"We got the same threats months ago. I don't know what it means that they're still in the threatening stages, if it's just the transition of management and we should be much more concerned now or not. ...It is concerning that they were able to find us in New York. And that they knew you'd joined us."

Why could she not have told them this before they were on a plane to somewhere it'll be hard to send messages back. "...I should warn my brothers. Since they're threatening us in New York now."

"How do you figure they learned about you?"

 “I don’t know. They knew I was a nun, they knew my name. One of them was kinder than he would have been, because of that—they are better than the Italian soldiers.”

"Better how?"

She waves her hands slightly. “The Italian soldiers do not stop for so long at threatening.”

Anita is very skeptical of the idea that people who work for the human sacrifice cult are better than much of anyone else.

"I wonder how long it'd take them to find us in Malta. If this isn't a US-specific campaign against us."

“Perhaps we will find out, I suppose.”

Well, y'know, at least the cultists aren't card-carrying fascists! ...Malta's going to be fun, isn't it.

Zoe is quietly having feelings about how she can't be everywhere at once and can't do anything when she's not there. She wishes more of them knew anything about self defense. Maybe Anita knows. Maybe the magic they're learning will help.

They arrive at Luqa Airport in Valetta. From the sky above, the odd angles of the off-kilter runways seem to form a star-like or perhaps thorn-like pattern.

This probably is a totally innocuous shape with no eldritch significance whatsoever. 

The airport has freshly paved runways, but instead of a terminal there are only a couple of small buildings. They take the trolley to Valletta. 

Valletta is a lovely city, brimming with Baroque architecture, lush gardens, charming piazzas, and orderly, narrow streets. By day, its vibrant collection of churches, shops, cafés, and parks make the city feel alive with activity. By night, gas lamps and electric lights twinkle in the narrow alleys and avenues, giving the city a shadowy and mysterious charm.

The Times of Malta informs them:

-The Belgian Chamber of Deputies voted to suspend the gold standard and devalue the country's currency by 25 percent.

-Ethiopia broke off direct talks with Italy over their border disputes and sent a new note to the League of Nations.

:|

Sounds like they got out of there in the nick of time.

That's not direct war but it sure is worse than before, good thing they're not there anymore! ...Poor Araari.

.........sooooo do they have any information about where the cult is besides that it's in Malta somewhere.

Oswald knows there's a cult in Malta and in February 1934 production in Malta exploded; cult leader's code name is Joseph.

Mordred knows the head person's name is Montgomery Donovan but they have no idea where in the city Montgomery Donovan is.

Does Italy have easily accessible telephone directories. Can't be that many Montgomery Donovans. Or Malta or wherever they are. Is Malta a part of Italy.

Malta is part of the British Empire.

Weird but under the circumstances not going to complain about this.

No Montgomery Donovan is listed in the telephone directory.

Annoying.

"Okay, so, obviously we could ask around, but given the nature of the people we'd be asking around about and the nature of our interest in them, I worry that this might draw some unwanted attention." She thinks. "We could try to buy drugs?"

Well now it's not Oswald suggesting it, good.

"Sounds like a good way to find drug dealers. How do you suggest going about it?"

“I should not try to buy drugs, I do poorly at being insincere.”

"Go to a club and ask where one scores the good stuff around here?"

"I don't think people who do drugs use 'one' like that."

"I've done a drug!"

“We’re foreigners here, I expect she can use words however and people will not think much of it as long as we are understood.”

"Yeah, I guess you'd wanna find wherever the low lives hang out around here and ask them about - we can just ask for it by name, be informed sort of customers. I'm trying to think how we'd leverage that to figure out where the operation is based, though - "

Mordred would absolutely buy that Zoe has done drugs but can't think of a way to say this that isn't at least a little insulting. "Araari, do you want to go with me to check the city records and newspaper archives?"

“That sounds like a good idea, thank you.”

"And then the four of us can go... clubbing. ...Anita I assume you can take point."

"I'm not going clubbing. I am going to stay home and read about anthropology."

Lev is so sensible.

Lev is so sensible.

"Good plan."

Before they split up, they get a hotel. Cape of Good Hope Lodging, located on the Strada Stretta in Valletta's red light district, will probably be conveniently located for finding drugs but he sure doesn't want to stay there.

As if rich people don't also buy drugs.

Honestly rich people probably buy more drugs, having more money with which to purchase drugs.

Araari is going to just.... let everyone else have opinions on how much money they should spend on a hotel, given that she doesn’t exactly have much.

Okay but they don't just let anyone off the street get a look at their supply, do they. How about the Kingsway Inn, it's more of a walk but feels less likely to get them mugged going home at night and isn't actually outside of the city.

Siiiigh the Kingsway Inn is fine. Given that the nice one is inconveniently located. Or at least might be. She supposes they have absolutely no reason to believe that the cult is located in Valetta.

The first thing Mordred finds out in the city records is that Montgomery Donovan is a woman.

There's lots of property and paperwork in Montgomery’s name – specifically a harbor-view townhouse in western Valetta near the Great Siege Road, the yacht Elegance (previously registered to one Peter Lukas), and a warehouse owned by her in the western end of the southern harbor. But there’s nothing particularly revealing about any of the information. The records paint a picture of a very wealthy woman with almost no legal footprint.

