Gossip and Intrigue

Alaron rounded the corner too quickly and came face to chest with a much taller being. Fate Metis, tall and imposing, looked down at the top of the Guardian with a judgmental glare.

"I heard we had visitors," his voice boomed, causing the silver-eyed man to take a hasty step back.

Bowing his head, the Guardian lowered his voice. "We do not want to bother you, Fate Metis. We will be on our way." Alaron hid his face by staying down and grabbed his sister's hand.

"Do not hesitate to let me know if you need anything." The Fate watched as the pair hurried down the hall. "Hm, they did not introduce themselves," he noted. A few moments later, another human clad in black came hurrying by with a soldier wearing a helmet. They bowed but kept on moving, following the first pair's path. "Very curious..."

Not sensing any danger from the group, he decided to not to pursue them. "I am sure Fannur will fill me in on that later." With that, he floated off to check on the progress of his pet project: how to build a better boat.

When the twins reached Dania's laboratory, there was a small crowd of people already inside. 'Word travels fast,' Mairwen lamented, 'more gossips here than in the palace court.'

"Chancellor Fannur said you were looking for information on Taran and Dania. I know for a fact that..."

"Don't you dare tell them what I saw! I was there when..."

"You'll want to know this first and foremost! You see it all started after..."

Voices overlapped in a cacophony of noise. Alaron brought his fingers to the void of his hood and whistled loudly. Silence fell as those surrounding him bowed their heads. Most had never seen a Guardian and his lack of face now gave them a sense of dread as the deafening quiet stretched out.

"Now," Alaron boomed, causing those nearest him to flinch. He strode across the room and sat in the chair behind a small table--Dania's chair. "We have come to collect information on Dania and Taran. But I will only accept firsthand information that could be relevant to finding them. Gossip will not be tolerated." The growl in his voice made one of the young ladies shiver. "Form a line outside and you will be seen one at a time."

Some grumbling occurred as a few of the people, having no firsthand information, left the lab unsatisfied. The rest quietly exited and formed a more orderly line outside with only minimal elbowing.

"I thought we were going to search the room," Mairwen tried to understand her brother's reasoning.

"We cannot do it with so many prying eyes. We will have to bide our time and wait for the right opportunity. In the meantime, perhaps one of these people has some useful information."

With the sweep of his hand, Alaron invited his sister to join him.

"Eira?" Alaron said when she entered behind his brother-in-law. "Would you show in our first contestant?"

The soldier bowed slightly and turned around.

"Contestant? What is this, a game?" Renat wondered as he found a stool to sit beside his wife.

Alaron shrugged. "A game of sorts. Think of it like 'two truths and a lie' only most of what's being said is likely a combination of the two…"

It turned out that even with the warning that the Guardian had given, much of what people came to say was idle gossip. Every lady had been tempted by Taran in some way (though few would admit to having given in), and every man told of how their colleague had bragged about discovering and cultivating Dania's brilliant mind.

Dania kept mostly to herself among the scientists and researchers, but that did not stop the rumors from spreading like wildfire. Though no one could say first hand that they saw the couple be overtly intimate, many swore to having caught them alone in some room or other.

It frustrated Mairwen that seeing two men having a scholarly discussion would have not been notable, yet seeing a man and a woman in the same situation meant they must be a couple. It was unfair to both parties.

The closest thing anyone could attest to actual affection between them was a kiss that Taran planted on the woman's cheek and the occasional embrace. Mairwen had seen similar actions but they never seemed romantic. They always seemed forced. By the time the last person had come and gone, the three listening were flooded with mountains of useless information.

"I can understand why the original investigation hit a snag." Renat said as he rubbed his aching shoulder. The stool which he had selected was less than comfortable. "No one knows what happened, but everyone is eager to share their theory. After all that, we have no actionable information."

"Yes, well, most mysteries are solved by a lot of hard, boring work. It can't all be excitement and intrigue..." Although Alaron's words sounded wise, there was a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"Is there anything more I can do for you?" Chancellor Fannur peeked his head in the room with a friendly smile.

"No Chancellor, I think we are just about done here." Alaron answered as he stood from his chair.

"Very good. Then I will be happy to escort you out. Unless doing so would endanger my life," Fannur chuckled awkwardly. "It wouldn't, would it?"

"I don't believe so," Eira piped in before Alaron could make another threat.

The group allowed Fannur to lead them to the front and attend them as they mounted their horses.

"Please notify me if you find them. I am anxious to know that the happy couple is doing well." The Chancellor bowed slightly and waved as the horses entered the main thoroughfare outside the University's courtyard.

