We are writing to ask of you a very peculiar favor. Our area of study is the dissolution of the Anmureise mysteries, and we have heard that the Hill of Werewolves is haunted, if that is the right word, by the purge of the Wolves of Anmura.

We are in ill health and cannot go explore the phenomenon for ourself, but we understand that you have witnessed it. Might you be willing to answer a few questions? You will find us in our workroom at the University most afternoons.

We sign ourself, with great respect,

Aäthis Rohethar

I considered this letter, somewhat blankly, for several minutes, before I decided that I had to answer it, for common politeness if nothing else.

I found ink and pen and paper and sealing wax and after some hesitation wrote,

To Aäthis Rohethar, scholar of the first rank, greetings.

It is true that we have witnessed the ghosts on the Hill of Werewolves, and we would be glad to answer any questions that we can. At the moment we are quite busy, but we will come to the University on our first free afternoon.

Respectfully,

Thara Celehar, Witness for the Dead

I sealed the letter, putting my lighter carefully back in my inner waistcoat pocket. My next step in finding Osmin Pavalo Temin required a visit to the postal service’s main office in any event.

I spent the rest of the morning, uninterrupted by petitioners, writing notes about the petition of the Marquess Ulzhavel and my investigation thus far, so that if I was called upon to give a judicial deposition, I would be able to assemble a coherent narrative of my witnessing.

Then I went to the postal service for help in finding Osmin Temin.

The Temada were such a minor house that I had never heard of them. I wondered if they even had an estate, or if they were what was called “town gentry” (something the Marquess Ulzhavel would never be, even though his compound was entirely encapsulated by the city of Amalo). Hence the postal service.

The central office of the Amalo Postal Service was housed in the Prince Thuvenis Building, of which it took up nearly half. It had once been a part of the Cartographers’ Guild, but those who wanted to do cartography found that they were spending most of their time on record-keeping and those who were interested in the grand logistical nightmare of delivering the post in a city the size of Amalo found that they were spending most of their time on map-drawing. The split, some twenty years ago, had allegedly been amicable, but the postal service did not use the Guild maps. They had their own, and it was the postal service’s maps that would show where the members of the House Temada lived.

The front office in the Prince Thuvenis Building had a young goblin woman at a desk to one side and a row of post collection boxes to the other. After I had put my letter in the appropriate box, I crossed to her desk. It took her a moment to realize that I was actually approaching her.