Parsley has been hiding from the criminal group (let's call them Vaners) for some years now. She used to be a Vaner herself, but something happened and she saw it was best to flee. When I ask about this 'something', Parsley refuses to answer properly. She refers to it as a misunderstanding; judging by the signs of revenge her fingers must have been somewhere where they weren't supposed to be. When asked about this, she denies that there was any kind of revenge and says her hand was damaged because she tripped in some stairs with a knife in her hand and had bad luck when landing. "Better this than having died from the fall. I've decided not to push my luck any more.", she adds, probably referring to carrying knives when running in stairs. I suppose I would too, if I was in her boots.
How did this all start? How did she end up running from both the Law and the lawless? Why would a young person become a criminal, let alone join such a dangerous society? "None of your business" is the most common reply I get. Doesn't she want to talk about her mistakes of the past, or have the Vaners scared her silent? During the interview, I felt anger growing inside me. Up until now I had concentrated on the corrupting effect the Chaos and Scythe have on your youth, but luring them to a life of crime, no doubt with plenty of promises: riches, excitement, power... The rebellious young are easily convinced to violate rules their parents have taught, especially when the reward is fitting in - and the gang becomes their home.
What can we do to the situation? Firstly, we must force the Ancient Anguish Tourism Council to admit that there are dangerous criminals in this realm, so that people can be better prepared. Ignorance is our worst enemy. We should then consult the people with the best resources to fight crime - mayors, town elders, possibly go to King Drin himself. If the powerful and mighty will not hear our plead, then we have to take matters into our own hands. Neighbourhood Watches can make sure the streets are safe. But most importantly, we must let people know the truth.
I have written to the Canticle and sent a copy of the story to the Tourism Council along with a written approval by the editor to publish it. Here's the response I got:
Dear Reporter,
If you are trying to be original with these claims of yours, we're afraid that we must pop your bubble by informing you that you aren't the first one - and repeating a lie doesn't make it any more true. We get letters from all kinds of loonies, some tell us that they have seen pink elephants coming flying at them and then woken up with a headache and no idea of what happened during the last few hours, sometimes we get reports of killer squirrels, planning to conquer the world. And every now and then someone wanting to stir up panic comes up with a story about rogues on AA. We assure you that attacking us will not get you any prizes, and should you try blackmailing us, we will have you arrested before you can say "paranoia".
Your "interviewee" is a mentally disturbed girl who will tell any story for money. We know her, before she decided to start playing hide-and-seek we needed to call guards to escort her away from various inns for disturbing people by begging for money to support her imaginary family full of differently injured people. Firstly, we have a perfectly working poor people's helping system in here, secondly, she has refused all official help and prefers to feed credulous tourists lies to get their money. As for the finger injury, it had to be removed after her adventure in the far north, imagening to be half-Yeti, which ended when she was found half-frozen from a clumsily built, collapsed snowcave. We hope you are very proud of yourself, spreading these ridiculous rumours and possibly even managing to affect our tourist flow and thus the economy of important tourist centers.
The Tourism Council
I still think they're not telling the whole story. Parsley was afraid, not acting. I saw no signs of her having started to confuse fantasy with reality. She warned me several times about not going to ask around about the Vaners and, when she understood that I was planning to write an article about this to the Canticle, she emphatically tried to make me decide against it. She clearly wasn't just worried about her own security, but tried to tell me to stay out of trouble as well. Unfortunately I know that this problem cannot be solved by hiding, being afraid and keeping silent. However, would like to emphasize that I am only a freelance writer, I do not get paid by the Canticle. My opinion does not represent the general opinion of the Eldar either, and my family has nothing to do with this. You'll probably find me in the Common Church of Tantallon if there are any questions.
Fir, of the House of Amros