At the morgue--

Mordred is going to look up Montgomery Donovan, Peter Lukas, the four ships owned by Peter Lukas, and anything else Oswald or Zoe come up with that they should look for.

He mostly discovers that Miss Donovan has kept herself almost entirely out of the newspapers.

Oswald, however, finds something.

Valletta-- The Royal Opera House on the Strada Reale conducted a very special premiere of Kurt Weill’s Der Jasager, which Mro Luigi Cantoni describes as being based on a libretto by the German writer Bertolt Brecht. 

“The theme of this beautiful opera is made quite explicit by Brecht,” Cantoni says. “When you agree to a course of action, you must fully understand it.” 

In the opera, a young boy asks to join his teacher on a dangerous journey over the mountains to see a great physician who might be able to cure his ailing mother. The teacher reluctantly agrees, but when the boy becomes ill during their journey, the other members of the party remind the teacher of a strict old custom which demands that anyone who becomes ill during the journey must be hurled into the valley. The teacher reminds them that the sick person can instead demand that the entire party should turn back. The boy, however, decides he knows the risk he was undertaking and decides to throw himself into the abyss, asking in return only that they bring back a jar of medicine to his injured mother. 

“It’s a cautionary tale,” Cantoni continued. “Appropriate for a time where the world has great need for caution.”

No such caution was to be seen among the wealthy dignitaries who were assembled to enjoy the premiere. The Royal Opera seized the opportunity of the high profile premiere of the highly popular German opera to reach out to the finest of Malta’s upper and (Continued on page 11 column 2)

The evening’s fundraising efforts raised record amounts from remarkable glitterati at a gala affair. Portia Sapienza (left) and Montgomery Donovan (right) are premiere donors, on the red carpet at the Royal Opera House.

The Royal Opera House! Their hotel is near there!

Wow that's a creepy opera plot. Which Donovan apparently funded. No idea how or whether it connects to the cult, though.

"Themes of self-sacrifice vs controlling others sounds culty to me."

Something about a weakening boy hurling himself into an abyss... Porria Sapienza might also prove relevant or might just be a fan of Bertolt Brecht.

"Oh it definitely sounds culty, I'm just not sure that's useful information for us." Mordred is just simply not thinking about a weakening boy hurling himself into an abyss; he does, however, put Sapienza's name into his notes, along with all the names involved with writing this opera, just in case they come up again.

Mordred is distracting himself so thoroughly from Gale that he looks up and sees something.

There's a man in the newspaper archive. He looks totally normal. Mordred's eyes just seem to gloss over him. He seems as completely part of the environment as the furniture.

But the way he's moving is... not right. Too precise, too careful.

The looking as part of the environment as the furniture is, itself, weird. Mordred keeps watching him.

He's reading articles and taking notes. He's... maybe glancing at Mordred a little too often?

Hmm. Mordred waits for him to glance over, makes eye contact, nods hello.

The man nods hello back. He doesn't seem remotely bothered by it.

(Oswald attempts to discuss with Zoe whether the abyss merely feels has mouth vibes or in fact directly represents one.)

Zoe had not considered that the abyss might be a mouth metaphor but wow now that you point that out it makes sense.

Hey Guys There's Another Person Here Do You Maybe Want To Not Talk About Mouths.

The other person is, you will find, actually part of the furniture.

They are doing quiet unobtrusive literary criticism. And also haven't noticed the other person but if Mordred says so (or just sorta indicates so with gestures and expressions).

Mordred makes his way towards the extremely normal man.

"Hello?" the extremely normal man says. His voice quavers with anxiety. It says, why are you talking to me. I am very small and scared and frightened and talking to me is a very mean thing to do. It is kind of remarkable that he achieves this effect while being 6'5" and fat.

"Hello," Mordred says, quietly, because they're in a library.

"Do you want to look at the articles I'm looking at?"

Mordred nods. Smiles. He looks friendly and polite and legitimate; he's young enough that you might think he was a student.

"Here you go. I-- can wait around until you're done?" He turns every sentence into a question.

Oswald can help Zoe pore over newspaper articles while Mordred does whatever it is he's doing over there.