a hand carelessly to the side. He deeply hoped Iarei wasn’t going to try anything. The disappearance of a cute, young (and wealthy) little girl like this? The city would explode with anger, the guard would tear down the district looking for her. She wasn’t some gutter trash who every person from here to Eyropa knew was destined for a red necklace.

“The name’s Jacel,” He smiled. What had he to hide? There was no way an aristocratic child like her would know his name. Besides, he had told Annalise- he was a perfectly legitimate citizen of Marn. “I’m in the entertainment business.”

The owl then bit the girl. Well, a red finger was still a far cry from the jewelry he had been thinking of.

Jacel didn’t let any of his thoughts show. He watched carefully to see how Iarei was going to respond to the little noble’s inquiries.

Three little duckies, all in a row.

Iarei was pleased. Even with Jacel pulling his considerable weight -- ha, literally and metaphorically -- around, they were all coming to her hand. To Lady Lice, she gave a demure little smile, letting it crease up around her eyes. She shared it with Soneya, and let it grow a little warmer as she turned towards the old bastard, who was pulling back as if he'd never taken a risk before. If only he knew. . .

But then the little flesh eating bird had decided to get hungry. That wouldn't do at all. Iarei clucked her tongue, and held the leash out to Jacel with a, "Be a dear, Jacie?" so that she could reach with her sole hand into her belt pouch for the hood she'd prepared for the little meat eater. She didn't care that the owl had been shoved into his arms: he had two hands and he only needed one arm to hold the owl. The hood would placate the strix; the hood wasn't a normal falconing hood, but one that had been pre-treated to calm the beast out of its oftentimes quite voracious hunger. She manipulated the cloth expertly, having had years of practice with her stump and the five fingers left to her, and fitted the hood to the owl. Then she took out a tiny leather leash, which she fitted dextrously through the jesses attached to the strix's legs. She attached the leash to the bracer padding the metal cap on her stump, and coaxed the owl onto it.

Then she reached for the leash again, beaming at Jacel. She was still beaming as she swept her gaze over the three, ending on Soneya. "We have supplies available for animal bites at the menagerie. Ah, and I specialize in preparing the animals for their new homes and finding buyers. You may call me Iarei." She held the owl parallel to the ground and bowed with a flourish towards Soneya, eyes sparkling in the dim light of the evening. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintence!"

A ghost of a warning drifted through her mind, and she was about to react when she scented blood. Her eyes dilated a moment, her mouth open slightly. Crimson, warm crimson, oh Changers... and that scream, one so delightful. She wanted to purr, wanted to take her home... make her scream some more... her blood lust was rising and she couldn't stop her tongue from tracing over her lips again.

To the menagerie still? No no... this wouldn't do... Anna needed to take the girl home... play with her... her rats could use the company. A fresh rat, a new rat, and a rat with a family she could destroy. Oooh the pleasure! Such fun! But on the other hand... wasn't it slowly becoming more fun to kill slowly? Without wounds? She hadn't seen true tears of mental agony in a very, very long time. She missed those... almost as delicious as screams...

She decided to bide her time and pulled herself back to the present. Ah why not, let's all be friends... for now. Anna drew her face into one of concern, pulling off her scarf to wrap it tightly around the wound, silently delighting in the pained gasps. "I'm sorry dear, but it needs to be tight to stop the bleeding." She crooned, pulling the girl close to hold and comfort her. Ooooooh her blood smell divine! She wanted to lick it... pushing the thoughts aside the elf looked to the woman and smiled charitably.

"Let's go then, yes? Get her wounds looked after." She looked to Jacel, her eyes glittering. She knew he knew of her love for blood. Knew he'd keep it quiet because she tended to bring him good business and spend more there than was necessary. It'd been too long since she had the scent of a human caressing her senses, like hell she'd pass the chance now!

Soneya was relieved to watch the woman wrap up the owl so that it could not bite anyone else anymore. Such a weird occurrence. She had never heard of an owl biting! She was keeping the pressure firmly on the wound, quite simply hoping that this was the best thing to do. Slowly however, she was growing very worried and suddenly wanted nothing more than to just pick up her feet and run as far away from this trio as they would carry her in a hurry. After all, they had their beast back now so she could be on her way.

