Today's agenda was pretty straightforward. As I had predicted, the Inquisitor sent me to finally speak with the Elder of the Abattoir. Considering Aglaja's feelings for Burakh, and Burakh's rivalry with the Elder, she was concerned about whether the Elder was planning on killing Burakh.
On my way across town, it came to my attention that the Bachelor and the Haruspicus were at war with one another yet again. They were each holed up in separate gold zones, each with their own personal body guard, hiding out. By way of mail, the Inquisitor requested that I warn the Haruspicus of the danger the Bachelor posed to him, and Maria Kain similarly requested that I warn the Bachelor of the danger the Haruspicus posed to him. Each letter provided scant clues as to where I could find them - enough to pinpoint the district, but barely more than that.
I eventually found them, and in each case, their guard was hostile to me, despite my generally good intentions. Lucky for me, the other day I had gone out on a limb and purchased a Derringer pocket pistol from Gryph, which - unlike the other weapons I've come across - is light and small enough that I can actually use it. It certainly came in handy. The irony of the whole situation is that in warning the warring healers, I effectively stripped them of their guards, rendering them far more vulnerable than they were to begin with. Oh well. Better a personal vendetta be dealt with personally, than to drag in others. (Although the others can't have been entirely innocent, since it is outside my power to take the life of an innocent :p).
In order to secure passage into the Abattoir, I talked to Mother Keeper, and swapped fairy tales with Spichka, in order to find one that would hold Mother Keeper's interest - apparently, she's heard them all. Well I did find one, and I leveraged entrance to the Abattoir for the conclusion to the story. And so I spoke with the Elder. But of course, information comes at a price. He wanted me to find out from Ospina whether or not Burakh was truly who he claimed to be: the son of Isidor, and the rightful heir to the line of menkhu.
While I was in the Damp District, where Ospina lives, I paid a visit to my sister, just like in the past two days. Once again, I was able to find her in the very first house I checked (just call me the Detectress). I knew which district she'd be in even before I received my daily letter from her, as it was the only district infected yesterday that remained infected today. It should have been cleaned out, but the fact that it was still infected meant that my sister must be there. And from the clue in the letter, I managed to pick out the house like a hawk.
Ospina verified the Haruspicus' identity and heritage, which I relayed to the Elder. He admitted that he would be willing to lay down his life for him, but not without the proper ceremony. He also confessed his own shortcomings, that he couldn't conduct the sacred ritual, due to not knowing the lines, and that he was only able to satisfy his greed for power and ascend to position of Elder of the Abattoir on account of being in conspiracy with the Olgimskiys. Like all the rest of my adherents, he believed himself guilty for the arrival of the plague.
But interestingly, the Inquisitor wasn't particularly concerned about that angle, she just wanted to make sure the Haruspicus' life wasn't in serious danger from him... The Inquisitor wants me to speak with her early next morning, and I hear the General will arrive tomorrow.
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