The back room was a specific term for a specific place in an organisation. Every one of the players in the city had a 'back' room and for John's bars and inns, it was a surprisingly easy thing to get to. Most weren't so easy and several doors and pathways had to be taken but John was strong enough a player that he allowed his to be easily accessible and even rentable for the right price. A room which existed in the city but out of the confines of the law, both official and unofficial.
The bar patrons were doing fine without Justice, the current hour being one where technically no alcohol was served in the city. 5 am to be exact, time having run away with the night because of Elison's journeys through the shadows. With no beer or whiskey to be had for one single hour, many of the patrons were either sitting resting with their final glass in their hands or now laying on the carpeted floor of the bar napping. John didn't care if the regulars slept the night in the Rook provided they had paid their tab up for the night and were not owing in favours or cash.
Walking past snoring men, Elison let himself behind the bar. The wooden latch allowed him past, shutters already down on the goods to protect them from any drunk not yet in his right mind to remember he was not allowed to buy at that moment. It shut back in place with a soft click, gentle enough not to wake any of the sleeping men. The next door gave him more issue. He pulled the handle gently from the left side of the door to the centre, locking into place before pressing down. It clicked, the door locked.
Exhaling to calm himself, Elison knocked three times on the wood. Three times was the polite way to knock in the city and the generally accepted way to ask for someone to appear. Any other number was seen almost as rude unless the person was still fresh to the city and then it was seen as ignorant. Neither were good things to be considered.
The door swung open and unlike before when it had been darkness, linked to the shadow's paths, it was to an actual room. Elison stepped through the threshold, almost painfully aware of the fact he was being transported to a different location. The door linked the two locations but their physical locations were actually far apart. Elison didn't know the real location of John's backroom but to get there, three knocks and the handle on the centre of the door was the sure way to get in.
The room was almost mundane compared to many of John's locations for rent. It was a plain room with a large conference table in the centre and enough chairs for twelve men. In the centre of the table was a crystal which was gently glowing blue. It was a truth crystal and if someone spoke a lie the light would change to an angry red colour. A device which was handy if someone was unable to hire a being about to tell truth or lie straight away anyway.
The walls of the room were wooden but there was an iron skirting board running the length of the room and no windows. There were pictures, paintings of landscapes, intended to make the room seem less imposing but even the paintings weren't enough to remove all of Elison's concerns.
Four of twelve of the chairs were taken by three men and one woman with one of John's pretty boys standing to the side ready to serve drinks. They sat in three distinct groups and all of their eyes were on Elison as he walked into the room.
"Lord Calder," Elison bowed politely, focusing on his boss and therefore the most important of the group, but turning to greet John with a similar degree of respect. His boss was wearing a black suit with a white shirt which stood out in contrast with his dark skin tone. He already had a plain grey tie on, his appearance from his short hair to how his suit jacket sat on him was immaculate and obviously well cared for.
Elison nodded to the man sitting next to his boss as he turned, the man being Lord Calder's personal aide and not a man needing of a verbal greeting in this situation. Similar to Calder, the aide was wearing a black suit and white shirt but unlike his boss, he was wearing a black tie. The aide was also in immaculate condition and looked wide awake and aware despite the time of morning. To Elison's understanding, the aide, while not as pretty as some of the men Calder could pick to be next to his side all day, was extremely good at this job. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for Elison to actually know his name which irritated Elison immensely.
"Welcome, Elison," John smiled warmly, ever the gracious host. "Please, take a seat," he ordered in a polite way, a chair moving backwards.
"Thank you, sir," Elison said politely. He paused, turning to the final member of the table and the only woman of the group. "Warden," he nodded "I was not expecting you to be here," he admitted as he practically fell into the offered seat.
The boy, a young man who might have been seventeen, might have been twenty-three depending on how a person judged ages, moved to his side to pour him a cup of tea. This one was a pale white with grey eyes and silver hair which suggested it had been dyed another colour until recently. The boy was not one of Elison's acquisitions, unlike Justice, so he did not know much about him other than the obvious, he worked for John.
Whatever had been harvested from the boy must have been an internal organ as none of his limbs were missing. He did not smile at Elison as he passed the tea, even when Elison smiled at him. One who was numb inside perhaps?
