Lirssa felt foolish as she sat still in bed at the compound, for she could think of it as no other thing to call where she was with so little she saw of it. It had been a blurry arrival with hazy faces that only expressed a kindness embedding in a sort of alarm. The next day, an older gentleman had given his name as Gwyr, and provided the limited and vague explanation of her arrival. Well, at least she had some faith that if it was to this place Lucky's key had brought her she certainly was better off than she was before. Still, it did not make her much inclined to spill her troubles. She was courteous if tight lipped.

This day however, she was a bit fidgety. She had been required to stay in bed and her body was in a flighty mood...as was her mind. The nightshift comfortable, her style, instead of that frippery she had been forced to wear. Still, she sat plucking at its wrists and flipping the covers one way then another. Opening a book and closing it. She was frightened if she admitted it, and bored if she did not.

Lucien was on the road as soon as word came to him about Lirssa's arrival at the outpost. Her arrival meant one thing....she had gotten into trouble and she needed an escape. It was late morning when he arrived at the compound. Gwyr greeting his arrival and accompanied the Barrister, who walked with a heavy limp and use of a cane, recounting what little Lirssa offered.

He murmured his thanks to Gwyr and the faithful manservant excused himself with a nod when they reached the door to Lirssa's room. Lucien drew a deep breath and eased his expression before knocking on the door.

The knock at once made Lirssa smile and her heart drop into her stomach. If it were to be more questions from Gwyr, or the lady who continually made sure her bed was comfortable and her head didn't hurt and she had enough to eat, well, Lirssa might have to feign sleep. It was even odds one way or the other, and since they had not really done her much harm, cheating the kind people was not a charitable turn about. Adopting more cheer than she felt under the circumstances, and with the prickle of thoughts that Fitzhugh might be up to no good with her suddenly missing, she called out, "Yeah? I mean, yes? Come in!"

The latch clicked and he pushed the door open, making his way inside upon an uneven gait, the cane tapping mutedly in rhythm. A light smile remained tugged at the corner of his mouth, colored with tempered amusement. "Good morning, Miss Sarengrave. How are you? I hope that Gwyr and Miss Haverston and the others have been making you comfortable?"

The sight of Mister Lucky with a cane and walking unevenly tossed out any sensible reply she might have made to a very reasonable question. "What happened to you?!" Defying the restrictions placed on her, she tore back the covers and hopped barefoot and long gowned out of the bed to him to give him a thorough looking over.

Lucien reached for the chair and pulled it over to her bedside. He nodded for Lirssa to sit as he eased himself onto the chair and set the cane aside. "I had the great misfortune of running into a small and irate...man...." (well a walking painting of a man, but in any case)..." who did well to take my knee out."

"Oh, Mister Lucky," she sighed and dropped onto the side of the bed. "You want me to take him out? I got connections ya know." A chill passed over her shoulders and she shivered just slightly. She had more connections than she wanted to admit, now that she thought about it. Her fingers began to twist together, one foot shook slightly side to side. "I hope you get better soon."

He offered a reassuring smile and shook his head. "That won't be necessary, Lirssa. I appreciate the offer though." Lucien drew a breath and eased back to rest against the back of the chair. "So....how are you doing? Have they taken good care of you?" he reiterated his earlier query.

"Yessir." A very reassuring nod to his question. "I am killer grateful, Mister Lucky. Didn't know you had a safe house? Just..," she forced herself to ask, "how safe is it?"

"Yeah, well," she folded her arms and lifted her chin, but that just didn't last long. In truth, she realized that one of her oldest friends was sitting in front of her. He had done her a good turn and more than that. He deserved the truth. "Mister Lucky, I got in a killer mess of things. You know much about magics and stuff?"

Lucien held the cane between his legs and rested his chin on his hands folded on the grip of the cane. "I know some about magic and the like. Learning more about it every day."

"Yeah? Well I know most of my life is I wanted to stay well clear of it. Didn't understand it and didn't want to." Her arms fell away from the fold as if they were the dam holding in the rush of words. Her hands moved here and there with her confession as if directing the disorder into some sense. "See, some months back I picked up some extra work running notes and stuff, because I like to earn money for the foster homes to help them keep the kids, only my family moved away, so I was sorta runnin low on money, so I had to work more jobs. I got one with Captain Aja and still was doin the tumblin when the weather permitted. But I had my lessons to pay for from Mister Jolyon. He said I didn't really have to, but a bargain?s a bargain and I can't take something for nothing. He's got real smarts and only right he should get paid for sharing them. Anyway, so..."

