The constable was soon joined by his superior, Captain Werner Stalhadt. A stern man with an aquiline nose and shortly trimmed hair, he looked more like a petty naval officer than a defender of civil tranquility. Compared to him, the constables looked like rabble they drafted in at the last minute to cover a shortage of manpower. The kind you'd see hovering about the taverns and pubhouses with a pint of ale, only to show up snoring away in a horse trough. The three of them were all towed along for further questioning back at the captain of the guard's office, which happened to be on the way past the prestigious bank. Efrain stubbornly insisted on finishing his coffee before being pulled away. Duchy be cursed if he was forced to abandon his drink after paying for it! The two burglars in sheep's clothing were oddly quiet during their solemn march, throwing anxious furtive glances at each other. The Rosenite was more peeved than anything, having what might have been an uneventful day soured before he could even begin.

When they turned onto the main street and guard captain's office came into view, a panic took hold of the Chadwicks and the husband began running his mouth. "N-now look here sirs, I'm telling you this is all a big misunderstanding! Ruthie and I were just doing our duty as upstanding folk! I mean what kind of person keeps a bunch of needles around like that?! Isn't that right, sweetie-pie?" The wife took a lacy handkerchief out of her handbag and dabbed the corners of her eyes furiously, sniffling. She nodded, while making herself look as pitiful a she could. Throwing a few sorrowful looks the constables' way, it was like she was timing the batting of her heavily curled eyelashes. Efrain rolled his eyes as he stuffed the remaining morsel of the croissant sandwich into his mouth. "Oh can it you pinstriped popinjay. I'm not letting either of you two out of my sight until the guards give you a thorough once-over. How should I know if you don't have any of my personal effects still on your person?" Mrs. Chadwick gasped in offense, placing a gloved hand on her velvet and black lace bodice. "Why you–you slimy snake! How dare you accuse us of such a thing?" Without missing a beat he remarked dryly, "Snakes aren't slimy, dear madam–are you sure you're not talking about slugs?"

"Quiet, both of you!" The boar-like guard holding Efrain bellowed, shoving the apothecary to emphasize his point. "If you got any complaints, bring 'em to the judge!" Nobody said a word after Captain Stalhadt followed up the command from his inferior officer with a hawk-like glare. In silence they passed by the famous Byen Statskassen bank. The three in custody gave their glances at the impressive yet flamboyantly overdone piece of architecture. The Chadwicks looked intrigued, but kept their curiosity in check. Efrain gave a dismissive huff. Nothing to write home about. And then–the explosion!

It was completely unexpected, throwing the normally unflappable young man off guard. His first instinct was to drop to the ground, but the guard who had held his hands behind his back was not as fortunate. Everyone's reaction was to duck, then screams and cries of terror from the townsfolk gave way to confusion. Captain Stalhadt had gotten down and turned to see one of the duchy's symbols of prosperity up in flames, the meticulously carved stonework blasted. The stone letters spelling out the bank's lengthy title was missing most of its parts. In the brief moment of pandemonium Mr. and Mrs. Chadwick broke free and made a break for it; the captain catching one last glimpse of the pair before the crowd got in the way. The man cursed vehemently as he got back on his feet, noting Efrain was still present. The lout of a constable was out cold with a nasty bump forming on the side of his head.

"Kleishner, get yourself off the ground!" The remaining member of the three supposed guilty parties rolled over and grabbed the man's wrist, then held a hand before Kleishner's mouth and nose. "Don't bother, he's out cold. A concussion from the looks of it. Give him a few hours then try again." The grim-faced guard captain let out a sigh in exasperation. Of all the things to happen, having two potential criminals escape before they were even interrogated was the last thing he wanted to mar his spotless record. "First Gusteau turns up dead, now this!" The name rang a bell for Efrain, and he recalled that being in the few concrete details from the morning papers. As much as he sympathized with the man, this was a prime opportunity to bargain. "You mean the man reported dead in the duchy's herald?" The guard captain glared in frustration. "Yes, yes! What of it?" "How did he die?" Efrain already knew the answer to his question judging by the look on Stalhadt's face. "I'll wager you haven't the foggiest idea?"

Having worked his way up the ranks, Stalhadt was no fool. "What do you want?" Efrain dusted off his clothes and faced the guard captain. "I suppose I could lend a hand with your investigation…but only if you agree that there won't be any 'records' of any misdemeanors related to me in your books–ever. I am by trade a doctor, after all." Stalhadt narrowed his eyes, furrowing his brow. "And why should I be interested?" Efrain casually pushed away a stone shard with his toe. "Think of it this way Sir Captain; I have no connections with any of the merchant families in the duchy. Now if you were to call a local coroner to do the examination, they could very easily be bought to protect a family's personal interests. That would delay progress on resolving the case at hand, making your job much more difficult. And the last thing the duchy wants is for her citizens to lose trust in their local law enforcement. But if you allow me, an complete outsider to examine the corpse, wouldn't there be a far lower chance of medical bias?" 

Stalhadt mulled over the thought for several minutes. Considering his options and possible impact on his professional performance, he was willing to turn a blind eye just this once. "Alright, you have yourself a deal. But, I promise to uphold my end only for this particular incident." Clapping, Efrain took the man's hand in a firm handshake. "Splendid! Allow me to remind you that this whole murder fiasco is your problem, and not mine. Now, how about a trip to the morgue? Let me gather my instruments and we'll get started." 

Aspect shook hands with the small rabbit woman, at least she would call it shaking hands. It appeared she was unfamiliar with the gesture, shown through her slow and overly exaggerated movements. She couldn't help but give her a half smile and was glad she had at least attempted the greeting. More often than not others had simply not acknowledged her approach and disregarded her. It was a nice change. "You aren't from around here, are you, Rabbit?" She chuckled lightly, but still asked with sincerity. "Doesn't matter, we were all strangers to this place at least once. It's nice to meet you, Robin."

