“It looks like we’re all here.” Rinvar spilled the contents of a long brown envelope on the table. “This has to be the strangest group of… suspects I would be facing… so far.”

  A function room. Tables with pristine white cloth, untouched dinnerware, and partly wilted flower arrangements. Rinvar and Farin occupied the stage where a band was supposed to play. Musical instruments were set aside, put in the neatest way someone with little knowledge of looking after them would do. The table stood out sorely in this function setting: a folding apparatus of wood and metal. Whoever was in charge of setting up this arrangement rushed to get chairs from places closest to the stage. A guest chair on the right, a high-backrest seat for the host at the center, and a chair from backstage for the left seat.

  Opposite this arrangement were three people, each with their own seats. The leftmost chair was occupied by the boy “Rook”, whose head looked around, as if uninterested in what was going on. On the right side was the one called “Kirk of Windstorm”, who sat still, though his gaze did not meet the Imperial investigators’ eyes. Lady Euphemia sat at the center, closest to the opposite panel. Although adorned in her order's vestments, she understood what was about to unfold, choosing to face this as a member of House Schild instead of representing the ?therlicht. Though she was intended to be at the center of questioning, the officers thought that it would be easier to get her to speak up with her companions present. On the other hand, there was little reason for them to not cooperate, especially when these three were at risk of becoming more than rumors.

  “You’re all aware why you’re brought here?”

  Farin brought her usual stern look, this time for three people who, depending on how they answer, could give a lead to the Gray Fox and his operations. They sat still, waiting for either officer to start with the questions, though the boy was more interested in looking at upturned plates and empty goblets. It made Farin’s sight train on “Rook”, possibly with more suspicion compared to the other two. Rinvar couldn’t help but follow where she was looking when he got the chance, but it was time to begin.

  “I see that all three of you are ready for actual questioning, as suggested by your… friend, 'Kirk'.” Rinvar said, “We expect that you’ll be telling everything, and everything you say is the truth.”

  “Yes.” Euphemia looked at her companions on each side before returning her focus to the investigators. “We will be as truthful as you demand us to be.”

  “I’d assume your utmost cooperation, and I demand no less, especially from a lady of House Schild.” Farin met the cleric’s gaze. “This is a strange occurrence since we have seen each other at the Archives. Maybe this isn’t really a question, more like asking for help.”

  “This might turn out better than expected.” Rinvar took the lead and started asking, “What were you doing in Luminberg? Before the incident.”

  “I was looking for something. What I have learned from Aurelburg was not enough.” Canoness Euphemia spoke without stutter, far from shaken by the ongoing situation. “We would have stayed in this city longer…”

  “We have noted your ‘strange interests’. Monsters and other dimensions.” Rinvar turned to Farin, who nodded in response. “I’m not familiar with your sisterly order, but you don’t follow a kind of... what was that? Oath? Oath of driving away evil creatures, do you?”

  “My order’s vocation is in the healing arts.” The church sister continued, “What I have read was about those monsters… the beings of the Rift.”

  “You mean this, when you were studying them as ‘Sister Mia’?” Farin handed Euphemia some photographs of the monster remains found in the Antikwald.

  “Ooh…” Rook stood up to see the photograph more closely. “This one almost got me. I remember that chipped claw.”

  Rinvar pulled up a notebook and a pen, scribbling shorthand symbols while he looked at his superior conversing with the cleric. Strange, though he couldn’t pull himself from the fact that this questioning felt less formal than he expected. He didn’t know what Farin was up to, steering the conversation into the monsters, but she was the type to give him the cue to ask the more important questions. The main leg of this conference started with him saying:

  “Now we move to the more important leg of these talks.”

  Rinvar pushed a small group of photographs toward the three suspects. Impossible angles and at height were immediate giveaways that these were taken by aircraft. Blurred, soap bubble hues did not make them any less recognizable. They were from that night: a tower mostly wrapped in light, some burning objects, and a group of men struggling to get past a field of brightness.

  “Your friends, Kirk and Rook, said something about magic and ‘fancy lights’ that can help us understand what happened inside the city that night.” Rinvar moved his hand back to the edge of the table. “They said you can explain it the best.”

  Euphemia looked at her two companions: Rook grinned and scratched his head, while Kirk shrugged his shoulders and pointed open palms to the captain. She closed her eyes, made a soft nod, and produced a small charge of green light at her index fingertip. A round jewel from the armlet separated and flew to the source of light, which in turn floated to Rinvar at eye level.

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  Dumbfounded at the tiny floating ball, he was about to reach for his pistol when it glowed, transferring soft, green light to Rinvar, wrapping him in a radiance that caused him to slack and slouch in his seat. The discomfort of working with a rib brace left him; a surge of relaxation replaced whatever his fatigued body carried since he dealt with the Aurelburg intruders. Farin shook her head at first, but it did not last long when she thought it was her turn to write down what was going on.

  The floating round gem was recalled to Euphemia’s armlet, after which she said:

  “I… have given my friends, and some people, an identical light. This is a weaker version of what I used.” She held the cold, silvery-white metal of the artifact. “I apologize for causing alarm, but my answer is best explained if I show you, rather than elaborate with words.”

