With everything situated it seemed safe enough to take my leave, my eyeing the staff trio at the west wing as I walked down the hallway. Given my size advantage it wasn't likely they'd try to give me any trouble, but I still carried a pair of simple weapons on my person. You know, just in case and all that.

The kids were all in bed by now, their door shut tight and everyone under the watchful eyes of Kuri and Tamani. As I continued my way and descended the stairs I wondered just how deep this rabbit hole went and whether or not Morissey knew about it. Given how Sam had answered my question it could go either way. He wasn't good at lying but I couldn't quite determine what the truth could be.

At least over the past few years Morissey seemed friendly enough. I don't think Sam would have gone on all those walks if he didn't feel safe enough to do so. While I might not trust Morissey as far as I could throw him he didn't seem like a bad guy, just really unaware.

Though, if that's the case, that hinted at a bigger problem. He was their leader, their boss-- shouldn't he be privy to these things? If not, then why? Better yet, given that he'd demonstrably intervened how he could in previous mishaps he did prove that he would do so given the opportunity. With all of this in mind I could only come to one conclusion:

Morissey had no idea.

That was easy enough, but I needed to know why.

Why didn't he know?
Why was Samuel a target?
What is their motive?

I got the feeling that, whatever this was, it was more than just us. Saffron's compound, how she knew to come here because of what the wardens said. While sure, staff can be cycled around, I couldn't help but doubt Morissey knew of any compound south of here, or if he did it was probably out of commission. One of the two. After all, the treatment was so starkly different and they'd gone directly against orders to bring her and her family to that other nearby town.

Hm.

I stopped by Sam's desk, scooping up his work and stowing it in his safe. The last thing he needed was to potentially lose even more work over some staffmember's childish fit. Once it was good and locked up I made my way to the front door, and fortunately for the staff I'd ousted they were nowhere to be seen. I turned around to close and lock the front door, carefully stepping down off the porch and looking around the front of the property.

As far as I could see, they were truly gone, or very good at hiding. As long as they stayed out of the house I'd take what I could get. I put my hands in my pockets and took a deep breath of wet summer air before taking my first steps into town. My eyes darted all around and I kept my ears open for anything that looked or sounded amiss, my hands around my small weapons in preparation.

Fortunately it was a pleasant, uneventful walk into town. By now most of the townspeople had retreated to their homes for the night, only the sound of my feet and the wind through the hills and trees to keep me company. Given some of the alternatives, I'd take it.

I soon reached the south end in search of a specific little shop. Some patrolmen eyed me as I continued on my stride, but they stayed put and did nothing more than stare.

I found myself near the docks, heading around to the back of that particular shop. A couple sharp knocks on the back door were met with the telltale clop of hooves against a hard floor. The door opened, Ulimi answering my call with a pipe in his hand.

"Hey, Daniel," he said after a puff. "Need something?"

"You could say that," I answered. "Can I come in?"

"Sure, sure," he stepped aside, allowing my passage. "Not used to you coming out here so late. Did you forget something from earlier today, or...?"

"Actually, I don't need groceries," I awkwardly laughed. "Rather, I need some answers. Maybe a bit more than that."

"O...kay?" he tilted his head.

"Nothin' weird, but pretty important," I said, closing the door behind me. "It's about the Greater Society people."

"Ah, them," he took another drag. "Come back here into my shitty little apartment. It's more private."

Seems he, too, had a weird feeling about this. I was led behind the front counter and through a door into a small living space. There wasn't much besides a kitchenette, some cabinets, and a bed, though beyond all of that was a bunch of ovens and furnaces. That was probably where all the breads and confections were made, and given I always saw him by himself they were likely all made by he, himself.

"Ain't got much to sit on," he laughed. "You can take the bed if you want."

Worked for me. I took a seat on the bed, my hands clasped together and elbows resting on my knees.

"And you're sure they can't hear us in here?" I asked.

"Pretty sure," he said. "If there's one thing I'll give this little shack, it's that it's made well. Of course, if you're more paranoid about it I could take you down to the cooler, though I really don't think it's necessary. Plus it's cold."

"Nah, just wanted to be sure," I laughed. "Have you and yours heard anything about or from these guys? You're way on the other side of town so y'all prob'ly see more than we do."

"I mean, not really?" Ulimi answered. "They don't seem too interested in us, only the other faradens. I did ask some patrons a few times about them to get a better feel for what they are. I guess they're some kind of, like, charity thing?"

How ironic.

"Charity?" I asked.

"They have shelters and help people find jobs, or so they've said," he replied, tapping his finger against his chin. "Disaster relief, fundraising, all kinds of shit. From the outside it certainly seems like a good cause, but when I dug a little deeper is when the problems started popping up."

"Such as?"

