14 Fierdos 1120

The Potter's Clay

While others in the party mused over the nature of the voice that had invaded their minds in the caves below, Mrs. Wilkins had another concern. People who dealt with the Servants of the Beast Below or their mysterious master had an alarming tendency to turn up either dead or unwilling hosts to the parasitic tsochari, which was arguably worse. And her friend Betty had dropped out of sight shortly after selling her bordello to a front for that organization (House of Ill Repute).

The sale had taken place nearly three years before, so even Mrs. Wilkins' formidable skills at gathering information were hard pressed to turn up anything useful. The best lead she could find was a vague memory, confirmed from multiple sources, that Betty had talked of retiring to the Jade Islands.

The Islands, Mrs. Wilkins knew, were a highly structured feudal society known for its adherence to the moral code of bushido and for exports of spices, exotic cloth, and expensive craft goods including masterwork armor and weapons. The ruler of the Islans was a reclusive and nameless Emperor, rumored to be immortal, who exercised power through edicts issued to and enforced by his council of seven regional shoguns.

A cover story seemed wise. For some time Mrs. Wilkins had contemplated investing some of her adventuring income in a small, exclusive variant of her now-gone bordello. It would be a way to maintain some of her political contacts while making new ones and providing a steady income. So she drew up a list of items to look for in the markets of Kaito, the primary port city of the Islands, and booked passage for herself on the Hakudo Maru, a well-known trade and passenger ship that made regular runs between Kaito and Marhaven.

Mrs. Wilkins reached Kaito without incident and was received at the Customs counter by a bored, indifferent-looking man who explained the rules in a monotone: visitors must register with Customs upon arrival in Kaito, and those wishing to remain for more than a few days or to travel elsewhere in the Jade Islands needed a visa granting permission to do so. The customs agent asked the basic questions of name, purpose, and address, and at first seemed barely interested in the answers. Eventually Mrs. Wilkins' kindly and helpful manner got through to him, and by the time the interview ended the bureaucrat was thanking her for her advice on his mother's chronic cough. Mrs. Wilkins left with the name of a good inn, the Dragon Palace, and the location of the immigration office where she could inquire about Betty. She checked into the Dragon Palace, spent a few hours becoming best friends with many of the staff and obtaining a well-secured room, and chatted up merchants in the marketplace about the items on her list while also learning what she could about Kaito.

The next morning she visited the immigration office. This time her contact was a young woman, less jaded than the customs official had been and easily turned into a helpful and friendly resource. Records from three years back would be in storage, she explained in an artificially loud voice for the benefit of her supervisors, and could not be retrieved without some significant time and effort and the payment of a fee. Then she quietly told Mrs. W to meet her in the hallway and went "on break."

An hours' searching of the records room turned up Betty's file. Shortly after her arrival in Praedus 1117, which matched the time she had sold the brothel, Betty had been granted a business license to operate the Price Academy for Girls. Then in Lochstan 1119 Betty filed an application for full citizenship. That application was approved in only five days, an unheard-of degree of speed, because the application had been endorsed by Hideo Kamakura, shogun of the southern Chuoshima province.

Mrs. Wilkins thanked her helpful young friend with some sage advice about her love life and a few tips on a more flattering hair color and once again made her way to the market place. This time she went fishing for information about the Price Academy for Girls and Shogun Kamakura, and came up with some interesting answers.

The school was well known as an exclusive boarding school catering to rich and influential families. The students were all girls ages 14 to 18 and the curriculum included arts, literature, social and domestic skills, and personal grooming and appearance. Mrs. Wilkins smiled at hearing this, suspecting from what she knew of Betty that the "social skills" taught might be a bit beyond what the girls' partents envisioned. When a friendly barman confided rumors that some of the older students were known to accompany rich men to social events from time to time, her instincts told her that Betty had not fully retired from the sex trade after all.

The word on Kamakura was even more intriguing. Mrs. Wilkins learned that Hideo Kamakura was the Emperor's advisor on military matters and head of the Islands' armed forces. He was popular with the people and had a reputation for being effective and well disciplined. Some detractors felt he should be more aggressive against the lizardfolk and sahaugin tribes on the western border, but Kamakura had the support of the Emperor and of most people.

There was one more thing: six months before, in Tolden 1119, Hideo Kamakura had married the gaijin schoolmistress Betty Price. Mrs. Wilkins' friend had done well for herself, it seemed.