She crossed her arms casually and leaned against the wall, careful to avoid disturbing any of the hanging items or those of which sitting delicately on shelves. There couldn't be any evidence that they were up here. "Technically, I could be considered a mercenary, money is nice compensation for work done at any time. However, I'm just a naturally curious sort, money itself has no real value to me. I can catch, steal, or get food from almost anyone and I never have to worry about clothes, as furs are just as good as any coat a person can make. I appreciate the mystery of the circumstances, and that of which is what lured me into this case."

"As far as a partnership goes, I can adapt either way. I enjoy having a companion to talk to, but I'm just as comfortable going alone. You seem like an interesting sort and have caught my interest. I wouldn't be against your company. You have proven to be rather careful and intelligent. Two traits I can definitely appreciate. And I will make a note about the loud noises, I forgot you guys have more sensitive ears than most."  She saw Robin make a gesture to her armor, creating a blue light while pulling what seemed to be an hourglass out of her collarbone. She bit back a comment regarding that pockets existed for a reason, even though she found it painfully appropriate. Quietly and cautiously, so as not to alarm the smaller woman, she approached from the side, looking over her shoulder at the small item. 

It was unlike any hourglass she'd ever seen before. It was small, small enough to sit perfectly in the Rabbit's hand, but it gave off a presence of extreme power unfamiliar to her. She had just enough time to ask, "The building's past?" before they and everything near them was sucked into the hourglass. Suddenly it was dark, even though it was the middle of the day as if someone had just decided to turn off the light. It put her on edge, the magic was incredibly powerful and she was hesitant to shift forms in this mirror world. She hung close to the Rabbit, as they watched who could only be the deceased Lumerre talk with another young man. 

They listened closely to what they were saying, initially confused, she quickly grasped the conversation at hand. It was a wicked plot and she felt herself growl deep in her chest. These were nasty people with black souls and horrible intentions to destroy the reputation of an entire line of people. At one point they stood and walked down the steps, searching eagerly for the source of the noise they had heard below. Robin walked after them, and after deciding she didn't want to be alone in a dreamscape not of her design, she followed quickly after her. She arrived just as the men were fighting with a smaller figure in the confines of the shop. It was this smaller figure that threw out webs unlike any she had seen before, trapping men in cocoons or slamming them against the wall.

It made sense now, the unusual nature of the material, it was from magical means, something she hadn't even considered. The elf girl, as she was later revealed, fled out the door shortly before large men in black cloaks appeared in the shop. These were the individuals that ransacked and raided the entire shop. The webs were not connected to the shop's destruction. It was while these men were taking items that the vision stopped, and she and Robin were put back into their timeline. The sun was almost blinding and shielded her eyes momentarily. She had time for a brief, "What was that?" before she felt a rumbling through the floorboards. She rushed to the window and looked out as a column of smoke rose into the air from another part of town. "A building's on fire?!"

The sounds of the explosion and the resulting panic it produced were actually loud enough to be heard all the way from Lumerre’s shop the moment they occured. Someone had used a great amount of magical power mixed with volatile substances to detonate an explosion large enough to the level the face of a bank building. The magnitude of the earthquake it produced made that fact abundantly clear, as did the potent smell of alcohol that eventually lingered in the air as the smoke from the resulting fires proliferated across the sky. If ever there was a declaration of war against the Gyndnegle’s, that was it; and who knew what would come now that a potential shadow conflict had been touched off between the richest merchant families in all the seas.

An Impromptu Alliance? Part 2

Back at Lumerre’s proper, however, – and sometime before the Gyndnegle’s First Branch went up in flames – Robin and Aspect were busy sorting out the details of their relationship. Despite the rather talkative nature of the latter of these two, however, the rabbit herself was noticeably quiet during the initial moments of their exchange. She respectfully listened to Aspect, taking note of her similarities to me in the curiosity department and acknowledging her desire for a partnership, but she also largely just stared in an almost disinterested manner while her would-be companion monologued.

Especially in regard to the question about her origin that Aspect led with, Robin didn’t feel the need to actually specify a response. Her accent was more than enough to determine her Ataiyan roots for anyone who had above average travelling experience – something especially common in mercenaries those days. She also wasn’t in the habit of divulging personal details to complete strangers – let alone strangers that she may or may not ever meet again. The one time she did noticeably change her expression in front of Aspect was, in fact, when the shapeshifter complimented her, at which point her eyes squinted ever so slightly to reveal that she was grinning underneath her mask.

Even if the woman in front of her had only been a passerby instead of a potential ally, my wife loved compliments from anyone. They fueled her self-esteem, especially when they were about her intelligence; because most people just paid attention to her strength and/or her looks to tiring effect. In this way, Aspect gained some brownie points with Robin; although seemingly not enough to garner answers to her questions about the hourglass before it took her on a trip through time.

After that escapade, however, my bunbun did remember the small flattery she had received. She was more than willing to reveal to her “partner” what her previously praised intelligence was telling her now, and so she did.

“It’s an hourglass of deadtime,” she said softly while holding up the item that Aspect was so curious about. “They were made many years ago during the Deadtime crisis, and allow the user to view the past of an area or person for up to an hour at a time. Users and company see exactly what happened during that chosen hour as if they were actually there, but unlike the subjects in the vision they cannot affect the events within. It’s a very useful item I always bring with me whenever I need to do some work that… well that I need to know what happened before I arrived.” The bank exploded right at that moment, triggering Aspect to shout out incredulously as the flames rose in the distance. Thankfully the guards downstairs were already leaving in a hurry, cordoning off Lumerre’s shop as they left, so they weren’t able to hear the shapeshifter’s comment or even discern that they were hearing noises coming from inside the building. Rather, those louts, along with the pudgy clerk that commanded them, rushed off to contain the situation on the other side of town that was already slipping through their fingers; leaving Robin and Aspect time to actually have a longer conversation without the added pressure of being discovered.

