Even though the hexergist's robes commanded at least some respect, the aberrants were still forced to do some manoeuvring around nobles, merchants and their merchandise being moved to and from different pads. Owing to the well designed and marked passages and areas it didn't take long and they soon arrived at their own destination, a ‘silver’ gate to Usterl. Apart from the cart filled with several brown sacks which was guarded by two men in Commonwealth Postal Service uniforms, they were the only people in the waiting area. The signalman for the silver pad, dressed in the white and grey version of the uniform of the man who welcomed Beorg and Anh, raised his red flag upon their arrival, looked tensely at the clock located just beneath the keystone and then gestured at the Heatician to start the procedures of opening the sengular to Usterl. He then blew a small whistle, which he had strapped to his left hand.

-"Scheduled transport to Usterl is now being prepared!" - he shouted - "All a-pad! Please mind the portal ring!"

It took less than a tenth of a candle for the reality to collapse, a tribute to how effective the heating system of the Hub really was.

When the green signal appeared on the other side, repeated by the same here,  the postmen sprung to action and quickly entered, dragging their cart alongside them. The signalman then gestured with his flag at Anh and Beorg, and so they followed.

In comparison to the Sheridawn’s Great Hub, the network hub in the capital city of the Empire of Sorres seemed drab and mundane. While still a significant building, by size at least, its interior was far less ornate and its utilitarian character was quite self evident. Built on a rectangular plan, it had three portal pads arranged in a line. The middle one was also out of service, which was made apparent by the sight of several workers adjusting the ring in its mount. The walls were built out of glazed brown bricks and the ceiling of thick wooden planks. Windows were few and far between, and in addition quite dirty.

Thus the sight which greeted the aberrants exiting the singularity was rather gloomy. Quite literally, since even though it was still pretty bright in Sheridawn, here the Bivos already began to set, and so the waiting hall was only dimly lit with sparse crystals and the sad remnants of natural light.

The Usterlan signalman, a middle aged man with a sizable beard, sizable moustache and equally sizable tummy, looked the newcomers up and down then requested the travel papers from Beorg, perhaps assuming that he's the hexergist's manservant. Only after he validated the documents he bowed, stroked his moustache and shouted on the top of his lungs, practically straight in the nord's face.

-“On behalf of the graciously ruling Venturous Emperor of Sorres, I bid thee welcome to Usterl! Your scheduled transfer will be opened in a halfer on portal number one!” - then he made another shallow bow, and added in a bored tone - “We also invite you to take advantage of refreshments in the waiting area. Just there.” - the man pointed at a set of wooden benches fenced off the main hall by a chest-high wooden wall. A couple of wheeled stalls, now empty due to the late candle, were strategically positioned at the entrances therein.

Beorg nodded.

-“Thank you. We will move straight towards our pad.”

Signalman coughed.

-“That, sir, would be against regulations. During the portal cooldown, nobody except the crew is allowed on the pad floor.”

Before Beorg could respond Anh took over the initiative.

-“Regulations, Beorg. Need to follow them.” - he said and then unceremoniously floated over the labyrinthine ramps leading off the pad and then directed himself toward the waiting area.

*damn straight* - mentally nodded Tow - *we don’t want a repeat of that incident*

*precisely* - confirmed Thernohh

This should have been the point at which Beorg shrugs and maybe says something. He did no such thing, but simply followed the tanai, blissfully unaware, or maybe just willingly ignorant, of being a subject of talk by Anh’s subservient personalities.

They reached the waiting area but neither chose to sit down, even though there was enough seating. There were only three other hoomin there.

Beorg folded his arms and leaned against the fencepost, whilst Anh simply hid his hands in the robe's wide sleeves and remained where he was, facing the nord.

-“Continuing our discussion." - the tanai picked up the conversation in a leisurely tone, as if they didn't just travel halfway across the continent in less time than it takes to milk a cow - "How did you end up against her?”