A visit to the Price Academy seemed indicated. Mrs. Wilkins had no difficulty locating the school, a remodeled monastery on a hill overlooking the island's inner shore. A pair of well-dressed men greeted her at the gate. Dropping Betty's name was enough to gain Mrs. Wilkins an escort to the office of Headmistress Noriko. After a few minutes' wait while Noriko counseled a student, the door opened and Mrs. Wilkins was invited inside.

Headmistress Noriko proved to be an attractive woman in her early thirties, clearly of local origins and magnetic personality. She greeted Mrs. Wilkins with warmth and respect; Betty-sama, she explained, had spoken often and warmly of her sempai Mrs. Wilkins, it was a great honor to make her acquaintance, etc. The two exchanged pleasantries and Noriko confirmed what Mrs. Wilkins had already learned: that Betty had married shogun Kamakura and left the school in Noriko's hands. Betty now lived on the Kamakura estate in Chuoshima, the main island at the center of the nation.

Since Mrs. Wilkins could not legally leave Kaito without a visa, and since "one does not just drop in on a shogun's estate uninvited," Noriko pledged to send a messenger to the estate to inform Betty that her friend was in Kaito and to help expedite Mrs. Wilkins' visa process using the school's connections. She also asked Mrs. Wilkins to accept the school's hospitality ("Betty-sama would insist, I'm sure") and sent a servant to gather her things from the Dragon Palace and move them to the guest suite at the school.

All through her meeting with Noriko, however, Mrs. Wilkins' instincts told her that Noriko was hiding something. She gushed just a little too loudly, fawned a little too obsequiously, to be quite believable. In the end Mrs. Wilkins accepted Noriko's invitation in order to have the chance to do a little looking around the Academy. Maybe Noriko was simply cooking the books a little and feared exposure, but maybe there was more involved. When Noriko excused herself to attend to a class, Mrs. Wilkins happily accepted her invitation to look around the school.

Mrs. Wilkins put on an impromptu talk about life in Marhaven and drew quite an audience of girls. Her natural charm loosened their lips quite effectively; while none came out and said it, Mrs. Wilkins became quite satisfied that the Academy supplemented its tuition income with a bit of sexual extortion, using the older students to seduce rich men and then blackmailing them into making regular donations to the Academy. Some of the girls admitted being trained in "womanly arts" by Betty herself, so Mrs. Wilkins knew her friend was at least somewhat involved. It sounded a bit like Betty: she'd always prided herself on her seduction techniques and would enjoy passing them on to a new generation, especially if there was good income potential in the process. The blackmail angle seemed a bit off, though; the Betty she knew would have charged handsomely at time of service and relied on the intoxicating experience to keep men coming back rather than stooping to the threat of exposure.

A friendly conversation with Ume, the school cook, confirmed that some of the older girls keep strange hours from time to time and that the school was on excellent financial footing (plenty of money for supplies and help). Mrs. Wilkins also learned that Ume had a young sister who sounded like a good prospect for the kitchen of Mrs. Wilkins' cover project.

While she chatted with the kitchen staff Mrs. Wilkins noticed that she was not completely untethered. A young man, perhaps 18, seemed to be nearby wherever she went. He didn't insert himself obviously, but was always within earshot. Mrs. Wilkins approached the man and cast charm person on him before he could react. He became immediately relaxed and trusting and pliable to the experienced woman's manipulations.

The boy's name was Shimasa Motao, a member of the Academy's security force. His job was to make sure the students didn't sneak out after curfew, take his turn at the gate, and follow any other instructions Headmistress Noriko might choose to give. At the moment, for example, his instructions were to stay unobtrusively near Gertrude-sama, ensure that she did not get lost or inadvertently disrupt any classes in session, provide any help or information she might request, and report to Noriko if there was any trouble.

Mrs. Wilkins looked over her erstwhile shadow with interest. He was young, strong-looking, mentally pliable, and from the bulge in his robe clearly carrying a masterwork weapon. The charm spell would last a few more hours ...

By early evening Mrs. Wilkins was feeling refreshed and well satisfied. She sent Shimasa to report to Headmistress Noriko while the charm was still in force, along with some suggestions as to things that were too unimportant to bother Noriko with. When he returned she put him to bed and used deep slumber to keep him there while she took Derek for an overdue walk in the evening air.