“Sounds like an explosion on the other side of town,” my honey bun said to start that period off, now turning to see the smoke on the horizon. “From what I can hear outside, someone blew up a new branch building to what might as well be the national bank of Egjora. Sounds like a terrorist attack.” Subconsciously, Robin tugged on the heartstring she always kept tied between us right then. She struggled to keep her breath steady, now slowly realizing the full extent of what was going on in that vision of hers and fearing that she may need my help in the end. “I’m having second thoughts about this contract,” she finally said while adopting a nervous expression in front of her partner of circumstance. “I don’t like politics, and I have a sickly feeling that we’re about to be tossed into the Menomori of them if we continue with this contract; but…” Pausing, Robin suddenly recalled the girl from her vision, and decided to voice her gut feeling aloud. “That girl didn’t look like a normal thief. She looked homeless. She was scared, and I want to know why.”

Indeed, the appearance of the “spider thief” in Robin’s vision was a far cry from what she had originally imagined when she read that contract outside the guesthouse. She was used to bandits, people with faces and souls only a mother could love; people who were easy to apprehend and send off to a likely grisly end without a crisis of conscience. Yet this girl was not among that group. She was clearly not trained in the art of burglary, and she was dirty like someone who lived on the street. What’s more, she was mainly going for anything warm just after a storm had hit Egjora 5 days prior. She could have very likely just been desperate, which would fully explain the list of items she had stolen thus far; and that realization raised a bunch of red flags in Robin’s mind.

Was she pursuing a homeless person? Perhaps an outcast? And was the reward really worth it if she was potentially punishing someone just trying to survive the next cold night? If anything, Robin wanted to see the contract through to the end just to find out the truth about this young, seemingly harmless girl who may have been forced into a life of crime by her circumstances. One thing was for certain, though: whatever Robin decided to do upon meeting that individual would be determined by nothing other than her conscience, even if her final decision set her at odds with the very people she was originally working for. And the fact that such a decision could be wrong was why she reached out to me in the north.

Down at the morgue, the apothecary entered the room where the body was being temporarily kept. Captain Stalhadt ordered for the late Lumerre to be taken out onto a table for examination, having informed the appropriate staff beforehand. Strapping on a plague doctor's mask, he rolled up his sleeves, then washed his hands in a basin of hot water and lather. Pulling on a pair of clean gloves, he opened his case of medical tools and began his work with professional punctuality and precision. "Heisei, begin recording." At his behest a small blue Ataiyan dragon emerged out from his overcoat with quill and book in claws. Captain Stalhadt furrowed his brow. "What's with the mask?" "Just a basic medical practitioner's precaution." Efrain answered curtly. "On the off chance that the dearly departed might have died from something contagious, I won't be next on the list of victims." Taking out a thin metal rod, he used it to carefully move away hair and clothing as he inspected the corpse. 

The first glance at the body showed very little signs of injury–some shallow scratches and scrapes here and there, but nothing lethal. No noticeable bruising to hint at a death by impact, nor stab wounds or marks of strangulation. Setting his rod down, he spoke for his dragon assistant to hear: "No obvious signs of a violent death, a more detailed inspection is in order. Disrobing the cadaver will now commence." While the guard captain and a few employees of the local morgue observed, he began systematically stripping the body naked. Each piece of clothing that was removed was turned about for possible traces that would shed light on the cause of the dead man's demise, then set aside on an empty table. The lack of blood or anything aside from dirt was puzzling, and he was beginning to narrow down his assumptions.

When Gusteau's lifeless body was half-undressed, Efrain noticed a peculiar set of puncture wounds on the man's neck. They were impossible to miss–as the area around the two holes were red and inflamed like a bad rash. "Interesting…" Stalhadt came over and saw the reddened patch. "Bite wounds. A rather unusual way to kill a man, but not unexpected. The assassin certainly had a flair for the dramatic."  Killing with venomous animals was one of the oldest techniques in the books, but rather petty. Owning an exotic creature and training it for the sole purpose of murder was a highly inefficient method from Efrain's point of view. First you would have to bring said creature within biting distance, which required an element of surprise and incredible luck to catch their target with an exposed neck. He was happy to note that the puncture wounds were the wrong shape for needles, something he made sure to address to all who were present. Stalhadt was an obstinate man of many doubts, something that would be an excellent trait for a man navigating the ranks of workplace politics to have, but a terrible flaw for a discerning member of law enforcement. The man was not so easily convinced that the holes couldn't be made by needles dipped in poison.

"And just what makes you so sure that he couldn't have been stabbed with something coated in poison?" The apothecary answered his doubts with a rebuttal of his own: "The shape of the holes, obviously. A bite would produce punctures with uneven shape and edges, accommodating for an angled entry breaking through the skin. Stab wounds from a standard stiletto dagger or needle would be rounded and smoother. The wounds themselves are not very deep, so loss of blood would not have been an issue." What was strange was the odd rash around the bite however. "The bite's fairly normal, but this rash doesn't make any sense." Taking off his mask, he sat down and stared at the body as he racked his brain for answers. "How so?" One of the morgue workers asked. Leaning back as he peeled off his gloves, Efrain explained. "The symptoms don't match with a snake bite; no ballooned swelling around the wound. The rash is only constrained around the bite area, meaning he would have died very shortly after receiving it. Cease of biological functions limiting the reaction, naturally." Washing his hands in the lukewarm soap water, he dried them on a towel and pulled out a book. Flipping through the pages he frowned as he skimmed the contents. "You know, what that reminds me of…no that's impossible." 

