Aspect leaned up against the side of the building and watched the men unloading the airship. The flight here had been long and treacherous. She had to be always on the alert for the mighty floating airships and islands, so as not get hit or run over. But now she was here, safe on solid ground, well as solid as it could be floating above the earth. She had been stalking this ship through the air for the past day or so, following it's journey and sometimes nesting in the top roosts during the night.

In her mouse form she had crept inside the hold and discovered the small chest. Within it was a large stash of raw uncut diamonds. She had run the stones through her paws, watching the light glint and sparkle off of the them. She couldn't take them then, but now she had a golden opportunity. She just had to wait for the men to take it off the ship and she would swoop in and grab it. They wouldn't be able to catch her. She would just have to dive off the side and fly away. She'd be gone in an instant once she got enough air under her wings. 

She stood there and watched the men for a while. She looked around casually and adjusted her coat. Slowly, she made her way down the side of the buildings until she was almost at the dock. She peered around the corner and saw the captain walking down the ramp to the dock. In his arm was the small chest filled with diamonds. She licked her lips and turned back so he couldn't see her. Eagle. She thought and instantly felt the feathers start forming under her skin. Within in seconds, a large sea eagle was perched where the young woman had originally stood. 

With a strong flap of her wings, she flew up and alighted on top of the building behind her. She ruffled her feathers and kept her wings spread wide. She watched the captain walk down the street and head towards the bank a few doors down. When he was close, she saw an opening and dived down. She aimed for his arm, dropped her legs down, and felt the wood beneath her talons. She closed onto it and pushed her large wings downward. 

There was brief resistance and then she yanked the chest out of the surprised man's hands. She smiled to herself as she heard his yelling and cursing. She swiftly dipped towards the edge of the island and folded in her wings. She dropped like a rock and went under the airship towards the ground. When she was far enough away from the island, she started to laugh. She gotten out scot-free with a whole box of diamonds. It was so easy, she was tempted to do it again next time the chance arose. But right now she needed to find someplace safe to count up the precious stones she held in her claws.

Thieves of Revaliir, religious or not, all held some form of connection to Natsumi. Even before her ascension, she had dwelled among their ranks: stealing from the well to do and giving to the poor – namely herself. Yet upon acquiring divinity, she became more than just another thief. Her domain was the lifeblood of larceny. Without it, all thieves would be in chains, shackled by tyrants and paladins alike. Law enforcers loathed this fact, because the Goddess of Keys and Secrets possessed the power to end all crime but chose not to exercise it.
 
Aspect's theft in the flying city of Tarishitar was one preventable action that Natsumi had refused to stop. Opening the chest on that night before the theft, the lone shapeshifter had sent a tingle through to the realm of secrets.  The Goddess's gaze fell upon the mouse in answer to the shift, watching its every move until after the theft had taken place. Then, and only then, however, did she finally pursue the thief that thought she had escaped the captain's grasp.
 
"Nice robbery," the Masked Stranger said from the shadows immediately behind the sea eagle. She had arrived on a whisper, and greeted the thief with a form quite unlike others she had taken in the past. She had no mask this time, and, in fact, did not appear as a she. Rather than her natural form, Natsumi had adorned the figure of a human male: a former employee of the captain that Aspect had just stolen from. He was scraggly: a youngin' with black hair and oily, olive skin. The gray robes he wore were ratty as well, signifying hard times; but that gleam of avarice in his brown eyes was unmistakable.  
 
This was the face of the late Mathew Bellamonte: a former, temporary employee of the captain. He had been caught trying to steal the same chest that Aspect was interested in weeks before her arrival, failing spectacularly in his attempt. His current residence was now in Ki's Locker at the bottom of the Nyella Ocean, and his only possession was a rusty dagger stuck in his chest.
 
Natsumi had brought Mr. Bellamonte back from the dead – in a manner of speaking – for a very particular set of tasks. One, she wanted to scare the boisterous captain for her own amusement; and two, she wanted to hire Aspect to commit a theft that she didn't want her name attached to. The quest was a game, in other words, and she wanted Aspect to be the player. Therefore, the goddess continued with the voice of a dead man.
 
"You're a talented thief, but then the captain is a talented anti-thief." Pointing at the chest that the sea eagle was perched on, the greasy man tried walking slowly toward it. "That chest has an interesting mechanism on it that I, unfortunately, fell prey to long before you came along. It's tied by a modified blood bond spell to the captain himself. Allows him to track when it's been opened or moved. I'd guess he probably also armed it with an additional trap after he tossed me into the sea and left me for dead. Either way, I'd toss it away quickly if I were you. Riches aren't always worth going to jail or being lost at sea, even if they are shiny."
 