But of course, seeing the woman’s collection would be very interesting!
And she had supplies at her menagerie, or whatever it was she had just called the place. Now she really couldn’t say no. “Thank you, most kind of you Iarei,” Soneya replied, returning the woman’s smile. “My name is Soneya. The pleasure is all mine.” Honestly though, she wasn’t quite sure. But the woman had done nothing to really make her think otherwise, thus she gave her the benefit of the doubt.

The big man, who had introduced himself as Jacel was still a little suspicious to her but he was fairly quiet and quite nice as well. He seemed to know Iarei well and there may be a bit of teasing and mocking between them but nothing openly vicious. That had to be a good sign, right?

When the second woman suddenly wrapped her scarf around her wound, Soneya shot her a grateful look and a smile. “Thank you so much.” The pressure from the knot in the scarf was so much more effective than her own measly hand had been able to provide and she hoped that soon enough the bleeding would stop. It was only a matter of time anyways, but she would like to be sure as well that it wouldn’t get infected.
She was a little put off however when the hooded woman suddenly pulled her close and tried to comfort her. Bandaging her was one thing, but practically hugging her? There it was again, this odd feeling that something wasn’t quite right here, but Soneya couldn’t put her finger on what it was and they all seemed so... normal almost. Her headache was gradually increasing however and the blood loss certainly wasn’t helping that.

“Yes, if you don’t mind.. If we could be on our way soon?” She didn’t want to press her luck but she wanted the wound properly looked after before anything else could happen, and it was the middle of the night after all. She wanted to get to bed sometime soonish to at least try and catch a few hours of sleep.

Jacel accepted the leash and uncomfortably shifted the bird down his arm. He was forced to momentarily balance the cane in his hand and the owl on his arm. Taking cautious note of its talons, he lamented that he had not brought his gauntlet with him. He knew that falconers used gauntlets for their hunting birds all the time.

He sighed softly, wondering when he had suddenly become the animal keeper. He looked over to Iarei and said, “Stabby little bastard, is he?"

Iarei strode up and began reaching for the bird. It shifted nervously and Jacel winced, expecting a stab. He wondered at the owl’s abilities, since he knew enough about Iarei’s operations to surmise its magical nature.

The owl thus removed from him arm, Jacel looked over to the girl’s wound. Surely his talons did not contain some sort of toxin? Even for magical owls, that was ridiculous. The elf chastised himself internally for his notion. No, he suspected its magic was more subtle. It just made more business sense to take in the least conspicuous creatures around, and moreover, when someone dies a death from a poison no one recognized sorcery was the obvious scapegoat.

“Want me to head back to the Bite, boss?” Cerranel offered. Jacel groaned inwardly. Obviously, subtlety among the upper classes was lost on this man. If it hadn’t been for the fact he would have otherwise had to have brought a former guardsman, he doubted he would have chosen this lowlife for the job. Oh, and there was also the fact that he was the one who would be doing the stabbing later. It made his presence fitting.

Besides, he could hardly hold it against the kid. Changers knew he had his own problems with nobility. “Might I keep the hound for now?" he adressed Iarei. "He’s a treasure.” He looked over at the owl, wondering.

"I prefer dogs anyways."

The first thing Iarei paid attention to was that Lady Lice had not introduced herself to Soneya. Instead, she had gone a little. . .familiar with Soneya. Likewise, Soneya had seemed for the barest moment to hesitate as Lise pulled her in. What a fantastically odd woman. Iarei reached down to pat the dog's head as a poor reward for a job well done. There would be recompense from its trainer for its shameful behavior that night, and if it could not be made to suit, she would ensure it was disposed of. A thing either did what it was supposed to do, or else it did not serve its purpose any more. Iarei knew that lesson thoroughly.

"It is but a baby, Jacie dear, and not yet trained in the ways it will be when it is grown. You can hardly fault a wild animal for behaving like a wild animal!" For a moment, her expression softened as she looked from Jacel to the bird. Iarei didn't give a shit about animals. But she knew how to pretend to. Didn't matter what it was: Iarei was bard trained. Troupe trained. When she wanted people to believe something out of her, they did. Those who saw through her were rarities, and over the years she'd lessened even that number. "But besides that, if you like you may hold him. I'll be expecting him back later though!" She held up a finger and waggled it at him, sharing a mischievous grin. "I do know how you love your dogs."

