Burning Night: A Tale of the Everburning City

Chapter 18, Part 2: Natalina

"I'm glad you introduced yourself before I took a sip," Natalina said, as she took another slow swig from her mug. "This is too good to waste on a spit-take."

"Agreed," Xavier replied, taking a long, slow swig from his mug. "I'm not sure if it tastes better because of how hard it was to acquire, but this brew would have been wasted on the folks I liberated it from."

"Liberated?" Natalina asked.

Natalina glanced over to Coraline as the crafter slapped her hands on her table, her eyes wide and her mouth wide open.

"You're sleeping with Theo?" the crafter asked, incredulously, to her sister.

"Pipe the burning hell down!" Marigold hissed. She glared around the room, meeting any curious eyes and forcing them to turn their gazes away.

"Yes, I am," Marigold admitted.

"Gross," Coraline said, shuddering and leaning back in her chair. "We had the same master. Oh, vile!"

"Have you seen his windows?" Marigold asked her.

"My people stole the casks from a soirée that Distribution was hosting," Xavier admitted, shaking his head and smiling as he turned his attention away from the Estoban sisters.

"Stolen is when you take it from those in need. In Distribution's case, liberated is the right word," Natalina conceded, raising her glass.

"To good beer going to more deserving gullets!" Natalina exclaimed, standing and raising her glass into the air. "And I hope distribution chokes on the ash of their own burning headquarters!"

To Natalina's immediate pleasure, that toast was received by a rancorous cheer from the entire bar. Even Coraline raised her mug, adding "I could make that happen."

"Stop bragging, Cori," Marigold said, pulling her arm back down. But the woman was smiling, and leaned in to say something to her sister that Natalina couldn't hear.

"So, Casper, I suspect you didn't come down here just to facilitate a family reunion. What brings you to this dark corner of the City?"

Natalina set her mug down, and fingered the small piece of metal in her pocket. "I'm here to try to talk you out of a profitable deal," she said.

The boss of one of the City's most powerful gangs flinched as he looked at her. But his gaze was locked on hers, and Natalina could practically feel the man's thoughts as they whirled in his head.

"At least you had the sense to bring a Crafter with you," Xavier remarked. "How profitable is the deal that you want to talk me out of?"

"An officer's sword," Natalina replied.

"That's..." Xavier trailed off, shaking his head. "You have an idea of what an officer's sword worth of Coldstone can buy me down here, don't you?"

"Somewhat," Natalina admitted.

"I turned a gang boss against her closest allies with a piece barely larger than your thumbnail," Stenman explained. "An officer's sword could get me hands on veins of ore that Reasearch prizes, including the new alloys they use to make Valkyries so heat-resistant. It could mean full bellies for thousands, who will happily abandon their current masters for greener fields. Why, Casper, should I give it up?"

"Because the City needs it," Natalina replied, pulling the piece of metal out of her pocket and setting it on the bar. "This is the missing piece of the sword someone's trying to sell you."

Xavier's eyes widened as he leaned forward, and rested his fingers on the metal. "A colonel's sword?"

"Taken from her apartment, as her body cooled on the floor," Natalina explained.

"I see," Stenman Xavier said, deliberately refilling his mug. "That's a complication, to be sure."

"It happened the same day the Lord Captain died, and a day before another Colonel was killed in an incident at The Foundry," Natalina added, as she held her mug out. "Could I get another one?"

Xavier obliged her wordlessly, pouring out another full mug of this superbly addictive drink.

"So a Colonel is playing politics with knives in the dark. Once again, Casper, we come to the crux of our issue. How is this so important that I should turn down an entire officer's sword worth of Coldstone?"

Natalina sighed, and said, "honestly, I don't know. I was half-expecting Coraline over there would help make you see reason. But that plan's gone up in smoke."

Xavier nodded, completely at ease with the implied threat Natalina had just levelled at him. "It wasn't a bad tactic. Marigold recently had a run-in with someone above-ground, who reminded her, and by extension me, how much power lies in the Guild. That woman is more of a threat than an entire gang, by herself. But for the sake of maintaining our cordial circumstances, let's assume violence isn't really a good answer for our predicament. What, Mrs Casper, can you offer me that's worth more than nearly three pounds of Coldstone?"

Natalina leaned forward, and said, "clean water."

Stenman Xavier smiled warmly, and nodded his head. "I suspected you understood the Undercity."

"I have assurances from Inspector Arnold Effran that hospice services and clean water can be extended to the Undercity, if he can find a gang he can work with'" Natalina said.

"Not bad," Xavier said. "But a single inspector isn't nearly enough."

"I can get Colonel Valen Redgrave to back it," Natalina offered.

"Now there's a name with power, miss Casper. But with Colonels dying so frequently, I'm hard pressed to give even Redgrave the weight he would normally deserve," Xavier said.

"I'll be setting up residence in the Undercity. I was thinking just down the tunnel, a little ways," Coraline said, as she stepped into the sea next to Natalina.

Xavier likely would have looked less shocked if Natalina had slapped him. He nearly stumbled backwards, and barely managed to stutter a response. "Ma, madam Crafter, I..."

"The Bureaus will build infrastructure to make a Crafter's life comfortable," Coraline said. "Water, fire, food and hospice services will follow me. Security will be centred around the presence of a Crafter, which will allow these services to be provided safely."

Marigold, who had followed Coraline back to the bar, whistled and swore. "Embers of the abyss, Cori. That's more than just making yourself a boss."

"That could change our world," Xavier finished. Natalina was surprised to find tears in his eyes. "That could change this world."