As he grumbled to himself Captain Stalhadt impatiently interrupted. "Of what? Speak, man! Don't leave us grasping in the dark here!" Heisei cleared his throat and shushed the man, earning a glare and moment of silence. Slamming his book shut, Efrain sighed in exasperation. "The physical symptoms look uncannily similar to an acute allergic reaction. Now unless the man had a severe allergy to bees, I have no idea what could possibly trigger a rash like that. And I am absolutely sure that wasps weren't what killed him. Did the man have any allergies or sensitivities?" Stalhadt was quick on the reply: "No, not that I've heard of. If he did, then he hid it quite well." That brought them all back to square one. Pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance, the other idea Efrain had was just him going out on a limb. "There is another possible cause of that sort of rash forming after a bite, but that's hardly lethal." "And that is?" Everyone looked at him expectantly. Rubbing his face with his hands, he reluctantly replied."A bite from a spider–the common variety."

"Now before you all start jumping to conclusions, I'll have you know that it is completely impossible to die from a common garden spider. A few days to weeks of discomfort and skin discoloration yes, but dying? No. To start, the amount of venom given by those arachnids is incredibly low. I suppose hypothetically injecting a massive quantity of said venom might put someone into a state of shock, but that would take several hundreds of spiders." Milking that many spiders for to extract that hypothetical dose was completely beyond the realm of logic, as you'd have to drain them dry of all their fluids–killing them as well.  

Aspected leaned in slightly to get a better look at the small hourglass that Robin held in her hand. She had never seen the likes of it before, and she doubted she'd probably ever see one again, at least in this lifetime. She was intrigued by the little device and was disappointed when the explosion occurred and Robin put it back for safe keeping. She hurried to the window and looked out. A column of smoke was rising steadily from the other side of the city. She saw the rabbit tense up, probably focusing its sharp hearing on the source of the commotion. She glanced back to the rabbit as she spoke.

A terrorist attack? In the city of Egjora? Of all the places, this was the last that Aspect would have thought really any terrorism would occur. The city itself was rather opposed to violence. She heard Robin's breath quicken slightly and looked at her. The rabbit suddenly looked nervous and unconfident, quite the unlike the little warrior she'd met before. The change was a surprise to her. She felt herself change unconsciously into that of an Epicyon, a large extinct wolf-bear creature. She walked up to the rabbit, her heavy head slightly higher than her waist. She looked up at the anxious rabbit, a determined look on her face. 

"Don't be afraid, Rabbit," she said quietly. "We can't control our fates, we can only control our reactions. We entered this contract in good faith. Yes, we agree to find the perpetrator, the elf with silk. However. I believe we can take advantage of a particular loophole in the contract, as it doesn't explicitly say who the proper authorities are in each case. We will find this girl and we will find out her motives for the damage to this store. Only after we find out more from her, will we determine our course of action and who the proper authorities should be."

She was quiet for a moment, then set her heavy head in the woman's hands. "Don't be scared. Rabbits are not hunters or predators by any means, but you are a powerful warrior just the same." She gave her a half smile before stepping back and heading towards the door. She glanced back, her bright blue eyes sparkling as she flicked her small pointed ears forward. "Come on, she couldn't have gotten too far since last night." Her claws clicked on the wooden floor, but fortunately, the guards had all run over towards the explosion on the other side of the city. They wouldn't have to worry about being discovered now. 

T’was in that moment of weakness just before Aspect tried comforting her that Robin also attempted to grasp at her memories to calm herself for the trials ahead. Her thoughts drifted back to me at first effort; and she remembered in her search for strength that she, at one point, had asked the same of me. I had horrible nightmares from my past, crippling memories and so many scars on my body that I had taken to using magic to remove or hide them just to go out in public. These were burdens no mere mortal could reasonably be expected to bear and still function; yet I was still pushing forward despite them with a strength that Robin envied. So, as you might expect, she eventually asked me point blank what drove me to do that; and I answered her candidly.

‘Because I refuse to lay down and die,’ I had begun that day. ‘Fate would dictate I go to sleep for a very long time given all that I have endured throughout my existence, but I sleep with a knife under my pillow and delight in stabbing fate in the eye when it tries to smother me with my own guilt. Destiny, I admit, is annoying and exists to some extent, but anyone who believes you can’t fight destiny is either too weak to do so or has given up before the battle has even started. And to those who try to stop me from living my life as I wish in spite of all the hardships I have suffered, I would tell them this: denigrate me, degrade me, stab me all you want: I will persist in the face of your opposition because I refuse to lay down and let you decide for me what is right or what my destiny should be.'

My wife could still hear those words from me even years later in that store of a dead man. They helped ease her tension with the addition of Aspect’s attempts, although she still wished Mushu was there while she was finally calming down enough to speak normally once again.

“I doubt the guard will see it that way,” she said while, at last, taking her hands back from the shapeshifter and placing one of them gently on Seikou’s intricate but inactive hilt. “But maybe my best friend is right that I don’t have what it takes to be a true mercenary. She says I’m not cold-blooded enough despite having been a soldier, and she's right. I don’t plan to be that way, either, for money I never needed in the first place.” Finally putting the hourglass of deadtime away in her necklace’s pocket dimension, the young hare at last made a decision on what she would do going forward. “I can’t help not see the fear in that girl's eyes, and I identify with her. I will still track her down with you, but I will likely not complete the contract on her life or may even fight against it. If we end up on opposing sides because of that decision, I want you to know I'm sorry and that I'm glad to have met you under better circumstances. Until then, Aspect, please don’t call me rabbit anymore. I prefer the sound of my own name.”

