Calliope Bard hadn't heard about Dorhaven until she'd started her morning warm up. She didn't have family in Dorhaven but she had visited there once. Everyone had been very nice, welcoming. She didn't know how to feel. She'd tried doing a set of backflips to sort it out but she'd just ended up colliding with a wall.

Walking wasn't helping either. She needed to get up high. She thought better there.

She looked around herself, there were a lot of shops. One was a smithy. It had lots of good handholds, chips in the rock, a few windows. She was sitting on the roof before she knew it.

She inhaled fresher air, looked out across the distance to the sea. Wind ruffled her short hair.

It wasn't helping either.

She looked down at the cobbles, "Maybe I'll feel better if I jump off a building." She said aloud.

It usually made her feel better or at least gave her something else to worry about.

"I wouldn' recommend that," said a voice nearby. On a windowsill just below the roof line, opposite the direction she had come, sat a sandy-haired boy of fourteen. Hal had come by that morning hoping that the Brothers would finally take out that mangy smithy, and that he'd be able to pick up some "supplies" from the shop. But the new smith had taken over and wasn't letting them case the joint. So he had been waiting all morning for the smith to leave again so he could just bust a window and take what he needed. He had gotten nervous when he heard someone scrabbling up the side of the building, but after what she said, he assumed she was suicidal. "Ya prolly wouldn' live" he finished.

Calli looked down.

"Hey kid, how's things?" She stood up on the roof, "What do you mean, wouldn't live?"

Calli took a few steps back onto the roof, then turned and ran towards the street. She threw herself in the air and was almost suspended for a few moments, finding sweet relief in the fall. She landed on both feet, knees bent, and rolled to redistribute the force. She spun twice, moving from knees to feet again and threw her hands out in a flamboyant flourish.

She dropped them again straight after,

"Um, I can't help the last part. Just happens." She looked at the roof again, "I'm really unhappy today. I always do this when I'm unhappy."

She toed the ground with her foot.

"So,what are you up to, little man?" It was a term of endearment but she didn't understand that a young man might well take it the wrong way.

Hal grit his teeth at being called a kid. Sure he was only fourteen, but he had seen things that would be nightmares to most kids.



Hal wouldn't admit it, but he was impressed. Most people wouldn't have been so successful jumping from a roof almost three stories high onto a cobblestone street. Most would have shattered a leg if not their skulls. From her dramatic finish he could tell she was a performer. As if being a wick wasn't a clue to begin with. He was about to ask why she was unhappy when she continued,



Hal scrabbled down the wall like a squirrel and stormed up to the girl which only emphasized their height difference. He glared up at the girl, "I ent little, ye got it? I already get enough'a that from 'im," he jerked his head back as if indicating someone, but he honestly didn't know if he was around, "So I don' need none 'a that from you!" He gave her a shove in the shoulder to emphasize that when he said "you" he meant her.

Calli was pushed back slightly by the shove. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Uh, you are little. Why would that bother you?" Calli had come from stock that emphasised self-acceptance.

Unfortunately that meant she had a difficult time understanding people that didn't share that sense of self.

"Don't push me, pushing's rude." She rubbed her shoulder, it hadn't hurt more than her feelings but it made her feel better, "I'll push you back and then I'll feel even worse."

She looked at the smithy again.

"I think I should climb up the smithy again. I plum think better when I'm climbing things." She looked back at the angry boy, "Do you wanna come with or are you gonna sulk at me?"

She started pacing. She needed the movement today.

"I'm not sulking," he said defensively. He cast his eyes up at the roof line, and realized that he was no longer hidden on the street. With a glance at the girl he began to scrabble back up the wall. When he reached the top he did not return to the windowsill, but planted himself on the peak of the roof. He hadn't realized the view there was so spectacular. "What're you doin' up 'ere, anyways? Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, finken better?"

Calli climbed up to where Hal was.

"Look at the sea, feel the air, see the distance to the ground and all the other people." Calli walked up and down the roof with her arms out, "Doesn't that make you feel more serene? It's lonely but you have... space to think."

"Aren't you upset about Dorhaven too? I went there once, everyone was real nice and all the ladies used to smile at me when I went by." Calli frowned and did a handstand so it was upside down, "It's not fair, someone wants to do some kinda experiment and blows everybody up. There ain't no justice."

Calli righted herself again, letting her legs drop forwards. It wasn't the prettiest way to do it but she was on a tile roof.

