Perched atop the Tower of Water, beak and armor glinting in the morning sun, was a [url=http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/329/4/a/griffin_by_sandara-d2m67v5.jpg]griffin[/url]. Atop the griffin in turn sat a rather peculiar dark-skinned girl, with large, nervous eyes. She was thin, and had an air of illness about her, which wasn’t helped by a mostly-bald head (only a small vestige of black hair remained unshaved). In her hands the girl held a pair of brass binoculars, attached to a cord around her neck, and every few seconds she would put them up to her eyes to look for something in the distance.

“Can you see them yet, Corin?” she murmured in the griffin’s ear. “Are they really dumb enough to come all the way to the Academy to look for me?” A patch of empty air to her left answered [i]it’s almost as if you've angered them... I can’t [/i]imagine[i] how[/i], but Ren gave the empty air a furtive look. “I wasn’t talking to you, grandfather. I was talking to my griffin, and in fact I think I was rather enjoying myself without you around.”

[i]Hurt, I am. Truly hurt... Getting back to the business at hand, you’ll be pleased to know that I found the girl. She’s currently in the Hall of Healers…[/i] Ren looked up curiously, and gave the empty patch of air her full attention. “What? Is she injured?” [i]No, no, just being a much better person than you, granddaughter. From what I can tell, she’s helping the healers to look after some fellow students.[/i]

“Hmph,” was all she had to say about that. Whatever Aoife was doing, she needed the girl’s expertise to get her out of her current predicament. Whoever the sick students were, she was sure they’d survive without Halloran for a few minutes. As she was considering this, Corin the griffin (as opposed to Corin the spirit) chirped softly, and tossed his head to get her attention. Ren put the binoculars back to her eyes, and finally, there they were. Six rather large men in dark leather were thundering down the road towards the Academy, their horses’ hooves kicking up dust into a small cloud behind them.

“And here I was, thinking they wouldn’t be able to figure out where I lived… -sigh- All this trouble over a mangy [i]dog[/i]. Gods.” In preparation for flight, Ren made sure her legs were securely buckled to the saddle, gripped the saddle's flight-bars tightly, and made a soft chirp of her own. Immediately, the great beast spread his wings and leapt from the tower, reaching the ground and the nearby Hall of Healers in a single, lightning-fast dive. While she now unbuckled her legs, in order to get off of Corin, she told him to take flight again and keep watch, in case their surly adversaries were more dangerous than they seemed... If anything untoward were to happen, he would give a piercing cry.

"Now then, where... Aoife! Just the girl I wanted to see." With an uncharacteristic smile, Ren briskly approached the familiar investigator, saying "How [i]is[/i] my very best friend in all of Lismos today? Feel up for some, uh..." Her usual nervousness crept through the friendly mask, and the girl glanced around at the Healers and the two Magestravi, Miateae and... the other one, some young kid who looked vaguely familiar. She leaned quite a bit closer to Aoife's chair and lowered her voice, dropping the smile. "Look, I really need your help with something. It's a sticky situation, not exactly a 'case', but your skills are [i]definitely[/i] needed. I don't have much time to explain, but suffice to say, your timely intervention will be the difference between six idiotic criminals getting locked up and six corpses that I have to deal with... And I promise, if you help me, I'll owe you one. The next time you need me to talk to some dead people for you, I'll waive my usual fee. A favor for a favor, okay?" Ren jerked a thumb back towards the door. "Now, I'm afraid there isn't much time for thought, as they're probably already at the gates. Is it gonna be option A or option B?"