That night, Einin set out as Owl. Rufus had given her a new mask to replace the one that had been stolen and broken, but kept it to the horned owl theme. Instead of gray like the old one, this one was shades of brown, gray, and black, and she thought it rather an improvement! There was more detail in this one, and she thought it made her look fierce.
Once she was dressed and her hair and eye color changed (still all she could manage on herself, though she was working on more advanced illusions), she grabbed her sword and potions and sneaked out of her estate and off the property. Illusion helped there, too. A wrong step on a dry leaf nearly gave her away to a patrolling guard, but she sent out the illusion of a cat racing across the yard to explain the sound. It bought her the time she needed, and soon, she was free.
That night, Owl didn't actually plan on confronting anyone. Her goal was to gather information. It felt like a safe place to begin, and like a good idea--to know what you were getting yourself into. On her mission with Rufus, Rufus had stressed the whole "watching and waiting" element, and from what he had said, he had been gathering information on his query for quite some time. Their mission had been successful in the end, and the day had been saved!
So that's what she needed to do. Because barreling in was...not working.
It had nearly killed her, because she hadn't known she was facing Smed, and hadn't known much about him that could have prepared her, anyway.
A chill raced down her spine at the thought of the goblins, and she paused for a moment, frozen in the middle of a poorly lit, empty street. She glanced around the area, breath held. Maybe this was a bad idea. What if he found her? What if he and his lackeys were out here right now? Sure there were Wolves out there somewhere, never far away, as Rufus promised...but what if? Owl didn't believe for one moment that it was over, especially with how he'd wanted to find out her name.
Rubbing her arms to smooth away the goosebumps, she took a slow breath in and out. No. She couldn't let fear control her. Creatures like Smed were exactly the reason she wanted to do this--so other people weren't hurt like she was. No. She could do this. She had to--or she could keep cowering and hiding.
She didn't like cowering.
Rolling her shoulders back, Owl pressed onward. Baby steps. Gather information. That's all she was doing tonight.
Her journey brought her to the library, which seemed like an odd destination, except it was where she'd seen some of the most recent wanted posters, just outside it near the door. It was there that she headed, and sure enough, there it was: a poster with a crude sketch of one Herrick Tavish, a near spitting image of the man she'd met that day.
Owl tore the poster free. Oliver had ushered her out of the building so fast she hadn't gotten a chance to snatch it, or even look at it, then. Now as she studied it, she could only shake her head.
"Why are criminals so dumb?" she muttered to herself. Really. He had told her everything.
That is, if what he'd said was true.