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FIVE

Opera! There’s nothing like it Except wild boars rutting

The only good thing about Father’s inter in Vermillion’s eastern quarter where a preponderance of Florentine bankers and Milano ave the city a very different flavour For the first hour I gazed up at the ny nude across the dome, somehow painted so that the curved surface presented them without distortion As much as I admired the artist’s eye for detail, I found the scene frequently interrupted by flashes of i Norras hatforwards from the pit wall, the back of his head broken open That leap That spectacular, ih an aria as I replayed the Norse himself to freedom

In the intermission I searched for fa and had shuffledeveryone’s view In the diht and separated fro aers Now under the lanterns of the inter tray, I found that despite ht was surprisingly poorly attended It seemed that Father hiossip had it He was never a music lover but the Vatican’s coffers had financed this tripe of angels and devils wailing one against the other, fatout the chorus The least their most senior local representative could do was attend and suffer with the rest of us Da Darin

I jostled past aa masquerade rather than an opera Or at least I attempted to jostle past, failed, and bounced off hifrom those slits swept away in a cold wash of fear any inclination I had to complain I let the press of people separate us Had it even been a rey My shoulder ached as though infection ate at the boneUnborn Darin had said so about an unborn in the city

“Prince Jalan!” A familiarity, puffed up in ridiculous finery no doubt purchased for just this occasion They must have been desperate to fill the seats if toadies of Contaph’s water were invited to the premiere “Prince Jalan!” The flow of the crowd somehow pulled us farther apart and I affected not to see hiSnorri Worse still, heamok in Verold plate froht want to talk to ht want to talk to him! I turned sharply away and foundbandage around his head and flanked by two large and uglyopera cloaks

“Jalan!” Alain reached foronly a handful of arment off and let hierous path around dowagers sporting dia back the ith the gri to dull their senses

I have quick feet, but it’s probably ard for other people’s safety that allowed me to open a considerable lead so swiftly

There are communal privies at the rear of the opera house For thein channels that pour out into the alley behind The water runs froe tank on the roof A s it with buckets—an activity I had occasion to note when using one of the cast changing roonation with Duchess Sansera a season previously I was banging away dutifully as a chap does with a wo to cadge a loan, but every ti anywhere a s Quite put me off my stride And the old cow didn’t loan me so much as a silver penny

That afternoon with Duchess Money-Buckets wasn’t a coh After I’d let her usherof my buttocks, I chased down as many of those ratty little children as I could and kicked some arse It’s true that my foe outnumbered me, but I am the hero of Aral Pass, after all, and soer it’s best to flee, whatever your nuht