"Embarrassingly the butcher's losses were uncovered by some of Warden Maria's work," Lord Calder commented in a neutral tone which seemed to scream how unhappy Calder was about that fact down Elison's senses. "I invited her along to show I am dealing with the issue."
"Unofficially," the Warden added with a considerably more tight tone, not the kind of woman to hide her opinions on a topic. Maria was one of three wardens of the city who worked with the police to solve crimes which went out of their jurisdiction. Most wardens did not last long in the city, the conflict between the law of the land and the law of the port city underground being too much to deal with. Maria was their longest running warden at three years and so far had managed to play by both rules. Mostly because of her willingness to let Calder sort out his own territory as long as the issues were resolved.
"I think we would all be far more concerned if your being here was official," John chuckled, drinking his own tea. "I assume the issue was resolved, Elison?"
"The boy is with Justice, safe I assume," Elison commented, looking at Calder as he spoke, his eyes shifting to John at the mention of his slave. "He's..." Elison paused, glancing back at the warden and considering his next words carefully. Unsurprisingly, slavery was not something the warden approved off and while she was in the presence of two slavers, he needed to careful to use the right words. "I got to him in time, most of his damage will be psychological."
"The blood wasn't his then?" Calder commented, leaning back slightly and taking in everything Elison was saying. His aide beside him was obviously making notes, an eye on the light from the crystal.
"No," Elison confirmed, "I do not know who the blood belonged to but it was fresh. I could smell that much," he screwed up his face unhappily. "Ignoring his eyes, he has no injuries."
"Eyes?" the Warden commented, her own flashing something almost dangerous at Calder and Elison.
"Oracle," Calder shrugged, "Pretty set, they went for a high price and the buyer is very pleased with them." His fingers tapped on the table idly as the Warden viably restrained herself from saying anything too harsh about his flippancy towards the situation.
Elison shifted uncomfortably, which drew both Calder and John's eyes to him. "They work then?" He commented.
"You weren't sure before you blinded the boy?" the Warden said incredulously, her expression one of true disbelieve. Elison could feel both John and Calder looking at him with serious expressions as well. He could almost feel the temperature in the room go down as it became more serious. If Elison had not taken the proper precautions, there would be hell to pay. Calder would skin him alive as a warning to other locaters not to make sloppy decisions before any of the other authorities got to him.
"The boy thought they were and all the signs pointed to his eyes being his source as well," Elison said stiffly, not about to be accused of working without care. "If the eyes work, they must have been."
"But something happened," John inferred, his expression still serious which was out of the ordinary for the fae. "Something to make you doubt your own work." John's pretty boy moved to John's side and John pulled him on his lap, nuzzling the young man gently.
"The boy had a vision after I killed the men. It's not set for another two weeks if it was a true vision but it certainly looked like one. He had no control and it hurt him," Elison admitted, scratching the back of his head. "I guess if the eyes worked and the buyer is happy with them, it doesn't really matter from a business perspective but..." he trailed off.
"We have a duty of care to the ... poor souls who end up being our sources," Calder's aide commented quietly, finishing the sentence for Elison while also being painfully aware of the Warden's presence in the room. "The buyer said the eyes worked perfectly for his needs so the eyes did work."
"Lingering after-effects?" the Warden offered to the table. "We've seen it before."
"Not normally in oracles," Calder mused softly, leaning back again in his chair. "John are you okay with us renting the Rook's habitable rooms while we deal with this? I don't want the boy in Elison's neighbourhood."
"You're welcome to them, as long as you remember Justice and Leo live in them too," John commented calmly. Leo was the second bartender who worked at the Rook. The two boys took it in turns to work shifts and on busy days occasionally worked together. When Elison thought about it, it made sense that the two young men lived on top of the Rook. It wasn't like John liked his boys wandering the streets.
"I'm sure your boys will be accommodating to two more people," Calder nodded.
Elison looked over at his boss who smiled at him darkly. "Sir?" he said cautiously.
"For now Elison, you are going to be that boy's bodyguard slash caretaker. Until we have this all sorted out. It's not like your services will be needed for a while and you requested a new assignment anyway," Calder commented calmly. "I'd go and pack a bag if I were you."