Once Derek was thoroughly exercised Mrs. Wilkins scooped him back into his familiar pocket and approached Noriko's office. She used invisibility and crept as quietly as possible past one of Shimasa's coworkers and saw that the office was still occupied by Noriko. The headmistress was working in a ledger of some sort, but the door was not open enough to allow Mrs. Wilkins to step through it.

She cast a silenced ghost sound of a young girl crying out for help, but Noriko paid only scant attention. Clearly concern for her students' welfare was not Noriko's defining quality, so Mrs. Wilkins tried another approach. She cast a silenced minor image of a cat entering the room and pressing against the door. As the illusion moved, Mrs. Wilkins reached out an invisible hand and pushed the door open with it, then had the cat turn and run. She stepped quietly through the doorway while Noriko rang a brass bell on her desk and told the servant who appeared to find the cat and get it off the grounds.

Now able to read over Noriko's shoulder, Mrs. Wilkins saw that the headmistress was updating a ledger. With mild amusement she noted that Noriko was using a cypher that Mrs. Wilkins had developed decades ago for her own brothel and taught to Betty. What she could decipher and read in her head confirmed that the Academy was receiving a regular flow of cash "donations" from well-placed gentlemen who were not parents of students in the school. Most of the money was going into the general fund and a modest percentage to a separate account that looked to be for Noriko's personal use. Her invisibility spell was about to end, so Mrs. Wilkins slipped out and returned to her room and her boy toy.

By the time she returned Shimasa was awake and the charm was over. The young samurai left abruptly in barely-disguised discomfiture, which amused the lady more than a little. Mrs. Wilkins let Derek out of his pocket and changed her glamered mithral shirt to take the appearance of a flannel nightgown, then went to sleep.

Her rest was interrupted some time later by the sound of Derek barking sharply. The door was partially open and allowed a dim light to invade the room. A gloved hand wielding a hand crossbow slipped in through the door and took a shot at Derek. The bolt flew wide and struck the floor instead. Mrs. Wilkins heard the hiss of profanity in a youthful female voice. The door opened a bit wider as Derek but the assailant. Mrs. Wilkins grabbed the loaded crossbow out of her handbag of holding and fired at the black-robed figure but missed. As the figure turned invisible she called out to Shimasa, hoping he was nearby.

Another short cuss word heralded a very bad crossbow shot that missed Mrs. Wilkins by an embarassing margin. She cast see invisibility and was then able to see the black-clothed figure shaking off an apparent injury to her shooting hand while she drew a kama from her belt.

There was a shout from the doorway and Shimasa kicked his way into the room with katana and wakizashi drawn. The assassin struck swiftly at Mrs. Wilkins and drew blood but not enough to be fatal even to a 68-year-old. Mrs. Wilkins responded with an inevitable defeat spell that drained the assassin's strength and ultimately left her unconscious on the floor.

Shimasa bound the captive securely and Mrs. Wilkins pulled off the mask to reveal a young girl of maybe 17. She recognized the girl as one of the Academy students she'd seen in her earlier wanderings. Shimasa seemed eager to assert himself, so Mrs. Wilkins let him intimidate the girl into answering questions. Her name was Taka, and as suspected she was a student at the Academy. Headmistress Noriko had trained Taka, and a handful of others who showed the aptitude, in the ways of the ninja. Noriko had sent Taka to kill Mrs. Wilkins because she represented some kind of threat to the Academy.

They went through the girl's equipment and found typical ninja gear. Only two items of real interest came out of it: a pair of soft magical boots that enhanced silent movement and a vial of deathblade, a very potent poison. The misfired crossbow bolts had been coated in the stuff and would almost certainly have been fatal to either Derek or Mrs. Wilkins had they hit.

Noriko would have to be confronted, clearly. They made sure Taka was well bound and then Mrs. Wilkins loosely tied Shimasa's hands behind him to make him look like a captive. She put on the ninja's clothing over her glamered chain shirt and cast disguise self to make her face appear young and of local stock. Then she marched Shimasa to Noriko's office.

