Rob tensed as Xavier walked past, expecting the worst. But the big man kept moving, not even looking in his direction. Good. He<i>hadn’t </i>recognized him. Still, it might be best if he made himself scarce. So he sold a few more potions, and a couple of salves and a charm, and then went through the theatre of pretending to pack his wares by touch. Then he sling his pack, and tapped around with his stick.<br/><br/>“Oh, pardon me!” he said, seconds after ‘accidentally’ brushing his hand against the breast of a comely peasant lass. “I didn’t see you there!”  She giggled at that. “I was wondering if you might direct me towards the jail.”<br/><br/>“The jail?”  She sounded perplexed by that. “Why?”<br/><br/>“Well, I heard they’ve arrested a witch,” he replied. “And I’ve never seen a witch, so I thought I’d have a look.”<br/><br/>“Ah,” she replied, amusement in her expression. “Well, go straight ahead about five hundred yards, then turn left and follow the trail about a quarter mile.”<br/><br/>“Thank you, my lady.”<br/><br/>-*-<br/><br/>He could have made the walk in less than half the time, if he wasn’t playing at being a blind peddler.  Not that he minded, really, because it gave him time to think. And most of his thoughts went like this:<i>What in the Thirteen Brazen Hells of Torment am I <b>doing</b>?</i>Because he was getting<i>involved</i>. Teldir had<i>wanted </i>him to get involved, and he’d made the right decision in telling the damn moon cats to piss up a rope, and now he was getting involved<i>anyway</i>.<br/><br/><b>It is the desire of the Four-Faced Moon</b>, Umbra said, padding slowly along on his left hand.<br/><br/><b>It is the will of Teldir</b>, Halo added from his right.<br/><br/>“Sod off, the both of you,” he muttered, ignoring the strange looks passers-by gave him. Blind Tom wouldn’t have seen them anyway. “I’m just going to look.”<br/><br/><b>She has been touched by the Moon, and has claim on Teldir for aid</b>, Umbra insisted.<br/><br/><b>She has claim on <i>your</i> aid, for you are the Champion</b>, Halo continued.<br/><br/>“Yeah?  Well, that and three pence gets me a small ale and missing balls, so don’t count on anything,” he grumbled. “Why wasn’t one of the damn Moonies the Champion?”  He glared at Umbra through his gauze. “Because I’m<i>not</i>.”<br/><br/>As usual, neither cat responded. Both just melted away, leaving him an unobstructed view of the jail. A minute of conversation with a constable and a gift of a cream for warts, gained him access to the cells. After all, a blind, curious peddler couldn’t be any real concern, right?  So he made his way back.<br/><br/>“Well,” he said after a long look. “You’re not what I expected.”<br/><br/>He’d met enough witches in his time to know that they weren’t all withered hags and they weren’t all frauds. This one certainly wasn’t. Up close, she practically crackled with a raw animal sexuality that made it hard to breathe. Frankly, he was surprised one of the constables wasn’t raping her right now - it was the sort of thing that they tended to see as a perk of the job. Maybe they were waiting until nightfall, to preserve the illusion of the law?  Or maybe they could feel the dark power on her?  He was barely trained, and he could feel it like heat lightning in his skin.<br/><br/>Hunkering down and leaning on his stick, he looked her in the eyes.  “So. Would you like to get out?” he heard himself ask.