It was a dark, rainy night and a girl walked into my tent. She was soaked from the rain, and the falling droplets showed me a side of her complexion that others couldn't see. I was known for that. Seeing things that others didn't have the ability to. From a young age, they'd come to me and ask for help, they'd say "You're the only one who can solve this" and I knew they were right. It's not an easy life being the only person around with a knack for finding the truth. Everyone around me said I was crazy, they said people don't want to know the difference between what's real and what's fake. I said that I'd show them, that they wouldn't be able to live their lives in the darkness I'd be fighting. This wasn't any ordinary girl, this was a very pretty one. Rare that you see pretty girls around here, they're out on the town these days, making use of what they've been given. The water reflected the light from the candle in my tent, it gave me a way to see her, see her in ways that others couldn't. I knew she needed help. She had that look in her eyes, the look of someone who wanted to tell me what was wrong but there was something keeping them. I needed to know what. I thought about what such a pretty girl could be doing in my tent, where she had come from. She was stunning. She was the type of stunning that would make your eyes pop out. She was the type of girl that would make your eyes pop out that would make you think "Wow, that girl makes my eyes pop out" kind of girl. You know what I mean? The kind of girl that just-
"Are you narrating me walking into the tent?"
She was smart. She was the kind of smart you couldn't find around town, she was the kind of smart you'd hear about in rumors. The kind of smart that can bring men to their knees and make them beg for forgiveness. This girl knew what she was doing, walking into my tent. She must've heard of me. No doubt my reputation has spread far after solving the mystery of the Prymdor Pebble Propagandists, or as I liked to call them: "The greatest threat to the health of the capital." After such a daring feat, who wouldn't be interested in meeting with me? Even a girl as shrewd as this one would hear of my experience and want a piece. Everyone wanted a piece, it was rare that I'd get a night alone. The rain was my prison and my protector. I couldn't go out into the world, but the world couldn't come to me either. This girl got through that just to see me, she needed something.
"You're doing it again, aren't you?"
This girl might have the ability to read minds. She could be an enemy. Those propagandists wouldn't stop at anything to get back at me after what I did to them. No man with as much villainy as they would stop at anything to acquire their revenge on the brilliant defender of public health who prevented them from continuing with their devilish deeds. She was designed to trick me. Every aspect of her beauty was a trap, it lured me into believing her innocent, but the old man inside of me knew there was something wrong... Wait, what?
"You know I can hear you mumbling, right? If I'd known that letting you chase after the Laudle brothers would've made you like this again I would've pinned you down on the ground before you got the chance."
"Threats of violence, huh, is that what they have you here for?"
"You can't call them by their name? You were playing with them less than an hour ago."
"I didn't know criminals got to leave their crimes behind with their reputations intact."
"Criminals? They were throwing tiny pebbles at Ms. Ryner's door. You then gave a big speech about how they were horrible and they ran away from you. I would run too if I wasn't bound to you by the hip."
This girl was speaking with me familiarly. Bound by the hip? Maybe they had eyes on me since the beginning. I couldn't trust a single word from her, they could be lying outside this very tent waiting for me to send her off. As soon as she left, they would jump in and take my life from my very hands. I couldn't let her leave, but I didn't know what risks would come from having her stay.
"If you continue interrupting our conversation to narrate I'm going to punch you."
This girl was prepared to fight me. I needed to know how I'd deal with her. She looked dainty on the outside but I couldn't trust appearances. Everyone trusts what they see until they get hit with a pebble, those propagandists let me figure out what the truth of this world was. Would she start with her left or her right? I knew which arm she was dominant in, but this girl was no fool. We were engaged in a battle of the minds before we would break out into a battle of fisticuffs. Each of us was meticulously planning move after move, thinking minutes, no, hours ahead to when our fight had progressed to the peak of the nearby mountain. The rain would pour on both of our faces as we exchanged deathly glares. Lightning would strike, and I'd take the moment of blindness to leap at her. We'd jump off the mountain together and I'd grab on to the si-
Her fist hit my face. This girl was quick.
"I told you to stop narrating. Do you know how weird it is to be talking with you and then you just stop responding and stare at me?"
How would I respond to this gesture of violence? I'd never hit a girl before, it went against my code. Even if she seemed rough now, she would become a lady of high stature in the future, I could tell. I couldn't go around making enemies with the wealthy, with the powerful. I would get my moment where I would stand above them all, but for now, I needed to lie low. So what would I do-
She pounced on me and pinned me to the ground. This girl was far too quick.
"You ready to listen now?"
"Is this your way of offering me a kiss? You're quite straightforward."
"Ew, gross."
She got off me. My genius technique of flattery worked wonders on the ladies. It was only a matter of time before they would swoon when they walked into my tent. One look is all they would need for my extreme genius combined with my particularly pleasant appearance to fall head over heels for the only guy with a sense of justice around.
"Those fiends were threatening Ms. Ryner, extorting her."
"They asked for a slice of cake, you nitwit."
"Is food not an object of great value? I didn't know you wanted the lovely Ms. Ryner to go hungry. After all the good she's done for us I thought you'd be grateful."
Memories came flooding back like the rain which was now seeping into my tent. This girl had been with me for a while. I met her on a summer's day, while I was patrolling the grounds of Chief Rayner's office. The days on the beat were some of the best I'd ever had, I wonder if I could ever find a way back. She came knocking on the door and who was there to meet her but me? Her face shone like the sun above us, and Chief Rayner was fooled by her likely fraudulent facial expressions.
"Are you acting stupid right now?"
"Listen here, gal. You're pretty easy on the eyes so I'll clue you in. There are dangerous plots afoot here in East Prym. I'm here to stop 'em-
"Did you just shorten 'East Prymdor' by one syllable to make it sound like a nickname?"
"There are many men who want to see me fall, and if you stay close you may fall too. A pretty girl such as yourself doesn't want to be involved in a life like this."
"If you mention my appearance one more time I might actually turn you over to the guards."
"You'd report a good samaritan to the tyrants who want to take away our freedom? They don't care about us! I'm fighting tooth and nail just to put food on my table while they relax with all the Melus in the world."
"They have a job. They're getting paid."
"So they get paid to lock people up, but I get nothing for solving the questions brought to me? For easing public worry?"
"Listen, it's late. I'm tired. I don't have the time to indulge in your little fantasy of being 'the little guy' or whatever it is that you want to come out of pretending to be some advent of justice. Ms. Ryder wants you to come back inside because of the rain, she says that if you sleep here the tent will break and you'll get soaked."
"Chief Ryder is a worrisome one. You tell her that I'll be just fine the same way I always was. Alone."
"I'm not going to do that, and I'm not going to let you stay out here."
"Oh yeah? The law has never caught me before, who says you have a shot?"
I escaped through the back of my tent and she pursued me. She was light on her feet, this girl. She knew how to chase a man down. She was the type of girl who chased men down for a living, always trying to get what they owed her...
Wait a second-
"Flynn, get back here!"
The gal called my name, but it was too late. She was only speaking to the darkness that surrounded me, and I escaped into a pale black night that actually wasn't pale mostly because of the rain. But it felt pale. You could feel the pale. The pale may have felt me.
Paaaaaaale.