"They only do this for pure types and outright exclude new types from their help or services," he said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "Down this far south I guess I get it, but only in the fact that it's sort of the trend. Still, though, I know I ain't the only one who noticed the increase in vitriol and bullshit after they moved in."

"Do you know at all if it came from their employees or did it come from the residents?" I asked, idly scanning the floor. "Tryin'a get a feel for what came first, the chicken or the egg."

"It's...hard to tell?" he puffed another cloud. "Once the uniforms are off, people are just people. There's not really an easy way to distinguish them."

"Hm, that's fair."

"Though, if I had to guess, it probably came with the staff," he shrugged. "Without some kind of stimulus it would've just been more of the same, right?"

"It could, but when ya give something the inch it wants it can take a mile," I returned. "Sometimes all that's needed is to give them the right platform. Can't easily grow a weed without dirt."

"Heh, weed."

I smiled and rolled my eyes.

"This might be a stretch, but have you seen Morissey about?" I asked, scratching my head. "You're the only grocer in town so he's surely come here at least a few times."

"Oh, sure, he comes in once a week or so," he nodded, crossing his arms.

"Do you know by chance where he lives? The organization is widespread but he seems to have taken up residence here in Huot."

"Mm, no, though the carpenters might," he said, looking past a curtain and out the window. "I'm pretty sure they're still up if you want to get them involved in all of this. I think they'd like to be on the same page with how big this seems to be."

"Yeah, I was planning on heading over there after talking with you about this," I said, glancing out the window.

"I'll do ya one better," he laughed, hopping off the chair. "Let's head over there now and have a little meeting. Something's gotta give."

I followed his lead, rising from the bed and leaving out the back door. We stayed in the alleys where we were most likely to avoid the patrol, coming up to the back of the carpenters' shop. He gave the door a few knocks and soon the door opened. Yua answered, giving the two of us a puzzled look.

"Hey, y'all got a moment?" I asked. "It's pretty important."

"Uh, sure," she said, inviting us both in.

"All the others here, too?" Ulimi asked.

"Most of them are still here, though we wouldn't mind relaying messages with those who aren't," she replied, leading us to the living quarters. "What's all of this about?"

"The Greater Society people," Ulimi answered, Yua's face immediately wrinkling in disgust.

She brought us to a livingroom of sorts, inviting us to take a seat on some of the open furniture. After we were situated she headed back down a hallway, coming back with all of the current live-in employees. There were quite a few of them and they all joined us out in the livingroom, taking seats where they could. Once everyone was ready Yua looked to Ulimi and I.

"Okay, so, we've got an interesting situation involving the Greater Society guys and we figured you all might like to be on the same page," Ulimi said, not missing a beat with his pipe. "Since you guys do deliveries pretty often I thought ya might know a bit more about them and could maybe fill us in."

"Well, around the time I remember them moving into Huot we got a sudden surge of deliveries and store patrons," Shindi crossed his arms and lowered his head in thought. "I remember a lot of people seemed to suddenly up and move? There were a lot of vacancies, but I don't know what for. Either way, a lot of those vacancies were gobbled up pretty quick, like I remember Kuri saying someone took his apartment in maybe a day."

Interesting. First I'd heard of that.

"Were the faces new?" I asked.

"Not all of them, but most certainly were," another one said. "Most places we delivered to were entirely unfurnished, so they must have only recently gotten there."

"Moreover, there was plenty of office stuff delivered," Shindi added. "Desks, chairs, and so on. I remember a lot of that."

"I think I overheard someone talking about the group buying entire buildings and moving tenants elsewhere," Yua said. "Someone came in mentioning they were paid to move to a different building, which I thought was strange but I didn't ask about it. If I had to guess, they probably just thought it was easier to claim the whole building that way?"

"Maybe they're running them as shelters?" Ulimi postulated. "Did some digging and that's a thing they seem to do. I guess if they're paying people to move it's not the worst thing ever."

"Shelters?"

"Yeah, that's one of the things the group does," he said. "Their whole thing is charity, trying to help people. They do things like run shelters and halfway homes, help people find work, and similar things involving disaster relief. Actually, I wonder if what happened with Stipa is what brought them here since it's not too far away."

I remembered hearing about that, though Sam would probably know more than I would.

"Would any of you by chance know about Morissey?" I asked. "He's the leader of the organization."

"Morissey Sylvus?" Yua clarified. "Yes, I think he ordered a couple things from our shop a while ago."

Good. That would mean they'd probably have his address, especially if the orders were recent enough.

"I think I've seen him a few times," Shindi said. "Something that strikes me as kinda weird is, at least over the past few years or so, he's always been a fair amount nicer than those I see in his organization's uniform."

"Oh?"

"He used to have a real stick up his ass, but for some reason he mellowed out some time ago," another worker said with a smile and a shrug. "Not sure what happened, though I'm not going to complain. Maybe it's just familiarity."