Peter Lukas is a former ship captain who currently owns four freighters: the Thyrsus, the Odysseus, the Fatima, and the Sea Empress. He primarily specializes in shipping textiles.

Montgomery's warehouse also has textiles. Obviously. Very wealthy textile-shipping businesswoman here.

Of course.

...Well, that makes Peter Lukas seem a bit more suspicious, if textiles might be a euphemism. Anyone else who works with her in the textile business?

Not according to these records.

Okay. Well, the warehouse may or may not be anything, but Araari will make a note of the address anyway.

Mordred is pretty sure the warehouse is something. To the newspaper.

...They cannot find anything in the newspaper.

“What do you want to do now?”

"I doubt we'd find anything in the police records, it doesn't look like she's doing anything recognizably illegal."

"Or she has enough money that the police will not look at her. Same result.” Nod.

Meanwhile--

Anita can take point on clubbing assuming that they speak English here? Apparently lots of people speak ""Maltese"", but maybe all of the cool people also speak English.

Now to find a club where they can try to buy Nectar. Anita can do the talking and Oswald can be largely silent and glower at appropriate times and maybe use his new lying skills if it ever seems like a good idea and Zoe can bodyguard to her heart's content.

Where should MAGNIFICENCE go.

Magnificence is STILL KIND OF CONFUSED ABOUT WHY THEY ARE HERE but probably the humans have a reason. in his experience humans move around a LOT.

In Zoe's experience, if you know the name of the drug and look friendly enough while saying it, eventually someone lets you have some of the drug.

He should. Uh. He should... add to... their eccentric foreigner appearance... and... cause distractions if necessary... or possibly he should study anthropology with Lev. These seem like equally good ideas.

He can imagine about the same number of ways for either plan to go horribly wrong.

Well if nobody tells him to go anywhere then he can stay with Zoe because zoe is the only one of these people he even SLIGHTLY knows.

He can take PICTURES.

Anita probably has a better sense than Zoe about how skittish drug dealers are about people bringing photo taking monkeys to drug deals.

Are we sure we can't get Lev to monkeysit.

Zoe is quite happy to bring Magnificence with her.

Eh people are weird sometimes?? Is it a tame monkey.

"Pretty tame? I'm not as good at handling him as ... my friend was. But he behaves."

Where behaves means "sometimes runs off to break into cult territory and take pictures of important cult artifacts."

Which Zoe thinks totally counts as behaving.

"I guess we can probably just explain him away however you usually explain him? ...why do we have a monkey with us for this, though."

"We inherited him from Anemone."

"I promised to look after him. No one else was gonna and we can't just leave him on his own."

"Oh. So. None of you know how to take care of a monkey. That's fine."

"I mean, I know approximately how? I saw what Anemone would feed him and stuff."

Okay, listen,,,

"He just doesn't like to listen to me as much. Which I don't blame him for, given his recent loss."

"Okay! Good. Then, just, you know, uh - I guess try to keep him from doing anything crazy."

"I think I can manage that."

Zoe actually is not entirely sure she can manage that but he doesn't actually try to do anything crazy all that often so it's probably fine?

To the nightclub! ...If Zoe is charming people and Anita is fast talking them perhaps Oswald should have the monkey, for less immediate distraction.

His animal handling isn't great but perhaps Zoe can do the actual handling and Oswald can be very unalarming.

They are so charming and believable.

Just two lovely ladies looking for a good night out on the town. With their friend the awkward fellow with the monkey.

The awkward fellow who is trying to come off as the grim silent type with a monkey, excuse.

"Oh, sure," a man says. "Now, other people will tell you to buy your Nectar from the parkies. They are at the parks throughout Valletta-- near La Gavroches in Upper Barracca, in the Argotti Gardens, you can't miss them. But I'm telling you they overcharge, and you really want to get your Nectar from the Faldetta Peaches.

"And those fellows, they're honest?"

"Girls. They walk the street just going about their normal business and you can buy from them when you see them. You can tell them by the peach-colored lining on their faldetta."

"Aha! Thank you."

"Can I buy you a drink?"

Zoe looks over at Anita. "Is there time for one? He's been very helpful."

"Sure, we're in no rush."

Perhaps the monkey won't be connected with the drugs after all. Instead there are two girls being flirted with and also, a couple feet away, some bored self-conscious fellow trying to look dignified with a monkey.

Zoe smiles and chats about nothing in particular with the guy over a gin rickey.

Araari is going to ask if she can maybe have the warding stone for a bit please? She’s been thinking about how the village was watching her whenever she wasn’t with the stone and she isn’t a fan of that.

Yeah, Araari can hold onto it for a bit. She needs it more than Zoe.

Thank you, Zoe.

The next morning--

"So as far as I can tell buying nectar doesn't actually help us any? I guess we could tail one of the Faldetta Peaches and see if they lead us to anyone higher up the food chain. Might take a while for them to make contact again, though."

“We have an address for the warehouse, if that might be useful. It is supposedly storing textiles, but...”

"Probably we want to tail some women in peach hoods before we break into the warehouse."

Nod. “Probably a good idea.”

"A couple of the girls should tail them, specifically. I think they're more likely to notice a foreign man trying to follow them home."

"Magnificence could probably tail them without being too conspicuous."