Although her sudden appearance and chum-like personality combined were the very definition of startling, Natsumi was telling the truth in this little ploy of hers. The chest was tied to the captain, and he was already chasing after it. He would be on the scene any second, as would battlemages that could force Aspect into human form with dispel magic. The chest wasn't actually trapped, however, even if there was reason to assume it might be. Instead, the captain had relied on a bait and switch strategy to protect his assets. Half of the treasure had been removed and replaced with equally weighted stones; so, whether the eagle escaped the coming ambush or not, she would be gypped out of half of her prize. 

Aspect found a nice perch on the roof of one of the buildings a distance from the floating island on the ground. She had just opened the chest and turned back into human form when she heard the voice behind her. She felt a low growl echo out of the depths of her throat and turned to face the man behind her. Snake. Her body lengthened and she twisted her massive body around the chest protectively. She lifted up her head and flipped open the large hood on her neck. 

She hissed at the man and flicked her tongue at him. Something was off about him, but she couldn't put her finger on it, his scent was strange and yet familiar at the same time. Instead, she listened to what he had to say, her lidless blue eyes staring intently at the man's dull brown ones. This man was a close acquaintance of the captain. When he complimented her ability to steal, she gave him a wicked grin, showing off her row of toxic fangs. 

He started walking towards her and she coiled herself tighter. She felt the poison well up in her hollow fangs and she opened her mouth, prepared to strike if he came any closer. He stopped his approach. Lucky for you. She thought to herself, slightly annoyed. He kept talking, speaking of a blood bond between the captain and the chest. Keeping her unblinking eyes on the man, she slid herself behind the chest and flicked out her tongue. The man was telling the truth, she could taste the captain's blood near the locking mechanism of the chest.

She straightened upright and slithered towards the man, pulling herself up to be of even height. She flicked her tongue of at him, catching the faintest scent of decay. Probably from something dead along the road. She heard the man out before going back to the chest. Quickly, with her tail, she flicked the chest open and looked inside. She bared her teeth at the contents, half jewel and half stone, just like the man said. Angrily, she flipped it on its side with her slithery body and watched the mixed content spill out. 

"Blast it all," she spat. She ruffled her scales and they shimmered like black and red gems. She couldn't believe she'd been this foolish. She should have at least checked the chest again earlier this morning to make sure that the captain hadn't taken anything out. She growled low in her chest and reared back. She was tempted to strike at the chest, but refrained. She would only damage her fangs on the rough wooden box. There wasn't any point. She looked at the grungy sailor behind her. "How soon will the captain be upon us?" She snapped.

Snakes can be deadly, as any sane animal keeper will tell you. As a result, Aspect's choice of form to protect her ill-gotten goods was an appropriate one under normal circumstances. Any sane mortal would back away when confronted with a cobra large enough to stand at their height, especially if that cobra was posturing. Fortunately for Aspect, though, Natsumi was not mortal and would not flee in the face of obvious danger.

The facade of Mathew Bellamonte that the Ice Queen wore remained amused without the slightest hint of fear or hesitation during the shapeshifter's intimidations. Not even the bearing of venomous fangs deterred his smug attitude, but he certainly backed away a little if only to keep Aspect from getting too uneasy. Natsumi wanted her alive, after all, so she kept playing along.

The next instant the Goddess spoke was immediately after her guest opened the decoy chest in order to check for traps.

"Well, I see it's not trapped, but the old rock technique is still cheeky at best," she said once the rocks were exposed to moonlight. She had to admit Aspect was rather bold for not taking any precautions before exposing the captain's trick, but tried to remain in character for what Bellamonte would have actually done in her position rather than give out the comment she held in the forefront of her mind. The recently deceased man was never one to exhibit an overly cautious attitude, and he foolishly assumed anyone who possessed such a personality was a coward. Boldness was his one and only method of operation. Anything less was not worth mentioning.

Appropriate it was, then, that future happenings were about to get very bold. Events spiraled out of control upon initial greetings, and the captain appeared mere seconds after Aspect had inquired about his location. His emergence from an enchanted gate was loud, and included a magical net being launched at the large serpent without so much as a hello.

"There's the thief. Arrest her!" Battle mages from the city guard manifested from portals alongside the captain at this point. He was launching nets specifically made for catching any creature from a modified crossbow, and was already loading the next one in just in case his first attack missed. The fabric of these nets was enchanted with dispel magic in order to nullify polymorphic abilities, and would force Aspect back into human form if she wasn't careful. Luckily for her, however, "Mr. Bellamonte" was here to help.