And so the two women left the building as temporary partners, but not through the same route. Aspect could easily slip out from the downstairs lobby, but Robin had no desire to break down any locks to get out that way. Instead, she briefly departed from her shapeshifter acquaintance and went another way.

“I still have to lock the window up here,” she said while Aspect started making her way toward the staircase. “So I’ll meet you at the entrance to the side-alley.” Robin took out a spool of wire from her belt pouch then, and ran over to the window she had unlocked earlier. She tied the thin, metallic thread around that window’s lock using a Highwayman’s Hitch, and then jumped outside to the empty alleyway below. She pulled the tight end of her knot to close the window after landing, locked it with the same end, and then finally pulled on the loose end to retrieve the wire which she quickly spooled back up into her belt pouch. Voilà: a locked room just the same as it had been once before, therefore allowing the woman to leave as if she had never visited in the first place.

Betrayal

Shortly thereafter, the shapeshifter and hare prepared to depart from the building without an owner; but, while the latter awaited the former’s arrival at the entrance to the side alleyway, a fresh edition of the herald was just about to go out. Unbeknownst to Stalhadt’s division or anyone in the watch for that matter, there had been a lone witness to Lumerre’s murder. He was a self-proclaimed journalist by the name of Hugo Schwartz: a foreigner who loved collecting information that he could sensationalize for money. That man had somehow managed to spy on the elven thief and human tailor as the latter assaulted the former on a back road; and he watched the whole fight unfold without interfering until the end.

 Perhaps, originally, Mr. Schwartz thought to blackmail Lumerre after the fight was done, because murder, unless sanctioned by the ruling elite of Egjora, was strictly forbidden to all in the seaside Duchy. But his plans definitely changed when he saw the elf briefly overpower the enraged human on top of her. Lumerre had gotten himself bitten on the neck during that moment of carelessness; and he immediately fell into a catatonic state from the wound as if he had been poisoned. Schwartz, sensing a story unfolding from that turn of events, tried to intervene; but he barely had time to approach the scene after Gusteau had fallen let alone before the elven girl fled. His story had, thus, seemingly disappeared before it could even begin.

However, Hugo was a crafty man that got around. Elves with white hair were not a common breed to find on the streets of Egjora, and the journalist himself had a nasty habit of eavesdropping on unique individuals wherever and whenever he could find them. It just so happened that he had overheard about runaway a while back before this encounter on the back road: an elven girl with white hair by the name of Nea. Her apparent father, Njall, had been loudly criticized by a neighbor for not exerting more effort to find her after she went missing, and it was on that back road several days after the incident that the big-eared, greedy gossiper finally connected the dots.

Leaving the lost cause of Lumerre behind to die, Hugo tracked down this unconcerned father and incessantly nagged him for information about his runaway daughter. Eventually, that interrogation devolved down into threats; but, luckily for the human of the pair – given Njall’s formal training – , no violence came from the disagreements that followed.
 
In the end, Njall told Schwartz what he wanted to hear on the condition that he be left alone. Apparently, the former highland warrior had already made plans to leave the island and abandon Nea to her fate long before Schwartz decided to pester him at the docks. He thought he had finally shed the responsibility for his one-time lover’s child until the moment that that smarmy reporter cornered him; and only because of that man’s interference did his apathy toward Nea finally turn into malice.

Through persistence alone, the gossiper got his story, given by the vitriolic testimony of Njall himself; but, before he could present it to the herald for publishing and thereby get himself killed for trying to do so without express permission of the ruling party, another faction intercepted him. A trusted retainer representing the families not directly involved in the current feud approached Schwartz on their behalf. During that meeting - which occurred in the company of small contingent of private soldiers - Hugo Schwartz was presented with an offer he couldn’t refuse. In exchange for the information he had gathered along with a vow for his silence, he would be paid a sum of silver to do with as he saw fit.

Obviously, the foreigner accepted the deal, figuring that the families were just trying to cover something up that they wanted hidden and that he preferred to stay alive long enough to spend any money he made off of making deals with them. However, even he was just as surprised as the rest of the citizens when a special edition of the herald came out shortly after that meeting: spearheaded by the official editor of the Egjoran Herald itself.

A copy of that edition blew past Robin as she was waiting for Aspect to arrive, and she managed to catch it just as everyone in the nearby neighborhoods was reacting to the news. The story that Hugo had helped make was featured on the front page of the paper along with a picture of Nea herself that had been drawn up by Schwartz during his interview with Njall. It read as follows:

“Spider Elf Monster Terrorizes Our Streets!

Anonymous sources have at last identified the thief who has been robbing our stores in the dead of night. The snow elf and spider hybrid known as Nea has apparently been unleashed onto our streets by her irresponsible caretaker, Njall of the Highlands. He has disowned her as of this article and escaped to the north, however, leaving us, the people of Egjora, to clean up his mess.

In addition to the many burglaries of late, the arachnid is believed to be responsible for the death of Lumerre Gusteau as well as the destruction of the bank that we witnessed here just a few moments ago. As such, Egjora’s safety demands her quick apprehension and execution.

If anyone has any information about the spider’s whereabouts at this time, you are to report it to the guard immediately. Anyone aiding or abetting this monster will suffer the same fate awaiting her!”

Ironically, Hugo was in earshot of my wife while reading that same article that she was. He recognized his information instantly, and began scoffing in kind.

“Those idiots,” he had proclaimed while stuffing his mouth with bread using one hand and holding the paper in the other! “They took out all the juicy tidbits of adultery and pirates! Now she looks like a common thug instead of an interesting story. Come on, at least sell the monster angle more!” Curiously enough, he didn’t die for those words even though he was laughing quite obnoxiously and in earshot of a nearby watch member; but they were more than enough for Robin to make a final decision about who she would serve in this moment of crisis. And I can tell you with great certainty that it was not the Egjoran government.