Alaron steered onto the wide street and allowed Mairwen and Renat to come up beside him. "Let's go find somewhere to rest for the evening, and then we will come back after dark. We can look for the notes without anyone spying."

The others agreed. It seemed the most logical course. So, finding an inn where they could eat and sleep for a few hours, the four got some much needed shut eye.

Well after dark, Alaron, Mairwen and Renat crept back into the hallowed halls of the University. Much to Eira's chagrin, the soldier was selected to keep watch outside with the horses. No one would dare question a soldier guarding a University anyway. If anything, it would be expected.

The University looked different at night without the bright cheeriness of the sunlight streaming in through a series of intricate mirrors along the ceiling of each level. Only a few low lit lamps gave off an anemic glow to keep the darkness at bay.

The trio of intruders ghosted along through the shadows and into Dania's lab. The Guardian paused and cast his gaze about the room. "I suppose this is a bad time to ask if the real palace investigators took anything from Dania's laboratory back with them."

Renat, clad in his black and far too itchy attire, shook his head. "I don't think anything was actually removed. And if they had found her notes, I'm sure they would have asked the Chancellor about them. So either he was lying, which I don't think was the case, or he has not seen them."

Alaron moved to a pile of papers on Mariwen's former work table. "Then let's get looking and hope Dania does not have the notes with her."

"All three copies?" The princess scoffed lightly. "I doubt it."

Renat looked around anxiously. "The sooner we can find them and get out, the better. I do not like sneaking around. And I still think this is a dead end."

"If it is, I will find another angle. I am not giving up." Mairwen looked at her husband. Even beneath the fabric mask, her eyes pleaded with his.

"I know, my love. It is one of the wonderful things about you." Renat took her hand.

"And I love that you keep me grounded. I know I have been stubborn, but you haven't given up on me." Mairwen cooed. The couple gazed longingly at each other until Alaron cleared his throat and pretended to gag.

"Kill me if you two are going to keep doing that all evening. That cutesy banter is nauseating. Either help me search or one of you go outside and keep watch."

"Well, that's not good..." Renat muttered.

The Guardian grunted, "I'm not sorry. I think it is good we set some boundaries--"

"No, the fireplace!" The scientist pointed behind where they had been sitting all afternoon.

Bringing the lamp over to the hearth, the scientist ducked under the hanging beakers and crawled into the fire's home.

"Something caught the light," he whispered, his voice echoing up the hollow chamber of the chimney. "Here!"

A lanky man came back out of the fireplace with a slip of charred white paper in his hand. He passed it to Mairwen, who dusted it off.

"Does this look familiar?" Renat asked.

The scrap was badly damaged, but the princess did recognize it. As Alaron retrieved another snippet from among the ashes, her fears were confirmed.

"These are the notes. But why would she burn them?" The dark-haired woman sighed as her eyes began to water.

"To hide them from someone. I see what you mean by saying they were in code. To go to so much trouble and then to burn them on top of that...she was holding onto some important information."

"I wish I had understood more of it..." the princess lamented. "Let's see if there are any more salvageable pieces."

An hour passed, but only a few more scraps from various pages appeared.

"This is only one copy. There aren't enough ashes for it to be more than that," Mairwen concluded at last. "Do you think she took the others with her?"

"Maybe... or she hid them somewhere. Is there anywhere Dania would never let you go or touch in here? She would want to keep her secrets close at hand." Alaron spoke from experience. He had hollowed out more than one space as a child to hide his interactions with Cafer. The Guardian realized the foolishness of it now, but it gave him insight into what people will do when desperate.

"She never let me sit in her chair. I was actually a little jealous that you claimed it today," Mairwen admitted as she blushed beneath her black mask.

Returning to the chair, the silver-eyed man examined the seat, but found nothing unusual. Then her turned to the desk and tapped his fingers on the top. "I noticed earlier that this is a very thick desk, but listen." He tapped again and a high-pitched empty thud answered his fingers. "See? It's hollow."

With his flat palms, Alaron ran his fingers along the bottom of the furniture. He held his breath until he felt a latch and pulled on it slightly. They all heard a satisfying click as a compartment fell away smoothly into the Guardian's hands.

"The notes?" Renat asked, peeking over his brother-in-law's shoulder.

Alaron laid the compartment on the desk and pulled out a large stack of pages. "It would seem so. I--"

Just then a blood-curdling scream rang out in the hall. Someone else was there. What's more, they were in trouble.