TheExperimentHeadingHomeOnce they were off, Giulian asked Elissa with a frown, "What do you mean by 'something nasty'?" Sasha had been looking across the carriage to where Harry sat, shyly smiling still, but at this she gave a slight start and looked anxiously at Elissa. "Any of you heard the name of Lord Whiteblood mentioned?" Elissa asked, staring out a window, making sure no one was following or listening in. She rubbed at her cheek again, moving her lower jaw around to get rid of the lingering pain and tingling sensation she didn't mention to the others. "'Lord Whiteblood'... No, I don't believe so," said Giulian. He looked around at the others questioningly. "That's not one of the Houses, so I assume it's an epithet of some sort?" "Lord Whiteblood?" Harry echoed the epithet with a questioning tone. "This is the type that makes even the toughest of thieves and the darkest of the ones inhabiting the lower city to disappear to the country for a few weeks until this passes over." Elissa turned and looked at them. "Don't take this lightly, please. I know I haven't been able to find all of you who are down here in the lower city. This isn't the best of times." She ran a hand slowly through her tangled hair. "Even I'm afraid of returning home." "Romeo Acciaio's working at the docks, I believe," said Giulian. "Other than him, I think this is all of us. "We won't take it lightly," he promised Elissa, "not with Jo missing ... but can you tell us more about this 'Lord Whiteblood'? What would he want with us? Ransom? Blackmail?" "I wish it was that simple. A form of slavery are the rumors and what little I've been told. I've escaped his reach so far and I lie low every time I hear he's out searching for new 'slaves'," Elissa said. "Jo? Missing?" Giulian looked over at Sasha, who was the one who'd conveyed that news to him and Harry. Harry nodded and glanced at Sasha for her entry into the conversation. "She's been missing three days," said Sasha quietly. "At least -- it seems to be three days since anyone's seen her. Dev was the last. He left her near the College, to walk the last part of the way back after they had supper together. "The Warden and the Dean want me and Renata to help search her rooms, in case she has left anything behind..." "Three days? Oh crickets..." Elissa ran a hand over her face. "No wonder why I couldn't find her. We better get the two of you back to the college. I wouldn't leave the campus alone at any time. Stay in groups and try not to go out late in the evening. If you don't feel safe, go back to your homes and stay with your families." "Why? Do you think the two circumstances are related?" Giulian asked sharply. "Jo's disappearance and the resurfacing of this 'Lord Whiteblood,' that is?" "I don't want there to be any chances or opportunities for him to take any of you." Elissa shook her head and then winced. "Crickets... I forgot the headache pounding." She pressed her fingers to her head and closed her eyes for a moment. "I do not know if they are related. I know he has been around before. I do not know the circumstances around Jo's disappearance. Hopefully this Devon can figure it out. I would let him know what is going on so he can keep himself safe as well." "We'll do that," said Giulian. Then he told Elissa, "If you want a safe place to stay for the night yourself, perhaps we could leave you off at Dr. Greywood's clinic? They could have a look at that jaw and give you something for the headache, too." He smiled slightly. "Tell Dr. Gallfrey I sent you." His expression sobered again. "You said you don't know if there's a connection between Whiteblood and Jo's disappearance. But... is that what happens to his -- victims, I suppose I should say? They just disappear?" "Let's hope there is another, more savory explanation for her absence," Harry said. "And Giulian is right, Elissa, you should go to the clinic." Sasha nodded her agreement. Elissa shook her head. "I don't trust clinics. I'll be fine. Just need to sleep. I've had worse before." She glanced at the young woman who kept making starry eyes at Harry and figured she just wanted her out of the way. "We're concerned, that's all," said Giulian, touching Elissa's knee briefly; and indeed, his dark eyes showed precisely that emotion. "We don't want you disappearing." A little shocked that he would be concerned or touching her, Elissa kept her shock from showing in her eyes. "I will be fine, really. I do not need a clinic. Another place to sleep outside the lower area is something I would like, but if not..." She shrugged. "I will try not to disappear on you. I promise." She glanced at the others and then out the window. "Not that the word of a thief means all that much to some of you." "Why shouldn't there be honor among thieves?" said Giulian with the flicker of