AerinAndShadeOutAndAbout"Shade! Shade!" Aerin called softly as she trotted back to the rooms she shared with her father. "Come on... I need you!" she called to the half shadowcat. Shade was snoozing on a broad windowseat. At Aerin's call. he flickered the tip of his striped ginger tail disparagingly. Then, because her tone was urgent, he half-opened one eye. "I need you," she said, coming over and stroking his ears. "And I don't think you want me going on the roof without you, now do you?" Aerin leaned over Shade and opened the window. What child in Clearwater hadn't made a trip or two out onto the rooftops of the new Castle. But it had surprised her to find out Ranulf had. And then to watch Ranulf's reactions to his mother's death. Shade looked out with an expression of mild interest. She stepped up on the windowseat and peered out of the window, making no one was looking up at them. "Come on Shade. We have to look for Ranulf's window," she told her companion as she eased herself out of the window frame. Shade was by her side, watching her movements with interest. Then, with ease, he slid past her and began to make his way up to the higher levels. By and large he chose the paths she could follow too - when this proved impossible, he miaouwed a warning. "Showoff," Aerin muttered under her breath. But secretly she was grateful for Shade's assistance. For she suspected time was important here. And she did not believe the Septa had done this by herself. The Septa had raised her here in Clearwater, after her father had brought Tomlin and her here as wee children. No, the Septa wouldn't have killed the Lady. She would have prayed for her, done everything in her power to help her. But... no. Aerin followed Shade as best she could, once having to open a hall window and out a balcony on the other side when the roof proved too much for her. She moved over the Lord's quarters. And then toward the Septa's rooms. And to where Ranulf lived near her. Her eyes keen on the rooftop. She... well, she didn't honestly believe that Ranulf's hands were clean of this. And she thought the Septa was protecting him. She couldn't do otherwise. The Septa was as much her mother as Ranulf's. And Aerin couldn't not try to save her. "Shade..." she said quietly even as she looked around. "Do you scent Ranulf up here?" she asked her companion. Shade gave her a fixed stare as though he knew all the answers and wouldn't tell. Then he flicked his tail and stalked away from her to a flat area of the roof. There she found some crudely finished soldiers, made out of metal and brightly painted. Her father had had one of the Smith's apprentices make some for her brother, who had adored them ... But these were clearly newer. Perhaps some had been made for Ranulf too, and he had brought them up here to play with them. Aerin knelt down next to them, picked one up and examined it. Then looked around at the other ones with a frown. It wouldn't surprise her to know that Ranulf had managed to get some soldiers. Every boy loved them. It wouldn't even surprise her to find out that Ranulf had needed to hide them from the Septa. Though... Tomlin had them. Aerin frowned at the figures, looking at them with a warrior's eye. Were these Ranulf's? Or... someone else's? There was no indication that they were anyone else's. And this was just the sort of place where a boy might play - if he wanted a secret place of his own where he might be undisturbed by anyone else. Shade washed a bored paw. Aerin had long since learned to ignore Shade when he was being dismissive. Still... there was something here important. Maybe... She frowned. If these were Ranulf's, then who ordered them from the Smithy? Certainly not Ranulf. Unless Derron had. But... she would have thought she would have heard. She pushed it to the back of her mind. Something to thing about later. She looked around the roof. Trying to find where the lady's rooms were. And if there were any marks in the usual dirt on the roof to indicate someone had come that way. She'd had to wash off often enough after being up here. It stood to reason any recent movements up here would have the same problem. This roof ... it would be on top of the Lady's Tower. Ranulf had a room lower down, overlooking the courtyard. He must have climbed from there - which would seem to warrant his boasts as to his climbing ability. And the Lady's room was higher, on the other side of the tower, over-looking the sea. In fact ... It must be below there, where marks in the dirt suggested someone had recently climbed over the edge, and down. A knot started to form in Aerin's stomach. She didn't really want to find anything up here. But she had to look. She started to climb out toward the window, to get a better look at the marks, and to see if they indeed showed someone climbed down into Ranulf's room. Aerin saw there were clear signs that someone had climbed down and, from this elevation, the sooty print of the foot that had rested on the windowsill looked suspiciously small. Aerin looked at the footprint with a frown. And then at the trail back down around toward Ranulf's room. They said it was poison. If she were Ranulf, she'd have either dropped the poison out the window, or hidden it outside his window. At least that's what she'd do. Her father would never think to look outside. With great care she started to follow the tracks down and around the outside of the tower. Aerin reached out to find a grip on the stones to start to climb down. And frowned. She was a good climber. But this... Ranulf would have to be part spider in order to climb down from here. Perhaps there were hidden hand holds. Perhaps... she shook her head. She'd need a rope to do this herself. "Come on Shade," she said to her companion. "Let's check the base of the tower. By a safer route. And then I'll get some rope." Aerin started back down off the roof the way she came, hoping her father didn't see her while she was covered in roof dirt. She escaped without his seeing her, nor did the Septa appear either (and she had an almost uncanny ability to know where Aerin was, and what mischief she was getting into). Soon she found herself at the base of the Tower - one half withoin the castle courtyard (and, looking up, she could see Ranulf's window), while the other protruded outside, for the Lady's room tooked over the meadow to the lake. Aerin exited the courtyard and made her way to the meadow below the Lady's window. She looked up at the window, thoughtful. The Lady had been so strange. The maids said it was because of the war. She'd been taken as a prisoner. It had broken her mind somehow. And the Lord. She peered up at the window, then out across the meadow toward the lake. At least he made sure she had a nice view. The best in the castle. She sighed, looked around at the ground below the Lady's window. "Shade? Do you see anything?" she asked her distainful companion. Shade made no response. He was too busy batting a small glass bottle to and fro, to and fro with his paw. Aerin looked over at Shade. Blinked, then blinked again as she looked at the small glass bottle. She moved over near Shade. Knelt down. "Shade? Can I have the bottle please?" she asked softly, not reaching out for the glass as she knew Shade would have her skin if she did. And indeed Shade gave a proprietorial growl low in his throat. Right. "Shade? Fish? I'll get you a fish from the kitchen?" she asked, wondering if she'd have to bring it here before Shade would give her the bottle. This positioning of Shade's paws over the bottle and the fixed hard stare he gave her suggested that would certainly be the case. Aerin sighed. So it was going to be this way. "Don't lose it," she growled as she stalked away and toward the kitchen, to procure a fish by one way or another. And so she made her way to the servants' entrance to the kitchen, hoping that fish was on the menu. It usually was, she thought sourly. When Aerin arrived, the cooks were flustered with all the commotion there had been in the kitchen and - unusually - she was referred to the head cook. She discovered that worthy sitting in a quiet corner, in conversation with the Steward. Carefully Aerin crept over to where Derron and the head cook were conversing, the better to hear what they were saying. [Continued in The Search and After] |
