The captain’s cabin was only just slightly more opulent than the rest of the Menelen. Captain Klempt’s main concession to the idea that he should have nicer quarters than the rest of the ship’s population came in in the form of an old carpet that had once, perhaps, been nice, but had now faded into dirty discoloration with the passing years—and a miniature bar stocked with all sorts of glasses and liquor.

Neither of these concerned Truss, however. He sat at the dining table, in one of three main cabins that made up the captain’s quarters (the other being the office and the sleeping cabin), and he drummed his fingers over the smooth wood as the first woman was brought in and sat down across from him. He hoped that he cut a suitably impressive figure, backlit by the windows as he was.

She was a half-elf, with the opal eyes common to that particular mixture, and her dark brown hair covering her slightly pointed ears. The woman looked back and forth between Truss and Tress and Seahawk, who sat on either side of him.

“They said that there was a murder?” the half-elf woman asked.

“Yes ma’am,” Truss told her. “May I have your name?”

“Marguerite.”

Truss nodded. “Marguerite,” he said, and he gave her what he hoped was a gentle and friendly smile. He kept his gaze fixed on her nose—in his experience, most people couldn’t tell the difference between that and true eye contact, and Truss had always had a much easier time looking at people’s noses anyway. “We’ve been able to determine the killer’s sex and her domains. So, all we need is for you to demonstrate your Magic for us, and then you’ll be free to go.”

She raised an eyebrow. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

Marguerite held out her hand, palm up, and a little ball of fire appeared upon it.

***

The human woman was named Isabella, and she had clearly come from money. Her clothing was well-cut and impeccably tailored, and not a single strand of her black hair was out of place. She sat and glared across the table at Truss.

“I don’t see why I should,” she huffed.

“Ma’am, please…” Truss began.

“It is simply out of the question! What right do you have to demand such a thing of me? No! I will not do it!”

“In that case,” said Seahawk evenly, “we shall be forced to consider you a suspect.”

Isabella swung her angry glare away from Truss and toward the big woman, but Seahawk’s hard expression did not change. She met the rich lady’s gaze without flinching. Truss wondered at how she managed to do that.

“Hmph!” Isabella slammed her hand onto the table, and when she lifted it she revealed a chip of ice resting on the wooden surface. “Will that suffice?” she asked.

“Yes,” Truss told her. “Thank you.”

***

“Is it true what they’re saying?” asked the elf, whose name was Hil’sari. “Was somebody truly killed?” She had silver hair, cut short, and she wore mannish traveler’s clothes.

“It is true,” Truss confirmed. “Please demonstrate your Magic for us. Only one domain is necessary.”

Hil’sari’s eyes widened. “Why?”

“We know the killer’s domains,” Tress told her. “As long as yours don’t match hers, you’re out of the suspect pool.”

“Oh,” said Hil’sari. “That makes sense.”

She raised her hand, and the windows behind Truss suddenly flew open, letting in a strong and powerful breeze that sent Tress’ and Seahawk’s hair flying. Truss spun around and closed and latched the windows.

“It’s Air Magic,” Hil’sari said helpfully.

“Um, yes, I can see that,” said Truss. “Thank you, miss. You can go now.”

***

The orc sat across from him and said nothing. She’d neglected to even give Truss her name. Instead she just sat there and stared at him as he tried to explain the situation and what they needed from her.

“So if you could just demonstrate… your, uh… That is, your domains. If you could…” Truss could feel himself starting to sweat. There was something intimidating about this one. More and more he found that his focus was being diverted away from questioning her and toward the not-insignificant task of not squirming in his seat.

“We just need you to demonstrate your Magic for us,” Tress cut in.

The orc woman turned her gaze to Truss’ sister, and she sank into her seat. Then the orc looked back at Truss, nodded, and suddenly there were three of her, all sitting perfectly still. The middle orc stood up, and the other two vanished.

“Illusion!” Truss exclaimed. “Excellent! You can go now. Thank you.”

***

The woman sitting across from them was named Karla, and unlike all the other women they’d questioned, she was not a passenger. Instead, Karla was a sailor who had joined the crew of the Menelen only three weeks past. Her black hair was cut short and her neck was adorned with an intricate spiderweb tattoo. She frowned as she sat at the captain’s table, none too pleased about being included among those questioned.

“I didn’t kill Torla,” she said flatly.

Truss nodded. “What are your domains?”

She scowled at him. “None of your damn business, that’s what they are.”

“The rest of the crew have never seen you perform Magic,” said Seahawk. “Every other woman on the crew has the other sailors to vouch for her. But you? You’re new and no one knows your domains. Now the healer is killed by an assassin with two rare domains… You have to admit, it is suspicious.”

“My Magic is private,” Karla told her. “I learned a long time ago to never share it or show it off.”

“Unfortunately, we can’t rule you out without a demonstration,” Truss told her. “I promise we won’t share your domain, but we need to know.”

Karla shook her head, then smirked at him. “No, you really don’t,” she said.

Something clicked in Truss’ mind. He didn’t need to know, he realized, because this woman was obviously not the killer. She couldn’t be. “Right,” he told her. “I’m sorry. Of course we don’t need to know. You may go.”

Tress nodded beside him, but as Karla stood to take her leave, Seahawk held up her hand to stop her. Truss couldn’t imagine why.

“You have the Mind Domain,” Seahawk said.

Karla’s eyes widened in clear surprise, but Truss just frowned in confusion. Mind Magic? How could Seahawk have possibly come to that conclusion? All that had happened was that he’d agreed that…

Oh.

Oh, yes. That did make sense, didn’t it?

The sailor went red at having been caught in the act of messing with their thoughts. “I can see why you’d want to hide it,” Seahawk told her. “I imagine it must rouse no end of baseless suspicion, when people know. But I don’t understand is why you didn’t simply demonstrate your other domain?”

With a sigh, Karla turned to leave. “Because it’s Shadow,” she said on her way out.