[center][h1][color=732F35]Nahir[/color][color=gray] & [/color][color=9AF781]Leo[/color][/h1][/center]
[right][color=gray]collab with[/color][@Rodiak][/right]
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[color=gray]Having spotted Nahir stepping outside from the guest house Leo headed towards her. He wondered as he walked whether he should be relaxed and friendly or more serious like a proper detective. He didn’t want to make the investigation seem like a joke, but after how unfortunately eventful tonight's dinner had been a more relaxed conversation might be better. So he smiled and offered a respectful nod as he approached the Nahir. 

[color=9AF781]“Shehzadi Nahir, I was hoping to speak with you tonight, if you have a moment to spare.”[/color] He paused, and took a quick look around to ensure no one particularly nosey was around before adding, [color=9AF781]“I’m just trying to piece together what happened last night.”[/color] 

Leo’s voice almost made her choke on the smoke still in her throat. She coughed lightly, covering her mouth, and turned to face him. She hadn’t expected him to approach her after tonight, and in truth, part of her wished he hadn’t. 

[color=904342]”Just Nahir please.”[/color] She returned the smile with ease, [color=904342]”Is Varian opening their own official investigation?”[/color] Nahir did not remember seeing any officials from Varian in the morning. Although, his quick look around made it seem like he was trying to keep it under wraps. Personal investigation perhaps?

[color=9AF781]“Apologies, if I startled you. It’s an unofficial investigation,”[/color] Leo answered. [color=9AF781]“Not that I don’t trust the official one, but there has to be a reason for someone to have had us all drugged. If that reason involves something like blackmail, I prefer to be ahead of the situation. If there’s anything you can remember, I’d appreciate the help.”[/color] 

Nahir inhaled the sweet herbs, letting it rest in her lungs for a few seconds before exhaling the smoke out her nose. [color=904342]”Lights, I remember flashing lights. Of all sorts of colors floating all around. All so bright and blinding.”[/color] She recoiled a tad when the drumming in her head grew stronger and a new image flashed behind her eyes. Hands, large pale hands. [color=904342]”I think that is the extent of it.”[/color] 

Leo watched the whisps of smoke exhaled by Nahir as he studied her expression. [color=9AF781]“It’s weird, isn’t it? How surreal the glimpses feel. Ana said she remembered cupcakes on the floor. I remember staring at what looked like a cloudy blue sky. Never had a hangover bring about headaches like these either.”[/color] Leo spoke as he pondered the equally strange piece Nahir had added to the already complex puzzle. Flashing lights and floating colors, what on earth could that mean? 

[color=9AF781]“What’s the last clear thing you can remember? The carriage ride? Anything about the warehouse?”[/color] Leo asked, careful not to mention the stairs unless Nahir did so first. 

Cupcakes, a blue sky, and flashing lights. Well, wasn’t that just a whole bunch of nothing? 

Nahir rubbed her temples, shaking her head when Leo asked her for more. Her mind may not have had no memory of the night before, but her skin wore the marks. She had to play it right. [color=904342]”I think… I think I remember hands.”[/color] Nahir finally answered his questions. She didn’t meet his eyes as she spoke; instead, she looked at one of the red curls at the nape of his neck.  [color=904342]”Two hands, strong fingers…”[/color] Nahir reached for his hand, pulling it between them. She looked at his hand as her thumb lightly brushed over his palm, tracing the lines there. 

