"Well, you found her, which is more than my plainclothes guard did. That woman hasn't seen hide nor hair of either target for days."
Valeria's tail thumped quietly behind her as she shifted her eyes from Iordyn, who had all but collapsed into his chair on one side of the fire, to Oversword Garimond, who had been peacefully going over a sheaf of papers before either of them arrived. On one side of him, a small collection of papers with the remnants of the stack grew, paper by paper, as he added a few sheets from the pile in his lap. When he came across a frivolous or duplicate record, he simply tossed it into the fire that popped contentedly on his other side. Valeria was less tolerant of the crackling than he, and jumped slightly every time it did.
"A lot of good my finding her did, anyhow. When someone else- some housewife- figured out that it was she I was attempting to address, she tapped her on the shoulder and pointed at me. And as the woman passed her, she just looked at me- this blank, platinum stare- as though she'd never seen me before, and then said, 'What does my lord require?' " Iordyn sighed, putting his hand over his face.
"And you told her...?" Garimond mused, squinting at a paper with hideous, sprawling handwriting.
"I asked her about Mi'ishaen- that's the Tiefling's name- and she simply turned to go without responding at all. I nearly sent Valeria after her, but-"
"But the battle hound-"
"Yes," Iordyn breathed with frustration, leaning his head back until he was staring at the ceiling. "Big, heavy, fierce- like a monster." Leaning forward in the chair suddenly, he fixed his eyes on Valeria, who whined slightly. "Still can't believe you were trying to mate with that. Snapped and growled at me like a creature possessed."
"You've never seen a slight woman give her heart to a much bulkier, hot-tempered man?" Garimond mused, looking up from his papers. "Perhaps his smell is pleasing to her, or the way he snaps at you lets her know that he will defend any puppies he has by her to his death, like a good father ought to do."
Iordyn looked at Garimond incredulously, then leaned back in his chair again. "Well, that what you told me about the Sunfire hounds fits- it's no doubt he's theirs. She had him before she got here, so either she's part of the Sunfire or she somehow acquired their property- I don't know which. I followed them all the way to the market, and when she finally stopped at a food stall, I spoke her name again. She corrected me-"
"Corrected you?" Garimond repeated, now allowing his body to straighten in the chair.
"Yes- she said, 'My lord's handmaiden is called Rasha'. And I asked her about the Tiefling a second time, and she said, 'Your handmaiden has seen nothing of the first beloved since Battlemage Ranclyffe parted us."
"Deft turn around, pinning the fault on Ranclyffe like that." Garimond sighed deeply as he contemplated the situation. "It's a dead end, since he can't tell us where she is without disobeying the very last edict the late king wrote. He's got a reputation, but even he wouldn't do that."
"If I'd never seen that man's test subject-" Iordyn began disconsolately.
"Never mind that," Garimond counseled, putting his papers to the side. "If you practice storing the venom of regret up against yourself, you'll lie down in your grave top-full of it. Now, the Shadar-kai referred to the Tiefling as the first beloved- focus on that for me."
"Ser Unessmus originally introduced me to them both as his wives- Mi'ishaen being the first wife and Silveredge the second. When Mi'ishaen attacked the Drow, he said she must be another wife, since they all fight each other as though they were mad. It's all lies, though," Iordyn replied, a faint chuckle not too far from his voice. "Battlemage Ranclyffe wasn't fooled either, I could tell. And the Drow- Bahlzair, I think his name is- is male."
"They may not be serving that Dragonborn as natural, fruitful mates," Garimond replied as he leaned forward so that his elbows met his knees, "yet it's obvious that they're all very actively preserving a bond to him. Now, was there ever a time when the Dragonborn spoke of or to the Shadar-kai in your hearing?"
Iordyn allowed his head to fall back into its natural level, then leaned it slightly to his left as he looked into the heart of the fire. "He did," he managed quietly after a few moments' thought. "By Lathander. It was Rasha."