"Think I might know why," I quietly said. "That's part of why I'm here."

They all turned to me.

"...A few years ago Reverend had tried to befriend him, and I think that helped lower his guard," I said, shaking my head. "Mind you, the intentions were genuine. I also remember that, way back when, Morissey was not the kindest man around new types-- this seems to fall in-line with their credo. When Reverend and Morissey started becoming friends, Morissey's demeanor began to change and he was much kinder around our children."

The room fell silent.

"At the home we're...having problems with the organization staff," I continued. "Reverend has been the target of...a variety of assaults. It's to the point I don't want him left alone for his safety."

"Oh no!" Yua exclaimed, the others' faces echoing the same sentiment.

"He's under a lot of NDAs so he can't tell me what's going on out of fear he'll lose his job," I sighed. "With the organization running so much and nobody else willing to hire him, he feels backed into a corner. He's pulling excruciating work hours to the point it's costing him his physical health. I can't just...I can't just stand by and let this keep happening, but he's proud of his work and I don't want to take that away from him, either. He's going through hell."

They all looked to each other.

"Since he can't tell me anything I'm tryin'a make sense on my own," I said, rubbing my eyes. "Moreover, I'm tryin'a figure out how to traverse this whole mess so we can come out of it safe and sound. The most I can think of is to just...keep saving money for a rental wagon and new home for all of us. The problem with that is, well, if this organization is so widespread there's a high chance we'll happen upon them again unless we push far enough north."

"Does Morissey know what's going on in the home?" Shindi asked.

"I actually tried to ask Reverend that, but he said he couldn't answer," I replied. "I couldn't really tell either way. I was...actually hoping y'all might have his address so I can go talk to him myself."

"I think we should still have it on file," Yua said, standing up and heading to the front desk. "I'll poke around and see what I find."

"Is he okay?" Shindi asked. "We never really get to see him so you're kinda our middleman."

"Well, there was an assault just tonight between he and three staffmembers," I answered. "Given that this organization's M.O. is about helping pure types, specifically, I could maybe understand some apprehension around our kids, but not this kind of shit."

"He still got that knife I gave him?" Ulimi asked, head cocked.

"Yes," I nodded, "and he always has it on him. Better safe than sorry."

"I sorta wonder if maybe we should have some kind of plan in case shit hits the fan," Ulimi proposed. "Honestly it seems inevitable so we might as well be prepared."

"I agree, and I've been thinkin'..." I trailed off, looking for my words, "...surely there are at least some faradens in this town who aren't associated with this organization, maybe even some who want to right a wrong. I remember seein' and hearin' distrust and displeasure about their occupation from a number of people, but I'm not sure how to contact them without bein' conspicuous given what and who I am."

"We could probably handle that," Shindi said, Ulimi nodding in agreement. "I don't think they'll think it's too weird if it's coming from us and they'll probably be more honest."

"...I'd really like that, and I think Reverend would, too," I said, trying not to tear up. "Thank y'all so, so much."

"Nah, it ain't a problem," Ulimi said, dumping burnt matter out of his pipe and into a garbage can. "We've been seeing a lot of the same things, just didn't know it was getting this bad for you and yours. I really hope push don't come to shove, but it's best we anticipate shove regardless."

"Yeah, I agree--"

"Here you go, honey," Yua returned, carrying a small slip of paper with a name and address. "All the addresses we have for him are the same so he should be here."

"Ah, thank you guys so much," I said, taking the paper. "I'm gonna head out and look for this place. Y'all're really fine with probing the populace?"

"Absolutely," Ulimi said, the rest of the ramiotrans nodding in agreement.

My ears dropped back and I couldn't help but smile.

"You really have no idea how much this all means to us," I said, turning back to the door. "Next time I'm in town I'd like to know what you found."

"Of course," Ulimi said. "I'm gonna hang back here a while with these guys and try put a plan together."

"Alright, y'all take care and I'll see ya soon," I waved, their returning the gesture as I departed the building.

I looked around me to orient myself, watching out for the necessary streets. Huot was, fortunately enough, easy to navigate, but I wanted to keep to the darker and more out-of-the-way streets and alleys lest I draw the attention of the patrol.

Down this road, a turn here, down this other road a couple blocks, and another turn here. Stay in the alleys and out of sight. Finally I would find the building I was looking for-- an average-looking apartment complex. Somehow I expected something a little more flashy given the money he must have. Either way I opened the front door, went down the hall and there, at the very end, was my destination. With my feet firmly planted on the doormat I knocked on the solid wood door. Soon after I heard light footsteps, the disengaging of a lock, and finally the turn of the handle. From below a tawny snout poked through the doorway and two fiery orange eyes met mine.

"H...Hello?"

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