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"I really don't know," Helfer said. "Honest."

Alister pressed a paw to his head. "Who else would know, if not you?"

"What about his wife's family?"

"I wasn't aware he spent any time with them, since Lady Vinton is living down south."

"That's probably right," Helfer conceded.

"You're sure you don't have any idea? Anyone else who might have a thought?"

"I--I don't know." He did have an idea, though he wasn't about to share it with Alister. "Listen, can I go now?"

The coyote shook his head. "No, he's going to want to ask you the same questions, no doubt. Though I should warn you he's not going to have any patience with that answer."

"Who's 'he'?" Helfer was afraid he already knew, but he had to ask nonetheless.

"Dereath, of course." Alister's eyes showed the disdain his neutral tone did not. "Come on back to my office. He said he'd wait there for you."

"Well," Helfer said, holding up his paws, "love to, but you know, I have a really full day ahead of me, so if you're finished with me, I think I'll go get started on it."

Alister opened his muzzle and then snapped it shut. His eyes met Helfer's and then he grinned, a wide startling expression that Helfer couldn't recall ever seeing on the coyote before. "Well, Lord Ikling," he said, "perhaps you should go get started on your day. I daresay if Lord Fardew requires anything of you, he'll summon you himself."

"I daresay," Helfer said, returning the grin.

He watched Alister leave the room and heard the coyote's voice proclaiming loudly, "Mister Talison. Lord Ikling has informed me that he is on his way." A nice touch, Helfer thought as he sidled down the Wolf stairs. Matching the two titles up like that subtly informed the rat that he had no real authority to order Helfer around.

"Better than I'd do," he murmured to himself. "I'd just ignore him." It occurred to him that that was exactly what he was doing, and that thought cheered him considerably.

He considered stopping by his chambers again to tell Caresh where he was going, but the chance that Dereath would be there or would have sent someone there to look for him was enough to send him directly to the palace exit.

"Morning!" He waved to the same guard who had admitted him. The badger looked startled only for a moment and then grinned, waving back as Helfer jogged directly out into the street.

Amazing how the place had changed in just an hour or two. The street he'd sauntered down after his fun with Norville was now packed with servants running errands, tradespeople laden with goods heading for market, and any number of less identifiable people making their way through the stream of traffic. Helfer took off in the opposite direction from the Lonely Cock, keeping his purse in one paw for protection.

He rarely came down this way, but since he was leaving the palace to avoid Dereath anyway, he thought he might as well see if he could run into Volle. He was starting to get a little bit worried about what the fox might have gotten himself into. He shared Helfer's love for adventure but without the common sense to realize where it was appropriate, sometimes. Helfer recalled the scene in the garden when they'd first met the cougar soldier, and laughed to himself at how blasé the fox had been about it, afterwards. Of course, he'd tried to match the attitude, marveling all the while that Volle had been so unconcerned about something Helfer, for all his daring, had never tried.

For the most part, when the two of them went out, they went to the Jackal's Staff or the Lonely Cock. But Helfer knew Volle had a tavern he enjoyed frequenting, and the tavern offered rooms and a particular other attraction that was not really to Helfer's personal tastes. Besides which, they didn't serve Vellenland mead, so he never had another reason to visit.

It was down Feller Street, wasn't it? No, perhaps Riverside Alley. He had been sure he'd known where it was, but each side street he turned down led only to shops he'd visited once or twice in his life, and the Reckless Knave was nowhere in sight.

Another half hour of searching found him in a small open park that he was sure was nowhere near the tavern. At least it was a nice, sunny day, so when he sat on a bench to think, he stretched out, closed his eyes, and basked. The warmth of the sun felt good on his fur, especially with the slight breeze.

"Lord Ikling!"

Helfer's eyes flew open. Blocking the sun was the silhouette of what appeared to be a six-foot-tall weasel. The scent resolved quickly. "Vin?"

"You were dead asleep, you were." Vinstrier flowed off the railing that had given him the illusion of extra height, around to sit on the bench. "What'cha doin' out here?"

"I was looking for a friend," Helfer said. He stretched, ruffling his fur where he'd been sleeping on it. "And I was not sleeping. Just enjoying the sun."

"You call it what you want," Vin said. "I seen corpses enjoyin' the sun more than you was. What friend you lookin' for? Maybe I seen him."

"Maybe," Helfer said. "V--Lord Vinton. Red fox."

Vin made a show of considering. "Red fox, eh? Dressed all fancy?"

"Maybe." Helfer leaned forward. "Seen anyone like that?"

"Well," Vin said, "Maybe I have, maybe not. Hard for me to remember all the folks what I seen in a day, don'tcha reckon?"

Helfer sighed, and slipped a silver from his purse. "This help your memory any?"

Vin leaned toward Helfer. "Mmm, it might," he said, "but my mem'ry's a funny thing. Sometimes money helps, and sometimes it just don't."

There was a familiar gleam in his eye. Helfer felt an answering stir in his sheath. Couldn't help it. It was a weasel thing. "Oh," Helfer said. "So you're thinking you keep this particular memory under your tail?"

Vin grinned. "Or in me muzzle. Got to be in one of the two, don' it?"

"Dunno," Helfer said. "How many do you have?"

"Oh, I got memories all over," Vin said, leaning back and stretching his arms across the back of the bench. "I got mem'ries I keep in taverns what don't know I been there. I got mem'ries kept in the bosoms of lovely young ladies. I got mem'ries kept under tails all over this city."

Helfer laughed. "You've been busy since I last seen--saw you." Vin's language was contagious sometimes.

"Just up to the usual," Vin said. "You know what Weasel wants."

"No mystery unsolved--"

"--an' no doorway unexplored." Vin folded his arms. "So how come you don't let me in the palace no more?"

Helfer spread his paws. "King's out of fancy goblets. Soon as he gets more in, I'll let you know."

Vin snorted. "Only did that the once, I apologized for it too, but you always mention it."

"I had to replace it."

"Didn't have to."

"By buying it from--"

"Pff," Vin waved a paw. "Ancient history. What if I promise I won't steal?"

Helfer laughed. "Should I believe the sun if it says it won't come up tomorrow?"

"I mean it! I just want to sniff around."

"What happened to that kitchen girl you were seeing?"

Vin shrugged. "Met another mouse. Don't want to see me no more. Couldn't get me in anyway. I tried once, her papers didn't work. Can't find any other weasels what work there. But this friend o'yours, the fox, he's a lord, is he?"

"Of course," Helfer said. "You think I associate with anyone but nobility?"

"I think you 'sociate with anyone got a tail to lift."

"Not true," Helfer said.

"Fine, anyone with a tail to lift and a nice pair between the legs."

"Still not true, but closer." Helfer grinned. "So did you see the fox or didn't you?"

"Ah ah ah," Vin waggled a finger, grinning back. "My mem'ry still needs some proper joggin'."

Helfer considered the proposition. Vin wasn't a bad lover, and the memory of Norbert was already fading into the multi-species haze of "previous bedmates." "Well, do you know where the Reckless Knave tavern is? I might find him there first."

"What, and lose my chance of payment?" Vin grinned. "Come on, I don't usually have to talk to you bed. I had a slow night, all pent up now, I am. You'll have a good time."

"No doubt of that," Helfer said. "Just wondering whether I should indulge so early in the morning. It'd ruin the rest of the day. I'd have nothing to look forward to."

Vin shrugged, getting up from the bench. "Don't want to force you into nothing." He swung his little tail back and forth enticingly, walking with deliberate slowness and waiting for Helfer to follow.