"I'm a performer, I can't do nothing for them. I don't have more money than what you need to eat for a week. I can't rebuild, can't heal well enough, can't think of the right thing to do."

She sat down next to Hal.

"That's why I'm up here." She put out her hand, "I'm Calli by the way. What's your name?"

Hal had to admit she was right about that. It did make him feel serene, which was very unusual for him. He stared at the ocean as she continued.



"Of course I am," he replied, once again defensively, "everyone's up in a tizzy o'er it. An' it ent fair, so that's one reason-" he caught himself. He couldn't give his secrets away too easily. "Yeah," he said, an awkward transition, "so are you gonna see to it that 'justice' gets around?"



"Uh, Hal," he looked at her hand a moment, then shook it. "An' I'm sick'a what's been happenin' aroun' them gollies. It's ridiculous 'at they can do whatever they wan'ta us, but we ent allowed to do nothin ta them. I figure it ent too long 'afore 'em gollies got a riot on their hands, up there. An' when it happens, I wanna be there ta see it."

Calli smiled at him, though sadly.

"That's it though, ain't it? If those gollies had just gone somewhere else, no one would have been hurt. If they'd tried to help, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad." Calli rubbed at her eyes, "I don't believe in justice, that kind of justice starts wars. If a war's on it's just gonna get more people hurt."

She smiled at him wryly.

"I wouldn't be here if a golly and a human hadn't liked eachother enough to..." She smiled her electric smile, continued teasingly, "Well, I'll tell you when you're older... Don't see why we can't try that again, aside from all the dirty water that's under the bridge."

She stood up again quickly, in case she'd offended him again. Hal reminded her a little of her younger brother.

"Why do you want to see a riot?" She asked, genuinely interested.

Hal thought a moment. It was something he had never been asked before, nor had he considered it on his own. "It's makin' summat different, innit?" he finally said, "Naught'a fortnight ago there was a riot down at th'docks. Some big feller... Pigman? Bullman? No, no, Beefman it was, 'e got 'isself killed, an' while everyone was up watchin'im get is comeuppance, Briny Joe Billows, a clockin' pirate--a real one, not one'a them wannabees with eyepatches over perfec'ly good eyes-- disappears without a trace. An' no one's seen 'im. No one. A riot let 'im disappear. Riots let things happen that otherwise wouldn'. Anyfin' can happen in a riot."

Calli frowned at Hal.

"Sounds like anything bad can happen in a riot." She said with lips pursed and pouting.

Her tummy grumbled.

"I'm hungry now. I might go down the street to the bakery, get something to eat." Calli pulled some coins out of nowhere and jangled them, "You want anything? You're plum skinny you are, I think I owe you a bun at least for telling me about the goings on round here."

She sort of did feel as though she ought to get him something to eat. He had that always hungry look her brother had that came from too much growing at once.

"Sure," he replied, "But I, uh... Need to stick around here, prolly." He glanced down at the door to the smithy, not having seen the big man with the hammer leave yet. It was starting to irritate him. But the prospect of free food was not something to be passed up.

"Oh ok, why? Is the smithy your older brother or something?" Calli asked with all the non-judgement of a person walking into an opium den thinking everyone was just smokingincense. "Oh yeah, you do like bacon rolls?"

Calli started eyeing the light pole in front of her. She never started out intending to do something dramatic, she'd just want to choose the most direct route and two seconds later she'd be swinging from a street sign.

She'd tried doing things the normal way and it made her feel like she was backing down from an important challenge.

Hal gave her an incredulous look. "No, I uh... need... something. But I have to wait till... later to get it." He paused in between words. He almost felt bad lying to someone who didn't know any better. He perked, though, at the mention of bacon rolls. "Sure! That stuff's great." Now that he knew what she had in mind, he wasn't about to pass it up. Maybe once I get back he'll be gone, he thought.

"Bacon rolls it is." Calli replied, already skipping down the roof towards the light pole. She jumped like she'd seen a monkey do once, legs and arms thrown forward, and grabbed the pole. Momentum swung her round and gravity moved her down. She was walking down the street before she knew it.

Calli waved up at Hal.

"Back in a few." She said almost overly-loudly.

Calli walked down the street to the bakery, tummy grumbling and mind musing on how happy she was she'd spent the extra shill on getting padded gloves.

