When Henry entered the Arboretum he saw some people there, what was to be expected during daytime. After the fight, Henry's rags were dirty and torn, so he probably reminded everyone a homeless person, rather than an escaped prisoner. Henry also tried to look like a beggar - he tried to seem sad, did not look anybody in the eyes. That proved to be a good tactic, because nobody gave him a second glance, so Henry easily crossed the Arboretum, while being gazed upon by the statues of the Gods. The bard entered the Temple District soon enough.
With his injured leg, he started going towards the Temple of the One. He entered it, along with at least a couple of other people. Henry found what he came here for - Tandilwe, the priest of the Temple was here, as she usually was. Henry limped toward her, still trying to act like a beggar. He stopped so he would be in sight of Tandilwe, and then carefully knelt, trying to make an impression that it was very painful, thought the reality was not far from that. He then started mumbling as if praying.
“God! What happened to you? Poor soul!” Henry heard behind him and smiled inside.
“Excuse me, kind lady. I was pushed from stairs by a big fella’ this night. Injured my leg, but I’m alive, so I came to thank the Gods for my life.” Henry said, while still kneeling and facing the shrine, trying to sound like a homeless person with all his acting ability. Tandilwe actually fell for that and not three minutes after she suggested that she could heal Henry’s leg, as she knew Restoration. Henry accepted as humbly as he could. The healing process was not long, as his leg was not hurt too much and Tandilwe really knew Restoration magic well. After she healed the injury, Henry stretched his hand with a septim in it, while shaking it, so it would seem that he was deeply thankful. Well, technically the bard WAS deeply thankful, but he would never do things like that if he was himself. Tandilwe tried to refuse the septim, but Henry put it in her hand, and went towards the exit, while thanking her three more times.
When he left the Temple, he walked towards the Green Emperor’s Way, then through it, and into the Market District, where Henry walked straight before turning right to the alley where the Feed Bag was. Henry quickly entered. The tavern was empty, so no one will notice him, Henry thanked the Gods for that. The owner of the inn, or as most people refer to it “a bar”, greeted me “Put on the feed bag! We’ve lots of… Oh It’s You.“
“Aye, Delos, it’s me. And I’ve come to take back my possessions. They’re upstairs I believe?” – he nodded slowly, though there was some hesitation in the nod.
“You were to die. The guards told me so. If you’re an escaped prisoner, I want no business with you.”
“Just give me back my lute, let me take any of my clothes, my spear and let me wash away the dirt. I’ll pay you for it. I’ll leave all my other belongings to you.” – Henry told him as he started to go towards the stairs. However, Delos made no move, so the bard added a “Please?”.
The innkeeper hesitantly led Henry upstairs and waved to go in. Henry saw from the first moment, why Delos was so hesitant. All his lute strings were broken, but two of them. Its surface seemed somewhat scratched and a painted ornament was rubbed off. All of his bag was unloaded and ransacked, so Delos was obviously looking if Henry had any valuable belongings. There was no need to try and hope to find some spare coins in there for the bard then.
“They tried to destroy your instrument. They said it was a demon’s lute..” – the innkeeper started apologizing, so Henry lifted his hand as to say “Enough”. He quickly found things he looked for in (or around) his travel bag. The bard took some clothes from it and spare lute strings he had, washed his face with water from a bucket, put on the found clothes, took his spear and then looked at the lute. He packed it carefully and said to the inkeep’ “Next time, when a bard plays in this hole of yours, please, try and calm your visitors, when a bunch of drunken idiots try to kill the musician. Or at least speak up for him, when the guards are taking him away.” Henry started going towards the stairs, but stopped and added “Or if you are incapable of all this, at least try to look after his belongings until he is back.” Henry smiled with a most artificial smile possible, before descending the steps. He then put half of the septims he had, making it 10, one the table and left the Feed Bag.
While outside, Henry sighed. He will need to fix his lute sometime later, but the bard still had one job he needed to do – he needed to get back his hat from the Imperial Prison evidence chest. He started slowly going towards the Prison District of the Imperial city, thinking of a way to get it back.