-“A dig site." - replied Beorg in his usual monotone - "Ruins of a Precursor outpost of some sort. There were three of us, Niven, Maanica and I." - his eyes flashed at the mention of archeology - "The site was very promising. In just under a week, we have secured more artefacts than lesser digs yield after months of work. Nothing fancy, mind, but some pieces might still be functional…"

*great, here we go again* - thought Tow sarcastically in Anh's head. Beorg, as if he heard this comment, mitigated himself and quickly returned to the subject at hand.

-"...but I digress. Prior to setting up the camp I obviously secured proper allowances and concessions...”

*he means he paid, cheated, forged documents or leveraged the right people* - Anh joined the internal conclave - *to keep the pretense of legality*

-“...however, this is the Empire in its full glory. Invariably and inevitably one of the ‘branches’ of the local government, the so-called ‘Novikov Agency’, took interest in us and attempted extortion...”

*always amazes me that hoomin are always making life of other hoomin miserable* - commented Greoo - *it's hard to understand their propensity to do that*

*i am all too well aware, my dears* - confirmed Anh - *but let beorg talk*

-“...money prepared. This was to be expected, but their leader demanded an unreasonable sum.”

-“How much was that? I assume you had ‘leave me alone’ money prepared?”

Beorg glanced at his companion. Anh only now realised that the nord had already answered this question just a few drips prior. They both retained stone faced expressions. 

-“They wanted four thousand. I assumed silver, not copper.”

-“Four Ki duds? That is indeed unreasonable.” - confirmed Anh, carefully pretending this part was equally interesting as the previous revelations - "Why did they not talk in duds?"

-“The Novikovs, as I later found out, are a relatively insignificant group. They seem to mostly leech off peasants and miners of the region with a side of contraband smuggle every so often.”

*so dud is the silver coin used in the empire as everyday money, do I recall correctly?* - Greoo was wondering aloud.

*If you are a pampered merchant in Usterl, or are Beorg who just throws money at issues until they go away, maybe* - shrugged Thernohh - *peasants see much more copper pfanns or whatever scrap they are made of ‘farts’ and tokens*

*thusly, what follows*- giggled Greoo -*if he assumed they wanted silver, then the old curmudgeon suffered a critical failure of understanding how the world works*

*yes, indeed.*- continued the youngest -*I wouldn’t hold it against him though, we all know there are entire vaults full of his valuables he has forgotten about * tends to skew one’s thinking*

*he has forgotten about many things.* - added Birdekk thoughtfully after a short pause.

*then again*- Thernohh continued to wonder -*it is also a failure of the gangers that they didn’t state what kind of money they want force out of him*

*maybe we should tell them, to do so next time, I’m sure they are going to appreciate it * now hush we want to try and listen*

-"...let him go to deliver the terms." - continued the nord - "This ended the first encounter.”

-“Let me guess. They returned with their ultimate problem-solver, which was this ‘Olga’ woman, and she was supposed to teach you a lesson or two.”

-“Yes.”

-“Figures. So what is our plan? I say ‘our plan' to later leech off the splendour and glory that your overcomplicated scheming is going to bring.” - said Anh, batting his eyelashes.

-“Upon our arrival in Tevros I expect to receive a report on the whereabouts of the Novikovs hideout. Presupposition is that our target escaped there...”

-“...licking her wounds." - interrupted the tanai, stroking his goatee - "Logical. Then what?”

If Beorg grew irritated by the constant interruptions he never let it show. He just simply replied in his flat voice.

-“We are going to confront them and extract the target. If either the Novikovs or Olga won’t cooperate, we will use force.”

-“We?” - asked Anh in unison with his kin, although only his voice was heard - “We prefer to have no input in this matter and rather talk about it over a beverage.”

Beorg's lower lip moved forward a fraction of a cimer.

-”Yours preferred means of conflict resolution are not going to be of much use here.”

-”And why is that?” - the tanai tilted his head a bit, slowly - ”This is according to your own assessment, or judgement rather, which we don’t really feel a need to heed or listen to.”

-”Because the people we face are already hostile towards us.” - flatly replied the nord - “I deem the situation unsalvageable. At this moment I want to obtain the target without causing another civil war in the region.”

