Jeza V

15th night of the Month of Ice, 18:30, Moonfall

Jeza finds the prince in the Lunar Palace's throne room.

The throne one could see at Night Hall was a smaller copy of the one at the Palace, which was almost big enough to fit two people sitting on it comfortably, the back it tall and flat, decorated in ???.

In front of it, lied the Drest's regnante, or at least, a part of it. The black glass tree-like structure had gnarled roots, broken in some places, and the higher it grew the less black it was, until the last branches, that were a clear turquoise.

The prince follows the family bloodline with a finger, his focus fully on it, not paying attention to Jeza until she stands at his side and clears her throat.

That's enough to call his attention from the enormous regnante—most families reused theirs after three generations, only writing down the oldest ones to leave space for the new ones in the physical representation of their family tree, but the Drest were the royal family, and as such, their regnante grew and kept each generation represented, no matter how many years passed—his stare is not warm, but not cold either. Prince Artemy simply does not care for Jeza's presence at the moment.

"I hear congratulations are in order, my prince" says Jeza as a greeting, trying to start soft, the news of the prince impeding marriage had reach every hear. She is gifted a frown in return and she cringes internally.

"How may I help you, Jeza?" He asks, his voice echoing in the empty throne room, with only columns as company.

She doesn't really know to proceed. Darule had thought it would be more appropriate for her to do the questioning, since she and the prince knew each other from childhood. But it had been a while since she had last spoken to prince Artemy as friends. And if one were to judge his tone, that was not the case as of right now.

"The Infans was murdered" she starts, deciding to be as direct as possible. He raises an eyebrow at her, hands at his back as he waits for her to continue "It was known that you two were not…friendly"

That pulls a laugh from the prince, too loud and obnoxious to be real.

He stops suddenly and meets her eyes. She often forgets that prince Artemy, while not taller or physically stronger, has been trained in ways she hasn't, that while their ashas are complementary, he can still hurt her if he so wished.

Artemy was still a prince while Jeza belonged to a family that had stood with murderous monarchs, that had been stripped of their title as noble.

"Are you accusing me of murdering my uncle, Jez?" He says, a smirk slowly growing on his face, his tone teasing, like they're friends joking among themselves.

They're not, have not been for years, not since Anax-

"Because if you are, I must say, you are braver than I expected!" Continues Artemy "but sadly, wrong"

He offers her a fake pout before smirking again. Jeza blinks at him.

"I still need to question you about your whereabouts during the time of the murder" says Jeza, trying to sound professional and failing. She takes out her notebook and clears her throat "Where were you at walpurgis the night the murder of Infans Mikhe Drest?"

"Home, sad and alone" mockingly says Artemy, putting a hand over his forehead and sighing. Then, he turns serious "You can ask anyone really, I stayed home, Jez"

Jeza writes everything down, even as she feels a strange disappointment fill her. It makes her guilty, to feel disappointed, she should ve happy that her old friend had not killed his uncle in cold blood.

"You know of anyone that could have wished your uncle harm?" Asks Jeza and before Artemy can say something smart she adds "recently"

He shuts his mouth with a clack and actually seems to be thinking about it. He tilts his head and hums in thought.

"My uncle was not liked, you know this" he says "I'm sure whoever killed him had a very good reason"

Jeza frowns and then remembers the talk at the Golden Maid.

"What happened five years ago?" She asks and Artemy opens his mouth is surprise "Your uncle spent some time at the Golden Maid talking to everyone that would hear him, he talked about you and something you mocked him with, something that happened five years ago"

The surprise is gone and his face turns hard, a cold mask she had seen sometimes, something taught to cover his too expressive face when angry or amused.

"My uncle tried to start a fight with me, before he decided to go and get drunk" says Artemy "I was in no mood to amuse him, so decided to cut the argument before it could start. What happened five years ago was not that impressive, Jeza, just some court drama that got out of hand"

"Out of hand how?" Asks Jeza. Maybe she could also ask her father, he was the one that attended court sessions, but knowing him he was probably asleep during whatever drama had gone down.

"Just my uncle getting humbled a bit, nothing serious" shrugs Artemy "But you know how he was…so intense about everything. His pride got damaged, so I remembered it for when he needed some calming down"

He had not answered the question, not really, but she could tell his attention was elsewhere.

The Haruspex had entered the throne room, the Infans close behind.

The delight in the prince face stays there for a mere second before his mask is back up.

"What a surprise! Are you two on the way to the coliseum?" Asks Artemy, almost skipping towards the pair, leaving Jeza to hurry her step to not be left behind.

"Indeed brother, you are welcome to come watch" says the Infans, her nose high and pose proud "as long as you don't interrupt"

Artemy chuckles, turning to the Haruspex and patting his shoulder.

"Of course, need to make sure you don't beat each other up too badly!" He exclaims, then, he seems to remember Jeza's presence "Jez! Do you want to come? My adorable sister has convinced our honorable Haruspex to train her in combat!"

"I have to solve a murder, my prince" she says as serious as she's able "Your uncle's murder"

"Ah, yes, well, when you get tired of that, you are most welcome to join us" says Artemy as he waves his hand, like the matter of his uncle's death is worthless is comparison to his sister's training.

She frowns at him and bows at her waist, as respectful as a prince deserves.

"I'm sure it will be solved shortly, do not worry my prince" she says, all snark and passive aggressiveness.

As she walks and passes by the trio, the Haruspex grabs her arm.

"I met with Enuma, Lady Zasya" he murmurs "She's a lovely girl, I'm sure you are proud of your new heir"

Jeza is surprised. Vyshe Ardashir did not often interact with her out of his own free will. He only answered when asked. Never a conversation starter, their Haruspex.

