She Slumbers, and Keith's Discovery

Keith then paused, trying to work past the lump in his throat. "It really was...such a small village. I almost couldn't recognize it, if it weren't for the half burned sign telling me otherwise."

"Your village burned down?" Christian asked.

"Raided." Keith spat out. "And not by stinking goblins, neither. Bandits. Raided. Ransacked. Burned. Now? It's no more than a graveyard that I personally built by hand. Everyone I grew up with is buried there."

"What happened then?" Christian asked.

"After that, I became an adventurer. I took down every bandit camp I could find, burying them in their sleep, whenever possible. Finally, I had tracked down the group that had done it, and ended their miserable lives." Keith clenched his hand in front of him, then relaxed it, waving as if scattering dust.

"But it was all an empty rage. I couldn't bring them back." His voice became hoarse. "I saved the country. But I couldn't save those who were important to me."

"So I did the only thing left that I could do. I took to drinking. And that's where your father found me: dead drunk in a nameless tavern." Keith sighed.

"My father? No, that's impossible. He would never go to such a place." Christian denied.

"Oh? As I recall, he sat down right next to me, and ordered a drink as well. Then he started talking about you. He talked about how smart you were, and the foolish little scraps you got into with Jasmine, even as a five-year old."

"Wait, I was fighting with her even back then?" Christian frowned.

"Hahah, that you were. He also told me about how he worried about you. He didn't know what he would do if he were to lose you. So, dead drunk as I was, and fifteen to boot, I agreed to help out. I dunno what I was thinking at the time. But....perhaps I was trying to redeem myself. If the me who lost everything could protect a friend's most important person, then perhaps....just perhaps I'd be a little less of a loser."

Keith grimaced. "Obviously, it isn't working out too well."

"A loser indeed." Christian nodded in agreement. Then he turned his head towards Keith. "Now that we know how much a loser we are, we should probably get to work before we lose any important evidence."

"Much as I'd hate to admit it, you're right." Keight grimaced again, patting Christian's shoulder twice. "Well, let's not lose track of the time, I suppose. I'll scour the magic eyes again, and you can go question the royalty."

"Wait, why me? Aren't I the last person who should be doing that?" Christian asked.

"I might be thinking they deserve whatever petty annoyances you can incur upon them...But, then again, I'm only a retired general, and a commoner ta boot." Keith stood back up.

"Oh? But weren't you descended from the first king of Ekkinshire? What happened to your noble lineage?" Christian quipped, also standing up. He was still upset, but for some reason, he felt just a bit lighter.

Keith snorted. "That? Those records were not confirmed, and were all burned up in the fire. You can't pin that on me. There's no proof of anything." He snickered. "Have fun talking to the royals~!"

"Have fun not sleeping!" Christian retorted as he headed for the glowing hallway to have a chat.

--------------

"So it was after your conversation with Robin that he agreed to stay for dinner, and went to pass the time in the garden?" Christian asked.

"Yes. That's right." Throm nodded.

"Can you tell me what you talked about?" Christian asked.

"Hmmm an awful lot of it was about Quinn's bad habits of sneaking in past all my security measures, then there were the chocolates, the Trader....And, quite frankly, we did discuss one other, but Robin is uncomfortable with that topic becoming known to others, and had expressly asked me not to tell it to anyone else."

"...You're sure?" Christian asked.

"You can double check with Quinn, but it will generally be the same answer." Throm indicated. Christian clicked his tongue in annoyance. He didn't like talking to Quinn.

"...While I am rather curious about that last part, how did the topic swing from chocolates to the Trader, if you don't mind my asking?" Christian said, looking at the conversation topics he had written down on a piece of parchment.

"Ah, that. Well, all of a sudden, Robin started looking around. Sh- sa he asked us if we had any magic eyes in the hall, and I told he-im that we don't. The magic eyes are clustered outside the castle and in the garden. We like our privacy, after all." Throm nodded. He frowned. He was beginning to see why Ayva found it so difficult to keep Robin's secret.

"Then HE up and smacks a chameleon-gecko off a crystal banister. Didn't even see tha little thing well afore the castle defenses kicked in and fried it to a crisp."

"Indigestion?" Christian asked, picking up on the oddities in his words.

"Partially..." Throm answered, with a grimace.

"A chameleon gecko, huh? It's impressive that he could find one. But what does that have to do with the Trader?" Christian asked, getting back to the topic.

"About that, Robin said that sh-ure as grass is green, there was spirit mana on the gecko. Mmmn. Said that tha last time you folks encountered it, ya were up against that Trader man." Throm decided to not say he or she, to remove the chances of mixing them up.

"You think it might be hiccups?" Christian asked, referring to his frequent pauses.

"Trust me, lad. Hiccups from a half-dragon dwarf ain't nothin' ta sneeze at." Throm shook his head sternly.

"If you say so." Christian shrugged. "So, Robin connected the chameleon gecko to the Trader, did he? Any chances of it being a natural spirit beast?" He asked, recalling Skye, Robin's sworn companion.

"Well, no. Chameleon Geckos are known for their natural disguise abilities. They don't have a speck of magic talent." Throm replied.

Christian paused, as a thought came to him. "Say, what are the odds of an invisible assassin coming in?" He asked.

Throm snorted. "Unlikely. Any living thing over ten pounds without a permission token would get fried tha moment they stepped past the gates."

"What about magic invisibility?" Christian asked.

"My magic eyes are set to detect invisibility magic, so it's impossible to be sneaked up on." Throm shook his head.

"Then, if the thing that dropped off the poison was one that wasn't using a spell, and was under ten pounds?" Christian asked.

"...If yer thinking what I think yer thinking, then it may indeed be possible. But are they even smart enough to be trained to pull something like that off?" Throm asked, beginning to understand.

"Maybe not. But, if they were controlled by a spirit master, then...." Christian trailed off. Both were smart enough to grasp the end of his sentence without him finishing it.

Both began to head towards the room with the magic eyes.

-------

Keith had decided to focus only on the flagon of beer left out in the open. Whoever the culprit might be, in the end, they had to place the poison in beforehand, within a 24 hour window. Thus, he was slowly working backwards from the moment Robin fell unconscious.

The first time he had watched it he had played the video forward through Robin's visit. This was to make sure Ayva was not deceiving them. But, listening to their conversation, his eyes widened. He muttered to himself.

"As I suspected..."

Out of caution, should Christian decide to check the records, he then asked Ayva to remove the sound recordings, and hold onto them for safekeeping. It was a good idea that he had done so, for not half an hour after he started, Christian and Throm showed up.

"Hey, Keith, did you see anything strange happening to the flagon-!" Christian began to ask, when he paused, his eyes drawn to the image Keith had paused on.

"Well, funny thing you should mention it, but yes. I did just capture something strange." Keith nodded.

The magic eye was paused upon a closeup of the flagon. A spot the shape of a jelly bean could be seen next to the lid. From far away, it might look just like a flaw in the recording. But now that it was closed in upon, it was apparent that this spot was actually a partially closed chameleon eye.