River smiled. "Thank You..." Her eyes checked the shelves, eager to find something else that he might lend. The Fey poetry was too rare, he'd never let it go, but something else useful to their investigation or suiting her taste in literature... Her search stopped as her ear caught his words...

... A disruption... Damage. She paused. The paintings... She had assumed there was a particular working done in order to erase the memory of the paintings. However, maybe it wasn't its own curse. Who paid attention to paintings anyhow? Maybe they forgot because they were [i]injured[/i] by dark magick happening around them. 

She opened the book on magical paintings. She should give it a read before lending it to the prim and platinum painter. If they could find a disrupted pattern in the shades and tones in the frames... Was it like a footprint? There was more than one painting, more than one place to look for that footprint, that injury. 

She regarded Fonsus, not quite following his train of thought. She trusted his instinct, he was clever, and always thought outside the assignment. In school it was messy, here it might be invaluable. It was endearing... 

... Endearing. She thought about Hale... There was NO WAY Richard or Fonsus would want to incorporate him into the investigation. He had been an ass to them. Yet...  was he not just angry and angsty against an unfair world, Could she blame him? No... Could she trust him...? Maybe... 

Could they find out what happened to his sister? And if they did... What then?