Big breath, she continued on, "I was runnin' these notes, only it started gettin a fishy feelin. Just wasn't right ya know? I tried to get out of it, but they said I couldn't. So I figured knowledge is power, right? I just thought I'd see what the notes were about. Only they were about keepin this guy all magic tied up in the room in the inn. It was horrible and I heard them say if he didn't break or something like that soon that he'd die. Well, then all nonsense broke loose one night when I went in to help him. He got free and they started huntin for me because I'm an amplifier." She waited for some sort of recognition that he understood or needed explanation, at least the best she could give, on what that meant before she continued on.

He sat up as she recounted her story, a brow quirking first, then knitting to a furrow upon his brow. Lucien didn't say anything, but instead stayed his question and nodded for her to continue.

"So, when I said I wasn't gonna help them and they could just leave me be, then they started threatening street kids and friends of mine. So this guy, his name is Fitzhugh, and he sorta runs the ring. Well he does here. There's some sort of big group all over the place that has agents doing these searching things." Realizing she has gotten ahead of herself, she backtracked. "Anyway, this Fitzhugh and I made a deal. I'd let them use me to amplify their searching for stuff for a year, and they'd leave my friends be, and they'd teach me how to keep others from using my gift." It was a derisive snort after the word. She could not call it a gift by any true notion. "So, I said yes, only they weren't really looking for things, they were looking for people, that man that got away before in particular.

"So, well the lady, Arabella, tried first, but I guess Elliott, that's the guy that got away, was too strong. He did something and she went all sorts of bad after that run in. I thought, well, that's that, but then Fitzhugh brought in this other guy and he was killer strong. He went searching and Elliott, oh no!? A brief moment of clarity and realization interrupted her story. ?I betcha they got Elliott. He came in the whole thing and told me to get away. That's when I used the key and came here." And with that, the arms folded again, hugging herself, just sick with the idea that Elliott was trapped again.

Several moments passed, before Lucien drew a deep breath and ran a hand over his bearded chin, his furrowed brow knitting to a frown. He regarded Lirssa for another moment before he broke his silence.
"Did they hurt you? Did it hurt you when you were..." he drew a deep breath before he continued speaking quietly, "...used as an amplifier?"

When she considered the question, the honest truth of it was, "Not really when O'Malley or Elliott did. It was like...like in a dance, where you just step aside for the other person to take their place in the pattern. With Arabella though," she rolled her eyes and puffed out a tired sigh. "It was like being shoved and felt so small, like shrunken. She got really tired afterwards every time. I think I did her more harm than she did me. Elliott was the first to use me like that. It was weird, but he had to so he could get free, so not like I blame him, ya know? It didn't hurt, just...didn't like it."

His tone remained quiet, his frown remained fast upon his brow. "Exactly how did Elliot get free?"

"Ummm, well," she thought back, "sorta hard to say. These notes had power, but the power weakened if they were read. Seems if I read them, they weakened even more....leastways that what was told to me. When I read all the notes, he was able to move enough that when he touched my foot -" feeling obligated to explain "-see I was trying to get out of the room since Arabella and this awful man named Jasper had arrived just as I was trying to help Elliott -- anyway, when he touched my foot he was able to use me to make what magics he had left even more powerful and just walloped Arabella and Jasper."

Lucien's expression went from fleeting curiosity to a severe frown.

His frown made her decidedly uncomfortable. She began to dig her toe, still bare because it felt good, into the ground. "I didn't mean to do wrong. Honest, but I just didn't know how to stop them from hurting folks. They even threatened the Smiths' babies!" She pleaded that he understand why she had to do it.

He drew a deep breath and his expression softened as he shook his head. "Lirssa," his tone softened to match his mien, "...you haven't done anything wrong. Except I wish you would have told someone what was happening sooner."

Lirssa liked horses. With a careful, slow gesture, she reached a hand out to let the mare get a scent of her before she tried to rub at the strong round of the jaw. "I suppose." In a need to defend herself, she looked up at him. "Well, I told you, but really, all I need is a way to get this thing of me not to work anymore. See, that's helping, right?" It might be, she realized, easier than the she had thought at first if she could control just how they helped. "Oh, and Mister Locke, I met with him the other day and told him, because he's a secret keeper, too, only I can trust you to keep that secret, and he said he had a ring that if someone could make it work again might keep my magical stuff from working."