"If we could get him to understand that's what we even wanted him to do, which isn't impossible but is a gamble."

"Anemone used to tell him to go do stuff like that all the time. It's worth a shot."

"We could check out the warehouse too today, I suppose, without breaking in? Or look up any new names you found. Or spend more time in the records if there's anything we feel we overlooked."

Magnificence can TOTALLY follow people in peach hoods and see where they go. He gives a little salute.

GOOD monkey.

“I’m—better than average, at being quiet? I could go if we want more people than just Magnificence to go. Magnificence on his own might be less conspicuous, though. Peter Lukas is a new name, he ships textiles, I thought it was nothing until I saw that textiles are the cover story for the warehouse. And it might be worth looking again at the newspapers to see if there’s anything we missed.”

"Possibly we should split up and all follow people and see who happens to meet with someone? We've definitely gotta avoid engaging, though. Or, not all of us, but several of us. People who think they can pull that off."

"We didn't find anything in the newspaper archives but it's worth another try."

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.

Peter Lukas is in SO many newspaper articles. He apparently LOVES being in newspaper articles. Here he is at a charity gala for the Hospital Superbissima. Here he is at a meeting of the Malta Chamber of Commerce. Here he is as a founding member of the Malta Committee for the Protection of Morals. He is in SO many pictures and his eyes always look incredibly uncomfortable

Zoe's problem with libraries is that there are so many things that are totally irrelevant to what she cares about and she always gets bored before she finds something important. Having someone talk to her about whatever they're reading makes it less painfully boring.

"Or I can read the ones you aren't working with," Mordred says. He's excruciatingly polite, for a definition of polite most often used by university students; he's careful to take up less than his share of the available space and not to take an article the man is currently reading. He's friendly. Legitimate. There is no reason to object to his presence.

"Oh, no, it's fine? I don't want to inconvenience you? Here, take a look and see which clippings you need?"

"It's fine, really, you were here first. What are you looking for, I might have found something that'll help?"

"Oh, I'm just looking for information for my article about Malta's response to the Abyssinia crisis."

(He is in fact doing this, he's looking at articles about the Abyssinia crisis and Malta's foreign policy.)

"Sounds interesting, I'd like to read it when it's published?"

"Of course! It'll be in Il-Berqa? I don't know if you read Maltese?"

"I don't, unfortunately," and Araari knows Italian and some Arabic but that might not be enough to usefully translate. "I don't know what the etiquette is for asking about people's research around here, with other grad students I'd say 'pretend I asked the question that would get me the most interesting answer' but that might be horribly rude."

"Oh, I wouldn't call it research? We're just near Italy, you know, so there's a lot of questions about what our foreign policy is going to be what with Mussolini and all? I sure hope there's not a war."

"I hope so too. -- sorry, I don't think I got your name?"

"Adam Vizarri."

Smile. "Lucas Marsh. Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Vizarri."

"Pleasure to meet you too. What are you researching?"

Oh god now he has to figure out what he could be researching that it makes sense he'd want to read clippings on the Abynissia crisis and also that he can talk about if asked without sounding incredibly stupid to someone who lives here.

"Oh, I study linguistic development, nothing particularly relevant, but my friend is writing a paper on historical sailing routes in the Mediterranean and I owe her a favor."

"That doesn't sound very related to the Abyssinia Crisis?" Probably because I'm a moron, Martin's voice implies.

"I imagine it's not! But I'm trying to give her notes on approximately everything and she can sort out what she needs, it's really not my area."

"It's not my area either. I guess you knew that. Sorry."

"'S alright. Good luck with your article?" This is an awkward place to end a conversation but he needs to get out of here before he can lie in a stupid way again.

"Do you want me to make you a cup of tea? I'm getting one myself."

Aha that sounds like a great opportunity to trip himself up again. "No, but thank you."

He puts all of the articles and clippings he was using back where they belong and joins Oswald outside.

Meanwhile--

Oswald has gone outside for some air. It's stuffy in the offices of the Times of Malta. 

"Hello! Fancy seeing you here. Anchisa will be so excited."

"--I could say the same to you! Hello." He feels vaguely like he should tip his hat or something? And also like he should definitely run away.

"I guess our bosses had the same idea."

"Glad you got out of Ethiopia. Things are looking bad there in the papers." Is that a lie? He's pretty sure his mouth is just making polite sounds on autopilot.

"Absolutely. Mussolini is just awful. I hope we can avoid a war."

"If nothing else, imagine what that would do to the dig site."

"It was pretty torn apart by King Ezana, unfortunately. I'm afraid it wouldn't hurt the situation much. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know. Checking in before the rush. Something seems to be ramping up all through Europe, you know."

"It really does. --Louise is consulting Miss Donovan on some fine points of translation of the Revelations of Dagon. So the rest of us have absolutely nothing to do. I've been looking at historical churches and catching up on my reading."

"You know, I keep getting conflicting ideas of how relevant Dagon is to all this. Sure, there's the Prisoner stuff, but everything else seems just thematically weird. How are the churches? Anything as interesting as the one back by the site?"
 

"Entirely of non-occult interest, I assure you. Louise believes our God is the Prisoner of Dagon. I am not sure of the evidence for it myself-- there have been a lot of leads that didn't pan out. But it is worth investigating."