The mention of spiders was more accurate than Efrain had realized. Having skimmed the herald, he managed to skip over a few details. Stalhadt on the other hand was quick to make the connection. "Of course! That's it–a giant spider!" The apothecary turned from facing the cadaver to the guard captain with a deadpan face. "…What?" The guard captain was quite pleased with himself, and continued with an explanation. "It all connects perfectly. The scene of the theft, and the victim's death. Both occurred in the evening, thus giving the spider a greater chance to hide in the shadows undetected. While we were searching on foot, it could climb up the walls until its owner called." Efrain blinked. What? "Are you insinuating that some abnormally large aberration of a house spider was the cause of death?" Stalhadt looked over at him with impatience. "Well isn't that what you said through your process of deduction?" For a brief moment, Efrain had the compelling urge to clock him with his reference book but knew better.

"Alright, now allow me to lay out a few more reasonable possibilities." Efrain had dressed the cadaver back to how it had been and cleaned up his instruments. Heisei had finished recording their observations and was lounging on the apothecary's shoulder. "As convenient as the 'giant spider' theory sounds, have you ever considered the chance of there being a hired drow assassin? The largest drow settlements are deep within the Umbral Depths, which happen to house some of the most venomous and efficient hunters in near-darkness. It wouldn't be too difficult to imagine the creation of some aberrant variant of giant spiders as hunting hounds for drow hunters. And with their expertise in stalking human and non-human quarry, it would be natural for them to take a job as an assassin." 

"A very probable theory. Though further investigation will see if it holds water. We have yet to find any witnesses to Gusteau's murder, though I will keep your suggestions in mind." Stalhadt was beginning to cooperate finally, but Efrain still wasn't sure if the good captain would keep his word. "I am glad to hear it, Captain Stalhadt. Though I do hope that you won't forget our little arrangement while you're performing your duties as enforcer of the law?" The captain gave a glance, and his upper lip tightened. "Yes, I haven't forgotten. You are no longer a suspect, though if I find you before me again I intend to exercise my authority as guard captain." And so it was settled. He was free to go at last. Unfortunately for Efrain, leaving would be delayed yet again despite the captain upholding his promise. 

Once his business at the morgue had concluded, Stalhadt was hurriedly informed by an inferior officer of the recent edition of the herald. A look at the headline itself made him pale. "What is this?! Why was the watch not informed of this information?!" The beanpole of a guardsman shook his head, stating they just discovered this now. The captain grit his teeth in anger, crumpling the newspaper into a ball and throwing it onto the floor once his subordinate was gone. Those bloody merchants, they were at it again! Someone must have been paid by the families to stir things up with this information leak. Whether or not the information was true still needed confirmation, but as a former member of the duchy's naval fleet he would not tolerate those two-faced moneylenders tiptoeing around the duchy's law enforcement! He had a special kind of resentment towards the merchant families, despite their wealth being the pillars of the duchy's prosperity. Officers of the law had to look the other way when they played their game of politics. He was supposed to uphold the law, not bend it for those with the strings of people's purses. But his hands were tied. 

Efrain found the docks were on lockdown and more guards were in search parties roving the city. No matter how he tried to bargain or explain, no one would ferry him to the mainland. Frustrated that he was still stuck in the duchy, he and his dragon assistant took a walk to figure out a new plan to leave. He hadn't given it much thought, but there were quite the number of crows this time of year. When he left the morgue there was a large black bird perched on a building ledge overhead. Then as he left the city towards the docks there were more of them, some in groups and some alone in various roosting places. At that time he had murmured to himself about the irony of there being a murder of crows in light of the circumstances. Now he was getting the impression that there wasn't a sudden migration of corvids.

At the pier on a high point, Efrain spotted a crow looking his way. For some reason it gave him an odd feeling, and he turned to the Ataiyan dragon resting comfortably around his neck. "…Do you see that?" Heisei looked up from filing his claws at the bird. "A crow, yes." Lowering his voice to a whisper, he spoke while keeping his eyes on the avian watcher. "Why do I feel as if its eyes are following us?" Heisei shrugged, and went back to finishing up his remaining claws.

Aspect listened to Robin speak before she went down the stairs. She looked at her, her blue eyes sharp and her pointed ears forward. She watched her place her hand tentatively on the hilt of her sword and then put away her small hourglass. She was choosing to look for the elf girl with her, but she wouldn't go through with the contract to turn her over to the proper authorities. Aspect hadn't intended to turn her over to anybody, at least not right away. The proper authorities could very likely not exist, at least not in this city. She was not one to judge a thief, given some of her previous actions, she didn't have the moral backing to support any claim against her. She nodded quietly at the rabbit as she made her way down the stairs. 

The wood creaked beneath her weight, her claws making faint clicking noises that echoed in the small space. As she got nearer to the bar on the first floor of the inn, she closed her eyes and changed quickly into a small magpie. She fluttered quickly through the hallway, back flapping quickly in one instance to avoid hitting a barmaid carrying a tray of food. She didn't need to cause any more commotion than necessary. She flipped quickly out the open window and flew quickly towards the young woman waiting for her in the alley. She perched on a broom handle leaning against a wall to watch the small woman jump quickly out the window, a thin piece of wire following her down to the ground. She tipped her head to the side in curiosity. 

With a flick of her wrist, Robin had pulled the wire back out of the crack in the window and Aspect heard a very faint click as the window was again locked. She flew over and landed lightly on her shoulder as she wrapped the wire back up to put it away. "Very clever," she said quietly, looking back up at the window. "I have never seen that technique before. I shall definitely remember that one." Something rustled nearby and she looked up to see a newspaper drift through the air. She jumped up and hovered nearby as best she could as Robin grabbed it. 

