Asfadel married late by the standards of D`eshkar. He'd been too busy expanding the business he had inherited from his father, and for years he had paid more attention to matters of the purse than to that of the heart. But one day as he sat talking with another merchant, he looked at the sons the other man had brought to learn about the art of negotiating, and realized there was none of his own to carry on when he had gone.

He attacked the problem as he might have a business matter. He made a list of what he expected in a wife. Besides practicality and intelligence, he also added beauty, for his wife should reflect his hard-won status as a very wealthy man. He gave the list to his assistant, Jawl, telling him to find a woman of marriageable age that matched his specifications, and then went back to managing his affairs. Half a moon passed, and then Jawl reported he had found the woman that was all Asfadel could ever wish for in a wife.

Her name was Radeen, the only child of a wool merchant, and when Asfadel visited her family to see her for himself, he felt feelings he had never felt before. She was witty, and well spoken, and his breath caught in his throat when she laughed at his awkward jests. In short, he fell in love with at first sight. He pressed his suit, a marriage contract was made, and a moon later, Afadel and Radeen were wed in ceremonies that befit a man of his station.

A year later, Radeen bore him his son, who she named Juwayn. All was as it should be in Asfadel's life: a thriving business, a lovely wife, a son to pass his life's work on to when he sought the Gates of Paradise. All was well.

Except…
Except that sometimes Asfadel's dealings required him to travel, and one day when he returned to D`eshkar, he watched Jawl pass Radeen, and it seemed to the merchant that his wife looked at the younger man in a way she'd never had at him. He observed his wife and his assistant closely over the next days, his suspicions growing by the hour. But he needed proof, and he had no means of obtaining it. All these years, Jawl had been his eyes and ears. He had none to spy upon his spy.

And so, one day, he went to Seftal's.

*******

"I need something that will allow me to watch someone quietly"

"Sandals of Silence, 10 gold pieces." Seftal gestured toward the item hanging on a wall.

"No, no! I don't want to be seen! Don't you have any spell that could do that for me?"

Seftal nodded reluctantly. "We have a Cloak of Light presently in stock. It renders the wearer invisible. But, Honored Asfadel, I must tell you it is not to be used…er…lightly."

"Let me see it. At once!" He waited as Seftal went to his stockroom at the rear of the shop, then returned with a small wooden chest in his hands. The dealer in magics opened the lid and Asfadel glanced inside. An ordinary looking cloak lay folded neatly before him. "How does it work?"

"You put it on and say "pass through" which activates the spell woven into the fabric. The Cloak is fifty gold. Steep I know but an old blind witch in a cave in the Black Mountains weaves them and-"

Asfadel slapped five ten-gold pieces on the countertop, and left Seftal's Shop with the wooden chest clutched under his under his arm. Behind him, Seftal called out some warning, but he paid it no heed.

That afternoon, he dawned the cloak and uttered the words "pass through", and then stood before a mirror. He cast no reflection; the Cloak did indeed make him invisible. For the next few days, when he had the chance, Asfadel put on the Cloak and followed Radeen about the house. Nothing she did could be seen as unfaithful, and the merchant began to think perhaps he was mistaken. He decided upon a final test. He would announce another business trip, and then sneak back, and using the Cloak would see if his wife was faithful.

*******

Radeen, for her part, had her suspicions as well. The past few days, it seemed to her that she felt someone watching her, yet there was no one else about. Worse yet, she could have sworn she'd heard that annoying little wheeze of breath that old Asfadel had. Bad enough she must hear it whenever he lay beside her at night, but now the sound followed her wherever she went. Whatever it was, she went on as she usually did whenever her husband was home, overseeing the daily life of the household, and leaving a particular flowerpot sitting in the bedroom window as a signal for Jawl to stay away. But as the days past, she became more and more convinced that somehow, Asfadel was having her watched.

"He's leaving." Jawl whispered to her as they passed in a hallway, a note of hope in that statement. But she made to move to answer, merely walked on by him. And the day that Asfadel rode off, she left the plant sitting where it was, and busied herself working about the kitchen. Then at last she retired for the night, taking a small dish with her. She closed the door behind her, sprinkled what the dish held over the bedroom floor, and sat alone by candlelight to wait.

*******

Asfadel returned to his house hidden in shadows, not donning the Cloak until he stood a few yards outside its doors. After putting it on, he slipped by a guard into the house and up the stairs to the bedroom. He stopped to catch his breath, then entered. Radeen was sitting atop their bed, clad in a nightgown, and as he took a few more steps into the room, she looked at the floor. His gaze followed hers.

Spread all about the bedroom floor was baking flour, and there, plainly visible, were his footprints.

Radeen looked up, then smiled. "Hello, Asfadel."
Then she screamed.

*******

For the next few weeks, all D`eshkar was abuzz with the sad tale of Asfadel and Radeen., of how the jealous merchant had spied upon his faithful wife with a cloak of invisibility, and how the clever woman, fearing an intruder, had set a trap that sadly had proven very effective. Her screams had summoned the guards, and seeing only footsteps on the floor, they had swung their swords blindly about until blood had mingled with the flour.

Death by misadventure, ruled the magistrates.

Radeen spent the traditional year in mourning, and another year after wed Jawl, the man who had faithfully served Asfadel and managed the widow's business in her time of grief.

The Cloak of Light was returned to Seftal, who displayed it for sometime in a window and entertained customers with the whole sorry tale. And each time, he ended with the warning to prospective buyers:

It is often better to be seen and not heard then heard and not seen.