Young Tina

Vikro lay on the only route from Landon City to Rhine City. Its rose essential oil drew merchants from elsewhere every year, giving the town more economic vitality than Rhine City and its residents more comfortable lives.

When Green and Lola's carriage entered town, they found cement roads and clean, tidy streets. The sight was a breath of fresh air and went a long way toward changing the poor impression of Rhine City's dirt and disorder they had formed on the journey.

The carriage stopped outside the Makelele Inn.

Run by Madam Makelele for more than thirty years, it was the finest inn in Vikro and catered to merchants who came from elsewhere to buy essential oil.

To make things easier, Green and Lola had come in plain clothes, and their carriage bore no Anomalies Bureau markings. They posed as a couple who had heard of Vikro's famous sea of roses and wanted to see it for themselves.

But when they entered the inn, something about the atmosphere felt wrong. Nothing looked amiss, yet they had the sense that someone was watching them.

The Makelele Inn was tastefully furnished. It was not luxurious, but no expense had been spared on its materials, which had a distinctly local Rhine City character. Forestry flourished in the region and timber was cheap; wood that cost a fortune elsewhere was ordinary building material here, and some of it was even burned as firewood.

The spacious reception hall was quiet. The peak season for rose essential oil trading had not yet arrived, leaving the inn looking rather desolate. Even the attendants seemed listless.

Green and Lola caught an attendant's attention as soon as they came in. Though they were not wearing the Anomalies Bureau's conspicuous uniforms, their clothes marked them as wealthy or important. The