Though it seemed his question had been misunderstood, Leo didn’t say anything at first. Nahir appeared intensely focused on her own mystery, and such focus should not be interrupted. He held still as she investigated his hand. [color=9AF781]“I meant before everything started to get hazy, but,”[/color] There was something disquieting about the acute focus on his hand. [color=9AF781]“Nahir, if you have questions for me, by all means.”[/color]

Nahir halted, cursed herself, and shook her head. [color=904342]“Apologies, I’m afraid that is all I remember for now.”[/color]  She dropped his hand, smiling bashfully up at him for taking it so abruptly and without asking. [color=904342]“There is something,”[/color]  she paused to inhale the concoction of herbs again, the sweet’s aroma already doing wonders for her head. [color=904342]“Do you remember anything else besides a blue sky? None of our memories make any sense when put together.”[/color] 

[color=9AF781]“Anastasia had mentioned descending a staircase in the warehouse. I remember that as well. Everything after that is just bits and pieces. It makes more sense that they’d have drugged the drinks, but maybe, if the memory loss starts so early, the drugs were somehow in the air.”[/color] Leo walked through his thoughts aloud, and rifled through his memories, past the carriage and warehouse until everything was a dense fog again. Stairs. [color=9AF781]“Strange music. Thumping. Like it was made by machinery.”[/color] He attempted to mimic the sound and the beat as another brief glimpse of last night resurfaced and faded away. 

[color=9AF781]“None of it makes sense. The more I learn the less sense it makes. But Ana is meeting with the mysterious host tonight. Wulfric is sending guards to keep an eye out, hopefully, that will bring some more satisfying answers.”[/color] Leo added, he wasn’t leaving this mystery unsolved, the answers were somewhere. [color=9AF781]“If not, I’ll keep looking.”[/color]

Were they using Anastasia as bait? She wouldn’t put it past Queen Alibeth to do so. Still, the information Leo was providing was useful. [color=904342]”What about magic?”[/color] Nahir crossed her arms over her chest, eyes focused on the tip of his nose. [color=904342]”We have to be open to [i]any[/i] possibility in this situation. That includes magic. It may explain our different memories as well. A blue sky in the middle of the night, inside a warehouse? The strange music you described. The flashing lights and even the headaches.”[/color]Her index finger tapped over her arm in a rhythmic pattern. 

[color=9AF781]“Magic?”[/color] Leo repeated the word like it was from a strange language. [color=9AF781]“Like in children’s books?”[/color] He glanced down at whatever Nahir was smoking, now wondering what exactly it was. [color=9AF781][i]Surely she does not believe all that magic nonsense?[/i][/color] Obscure laws against it served as reminders of old-world superstitions. [color=9AF781][i]Was she saying his investigation was a joke? All the clues were ridiculous.[/i][/color] 

[color=9AF781]“I guess I’ll have to keep an eye out for any bubbling cauldrons and flying brooms.”[/color] Leo responded with a smile and a quick scan of the skies. 

Nahir had to cover her mouth with the back of her hand to cover the giggle she let escape.  [color=904342]”No, not like the children’s books.”[/color] She looked away momentarily, trying to subdue the giggles. Did Varian have no myths? No legends of powerful mages and witches? Alidash’s history and old legends were littered with them. Sultans and Grand Viziers with enough magic to solidify their rule for centuries. [color=904342]”I am talking about the magic in the legends, Leo. The kind of magic that lets you seize control of nature itself, mold it into whatever limitations of your imagination can conjure. That kind.”[/color] 

Her mother had told her so many tales of such magic and its users. The amount of power they held in their hands only to succumb to its greed. Such weak creatures, they had been. And while she understood Leo's skepticism about such a word and its implications, she would not dismiss it and chalk it up to children’s stories when laws against it were still upheld. [color=904342]”A good investigator always keeps an open mind.”[/color] She smiled, already done with their conversation. [color=904342]”If I encounter something else, I will inform you.”[/color]

Leo smiled politely, to a joke he didn’t quite get. The way Nahir described it sounded far more dangerous than old tales of cranky old crones luring children astray with candy houses. But myths and legends it was, and last night, was very real. Real and weird beyond any current explanation. The thought of it made him feel cold; something that shouldn't be real creeping into a world that mostly made sense. 

[color=9AF781]“Well then I’d be a fool to ignore such sage advice. I’ll look into the magic angle as well. Thank you for your time.”[/color] Leo said, it was best to leave the conversation while she was amused rather than annoyed with his questions.[/color]