"Hasn't so far! If she does, I'll do something about it then." Scritch scritch. "She's so soft." 

"Must've had someone looking after her."

"...Yeah. I hope whoever it is survived, but..."

"Yeah. But hey, if they didn't, maybe they'll rest better knowing someone else is taking care of their cat."

"It's a nice thought, anyway." 

Okay, Lann has a magic bow now, so Finnean can come with her and...Woljif and Camellia both currently have weapons they use as anything other than a last resort, so--Woljif. Knowing more about Camellia's backstory does not mean Lusilla trusts her unsupervised with Finnean. 

Which, speaking of, she did promise to speak to Woljif in private. Now might be a good time for that.

"Hey! How's it goin', chief?"

"About as well as could be expected. You wanted to talk to me privately?"

"Yeah." There's a discreet corner nearby, where sacks of food items form a quiet little alcove. "Look, chief, I got something to show you." And he pulls out--

Lusilla gasps, hands going to her mouth. "It's beautiful," she says, recognizing it from the description of the Moon of the Abyss.

"Ain't it, though?" 

He admires it briefly, then squirrels it away again before anyone else can see it. 

"You really had it all this time?"

"Ever since that night. While Melroun was dealing with the golem, I sneaked past everyone, and that was that--he never even laid eyes on it."

Woljif is SO pleased with himself. 

Probably she should be bothered about Melroun getting tortured for the amulet's location when he never had it, but--actually she's pretty much okay with not being less worked up about the torture when she thought he had. 

"I wouldn't have guessed you had it--you sounded pretty convincing when you said it wouldn't be worth stealing, to Kerismei." 

"Pff. Well. I was only partly lying, you know. I mean, yeah, I took it, but I didn't go to Irabeth about it, and I wouldn't've done, either. Plus the bit about not being able to fence it was true too." 

Nod. "You didn't want to sell it. You just wanted it." 

It makes perfect sense to Lusilla. The Moon of the Abyss is pretty. Who doesn't want pretty things?

"Exactly! I mean, who wouldn't want something that sparkly? And, anyway..." he rubs the back of his head. "It's mine. Not because I stole it, I mean. Originally. Well--my inheritance. Y'see, my grandma and I were really poor--the Moon, and a jewelry box to keep it in, were the only nice things we had. It was hidden, most of the time, but every now and then Gran would take it out to look at it. If she'd had a few drinks in her, I could ask questions, and one time I asked where she got it from. She said it was from my grandfather." He touches one of his horns. "My grandfather who was a demon. He said it was to be passed down. She said it'd be mine when I grew up. 'Course, it didn't turn out that way. She fell into the bottle hard, and sold it to old Fyllemen for coppers. Didn't even get enough for it to keep her in drink for more'n a few days." 

"...Huh." 

She looks at the spot in Woljif's clothes where he hid the amulet away with the Aeon's eyes. 

Oh there is DEFINITELY something spoopy and abyssal going on with that thing. Not nearly as bad as the knife, but on par with Lariel's sword. 

Cool. Given how well he'd lied to Kerismei, it's good to have evidence backing up his story so she doesn't have to ask him outright if he's telling her the whole truth or a deceptively crafted partial truth. 

"...I've been going to Fyllemen's to look at the Moon ever since then. He tried to shoo me away, at first, but I was persistent, and he was confident in his security. And he was right to be! Up until Melroun's scroll and Kerismei's plan, I never had a chance to nick the thing worth pursuing. I was thinking I'd blow this town once I had it--find somewhere nobody'd ever heard of the thing. Maybe Garund, I hear it's warmer there. I've been with the Thieflings too long..."

She takes his hands and looks him in the eyes. 

"Woljif, I...I'm honored that you chose to trust me with this. And I'm grateful that you gave me a look at it; it really is beautiful. Thank you."

"Ah, well." He looks away. "I had to brag to somebody about getting one over Sister Kerismei like that, y'know?"

"I understand." Kerismei isn't nearly as blood-boilingly awful as Hulrun, but like, that's a very high bar to clear. 

"Anyway--I owe you one. Anything you need--thanks to you, I'm still in the Family. They--I mean we--have the black market pretty much sewn up in this town."

"I will keep that in mind." She's not, like, thrilled about the idea of doing business with organized crime, especially not organized crime that's as indifferent to the well-being of its members as she saw from the Thieflings, but--if it becomes necessary, she's not above holding her nose and doing it anyway. 

Okay. Next she should...

She reaches into her bag to rummage around, then stops. She lifts up the bag and peers inside.