"When is Miss Fauche meeting with Miss Donovan? We wouldn't want to interrupt."

"Oh, they're constantly in their offices together. I think Miss Donovan likes the distraction."

"Can't be helped, then. Ah, well. Glad to know you're here now rather than being surprised with it in the middle of -- well -- oh, you're done!" He gestures from Mordred to Inaaya. "Surely you remember--"

"I do! Hello, Miss Khadpo."

"Hello, James! Unfortunately, Louise is too busy to talk with you, she's busy with Miss Donovan."

"Working on the finer points of translating the Revelations of Dagon," Oswald adds helpfully.

"Sounds interesting! I'm glad she gets to do it."

"You never did end up giving me that report on Dallol."

"There wasn't much there," he says. "Ayers had left a note on renouncing all flesh, and promptly left to die in the desert. We turned back, it wasn't worth the heatstroke."

"Did you end up inspecting the site? There must be something that wasn't buried under a pile of rubble."

"The bodies of the workers who'd been excavating the place before the eruption and a few fragments of the structure, all heavily damaged."

"Unfortunate. Seems like Ethiopia was a waste for both of us. Should we keep your visit quiet?"

"It'd be appreciated, thank you."

A bird promptly lands on Oswald's head.

"I assume that Captain Walker wants to take a look at how all the businesses are doing without drawing too much attention. --Nice hat, Michael."

He pauses for a moment and then notices the feeling of tiny bird claws. "Oh. Uh, yes." Ineffectual waving.

"I was just telling Michael that I'm terribly bored. I've been catching up on my reading and looking at historical churches in a strictly nonprofessional capacity."

"We only just arrived. With grad students the thing I used to say was 'pretend I asked the question about your reading that I should ask to get the most interesting answer'?"

That line feels vaguely familiar. Did Mordred use it today? Maybe he should've paid more attention to his background conversation with whoever.

This is in fact the second time he has used this line today. It's a perfectly good line and he sees no reason not to reuse it.

"Bertrand Russell's new book is excellent. It's about how the nineteenth century was fundamentally shaped by a struggle between freedom and control. Something I suppose we're both interested in. He doesn't quite say it's about Stalin and Hitler but the subtext is obvious."

Wait, the cultist of dominion and power likes Bertrand Russell, that's actually kind of odd. "Ooh, I haven't had a chance to read it but I loved his other books, do you have a favorite --"

Very genuine smile. "Oh, a fan. I have a soft spot for Why I Am Not A Christian because it was so influential on me, but I also like Marriage and Morals, and I also enjoy his mathematical work. I'm an amateur but I've been enjoying working my way through the Principia Mathematica."

Zoe stopped a bit short when she noticed Oswald was talking to one of those people from Ethiopia, and didn't join them when Mordred went to. Maybe it's better if she doesn't make her face too known to them. She hangs back and watches and tries to not look too connected to the others.

Wasn't that the one who's supposed to be psychic? There is stuff they're trying to keep other people from knowing and that seems hard to do with someone who is actually psychic. Is she reading her mind right now? Zoe starts fiddling with her zippo.

bounce bounce no stop that's weird "Most recently I liked Free Thought and Official Propaganda but I read Why I Am Not A Christian so many times as a teenager that three chapters fell out of it."

Smile. "A man after my own heart. --I always wonder what he would think of the occult, if he knew."

After this Oswald is going to ask Mordred about the significance or lack thereof of Bertrand Russell to cult activity, his primary knowledge is that he's a controversial philosopher and it feels like he's missing something. ...And also about his work in general. He has found one way to make friends and it's by encouraging infodumps.

Smile! "I feel like skepticism doesn't mean denying what's in front of your eyes because it shouldn't be possible -- but of course I'll almost certainly never have the opportunity to ask."

"Exactly! I have psychic powers, this is a thing I can observe about the world. It is as real and empirical as gravity. The real skeptical attitude isn't saying the supernatural doesn't exist, it's studying them the way we'd study anything else."

Okay she may well empirically have psychic powers but that's such a wild sentence to hear in a conversation about skepticism.

Oswald, they empirically learned a spell last month.

Not saying it's false! It's probably true to be honest! It's just also wild!

"I don't know how busy you are in Malta, would you like to join me in looking at churches? And forts, and megalithic temples, and so on. There are lots of interesting things to see here and I have to do them all by myself because Louise is busy. And my other options are, you know, Joan, Mariam, and Anchisa."

"I would love to join you in looking at churches and forts and megalithic temples and so on," he says, extremely sincerely.

"Thank you! You know, Mariam and Joan are lovely but Mariam only wants to go to parties with Peter Lukas and Joan is like 'great, an opportunity to practice sparring. And Anchisa is. Anchisa."

"I have not spoken much with Anchisa but I think I know what you mean."

"Are there a lot of parties like that to attend here?" He cannot make himself sound enthusiastic about this but he can make himself sound curious, which he is.

"Oh, it's endless. Inaaya, I'm going to a soiree at Lord So-and-so's summer house-- it's not even the summer, I don't know why they're there. Inaaya, I'm going to get lunch with a member of parliament. Inaaya, I'm going to a meeting of the Malta Committee for the Protection of Morals. And I say to her, Mariam, all of us are in the life except for Anchisa, I don't know what you're doing, do you really think we have any morals to protect. Is this the business you think we're in, Mariam."