Lucien slipped his hand into his pocket and the mare turned her nose toward Lirssa's touch and attentions. "Where does Fitzhugh and the others work out of?"

Well, she was not about to just jump right out with that information without some of her own. "What are you thinkin', Mister Lucky? I'm not tellin' you more lest you tell me what's goin on up in that brain o' yours." She set her jaw, but that didn't last long as she cooed some love to the mare.

"I intend to have the 'gentleman' and his associates looked into. See what they are up to." Immediately he held up a staying hand. "I am not going to do it personally, nor am I going to have someone go busting in like gangbusters and make it obvious."

She waited to see if 'the itch' came around, warning her in some fashion. But when it didn't, she shrugged. "Well, they live, or at least yesterday, lived in a brownstone. It's number 11 Heather Square. You promise you're not going to go yourself?"

"You have my word." A wry grin tugged at the corner of his mouth as he nodded to the cane in his hand. "Besides, I am in no condition to be snooping around."

"Yeah, that's for killer sure." Nodding, not couching words. She patted the mare once more and then stepped a bit away, looking around the compound. "I guess, well, I guess I should be going on my way back though. I'm all healed up, I suspect. Nothing rattles." She tapped her head as if that should have some sort of loose gizmo rolling about in it. "I suppose I used up the key, too, but it sure came in handy. I'm grateful." She looked to the horizon, planning out just where she could stay that would be safe for a spell while she worked out how to break whatever worked inside her.

He took his cue from her as she stepped away from the mare and started back toward the manor. "I'm glad it came in handy, Lirssa. Since your family moved out of the town, where are you staying?"

A shrug, she flopped her hand one way and then another. "Here and there. Cobble bedding it for awhile. Got my dogs to keep me safe. Know lotsa spots since I was a kid. Before this mess I'd stay with one of the foster homes if they had a space to spare."

Lucien simply nodded as they walked across the compound, no frown, no judgment in his expression. "I've got a couple places in town. You are welcome to stay at any of them if you wish." He then reached into his pocket and pulled out the key and held it out to her. "I believe this is yours."

A flood of relief. She hadn't left it somewhere or it hadn't been used up. Reaching for it, she paused and then took it. He had said it was hers. "Thank you, Mister Lucky." It returned to her pocket. "These places you got in town? They have..you know...magical hiding stuff like here?"

Lucien shook his head at her query. "No, they don't. But I can set one or two of the places up with wards if you wish to stay there," he offered, glancing sidelong her way.

"No, that's okay. Umm," she looked around at the compound, "would it be okay if I stay here a few days? Just till I can find a safe spot in town? I can't leave Elliott in whatever mess he is in long, but I gotta attack from a place of strength, ya know?"

"Lirssa, you may stay here as long as you wish. However, you cannot let it be known where this place it. Nor how to get here." Lucien stopped walking and turned to face the young girl, who was no longer a little child. "As for Elliott, promise me you will not attack alone. If the group here is part of a larger network, that would be foolish and futile."

"Not should giants pluck out my eyes or vampire rabbits eat my heart, I'll not tell a soul, body, living nor dead." It had been the vow she'd made since very young, and it just came out automatically. She felt a little silly for a moment, but his request for a promise not to attack was hard to give. "But what if he's in trouble? I can't just not do anything. It's my fault."

Of course, she realized, she was not sure they had Elliott. With a frown, she settled that she had to determine that first. That meant going back into town sneaky like. She could do that. With the key back in her possession, well, no, she should only use that in emergencies. She looked up at Mister Lucky. "Can you make me promise something a little different? Like I won't go in there without proper cause?" Big smile of hope that would work.

"Promise me you will not go back there alone. No solo attacks. No solo rescue mission," he reiterated quietly and firmly. "I will see about finding out Elliot's whereabouts and his condition."

"You don't do this bargaining thing very well, Mister Lucky." She frowned and grumbled. "One'd think you were my father." With an exasperated huff, arms flopped defeated. "Fine, I won't go there alone. I promise." She was quite confident she could keep that promise. Afterall, if she had her dogs she wouldn?t be alone.

Lucien nodded and continued into the manor, heading for the kitchen. "Thank you, Lirssa. Getting yourself caught or hurt will not help Elliot at all." He drew a deep breath, the smell of warm bread wafting their way. "Now...what do you say we see about lunch?"