(Soon after going to the Sapphire Room, at Paige’s apartment)
P – Cinnamon, what do you know about Anne Pardino?
J – Whattaya mean?
P- You’ve heard about what happen to her brother?
J- Yeah, who hasn’t?
P- Is there anything you can remember about your time at the conservatory together that might make you think someone wants to hurt her or her family?
J- Taking a moment. No. I mean, they’ve got money, so a course some people might want ta rob them. But if you mean kill ‘em, nothin’ I know about Anne would make me think that. Is she an’ her family gonna be safe?
P – I hope so. Bit of silence. What was she like back then?
J – Oh, well, she starded at the school a liddle bit after I got there. She was kina quiet at first. She didn’ really like talkin’ aboud ‘er self. An’ she seemed really focused on ‘er studies. It took a while fer her da kina open up an’ relax, then she was real fun.
P- Oh?
J- Smiling, You jus’ want me da say somethin’ I’m gonna get in trouble fer lader.
P- No, not at all.
J- We were jus’ friens.
P- Jus’ friens?
J- I was otherwise involved with you at the time, or don’t you remember?
P- I remember.
J- You ain’t jealous, are ya? Hell, Anne greets all her friens, boys and girls, with hugs and kisses. That’s jus’ how she is.
P- A real, warm-hearted type.
J- You a liddle jealous, ain’t chu?
P- Because your eyes were hanging out of your skull when you were watching her perform that night? Oh, no, not jealous, not one bit.
J- Sheepishly, she’s got real charisma.
P – Yes – two big charismas trying to jump out of the top of her dress.
J- Why you so interested in Anne Pardino all of a sudden? Wan-in’ ta go da the club now? I been askin’ you for a while da go an’ you always said no. Why now. After this thing with ‘er brother?
P- You don’t think it odd that three, poor refugees end up being some of the richest people in the nation in a matter of a few years?
J – They had some good ideas. Those little mousetraps are preddy smart. And did you ever go da the Tweny-One Club? I spent a whole month of pay at that place, an’ lemme tell you, it was worth every copper. Never been to a place like it in all my life. Fancy, clean, great service. Looks like a palace er somethin’. Damn good food. Whajja think a the Sapphire Room, now that ya finally been there?
P – It was like going to a different world.
J – It’s somethin’ else, ain’t it?
P – That’s what I mean – everything they’ve made is so different.
J – Well they do come from a different country.
P- Tova’s not that different from Avenmare.
J – Maybe they got the ideas from somebody else, from somewhere else.
P – You may be right about that.
J – We’ve been tagether long enough that I know when you’re digging fer somethin’. So watcha digging for?
P – I don’t want to get you involved, Jake.
J – Is this Academy business?
P – No, this is personal business.
J – Las’ time it was personal business I didn’ see you again for over a year an’ a half.
P – I have to go when I have to go.
J – Where da ya have ta go now?
P – I don’t know. That may depend on what I find out about these ‘Cousins’.
J – You think they had somethin’ ta do with the murder of that prosditute?
P- I think the murder of that prostitute has something to do with them.
J – You gonna tell somebody? Like your aunt, Dawn, maybe.
P – I don’t have anything more to tell, right now.
J – Then what makes you think there’s somethin’ there? If the police and the Academy haven’t found anything?
P- How the prostitute was killed is similar to how my parents were killed, and they were killed under a horned moon as well.
J – Whud aboud the other killings from around yer old home? Did they happen during a horned moon?
P – No. They happened before.
J – So maybe it was just coincidence about the moon.
P- And my parents being gutted like the prostitute?
J – Maybe that was coincidence too.
P – And it’s coincidence that three people that come from who-knows-where, that make things no one has ever seen, or in the case of Anne, heard, and become ridiculously wealthy are connected to a murder similar to my parents? That’s too many coincidences.
J – Alright. So whattaya wanna do? You wanna go after Anne an’ ‘er family? Ya know, Tom ended up owing Cristos Mineeo a lodda money. You lookina go after him, too?
P – No.
J – Why not?
P – He’s a known entity.
J – And, he was investigated by the police an’ the Academy, too.