With a quick cast of magic, Natsumi was able to manifest a stone wall out of the rocks in the chest near her guest. It wasn't a wide barrier that was produced from this spell; more like a spindle that stuck out past the snake and interrupted the oncoming net's path. By creating that column, Natsumi was able to assure the net would latch around the spindle instead of the desired thief; but, as could be expected, it was only a temporary solution.

"Those nets will force you back into human form if you aren't careful," were the next words out of the Goddess's mouth. She quickly looked at Aspect, and then darted toward the edge of the roof without much forewarning. "We should probably retreat, if we're smart. Tarishitar's guard force is good at dealing with magic wielders, and that's you and me at this point."

Aspect watched the man step backwards and squinted him. He was either very stupid or very bold to mess with a snake. She flicked her tongue at him and wrapped herself tighter around the box. He started to speak to her, and she listened, as he had been right in everything he had stated so far. He must have attempted to steal the box too, or he was very good friends with the captain, she thought to herself. She saw a flicker of light out of the corner of her eye and just had time to bare her fangs when the captain walked out of a magical gate near the edge of the building.

He stepped forward and held a large gun-like object in her direction. She growled loudly at him and untangled her massive body from the chest. She started towards him when he pulled the trigger. A large net shot out of the gun and flew towards her. She twisted herself out of the way and it smacked into the ground. Around her she saw other individuals run through gates similar to the entrance the captain had taken to reach her rooftop perch. All of them held the net guns and were firing at her. They yelled and the noise messed with her senses in snake form. 

She shrieked as the noise rattled her skull and shifted into a large dog. Her ears flicked down to her skull and she dug her claws into the roofing. She ran away from the false chest and went towards the man who had warned her about the traps. A shot of rock from the roof suddenly rose out of the ground and intercepted a net coming at her from the rear. The sailor was a magician. How rather odd. He also seemed to have knowledge about the nets being shot at her. He ran towards the edge of the building and she followed him. "Thanks for the tip," she called to him. 

Without any hesitation, she bounded off the edge of the structure. One second she was on sturdy ground, the next, there was only air underneath her paws. She felt gravity take her and started falling towards the ground. She squinted her eyes as she angled herself towards the ground. She howled loudly as the wind whipped past ears. Falcon. Her howl turned into a shriek as her fur turned to feathers, and her legs into wings. At the last second, she spread her wings and stopped her free fall to the earth. She turned her tail and flipped around the buildings, just a few feet above the ground. She smiled. Catch me if you can.

Chaos ensued with the captain's arrival, but was swift to end once the involved thieves fled. Aspect maneuvered around nets before joining Natsumi in running off the roof's edge. However, once the shapeshifter took on the form of a hawk, the Goddess stopped following her. Invisible barriers manifested under her feet once they left the rooftop, and so she adopted the appearance of a sailor walking on air.
 
"He's floating in mid-air," shouted one of the guardsmen as they all stood stupefied! Indeed, flying magic was one of the hardest kinds to master, and those mages who were able to perform such spells were feared for their power. 'How could a lowly sailor use such magic,' they silently asked themselves? Natsumi could have left them in such a state in order to pursue Aspect, but her plan dictated she do otherwise.
 
Pulling down her shirt, the Goddess showed the hole in her chest where her heart should have been. Obviously, she masked its appearance to look more like the dagger wound that the late Mr. Bellamonte had rather than the cylinder it actually was, but the effect was still the same. The guardsmen paused in reverence and allowed the dead man to speak.
 
"Ghosts don't require solid ground, officers," the floating sailor announced. "Your "concerned citizen" can tell you all about how he made me this way with a dagger and a grudge." Rather predictably, the captain shifted uncomfortably now that he had a clear reminder of the face in front of him. He immediately averted his eyes from the fatal gash, and turned toward the lieutenant that had come with him to stop Aspect.
 
"He's lying," the nervous captain pleaded, but the officer didn't listen. Lieutenant Rudgar quickly turned on the captain and loosed one of the magic-nullifying nets onto him, then instructed his officers to surround the suspicious character.

"Well, who are we going to believe," the uniformed man asked? "The man who is clearly dead and says you killed him, or the man who gets shifty every time he looks at a ghost? We'll get you both down at the station to find out which it is." From those words, it was obvious that Rudgar also wanted to capture Natsumi, but she was already gone by the time the captain had been detained. She vanished into thin air with but a wisp of magic, and, in doing so, sent the guardsmen into a panic. Even now, Rudgar was still shouting at the top of his lungs, despite the fact that neither of the suspects were in earshot anymore. "Damn it all! I don't care if you have to scour the entire city! Find them!
 