Along the way, Shimasa confided in Mrs. Wilkins that he was not just an employee of the Academy. He was a samurai sent to infiltrate the Academy and report on it to his lord, Shogun Okazen, ruler of Kaito and the eastern province. Okazen, she remembered, was rumored to have recently fallen out with Kamakura. Shimasa knew nothing of that, but he did know his shogun had suspicions that the Academy was a front for criminal activity and had sent him to learn the truth. His shogun would be grateful to Mrs. Wilkins for her help in exposing Noriko's schemes.

Before reaching the office Mrs. Wilkins readied Derek with a touch of idiocy that he could deliver with a bite attack. The moment they reached the office doorway she shoved Shimasa inward and walked in behind him, leaving Derek outside and out of view for the moment. She held out a flannel nightgown smeared in blood -- Mrs. Wilkins' own blood, wiped from her wounds inflicted by Taka -- and dropped it on Noriko's desk. While the headmistress examined the garment Derek ran in and tried to deliver his bite to discharge the spell onto Noriko. He missed and the plan was revealed.

Noriko moved swiftly and threw a shuriken at Mrs. Wilkins but missed. Shimasa let his bonds drop and tried unsuccessfully to cow Noriko with his samurai stare-down ability. Unimpressed, she turned invisible and struck Mrs. Wilkins with a devastating blow.

Two could play at that game. Mrs. Wilkins stepped away from the direction of the attack and cast invisibility on herself, losing the touch of idiocy she'd charged on Derek, while her dog sought to sniff out their opponent's location. Shimasa closed in as Noriko turned visible and felt the bite of a blurstrike kukri in his side. Meanwhile, Mrs. Wilkins made her way to a bureau on which sat several vials that looked like healing potions. She helped herself to one and found that it was a potion of cure serious wounds -- just what she needed at the moment.

Shimasa found Noriko maddeningly difficult to pin down. Between the blurstrike kukri and her ghost step ability it was nearly impossible to defend himself effectively, let alone land a solid counter blow. But as Mrs. Wilkins turned visible again by attempting a touch of idiocy he knew that his duty was to protect her by continuing to goad Noriko into attacking only him. Since Derek was having even more trouble hitting Noriko with his bite than Shimasa with his sword she drew her +1 corrosive short sword, which she had nicknamed Betty's Tongue, and joined the melee. Between her sword and Shimasa's they brought Noriko down.

A search of Noriko's person and office produced no new information about Betty, but plenty of evidence for Shimasa to take to his shogun. In the morning, Shimasa pledged, he would take Mrs. Wilkins to the Okazen palace and urge his shogun to gain her the necessary permissions to go to Chuoshima and locate Betty.

In the meantime they had a few hours before morning, and Mrs. Wilkins gave him a suggestion as to how they might spend them...

In the morning a polite but mortified Shimasa took Mrs. Wilkins to report to his lord. They met not with Okazen himself, who was very old and seldom took a direct hand, but with his oldest son Ichiro. Ichiro congratulated Shimasa on the success of his mission and gracefully thanked Mrs. Wilkins for her assistance. In gratitude he presented Mrs. Wilkins with a letter bearing the seal of shogun Okazen granting her the right to travel throughout the Jade Islands as she saw fit. He also ordered Shimasa to accompany her and made him responsible for her life and safety.

On fresh horses with full saddlebags, Shimasa and Mrs. Wilkins left Kaito and crossed the inner strait to Chuoshima by ferry. They camped overnight off the road and the following day reached the Kamakura estate. The seal of Okazen ensured that they were greeted with respect and escorted to Kamakura's mansion. There they were met by a mature man in expensive robes who introduced himself as Matsuko Takagin.

Matsuko apologized on behalf of his master; Kamakura-kyou, he explained, would have preferred to greet them personally but was extremely busy and begs their understanding. Perhaps Mrs. Wilkins-san could return next week, he suggested, when Kamakura-kyou would be able to properly receive her? Mrs. Wilkins turned on her charm and explained to Matsuko-san that she wouldn't dream of taking up Kamakura-kyou's precious time; she merely wished to visit with her old and dear friend, Betty-kyou. Matsuko wavered, bowed, and suggested that they accompany him.

He led them back to the shogun's private quarters area, knocked at an elegant bamboo and screen door, and waited for an affirmative before showing them in. There, in rich clothing and exquisite makeup, was Betty. Her fey bloodline allowed her to keep an amazing physical beauty and presence even at an age when most women were beginning to show the signs of middle age.

