Nations on the Brink (storyline)/Rumors in the Air (vignette)
Rumors in the Air
Gossip travels fast, even in large cities, and by Tilamaires evening, the 16th of Ivastaen, Ta'Illistim was awash with tales of who had last seen the missing shopkeepers, and by late Leyan, rumors were flying about other missing people.
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One noble lady, who will remain nameless, flew into a panic on Leyan when her husband failed to appear for dinner. She summoned the authorities and demanded they find him. She even suggested that they look first in Orelwen Greyvael's basement. It was, she believed, entirely plausible since "any so-called handmaiden who would lower herself to gorging at the Pig and Whistle is automatically suspicious."
When it became clear a few hours later that her husband was merely avoiding her notoriously shrill presence by wandering through the Arboretum, the lady immediately began denying any aspersions cast at House Greyvael then took to her bed for the next several days in embarrassment. Her husband cheerfully enjoyed some much deserved freedom during that time.
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Mid-day Tilamaires, a more serious rumor began circulating about a missing librarian. Given the Library's proximity to the mysteriously closed teahouse, this was thought to be no mere coincidence.
The Library issued this statement late Leyan: "It is true that one of our librarians has not been seen for several days. However, she is in the midst of a research project, and it is our great hope that she is merely pursuing avenues of knowledge."
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Late Leyan, one of the Handmaidens remarked that Squire Gasen Nellerune had not been seen recently either. As one of several women on the receiving end of his past, unwelcome antics, she did not seem terribly concerned by the thought.
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And so it went. By the Day of the Huntress, there were dozens upon dozens of such tidbits; mostly innocuous and easily refuted, but a few more troubling and with less resolution. Ta'Illistim was a city on edge for a variety of reasons, and the atmosphere vacillated between attempted indifference and elvishly expressed concern.