"Can I see, Lirssa?" Anasta asked reaching towards the bandage that covered Lirssa's left cheek from eye to chin.

Lirssa drew back and shook her head. "Not yet, Ana. Miss Eva said to keep it covered and only change it out mornings and nights."

"Why was it just there and not all over?" Benji frowned, plucking at some grass.

A collective of the High Spires children were sitting in a misshapen circle in the foster home's back yard. The afternoon was a wonderful one with bright sun, easy temperatures, and happy clouds. Lirssa had finally made an appearance after so many weeks. It also meant a lot of questions and a lot of news sharing. Elliott had said it should be safe to return to her routine. With the shock she had given Fitzhugh and company, they would certainly be more cautious in coming after her, and likely not to threaten any of her friends.

"I don't know, Benji." Lirssa lay on her stomach, arms folded beneath her chin. It made her back feel better which for all Elliott's healing of it, he had said to take care for some weeks just to be certain. "I guess other people and stuff in the way. I can't say as I remember just what was going on. I woulda thought it get all over here," one hand moving to gesture to her entire left side, "but I guess it didn't."

Liam shrugged. "Magic stuffs weird and dangerous. Had a run in with it a time or two myself. Can't see it comin'."

"It's a hobgoblin, alright." Sampson snarled, using the street slang for dangerous, unpredictable things. He ripped up some grass and twisted it around his fingers. Yellow eyes with large black irises looked to Lirssa. "Mrs. June and Mr. Ephram are in the whisperin's these days."

Several heads bobbed around. Adults, Lirssa had long ago learned, had a tendency to think if they held private conferences about things that bothered them, children around them didn't know. Well, maybe in normal houses that'd be true. She couldn't say as she'd never lived much in one. But with kids like those around her, whispers meant trouble, and they were all too aware of them. They had to have been to make it as along as they did.

Ruth watched a ladybug walk along her finger. Her brown eyes peeking out between blond curls. "Gets noisy on the streets these days, too. People look at Sampson funny."

"They're looking at all the kids who aren't like them funny." Esther spoke up. "Mrs. June won't let them play in the front yard anymore. Anasta, Sampson, Cora, Finn...anyone that...well, you know."

Those whom she had named plus all the other of obvious magical races scowled or cowered down. Anasta had gone back to keeping her black hair long and scraggling to cover the slight points of her ears.

Lirssa could sympathize with them. Even if her talent, which she had not shared just how that ring blew up, was not visible, she was just as much in danger as the rest of them. "Well, I was talkin' with some folks last night, and I saw we do something."

All eyes blinked up at her, some faces were smiling with anticipation. They knew Lirssa always had a plan. Others were full of fear. She could see how the quiet concerns of Mrs. June and Mr. Ephram had affected them. "Only, I wanna see if you all are willing to do somethin' before I speak to anyone else. This is gotta be your decision. These folks say they're trying to build security and are afraid for their children. Well, let's show them that we children have our own thoughts on the matter, and we much rather have some peace and quite on our streets."

Liam snickered. Lirssa rolled her eyes and added, "Well, as much as we ever had. I'm not sayin' we take up arms. I'm sayin' a candlelight vigil. We're this town's future, ya know" We got a right same as they to make our voices heard, only we're not going to do it with yells and shoutin' and hurtin' folks. We're gonna do it with silence. Just us walkin streets, holdin' candles."

"We can't just say nothin' or those folks will think we're supportin that stupid rule they wanna pass." Finn crumbled, his tail twitching in irritation. "I'm not gonna register myself just 'cause I gotta tail and can turn into a cat."

"I think it is actually a cougar, Finn, you're just small." Esther grinned, trying to be helpful.

Lirssa ignored the clarification and shrugged. "I don't want us havin' targets painted on us, either. We're talkin' peaceful. But, I reckon' you're right. I'll talk to some other folks, see if they've some ideas. But you kids in" We can show them we can all get along without registerin' and what not."

The door from the back of the house closed and all the children froze. "What are you all doing out here?" Mrs. June called, wiping her flour dusted hands on her apron. "Is that you Lirssa?"

She had to admit, since some of the older children had gotten apprenticeships, she did stand out with her length. Lirssa sat up and waved to the children. She would speak with them more later, and they all scattered to their playing and chores. "Yes'm, Mrs. June, it's me. Just stoppin' by. How're you?" Lirssa smiled as she came up the porch steps, and then was suddenly in a suffocating hug.

"Where have you been, dearie" And what happened to your face" Oh, I'm just fine, but where have you been stayin" I heard your family moved away some months ago. I can't believe you've been keeping yourself so scarce. We have beds to fill here, and I rely on you to keep children coming to our care." Mrs. June was halfway through her questions and on to the lecture before she finally let Lirssa free of her affectionate, if crushing, hug.