a smile. "And under the circumstances, I should imagine the Women's College might give you a bed for the night." He looked inquiringly at Sasha and Renata. "Honor among thieves, means thief to thief," Elissa said with her own flicker of a smile that warmed her eyes only slightly. "You would be considered a Mark." She glanced at the ladies with slightly wider eyes. "Oh... I don't think--" Sasha looked worriedly at Giulian, and then at Elissa. "And would the students and staff of the Women's College be regarded as so many Marks too, or would you pledge your honour not to steal from us, or to use any information you later gain from us? I'm sorry ... you have helped us tonight, and I am truly grateful for that. But it would not be honourable of me as a student of the College if I took you in there if you believed we were just so many Marks that you would rob next week?" Her eyes on Elissa were serious, but not condemning. "If you come among us, you will have to live by certain of our rules, and not your own. And learning not to regard any of us as Marks is a first step... "For example, if we are to trust you, perhaps you should show you trust us. Who was your last 'Mark'?" "Oh, now, I don't think that's a fair question," protested Giulian. "Even in the courts they don't require people to incriminate themselves." Harold remained silent a bit through the conversation, but with an apologetic look at Sasha, he quietly nodded at Giulian's point. Elissa stared at the other girl and raised an eyebrow. She leaned back in her seat. "Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. Do you actually think I would tell you what I have done? So you would turn around and drop me off in front of the law and you don't have to worry that I'm around to bother you any longer?" The thief shook her head. "I'll take my chances on the blasted street rather than do anything you ask of me. I have my honour and my rules that keep me alive and in one piece. You know nothing of my honour or my rules." Elissa rubbed her forehead. "Why should I even bother with all of you? I said you were all 'Marks'. That didn't mean I was setting you up to steal from any of you." "I don't know why you should bother with us," Giulian said quietly, "or put yourself at risk to help us. But you have ... twice now ... though we are outsiders to your way of life. Part of our honor includes not forgetting that." "It's called common decency. I would have been no better than any of those thugs if I didn't help all of you. I wouldn't wish that on anyone." Elissa looked at the others in the hackney. "I'm no different than any of you, except that I don't have noble blood. Does living in a different part of the same city on the same planet make me so different? Does my place and status of birth, something I have no control over, make me so different from any of you?" Part of Elissa just wanted to grab her things and hop out of the moving hackney and disappear from them. Let them deal with what was stalking the streets on their own. She should just go back to thieving and not dream of becoming someone different, someone better who knew how to fit in with them. "A man or woman is defined by their actions, not their status. We," Harry looked at Giulian and Sasha before returning his gaze to Elissa, "do not dispute your actions and help on face value. On the other hand, any distrust shown by us is, frankly, due to your profession. "Still, even so, your well being is not something dismissed from the cloud of our minds like a passing breeze," Harry said. "Just so," said Giulian, "because you're quite right, Elissa. Accidents of birth or status don't exempt any of us from common, human decency. And that includes us not letting you go without a safe place to spend the night." Sasha swallowed. "I ... have a place where she could stay," she said quietly. The colour rose a little in her cheeks as she spoke -- this was not something she had meant to make public -- or even to share with Harry; at least not yet. That was the last person in the hackney Elissa thought would mention she had a place. "You barely want to be around me as it is, nor do I wish to get you in...trouble," Elissa said. She glanced at Giulian and Harry and thought about what they said. "Believe me, I will be in far less trouble hosting you in my rooms in town than I would be if I accommodated a thief in the Women's College," said Sasha bluntly. "I can deal with my landlady -- but I cannot stand up to the Principal and Dean of the Women's College." She glanced around the carriage. "Unless one of you has another proposal?" "Not as good as yours," Giulian admitted. "I have a place of my own too, after a fashion, but as it's a bachelor establishment, an offer to Elissa to stay the night there might be taken the wrong way." Harold colored