Faint opened the door to her room with a sigh. She took a bite from a piece of bread she had purchased from a stall on her way back, and quickly scanned the inn room’s interior for anything amiss.
 
The old wooden floor and featureless plaster walls were as she remembered. A single-sized bed rested at the corner of the room, facing a closed door which led to a simple dresser. Nearby was a table, where newspapers since her arrival at the town had been neatly folded, with the exception of one, which was splayed open over the better part of the table and almost entirely covered in wood shavings. With this new task to occupy her, she probably would not have much time to practice.
 
She carefully took hold of this piece of paper, folding it to prevent the dirt from falling all over the floor, and moved it aside. On the table where it had been, she placed her other new purchases. A set of pencils, and a small stack of bound paper, both small enough to stow in her satchel. For a moment, Faint merely stared at the writing implements. They had come as something of an impulse purchase. When she had asked Cinder and Soot for an hour’s time, her intention had mostly been to take the time to stash away some of the coin Mr. Garrick had given them, and to pick up some items from her room at the inn she was staying at.
 
But she had seen them as she passed through a marketplace on her way back, and thought to herself that it would be useful to have a place to keep the details of what she learned in her investigation. [i]Maybe.[/i]
 
Faint took the last bite from her bread and gulped it down as though to physically swallow her embarrassment. It made logical sense, but the truth of the matter was that she was playing things by ear. It made her behavior at the bar even more embarrassing in hindsight. In her previous occupation, she had gotten used to working on her own, or under someone. She had been quick to give advice and speak her mind at the bar, hoping for someone to take charge and decide their course of action, but she wondered if by doing that it had not appeared as though she was trying to muscle her way into that role herself.
 
[i]Me, the criminal. I’m more likely to make someone disappear than to find them. Gods, who am I kidding? Any experience I have with this either comes from fiction or from being on the opposite side of this chase.[/i]  The others had not said as much, but she wondered if they didn’t resent her for her suggestions. She would have.
 
She blinked when she realized her face felt hot, and she screwed her eyes shut, taking a stabilizing breath. There were other things she should be doing. She knew that. Worthwhile things at that, for once. A moment later, she sat before the table, taking a pencil in hand.
 
[hr]
 
An hour later, Faint arrived at the entrance to the Garrick estate. Unlike before, she had brought her travelling cloak, and her favorite pair of long knives were strapped to her belt, kept out of view by the gray cloth unless she chose to part it.
 
Even with the familiar weights at her hips giving her confidence, though, she couldn’t keep the surprise from showing on her face as she looked at the tall walls. She had not realized Forsaken held a place like this. When the old gentleman had referenced an estate, Faint had somehow visualized a collection of small buildings some kilometers away from the town proper. Not a fortress walled off from a busy part of town. The parts of the gardens she could spy through the gates only surprised her further. Had they [i]truly[/i] been hired by the wealthiest man in this place?
 
[i]The real estate business must be booming,[/i] she thought wryly, finding it hard to believe Garrick’s business of hiding convicts could prove this lucrative.
 
Faint shook her head with a grimace. Whatever her thoughts on the matter, the view before her was important in terms of the incident.
 
This would have been a hurdle for their culprit to overcome. A walled off estate in view of anyone crossing the streets, with only two apparent entrances. The crime had seemingly taken place sometime in the middle of the day, where people would be out and about. The location and the walls themselves would limit a kidnapper’s options severely, as anything that scaled or flew past the walls at this time would have most likely drawn someone’s attention. Yet, their patron claimed nothing untoward had been seen that day.
 
She entertained the thought of pulling out her notebook to write down her observations before something red and yellow at the corner of her vision drew her attention. She glanced to the side to see Cinder intensely glaring at the complex. After a moment, she turned around, glancing about the crowd as though looking for someone.
 
Faint blinked, almost surprised to see her there. She had half-convinced herself that the Genasi woman and the otter had merely agreed to come to the estate only to humor her. Quickly recovering, Faint moved closer with a small smile on her lips. “Cinder, over here.”

Once closer she glanced about, hoping to find the other member of their party, but Soot wasn’t anywhere to be found. “It seems we’re short an otter, but…” she sighed. Perhaps she hadn’t been entirely wrong earlier, but she put that aside for the moment, glancing back to the building. “What do you think?”

“H- Hello?” A meek voice inquired from the street, followed by the appearance of the gentle looking moon elf who had once more assumed her role as the naive but well-intentioned noble adventurer of the party. “I'm so glad I managed to find this place! And the two of you, of course. There are some rough figures indeed in this town.”

“Yes, I’m sure you were terrified,” came the dry reply of the genasi, who had made her way over to Faint once she spotted her. She glared at the elf but seemed to make a genuine effort to look less than unfriendly towards Faint. “Hello. Yes, he disappeared off to… somewhere. I don’t know. Probably running for the hills, the poor bastard.” 

Faint snorted. “Not so poor after this morning, I’d say. Though speaking of…” she looked at the moon elf that had joined them with a slight frown, “Not to be rude, but I had assumed you had taken the money and left when you weren’t downstairs. How did you know to be here now?”

“Miss Cinder told me,” Val replied with a slight sniffle as she drew back cautiously, drawing doe eyes at the Fire Genasi. “It is true some unfortunate business required my departure from the inn, but I know Miss Cinder well and I knew where to find her. Where her dragon Ulliess goes, she is sure to follow, and he is rather hard to miss.”

A forced smile crossed Cinder’s features. “I’ll have to remedy that. Can’t have my enemies readily finding me, can I?” 

Faint nodded at first, hearing what she had expected to hear. After all, it had already been made abundantly clear that these two shared some history, even if Cinder did not give the impression of being half as thrilled by it as the noblewoman. Encouraged by the girl’s timid demeanor, it took her a moment while Cinder returned the banter for Faint to realize she had all but admitted to following the Genasi there.

“Huh,” Faint hummed, mostly to herself. She supposed the noblewoman did come off as rather overeager in some ways, at least in matters related to Cinder. The pair certainly had an odd dynamic. “Well,” she said abruptly, almost as if to keep herself from wandering down that rabbit hole, “I suppose when it comes down to it we were all hired by the same person. You can call me Faint,” she added, extending a hand past her cloak.

“Miss Avaliah Valleau, but please, do call me Ava,” Val replied, removing a brilliant blue silken glove, as ancient elven etiquette demanded, before shaking Faint’s hand with an equally brilliant smile.

“Charmed,” Faint answered warmly, trying not to dwell on how soft and dainty the noble lady’s hand felt against hers. Her own must have felt rough and weathered by comparison. She had to force herself not to pull back early at the self-conscious thought, and returned a rather hesitant smile as she drew her hand back a moment later. Introductions taken care of, she glanced between Cinder and Ava, then cast one last look around for the missing otter before finally deciding there was no more point to waiting. “Pleasing as this talk is, standing out in the sun like this is far from comfortable. Why don’t we take the chance to see if the guard won’t let us through the gate?”