A Fish for ShadeIndex | HomePage | GameLogs | ClearwaterGameLogs | A Fish for Shade Pacing Aerin, Niko kept his distance until they were out of the Steward's eyesight, then he caught up to the girl. He hadn't really noticed before, but she had started to come into her growth, and it took him a bit longer than he'd planned to catch up with her, almost being out of the castle when he did. "Aerin," he said, none too loudly. "What is this? Is something amiss?" Aerin looked back over Niko's shoulder before answering, making sure there was no one else there. "We found it! The bottle!" she told Niko animatedly, waving the fish around with abandon as she gestured to the meadow. "Under the lady's window. In the grass. But Shade won't give it to me until I bring him a fish!" she said as way of an explanation. She turned as started jogging. "Hurry! Before Shade does something with it!" she called back to Niko. Niko jogged alongside her. "But- why is this important? The Septa already confessed, so, although this will bring closure to the matter, what prompted your search?" Aerin shook her head. "Ranulf told me he'd been climbing on the roof. I saw his footprints outside his mother's window sill. The Septa would never kill the Lady. But she would lie to protect one of the children she'd raised. Even to death if need be." Aerin sounded certain of the last. Niko's eyes narrowed. "Your accusations are - troubling," he said, slowly. "You truly think Ranulf that cold-blooded? That calculating? I have a hard time believing it. And so will Lord Draupaud. Merely finding a bottle will not prove anything, I might add," he said, observing her closely the whole time. "And there is more," he added. "I have spoken with Ranulf, and he admits to being outside the window, climbing. His version of the story is that he saw the Septa giving her something. And that the Lady smiled." Niko drew her up short. "Could not a more plausible explaination be that the Lady Draupaud asked her to do this? And she told no one so that the Lady would not have the stigma of suicide over her death?" Aerin stopped, looked at Niko, her eyes dark. "Niko... the Septa rasied me, even as she raised Ranulf. She could not have done this," she said with quiet conviction. "And Ranulf... Just how well do any of us know him?" she asked him. "As you said, the Septa raised you," Niko countered. "As she did Lady Draupaud. The Lady had seen things- experienced things- that no human was meant to experience. And was broken by them." "This killing was well planned, and carefully executed. Do you think Ranulf capable of that? He is young, too young. True, the boy has strange ways- but look at how he was raised? And what would be his motive?" Aerin frowned, looked down at the grass between them. "My brother would have done anything to be accepted by my father," she said quietly. "If Ranulf thought that way too, then maybe." "But I know that the Septa couldn't have done it," she said with more conviction, looking up. "And ... maybe the bottle will tell us something. I don't know." She turned on her heel and started running toward Shade's location again. Niko followed in her footsteps, wondering at her last words. They had echoed Ranulf's, and this troubled him. As they approached Shade, he resolved to follow this path, wherever it might lead, to its ending. Shade had actually grown bored with the bottle and had sprawled out for a nap. But he opened one eye when he heard her apparoaching, and pounced to the bottle again to guard it, clearly remembering her earlier interest, and having a Point to Make. Aerin slid down to sit near him, holding up the fish. "Shade? Here's the fish. May I have the bottle now?" she asked hopefully, not letting go of the fish quite yet. Nor was Shade letting go of the bottle without being sure of the fish. But he stretched out his neck and sniffed suggestively. Aerin sighed. This was an old game for her by now. She slowly reached out, slightly to one side, and carefully lowered the fish to the ground, just out of Shade's reach. And with her other hand she slowly reached toward the bottle, keeping her eyes on Shade the entire time. But Shade had decided the fish was acceptable and now fell on it with enthusiasm. As Aerin's hand connected with the bottle, he gave a sharp glance upwards. But then his expression registered, "Oh, that thing? You want it? Please, take it." Then he went back to his fish. The bottle was dark blue and firmly stoppered. Waiting until Aerin had finished her offering to Shade, Niko warily approached, crouching beside her. "What is that?" he asked, looking on with decided interest. "I don't know," Aerin confessed as she picked up the small bottle and closely examined it. She sniffed at the stopper without taking out, trying to see if she recognized the scent from the Septa's supplies. It smelt faintly of almonds - the Septa did keep some almond oil for flavouring custards to tempt the Lady's notoriously fickle appetite. But she kept that in a white bottle. Niko nodded to Aerin's statement, already scouring the area around to see what they were near, and if he could rule out likely suspects from the location of the bottle if it turned out to be what he thought it was. Even as he did, he asked, "What do you make of it?" "I smell almonds," Aerin said, looking