slightly at the talk of having Elissa stay at various people's places and the propriety thereof, but did not respond verbally. Sasha glanced at Harry, and then coloured again. "Could one of you tell the driver to head for Seventeen West Prime?" she asked. This was an area of discreet and elegant houses, mostly serving as service apartments. It was unusual for women to live there alone -- usually women who did so would be highly paid courtesans of a very refined nature, or the mistresses of socially prominent men. Rubbing her head, Elissa nodded. "All right. I'll stay with you. Until this thing with Whiteblood goes away or something else comes up." She rose to her feet, leaned out just enough and called up the address to Earl with ease and practice. She settled back in the seat and leaned her head back. "On our way." It took a little while for the carriage to reach the more refined part of the city. This area was among those sections of the city inhabited by wealthy tradesmen and merchants, respectable men who had risen high in the government and their families. The area known as St John's Wood had, however, a slightly more disreputable reputation. It was inhabited by successful artists, writers, playwrights, actors and others of the demi-monde who had attained a measure of success in their chosen fields (and were thus able to afford the high property prices), without quite attaining the respectability that would see them brought into mainstream society. The roads were quiet and leafy; there were squares with small central parks, aping the style of the mansions further west in the city favoured by lesser members of the nobility. But here there was less formality; every now and then there were delightfully individual and eccentric dwellings -- for, of course, the fashionable architects had their homes in St John's Wood. The carriage drew to a halt before a tall narrow building, with the front door set to one side. The carriage lamps suggested it was white stucco; a badge above the door proclaimed it was designed or perhaps owned by someone who looked to House Creoni for allegiance. "This is it," said Sasha. "I have rooms on the second floor." Leaving the carriage, she took out a key that was attached to her belt and opened the door to let them in. Inside, the house was furnished with simple elegant taste, but did not show many signs of being occupied. Harry let the wounded Elissa precede him, taking up the rear of the trio. His eyes lit upon the details of the house, head bobbing even as his eyes took in all the details. Giulian stayed in the carriage, not seeing any need for them all to climb out just to drop off Sasha and Elissa. "Take care," he told them, as they left the hackney. "I'll send round tomorrow to see how you go on ... now that I know the address." Elissa looked around the same way, but not just for details. She did not want anyone following them. She glanced at the badge above the door before she walked in. She kept her hands on her bag that held enough things for her to hide out. "This is... nice," she said. Giulian peered anxiously out the window of the hackney until Elissa, Sasha and Harry were safely inside the door of the building, then turned to Renata. "So Elissa turned up just this evening to warn you about 'Lord Whiteblood'?" he queried. "What else did she tell you?" "That was all, really. She seemed to know us -- or at least know a lot about us -- but she didn't really spend much time on it. She wanted to get me out of there and back to the Nest. But I told her I needed to see Jo first, and track the rest of you." She smiled at him. "I guess that part was unnecessary." Giulian nodded. "We came looking for you because Miss Matisse turned up and told us you were wanted. To help find out what's happened to Jo. I hoped, when we got to your lodging house and found out there was another woman with you already, that it might be Jo, but..." He turned a hand palm up. "Elissa was in the tavern with us at the start of the Experiment," he went on to explain. "Then later that evening she and Jo helped Harry and me out of a tight squeeze. I expect that's how she knows about us." "Really?" Renata leaned forward eagerly. She was always at ease with Giulian. "What sort of trouble? How did she help you?" "We were set on by a couple of ruffians," Giulian told her. "Jo and Elissa helped us beat them off. Well, they did most of the beating, really. You saw how handily Elissa wields that folding stick of hers." How marvelous! Renata wanted to say, but didn't. Instead, she simply nodded and said, "She's awfully adept. Jo, too. The ruffians must have taken you and Harry totally off guard." Giulian grimaced. "You might say that. They were posing as beggars, and when we didn't produce enough money for them..." "I'm terribly glad you're all