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Speaker 1: Velaxis.

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Speaker 1: Chapter Three: Appointment with an
Eraser.

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Speaker 1: Saya Nefarari stood on the balcony
and dreamed. It was a beautiful view, all things

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Speaker 1: considered. She had beautiful things,
expensive things, but she could

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Speaker 1: not truly appreciate them. It was
difficult not to resent one's prison cell, even
if

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Speaker 1: the bars were gold. She slid her
gloved hands along the top of the wrought iron

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Speaker 1: railing as she walked the length of
her prison. The stone towers of Velaxis rose in

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Speaker 1: every direction around her, tapering
off into more mundane, squat wood and

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Speaker 1: stone buildings in the far south
where engineers had not yet bothered to erect

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Speaker 1: proper towers. Those buildings were
for outsiders, foreigners. The

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Speaker 1: effect was intentional. If you
visited the capital city, you would eternally be

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Speaker 1: looking up at the people you came to
deal with. Few towers were higher than Saya's,

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Speaker 1: though.

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Speaker 1: Hers was a floor taller than
standard, the noble residences a floor higher
than

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Speaker 1: that, and beyond all of them, like
the lord's own hand burst from the earth

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Speaker 1: and reaching toward the sky, was the
Spire, a shimmering hard iron and white

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Speaker 1: marble structure, the only one of its
kind as far as she knew. It

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Speaker 1: loomed over everyone else. That
effect was also intentional.

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Speaker 1: Saya leaned forward over the railing
and took one long, mournful glance at the

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Speaker 1: alley below. The alley was blocked
off by stone walls on the sides.

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Speaker 1: If she cast herself off this balcony,
she would fall into that walled section,

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Speaker 1: another cage. There, her caretaker,
warden, and friend of twenty years

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Speaker 1: would extract the stone of power from
her corpse to be given to some other luckless

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Speaker 1: soul. A black stone. A memory stone,
far

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Speaker 1: more valuable than its current
container. Saya turned away from the railing,
her

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Speaker 1: long black dress flowing like a
midnight river behind her. "Not today."

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Speaker 1: She went back into the sitting room.
It was a chore to get the rest of her dress's

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Speaker 1: train back inside. It was not a
practical outfit. It was Lord Seafall's will
that

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Speaker 1: she wear it, or rather, Lady Seafall,
because Lord Seafall stopped caring about his

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Speaker 1: eraser the moment she fell into his
collection. He'd fought so viciously for her

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Speaker 1: acquisition, yet she'd only seen him
once in the many years since.

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Speaker 1: Lady Seafall, though... Well, it
could not be long enough until she saw

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Speaker 1: her again. There was a polite knock
at the door, followed by the sound of unlocking.

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Speaker 1: Saya moved to the small table in the
room and took a seat in the only chair. The

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Speaker 1: door cracked open, and a sturdy woman
with thick curly hair leaned halfway into the

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Speaker 1: room. "Oh, good, you're alive. You
have an appointment." "I

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Speaker 1: have three." "No, just the one now.
Apparently Mrs. and Mr.

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Speaker 1: Dacquer made up. They're not ready to
forget each other just yet." "Oh,

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Speaker 1: how lovely." "Oh, yes. True love, I'm
sure."

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Speaker 1: Jules stepped completely into the
room and closed the door behind her, then moved

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Speaker 1: with practiced efficiency around the
room, picking up. She straightened the sofa

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Speaker 1: cushions and pulled back the drapes,
letting that dreadful light in. "You bathed

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Speaker 1: this time, right?" Saya rolled her
eyes, poking at the breakfast on the plate in

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Speaker 1: front of her. She was careful not to
get any stains on her black gloves. Not that

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Speaker 1: anyone except Jules would notice
them. "You smelled to the high heavens last
week."

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Speaker 1: Jules collected the plate and the
silverware off the small table and plucked the

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Speaker 1: fork from Saya's hand. "I wasn't done
with that." "Hun,

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Speaker 1: honey, if you haven't touched it
already, you're not going to. Now, let me see
your

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Speaker 1: makeup."

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Speaker 1: Saya closed her eyes and sighed, then
tilted her face up for inspection.

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Speaker 1: She opened her eyes and gave Jules a
piercing gaze. "There's my girl.

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Speaker 1: You look tired, though. Can't have
you scaring off the customers."