"And Lukas attends these as well? I don't know how they're not both exhausted."

"Mariam, our boss brutally murders people, I say. And she says that the Committee for Protection of Morals isn't about protecting those morals, it is about keeping people from having deviant sex. And I say that I don't think that's very moral, brutal murder being significantly worse than deviant sex by anyone's lights, and anyway Mariam has deviant sex all the time. Mostly so she can blackmail people with it."

Mordred is visibly trying very hard not to crack up laughing.

"And then she says I do not understand how forming connections works, which is true, and is why she is in charge of forming connections and I am in charge of looking at interesting monoliths."

But how is Peter Lukas involved, Oswald internally repeats.

"I suppose if it works for her it works for her?" Mordred says, still trying not to laugh.

"Peter Lukas goes to all those parties too but Mariam dislikes him. Apparently he talks like he learned all of human interaction from a Dale Carnegie course. --Well, see you around." Inaaya gives Mordred her contact information so he can find her to schedule Church Expeditions.

"See you around!"

Meanwhile--

One Faldetta Peach is creeped out by Anita following her and runs away.

Another Faldetta Peach spots Araari following her.

"Oh, hello!"

“...Hello.”

"I saw you following. You don't have to be worried. I know you want to get into the business! It's really a great business. You set your own hours, work as little or as much as you want."

“I don’t really want to get into the business. I just wanted to know what you were doing.”

"Oh! Well, you should think about it. It's really a great business. Our boss respects women, you know. It's all about women supporting other women."

“That sounds quite nice! I’m glad that you like your job. Who is your boss?”

"--oh I shouldn't say that. She'll get mad at me."

“Of course. I apologize for asking.” Araari has kind of picked up on what is and is not appropriate for showing respect in America but she’s very out of her depth in Malta. Probably better to err on the side of being rude by doing nothing? “I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

"It's okay!" she says. "If you join you can find out!"

Meanwhile--

A third Peach thinks that she should take Magnificence with her while she runs her errands.

:O

yes okay he will hang out with this human who has excellent taste. but if she tries to trap him somewhere he is going to RUN AWAY.

She is going to the Hospital!

That sounds fun!

The nice lady is going to the hospital but she does not seem to be sick at ALL.

She goes into a meeting with a nurse.

CURIOUS. WHY then is she going to the hospital.

what is the MEANING of this BEHAVIOR.

She is going to a MEETING with a NURSE.

They are having a DISCUSSION.

A meeting about WHAT. Can he LEARN.

The nice lady was selling something and the nurse gives it to her!

Aha. It is perhaps THE THING HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE WATCHING FOR.

He will attempt to take a PICTURE.

The nice lady receives a box full of vials of a SUBSTANCE.

Ah yes this seems like the thing that he is WATCHING FOR.

Perhaps he should wait until she's not paying attention and then STEAL A SUBSTANCE.

...

The substance is DIFFICULT TO SECURE.

"No," the peach says, "NOT FOR MONKEYS. Isn't he cute though? I think I'm going to name him Hope."

He is very cute. It's true.

He is not going to have a new name though. He's going to run away when they leave the hospital.

Bye nice lady! It's been fun.

Magnificence has discovered the SOURCE of the SUBSTANCE. Now if he can only think of some way to communicate this. These humans are much worse at understanding things than Anemone was.

...Yeah, Araari has no idea how to communicate with this monkey. Zoë seemed better at it but Zoë is also at the library right now. “What do you want to tell me?”

HOW IS HE SUPPOSED TO WORK WITH THAT.

He takes a sheet from the bed and wraps himself up so that he looks like the lady in the hood???

Okay, so he is trying to communicate something, not just complaining because he’s hungry or whatever monkeys do... “Did you take any pictures?” Araari tries to take his camera to check.

Magnificence DID take a picture but if she opens the camera up to check without being ready to make them good then it will make the picture BAD. Anemone was very clear about this.

Probably all humans know how pictures work though???? Okay sure she can have the camera.

Araari will take the pictures to be developed and will not do things that make the picture bad.

GOOD.

Magnificence has taken a picture of an unidentifiable piece of carpet.

DARN.

OKAY BUT HE TOTALLY KNOWS WHERE HE WAS WHEN HE TOOK IT.

“Can you—show me where this is?”

YES. He can go out of the hotel and lead her to the hospital!

"The woman you were following, she led you here?"

NOD.

Huh. Okay. “Did she get hurt?”

HEADSHAKE.

Well, she still might have been sick in some way that is not obvious to a monkey, but hospitals do have stores of drugs. “Did she take anything from here?”

NOD.

“Thank you very much, Magnificence, you’re very helpful and an excellent monkey.” She picks up his hand and bends down very seriously to kiss it, like she might with an elder or someone else respected. “Are there other important things that you want to tell me, should I keep asking questions?”

NOD! Also Araari is okay. Magnificence approves.

Like he doesn't know that many things but he is PRETTY SURE that she picked up the SUBSTANCE here.

Which seems IMPORTANT.

“Was there anything else important that happened? Is it okay with you if we go back to the hotel room for more questions?”

NOD.

“—Before we go back to the hotel room, if there was anywhere else where something important happened, you should take me there, too.”

HEADSHAKE.

