Burning Night: A Tale of the Everburning City

Chapter 7: Tabitha

"Cinder and ash," Tabitha thought to herself, as she saw Mathias draw a knife on the Deputy Bureau Chief of Oversight.

She didn't know the man, since asides from the Chief, the Bureau didn't publish the names of its living membership. But Tabitha knew that the Deputy Bureau Chief of Oversight was probably the sixth most powerful person in the City. The man could walk up to just about anyone in the City and knife them in broad daylight, and suffer no repercussions.

And Mathias had his knife directly under the man's chin.

The deputy chief hadn't even managed to follow Mathias' movements. He seemed as surprised as Tabitha was to see the knife, and probably knew just as Tabitha did how easily Mathias could have killed him.

Of course, that kind of skill was appropriate for someone who dealt with crafters like Tabitha. She could send a building toppling to the ground in the time it took to take a long breath. Fighting normal people must seem comically simple to him and his 'nannies'.

"Make a note of who drew their knives to defend you, Chief," Mathias said, and the knife lingered for a moment just in front of the deputy's throat before he stepped away.

Tabitha looked around, and failed to even see a hand on a knife, let alone a drawn weapon. Apparently, the power the man's station enjoyed didn't extend within his own Bureau.

Or Mathias was a bit of a folk hero within Oversight.

"There was a boy, barely out of the gauntlet, who was killed in last night's incident. He had four different compound fractures, most of his bones had been shattered, and half his body was covered in deep tissue burns," Mathias announced, and Tabitha's hand lingered over the cold-stone cored dagger still resting in her pocket.

"That boy refused to die util he could report what killed him, and by doing so saved my life last night. Does anyone know his name?" he asked, and Tabitha waited eagerly for the answer. If Nathaniel had caught them unprepared for a Combat Crafter, she might have had to fight him alone. And her hair already had more grey in it than it had last evening.

There was part of her that regretted the missed chance to Craft without restraint, to reach deeply and see how brightly she could burn. The rest of her was afraid of that part. That part of her, that a broken boy who's knife she carried had saved her from.

"Erik Ulcet," Tabitha heard someone else shout, and recognized one of the two shadows that had pulled Erik out of the Foundry.

Erik Ulcet. She would remember that boy.

She detached herself from the small group of shadows that had been questioning her about the 'incident'. None of them seemed particularly inclined to detain her, despite their Chief's earlier insistence. She started through the crowd towards Mathias and his boss, where she found a woman in distinctly civilian garb in the middle of a conversation.

She didn't hear much of the conversation, until the woman pointed in her direction, and said, "If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to Crafter a'Loria."

The voice triggered the hint of a memory, and Tabitha was grateful the distance let her untangle it.

Reporter. Keen and sharp. Irritatingly nosy. Had bugged her a few years back during the dedication ceremony for the Westerwisp bridge. Belonged to one of the more respectable papers, or at least one less inclined to make things up to suit a narrative.

The Tributary. That was the paper's name.

"I do mind," The Deputy Bureau Chief said.

"Abagail, you are to act as Crafter a'Loria's evaluator for the day. Accompany her as she takes the train home and rests," Mathias said. "Chief Rustin is authorizing the unscheduled departure of that train behind you, effective immediately."