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Speaker 1: Jules walked over to the vanity and
pulled out a small container of concealer. She

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Speaker 1: started applying it under Saya's eyes
with a gentle thumb, just enough concealer to

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Speaker 1: hide the dark circles, but not the
crow's feet. That was the trick to convincing

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Speaker 1: makeup. Dull the imperfections
without hiding them. Accentuate the features
without

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Speaker 1: flaring them. Then Jules pulled Saya
into a gentle hug. She

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Speaker 1: let herself be hugged. She let
herself be ornamented and perfumed.

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Speaker 1: A few minutes later, Jules was gone,
and she was seated on her cushioned chair next

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Speaker 1: to the backless sofa. She could see
her own reflection in the standing mirror across

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Speaker 1: the room. Somehow, she looked the
part, and she could play that part

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Speaker 1: for a little while longer.

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Speaker 1: There was another knock on the door.
Saya pulled her shoulders back and lifted her

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Speaker 1: chin, fixing her eyes on the exact
spot where her client's face should be when he

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Speaker 1: opened the door. She settled into the
cool confidence of mastery.

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Speaker 1: This was a confidence she did not
need to feign. It was confidence born of

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Speaker 1: competence. "Please, come in."

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Speaker 1: The door opened, and a man of
below-average height idled in the doorway, hands

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Speaker 1: fidgeting. She lowered her gaze, just
a little, and let a faint smile play

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Speaker 1: on her face, like a spider greeting
the fly. That's what they

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Speaker 1: expected from an eraser, after all.
The man, perhaps a decade her senior,

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Speaker 1: had black hair turning gray. He
adjusted his spectacles and looked around her
room

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Speaker 1: in quick, darting glances, as if
expecting spies in every darkened corner.

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Speaker 1: [clears throat] "Miss Nefraari?"

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Speaker 1: In response, Saya rose and walked
over to him in one long, fluid

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Speaker 1: motion, accentuated by her flowing,
ridiculous outfit.

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Speaker 1: She reached partway toward him with
an upturned palm, waiting for him to

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Speaker 1: take her hand. It was just far enough
away that he would have to step into the

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Speaker 1: room to take it. The first step
always had to be their own.

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Speaker 1: "I am, [chuckles] I am not certain
I'll be needing your services

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Speaker 1: after all." "You came here for a
reason."

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Speaker 1: "I did." "Why was that?"

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Speaker 1: "Be- 'cause I'm told you're the
best."

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Speaker 1: Saya smiled coolly. A subtle touch
was best with this one. He would bolt if

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Speaker 1: she tried to force the matter. Mr.
Barnes placed a shaking hand in hers.

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Speaker 1: She gave it a reassuring little
squeeze and softened her smile just a little.

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Speaker 1: And just like that, he was in the
web. No need to torture him further.

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Speaker 1: Saya led Barnes to the couch. He
didn't lay down immediately, though. Instead, he

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Speaker 1: alternated drumming his fingers on
his legs and checking the time on his pocket

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Speaker 1: watch. "I must say before we begin
that

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Speaker 1: secrecy is of the utmost importance
in this matter." He

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Speaker 1: was stalling for time, like a
teenager's first visit to the pleasure house.
She

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Speaker 1: liked these clients. There was an
artistry here. It was so much

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Speaker 1: better than scrubbing the minds of
Lady Seyfall's servants for gossip.

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Speaker 1: "I believe you've already discussed
the details with my attendant. Your

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Speaker 1: memories will not leave this room."
"Yes, but what of

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Speaker 1: your master?" Saya shrugged. "What
the Lord and Lady

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Speaker 1: Seyfall do is at their discretion. If
they ask, I will purge them

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Speaker 1: myself." "And if they use them
against me?"

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Speaker 1: Saya managed to keep the annoyance
from her face. There was absolutely zero

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Speaker 1: chance the Seyfalls were even
slightly interested in this lesser noble's
affairs.

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Speaker 1: They rarely interviewed her at all.
It seemed paradoxical, but anyone who had really

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Speaker 1: useful memories would never go to
their rival's eraser. "You are

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Speaker 1: free to leave, Mr. Barnes." "No, no.
I'm just

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Speaker 1: concerned. It's the Black, after
all."

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Speaker 1: Saya's smile went a little toothy
then. "Yes, the evil Black.

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Speaker 1: It's perfectly safe. It will leave a
mark, true, but how many of your peers

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Speaker 1: at a party have the mark already?
You'll hardly stand out." Barnes

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Speaker 1: smiled sheepishly. "And as you said
yourself, I am the

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Speaker 1: very best." "Okay.

