Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kara looked at the sign above the bookstore, Hithro Black. She frowned slightly. That name sounded familiar, but she couldn't place why. She didn't know anyone by that name, she was sure. She shrugged and was about to brush it aside as deja vu when she noticed a man sitting outside the shop watching them with more than a passing curiousity.

Kara took a deep breath and let her mind wander, trying to locate the name. After a few seconds, her mind wandered back to the Septra, and Rio's voice floated through her thoughts. "We are going to Yoan. That chaotic Empire. Priestist needs some information I guess on a Black Hithro."

She suddenly straightened. Black Hithro. Hithro Black bookshop. He was the leader they were supposed to be stealing information on. She laughed softly under her breath. "Arrogant bastards." She murmured.

Chris suddenly declared he was going inside the shop, and Kara looked at him sharply. Judging by his innocent expression, he hadn't made the connection yet. She thought quickly. Chris's brother was somewhere inside, with Rio. He knew what Chris looked like. He'd stand out for sure. She hesitated. There was a good chance that she and Cheoro would be recoginzed as well...but it was a smaller chance.

She grabbed Chris's arm before he'd taken more than few steps.
"Wait...um, I need..." She glanced around at the square and her eye fell on a General Store next to Hithro bookshop. "...some supplies before we leave planet." She improvised a little loudly in Yoan. Kara wanted to be sure the man outside the store heard her. "Come, this isn't the time to look at books." Without waiting for a response, she gave Cheoro a meaningful look and dragged Chris into the General Store.

She walked around the shop a moment, still hauling Chris with her. She stopped at the back of the nearly empty store, infront of a table with bolts of cloth.

"That bookstore, Hithro Black." She whispered, "is where they've got Rio. I'm sure of it." She took a deep breath. "There is a man outside, and I think he's watching the front door for us, so we can't go in that way. There has to be another way into the shop. A back room or a cellar or something. We need to look inside."

Chris looked at Kara and said in a calm voice, " Ok, So whats the plan going to be? We have to save Rio and get off Yoan. We could probably knock the guard out and sneak our way in, But thats your call Kara."

Kara was about to reply to Chris, when the thought entered her mind, unbidden. She jumped slightly and looked around. Chris and Cheoro didn't seem to have noticed anything odd. She frowned, remembering overhearing one of Rio's old friends, Priestist, talking about telepathy. Was he trying to help them out? She shook her head. She thought she heard them say they were going to be elsewhere, hence sending Rio and Mon-Ama to Yoan. But the question was, did she really want to bet Rio's life on a random thought that could've come from anywhere?

What signal? She thought back, not really expecting a reply. She gave a sigh and shook her head at both Chris and Cheoro.

"If someone is a distraction, then we'll just have to come save them later. So no to that." She gave a sigh and ran a hand through her hair. "We're not leaving Yoan just yet, at least not permanently. We have a job, remember? And as to sneaking in...well...I vote...er...the roof." She said hesitantly, hoping she was doing the right thing. She didn't like trusting unknown sources, especially when lives were at stake if they screwed up.

((Well, the way I figure, Cheoro knows a bit of Grutain, while Chris knows NO Machi (and Kara doesn't know much)...so Grutain seemed the logical choice of language. lol, especially since neither one speaks Yoan. hehe, sucks to be them! Yay for confusion.))

"Ok. Looks like you are sure of yourself Kara." Cheoro said jokingly. "So far nothing has happend to me when i follow your orders. Lets get on that roof. God i hope this is not a trap."

"Get moving," snarled Ano a few minutes later and Rio found himself being ushered into - incredible as it seemed - a bookstore.

He managed to see some of the book titles, most of which were curiously written in an ancient mode of Mauchi. Ano and Ghan forced him up another flight of stairs. Before they climbed more than a few steps a man carrying a put-out pipe entered the sotre and changed the open sign to close. Then he, the cashier, and the third jailer followed Ano and Gahn. This made for a guard of five at least well-trained fighters against a Mauchi merchant, a kid looking for revenge, a Geam doctor, a sick adventurer and a girl whose looks and brains were probably better than her fighting. He would have to do something good to get out this one.

Now this should be fun, he thought.

Kara shrugged. "You're taller than I am...stand on the top box and see how far away the roof is." She said. "If not, we can boost each other up or something."