at the bottle curiously. "The Septa has a bottle that has almond flavoring... but it's white, not blue like this," she added with a small frown. She started to remove the stopper, curious about the contents. Niko frowned, struggling to remember some small detail. Almonds, he had heard someone else say something about almonds... The steward! "Aerin! No!" he said, alarmed. "Don't open it!" Aerin froze, the stopper half out of the bottle. "Why?" she asked, her eyes wide. Shade looked up from the fish and growled at Aerin, as though to add support to Niko. "Just in general, you should never open a substance you are not sure about," he said matter-of-factly, "but specifically, the Steward said that he smelled a strong scent of almonds on her breath." "Let us go take it to Steward Thorne, straightaway. He should hear about this." He shook his head, sadly. "One thing I will say- this almost surely clears the Septa. Even if she had killed Lady Draupaud, she would never leave something like this laying about." Carefully Aerin restoppered the small blue glass bottle, then gingerly put it in her pocket. "Ranulf is with the Steward now I think," she pointed out. "And I saw his footprints outside on the tower. Do we want to ask him about the bottle?" she asked. "We are in a very touchy area, I think," Niko responded carefully. "We should let the steward decide where to go from here. Lord Draupaud is not very likely to consider this evidence a boon, and I still have a hard time believing..." He looked around to make sure that no one was present, then still, lowered his voice. "...who you think this implicates. No matter the evidence." Aerin look away, obviously uncomfortable with the thoughts going through her mind. "And I think that others will be of a like mind." He shrugged apologetically. "Let's go to the steward," he finished, starting in that direction. Aerin began to follow. Then stopped and call back after Shade. "We're going in. Probably to the Steward. I'll leave the window open," she called after the ginger cat. Then she followed after Niko, her fingers dancing over the bottle in her pocket. They entered the castle and headed for the Steward's room, arriving to find the door open. They could see Derron speaking with a concerned-looking guard at the threshhold. Niko motioned for Aerin to stop, and himself moved closer to the wall. They waited for a bit to see if the guard was going to leave shortly, or was there for a long conference. If it seemed like it would be a while - and they heard nothing of import - Niko was planning to move into view after a pause. If the guard was prepared to leave soon, Niko figured it would be best if they weren't seen. Aerin sliently took Niko's cue and moved to the wall. Long ago she'd learned if Niko was going to teach her, she had to be willing to do what he said without question. At least at that moment. She always had questions later. Derron, looking back to the guard saw that, behind him, Aerin and Niko were coming down the corridor, now without the fish. Derron had no doubt they were coming to see either him or the boy so he stood aside to let them in. And then realised that Niko had some reason for waiting until the guard had been dismissed. Derron almost sighed but instead said to the guard, "If you could see if cook has something for the boy to eat, I'd appreciate it. He's been pretty upset all day and in no mood for eating." His tone was a friendly one, as Derron was quite friendly with most of the guards. They knew him both from the training yard and the forge. "Yes Steward, at once," said the guard obligingly, and he hurried away, without seeing Aerin and Niko. Once the guard was out of sight, Niko immediately moved into the Steward's office, motioning Aerin in and shutting the door. He noted Ranulf's presence, but perhaps it was for the best. If what the evidence implied was true, then perhaps it could bring out of the boy what he couldn't. "Steward Thorne," he began formally, "Aerin has turned up some interesting information. We thought it should be for your ears only until you decide the disposition of it." He gestured to Aerin to come forward and tell her tale. Ranulf shrank back in a corner of the room, watching them both. Derron said, "I see." He glanced at Ranulf and said, "The boy has confessed to me he was actually responsible for his mother's death. I assume this evidence confirms that?" Aerin gave Derron a startled look, then looked to Ranulf. "Is this true?" she asked the boy, amazed that he might have confessed to his mother's death. Ranulf was staring at Derron in naked shock - seemingly unable to speak. Niko was doing the same- shocked at the blunt nature of the delivery almost as much as the act itself. Derron shook his head. "Face it, lad, they suspected already. Better to bring them into the secret than have them talk about it with others and set tongues wagging." "But ... you said you wouldn't tell anyone!" Ranulf burst out. "Not unless they asked! Because ... because ... " Suddenly, unexpectedly, he made a bolt for the door. But to get there, he had to pass Niko and Aerin. Niko drew him up short, moving forward to make sure he wasn't near the door, trusting that Aerin would back him up if he missed - she had been an apt pupil, and was very good at picking up on his