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Speaker 1: [sighs]

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Speaker 1: " He lay down on the couch and closed
his eyes comically tight, like a child

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Speaker 1: awaiting foul medicine. Saya slipped
off her black gloves, leaned over

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Speaker 1: Barnes, and pressed her fingers to
each side of his head, just behind the ears.

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Speaker 1: Her hands turned black, as if dipped
in liquid shadow. There was no

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Speaker 1: need to reassure him further. The
moment she formed a connection with his
memories,

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Speaker 1: the man fell unconscious. As long as
she held his mind, he was trapped here.

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Speaker 1: "I'm looking for a young woman with
red hair."

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Speaker 1: Saya rolled her head around and
closed her own eyes, letting her own mind drift

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Speaker 1: into his memories. And like the fluid
strokes of a paintbrush, she began to

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Speaker 1: work on her canvas, a canvas made of
memories. Saya

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Speaker 1: skimmed through a life, erasing the
memories that didn't fit the story, the story of

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Speaker 1: an aging man with wandering eyes but
faithful hands, a man

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Speaker 1: who had seen a beautiful young woman
in his store and turned his cheek.

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Speaker 1: She erased a hundred gifts given in
secret. She erased the smile of a pretty

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Speaker 1: young woman with red hair. She erased
dozens and dozens of evenings of

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Speaker 1: naked playfulness, most of which
never involved the act of sex itself.

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Speaker 1: She erased poems and long walks
through his rooftop garden, until there was only
the

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Speaker 1: story of an aging man who longed for
the connection to a younger and unexpectedly

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Speaker 1: interested woman.

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Speaker 1: Until the only memories that remained
told a story, a perfect story

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Speaker 1: of a frustrated but faithful husband.
A perfect story and

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Speaker 1: two small black scars behind the ears
where she had entered his mind

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Speaker 1: and extracted the truth.

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Speaker 1: An hour later, Saya was washing her
face in the basin, removing one layer of

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Speaker 1: performance, when she heard the bolt
on the door unlock. Jules came back into the

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Speaker 1: prison.

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Speaker 1: I forgot to mention, the washers are
coming today. Didn't want them to surprise you

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Speaker 1: when they start working outside. Saya
went back to dressing down.

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Speaker 1: Why the stones need to be washed is
beyond me. Doesn't the rain put them out of a

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Speaker 1: job? Jules just shrugged and left the
room, bolting the door again from the

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Speaker 1: outside. Saya gripped the edges of
the sink basin, her knuckles

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Speaker 1: going white. Then she began to put
her makeup back

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Speaker 1: on. Her performance was not done for
the day.

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Speaker 1: Chapter 4 Pursuit

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Speaker 1: Tessa followed the two men in black
at a great distance, just long enough to confirm

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Speaker 1: their direction. It had been easy to
guess their destination. There weren't many

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Speaker 1: erasers in the city.

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Speaker 1: Once they disappeared down the next
alley, she stepped around the corner. She knew

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Speaker 1: roughly where she was. It was the
kind of place she usually worked very hard to

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Speaker 1: avoid. These were commonry slums,
towers so decrepit that the layers of

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Speaker 1: moss and slime actually dyed the
stones a sickly green-brown. Most of the

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Speaker 1: entry doors were sealed up. As bad as
things were inside the towers, the people

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Speaker 1: relegated to living here didn't want
anything coming in from the ground floor

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Speaker 1: either. She moved quickly between the
stone buildings, trying to avoid the worst of

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Speaker 1: the filth. It was an impossible task.
The remains of birds and rodents dotted a

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Speaker 1: carpet of bird droppings and human
waste. The acrid, putrid scent was so

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Speaker 1: strong it was nearly a solid thing.

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Speaker 1: Long wet stains ran down the towers
from the windows, making them look like

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Speaker 1: tear-stained statues. It took Tessa
ten minutes to make her way to a public

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Speaker 1: tower with an open entryway. Three
teenage boys with wooden clubs stood outside.

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Speaker 1: When she tried to push past them,
they stepped in her path and one of them put
their

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Speaker 1: hand out, palm up.

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Speaker 1: Toll is three bronze. Tessa gave him
a weary look. This was

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Speaker 1: a toll, but it was also a test. You
think I'd be here if I

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Speaker 1: had three bronze? She waved down at
her clothes. The same

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Speaker 1: grime she'd tried to avoid now caked
everything beneath the knee. There was

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Speaker 1: simply no avoiding it down here.
Another boy sniffed the air, then curled his

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Speaker 1: face up in disgust. This is blue
boy's turf. You ain't coming up here. I can

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Speaker 1: trade. The first boy shoved her back
a step. Not hard enough to knock her

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Speaker 1: down, just hard enough to get her
moving in a different direction. But the second

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Speaker 1: boy who'd spoken motioned for him to
leave her alone. Trade what?

