Four of Hearts

Keywords - Upright: delivery with a bonus, a secret's dividend  ·  Inverted: contraband in hand, a gift that names you

Upright

The intelligence arrived and something extra was tucked inside that nobody expected. More than was asked for, delivered cleanly.

The handoff goes clean, and there is more in the parcel than the manifest promised. Someone has trusted you with an extra thing - or used you to move it. Either way it is in your hands now, and it is worth something: information, leverage, a key to a door you had not thought to try.

Inverted

The extra was not a gift; it was a transfer of risk. Whatever rode along in the package is the kind of thing people search for, and the search ends wherever it rests. You can pass it on, destroy it, or keep it - each choice is a side taken. Deciding quickly matters more than deciding well.

In Play

Upright. Cass delivers the sealed letters and finds a second seal inside - the merchant's private cipher key, hers to copy before it moves on.

Inverted. Tucked under the letters is a signet ring reported stolen from a magistrate's house - and the magistrate's men are already paying for the names of couriers.