You'll get one of our dogs the day Marn burns to the ground, you old bastard.

She looked back to Soneya, sobering, "Yes, yes, let's go. It is already so late. I must apologize, even for a baby I am a little shocked one of the owls would behave in such a manner. It's possible something has gone amiss with his trainer, and believe you me that I'll be having a word. Come then!"

Iarei turned and started walking back towards the business district, confidence and dignity rolling off her with each step.

She felt the girl stiffen and withdrew unwillingly. Too much contact made keeping potential playmates very difficult indeed... but oh the fear... She wrangled her mind back to where it should be before encouraging Soneya (that was her name wasn't it?) to follow Iarei. Her own footsteps sounded lightly to the girls side, keeping close in case she needed... 'help'.

Soneya had heard of the Bite but only vaguely. She didn’t know what it really was about, only that it was quite a hit in certain circles. But those were circles she was not a part of. Not that she was particularly part of any circle at all.
The babble between Iarei and Jacel soon distracted her from anything else though and Soneya was glad when she finally was taken to wherever it was they were going to go. Warning bells were sounding somewhere beneath the throbbing of her headache and her wound but she ignored them, unsure what to do about them either way. They would take her to see the collection of animals and they would bandage her wound, it was all quite normal and nothing to panic about. And later she would be on her way to be reunited with her bed.

The proximity of the hooded woman, hovering close at all times, was a little unnerving however and Soneya kept glancing over at her from time to time. The others were not intent on keeping close to her constantly and it made her wonder why this was, especially since she still didn’t know the woman’s name. Should she ask? No harm in that, right? “May I inquire as to your name?” she finally addressed the woman by her side, wondering why she hadn’t introduced herself along with all the others. Not that it would make the girl feel any more secure about being so overly close.

The walk into the business district – she thought that was it at least, she was starting to feel a little light-headed – seemed to last for an eternity. Finally however they arrived.. well.. somewhere. Soneya was trying to focus her attention on the others, on their movements, their words, anything but she was blinking more and more often, feeling as though she might just kip where she was standing. Vaguely, she was wondering whether this was because she had a headache and was tired or whether it might be some sort of after-effect from the bite and subsequent blood loss. But she hadn't lost that much blood, had she? She couldn't have.

Jacel liked to think himself a subtle man, so it was with small pride he practiced the attribute now. Carefully maneuvering himself backwards, he twisted the leash such that it caused the dog to turn around and move in the other direction. He intentionally lost control of the animal, which he then swerved around in front of Annalise.

It was clear that Annalise was stuggling with her issues. Really, it was in her own best interest if he gave her psyche a valid excuse to back off, as the more unnerved the girl became the more likely she was to remember the face of the woman responsible.

Jacel figured the close presence of his considerable weight was enough to dampen most of Annalises’s unusual interests. The eager dog occupying the space behind the girl would also force Annalise out of the immediate position, unless she wanted the dog eagerly sniffing everything it could.

Jacel looked over to Iarei. He pondered Cerranel’s request for retreat. “No, stick around for a while. And do us all a favor and keep that Darlerone accent quiet.”

He hoped it was subtle enough to tell Cerranel to shut up. An odd statement like that would just confuse the girl. Unfortunately, his guard just looked equally confused. Changers, if the young elf had the intelligence of a aristocrat's little girl, he needed better help. He seemed about to say something, but then decided against it and kept walking.

Well, results were results.

He shrugged. There was nothing to do now but to follow Iarei. Near as he could figure, she was in control here, and all he could do was see what he could learn from this little midnight stroll.

Agri Thrios was a pretentious little front for the real business Ghobad did, a convenient excuse for the supplies he bought in bulk and the strange things he brought into Marn. Iarei looked up at the sign as they approached off the main street, coming in from a side way that was no less well kept than the main road that passed through Marn, but was certainly smaller. Its size was modest, but it made up for it with an almost offensive display of color that she was sure would be cause enough to give some poor fool seizures.

