Disarm Evil

Chapter 5: Rirmevu

Ten salaries later

The atmosphere down here is far from pleasant. The stench of sewage fills the air, the infrastructure is hazardous, and at most the sunlight is as bright as the late dawn of the islands which float closest to the sun. The interior of this tavern is even darker than outside, illuminated only by a few sparsely placed lanterns.

I don't have to be here, I have chosen to be positioned in Hosudiha. My presence protects the least fortunate from losing what little they have to criminals.

Of the patrons who pack into the tavern, the level of light only really matters to me, an atu who's primary means of perception is sight. Meanwhile, due to the tavern's location being deeper in the bitu occupied portion of the city where there is little to no overlap with the atu population, everyone else in here is a bitu, and while bitu eyesight is poor, Ritu, in Ver grace, gave them a superior sense of smell to compensate for their nearsightedness.

I am here because those who become intoxicated at the tavern attract the attention of criminals seeking to exploit their vulnerability. So I use the tavern as a trap to catch the criminals I pursue.

I wear a cloak that conceals my species and also hides my yetu colleague, Miya, who is perched on my back, underneath it.

"Could you please be more careful not to tickle my ears?" I whisper to Miya.

"Sorry, I need to see, and there's not much space in here," ve replies.

I clench my jaw and tense up to ignore Miya's antennae as they move around in my hood, attempting to access and read information from the fabric of creation.

My species is identifiable only by my hands, but the darkness of this place means that no bitu is likely to notice their lack of fur and claws.

Suddenly, a stranger's voice interrupts my thoughts. "Holy shit, another atu! And a pale one at that." they exclaim.

Crap! Panicking, I retract my hands into my sleeves. Crap! It's no use - the nosy stranger has already seen them and announced my species to the entire tavern. I make eye contact with an intoxicated dark-skinned atu, mug of booze in hand, stumbling into the seat opposite me. Crap crap crap! What the hase is an atu doing on this side of the city?

"Shhh! Shut up!" I plead.

"Why? I'm an atu and everyone knows it!" ve shouts, ver slurred speech drawing unwanted attention to us. "You don't see me getting all bent out of sh-" *hick*, "about it. Besides, bitu can sniff out an atu from a crowd of bitu. You arn-" *burp*, "fooling anyone."

"Please, I don't want to draw attention to myself."

"Don't wanna draw attention to yourself? Look at the way you are dressed! Your outfit may scream 'I don't want to draw attention to myself' but that's exactly why it draws attention."

"What do you want from me?" I ask, hoping to get out of this situation.

"Well, I could use a pasty friend here in a bit," the stranger replies. "and I'm exactly the kind of friend you need ri-"*hick*," now."

"I'm not looking to make any friends," I say.

The stranger doesn't give up. "Look at me. Feast your eyes," ve says as ve wobbly stands up, to gesture to verself; dark-brown colored skin, black dreadlock hair, incomplete smile, and altogether filthy. "I'm the latest person to be exalted out of Hosudiha... At least I will be, after tonight. And booking passage to Sudihatosema with my skin tone, even with money, is a tricky matter. So maybe you'd be willing to ac-" *hick*, "-ompany me? Commissions officers would be less likely to assume you stole the money."