Betty recognized Mrs. Wilkins immediately and greeted her with a hug and an exclamation of surprise. The conversation quickly turned to her companion and made Shimasa blush while he struggled to maintain his composure. The women talked of old times, of the late Mr. Wilkins and of Betty's amazing good fortune to be married to such a powerful man. Whenever she spoke of Kamakura Betty's face took on a soft, slightly dazed sort of expression. She had the same look when she related to her friend how Randall Stevens had made such a generous offer for the old bordello that she would have been foolish not to accept, and how she had always wanted to open a charm school and that accepting the offer had made that possible. Mrs. Wilkins, never having heard her friend say any such thing in decades prior, simply filed that point away and warned Betty that her precious school had been used for bad purposes by her successor.

Betty was shocked and saddened by the news, but not for long. Soon she was prattling on about the big news: the reason Kamakura was so busy was that the Emperor himself was on his way to the estate. He had business to discuss with Kamakura, and there would be a private dinner in his honor that evening. Betty offered to speak with Kamakura about allowing Mrs. Wilkins and her companion to attend that dinner and meet the Emperor -- a great privilege, as the Emperor was notoriously reclusive.

Mrs. Wilkins felt a growing sense of wrongness. To her practiced eye Betty was clearly under some kind of mental influence. Without preamble she cast a quick dispel magic only to feel a sharp pain slicing through her mind. Whatever enchantment held Betty was far beyond Mrs. Wilkins's ability to break. She shook off the magical hangover and was glad to see Betty seemed to have no objection to the attempt. Soon Betty was dragging them both down the hall to meet her husband.

Hideo Kamakura was clearly irritated by the interruption but put on a polite if gruff face for his guests. Mrs. Wilkins noted that he had two senior advisors with him, one of whom was obviously a mage of some sort. She considered casting message to inform the mage of Betty's condition but recalled Betty saying that Kamakura was very suspicious of spellcasting; besides for all she knew the mage could have been the one to enspell Betty. Still, it was worth a risk because this mage would be of a higher level than Mrs. Wilkins. She discreetly scribbled a note (Betty is under a strong enchantment; can you remove it?) and passed it to the mage under guise of a handshake as they took their leave of the shogun.

The next day was spent in a blur of activity. Betty took Mrs. Wilkins shopping to pick up a suitable outfit for meeting the Emperor and helped to outfit Shimasa appropriately as well. They were left to their own devices for a while as even Betty was occupied with last-second preparations. The mage sent a note indicating that he had not been able to confirm Mrs. Wilkins' suspicions yet but would seek an opportunity soon -- not exactly the level of cooperation she had hoped for.

Shortly after midday the Emperor's entourage arrived. The Emperor immediately shut himself behind closed doors with Kamakura while his attendants took care of checking security arrangements for dinner and the Emperor's planned overnight stay.

Since she had met Kamakura, and there had a useful degree of familiarity with him, Mrs. Wilkins cast clairaudience to eavesdrop on the meeting. During the time her spell lasted the Emperor was expressing his displeasure with Kamakura over the dispute with Okazen. He instructed Kamakura to patch up his differences with the elder shogun as soon as possible, before any long-term harm could be done. Kamakura's responses sounded resigned to obedience.

The promised dinner came and Mrs. Wilkins was presented to the Emperor as a friend of Kamakura's family. The Immortal One, as he was called, looked very much like a human male of middle age or so, with red hair and fair skin. To Mrs. Wilkins's eye there was a very faint air of something different about him, though; according to official records this Emperor had been on the throne for 275 years, so clearly he was something beyond human.

The Emperor took his place at the head of the table. The mage who had been with Kamakura earlier sat at the Emperor's right -- apparently he was an aide to the Emperor, not to Kamakura. The shogun sat at the opposite end with his wife by his right side and Mrs. Wilkins in a place of honor on his left.

The first course was soup. Betty, as the wife of the host, requested the honor of serving the Emperor. This was the custom in the Jade Islands, so the Emperor granted her request immediately. Betty took the tureen and ladel from the servant and offered it to the mage, who cast detect poison and declared the soup acceptable to his master.

Betty served the Emperor from his right side. As she crossed behind him to the next seat she seemed to stumble and drop the ladle. She bent down as if to pick it up but instead drew a wicked-looking dagger from her robe and thrust it into the Emperor's back.

