"Cats are fierce, not gonna lie. But, crap. He's, like, some super genius? Whenever he shows up suddenly half the pickpockets are gone, three traitors to the Crown are in custody, and there's a dozen new recruits for the lines. Serve or rot in a cell, you know. He's scary. By rep. Christ."

Her head hits the bar, not particularly gently.

"Cats are less scary when you can turn into a fox. And have no compunctions about hurting them back.

But I'll-- keep that in mind about him. He came across as trying too hard to be scary, not, like, actually scary. But if he's that good, I'll try and steer clear."

"I dunno. I'm - Ugh. Maybe I shouldn't have gotten up to shady shit... Though. That's exactly what effect he wants to have, I think. Is anybody really that good? Maybe I should make a run for the continent."

"Has he-- been sniffing around you? I mean, with good enough bluster, you could probably get all the pickpockets to scram, but it might not actually be bluster. Though if making a run for it isn't incriminating, I don't know what is."

"Pickpockets survive by scramming whenever something looks iffy, yeah. I don't know. Scary Inquisition Guy might not pin something on my by mere proximity, but the thing is, a guy called Clyde is an idiot for trusting me and got caught with a crate that was full of stolen stuff. He'll roll on me to make things easier for himself if they press him hard enough. I deserve it, anyway."

"Ah. Yep. That sounds like a problem.

We could try and discredit Clyde. Make it look like he's blaming someone random to cover for a bigger fish. Or just put the fear of God and Angry Witches into him ourselves."

"Or maybe it's time to own up to things before I dig myself an even deeper hole. Witches are valuable. Everything they do says so. There's millions of country yokels in England - but only thousands of witches, you know?"

"They may only be thousands of witches, but that's still a lot. They could probably stand to lose a few. They could almost certainly afford to keep one on a very tight leash."

"Yep. I was a serf, I did nothing but farm work with my parents until three years ago. Lord Dunwich sold the neighbors to Lord Ergyle. I'm familiar with that stuff. I'd pick it over dying."

"Yeah, but depending on how Claude feels about it, he might decide he needs to make an example out of you. When I met him, he sure made it sound like he thought minor smuggling was a kind of treason."

Head meets table again. "I dunno. I think my guilty conscience is catching up to me."

"I wouldn't worry about the morality too much; I'm pretty sure they can stand to lose a couple of uniforms. If minor thievery brings down the war effort, it was doomed from the start.

If you could make run for the continent subtly, and were confident you wouldn't get caught, it might be a good idea? I dunno, take a job going to a port city, sneak onto a boat. Something like that."

"It'd be better to run for the continent not looking like a witch at all, I think. And better yet to go further than France."

"Yeah, just heading on foot to a port might work better. Or by horse. Something like that.

...Wouldn't 'further than France' take you Neuroi-wards?"

"Yeah. If I go east, anyway. Head south far enough and you reach parts they haven't gotten to yet. Maybe even cross the ocean west, go to Liberion. It's not like I can't afford a boat trip or can't play the minor troublemaker fleeing for greener pastures."

"Well if you need help, I'm happy to give it. Only fair to return the favour."

"...'Course, then my folks won't be getting parts of my profits anymore. I mean, I helped them out a whole lot already, the debt's something like two-thirds gone, and I should probably run for it, but... You hear what I'm sayin'?"

"...and 'one last heist to pay off the debt' probably isn't a brilliant idea."

"Yeah. Tempting, but giving into stupid tempting things is how you get pregnant out of wedlock. No. I did my best and worst to help 'em, and now I'm running for it. Maybe leave a note. But that's it."

"Yeah, that's probably for the best. Keeping your head low, and all that."

"Yep," she says, popping the P. "Not righ' now though. I'm drunk and it's late in the evening. I'll dress up as 'unremarkable peasant' and get a cart ride out of the city tomorrow morning."

It'd be nice to help more-- but despite being an Exalt, she does have limits.

"Well, good luck and all that. For avoiding Claude on the way out, and such like."

"Thanks. You've been nice. See you on the other side of the sea some time, maybe."

"Yeah, when I head over there I'll keep an eye out for an invisible witch." Wink.

"Aye. The world continues to turn. And burn. Luck or fate or whatever... Smaller world than you think it is sometimes. Good luck with your own trouble, into and out of, Marena. I'm goin' to bed."

And she's off to the barkeep with a wave that's a lot more tired than jaunty.