<div class="floatleft">(https://img00.deviantart.net/7315/i/2016/179/9/0/mechanical_mage_by_isis_blue_fire_3_by_isisbluefire-da81o13.jpg)<br/><div align="center"><strong>Felice</strong> (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=290166.msg14258283#msg14258283)</div></div><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><em>I shall meet you at the Lil'hammer docks on the morrow.</em><br/><br/><em>Yours in timely affection</em><br/><br/><em>Felice S.</em></span><br/><br/>She signed the letter with a flourish, before carefully replacing her quill in its stand. Then Felice turned her attention to Master's messenger. With practiced movements, she applied oil to the waiting machine's tiny gears, muttering an invocation to the Clockwork Goddess as she did so. Transparent wings unfurled, shivering into a rainbow blur, as though to show how eager it was.<br/><br/>Once she had convinced herself the ink was dry, Felice rolled her message into a tiny scroll. This slid easily into the messenger's belly. Only then did she take up the crystal vial<br/>and, using her finest forceps, draw forth a single strand of Ezra's hair. The machine scuttled close, to all appearances, sniffing at the auburn morsel. Felice gently pressed her offering into the softly clattering mouthparts and waited. An instant later, the insect-like machine shot into the air, darting through the unshuttered window and off into the city proper.<br/><br/>Felice waited until its whining drone had faded into the background and then took up her travelling pack. She checked the straps were settled correctly, adjusted her hat and gave herself one last once-over before setting off into the early-morning heat.<br/><br/>"Ezra is a more experienced traveller," she pondered. "I wonder if she would prefer the populous route or the discrete?"<br/><br/>Without warning,her small mouth split suddenly into a wide grin and she lengthened her stride, turning toward the rising sun and the distant sound of sea-birds.<br/><br/>"Who knows?" Felice laughed, "Perhaps the man-hunter would prefer we risk the insane route."