She resumed her place on the woman's shoulder as they scanned the paper. It was about the thievery the night before in Lummere's shop. Apparently, the girl was part snow elf and spider, her name being Nea, at least according to the paper. She was also supposedly tied into the explosion that had occurred a short while ago. Evidently, the building that had exploded was a bank, which left her rather surprised. It seemed like a big jump to be stealing trinkets from a shop at night to blowing up a large facility in broad daylight. She wondered if the rabbit also thought the accusation was rather odd and squinted her eyes at the page.  

"Execution?" She whispered under her breath. "She isn't even getting a trial for any of these things she's accused of?" She shuffled her wings annoyingly and chirped deep in her throat. "Things seem to be going downhill rather fast for this Nea girl…" her speech was cut off by the loud exclamations from a heavy fellow further down the alleyway. She turned and looked at him, her eyes glaring in distaste as he pigged out on food. Such a slob. She'd met hogs with better manners. He was complaining noisily about the paper and evidently had been involved in the creation of the article by his comments. 

She turned her attention back to Robin and the paper. "Do you have any way of figuring out where she last was? Or a way to get any of her possessions before the robbery last night? The shop was too contaminated, but if we can find something she touched recently that hasn't been touched by someone else, I can track her down better than any dog." She perked up with an idea, giving a soft chirp. "Use your hourglass thing," she suggested, pointing at the small pocket with her beak. "She went out the back door, use it to see which way she went so we can follow her, or at least to see what she touched along the way. It's worth a shot." 

Ears of the Rabbit

While Robin had been reading the newspaper alongside the rest of Egjora’s literate, Aspect had made her way downstairs in the form of a magpie. The young woman noticed her approach from the scent alone, but had yet to react until the shapeshifter commented on Nea’s particularly unfair fate.

“It’s sad,” she responded at that moment with the disinterested tone expected of someone lost in memory, “but that’s the way that so many nobles react to these types of situations and the people beneath them. If a person isn’t of the same social class or higher, rich families only think of them as pawns to use in politics or matters of family honor. I know that system personally, and it's an evil reality.” Subconsciously, my wife placed one hand on her thigh then, remembering the time that she was told she would never walk again thanks to a superior’s jealousy driven lynching of her. The physical wounds from that time had long healed, but the emotional scars remained. For that reason alone, looking at Nea in that paper was like looking in a metaphorical mirror for Robin, especially since she knew what it felt like to be abandoned and left for dead.

But pity alone would not save this girl who had been cast aside by the very person she trusted most in this world. Robin realized that, and began working on ways to track her down before she met the grizzly fate awaiting her. Aspect had some ideas on that end, but, unfortunately, none of them were currently feasible: including the hourglass suggestion that she finished with.

“That artifact, no matter how powerful it is, won’t work here,” the concerned rabbit piped up when her partner mentioned its existence. “It’s only useful if I know exactly what I’m looking for and when down to the nearest hour. I can't use it too much without becoming weak, either, so I can’t just repeatedly trigger it until I find what we’re looking for. Not to mention, that girl could be killed on sight while I’m messing around in the past, and I don’t want to take that chance.”

Indeed, the hourglass was not feasible in this particular instance; but, soon, Robin would realize that she was running out of options. Neither Aspect nor she could track Nea so many days after the theft had occurred, and they had no way of finding out where Lumerre was killed without wasting precious time on a line of investigation that led straight through the watch. Alas, the young woman quickly realized she would have to remove her hat, no matter how much she wished not to; because regardless of how self-conscious Robin was about showing her ears in public, she knew they were the only way for her to get a beat on Nea who had left no obvious clues to follow in the situation at hand. For her sake, she relented; removing her hat and unfurling her ears for the world to see the bright pink fur she had been hiding this entire time.

Now with the rabbit’s ears fully exposed, Robin could hear over a vast swathe of the city far larger than she could have before taking off that silly hat. A rabbit’s ears, especially those empowered by my design, were incredibly sensitive tools, after all. She was quickly able to pick up multiple conversations throughout Egjora with them; and, due to that advantage, it didn’t take her long at all to notice that there was a lot of chatter about a cloaked figure heading toward the docks. Technically, that figure was not Nea, but my wife, not wanting to take chances at the time, assumed that it was, and that the elf was trying to escape after reading the article about herself.

“She might be headed for the docks,” the pink-haired woman said in this moment of reckless hypothesizing. Obviously, she wanted to get to the girl as soon as possible, but her instincts in that instant were not exactly kind to the magpie perched on her shoulder. She warned Aspect about the itchiness in her legs, of course, going so far as to say, “Hold on tight,” but that statement proved an insufficient qualifier for the impending rush and burst of speed that happened so shortly after it was voiced.

Robin had always been naturally fast, especially for a human. Dexterity was far more her thing than raw strength before she met me, and she retained that base attribute even after transitioning to her current form. The rabbit transformation, in fact, drastically improved upon these attributes, and so now she was able to move with the force of a whirlwind when properly motivated. Nea’s situation back in Egjora definitely qualified as proper motivation at the time; and so there was barely any warning for Aspect before her perch went sprinting off into the north at speeds fast enough shame even the hardiest of steeds. It would not be long before Robin reached the docks at that rate, but, in the end, she would fail to prevent the beginnings of tragedy.

Eyes of the Crow

Meanwhile, a dejected Efrain was once again looking for safe passage off of the island that he had so recently learned to detest. Yet again he was at the same impasse, the one that seemed to plague his very existence from the moment he set foot on the island; but this time, while at the docks, he noticed that he was not alone in his suffering. Unlike most of the people around him, the young acupuncturist began taking note of the sudden influx of crows visiting the city. They were congregating around points of Egjoran interest, which just so happened to follow Rosenite’s path to the docks. Now, as he waited for some sign of gaining passage via a ferry to the mainland, one of those crows was watching him with acute interest.

