Msaka glanced up at the sky as he stepped out of the inn. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly over the city, the sky was clear, and there was a gentle, soothing breeze blowing down from the mountains. The people in the city, however, didn't seem to be noticing the weather much.

Looking around the plaza, he noted troubled looks on the majority of faces there, and depressed looks from a number of others. The kattas were hiding their worry fairly well, the humans less so. Conversation and haggling seemed tense and strained, almost hushed compared to how it sounded under normal circumstances. It was a rather depressing sight, and Msaka found himself frustrated at his actions having caused it, necessary though they had been.

He meandered slowly amidst the merchants' stands, making certain to avoid speaking with anyone, as he watched the day's routines being performed. He started to feel uneasy at being in the middle of all of the activity, especially seeing as it was only a matter of time before it would become impossible for people to pretend to continue as normal like they were doing now.

He paced out of the plaza, and plunged into the less brightly lit maze of streets that made up the bulk of the city. The breeze wafted through them as well, though not as strongly as the open plaza, keeping the temperature relatively comfortable. Msaka wasn't particularly concerned by that small detail however, having thought of a question he wanted answered, and suspecting he knew who the best person to ask was.

Eventually, he emerged into the plaza that held the Adventurers' Guild, and quickly crossed over to it. He pulled open the door and stepped into the doorway, but waited for his eyes to adjust for a few moments before he entered fully and pulled the door shut behind him.

He looked around the interior, but the guildmaster was nowhere to be seen. With a sigh, he called out, "Is anyone here?"

There was a muffled response from the back room, followed a few moments later by the guildmaster emerging through the doorway. "Welcome again!" he exclaimed to Msaka. "What can I do for you?" Despite his seemingly relaxed manner, there was a hint of apprehension about the guildmaster, even though he was hiding it much better than most people in the city were doing.

Msaka didn't let on that he'd noticed the difference. "Someone said that there were underground rivers in this area. What do you know of those?" he asked.

The guildmaster nodded. "Oh yes, there are! They flow from the mountains, but do not come near the surface, instead making their way to less dry regions entirely below the sands and even what solid ground there is below that. They would make an excellent source of water, but tunnelling down to them is something of a problem - a very deep passage would have to be excavated, and it would not be easy to keep it stable. Then there would be the matter of flooding during different seasons when the rain on the mountains varies. Even after that was taken care of, the city would need some way to bring the water to the surface. That would require either a large work force or magic, and neither is easy to come by. It's too bad, because I'm sure those tunnels the rivers pass through would present marvellous opportunities for me."

"I thought he might say something like that," Msaka thought to himself, nodding in reply. "Do any of them pass close under the city? If they do, then it is too bad that this city did not dig a tunnel already, since you seem to have lost your fountain."

"Some might, but there's no way to tell, I'm afraid. Well, perhaps magic could determine whether one did, but the only other way would be to randomly dig around down there until you hit the right spot and drowned. Not a very productive thing to be doing with your time and money, by any means."

Msaka nodded slowly. "I do not have any magic to find those rivers. In my home, enough rivers lie on the surface that there is no need to look below the ground. Maybe one of the wizards of this land can find them for you."

"It certainly looks like that's what we'll need," the guildmaster sighed, then his expression brightened. "If it does happen, I expect I'll be asked for advice on the tunnelling, and maybe even get to explore them a bit into the bargain. Well, we'll see."

"I need to do some other things now," Msaka replied. "Thank you for the information." He wasn't being entirely truthful - for the moment, he didn't need to do anything else. However, he also wanted to end the conversation before the guildmaster slipped into some nostalgic recollection again.

"Anytime, anytime," the guildmaster smiled. "Best of luck to you."

Msaka left the guild, then crossed the sunlit plaza to the street and made his way back to the inn. He considered going out into the desert and performing another Sending ritual to the shaman, but decided against it. Leaving the city at this point might cast suspicion on him, and he had no illusions about the likely result if he was thought to have been responsible.

He returned to his room instead and locked himself away for a while, idly working on his spells for a few hours. After all, even after he managed to leave Raseir, he would still need to get to Silmaria. Depending on how badly trade was disrupted by the city's lack of water, it might prove necessary to travel alone, and he intended to be prepared if that happened.