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Speaker 1: Tessa made a show of fishing around
in her pockets. She deliberately avoided the

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Speaker 1: pocket with forty brass coins wrapped
in cloth so that they wouldn't make a noise.

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Speaker 1: She couldn't pay them. If they knew
she had three coins, they would see if she had

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Speaker 1: more. No one had exactly three coins.
I've

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Speaker 1: got a chew stick.

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Speaker 1: She raised the half-chewed stick into
the air. It was Dawn's. She

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Speaker 1: never touched the stuff. It was cheap
and it gave you a pretty good buzz, but it

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Speaker 1: made your teeth turn yellow if you
did it too much. The second boy snatched it out

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Speaker 1: of her hand. Give me that. Then he
motioned for her to go past them. The other two

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Speaker 1: boys, for all their earlier
pestering, obeyed immediately. The blue boys
parted and

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Speaker 1: she went inside. Like every tower,
the base of the tower was almost entirely

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Speaker 1: stone. She had no idea why. It seemed
like there was a lot of wasted space here.

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Speaker 1: There were no other rooms. There was
only a narrow hallway and a set of stone stairs

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Speaker 1: going up. Tessa took the stairs all
the way to the seventh floor rooftop. There was

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Speaker 1: no one up here. She pulled a loop
harness from the crate at her feet and tested it

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Speaker 1: by pulling with both hands. It felt
sturdy enough, so she attached an iron hook and

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Speaker 1: put her arm through the loop harness
and hooked it onto the cable. She dangled at

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Speaker 1: the start of the zip line, supported
by the harness under her armpit and standing on

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Speaker 1: her tiptoes. Slowly, she moved
forward towards the edge of the building.

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Speaker 1: Tessa gave the hard iron cable a
pluck with her other arm. It hummed back with a

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Speaker 1: deep, resonant twang. Then she
shrugged and walked over the edge of the tower

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Speaker 1: and stepped off into thin air. There
was that feeling of nervous anticipation in her

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Speaker 1: stomach that never quite went away.
That moment when you thought, maybe this is the

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Speaker 1: time I fall. And then the flexing
cable caught her, and instead of falling, she
went

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Speaker 1: gliding forward and out. The wind
blew her short hair out of her face and made her

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Speaker 1: eyes water. She found it impossible
not to smile. That line ended on a

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Speaker 1: platform, ten buildings away and
three floors down from where she'd started.

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Speaker 1: She climbed a set of exterior stairs,
eyeballed her destination, and picked another

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Speaker 1: zip line going in roughly that
direction, and began the process again. It took
just

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Speaker 1: five more minutes to get as close as
any public zip line could take her. No one

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Speaker 1: without the right passes got any
closer to noble residences. And dressed as she
was,

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Speaker 1: a sewer rat had a better chance of
getting past the checkpoints. So Tessa climbed

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00:19:33,362 --> 00:19:38,742
Speaker 1: down to the ground floor again and
waited. She needed another way in.

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Speaker 1: Fortunately, she knew of two men
carrying a blanket that were headed this way who

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Speaker 1: might have some ideas on how to get
in. Why create your own plan when you could

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Speaker 1: just use someone else's?

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Speaker 1: Ten minutes later, two men in dark
blue uniforms walked through a nearby

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Speaker 1: intersection. They didn't have a
suspicious blanket, but they did have a big
wooden

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Speaker 1: cart loaded with ropes, brushes, and
buckets. Tessa watched from her hiding

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Speaker 1: place as they approached a guarded
checkpoint at the next intersection. This was
her

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Speaker 1: chance. She sprinted after them,
waving her arms in the air. Hold on,

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Speaker 1: guys, wait for me. The very same two
men who had taken Reese

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00:20:29,762 --> 00:20:35,002
Speaker 1: stopped just before the checkpoint
and stared flaming daggers at her as she

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Speaker 1: approached. She grinned wildly as she
slowed to a walk. Tessa grabbed a spare

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Speaker 1: worker's hat off of a hook on the
cart and placed it on top of her head. The one

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Speaker 1: without facial hair shot a nervous
glance back at the armed guards not ten feet
away

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Speaker 1: from them. She'd timed it perfectly.