Tanai scoffed, then wiggled his eyebrows.

-”Still salty over that? It happened almost half a century ago. Maybe it's time to let go?”

Beorg didn’t answer immediately, just allowed the question linger for a little bit.

-”Yes.” - he said finally, just when his companion wanted to berate him for avoiding the question - “...and no.”

Anh sighed in resignation.

-”Right, whatever. But we still think that we, and by that I mean you, ought to at least attempt diplomacy. Some? Maybe? A little?”

Beorg glanced at his companion.

-”The things have been set in motion already, there is no turning back.”

-”See?  This is what infuriates us about you.” - Anh raised his voice a bit - “Once you are set in your ways, you never even consider trying anything else.”

-”Are yous referring to me specifically or are yous making yours own tanaicentrism speak?” - a shadow of a smile played on the hoomin's lips - "How extremely prejudicial of yous."

-”Both. Actually.” - replied Anh after a few moments. It was then l Beorg's turn to delay a response.

-”There are no other tanai involved, hoomin only.” - he finally spoke, sounding very disinterested - ”With all our violent tempers and preference for quick and final solutions. I deem it improbable that there is a way to resolve this with even the most verbose and stimulating of discussions over the most exquisite beverage.”

Anh wiggled his earlobes nervously, not at all liking what he heard. In the shared mindspace Tow  groaned impatiently, noting a wasted opportunity for sarcasm, because Beorg's version was completely unsatisfactory.

-”This being said, yours presence is required" - quietly continued the nord - "...because I want to make sure that since we already want to catch this woman, we do so in the manner that is least damaging, for her and us. Yous are the keystone, so to speak.” 

The tanai comically raised his eyebrows, surprised for the second time this evening at how direct Beorg was.

-”You are just saying this to make us feel crucial and appreciated, don’t you?”

-”No. I’m saying this to also make yous feel crucial and appreciated.” - the nord made a dismissive gesture - “Yours involvement, as my ‘domesticated hexergist’, as yous so eloquently put it, is to be a failsafe against whatever she can, and will, do.”

 What followed was silence, since Anh immersed himself in a lengthy conversation with his kinfolk. It lasted some considerable time, finally interrupted by the operator of the portal which was supposed to carry the aberrants to their final destination. The signalman opened a low gate, allowing the passengers to enter the pad. Then he took a simple megaphone and used it to shout loudly, even though there were just five people in total waiting in the portal hall.

-“Heed’ye heed’ye! By the will of the Utmostly Venturous Emperor of Sorres a transmitting portal to Tevros shall be opened within a quanter on pad one, herein! Prepare thine travel documents and approach!”

Beorg stood up, nodded at Anh and they both went towards the portal ring, the tanai in addition tended to his luggage, making sure the box was following him, and that it was still emitting low key squeaking noise, although the latter resulted from the chest's own initiative and may or may not have been a side effect.

They were to be the last passengers to travel from the Usterl hub that day, accompanied by a lone traveller dressed in the Imperial Navy uniform and two men tending to a large stash of wooden crates marked with insignia of some winery and intended for the representational use of the Tevros City Hall, if one was to believe the documents attached to each of the crates.

When they arrived at the pad, the heatician only just started to light the sengular. The portal had a form of a simple iron ring, just two or so mers across, and was set manually on an equally simple iron bearing, with indentations on its edge denoting different destinations. Even so early in the heat-up process it emanated a terrifying amount of warmth.

-“They should really upgrade their heat ducts.”- muttered Anh with a tone of disgust -”They are literally wasting coal.”

The space framed by the ring stretched and collapsed suddenly with an all familiar booming sound. A man appeared, dressed in an identical uniform to those worn by the staff in Usterl. He too was holding a red flag. It was quite hard to be sure that the portal really worked as intended and that what they saw wasn't just a reflected image. But no, as soon as the hum stopped intensifying, the man in the mirror lowered the red flag, and then started to wave the green one, whilst the signalman in Usterl repeated the same a few moments later. Anh and Beorg waited for the navy man to enter and then passed the threshold themselves.