Efrain – despite his companion’s nonchalance about the whole affair – could swear that the corvid was spying on him in that moment. He was right about one thing: it was spying but it wasn’t a normal crow. As soon as the bird noticed that he was staring back at it, it pivoted toward him from its perch and cawed a melody most haunting. For a brief moment, its eyes split into four and turned deep crimson red, resembling a demon’s occules more than an animal’s. Then, just like that, it went back to normal, preening itself to maintain the avian illusion whilst everyone else went about their business.

Surely the young man who witnessed this was unnerved by it, but, just as soon as it had occurred, Nea was discovered in a ship next to him.

“Oi! Stowaways ain’t welcome! Git out of my ship!” Her pristine white hair now caked in mud, the young elf was promptly dragged out of the hold of a nearby ferry. Her cloak had been removed from her face and her arm was grabbed by the classical image of a sailor now forcing her back to the docks. He threw her on the planks after crossing the gangway, no more than a few meters from Efrain himself, and then attempted to fetch the guards before Nea grabbed his pant leg.

“Please, let me back on board!” She pleaded with him even as he tried to shake her off, but he refused to listen or show mercy.

“Let me go!”

“But I have to get to the mainland!”

“I don’t care!” Using his other leg, he kicked Nea away from him and was about to go fetch the guard again before he decided to add insult to injury. “You want to get to the mainland so bad, swim and take your chances with the sharks! I don’t help stowaways!” Nea was left whimpering in the aftermath of those cruel words and the boot to her rib cage. She was in pain both physically and emotionally thanks to the burdens that she had suffered under Egjoran cruelty; and her will to live that had sustained her for so long was finally crumbling.

“Why does everyone hate me so much,” she asked herself in a muted, sobbing voice while still collapsed on the planks of the pier? “I never asked for this. I just want to go home, but I can’t anymore.” But, of course, the fisherman did not hear nor care. Only the crows came to comfort her in her tears, the one from before flying down to sit next to her head as the cruel sailor left her behind.

Indeed the apothecary was unnerved by the brief drop in the crow's guise, though he had the mettle to keep his disagreeable temper. It wasn't every day that his suspicions were confirmed immediately. If Heisei had a different opinion, then so be it. Efrain knew the truth now and no amount of playing dumb would change his mind. Though since the birds weren't actually doing anything, he let them be. A few rough men tossed out a young girl with snow-white hair onto the docks. She looked awful, in more ways than one. She begged the sailor to let her on board, but to no avail. He spat saying he didn't help stowaways, and before the man could get too far away Efrain was hot on his heels. "Now look, I'm more than willing to pay a considerable sum for you to take me off this bloody rock in the ocean. What'll it be? Fifty–no, seventy silvers? Eighty?"

The sea dog turned to the new person pestering him not noticing a certain husband and wife slip onto his vessel behind his back."Didn't ya hear what I said to the girl? I don't care how much coin you throw at me, nobody's getting on my ship–" His tirade was cut off by the scream of one of the deckhands as the man was thrown out and the anchor pulled up. "AMOS! THEY'VE GOT THE HELM!" The sailor's compatriot hollered as he got to his feet and chased after the boat now heading out of the harbor.

The old sailor's eyes went wide and he bolted like a deer to join the rest of the ship's crew vainly trying to prevent the ship's departure. Out on the deck, a familiar duo was making a quick getaway. The apothecary's hand dropped to his side with a sigh as his chance to leave Egjora sailed–literally and figuratively. While the sailors were busy, he turned to the supposed stowaway and walked next to her. "Looks like that makes the two of us. Good luck finding a way off the duchy Miss; all maritime traffic has been forcibly stalled and the port's on lockdown. You could possibly try to make it out on your own, but that would require stealing a ship. Not that I'd do something like that anyway." In his haste to the docks Efrain had conveniently missed seeing the latest edition of the local paper, and thus wasn't aware that he was speaking with the main suspect of Lumerre's murder. "Yoohoo~" Looking up he narrowed his eyes at the sight of two faces he'd rather not see. It was none other than 'Mr. and Mrs. Chadwick', if that was their real names. The overdressed redhead waved at him on the very ship both he and the white-haired girl tried to board moments ago. 

"Talk about smooth sailing, right Ruthie? Them rubbernecked sailors never saw us coming!" The dandy chortled. 'Mrs. Chadwick' was beside him, dressed in a slinky burgundy gown with a mink stole wrapped around her neckline. "You were absolutely perfect darling~ Did you see how shocked that peg-legged swab was when you sent him flying without a scratch at all? The moment I laid eyes on you I knew you were a dependable man." The redhead leaned down and planted a stamp of red rouge on the dandy's left cheek. As the distance between the ship and the docks widened, the two petty thieves waved at the hoodwinked sailors. Turning their attentions back on the sea, the woman lounged on the deck with a handheld mirror and case of powder. "You see darling? I knew he was a thief like us." The dandy snorted. "Thief? Pah–more like a common bandit! Blokes like him come a dime a dozen, while we are the real deal!"

Their celebration was short-lived as a shot was heard across the harbor followed by the explosion of the ship's backside. The vessel was going under and the two scrambled to a lifeboat before they were swimming with the fishes. The pickpockets were even determined to make it out with a rowboat when they were cut off by the Egjoran naval fleet. The Rosenite and his dragon assistant watched the whole fiasco unfold on the docks in grim silence. Well there went that possibility. He was starting to believe he was truly trapped on this bloody island.