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Speaker 1: You can either take me up there with
you, or I can blow your cover. I'm guessing

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Speaker 1: you're not stone washers. I'm a
friend. Let me prove it. Choose fast.

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Speaker 1: Guards are watching. Their glares
softened to mere murderous intent.

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00:21:13,202 --> 00:21:18,682
Speaker 1: But these people were professionals.
Yes, her gamble was working. They turned around

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Speaker 1: and kept walking toward the
checkpoint. Bringing my niece today. Hope that's
all

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Speaker 1: right. The first of the two guards
looked up. Learning the trade?

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Speaker 1: The FMR agent managed to look even
more bored than the guards. He offered up a

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00:21:37,282 --> 00:21:43,102
Speaker 1: noncommittal shrug in reply. Might as
well. She ain't good for much else.

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Speaker 1: The guard gave him a lazy nod, and
then they pulled open a series of iron gates to

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Speaker 1: let the washers through. Tessa gawked
up at the noble tower, letting her mouth hang

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Speaker 1: open. She flashed the guard a huge
smile. It's my first day. The

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Speaker 1: guard shook his head and then closed
the gates again. Well, try not to fall off

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Speaker 1: then.

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Speaker 1: The three of them rounded a corner,
just out of view from the guards, and Tessa was

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Speaker 1: careful to drift out of reach from
the other two. She was careful to leave her

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00:22:18,182 --> 00:22:22,922
Speaker 1: hands in plain sight. The cart
stopped rolling.

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Speaker 1: Silent, calculating stares.

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Speaker 1: Bring me up. I want to see her.

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Speaker 1: The one without facial hair looked at
the other. So that was the one to talk to.

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00:22:37,782 --> 00:22:43,042
Speaker 1: Tessa leveled a serious but
non-threatening stare at the one with the
goatee.

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Speaker 1: He was tense as hard iron cabling,
but he didn't move. Not yet.

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00:22:50,922 --> 00:22:51,342
Speaker 1: Why?

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Speaker 1: Because I'm worth more alive than
dead, and I need the eraser to prove that to
you.

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00:23:00,842 --> 00:23:06,682
Speaker 1: The FMR agent stared her down for a
full ten seconds. Perhaps

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Speaker 1: this had been a bad idea. There was
such a thing as going too far. He could

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00:23:12,822 --> 00:23:18,742
Speaker 1: kill her if he wanted to. He could
tell the guards she'd fallen. But

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00:23:19,442 --> 00:23:24,982
Speaker 1: he relaxed, just a little, and
started untying the ropes from the outside of
the

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Speaker 1: cart. We'll see.

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00:23:30,162 --> 00:23:35,542
Speaker 1: Saya Nefari watched as three stone
washers hoisted their platforms to the top of
the

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00:23:35,602 --> 00:23:41,482
Speaker 1: tower. They made a show of washing
the stones around her balcony before sliding

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00:23:41,562 --> 00:23:47,542
Speaker 1: a heavy blanket of tools onto the
balcony. The two men, Will and Arnos,

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Speaker 1: if those were their actual names, got
off first. The third was a young woman with

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00:23:53,282 --> 00:23:58,842
Speaker 1: her back turned. Will and Arnos
unwrapped the load they'd brought with quiet

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00:23:58,922 --> 00:24:04,262
Speaker 1: efficiency. When they finished
unloading the blankets, Saya's heart skipped a
beat.

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00:24:05,022 --> 00:24:10,642
Speaker 1: She recognized this man. Is that And
then,

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00:24:11,622 --> 00:24:16,062
Speaker 1: just as the young woman was climbing
onto the balcony to join them, Arnos grabbed

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00:24:16,102 --> 00:24:20,402
Speaker 1: her by the arm and held her between
the dangling platform and the safety of the

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00:24:20,442 --> 00:24:26,202
Speaker 1: balcony. Who is this? He shook the
young woman once, still

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00:24:26,262 --> 00:24:32,082
Speaker 1: holding her dangerously over the
edge. Saya's heart skipped again. Put her down!

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00:24:33,202 --> 00:24:39,182
Speaker 1: Arnos let her climb down onto the
balcony. The newcomer took off her hat and
brushed

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Speaker 1: the short, dark hair out of her eyes,
a broad smile on her face.

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00:24:46,402 --> 00:24:46,982
Speaker 1: Hi, Mom.

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00:24:49,802 --> 00:24:54,382
Speaker 1: Tessa Rin Nefari, what have you done?