The Emperor jumped up with a cry of pain and turned to face Betty, showing the ornate dagger handle to the rest of the diners. He struck her with an open hand and sent Betty staggering backward. Shimasa, as a samurai, was sworn to protect the Emperor and sprang into action. He ran to the head of the table and put his body between Betty and the Emperor. Only then did he put a hand on the hilt of his katana so that his intentions would be clear. From her place at the table Mrs. Wilkins cast hold person on Betty, which prevented her from moving or speaking.

The Emperor removed the dagger from his own back and turned to face Kamakura. With a look of disgust and anger on his face the Emperor slammed the dagger into the tabletop, turned his back on the shogun and began to leave the room. Shimasa used the silk cord from his daisho to secure Betty and allowed the Emperor's guards to take her away. Meanwhile, Mrs. Wilkins ran after the Emperor and appealed to him to spare Betty's life because she was being compelled by an enchantment.

Her words caused the Emperor to halt and listen while Mrs. Wilkins related how she had warned his mage that Betty was being controlled. The mage bristled but had to admit that he had not taken the information seriously. The Emperor directed his other aide, a cleric, to interrogate the would-be assassin and determine whether Mrs. Wilkins spoke the truth and then left, with the mage trailing behind babbling apologies.

Mrs. Wilkins and Shimasa witnessed the interrogation. The cleric cast break enchantment, but suffered a milder form of the same reaction that Mrs. Wilkins had experienced. Yes, he confirmed, this woman was under a powerful domination effect, from a source too powerful for the cleric to overcome. Given the urgency of the matter, a higher-level priest was summoned and arrived by teleport within hours. The archcleric cast break enchantment and was able to lift the domination effect from Betty's mind. That left Betty free to explain herself as best she could.

According to Betty, she had first fallen under magical compulsion in Marhaven while still running the brothel. A young rogue named Maenon had come to see her and, she now realized, had cast charm monster on her. He renewed the charm several times and used it to persuade Betty to sell the brothel to his friend, "Randall Stevens," who was likely Maenon in disguise.

Once the transaction was complete Maenon had told Betty she was going to experience a great honor. He gave her a water breathing potion and took her on a trip to the waters below Marhaven. At some point they teleported into a place that was completely dark. Betty was effectively blind and allowed Maenon to lead her through what seemed like a maze. Then she heard a voice coming from inside her own head.

The voice was inhumanly cold and detached. It told her that she had skills it considered useful, so instead of simply killing her it would give her a new assignment. She would retire to the Jade Islands, it said, and fullfill her lifelong dream of starting an exclusive school for girls. Betty had never remotely entertained any such idea, but as soon as the voice expressed it founding a school in the Jade Islands became Betty's obsession. She'd taken the money from the sale of the brothel and used it to buy the old monastery, remodel it, and hire staff to start the school. When funds ran low she developed the idea of doing a little discreet pleasure-trading to supplement the tuition income, using only girls who expressed an interest in that kind of activity.

When Kamakura registered his niece at the Academy, the voice spoke to Betty again. Kamakura was a wonderful man, it told her; a man she must have. She must get Kamakura to love her, and her new life's dream was to become his wife. Again, the voice's words became Betty's thoughts and she turned all of her considerable skills toward capturing Kamakura's heart. Noriko took an increasingly important role in running the school as Betty focused on Kamakura. Within a year Kamakura proposed and Betty happily accepted.

Betty remained bound to the wishes of the voice throughout her courtship and marriage to Kamakura. She sensed the presence of an intelligence probing her mind every day, but did not hear the voice again until the night of the Emperor's dinner. First it told her to hide a dagger of venom in her robe; then, as she was serving the soup, the voice commanded her to kill the Emperor. Betty knew it was wrong but was unable to stop herself from obeying the command.

The two priests consulted with the Emperor in private and returned with his verdict: Betty, the Immortal One ruled, was a tool rather than a willing assassin. She would not be executed, but instead must leave the Jade Islands and never return.

Hideo Kamakura and the Emperor's mage were less fortunate. Both had failed in their sworn duty to protect and defend the Emperor and had lost their honor. As the sun rose in the east, Hideo Kamakura and the mage prayed to their ancestors for forgiveness and committed seppuku.

Mrs. Wilkins put Betty on the Hakudo Maru and sent her to Marhaven. Mrs. Wilkins would follow, but not just yet. There were questions that needed answering first.

<MR>
2/20/2007