The weather in Nolan cleared up a little around noon, and the view opened up considerably.
The riverbank before Jenkins was a hive of activity. Steamships, belching black smoke, navigated the waterway while the shouts of boatn, the chatter of people on the shore, and the intermittent blast of steam whistles combined to paint a clamorous portrait of the Steam Age.
Jenkins worried the racket would wake Chocolate and considered taking a detour, but he rembered that every bridge would be just as noisy this ti of year.
He had no choice but to quicken his pace, hoping Chocolate would sleep more deeply. Then, he caught sight of Magic Miss sitting by the riverbank, fishing. She was actually fishing, though she was dressed like a woman from the countryside.
"Still waiting for Femishue? But didn't that pirate king flee the river, scared off by what I did with the Slate of Fate?"
With that thought in mind, Jenkins decided against approaching her, acting as if they were strangers as he continued toward the church.
Pops had said the afternoon was free, so Jenkins was in no rush and had decided to walk to the church. It was now noon, and a fair number of the faithful were arriving to pray. As he passed the main entrance of the grand church, he overheard people discussing Bishop Parrold's morning sermon. With his health on the nd, the old bishop was attending such events more frequently.
After submitting two reports at different offices, Jenkins started back. He planned to wake his cat on the way so it could stretch its legs. As he passed through the main hall of the church again, he saw the young girl, Fini, walking excitedly toward him from another corridor, clutching two books.
She wore the simple white robe of the church choir, the kind the children wore while on duty. The Sage's holy emblem was embroidered on the chest, and the seams and lapel were adorned with sacred gold trim.
It suited Fini remarkably well. Not all children could wear it with such an air of quiet dignity.
"Oh, good afternoon, Mr. Williams!"
Fini greeted Jenkins with a smile and eagerly showed him the two books in her hands:
"Look, sir! The head nun approved my application for the reading lessons!"
Most of the children taken in by the church had little formal education, making academic classes an essential part of their new life. While the church provided basic lessons for everyone, extra courses required a special application to the sister in charge.
While the Sage encouraged the acquisition of knowledge, it was ant to be a voluntary pursuit, not a forced one. The church hoped the children would grasp this important principle.
"That's wonderful! Congratulations, Fini!"
Jenkins felt the urge to pat her on the head, but he caught himself, realizing it wasn't an appropriate gesture in such a public place. It was a bad habit he'd developed from raising Chocolate; neither his past self nor the original Jenkins had been accustod to such familiarities.
"Sir, could I ask you for a favor?"
They chatted for a few more monts before Fini asked, her cheeks flushing slightly.
"Of course, what do you need?"
"Could you deliver sothing to Louise for ? As you know, I can't leave the church right now, and mailing it would take too long."
"Of course. I'm heading back to Pops Antique Shop shortly. Just tell where Louise usually sells her flowers, and I can find her on my way."
Louise was Fini's friend, another young flower seller Jenkins had seen just the previous evening. A few years ago, their circumstances had been quite similar, but everything changed after Fini's parents passed away. The subsequent divergence of their paths was a textbook example of a cruel twist of fate.
Fini wanted to help her friend, so before she began her new life involving the supernatural, she wanted to send sothing to help improve Louise's circumstances.
After leaving the church, Jenkins followed Fini's directions to find the little flower seller, Louise. When he reached the intersection she had ntioned, however, the girl was nowhere in sight.
He spent three pence asking the clerk at the corner shop. The young man, who had a thick accent and the faint marks of acne on his face, recognized his description of Louise:
"You an that girl who's always selling flowers around here? Oh, yeah, I know her. She's here every day before I even start my shift. The manager's always giving grief about it... Co to think of it, I haven't seen her at all today. I wonder if sothing happened."
Jenkins was certain he'd watched Louise get ho safely last night before he left. So she couldn't have run into trouble on her way ho. If she hadn't simply decided to sell her flowers at a different intersection today, then sothing must have happened between last night and early this morning.
A sense of unease settled over Jenkins at the thought. After a mont's hesitation, he abandoned his plan to return to Pops Antique Shop and instead turned in the opposite direction, heading for Louise's ho.
His mind raced with terrible possibilities as he walked. When he was just two streets from his destination, he suddenly heard a voice call his na from a passing carriage:
"Jenkins!"
The voice was familiar. He turned and, sure enough, saw a church carriage with Miss Bevanna inside.
"Jenkins, what are you doing here?"
Jenkins wanted to ask her the very sa question. When he learned that her carriage was also headed for the alley where Louise lived, his heart sank.
They were still two streets away, so Jenkins accepted Miss Bevanna's offer and climbed into the carriage. The movent was abrupt enough to startle the cat napping inside his coat. He felt the small animal stir against his chest, and a mont later, a lazy ow erged.
By the ti Jenkins was seated, the cat was already trying to peek its head out from his coat. Having slept long enough, it seed to forgive Jenkins for the rude awakening.
"I was on my way to that neighborhood to deliver sothing to a family in the third alley off Byron Street... Has there been so kind of accident?"
Jenkins already knew there must have been an incident; otherwise, a demigod like Miss Bevanna wouldn't have been called in.
"There has been an incident in that alley, but the casualties aren't severe, so don't worry. A case of the Corpse Plague was confird there. The plague seems to have combined with sothing... unpleasant, and the symptoms are quite horrifying. That's why I've co to investigate personally.
For safety, the church has cordoned off the surrounding blocks and is screening anyone who might have been infected in the last two days. As far as I know, besides the patient, there have been no other fatalities, and the number of infected is contained. You needn't worry."
Miss Bevanna's words were ant to be comforting, but they only made Jenkins more anxious.
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