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Somehow you find it in yourself to start breathing again. And as you breathe, you walk. And inexplicably, you manage to breathe and walk yourself out of this ... swoon, or whatever the Hell it was. Because right now, that's all you can do. Mesopleuron Rings are by no-one's account the best of the flying Implements ... but in the right hands, these Rings are easily amongst the best flying Implements for knife-fighting range <span class="mu-i">ambushes</span>. They are silent, save for a slight metallic hum - and do not leave trails of smoke or steam through the sky. For all you know, the Mitigator who bears the Ring that came off of that coach could be over your head right this very moment. And yet ... the Cleansers, who you now know to be Tenders are much, much to ... at ease for them to be looking after a Mitigator in flight, or even just in the carriage. Is it possible that they were just called out here, without their charge? Wishful thinking, perhaps, but at the moment, it is all that makes sense. You are however, just starting to draw close enough to hear anything that the Tenders might be saying. At this point, nearly all of them are on the other side of the coach, so you are not certain if you can hear everything and they are silent at the moment ... or if they are in fact speaking, and you simply cannot make it out.
Compounding the issue is that you yourself are making a good bit of noise, just rustling as you walk. Taking that on top of the raindrops on the picknick parasol, and the occasional noise up and down the street it is ... wait, hold it!
"O ... dear ... chas ... no ... spin ... our ... kens' over ...the crew ... from Tinlance."
"If he rolls ... on them, he is ... to roll over ... us."
"We should at ... glad that ... needed after all."
There are snorts of laughter, harsh and angry. As you close on the coach, you can see that they are unloading the compartment, and stacking wooden small wooden boxes on the street, in front of the Haberdashery.
"Our chickens get to sit .... while we do fraying ... ands."
"We ... be down at the ... helping."
"We certain ... should ... be standing ... round with ... mbs up ... asses, in ... rain ... wh ... Brother ... teaches needlework and ... to play ..."
"I ... bet ... having the time of his life ... there."
"Oh, no doubt."
"I can't get ... calling us ... here as if it was the Estrangement ... over again, just so ... have our chickens given away, and ... us ... to do a lot of ..."
There are some more laughs at that, not as many as before, but just as caustic. To be expected though, it would take a very hard heart to laugh at the Estrangement, that fateful day when the Strangeness first made itself felt in this world. At this point, you have drawn abreast with the coach itself, and the last of the Tenders slip from your view - though the Tender on the driver's bench surely can still see you, if he bothers to look.
"He was being overly cautious."