"Ah…yes! Of course" smiles Jeza wobbly "She is very shy, but she's getting along with my family with ease"

The bird mask tilts and with a short nod, Vyshe Ardashir releases her arm, allowing her to leave.

Jeza exits the Lunar Palace in a hurry, wondering about anyone that attends the court that could know about whatever happened five years ago. Something that had hurt Mikhe Drest's pride and something Artemy wished to hide.

———-

She goes back to Night Hall, wishing to through her notes and the reports, trying to find something in common. Jeza stares at the list Darule had compiled. All possible culprits.

The name of the prince, added at the end, stands up to her and she ponders about the questioning that had taken her nowhere.

He couldn't have, right?

No, of course not. Artemy may have hated his uncle, but hatred doesn't translate directly as murder. He had stated he had been home, something that shouldn't be too difficult to figure out the truth of it.

A sigh. Maybe they should look into a possible nomad suspect, it wouldn't be strange, since Mikhe Drest loved to publicly express his hatred towards them, maybe one had gotten tired of it and waited until Mikhe was drunk and alone to strike.

"You look tired Jez" says a voice, interrupting her thoughts. She snaps her head up and sees Anax Aud in the middle of the empty office, staring at her with crossed arms and titled head.

The Aud heir looks taller than the last time Jeza saw him, and it's not a surprise, most Aud family members grow to the size of an ula before they even reach adulthood. His yellow hair has been cut short and a scar now adorns his neck.

"Did you fight an ula while you were surviving in the wild?" Asks Jeza with a bright smile as she gets up to properly greet her old friend.

"Nah" he says as he opens his arms for a hug "My adulthood trial went without a hitch. Midha threw a rock at me the other night"

The Aud family was wild. Their children were tasked with spending a week in the mountains by themselves if they wanted to be considered adults by the rest of the family. Lord Anso Aud had also, as Anax had told her, said he would get his son an ula cub when Anax had complained about Artemy's newly acquired caith kitten at the time. The Adulthood trial was probably the tamest thing Anax had dealt with in that house-more so now that his sister was training to hone her Asha and practicing on her older brother. Anax had returned two months ago from the trial, but Jeza had been too busy to go see him, she was just happy to know he was in one piece.

"Where are your braids, Jez? I thought you loved them" says Anax as he rubs at Jeza's head with a smirk.

"Mean criminals kept pulling at them" pouts Jeza and then laughs.

They hug and stay in comfortable silence for a while.

"I heard about Infans Mikhe" whispers Anax, still locked in a hug with her "Glad someone was able to do what I couldn't"

"Anax!" Yells Jeza with a frown "Don't talk like that. The man was murdered"

"Yeah, I will make whoever did it the richest person in Neth" Says Anax with a raised eyebrow, then, he frowns "That…that monster deserved it"

"No one deserves to die" whispers Jeza, pushing Anax away slightly.

"That one did" says Anax, and he sounds angry "Have you forgotten what he did? To Hilde?"

Jeza lowers her head and shakes it slightly.

"It was never proved, we only had Hilde's wor-"

"It was enough!" Yells Anax, suddenly incensed "I believed her tears and her fear, she would not lie"

"No man would do such a thing. His own-his own blood" mutters Jeza "She must have been confused, she was just fourteen…"

"More reason to believe her" says Anax and then sighs "Jeza, I did not come here to argue with you, I wanted to see how you were, you have a nomad now, you should care for her, she is yours, not your mother's"

"I know, I know…but this case is important" she says, it feels like an excuse. Is she using this to escape her new status as a mother? No, of course not! She is not like that. She fixes thing, takes cares of things, help people, it's why she wanted to be a Nocturnal.

"That girl, she is lost and confused, like Nima was" says Anax and then chuckles "Or have you forgotten how Nima was when he arrived? He was terrible, kept screaming at anyone that got close to him, and he had people taking care of him during all that. You need to talk to this girl, explain yourself and raise her properly, she is your heir"

Jeza nods. Yes, Enuma is her responsibility, she took her in and she must teach her about her new home. The last thing she needs is her ending up getting her asha like Vyshe Ardashir did.

"You can't always solve everything" he reminds her gently, patting her head. Jeza huffs and slaps it away gently. Time to get serious again, no more sob stories.

"Who do you think did it?" Asks Jeza, looking up at him.

"Kill Mikhe? Well, almost half of Night Hall for sure, but not really" he chuckles and then tilts his head in thought "A stab wound, right? Someone with access to knifes with a grudge….hmmm….Could be anyone"

"That doesn't help. The knife didn't kill him, the cause of death was unclear" groans Jeza "Darule keeps insisting it was probably Artemy, Captain Ulrik wants us to investigate nomads and I just want to sleep"

"Artemy? Really? I guess he hated the man, but where did you get that?" Asks Anax with narrowed eyes.

"We went down to the Golden Maid, to ask around, Mikhe was there that night, right before he left directly to his death, a friend of his mentioned Mikhe kept rambling-"

Jeza stops suddenly, because she has an answer right before her eyes. The Zasya aren't nobles and the gossip of the higher class doesn't reach them as much, and is Jeza's father the one that attends Night Hall meetings as their family's representative. But right now she has someone from a noble family in front of her.

"Anax" she says suddenly, leaning forward and upwards on her toes "What happened five years ago to Mikhe Drest?"

Anax raises an eyebrow and smirks.

"You mean, you don't know? Well, makes sense, such a thing, they probably didn't want it to get out, My father told me it was to be kept among the lords and ladies present at Night Hall but I never knew nobody talked" he says, and then he sighs happily "Damn Jeza, it was the best thing I've ever seen in my life"

"Jus tell me and stop reminiscing! It's for the case!" She shouts

"Sure, sure" chuckles Anax "Well, it happened on a seemingly normal night…."