Meanwhile, Natsumi appeared in an alleyway a few hundred meters ahead of Aspect. She signaled the shapeshifter from this location, and sent out a telepathic map in order to guide the thief to her.  Her disguise remained during this entire transition, especially since the plan was not yet foiled.
 

~Though your treasure is lost,~ the crafty Goddess began in the grungy sailor's voice,  ~I may yet make you rich. Meet me in the alleyway I have shown you, and I will share with you the heist I had planned before the captain permanently ended my shenanigans. I assure you, the prize is worth far more than a small chest of diamonds.~

Aspect flipped and dodged through the crowded streets, gaining mass amounts of ground on the guards. She slipped under a cloth in the market and flicked her tail feathers down. She glided several feet over the ground, enjoying the freedom and the rush of being chased. She had gone quite a ways when she looked back to see if the sailor was still with her. She wasn't surprised when she didn't see him and perched on a high building to look for him. After a while, she didn't see him and flew back down to the ground.

She was flying low through the market when she heard a clear voice enter her head. It was the sailor's voice. A telepathic? She thought. They were few and far between and she wouldn't have expected the man to be so powerful. She listened to his voice and felt herself turn and follow his directions. He spoke of treasure, more valuable than what she had stolen from the captain. He hadn't been wrong in his assumptions about the previous chest and she wasn't hesitant to try again, under his advice.

She flapped her wings and went swiftly through the streets. She came close to the alley the sailor spoke about and slowed her pace. She glanced around cautiously before flying towards it. The tight space would make flying and maneuvering difficult, and she had no desire to get trapped in the small area if she could help it. If she changed into the wrong form in here, she could very well make both buildings collapse on top of them. 

She caught a glimpse of metal out of the corner of her eye and heard a shot. The shiny net flew towards her and registered only seconds too late for her to get out of the way. It closed on her small body, trapping her wings to her sides. She felt body drop towards the ground as she was forcibly changed back into human form. She braced herself and covered her head with her hands as she collided with a shipping crate next to the entrance to the alley. 

Her body ached from the collision with the now shattered crate, as she struggled against the net. It was very strong and she wasn't able to rip the threads or break the bonds. She shrieked and thrashed about wildly. The guards were quick to come upon her and she spit at them. One gave her a rough kick in the side and she swore loudly, mostly out of anger. How could she be so foolish, she knew this was a trap. The men grabbed the net and hoisted it up on their shoulders, the net keeping her from moving. She couldn't even claw at them as they carried her away. 

Natsumi had been at odds with the Tarishitar guardsmen since before her ascension, and was quite accustomed to exchanging nose tweaks with them by the time Aspect came along. Before that point, the act had been a game for the fox, never truly hindering her plans beyond simple readjustments. Now that she was a deity, however, their presence was turning into a nuisance, especially once they kidnapped her pawn.
 
While still under the guise of Mr. Bellamonte, the young fox sensed a disturbance in her telepathic link to the shapeshifter. Someone was eavesdropping, and they were swift to jam the signal once the woman's map to the alley was sent.
 
'So they're trying for an ambush,' Natsumi thought once her telepathy was cut. The guardsmen were quick to appear in her vicinity, and equally so in their deployment of the nets. Contrary to their expectations, though, the grimy sailor was gone before the nets could ensnare him. They grasped at nothing but air, crumbling into a pile on the cobblestone floor. Tarishitar's men at arms would not even touch the Goddess of Secrets on this day, but they were, unfortunately, able to capture Aspect. Her arrival came before Natsumi could issue a warning, and the creature was easily captured.
 
"Well done, men," the lieutenant from before iterated while appearing from the darkness. He stared down at the ensnared woman, a look of smugness adorning his face, and then waited for one of his men to come forward.
 
"Lieutenant," the uniformed officer said while running out from the alley. "We failed to capture the ghostly sailor. We followed his telepathic message, like you instructed us, but he escaped before we could catch him. He saw us coming a mile away, like he had eyes in the back of his head."
 
"No matter." Rudgar grunted with disgust. "He's slippery, but he definitely slipped up by using telepathy and thinking we weren't listening. If he underestimates us again, we'll be waiting. In the meantime, take the thief to her cell." All guardsmen present shouted in agreement, affirming their commander's summation. They took Aspect to the dungeon after that, sealing her in a cell with anti-magical wards to prevent her shapeshifting. Two guards were stationed in front at all times, but both were incapacitated no more than 10 minutes after the prisoner had been secured.
 