Moonlight stole color, but Iarei knew well enough the boldly lettered sign would be gaudy shades of yellow, blue and white, with the building proper itself an impossible blue she was sure had been mixed up in some way that could be considered illegal; certainly she'd not seen its like shade in all her time spent in Marn. Though, truthfully, Ghobad had his ways and most of them involved crushing any form of competition, whether it sneak in alongside his illegitimate business or come up through the front.

The legitimate draw was, of course, exotic animals for rich puffed up idiots who wanted to play at being worldly. They operated largely as a special order collection agency with a catalogue bound up in leather that Ghobad paid ridiculous sums every year to update with lavish drawings and obscenely beautiful calligraphy. Too, of course, he had his ridiculous little menagerie as if he was some collector of fine and exotic things, and this he showed only to special clients and what city officials had cause to inspect his business.

Their real business was kept underground, literally, and the conditions there were not the sort you wanted to show to anyone not interested in suffering and death. Speaking of, Iarei was going to spend some time tomorrow with their butcher and the little strix settled on her bad arm. She would enjoy it, for her trouble.

They walked past the front of the building and to a side door. Iarei fumbled a bit with her key, but managed to get the door open one handed without any aid; this was her life and she had adapted. She was good at the adapting. Immediately inside the side entrance was the front office, a dismal and windowless room that heavily featured paperwork and depressingly white walls. Iarei turned upon entering to the lamp and the spare kept always at that spot: Ghobad despised disorder, clumsiness, and accidents. There were lamps to the right of each door -- each door, and he made sure to have one of his suck-ups do regular random inspections to make sure each of his innumerable ocd orders were properly discharged -- within the building.

Iarei could do many things one handed, but one handed with her stump held aloft was a bit less than what she was used to. One simply did not mishandle fire within a wooden building, especially not one owned by Ghobad.

This, certainly, was not the only one. Jacel would recognize it as such; this was a front and a front only. While there were emergency holding cells upstairs cautiously and subtly spelled (outside Marn, of course, and then smuggled in) to hold magical critters, it was only a temporary matter. Ghobad liked to be prepared. Iarei approved, when she wasn't cursing him for his behavior and oftentimes frantic micromanagement.

But that was neither here nor there: the room was appallingly dark, and that would not do. "Jacie, dear --" She held up the taper pinched between her forefinger and thumb, the flint and tinder cupped within the palm. She gestured like that to the lamp, and there was a hint of strain in her voice.

Once the lamp was lit -- whether it was Jacel who helped her or someone else -- she would sweep her good hand across the small room with its dominating wooden desk and neat piles of paperwork and various jars of animal treats, various baskets of tools for animal handling. "Welcome to the front office of Agri Thrios. I promise the other rooms are much more enticing and not so horribly mundane." Her manner of speech was grand, but it was held up by a rueful and ever so slightly harried smile.

The dog getting between them was a welcome distraction, as, indeed, Anna was finding it hard to control herself. She shook her head to clear it slightly, even falling back to walk beside Jacel as she attempted to regain her senses. The thrill of power still purred through her, the lust for blood heavy in her mouth. She raised a hand to her face and hid in the palm of her hand, seeking refuge in her own cool touch. Changers... it'd been awhile since she had a kick like that. All over a silly little bite and some cries.

She wanted to be upset at herself for such a slip, however, it was understandable. It had been awhile since her last... plaything. Blue eyes peered up at Soneya's back. What was it about this delightful creature that brought out the worst in her? She wanted to know. It was then she realized she hadn't introduced herself. She once more moved up to Soneya's side, her smile apologetic and partially unseen. "I apologize, I am Lise. I was... distracted, temporarily, again I apologize, Soneya."

She helped the girl into the building, noticing her sway and stumble - shock possibly, loss of blood or poison could all be causes for this, Anna knew, but still, it was nice to play 'mother'. "Please be easy, Soneya... you must be feeling terrible. Iarei dear, we really must look after this girl." Anna had drawn back the hood once they had entered the building, and so now her eyes met the other woman's, glittering. Yes... look after indeed...