It took a little longer than anticipated to shake loose the last of the scavenger hunters, but Ari had finally managed to slip away to her flat, where she had put away her guitar and removed her bright clothing to replace it with something dark and simple, not too fine, from the stash she kept for other sorts of jobs. Ordinarily, she would not have taken a job the night before a performance, but Wilcar could be pretty convincing - and the probability of something impossible to handle was low. She was going along mostly in a support function, anyway, and Wil was protective; he wouldn't let a giant toad eat her, and really, that was all she cared about. She had seen fireworks a dozen times, but if he was right about what was down there... well, that would be something new. She thought about this as she washed all traces of cosmetics from her face, pulled her hair back into a severe braid, and transformed from a brightly plumaged young starlet into a nondescript girl in nondescript clothes.
When she made her way across town half an hour later, no one looked at her twice. Her mandolin case - better safe than sorry, and it was her best instrument - was strapped to her back under a rough woolen cloak. She approached the bridge at a leisurely stroll, noting that two figures - one tall, one markedly shorter - could be made out in the twilight. "Good evening, gentlemen," she murmured, because there was nothing more suspicious than three strangers standing around silently in dark clothing. "Wish I'd thought to bring an apple; it's been a long day."