Okay. Back to the hotel room. “Was there anyone at the hospital—the hospital is where we were just now—who you knew or had seen before?”

HEADSHAKE.

“Did anyone get hurt?”

HEADSHAKE.

Well, that’s some of the worst possibilities out of the way, then. “The thing that she took from the hospital—was it some sort of liquid?” Possibly nectar also comes in powder or pill form but Araari is not sure how to explain drugs to a monkey. Worst case scenario, she’ll pull out her first aid kit and ask Magnificence to point at anything that looks like what the lady took from the hospital.

NOD. PROBABLY. He's pretty sure she's asking whether it was drugs and he's PRETTY SURE it was drugs.

“You’re very good, Magnificence. Did they give it to her or did she take it without them seeing?”

.............how does he answer that via nodding or shaking his head.

“—Wait, I’m sorry, that’s not yes or no. Nod if they gave it to her, shake your head if she took it without them seeing.”

NOD.

“Am I still missing an obvious question? You are being very patient with me, thank you.”

HEADSHAKE. Araari can have hugs now for being good.

Not long after, Anita returns.

She Guesses they can check the hospital for Faldetta peaches and see if they do anything suspicious. 

She means, if either of them had better findings that would take priority, but given that neither of them has any better guesses,

Yeah.... that's fair....

Maybe when everyone else comes back they’ll have something to report! “Stay here now, alright, Magnificence? And if we’re not back when the other humans come back, you can take them to the hospital.”

o7

A storm is blowing in, its thunderhead rolling in dark and low, lightning splaying across the sky and touching the sea.

The Hospital Superbissima is a younger institution in an older building. The hospital was constructed as a sprawling mansion and was renovated into a hospital. It is six storeys tall, made of sturdy stone, and quite cramped and dark for a hospital. Though tall windows let a great deal of light into the outer rooms, the interior spaces, such as offices and records rooms, are shadowy and confining.

Nurses walk through the hospital carrying what are recognizably vials of Nectar, like they saw with the Faletta Peaches.

Araari makes a mental note to ask Zoë what Magnificence can have as a treat.

A nurse spots Anita. "Hello, ma'am. You don't have your visitor's pass?"

" - oh, I'm sorry, I wonder where it got to?"

"We can sort that out. Who are you going to see?"

Haha fuck uh. "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't even - my sister called me and said her boyfriend was in trouble, and I can barely keep track of who she's seeing these days, but she sounded so upset, you know, and, well - Jack Grech, I think it was?"

Anita gets a sense from the nurse that she's corrupt and crooked-- she's used to taking bribes.

"All right," she says. "We can check to see if Mr. Gretch is in the patient records so I can send you to the right room?"

Araari is just going to try to shrink into the wall and pretend this isn’t happening.

"Sounds like a good first step. And if not - I might have the name wrong, I'm sorry, maybe I could just look around a bit and make sure? I'm sure I'd recognize his face if I saw him."

"Well," she says, "it's technically against the rules... if I could have a little tip, for going out of my way..."

"Of course, of course." She does in fact have money. Here is some money.

And she obtains a visitor's pass for Mr. Gretch!

You can’t just bribe a nurse??? I guess empirically you can?????????

You can bribe most people although Anita guesses if there were an exception it might be a nun or her actual sister

She thanks the nurse and looks around some more.

One of the wings of the hospital is the Donovan Wing.

Ooh.

Hmm. Rich people give money to hospitals a lot, but she supposes that if you were going to run a drug selling operation out of a hospital then a wing added with your money might end up being part of it? Maybe they should check it out?

Sure, why not, apparently they have a visitor’s pass now.

Anita is going to see if she can get a sense of where the drugs are being kept, or coming from, even though she appears to be off her blending in game today.

Araari is just going to follow Anita, Anita seems like she has a plan.

Anita tracks one of the nurses to a closet full of Nectar, then watches her collect some of it and take it somewhere else.

The nurse dilutes the Nectar with saline, then prepares to inject it in a patient.

Well, that's not creepy at all.

The nurse says, "here's a little drug we call orange juice! It'll make you lively and give you some pep. It's experimental. You can only get it in the Hospital Superbissima."

Well. That's a good trick, isn't it, selling your experimental drugs to a hospital. She wonders how complicated something like that is.

"Dr. Solazzio is working with it."

Aha.

That seems like a good point at which to bring her findings back to the others. Trying to reach Dr. Solazzio alone sounds likely to lead to... hiccups.

The next morning--

Inaaya sends Mordred a note asking him to spend time with her that afternoon.

"Okay so... so far we know that the peaches deal Nectar, and that the nurses give it to patients, and... Montgomery Donovan is in charge of all this somehow? Do I have that right? Am I missing anything?"

"Not that I am remembering, no."

"And we know that a Dr. Solazzio is working with the drug in some capacity."

"We also know that Donovan is working with the group we met in Ethiopia, the one that thinks we're fellow cultists, and I don't know what we want to do regarding what Donovan ends up thinking our deal is but we probably shouldn't wing it."

"They think you were working for Trammel, right? And then he supposedly died? Could be useful for me to steer clear of that, if you think you might need someone to approach them from a different angle than you later on."

"What exactly are we hoping to do here? Just learn more about Nectar and the cult? Disrupt their operations? Expose them?"