Garimond nodded slowly. "But Ranclyffe said she was introduced as Sheekliheemre and Silveredge, as though the second were a nickname for the first. When the border guards finally got him to register on her behalf, he said that he gave them that first name- or tried to. It's of Drow origin, and nearly impossible for any of us mere Humans to say or spell." Garimond sighed as he rose from his chair. Valeria picked up her head to watch his progress toward the dull metal tray that a servant had brought in earlier.
"Well, the actual Drow probably wasn't any help," Iordyn scoffed, pulling his hand down his face.
"No, he wasn't. He looked at the record, shrugged, and then listed the clearly false name he'd given at the docks as his own- the one that indicated that he was female? That one. Refused to write the true one, even when threatened with imprisonment. So Ranclyffe crossed that out and wrote the name he knew was right, excusing his poor spelling of it, and was rewarded with a brief spell spat with the creature. The guards thought it was all very strange, and so told me right away. Now, was there a name for the Tiefling?"
Again, Iordyn had to delve into memories that were a little less clear than he would have preferred. He frowned with effort for a few moments, and the oversword took the opportunity to pop a slice of apple into his mouth.
"Mishka," Iordyn finally replied as Garimond picked up a piece of cheese and broke it into three pieces. "While they were fighting- sparring- while she and the Shadar-kai were sparring. With the dog. He called them Rasha and Mishka, never anything else, and he thought it was a great idea for all three of them to fight in the middle of broad daylight. In the middle of the street."
"Hard-hearted son of a whore, isn't he?" Garimond scoffed as he popped a piece of cheese. "I'll have all the records throughout Suzail searched for any sign of a 'Mishka.' I can almost guarantee that those three- four, with that strange Drow that keeps playing at being a female- are in some sort of alliance with each other. A mercenary company of their own, perhaps."
"I hadn't thought of that," Iordyn admitted.
"Even if one doesn't believe their marriage bonds, one can be distracted by them," the oversword reasoned. "They're not fools, these four, and Ranclyffe is diligently trying to crack the Dragonborn without considering the rest of the group. I'll have to sit with that beast myself, though. It's obvious that he's battle-hardened, and Ranclyffe retired for a reason. I'll put his creature to a harsher questioning, see if he responds to that."
"Again?" Iordyn asked, turning his head as far over his right shoulder as he could in the attempt to see the oversword. "Hasn't he been questioned twice now already?"
"Remember, the first set of guards came only for Unessmus, and returned to me with only the stale news that the man was a drunkard. I questioned only Ranclyffe, when I went myself, and although the Dragonborn was present when I called everyone to his home, he barely spoke at all. This time, I mean to focus on him." Garimond returned to his chair with two pieces of sliced apple and a small wedge of cheese. "Depending on how calloused his heart really is, I may even need to resort to torture."
"Ranclyffe would have known what of Voyonov's words were untrue," Iordyn reasoned, instantly concerned. "There's no reason to-"
"He wouldn't even hear the questions I had for the Dragonborn, at the time," the silver haired officer replied with a short grunt. "He was still treating the creature as an actual medical or magical danger at that point, however cavalier his wife was about the whole matter, and refused to question him about anything that didn't directly pertain to his own actions in Urmlaspyr. I now have reason to ask precisely how that questioning went, and to do some questioning of my own. Ranclyffe will realize the danger once he considers the big picture, instead of only seeing as far as the edge of his laboratory table."
Iordyn finally sat forward in the chair and reached down to pat Valeria, who popped up and moved so that she was more directly under his hand. The two men sat in silence for a while until Iordyn finally looked up to the silver haired soldier again.
"What if she's left the city? Gone back out to make contact with- whomever she's making contact with?"
Garimond nodded briefly. "Get back after that Shadar-kai, whoever she is, and get her to talk. That's your first step. I'll focus on the Dragonborn, see if I can pry some information out of those scaly jaws."
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