small cues. True enough, that was in practice, but this hardly counted as a stressful situation. Ranulf struggled weakly in Niko's arms for a moment, and then desisted. Derron said softly but formly to the boy, "Aye, for that I'm sorry, but they were going to ask me very soon, unless I miss my guess." He looked at Aerin and Niko, then back to the child and said, "I can think of no two more trustworthy in all this House. Ask them to swear, as I do, not to reveal what they know, unless directly asked. We can keep our counsel." "They won't understand," said Ranulf in a low voice. "They don't know why ... what she said ... " He looked up at Derron and his lower lip trembled. "You *swore*!" he said - and his tone was that of a child, hurt by adult betrayal. "They'll swear too ... and then they'll tell. They'll tell my father." Niko started to speak up, but remained silent as he listened to Derron. "No, they won't," Derron said. "Even if he suspects, he has more to consider. He has pronounced Septa guilty and sentenced her to the Silent Sisters. He can't be seen to change that. So he won't ask anyone." Niko looked from Derron to Ranulf, indecision written on his face. Then he looked to Aerin, and the indecision vanished as if it had never been there. "No, we will not tell," Niko said, frowning. Then he spun Ranulf to face him. "We will not have to, because you will. Remember what we talked about earlier? About the duties of a Lord? One of them is to face up to his own mistakes- not to have the people who trust him take blame for his actions." "You took a grown up act, so it is time for you to grow up." "No," Aerin whispered. Her face was squeezed into an expression of pain, of anger. She glared at Ranulf, then Derron. "I won't be silent," she announced. "The Septa rasied me. She was here for me. I won't let her go away because of someone else's deeds," she said, spinning and moving to the door. "Aerin, stop," Niko said, his voice never raising above conversational tones. But for all not expressed in volume, the tone was one of command. "This is for Ranulf to confess, and for Ranulf to deal with- not you." Derron said, "He's right, lass. All this is up to the boy, now. Not us." "That's where you're wrong," Aerin said over her shoulder. "I found the bottle. I can take it to the Lord. The Septa doesn't have to leave," she said as she opened the door. Derron stepped forward and shoved his massive right hand against the door, closing it. "Damn it, lass! I wish it were that simple." He sighed loudly, then spoke in a more controlled manner. "Don't you see? There's more here at stake than justice. Not just what is right for the Septa, or the boy. But what is best for the House, and His Lordship." He paused, then added, "And what is good for the House is also best for you and your father." Aerin whirled on Derron, her teeth nearly bared. "This is my Septa," she half choked, her eyes moist with pain and anger. "I can't... I can't...." she broke, her voice cracking as her face scrunched up in agony. Derron crouched down and spoke softly. "Septa wants it this way as well. You don't wish to deny her that, do you?" Aerin didn't answer Derron. Instead she looked past him, at Ranulf with an accusing look as tears ran down her face. "You can't," she choked out. Ranulf's face twisted for a moment, and he backed away a little more. He gave a frightened sob. "Why did she say it was her?" he suddenly wailed. "How can I stop her saying it?" Derron shrugged. "Only one way I can see, lad. Go to your father and confess. He may still send Septa away and forbid you from telling anyone else. But he might instead punish you, say, make you take the Black, and let her go. But I do not know." "Your hand did this," Niko said, looking at Ranulf. "And only your hand can set it to rights." "You are right now growing up into the man that you will one day be- one decision at a time. You have made one, and I would say it was a bad one. But it is yours now, for better or worse. Now you have another, harder one set before you. And this one, as the previous one did, will have consequences, either way you decide, that will shape the man that you will grow into. You hold many lives in your hand, perhaps more than even you know." "What will you decide?" Ranulf was looking at them all, his young face white with terror. "You want to kill me," he whispered. "All of you. Like she did. Like Father does ... "You all think I should be dead ... " He turned suddenly and ran - not towards the door that led outwards, but to the inner door, the one to the Lord's quarters. It was locked ... it should have been locked ... but Ranulf had it open and was running upwards ... up the stairs of his mother's tower. "Why can anything not be simple?" Niko said, even as he bolted off after Ranulf. "Ranulf!" he called, even as he ran. "Noone wants any harm to befall you!" He hoped against hope for an answer, even as he followed the young boy steadily on his heels. Derron cursed aloud and ran after Niko and the boy. He felt sure the boy meant to do himself, or others, great harm. The boy was fleeing ahead of them, running up the stone steps. Niko was swift, but Ranulf was agile. Still, Niko was almost upon him - and Ranulf leapt up to a narrow arrow slit windown and began to squeeze through. They must be