Hot plates hissed haughtily and cider barrels gurgled with glee, Skye however was in no mood to indulge her imagination as she wandered amongst the crowd. The Night Markets were finally beginning to come to life, she'd timed her arrival perfectly...not too early and not too late either. She had gone home and informed her mother of their loss, Una had promptly made her way across the apartment to the door...leaving to begin her nightly trip to all the wine houses.

Skye had waited for her siblings to return from school but they had already heard, news traveled fast in this part of the port city. She'd held them while they sobbed and clung to each other. She couldn't bring Orica back, she couldn't just say that she was joking and Orica would jump out of the bathroom. She wished desperately that she could...but that wasn't to be. Jack had cried himself to sleep and her youngest brother Cale soon after. Skye had acted autonomously, placing them both on the thin mattress before tucking them in. Her mother was no use now, especially not with the way she was behaving.

The waif worried her bottom lip for the briefest of moments before she felt someone bump into her. She turned and grabbed onto their wrist with as strong a grip she could manage.
"Ragtag?" she murmured out and all she got in return was a steely stare, casting slightly dulled eyes about, she came to a stop. There. An outline just inside the shadows of the silk shop's entrance.

Her feet moved of their own accord and she made her way through the people milling about. She reached the shadowed figure and was met with a slight snort. The cobble child ignored the sound of derision and stared up at the figure before they stepped into the dim light of a street lamp. She let one corner of her mouth lift up as she regarded him, still holding onto his underling with an unrelenting grip. Everyone knew that Buram wasn't to be messed with and as he regarded her in return they came to an uneasy truce. She watched as the gears started turning in his head and she knew that he'd try and wait her out. But he surprised her by clearing his throat and speaking first.

"You're Skye...right?" his voice was gruff and she nodded before he leaned against the entrance to the alcove.

"What do you want?" her lips thinned into a line as she pulled her decoy coin purse out of the amateur tickle pocket's fingers.

"I want to get rid of the Dragna." she said bluntly and the man laughed for a moment before sobering as he saw the determination in her eyes.

"How are you going to do that exactly?" he scoffed before she looked at him pointedly.

"I wa-...no...I need to join the Ragtags and ally with the Skeletons to push the Dragna into the cesspit." she said lowly and even the tickle pocket stiffened a little at the notion.

"I heard about it...your sister." Buram said shrewdly and she shifted a little, releasing her grip on the other scuttle bug's wrist. He grumbled a little and rubbed at it gingerly before he leaned against the other side of the doorway.

"As I heard about your son. The Dragna will annihilate the other two groups unless something changes, I have a plan and the connections needed to carry it out. All I need from you, is a name to work under." she murmured, stepping into the shadows smoothly. Moments later a loving couple walked past the alcove and as all three of them stood in the shadows, Buram acknowledged the point that she was making.

The Alliance had been broken and they had lost ten cobble children already, five from the Ragtags and the other five from the Skeletons.
"Go with Garret, he'll show you to the Ragtag Queen's hide away. She will give you your working name. Use it with pride and don't get caught, still planning to be a messenger through all this?" he muttered and she gave him a shadowed smile.

"I have to act as normal as possible if this is to work, so I will be continuing my legitimate employment." she responded before the young scuttle bug Garret looked for a group of people coming before he motioned to her. Wordlessly the pair slipped into the back of the group seamlessly before beginning their little adventure.

----

The Thief Queen was hard to get to, or at least that's how it appeared as Skye groaned with effort and heaved herself up out of the drainage pipe. She felt something slimy slip down the back of her tunic and shuddered, pulling it out and wincing before throwing the seaweed back into the round opening for the pipe.

They'd been going for what seemed like an age and the ache of Orica's loss was throbbing just beneath her skin. Finally Garret stopped outside an old lodging house, or at least....the outside appeared old as vines climbed the brickwork. He knocked on the door and the peep hole slid open, beady blue eyes staring at them for a moment before a soft question.

"Who goes?" The crackly masculine tones were answered by Garret.

"The Butterfly only lands on poppies." The answer must have been correct because the elderly gentleman opened the door and hurriedly ushered them in.

He looked down at them through half moon glasses before motioning for them to follow him. Skye had never seen him before, but he cleared his throat and glanced at her for a brief moment.

"Rodney and Una's oldest youngling...coming to see the Butterfly. Never thought I'd see the day." he murmured before rapping sharply on a hardwood door at the end of a scarlet walled hall.

"You may enter." Smooth tones filtered through the dark wood and the silvery haired man opened the door.

"Joker and guest, my lady." he said before bowing and closing the door after them. Skye stared at the woman before her, a slight smile coming to her lips as she recognised the person.

"Welcome Joker..and guest," The greeting was gentle, almost coaxing. "Come...sit." she added after a moment and they did so willingly as she rested her elbows on the wooden desk between her and her guests.

"Thank you Rheys." Skye replied before the older female shot her a halfhearted warning look.

"Now, what is it that you want from me?" The question was loaded and all in the room knew it.