"Just to learn more, I think--in case of war, it is better that we already know everything there is to learn from Malta."

" - huh. I thought you guys were, you know, in the business of being concerned about hospitals shooting people up with real bad stuff? Not that I know the first thing about what we'd do about it. Need to know more for that, I think."

"If you think that we can expose them with--consequences--I think everyone here would be in favor of that."

"I'd sure like to put a stop to whatever the hell they're doing there."

"Well, exposure is reporter guy's department, isn't it."

"The Times of Malta is in English but we'd need significantly more proof than we have that the experimental drug is doing what we say it does. It's a better plan than none."

"Okay, so... probably some of us should go to the hospital and try to learn more about what the nurses think they're doing and why they're doing it, maybe look into that Dr. Solazzio? And some of us should try to, I don't know, see if they can contrive to run into Montgomery Donovan at a social event or whatever she does with her life. And just... generally keep a low profile, avoid pissing anyone off, and get ourselves as close as we can to whatever's going on, until we have hard proof of something damning?"

"In the very near term I'm hoping to find out what Inaaya being psychic actually cashes out to."

"That sounds like it would be very good to know. In case it's 'she knows all our secrets and is completely onto us.'"

"I wonder if the warding stone affects her?"

They divide up and begin their research for today.

Magnificence is going to TAKE PICTURES. He may need someone to direct him to the correct location first but then he is going to TAKE PICTURES.

Magnificence can be DIRECTED TO THE WAREHOUSE.

Magnificence shall OBSERVE THE WAREHOUSE.

WHAT is the purpose of this location.

He does not understand it.

A MYSTERIOUS location.

Does the location contain PEOPLE.

It DOES contain people.

The warehouse is a simple cement-and-corrugated-metal building with few entrances and high, closed windows. Aside from the light pouring out through those dirty windows, there’s little way of seeing what’s happening inside.

There are MEN WITH GUNS walking around the outside.

Are the men with guns watching the windows. 

They are watching to make sure people don't enter the building.

There's a big gravel area nearby, with some cars on it.

Are there places where a monkey might SNEAK BY without the men with guns noticing. Possibly from somewhere they would not expect. Like the roof, if it's possible to climb up to the roof from anywhere else.

It is totally possible to climb up to the roof!

AHA. He will TRY THIS and then see whether there are any ways INSIDE that might not be IMMEDIATELY OBVIOUS from other vantage points.

He cuts across the gravel yard because it is LESS LIKELY TO BE SEEN BY MEN WITH GUNS, who are very carefully only walking on the paths.

As he crosses, he feels something grabbing at his foot. He sees that he's knocked aside some gravel and disturbed a mouth, flecked with dirt. It looks almost human, almost normal.

WHAT IS THAT. THAT'S NOT HOW MOUTHS GO.

okay okay this is a WEIRD THING. when he runs into weird things he should take a PICTURE.

he will TAKE A PICTURE OF THE MOUTH.

He clumsily drops his camera into the mouth. It chomps it and then, apparently unhappy about the taste of this meal, SCREAMS

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Magnificence RUNS VERY FAST

(no no no the camera the camera that anemone got him)

everything is TERRIBLE the mouth ATE HIS CAMERA

AWFUL

The mouth is still screaming!

When magnificence is a safe distance away he will look back and check whether the camera is really definitely swallowed whole or maybe the scary mouth is not very deep and is just kind of biting it or something????

a NORMAL mouth could not swallow a camera whole probably.

The pocket watch is VERY BIG and the mouth has NOT QUITE CHOKED IT DOWN.

..................has anybody noticed the screaming mouth. probably everybody has but he will Look.

The guards are standing at the VERY EDGE of the path and looking.

They saw a monkey and concluded this was not problematic.

HM.

Magnificence is going to take a WILD RISK HERE and attempt to go back and SAVE HIS WATCH because FUCK THAT WEIRD MOUTH THING THAT BELONGS TO HIM.

This might be what one would technically refer to as "a terrible idea" but.

The mouth, choking on the camera, allows Magnificence to extract his prize.

HAHA SUCK IT HORRIBLE MOUTH THING

WOO

Now his only problem is that he has probably attracted the attention of EVERY SINGLE MAN WITH A GUN. WHOOPS.

They are all, fortunately, prepared to TOTALLY IGNORE THE MONKEY.

Why is there a monkey on Malta? They don't know.

But they are paid to guard this warehouse from human beings.

 Magnificence is unaware of this thought process so he is going to SCAMPER BACK ONTO THE ROOF WHERE MAYBE IT WILL BE HARDER TO SEE HIM.

A mouth bites at his foot.

When the mouth bites him, Magnificence gets a vision.

Somewhere below the earth, there's a Major Mouth, thirty feet wide, churning, gushing, gurgling, oozing Nectar.

OH NO

There's a nasty bite on his ankle. He's bleeding pretty badly.

D:

Well this is BAD.

AUGH he doesn't know how to FIX bleeding.

MAYBE he should run away and limp back home and try to get help.

BUT FIRST he is gonna try to take an aerial picture of the STUPID HORRIBLE MOUTH ZONE, from a SAFE DISTANCE, while holding his camera VERY VERY CAREFULLY.

because he's NOT LETTING THE STUPID MOUTHS WIN.

Unfortunately, his paws shake.

