One year is divided up into nine moons, each lasting sixty days. One moon is divided into six ten-day periods called tens. The nine moons starting from the beginning of the year are of Gales, of Shrouded Life, of Fading Frost, of Blossoms, of Verdant Fields, of Brilliant Skies, of Waning Fire, of Harvest's End, of Barren Fields.

An excerpt from the diary of Pia...

          VAERA

One ten since the Mark of the Other One blossomed.

"Hey, you. I am talking to you!" Mei, a barmaid of the Amber Falls, was snapping fingers in front of Vaera's eyes.

"Calm down girl or you'll poke someone's eye... OW!" She had sunk her nails into Vaera's forehead.

"It'll be the eye next time. And stop ogling Clarissa. She is out of your league, you granny." She was still snapping her fingers in front of Vaera. "Look here. Up here. Where my face is."

"Then stop it with the damned fingers. Calling me a granny." Vaera grumbled and rubbed her forehead.

"Well, you're not young, are you?"

"Thirty-something is not old either."

"You said you'd take care of Ramsey."

"I said I would think about it." Vaera turned her attention back to her drink.

"You're a regular here and despite you being you, trustworthy, to a certain point." Mei grumbled and crossed her arms. "You know his lot have been giving trouble for the girls. Why can't you help for once?"

"And why would I bother explaining the rules to him? Ramsey is new in Whitefall, but he has a lot of coin and the wits to stay from angering anyone important."

"So we're not important, are we?" Mei crossed her arms.

"You can't make a living off good wishes. It'll cost you like everyone else. Valuables or valuable rumours."

"Alright. Up in the Arcane Crux..."

Vaera cursed Mei in her head. Dreading what was coming, she interrupted the barmaid. "If one of the following words will be voidstone, pureblood or Ebonveil, you can forget about it. I don't need petty gossip. I need something I can make coin off of."

"It's not petty gossip. I have a friend working there as a servant." Mei sounded upset.

"It's all over the city. Oh, the world is ending. Oh pureblood this and that." Vaera whined in a mocking voice.

"Fuck you! Why can't you help people out for once? We're running a bar. We're not in the flesh market. Ramsey's lot has been getting too persistent. They have followed us home."

"Ramsey is..." Vaera hesitated for a moment. "He has good connections with the Pelesi. He is helping others make a lot of coin."

"He is from out of town and needs to know how things work. His success is making him too headstrong. I doubt anyone would miss him. They don't need him. They need his contacts. Don't they?" Mei would not back down.

"He is a middleman, his contacts only trust him. Not to mention, they are all Pelesian. They trust no-one from the continent. And we do not kill people. We're doing odd-jobs, not running an assassin's outfit. That's for posers."

"So we're stuck in this situation?"

"Look. Maybe if you'll tell me who the biggest troublemakers are? I might be able to talk to someone. But it's still a job, Mei."

"So peace in your headquarters doesn't matter? We may not be working for you, but a lot is still happening here."

"And is happening in every other bar or whatever location is convenient for the occasion. You're getting a cut. It's not like you can complain."

"Wrong! The owner gets a cut and maybe the girls serving get a coin or two."

"A job is a job. You know the rules." Vaera reminded the barmaid.

"And Ramsey does not know the rules. This is what I am getting at." The barmaid poked her in the forehead again.

"Damn it, Mei!"

"Shut up. You should look out for your own people. Shut up and listen, because this is all I have. I haven't told anyone else about it. The oracle is talking by itself."

"What?" Vaera's hand slowly fell from her forehead back onto the table.

Mei sat herself next to Vaera and looked around the crowded bar for a moment. Everyone was busy making a lot of noise. "Up in the Crux. I have a friend working there as a servant."

"Wait, a moment. What do you mean by oracle? It's a... a myth. Gossip. Folk-tale."

"There's something up there. A girl, maybe ten or even younger. In the Ebon Spire." Mei had lowered her voice and her expression looked grim.

"What?" Mei hit Vaera across the head. "By the Makers! What is wrong with you? I mean, everyone knows someone in the Crux has an appetite for young girls. There are freaks everywhere and as long as it makes coin, most people don't care."

"Is silver all that ever gets through to you? It's not some old fart who likes to touch children." Mei abandoned her earlier tone and continued as was usual for her. Loud and irritated. "A girl, a boy, doesn't matter. They are brought in on rare occasions. Listen up and stay quiet for a little while. Now you and I both know simple folk don't give a rat's ass about all this pureblood, voidstone, omen, prophecy, whatever they think this is."