"You lot are quite the nuisance," the grungy sailor murmured from the shadows once the lieutenant was gone. Frightened, the watching guards brandished their spears toward the approaching silhouette of a man. Their eyelids grew heavy the moment their gaze met the encroacher's, however, and they fell to the floor in deep slumber before they even had a chance to swing. "Here I am, just trying to go back to sleep; and you and your captain keep getting in my way." Walking in front of the cage finally, Mr. Bellamonte turned to Aspect with key ring in hand. His expression was clearly one of disinterest, if not downright irritation. Either way, he was not pleased to be down in the dank stone of Tarishitar's, easternmost dungeon. "You may think otherwise, but I had no intention of getting you locked up in here. The magic I use is not my own, so I am not accustomed to its inner workings or any tracking mechanisms. Tonight was the first time I used telepathy, and it was only a clear transmission because of the person that allows me to be here and not stuck in Davy Jones' locker. I'll let you out, of course, so long as you agree to help me out on one last heist. You'll get to keep all the jewels, if you agree, because only the deed's completion is important to me."

Aspect kicked and squirmed in the net and wasn't able to shift forms or break the bonds of the netting. She couldn't move much and clawed frantically at the ropes with her nails, to no avail. She arched her spine, shifting her weight, but the men didn't let go and merely adjusted their grip. She snarled at them. "Let me out!" She shrieked. "Let me go!" She tried to bite one of the men's fingers and was swiftly smacked across the face. She closed her mouth and proceeded to growl low in her throat.

She watched as the surroundings changed. The bright streets turned into a large shadowed building and the soldiers slipped her struggling body through a side door. The light from outside faded as they traversed through a labyrinth of dark hallways. She struggled to keep track of where they were going as the got deeper into the depths of the structure. She watched the walls get change into bricks and glimpsed a few chains on the walls. She caught the strong scent of musk, mildew and dirt, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. They appeared to be in a dungeon of sorts, far below the surface of the earth. 

The guards stopped in front of a large barred cell in a corner of a small room. They threw her body inside and slammed the door shut. She couldn't help but yelp as her side collided with the hard ground. She crept out from under the net as she felt bruises start to appear on her side and her elbow. She crawled across the wet floor towards the bars, urging herself desperately to change shape. She yelled a stream of curses when she realized she was still under the magic spell that stopped her ability to shift. 

She yelled and lunged for the caged door and reached her hands through the bars. She grabbed at the men on the outside and they moved out of her reach. She slammed her face against the bars and pushed her mouth through the gap, baring her teeth. She snapped her jaws and tried to chew at the metal, then used her hands. She realized the futility of this and walked to the back of her cell. She turned and sprinted towards the doors and rammed her shoulder into door. 

She felt a pain in her side and fell against the bars. She heard the guards laughing at her and she growled quietly while rubbing her aching limb. She closed her eyes and rested against the door as she looked around her cell for another way to escape. She heard two loud thumps and looked up at guards, who now laid passed out on the floor. The ghostly spectre of the sailor stood above them. She lifted her head and stood up even with the sailors gaze. She listened to his proposition. A low rumble echoed in her chest, before she nodded at him. "Let me out of her, and I will do as you ask."

Grumbling isn't necessarily a confidence building gesture when employing a thief, but, luckily for Aspect, Natsumi was no ordinary employer. When shapeshifter expressed her wordless discontent, the woman wearing a man's form just sighed and started unlocking the door anyway.
 
"That'll have to do," she began while sorting through the keys on the ring she stole to find the right one. "I can't guarantee whether or not you're lying to me or if you won't simply leave when things get rough, but better I have a chance than no chance at all." Natsumi eventually found the right key, and promptly opened the cage so Aspect could get out. She half expected the shapeshifter to flee immediately afterward, but whether or not that would happen remained to be seen. "Now, before the guards get wise to your escape, let's regroup in a city with less heat. Follow me to Egjora. I'll treat you to a meal while I explain the heist."
 
A gate portal opened in the hall just outside the dingy cell, glowing dark purple and showing a vision of the Beryl Moon Guesthouse in Egjora. Natsumi stepped through the construct while maintaining her disguise, and kept the portal open behind her for her guest to follow.
 
This choice of inn may have seemed perplexing to any thief familiar with the Duchy, considering that it was a well known guard hotspot. However, that was not actually where Natsumi was taking Aspect. Unbeknownst to the law-abiding citizens of the ultimately dreary town, there was another establishment hidden underneath the Beryl Moon. Some enterprising individuals had created a speakeasy below the cellar of the actual inn: a place that was only accessible if you knew the code. Natsumi did, and would show Aspect when/if she arrived.
 

Until such a time, the deity playing dead sailor lingered in the shadows. She positioned her portal's exit so that it wasn't visible from the main street, and stood next to it while summoning a red apple to her hand. That delicious treat would occupy her time even after Aspect arrived.