right." Giulian decided not to mention the knife wound Harry had received in the course of the fight. Renata glanced out at the doorway. "I hope Jo's all right," she said. "She's the sort who thinks she can handle anything that's dealt to her... but is anyone, really? Even your father or mine... there are things that can catch them unawares, I'm certain." "I'm sure there are." Guilian's mouth twitched in reluctant amusement. "Though I haven't mastered the trick of it yet, myself." "I'd wager you have, once or twice," she said with a laugh. "Lord Anderon would never admit it, he would consider it bad form, perhaps a severe loss of his dignity, not to mention he probably thinks it better for you that you not know such ability if you have it!" She sat quietly for a moment. "Jo's been a good friend to me... she and Sienna... they make me feel as if I can do more -- be more -- than I've ever considered... I don't think Father likes her much. Jo, I mean. And I don't think it's because she's a Cit. He's not a snob, not that way..." She emphasized the 'that' slightly, acknowledging that her beloved father was very much a snob in some other ways... "No..." Giulian acknowledged. "It may just be politics," he ventured. "Jo's a political activist -- a radical -- no question, and that's always threatening to the established powers to a degree. But I can't think that either of them would refuse to listen to an opposing position. "Actually, I wanted..." He hesitated, then went on more quietly, "Father has me putting together a proposal for an advisory council or committee, to consider the technology question. For when the opportunity comes to renegotiate the Edicts, thirty years from now. I wanted Jo to be on it." "Oh, that would be splendid, Jules! She'd be wonderful... she goes right to the heart of things, you never have to worry about what she says behind your back, it's all right there... and I think it's marvelous that your father asked you to do this. It shows the faith he has in you." Giulian smiled slightly. "It was my own idea, actually. You might say that Father challenged me to go ahead and do the work involved." Renata sat back, smiling, but the smile began to fade. "You don't think... I mean, this is all a tempest in a teapot, isn't it? About Jo? She's not really... missing. Nothing's happened to her..." Giulian's expression sobered. "I don't know. I--" He was about to say I have a bad feeling about this -- and he did, and it had something to do with the name 'Lord Whiteblood' -- but he couldn't pin it down, and with no evidence was reluctant to voice it. He shook his head. "I just don't know. I hope not. I pray not. But you said it yourself, Renata ... anyone might come up against something they couldn't handle." She nodded again. Somehow, talking about the worst possibilities didn't seem quite so bad when talking about them with Giulian. He had a way of making one feel as if, once you confronted your fears, you could take whatever happened next. Perhaps because he had done it himself. "I know," she said. "I just..." She laughed quietly, without much humor, trying to banish the fear, or at least show him that she could handle it. "I know we'll all feel much better, perhaps even a bit silly, once she's been found and there's a purely logical explanation for all of this..." Giulian just nodded, then peered out the window again. "There's Harry and Miss Matisse coming out," he said. "That's good -- we should be moving on." Harold walked toward the carriage with Miss Matisse, after clearly speaking quietly with her on some occasions during the walk. When the two had re-entered the hackney and they had given the driver instructions to go next to the Women's College, Giulian said, "After you've found out whatever you can find out ... I'd like to have a meeting, tomorrow evening in my rooms. Maybe we can put together what we've learned and figure out what to do next." If anything was a thought he wouldn't allow himself to voice. "Tell Dev, too. And if we can find Romeo..." After they dropped the girls, Harry and Giulian discussed what to do about Romeo. They were reluctant to return to the docks area that night (and the hackney driver declared he wasn't prepared to take them). They decided to ask Talaren for advice -- late as it was. They found him still up, and he was able to tell them that Romeo had arranged a few days away from the docks while he clerked for Ofelia. Their minds set at rest, they agreed Giulian should send a note first thing in the morning to the Palazzo, and in the meantime Giulian told Talaren about the meeting and asked if he could be there. "So where do you want to be dropped off, Harry?" asked Giulian as they were rolling away from Bahlmis House. "The Nest?" "The Nest," Harry agreed, with a nod. "It's time for rest." |
