“That is no excuse!” Arius goes to search Sten the Younger to inform him about the two needing to borrow a handcart.
He frowns. “I haven’t been working for him that long, I don’t know if anyone here knew him. But I didn’t see anyone listening in on us last night.”
(your impression is that he’s being sincere here, but that he’s not considering either scenario incredibly hard because they’re being suggested by his top suspect)
“Depends on where you’re sending it to.” She looks at you expectantly for an explanation.
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Wanderer thinks.
Savil is either an incredible actor or he didn’t do it. So he didn’t do it. Nobody saw us discuss, though there is the possibility that someone knew him beforehand.
I find the idea that someone would kill him for no reason to be foolish, so he wasn’t killed for no reason.
So why was he killed?
Were we the only people new to town?
It’s definitely not any of the people at the creek or who ventured in my caravan.
I could just leave and let them handle it but
No, I can’t.
Sten the Younger is working in his forge, making nails. As Kamilla looks on, trying not to cough, he twists off a rod (already hammered to a point and notched) at the notch, hammers down the head, and drops it in a tub of water to cool.
“Done already?” he asks.
“Do you know anything that can help this investigation or will you persist in your false accusation of me?” He says, frustration leaking out. He doesn’t know entirely why he’s saying this, perhaps consumed slightly by emotion.
“…Well, it can’t be Madam Kaver,” he says, nodding at Nyna (who is still staring at him). “I was sleeping on the floor in the rectory – she couldn’t have left without me noticing.”
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He snaps back to attention. “That’s a start. I overheard a mention of a rock being thrown through the window. Would you happen to know anything about that event?”
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“People who kill other people hardly do it without reason. They have a reason for it and likely know the person in question if only fleetingly, even if that reason is stupid. Perhaps the rock thrower could be connected to what happened to the Messire somehow?”
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“…A breath of fresh air? That should only take a few minutes, and even more so, shouldn’t lead you to the creek for very long…”
“It feels increasingly likely to me that he was instead meeting up with someone when he left. And he didn’t tell you because… I don’t know.”
“A small town in the Gronzi,” Drakor said. “I can point it out on a map.”
“Regrettably, that is not the case.” Arius drags the kid next to him by the shoulders. “Vin and I forgot to bring a handcart with us while we were chopping a tree. We apologize for the inconvenience, but could you please bring it to us?”
He shakes his head. “I wasn’t there for it. Madam Kaver can back me up.”
“I guess that makes sense… but I don’t think you could’ve thrown it either…” His frown deepens.
“And so I will speak to her. I’ll say this. I didn’t trust you before this conversation. Everything lined up too cleanly. But now I do. I want to see Messire’s killer found.”
“But why wouldn’t he tell me? I don’t understand.”
He’s going to go up to Madam Kaver and ask about the rock throwing event and what she knows about it and who may have done it.
“It’d have to be something that absolutely needed to be secret. Something he… didn’t want you involved with, maybe? Perhaps it was dangerous, and he decided not to loop you in as a way to protect you?”
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She nods. “That might be rather difficult – unless it’s on the outskirts, not many people around here are willing to brave the forest. But you could still try, just by paying a fee and leaving it with me, and if anyone passed through who was headed in that direction, I’d pay part of the fee to them to carry it on to their destination.”
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He looks at his forge’s fire and frowns. “Don’t really want to leave it alone… I guess Kamilla could watch it, couldn’t you?”
Kamilla pulls a hand to her face and coughs. “I can stop it from burning your workshop down, at least.”
“That’ll have to be good enough.” He looks back at you. “Follow me.”