One thing Nuru knew was that being stealthy was not his forte.

In his white jacket and backpack and lightning-bolt painted sneakers, he found himself in the vicinity of where Stille had claimed to live. He had committed the comment to memory, drawing maps behind his eyelids of how to get there, what the place should look like, of all the twists and turns it took to get there. As the sun began to burn a path of falling to the horizon in the sky, he found himself on the streets, outside a home that looked like the one described and he stared at the skylight-adorned building for about ( ten minutes. )

A pair of sirens sat atop the weathered wooden dock, their songs loud and boisterous, sharing in mischievous merriment. The younger of the two glanced to her companion and smiled. She and Stille had spent the better part of the day together – first up in the Overmarket, browsing the stalls... Aoede never had enough to trade for what she really desired most; the prettiest, shiniest things were worth more. It was lucky that she had a friend with sticky digits. Really, she wasn't sure how Stille did it – Aoede could be quick and quiet but she seemed to lack the type of instinct which was required in taking something that belonged to another.

No, that was Stille's realm of expertise, and she would ( leave her to it. )