Finding her breath again, Lirssa ticked off with a count on her fingers the answers. "I've been around. Just got a few cuts, but it's fine. I've been stayin' lotsa places. Yeah, they moved. Had to keep myself scarce awhile, but no worries. I'll get on fillin' those beds." At the last of it, she grinned a wild smile, partly distorted by the bandage up at Mrs. June who, evidently not much appreciating Lirssa's sense of humor or her sass, had her hands on her hips.

"Hmm, well, I doubt I will be getting more information out of you, but it is good to see you again. Now, are you staying for dinner?"

"No ma'am. I have things to do. People to see. —"

"—Plotting and planning. I know. Off you go then." Mrs. June shook her head and waved to Lirssa, who had it in mind to go find Sir Seamus as Mr. Alain suggested. She had a vigil to plan.

Seamus grinned wider than what ought to have been humanly possible at Lirssa's greeting, but that was one of his greatest gifts: warmth to a goofy point. Halfway through her words, he figured out she wanted a little privacy. The two initiates were sworn by oath, but the knight knew how important it could be to keep an 'informant' comfortable at certain times. "Clayton, Leo....pack up and run those messages up to New Haven. I'll see ya both t'night."

Then he pulled up a crate near Lirssa and sat down with a heavy, tired sigh (and yet plenty of good humor). "Right, Lirssa. What'd the bossman say' And before you start," he put up his hand, "you oughta know that I didn't do it." Just to cover his bases.

At his instant denial of being the culprit of something, Lirssa tried not to laugh. The laugh pushed at her lips that scrunched up to keep it inside. "I betcha did." Well, not knowing what he did, she decided best to leave it at that.

Instead, with the boathouse clear, it was time for business. She had heard the heavy sigh, and she eyed him for a moment. Could be it was just a draining practice. Could be something else. Well, time to not waste time. Straightening up, she looked him dead in the eye. "Right then. Here's the plan. Knowing as you're connected to Mister Alain's folks and the order of Saint what?s his face, I suspect you're knowin' about this trouble between magics and non-magics folk. Say, are you a magics folk?"

The question had come really just out of her inquisitive nature. However, as soon as it was out, she realized it wasn't any of her business whether he was or not, and best to stick to why she was there. So, a gulp of breath and she went on. "Only see, I think folks are forgettin' just what it is they're about in this city. We kids haven't. We haven't forgotten that non-magics folk can hurt just as much as magics. It ain't the weapons ya got, it's how ya use them. Anyway, so, I spoke with some cobble bedders, erm street kids, and High Spires House kids, and we've decided to do a children's vigil. Just us kids with candles walking the streets, trying to get folks to think about just what they're doin'.

"I suspect, you got all sortsa worries about that runnin' through your head. Most adults do, but I got it in my mind to do something. I figure if they hurt a kid they hurt their cause, ya know" Of course, some folks are as dumb as dirt, and they might take a chance to cause problems. So, here's my first problem, do we need an escort or not, ya think? I'm not sure it's a good idea. Kids might provoke somethin, but adults sure are to. They lose their heads faster than chickens in a butcher shop. One sight of an armed escort and it won't be calm we're promotin'."

With a breath finally taken, she looked to him. She wasn't going to press him, at least not yet. There was still some thinking she was doing, but for the moment, she thought she'd let the man get his head wrapped around what she had said so far.

Seamus chuckled over her 'magics folk' question....Even after she pressed it on, he brought it back. "Magics folk, eh' 'Ere....have a look." He leaned and rummaged around in a pile of coats and blankets on the floor, then pulled up his heavily abused broadsword. He unsheathed it halfway and held it over for her inspection. The metal itself was heavily scarred, but each scar had somehow 'healed,' leaving jagged lines of discoloration across the surface. Near the hilt runes spiraled their way around the blade, and the longer he held the weapon, the more the mysterious marks began to blow.

Before it could work whatever magic it held, Seamus slammed it home in the scabbard again and tossed it back under a blanket. "I can't call sparks to my fingertips, but I don't have to. Half what I use..." He waved a hand. "...out there, in the field....it's thrice worked over with spells, and they save my life. Same with my brothers in the Order."

Then he grinned, and his face and his tone lost its grim edge all over again. "So ya can see how maybe I'm a wee bit skeptical 'bout this Thirty-Seven nonsense." He leaned forward and rubbed his hands together: "Right. About this vigil, then.

"Way I see it, the Baron treats you like an adult, yeah' And that's gone pretty splendid with High Spires....so, nothing's gained treating you like a kid. You've got it in your mind to do this thing, and the Order of Saint Aldwin isn't about to let rioters rough up a bunch of kids."