As she walked down, she had little idea that she was tracing the precise path of someone who had - a few hours short of several - taken the same way...but heading<em>up</em>.  Scarab had given Bao-li her little confidence boost (and a bit more to top it all off, she had been a very enthusiastic participant once she'd been properly warmed up), and then he had bid her goodnight, returning to the Crane Room to spend the rest of the evening working out leads for his task.  "You are better than you know, girl.  Never lose who you are," he smiled to himself as he thought about the last sight of her.  She had been smiling, shyly waving to him while hiding her giggling face behind the clothes she had been slipping back on.  (Though only temporarily.  She was headed to the after-hours gathering of the girls - she just had to tell them what this was like!)  He had smiled back to her, waved, and then disappeared from sight.<br/><br/>No worries about being forgotten, though.  On his passage through Yu-Shan (to check in and let his superior know what he had found), he had known that this might take some time, so he'd fashioned for himself an identity to use while here in the Imperial City.  Normally, such false faces were ones that Scarab let by, since in his line of work, it was much easier to work when people couldn't remember who you are.  This time, however, he was going to be interacting at length with those outside the Bureaus, so he had deemed it necessary.  Just a few changes to who he was - in order to placate the pattern spiders, so that they wouldn't be too cheesed off at the fact he was making this particular identity extra-strength in terms of time - and he was ready to go about his business.<br/><br/>But enough about Scarab.  This story is about the spy in house of dragons, no?  So, to her.  The girls present on this evening were four - the rest had probably gone home already: Ivory, the Northern girl; Orchid, who was the most experienced and Avelle's most trusted; Saeko, the Cynis who had never Exalted; and of course, Bao-li.<br/><br/>"Good evening," they all chimed, though not quite in the same choral unison Avelle had heard them in previously.  Orchid moved over next to her.  "I know it must be tiring, having to deal with such persons," she placed a hand on her shoulder, almost seeming like she wanted to softly massage it and help release all the stress that had accumulated from dealing with the Cheungs.  Orchid looked over at Bao-li.  "Seems you've had quite the night, then.  First getting to upstage a pair of Exalted, and then..."<br/><br/>Bao-li giggled, her tone a mix of delight and nervousness.  Orchid continued.  "...ah, if only we could all have such nights.  Every night.  Or such men to entertain us."<br/><br/>"W-well...he-he was very charming, and...and he didn't make me feel awkward at all for being...inexperienced."  Bao-li sighed as she remembered events that had transpired not even a handful of hours ago.  "I'm going to miss Master Scarab when he has to leave and go back home.  He's so lucky!  Living in Chiaroscuro, he gets to see all their pretty dancing girls..."<br/><br/>For your information, readers, this was the identity that our Sidereal had picked for himself.  Master Savant Gilded Scarab, of Chiaroscuro.  Savant of ages past and part-time archaeologic adventurer.  He had come to the Isle in order to get away from the desert a bit, and perhaps see some of the great repositories of knowledge that were housed here.  (With Scarab's particular training, it was a trifling thing to pose as a Master-grade savant.)  And, as it seemed, great lover of women...