In Shade and Shadow

Rodian leaned back. He'd already hit this wall with Sykion and her cohorts. As yet, he hadn't found enough connection between the deaths and the sages' project to challenge any royal backing for secrecy—even with the sanction of the high advocate.

"Why did you go looking for the young men?" he asked.

Pawl a'Seatt's strange eyes blinked twice. Perhaps he wondered how Rodian already knew he'd done so.

"Too much time had passed," a'Seatt began. "They should have returned with confirmation. I grew concerned and stepped out, hoping to see them coming back late. I did not, so I followed the assumed path they would take. But when I passed the side street near my shop, I heard a cry. I went to look and heard more noise down the alley at the side street's end. I had just found the bodies when Imaret appeared. I immediately told her to run to the local constabulary station. I assume they notified you, since you arrived shortly after."

Rodian frowned. So Imaret had followed a'Seatt into the alley and seen him with the bodies.

"You saw nothing," Rodian asked, "and just came upon the bodies?"

"Yes."

"And the folio was gone?"

"Yes… no, not precisely. I did not notice its absence until after Domin High-Tower's arrival. I was too shocked over what I had found."

Rodian stalled for an instant—idtr an in" shocked" wasn't a word he would use to describe a'Seatt's state that night.

"So… you cannot verify that the folio was missing when you found the bodies."

"I do not remember."

Rodian stopped to jot down notes. Pawl a'Seatt's answers were precise, and thereby offered no more than was necessary. Certain details were still missing. And for all the man's concern over the safe return of a folio, Rodian found it hard to believe the scribe master hadn't once looked for it in the alley.

"You said Imaret came after you?"

Another pause followed, and a slight crease appeared on a'Seatt's forehead.

"Yes, though I had told her to stay inside the shop."

"An upsetting sight for the girl," Rodian added, but a'Seatt didn't respond. "How is it that you have such a young girl working so late in your shop?"

His tone was not accusatory, but he knew the words might bite with insinuation.

"She is gifted," Pawl a'Seatt answered without reaction. "I wish to see that gift nurtured."

"Gifted? How?"

"She can recall any text she sees with accuracy. Her hand is not yet refined but adequate—better than any of her age and experience."

Rodian saw new potential in this. "So she remembers everything she reads?"

"No."

"But you said—"

"Every piece of text she sees—not reads," a'Seatt clarified. "She does not know the sages' script. She understands only contemporary Numanese and its common writing and the western Sumanese dialect. But at a glance she can recall the pattern of half a page of strokes of any kind and render a clean copy. What she can read she recalls with accuracy, but that does not include the Begaine syllabary."

Unfortunate, but it might still be of use, and Rodian turned down a connected side path.

"Imaret obviously has a mixed heritage. I take it her parents paid for her apprenticeship."

This time it was Pawl a'Seatt who stared intently. "I fail to see what this has to do with your investigation."

"Imaret is a witness," Rodian countered, "though after the fact. I need basic information on all involved."

Pawl a'Seatt's eyes remained fixed and steady.

"Her father was a sergeant in the regulars, now retired. Her mother was an apothecary in Samau'a Gaulb, the capital of il'Dha'ab Najuum, one of the nations of the Suman Empire. They offered tuition, but it was not necessary."

Rodian stopped scribbling in his journal. "Unnecessary? Why?"

"As I said, she is gifted. I pay her adequately for—"

"You are training an apprentice for free?" Rodian asked. "And paying her for her training?"

"Captain," a'Seatt said slowly, "several of my employees are still at my shop, but recent events have left them shaken. If you have no more relevant questions, some of them must be escorted home."

Rodian found this scribe shop owner troubling, one who took on an unusual apprentice without tuition and yet hadn't noticed a missing folio of importance sent off with two young sages. And again he wondered why Pawl a'Seatt had come all the way to the barracks rather than wait at his shop.

"Visits from the city guard are the fodder of rumor," a'Seatt said, as if catching Rodian's suspicion. "I prefer this unfortunate business be kept as far as possible from my staff and shop."

Rodian had heard such excuses before, as if an interview with the captain of the city guard suggested a taint of guilt. Sometimes it did. For now he could think of no further reason to detain this man.

"I regret any gossip," Rodian offered, "but the killer or killers must be caught. If… when… I have further questions, I will try to exercise discretion."

Pawl a'Seatt looked slowly about the office, taking in its scant and orderly fixtures. Rodian thought he saw the man nod slightly to himself.