thirty feet above the ground - and no-one could follow him through that narrow gap. [Continued in To Catch a Heir Aerin had not rushed up the stairs to chase the boy. Instead she slipped out of the room now that Derron was no longer guarding the door. She didn't know what she was going to do. Whether or not she was going to tell the lord. Or her father. But she wanted to talk to the Septa first. Before they made her be silent forever. So she went outside to find Shade, to take with her. The guards at least wouldn't give her trouble with the shadowcat at her side. Shade had finished the fish ... or else he had found something else to engage ihis interest ... He was gazing fixedly up at the Tower, and at a narrow window from which a small struggling figure was emerging. Aerin's gaze followed Shade's attention. And she froze when she saw what held it. Ranulf. Aerin slowly started to walk toward the base of the tower, keeping her eye on the boy. And so she suddenly saw him slip through the window, one hand lifted as though to grab out ... his slide ... the check as his other hand grabbed the sill ... and his feet frantically kicking against the tower for a foothold. Aerin moved under him. The boy was too heavy and too high up for her to catch if he fell... And the tower was too slick to climb even for her skill. She looked around for something she could use to soften his fall. Or for a tree or vines she could use to climb up to the wall. There was a rose briar - a white rose that Lord Draupaud had planted in the belief that it would grow up his wife's tower and bring her pleasure - in the early days of their marriage. The thorns were wickedly sharp, and it did not look strong enough to bear Aerin's weight. Aerin scowled at the thorns. She thought of pulling them down. They would cushion Ranulf's fall should he do so. But the thorns might kill him. She looked up. Saw Derron Thorn at the window below, waiting to catch the boy. Either Niko would pull him in, Derron would catch him if he fell. Or Ranulf would either escape to the roof or fall to his death. At the moment she didn't care if the boy died. He'd been willing to let the Septa die for him. And the Septa had been her foster mother since the founding of Clearwater. But the thought crept into her brain. She'd need Ranulf alive in order to save the Septa. She looked at the height of the tower. She wasn't going to get up to the top in time. She took off her jacket, wrapped it around her hands. Moved to the rose vine, and pulled hard on it, trying to pull enough of it over to where Ranulf would probably fall. "What are you doing?" said a voice behind her. It was Lord Draupaud. Aerin looked up, startled. Then pointed up to the window above her. The one Ranulf was dangling from. "I'm trying to get something to break his fall," she said, as if it made sense. "I see," said Lord Draupaud. "And how came my son to fall?" "Um... he's not fallen yet," Aerin pointed out, nervous at talking to the lord. "And I think he was trying to climb out the window. But I don't know." She looked up, squinted a bit at the chaos above them. "I think Derron Thorne knows, m'lord." "May I proceed?" she asked, suddenly hesitant to rip the climbing roses off the tower in front of his lordship. "Cause I can't climb up, and I can't catch him. Just in case he does fall." "It seems they have him," observed Lord Draupaud dispassionately and, indeed, Ranulf had grasped a piece of something that could be a rope and was being hauled steadily upwards. "But why was he there in the first place?" Aerin looked at Lord Draupaud, her expression one of mild astonishment. And inside she felt a sudden pity for Ranulf. "Do you not care your son is in danger?" she asked. And then bit her tongue, wishing she'd not asked that question. His face was calm as he gazed upwards. More than calm - expressionless. "It might have been better if he had fallen," he said. "For all of us." Aerin tried to understand what the lord was telling her. But deep understanding was never one of her strong points. She was like her father. She acted. Her training had given her the ability to act in a situation and worry about the consequences later. Like when she found the bottle. It was trying to know what to do with the bottle afterwards that was so hard. She looked back up at the window, at where Niko was pulling Ranulf in the window. "My father hates my brother," she said simply, watching the window and not the lord. "My mother died in childbirth and my father never accepted Tomlin for that. And he sent away my brother, from me and the Septa, hoping that fostering would make us all happier." "We miss him. Me and the Septa that is," she continued. "The Septa is our mother, too, since we have none." She watched Ranulf's feet disappear through the window slit. Then looked over at the climbing rose. "Sometimes we do things to make things better that hurt people," she said, trying to explain. "Like sending Tomlin away. Maybe it was for the best. I just know I miss him," she said with a helpless shrug. The door to the base of the tower opened, and there was Derron Thorne and Ranulf and Niko. "I know my brother would have done anything to have my father accept him," she said quietly. "And it wouldn't have mattered. At least now right now," she told Lord Draupaud. |
