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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ladybird" data-source="post: 3285774" data-attributes="member: 10689">Kit’s scribe, inherited from Dame Esmeralda, was a weedy, officious, aging little man. Kit wasn’t sure why he ever needed to write anything down – he seemed to carry most of the Archduchy’s top-secret information around in his balding head. But she was grateful for his presence as a link to Dame Esmeralda, a record of the past activities of the Mouth, and as someone to help her with reading and writing the enormous volume of messages that went through the Mouth’s office.“Ah! Good morning, Dame Katherine.” The scribe offered a slightly nervous smile. Dame Esmeralda had been nearly his own age, and he still hadn’t gotten used to the new Mouth being so much younger. Or prettier. Or a ‘personal friend’ of the Archduke.“Good morning,” Kit replied, with a decent attempt at a smile despite her sleepiness. “This came in for me a few minutes ago. Could you…?”The scribe didn’t even need her to finish; he just took the parchment from her outstretched hand. “Of course, my lady.” After he was finished reading it out loud, he and Kit both sat frowning for a moment – her into space, him at the ill-formed letters of the message. “This is the work of…a child? No, just someone who isn’t very used to writing,” the scribe decided. “Quite strange. Have you received messages from this particular Toe before?”“I don’t think so,” Kit replied, shaking her head. “That tavern that the Toe mentioned – the Endless Stream? What’s that?”Oddly, the scribe grew slightly pale. “Oh, my lady, I really shouldn’t say…”“What?” Kit perked up – something that shouldn’t be said was always promising. “My lady, it wouldn’t be appropriate,” the scribe hemmed and hawed, his forehead wrinkling in anxious agitation.Kit sighed. “I’m the Mouth. If there’s something going on at this place that threatens the safety of the Archduke and the city, I need to know about it! What is it?”And the poor scribe fainted dead away.Kit rushed to his side, instantly alert and worried. Awkwardly, she patted his face – just short of a slap, she didn’t want to injure the fragile little man – until he came around, his watery eyes fluttering weakly open.“Oh, my lady, forgive me!” the scribe gasped. “I didn’t mean to – it’s just that – I really really shouldn’t say! Not to someone so young!”Kit rolled her eyes as she helped the scribe back into his chair, repeating with weary persistence, “I’m the Mouth! I need to know!”After much more hemming and hawing, the scribe finally managed a choked, wide-eyed whisper: “My lady, there are questionable women there!”Kit was very proud of herself for keeping a straight face. “Really?” she asked, with matching wide eyes. He deals with murders, spies, demons, and all of the secret threats to the Archduchy, and it’s a brothel that makes him faint?“Oh, my lady, please don’t go to such a scandalous place!”It was getting harder and harder to keep a straight face. “It’s all right,” Kit said aloud. “I’ll send some of my people to check it out.”The fretful little scribe finally began to calm down. “Oh, good!”“Are there any other reports?” Kit asked, changing the subject with what she hoped was merciful speed.“No, that’s all,” the scribe replied, seizing on the new topic eagerly. “In fact, the level of violent crime has been sharply decreasing in the last few days.”Kit was finally able to let her smile come out. “Really?”“Yes, Dame Katherine. There were no serious crimes at all in Canberry City last night. No murders, no break-ins – nothing.”Kit’s smile widened into a grin. “Thank you.” It’s nice to be in charge, sometimes, she thought, as she went off to find Brionna.</blockquote>

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