The wharf section of the Rahad was deserted this time of night, and the lone figure on the farthest pier was grateful for what little solitude the wind and the waves offered. The muffled crashing of breakers against the sound beams managed to muffle the sounds of the city, and the salt-tinged caress of the sea breeze whisked errant hairs out of her face.

Lys’sara frowned to herself. Her contentment suddenly soured, as a pair of distinct sensations disrupted her reverie. The first was the intrusion of the memories that had brought her out here, and the second was the sudden twinge in her gut that told her she was no longer alone.

Lys’sara shook her head. Only one person would care enough to approach her when it was obvious she’d rather be alone… “Nik. I’m not in the mood for talk at the moment, so if you’ve got a reason to be out here, you’d better spill it.”

Nikolas Grantson’s smiling face greeted her as she turned. “Why Lys, can’t a friend of yours come and make sure you’re alright on such a wonderful day? The way you were looking at the water, the local fishermen will count themselves lucky if they catch anything for weeks – you’ve almost certainly frightened away the fish!”

Lys’sara’s glower redoubled, and Nik barely managed to dance out of the way of a rather vicious punch. Backing away with his hands upheld, Nik’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “That’s the sullen and angry terror I remember! Seriously though, Tuck wants to see us… We’ve got a job to do tonight.”

Lys’sara rolled her eyes skyward, and chuckled. “Nik, while I consider you the brother I never had, one more crack like that tonight, and you’ll wish you’d never been born.”

Nik’s permanent expression of levity only grew greater at that comment. “You needed to be cheered up and you know it. We’d better get going, or we’ll miss hearing our odds…” His expression took on a slightly concerned cast as Lys’sara caught up with him. “But you’ll have to tell me what’s on your mind. Were you considering bullying some poor fool into handing you a marriage knife?”

This time, Nik wasn’t nearly quick enough, and Lys’sara landed an elbow in his midsection. Nik gasped for breath, looking up at Lys’sara’s smiling face. “You’re right. I needed that. I’ll tell you later, but right now, we do have an appointment to keep..?”

Lys’sara knelt by the lock, brow furrowed in concentration as she probed the tumblers with a slender pick. Nik stood beside her, his watchful gaze probing the shadows of the dimly lit hallway, as his fingers beat a staccato rhythm on the hilts of his twin blades. A soft snort of disgust heralded the lock giving way, and Lys’sara cautiously eased the door open. “If this sort of security gives us odds of three-to-one against, they seriously overestimate themselves.” Stepping around the doorway, Lys’sara scanned the room for anything amiss, as she continued. “Only two guards so far, and rather pathetic locks, to boot. Oh, better step around that tile. Pressure plate.”

Nik nodded absently as he searched the wall for the passage that was all too evident on the blueprints they had found. “I know what you mean… This seems to be shaping up to be an all too boring night. Want to tell me about earlier?”

Hefting her rucksack, which already contained a few pieces of jewelry, Lys’sara nodded assent. The two of them moved through the now opened wall, and Lys spoke quietly. “You’ve never met my mother, but she was a kind woman. She came here in a sorry state… A refugee from somewhere, I think. I don’t even remember where we lived last, or if I was born somewhere outside the city…” she trailed off as Nik grabbed her shoulder, and indicated a tripwire that she had almost brushed. “Thanks. All I do remember is that she was forced to use the only asset she had to help us survive.”

The passageway ended, and Nik boosted her up to the ceiling so she could poke and prod at the loose panel there. “Locked… Just great… You okay down there?”

Nik grunted, and shifted position slightly. “Yeah, just hurry up would you? You’re not getting any lighter… And do you have a point you’re getting at somewhere?”

“Just be patient. And I’m not getting heavier; you’re just getting weaker in your old age. Anyway, to be frank about it, she was a whore. It wasn’t a glorious living, and certainly wasn’t easy, given that she had lived somewhere a long ways off, and hadn’t had too good a grasp on our language… Life was pretty rough going, and for the most part, I was left out on the streets to fend for myself. But I had a roof to go back to for the night, and semi-regular meals, so I suppose it wasn’t that bad. Got it.” The panel slid aside smoothly, and Lys’sara dragged herself out of the passageway, and into the exhibit hall.

Nik clambered up, and spat, disgusted. “If they’d bothered to pace the stables, they’d have known about that…”

After tossing another rucksack to Nik, the two of them moved about, collecting treasures from their various cases. You know I ran with the Shadow Hands for awhile, and I left shortly after I had a… disagreement… with the Nightmaster.”

Their sacks almost full, and their attention divided, neither of them noticed the guard until he’d already pulled the alarm cord. Abruptly snapped from her reminiscing, Lys’sara did the first thing that came to mind – she swore, and hurled a fragile clay container that held ash, flour, and pepper against the startled guard’s chest.

A frantic look around showed Nik already halfway out the nearest window, and clambering up to the roof. Not sparing another second to look, she barreled past the choking and sneezing guard, knocking him flying. Quickly tying off her sack, she hurled it up to Nik, and swarmed up the rope herself. From there, it was over the rooftops, and all too easy.

The tavern was, by and large, deserted. The dim atmosphere, and stale smoke that suffused the area seemed to encourage low conversation, and it was exactly that which occurred in one of the booths secluded in the rear of the tavern.

Nik and Lys’sara raised their glasses in solemn toast to the words offered by Tuck. “To fools, all too eager to part with their marks. Without ‘em, we’d be out jobs!”

Nik chuckled at that. “You were right Tuck, they put too much security around the outside of the exhibit hall, and didn’t even think that there would be a way to access it from another area of the estate.”

Tuck nodded. “Hopefully, our demonstration will prevent them from losing those treasures to real thieves. I really thought Prince Berlan would have prepared the security better than that…”

Settling down to her mead, Lys’sara frowned. “You know Nik, it’s your fault they saw us at all…” At this, Nik’s eyebrow rose. “My fault? Just who was the one telling the story?”

Tuck barked out a short burst of laughter. “Nik, don’t you know by now it’s never a good idea to butt heads with her? The Light knows, she’s got the harder!” As Nik chortled to himself, Tuck continued, “Well, I think I know which story you’d been telling him, so you’d better finish now, before you botch another job…”

Nodding, Lys’sara picked up where she had been forced to leave off. “In hindsight, telling him that if he ever touched me again, I’d cut off, and ram what he was using to think with into his brain wasn’t one of the wisest decisions I’ve ever made.”

“He hired one of the snakes to burn down my house, and when I found out about it, both he and that witch were gone. I hadn’t been there at the time, but my mother was… That was two years ago yesterday…”

“You know the rest of it. I left the Shadow Hands, and fell in with you two…”