CALIMPORT GAME

Do they notice me noticing? ...

"That can't be good." Ane says to Asha. "I think we may have been spotted? But I have no idea how." She sounds frustrated with this 'failure' of their clever plan.

"Do you think we should follow? I don't want to try change the Disguise on the fly, especially not if they saw through this thorough one."

Ane is worried this may be a trap, but, if it is, it is such an elaborate one: First, Breaking their Disguise; then, caring about them at all; then 'casually' leaving...? not exactly 'bait behaviour'. She ponders. She does not say anything about this doubt, yet.

"Cool." Ane says in response to the 'Tayhr' name, though she was barely listening and, like with most 'introductions', will probably forget what was said when it comes time to use the name.

She is gratified that her assessment fits with that of her, much more in tune with people, friend.

The way the other Red Robe reacted was strange. So, when Ane see this one make that same, sudden, 'reaction' as though receiving a message or something, she squints at him through the heat-haze, trying to see if there are signs of magic signalling around him. She continues to watch as they casually happen to drift in the same direction.

If they are trying to avoid notice by setting an alarm for when to change duty stations, Ane thinks, they are really should not use something that makes them startle like that. She is already planning how she would do such a spell.

By 'pure coincidence' we just happened to be heading to shops in the same direction the old Red Robe is headed, and were moving that way before he passed us.

Ane is fairly confident their Disguise as 'a scribe and his assistant' should not attract attention, especially not heading in the direction of Quill Ward.

"No." Ane agrees, trying to keep a lookout all around for anyone else noticing them as they stroll along.

• Does it look like he is going somewhere particular, or is he mainly concerned with 'leaving'?

Ane wishes they still had enough people to both trail this Red Robe and leave someone behind to see if anything changed at the market. She makes a mental note to speak to Big Zhad about employing some street urchins to keep an eye on things, but is also thinking about how one might do this with magic.

"They seemed really interested in who all was buying from those specific shops." Ane says, trying to both keep her voice low enough to avoid being overheard, but mainly trying to look like she and her assistant are having a casual discussion. "That might be a hint as to what they are planning. They seem mainly interested in who is shopping for dangerous items." Ane lumps both magic weapons and magic books in the same category of 'dangerous', she knows the power of the right words. "And less so in what they were buying? Strange, don't you think?"

Ane directs Asha —her his 'assistant'— to a street vendor selling meat-in-a-bun, allowing their quarry to gain a little distance on them, and giving them both something do with their hands. People tend to overlook people who are obviously doing something, like eating or carrying a parcel while strolling along.

Even if the food is not good it is fast, so they can still, just, see the red robes of the old man ahead of them when they resume walking.

"We could find out how hard it is to get a licence. That might suggest an answer to that question." Ane says, thinking about it.

"They didn't try take the stuff from us." She thinks out loud as they walk. "They were just following and watching? Right... Oh, wait, you did not see them the second time. But That's what it looked like. We don't even know if they were trying to stop us that first time, but that job was about stopping Ginseng from sharing information, so maybe they just wanted to slow us down enough to question him? But that means they have an in with the guard captain?" Ane's mind is whirling, Asha has seen this before, she might have to break Ane out of option-overload before they can talk about escape plans.