Well, I guess I'm not supposed to follow 'er, Hal thought. After all her acrobatic displays, he wasn't sure he wanted to. She might lead him right off a bridge with all that. He leaned over the edge of the roof to look in the window, Maybe 'e's gone? What if 'e left while I wasn't looking', er summat? He glanced back after the girl. It would be a while before she returned. Maybe he could pop in and out before she got back. Just to see if the smithy was gone, and maybe get a look at his wares... Why not? He poked at the window and found it unlocked. He hopped inside and stopped, listening intently for the sound of voices or movement. If he got caught up here there was no getting out of trouble. Unless I take 'er way out, he thought grimly. He began to creep down the hallway, silent as a whisper.

Vik was just finishing up on the sai he'd been attempting when he thought he heard a noise down the hallway. He scowled, he knew Ue and Daisy weren't in. Since his meeting with Silas Hawke's goons that morning he was on high alert for anything suspicious going on.

Whoever it was obviously thought the house empty and Viktor saw no reason to make them think otherwise just yet. Vik looked around quickly and found that the large metal stove would make a convenient hiding place to watch the room from. He picked up his hammer,still warm from striking hot steel, and spun behind the stove as he listened for the intruder.

Calli returned quicky from the bakery. At that time of day the bread wasn't as fresh as it was in the morning, so the line was short. She scrambled back up the building she'd left Hal on, paper bag in her teeth, to find that he wasn't there anymore. She looked around, skirting the side of the building to see if he'd fallen off.

She probably should have warned him not to pull the stupid stunts she did on a regular basis. Just because she couldn't help it didn't mean she was unresponsible for her actions.

She climbed back down the building normally this time and walked out onto the street. She wondered if Hal might have decided to actually go and ask the smithy for whatever it was he'd been waiting for.

Calli walked boldly into the smithy and called out.

"Hey Haaaaaallll! I got lunch!" She sing-songed, admiring a set of short swords on the smithys wall.

As Hal crept down the hallway, he thought he heard a shuffle of footsteps, then silence. He stood stock still, hoping it was just his imagination... or a mouse... and not a big someone ready to crush his skull in. He was about to continue forward when he heard her calling.



"Kenser crap," he muttered under his breath. Now he didn't know what to do; he hadn't expected her back so quickly. He began a slow backwards shuffle down the hall, deciding it was best to be outside and quiet the girl before she got everyone's attention on hunting him down. And then there was the all-too-important matter of the bacon rolls; that could not be underestimated. He only hoped climbing out of the window would be as easy as climbing into it.

Calli walked further into the smith's shop, eyeing all the different weaponry. She was completely unaware of the potential risk, or potential distraction, she was causing Hal.

She put the rolls down and tested the weight of a long, curved sword. She'd seen people dancing with them once and tried a few slow moves. She twisted the sword around her torso, winding her arms around and carefully moving her feet.

"Mr Smithy?" She called out as she danced, "Mr Smithy, are you in? My friend needed something from you, is he here?"

Hal glared through the walls at Calli, Tryin' ta get me killed. He increased the speed of his creep, and was back in the room with the window. If he could just climb down outside and come in through the front door he'd be in the clear.

Vik was shocked by the sudden appearance of the noisy female wick that just walked in and began handling his weapons. There was no more indication from the hallway that the intruder was still there. The boldness of the girl must have scared him off, though by the sounds of it she was actually calling to whoever it was.

"That's expensive young lady, unless you plan on paying for it I'd suggest you put it back." Viktor walked out from behind the stove. He stepped up behind the girl and crossed his arms, the muscles in his soot covered forearms bulging. His face was a mask of intensity and annoyance. As he spoke he cast a glance down the hallway looking for the sneak that had originally drawn his attention.

Hal could hear the voice of a rather large someone downstairs as he scrabbled out the window, closed it, and made his way down the side of the building. He sat under the window a moment, both to catch his breath and to get ready for a fight or flight if it came down to it. He felt badly that the girl was trapped inside with that massive smith.

Calli briefly thought she ought to feel very intimidated by the large, sooty blacksmith. Then she decided that so long as she was inside she'd be able to take him in a fight. She hugged the flat of the sword to her chest.

"How much is it?" She asked, already feeling a spark of possessiveness over the sword.

She followed the smith's gaze down the hall.

"Hey, my friend Hal was looking for you, is he in?" She asked inquisitively.

Vrunta, don't say my name, he thought angrily, grinding his face into his palm. He glared through the wall again, as if he could pass the thought on to her. He waited to see if the smith would kick her out or if he would have to run in and save her.