  “So this is the ‘magic’ the other two were talking about…” Farin kept the thought to herself, but made a quick question before everyone else realized, “You have this… I can’t put it in better words: skill and some knowledge of the monsters. Do you know who was behind what happened that night?”

  “No. But what I want to know…” the cleric gazed at the ground, grasping for words that refused to work with her. “Could I at least make a request? I know I’m hardly in a position to impose, but…”

  Rinvar sat straight again; this time, without the feeling of the rib brace forcing his posture. There was an exchange of glances with everyone inside the room, until Farin nodded, then he spoke:

  “We can keep your secret, depending on its importance.”

  “That would be enough, thank you.” The cleric closed her eyes and made a long, soft breath before resuming, “My father. He was with the enemy that night.”

  Kirk and Rook drew concerned gazes toward Euphemia; it was much of a revelation to them as it did to the investigators. Why would that syndicate leader use a bargaining chip, a hostage, as a pawn? What she stated affected even the expressions of her companions. The golden-haired man, sparse of words throughout this conversation, said:

  “That man. It was him?”

  “This is turning out to be more complicated than expected.” Rinvar filled two lines of his notebook with text. “What you shared with us should not come out of this room, no matter what.”

  “Notably more difficult…” Farin shook her head. “Now there’s the possibility of fighting him before rescuing him, if our church sister is not mistaken.”

  “I am convinced.” Euphemia’s voice was clear; a determination born out of anger. “I should be the one to bring him back to our family.”

  “That may not be possible, going by procedure.” Rinvar took his focus off his notes. “We should keep the three of you in our custody until further notice...”

  “But how you answer the next questions can affect how we treat your involvement in this.”

  Farin nodded to Rinvar, who stood up and pushed what looked like a wheeled cage. The captain lifted the cloth to reveal a rock whose glow went through several colors at once. It was the director’s turn to speak:

  “You were found with your friends who were carrying this on their way out of Luminberg.”

  “That rock…” Rook switched his attention to the stone, but Euphemia made a quick, blinking glance at him with a soft nod.

  “We believe this is what they were after.” The cleric said, “Magical energy, collected from the city. The stone is its container.”

  “They were coming for that, so we thought it was a good idea to run away with it,” Kirk added.

  “I don’t know much about the Wizards’ Wall, but I doubt if protecting the city meant it was to use the people as a source of energy.” Rinvar lowered the cloth and covered the glowing rock from view.

  “And we had to turn the whole thing off.” Rook, realizing he was not adding much to the conversation, piped up at the last moment. “There was no other way to get that rock out.”

  “So you were the ones behind that part of the Wall.” Rinvar lowered his pen and set it aside. “The Army has you to thank for that, then.”

  “I do not understand.” Euphemia was far from settled with what she said earlier.

  “What you did there gave us the only opening into the city.” Farin, unlike her subordinate, did not stop filling her pages with lines. “The one we’re after would have made too clean an escape had the city been closed all night.”

  “Ideally, I’ll have to send you, Lady of Schild, back to your mother.” Rinvar said, “Your friends, on the other hand… they’ll be going back to where they came from, or spend some time in prison.”

  “But seeing that you can either quickly adapt or overcome something that made most of us useless…” Farin shook her pen, waiting for ink to flow onto the nib. “We honestly don’t have the luxury of waiting… so we might have to…”

  “What she’s saying is, you would have no choice but to work for us.” Rinvar continued, “It’s a better alternative to thick walls and cold iron bars for your friends.”

  “Could you… elaborate on this arrangement?” Euphemia’s gaze was just as puzzled as her companions’. “I do not want them to be punished for my sake.”

  “You can get away with what you did because of your family, Sister Mia.” Farin took her turn to explain. “As for your friends, they have no proper documents, and the boy here wore enemy equipment.”

  “But keeping you in custody means we won’t be fully prepared with… other surprises. Besides, I doubt if cells and guards could actually stop you if you tried.” Rinvar cut the director’s pause. “It’s simple: we’ll let you continue your search for your father, but you’re going to have to report to us.”

  “They will come after you, and we can’t guarantee you protection all the time.” Farin’s sternness eased, but the angles of her eyes were still present. “But I doubt they could do much to you after all you have shown that night.”

  “I…”

  Euphemia paused and looked to her sides. Kirk and Rook nodded, though the latter’s attention wandered off and instead focused on a window. The canoness looked at the two Imperial officers. With a deep breath, she nodded and answered:

  “I would have to accept your proposal.”

  “You now see where you stand here.” Farin filled her notebook page with text before closing it. “We’ll arrange for your friends’ documents. That should get you into a little less trouble once we tell you to resume your journey. Please excuse us and wait until you can return to the rooms.”

  ????

  Rinvar waited for one of the men to retrieve the trolley-like carrier before the door was closed behind Euphemia’s group. Farin stretched her arms and put her notes back in her pocket. She made a passing gaze at the captain and said:

  “What did she do to you earlier?”

  “I can’t explain, but I feel good as new.” Rinvar patted the area where the rib brace was supposed to secure. “And there I was thinking that a magic-using clergy was nothing but old wives’ tales.”

  “I don’t feel particularly comfortable sending that girl into certain danger.” Farin stopped in the middle of the hall and looked back at the function room where the trio was held. “But all we can hope is that the Gray Fox turns his attention to them long enough for us to apprehend him for good.”