We eventually arrived at City Hall, accompanied by a couple city guards who we had hastily explained our situation to along the way. We left out the part about how the girls we were looking for were rightfully locked up, of course. It wouldn’t have been much of a rescue mission if we had condemned before even arriving at City Hall.

The guard standing at the entrance to the great stone building was alarmed by our presence at first, but straightened up when he saw the guards with us. Night had fallen some time ago, so I’m sure my illuminated skin didn’t help ease his mind either. A nagging frustration and sense of urgency seemed to be reflected in the constant dull burning of the Uniflux in my wrist, which seemed to be becoming more restless the longer it took for us to find Sera and Claire.

“I’m here to negotiate the release of two prisoners,” I said in a clear voice as we approached the front door. The guard at the door looked for confirmation from his fellow guards, who both nodded. Joe remained silent behind me.

The guard showed us inside, moving quickly into the first hallway to our right. The oil lights flickered on the polished stone walls, reminding me of my recognition ceremony after I was selected to be the Uniflux bearer. It had been a short, formal ceremony, with the Rein council saying about three obviously prepared sentences to me, while my mother was in a fit of tearful joy in the corner. It had been more remarkable once I stepped outside and found half the city of Arden there to congratulate me.

Several turns down corridors finally led us into an open room, where two men were working at desks. One was working studiously, comparing notes and working through a pile of disheveled paperwork. The other was closer to the entrance, and seemed to be somewhere between balancing his pencils on his fingertips and falling asleep on his desk. When we entered the room, the man closest to us jolted upright, standing to attention before realizing that it was just his fellow guards escorting two visitors.

“What is it now?” The second man asked, looking annoyed about the distraction from his work. I strode toward him, extending my left hand as an introduction as well as a sign of my status.

“Jayden Cortez, sir. I’m here to see a couple of women arrested earlier today.” The man at the desk stood and eyed me with suspicion, until his eyes moved to my wrist as he shook my hand.

“Mr. Cortez, sir, apologies for my rudeness earlier. I’m Mr. Smoke, the lead detective here.” Smoke’s grip was rigid and tense, and he appeared to have straightened his posture as well. I was used to Joe calling me “sir”, but it still felt strange to hear high ranking officials call me that.

“About the two prisoners, I’d like to see them immediately.”

“Of course, sir.” Smoke led me deeper into the room toward a sturdy wooden door, which he promptly unlocked. “We arrested these two this afternoon in suspicion of involvement with the Elementorium theft.”

“Both of them? I thought the thief in Rune was working alone,” I responded, attempting to sound surprised.

“Those were the reports we had gotten as well, but we found the black-haired one with her and took her under suspicion of being an accomplice.” We had gone through a second locked door and made our way into the holding room. There were six sturdy cells lining the walls of the room, only one of which was unoccupied. I knew which one Sera was being held in before Smoke even turned on the lights, though she was doing her best to hide her luminous skin.

“I see,” I said as we approached the middle cell on the right side of the room. The other prisoners had been disturbed by our intrusion, and were waking up to watch the new visitors. Sera and Claire were in the same cell, both huddled close to each other in the center of the cell--probably to avoid the groping hands of the men detained next to them. The image of Sera being grasped at and ogled by the nearby prisoners made my fury rise, the Uniflux beginning to wriggle under my skin in response.

“I’d like you to release both of them immediately please, Mr. Smoke,” I said, doing my best to stay calm. They were right there, in front of me, yet still out of my reach.

Smoke seemed to be struggling with this request. “I-I’m sorry sir, but I can’t do that. These two are wanted criminals, we have a witness from Rune on his way now to identify them.” At this, Claire finally looked up. She didn’t have the hopeful expression I had expected from coming to her rescue, but rather one of sheer terror.

“Have you located the Elementorium?” I asked, touching the cool metal of the necklace in my pocket. Claire’s eyes caught this motion, and her expression seemed to lighten a bit.

“Well no, but--”

“Then you have no reason to hold these women,” I said immediately.

“I’m sorry Mr. Cortez, but I can’t do that.” Smoke turned to me, frustration beginning to show on his otherwise impassive face. “She perfectly matches the description given by multiple eyewitnesses, which is enough to hold her until the witnesses have identified her.”

I clenched my fists, staring into the cell. Claire was eyeing me hopefully, while Sera still had her knees pulled up to her chest and her head buried. I wondered if she was sleeping, or perhaps suppressing some inner rage. Eventually I sighed, feeling somewhat defeated. There was nothing I could do for Claire if she was being convicted for a crime that she actually committed.

“And the other one? There are witnesses linking her to the theft, as well?” I finally asked. Smoke paused.

“No witnesses said that the blonde had an accomplice, but we did find a fair sum on her, which we believe she stole from someone in the store where we apprehended them.”

“Right. Well I’d like you to release her, then, unless you can definitively link her to the Elementorium theft or prove that she stole that money.” Smoke said nothing in response to this. He seemed to be fighting his own inner demons of following his hunch about Sera or accepting the request of a high-ranking and respected citizen.

Eventually he begrudgingly approached the cell, ordering Sera and Claire to turn and place their hands on the back wall of their prison. Claire obediently followed the orders, refusing to look at me. Sera, however, didn’t move an inch. She remained in the same defensive position. Smoke sighed and opened the cell anyway, and I got the impression that Sera hadn’t been very cooperative in her detainment.

She was handcuffed and led out of the cell, whose door slammed shut behind her, the lock clicking into place. The anger in me immediately dissipated, leaving behind the guilt of having to walk away without Claire. Once we were past the two heavy doors leading to and from the holding cells, Sera’s handcuffs were unlocked and she remained in place, her head down, though her body visibly seemed to lose structure. I automatically put a hand on her lower back, indirectly supporting her. She wrapped an arm around me, and I could feel her body slightly shaking.

Joe seemed surprised to only see me with Sera, and not Claire as well, but he quickly recovered. “We’ll be going, then. I hope your investigation goes well, gentlemen,” He said in my place as we exited the room. I had no more words left for these men. As we returned to the stone hallways, I caught Smoke’s suspicious glare.