"No such thing as a prophecy." Vaera mumbled into her mug.

"The point is, the Arcane Crux is scared witless. And not just here. Ordruch, Pelesi, Ironcourt, Ildar. Anywhere, where there's a voidstone, people high in nobility and matters of the state and all that are panicking. They even mentioned Luxor."

"What are you talking about? Luxor? Cities east of the Greater Spine are... Nothing's alive there." Vaera had a hard time keeping up with this nonsense.

"My friend overheard the Magnus and the Lord of Whitefall talking to someone on the bloodstone. She didn't hear all of it, but they mentioned an oracle several times. To them it was unbelievable that the dolls were speaking of their own and amongst themselves. That's what my friend told me. This is as much as I got out of her."

"This is even worse than gossip. Leave it to the old hags with their palm readings and junk to make up stuff like that. Everyone knows the oracle thing is just another legend of The Argent Blood, where humans fight on an equal footing with dragons and demons. What do you expect me to do with this? Legends from a children's book!" Vaera drawled.

"If children's stories scare the ones that run this freehold, don't you think there might be something? The point is this. The nobles and their lot are in a panic. And right now I'm willing to bet only me, my friend, you and a handful of people outside the palaces on this entire continent know this. It might not be the most valuable rumour out there, but it's still something. You told me once I'd be surprised what people will pay to hear. I'm sure there is someone, somewhere that would be very interested in knowing."

"About legends and... Oh, by the Makers." Some nobles had left the city without warning, Vaera recalled. A few cases where some were desperate to sell off extra property. And besides haggling off valuables and abandoning real estate, several prominent nobles had sent their children out of the city.

However, what about the rest? No. Vaera buried her face in her hands. This was nonsense. Ever since the Mark blossomed she had heard nothing but nonsense.

"Take a look at the front of the palace. The Hands are up to something! And you see acolytes all over the city." Mei exclaimed.

"That has been obvious since the Mark of the Other One blossomed. Hardly anything suspicious, what with the voidstone waking up and all." Vaera mumbled into her palms.

"Then why haven't they told us anything?"

"Stop that." Vaera was growing angrier, just as Mei was. "You know as well as I that the Crux does not care much for the city. Mei!" Vaera interrupted the girl before she could say another word. "The nobles are pissing their pants because of fairy tales. All right! What am I supposed to do with that? It sounds like politics. I can't sell politics because I don't have those kinds of contacts. Finding the person who would get something out of your story is difficult."

"Why can't you help for once? There's the oracle! The Magnus himself was talking about the oracle."

"Can't sell that. It has no value."

"But my story is true!" The barmaid pleaded.

"How many times have I heard the sentence in the past ten days? At the end of the day, it has no price on it thanks to the voidstone. The market is saturated with idiots trying to make a coin."

"What do I need to do to get you to work?" Mei looked as if she wanted to grab Vaera and shake her. "You know well we don't have the coin to deal with Mr. important-has-contacts-with-the-Pelesi!"

"Then pray to the Six he pisses off someone important. The way he has been going about his business guarantees it will happen, eventually." Vaera made a grimace.

"I hear your earnings took a hit with Ramsey. Why do you tolerate this bastard?" Mei demanded.

"Because I can earn it all back and much more in the long run thanks to said bastard." Vaera yawned and looked at her drink. She was disappointed to see she had nearly finished it. Only a thin layer remained on the bottom of her mug.

After a moment, Vaera's gaze returned to the girl. For once, Mei had nothing to say. "Are we done, then?"

"No." The girl hissed. "No, we are not. You will pass the word around that Ramsey needs to be taught a lesson. His sudden success has made him too headstrong. You will do it because he is already stepping on people's toes. Your toes too. You are important. If those ridiculous whispers are true, then you will be the next Grandkeeper. I gave you what I had, Vaera. It has enough value for you to do that much and you know it!" Mei stood up and stared at Vaera. Her eyes were full of anger. "Can't you do that much for your own people? I gave you what I had. You do not haggle with your own to squeeze them for maximum profit! Folk who need a real favour." Mei sounded appalled.

"Fine. I will. Do something. Tell me about the ones that cause the most trouble." She hated that quiet, desperate tone other women used to get what they wanted.

This was a waste of time. Getting rid of one or two sleaze-bags would not deter the following twenty of them. The only way to be rid of Ramsey was to kill the man. And he had become too valuable for the organisation as of late.