Dakar made polite inquires after the incident on he wall, and received just as polite refusals.  It seemed as if no one wanted to speak of them, these Panthers.  All of Ayane seemed more than willing to discuss it among themselves, but their seemed to be a silent agreement that no one should inform Dakar.  It was shame, and that was clear enough.  Dakar could work around them however.

He knew these Panthers were Ayanean.  That was easy enough to see by their features and to hear in the accent of their voices.  And some how, these outcasts were linked back to the city, yet no one would explain who they were, or why they had taken to speaking of rebellion and revolution outside of the gates of the city. 

         And so Dakar turned back to his ever-reliable source, books. It was customary that all official action be documented in the current scribe’s journal.  These journals were then carefully placed in storage in the Scroll Room, incase of a future need.  These Panthers had been citizens of the city at one point, but then something had changed.  Who ever the scribe was at that time must have documented it. 

Dakar pulled out the past twenty years worth of scrolls, piling them into his arms.  He then dumped them as gently as he could onto one of the wooden tables provided.  Then he sat down and started with he first.  It didn’t take long for him to find the one he wanted.

“…It has been three days since the Disgrace and still the tempers of all of the city are at a high.  Long has it been since such division has interrupted our lives.  The Elders are growing more and more concerned and have expressed their concerns to me.  While no one has yet been officially named, it is becoming clearer and clearer with the passing of who has been responsible for this crime, and what troubles me the most, and concerns the Elders the most, is that of those being implicated, all are from well respected families and of good heritage.  Also they are young, and Elder Sirhc has expressed his belief that these indiscretions are the actions of mere children and should be forgiven.  Elders Rumen and Enote, however, have both expressed their belief that strong action should be taken.  They fear to allow such behavior to go unchecked.  Such a position cannot be easy for Rumen.  For I believe that at least one of the children, Rayal of the house of Nevar, connected to Rumen by his brother, and only just of his majority will prove connect to this.  The boy is dear to Rumen, and he has spoken of him before. 

No official position has been taken by any of the Elders regarding what exactly should be done, though the rumor of emancipation has been spreading as quickly as breaths can be drawn to share it. There I a growing general opinion that for such a crime, emancipation is the only option.  No one has spoken of where these criminals shall go if emancipated, or how their needs shall be met.  The city will never throw them out to fend for themselves.  Elder Rumen has been quite firm in that.  He has declared hat he will not see any of our kindred die, but nothing has been decided as of yet.  The Council is meeting tomorrow and is expected to come to some kind of conclusion at last as to who shall be implicated…”

         “Well.”  Dakar said softly to himself.  “Whatever these men did, they certainly managed to stir up trouble for themselves.  An Ayanean feeling the need to assert the fact that these men would not be left to their deaths.  That or things have changed greatly from the time my mother lived here.”  Dakar smiled to himself at the thought of Ayane ever changing. 

         He set down that scroll and picked up the next, looking for the one that was supposed to before and would explain what these “disgrace” was.  Dakar could only think of a few things that could enrage Ayanean so, and he hoped that it wasn’t what he feared.  Violence was something that was supposed to only be found outside of the city, never within.  But Dakar had a feeling, and instinct that violence wouldn’t be beyond the man ho had spoken this afternoon.  His first impressions were usually trust-worthy and he did not like that one.   The man’s speech hadn’t been overly disturbing. It just called for change.  Dakar knew enough of the world to know change wasn’t always a bad thin, but he also knew enough of the world to know that most likely any change to Ayanean however well intended would not improve it.  Ayanean had survived as long as it had in part because it held true to its values, good values of treasuring life and culture.  And some how, Dakar knew that this Panther leader did not believe in those values.

         Dakar furrowed his brow and shifted through the scrolls once more.  That was interesting.  There seemed to be one missing.  His mind immediately began to imagine one conspiracy after another that could explain it, but he fought them back.  He was in Ayane now.  That kind of thing didn’t happen here.  Here it was different.  There was always a good explanation.  Some one else must be using it.  But no one else was in the room, and the scrolls were never supposed to leave the room once they had been placed there.  Not even Council member could take them out of this room.

         Dakar sighed and looked up at the shelves of scrolls that surrounded him.  He would have to check to be absolutely certain someone didn’t just accidentally misfile it before he talked to Rumen.  He groaned and sat back wearily in his chair and rubbed his eyes.  They hurt from trying to read someone else’s handwriting.  Maybe he was just over-reacting.  Rumen told him he needed to relax, try to fit in more with the others.  Ayane was where he belonged, where his family was from, but the adjusting was harder than he thought it would be.  For years all he wanted to was to see the Garden City from his mother’s stories, and now that he was here, all he did was imagine devious plots to investigate.

         He stood up and stared at the last manuscript he had been reading.  This was over reacting.  These Panthers had existed long before Dakar had come without any other adverse affects on the city other than this “Disgrace.”  Maybe that was why the scroll wasn’t in the achieves like it should be. Maybe the others simply didn’t want to have it as a part of their history.  The Ayaneans had existed for thousands of years under the same management it had always.  No “revolution” was ever going to take place.

         That kind of thing didn’t happen in Ayane, and he was just going to have to adjust to that fact.