He may not actually be able to get the mouths onto a picture but hey he tried.

Now he is going to LIMP BACK TO THE HOTEL and HOPE ARAARI OR ZOE IS THERE.

Meanwhile--

Hmmm. So the thing one ideally wants to do is make contact with Dr. Salazzio? But it's super weird to just barge into a doctor's office. She's not even sure that he spends much time in any sort of proper office, he could be a normal doctor who sees patients for most of the day. What she needs is, like... a secretary. Yeah. A secretary to make an appointment with him at his soonest possible convenience.

She can head to the hospital, try to avoid any nurses that she actually spoke to yesterday, and ask whether there's a place to go to discuss scheduling meetings with specific doctors.

There's a receptionist in the front hall.

"Hello. I'm here representing a Dr. William Conrad. Word is that there are particularly interesting developments in medicine occurring at this hospital, and I'm here to see whether it's worth him flying out to learn more about them. Do you know if it's at all possible to schedule a meeting with a Dr. Salazzio to discuss his work?"

"Does Dr. Solazzio know you're coming?"

"He does not, I only recently learned that he was the man behind the developments I'd been sent to learn about. I'm fine sending a letter first, if that'd be more proper, but I figured that since I was already here - might as well ask directly, you know?"

The receptionist looks at her very suspiciously. "...Well, it could be arranged," she says. "But if you want me to help you, you're going to have to help me..."

"Of course, I am always happy to compensate people for going above and beyond."

Internal sigh.

The receptionist continues to smile and nod until Anita has handed over several crisp ten-lira bills.

Then she says, "Dr. Solazzio has an opening this afternoon."

"Thank you very much! What time exactly?"

"1pm."

"All right then! I'll be back at one."

Anita makes a few phone calls to try to find someone reliable who can pass himself off as a medical professional if she has to give Dr. Solazzio a number which belongs to this made-up doctor, but unfortunately all of her medically inclined friends are busy today.

That afternoon--

"You wanted to speak to me?"

"I did!" haha she was definitely assuming a man that's embarrassing. "I'm an assistant for a doctor who lives in the United States. He said that he'd heard things in passing about a phenomenally powerful new medicine available in Malta. Sent me to see whether any such thing actually existed. See whether it was worth looking into personally, and whether it would be worth investing in obtaining permission to use it in the states. I've been hearing a lot about a new medicine since I got here, and I understand that you're the expert on it?"

"Oh, yes, I'm running our experiments," Dr. Solazzio says. "A substance called Nectar. Fascinating drug. Like an amphetamine without any of the side effects... and of course no addiction risk."

"Sounds like you've found something phenomenally rare, then. And, one imagines, valuable."

"Indeed! But I'm just motivated by the medicine."

"Of course! That's how the doctors back home are, really, they get all excited about possible new medical applications and forget all about the financial side. But I guess they have a point, you know, if this is something really special, something that could be used to help a lot of people who can't be helped by other things, well - would it be possible for me to get some more information about your discoveries here to take back home to them? If there's anything you're comfortable sharing at this stage."

"Of course. So what works best is to dilute the Nectar with saline. Small amounts add energy and pep and accelerate the body's natural healing processes. It's a very natural substance. All it does is gently support the body while it recovers on its own."

She will take out a notebook and take notes for the doctors back home, then. "Does it occur in nature in some form, then, it's not solely created in the laboratory?"

"It's a laboratory creation but it was, I understand, inspired by certain herbs from Central America."

"Fascinating."

"My most interesting case is two girls, both eight years old, I've been seeing for treatment. Lela Donovan and Tereza Doe."

"Oh? Interesting how?"

"They're both quite ill. Low blood pressure, low respiration rate, low pulse, fatigue, weakness. It's tragic to see. But I've found that a regular dose of Nectar supports them in having more normal development. I don't think either of them would be alive without it."

(She is totally leaving shit out, but it seems unlikely she'd tell the truth with any persuasion short of violent threats.)

"And there are no side effects?"

"Not unless you count being too happy. Supporting the body's natural development is very safe."

"Well, I'm sure nobody could complain about that. Do you have any - paper summaries, maybe, notes you feel comfortable sharing copies of about the results you've seen here? I'm always supposed to bring some kind of documentation back, if I can find anyone interested in helping. Just general outlines, I mean."

"Oh, of course." She hands Anita some notes that say basically what she said.

Cools. "Thank you so much, I'm sure they'll be really excited to hear more about this."

She would really like to look at the hospital's official records, but she should probably head back to base and determine whether anyone has a better idea than testing the limits of how bribable the nurses are.

Meanwhile--

All right let's have a day on the town. They can go sightseeing. She hears the opera house and the marina are both Very Scenic.

Opera feels like a later in the day thing. Marina first?

Sounds good to Araari! Other countries: still have not lost any of their novelty.

It's a lovely day. Let's take a walk along the waterfront and go look at boats.

The wind carries the smell of spices and tea down from an open window. Someone is plucking idly at a guitar up there.

The boat is anchored a short distance off the northwestern Valletta coast.

Zoe puts in a coin and look at the boat! Possibly at several boats. At minimum she is hoping they will have their name(s) written on the side somewhere visible?? Maybe she will see People on deck.

The freighter has The Elegance written on the side. There are no people on the deck.