P – And they didn’t find anything.
J – Just like with Anne an’ her family.
P – Why are you defending Ann and her family?
J – Why are you tryina cut ‘em down?
P- I’m not trying to cut them down.
J – Then what are you tryina do?
P – It just does not make sense. These people, they just don’t make sense. That club. It was, it’s like it’s alien.
J – Alien?
P – Yes?
J – As in another world an’ different species?
P – I don’t know.
J – Like maybe the Demi Plane?
P – Don’t patronize me.
J – No, hold
P – Don’t
J – Jus waid a minute, jus’ waid a minute. Maybe your on ta somethin’
P – Sighs
J – We’ve both studied the lore. People, normal kinna people, are said ta live here an’ there in the Demi Plane. They have fantastic cities an’ technology. Maybe, maybe, Anne and her family come from one of those cities an’ somehow they ended up in our world. It’s possible.
P- But unlikely.
J – Yeah, it is. An’ still possible.
P – So how else do you explain that place, and the Twenty-one club, and the rest?
J – You know with music, there’s lots a different styles from lots a different places. Neither one of us has been all over the world. Maybe there’s some place, liddle islan’, city-state, maybe one a those places where all the races live in peace an’ harmony, that have those ideas, styles that Anne and her family brought her.
P- Maybe.
J – Maybe they don’t come from Tova, but that’s what they said for whatever reason.
P – Maybe.
J – Maybe that’s what they said cause they had ta leave where they came from originally.
P- Curious, “And why would they have to leave?”
J – Promise you ain’t gonna jump ta conclusions?
P – I promise I will try.
J – Nods his head, Anne did open up one time about her family, had a liddle liquor in ‘er. She said somethin’ like Tom did a ladda stupid things when he was younger. Got inta trouble a lot. Nothin’ horrible. Never hurt anyone. Just stupid, peddy shit. Maybe they hadda leave cause a that.
P – Maybe Tom did something horrible.
J – You didn’ try real hard, did ja?
P – I need to know who these people are.
J – You jus’ wanna keep diggin’ an’ diggin’ an’ diggin’. Did ya ever stop ta think that maybe it ain’t yer business ta know who these people are?
P – Pardon me?
J – Maybe yer oversteppin’ yer bounds. Yer not the police. Yer not a high-up at the Academy. If the police an’ the heads of the Academy are satisfied about Anne an’ her family, maybe you should be to.
P – No. They’re not asking the right questions.
J – So what’s a right question?
P – Where do these people come from?
J – You’re like a dog with a bone. You ain’t gonna let that go, are ya?
P – That’s the right question.
J – So where do you think they came from?
P – Not Tova.
J – Then where?
P – I have no idea.
J – And are you willin’ ta break the law ta find out? Maybe get sanctioned by the Academy? Maybe get kicked out?
P – Hmmph. No.
J – Gently. “Then drop that bone, honey. Look. I know you wanna find somethin’ about what happened with your parents. I know. I respect that. Sometimes a coincidence is just a coincidence. Maybe Anne an’ her brother an’ cousin lied about comin’ from Tova. Maybe they lied about lots a stuff. Who knows. What we do know is that the best detective on the police force, yer aunt, Dawn, and the best investigators from the Academy, some of the most highly trained mages in the world, didn’t find anything with Anne and her family, or Mineeo, connected ta the murder of that poor girl. So, if I was a bettin’ man, I’d bet my front teeth that there’s nothin’ there ta find.”
P – Nodding, “You know, for a wandering bard you make a lot of sense sometimes.”
J – I do that from time-ta-time. Does surprise people.
P – I’m sure it does.
J – It’s ma folksy accent. Throws people off.
P – I can understand that.
J – An’ can ya understand I don’t want there da be iron bars between us when I wanna kiss ya goodnight?
P – Smiling, I can understand that as well.
J – Maybe you oughta show me. Jus’ so I know fer sure.
P – I can show you. Jake bends down a bit as Paige puts her arms around the back of his neck and gives him a slow, passionate kiss.
J – Maybe you should show me what else you understand.
P- Maybe I should.
