“Anything?” Grev asked. There was little hope in his voice.

Ranvir realized then that the poisoner had set up a little station in an out of the way cubby. He was intently looking over two cloths. Two handkerchiefs. From where he was standing, Ranvir could see they were stained dark with some liquid.

Skegg put them down and shook his head. “I’m sorry, sir.”

Grev leaned against the counter, hanging his head. He squeezed his eyes shut, his entire face screwing up with the effort, knuckles white on the table.

“What is this about?” Es asked. He looked between Grev and Skegg.

The poisoner cleared his throat. “The rustmerry will react with bellowine. Captain Grevor has been dousing his hands in the stuff before shaking with the suspects. If they had any rustmerry residue on them, the cloth would be stained green,” he nodded towards the unfinished cake. “Like that.”

“Wouldn’t they have washed their fingers of the poison before coming in?” Es asked.

“Rustmerry is stubborn,” Skegg said. “It takes a good scrubbing to get rid of. Neither of our suspects so far had raw skin on or around their hands.”

“So what does this mean?”

Grev straightened. “It means little,” he exchanged a glance with Skegg. “Unless we find traces on Hallberta’s hand.”

“But she made the cake,” Es protested. “Obviously, there would be residue on her hands, right?”

“Maybe,” Grev acknowledged, rubbing a hand over his mouth. “It would, however, be the clearest indication. The only thing we could act on.”

He leaned back on the counter and crossed his arms. He was clearly gathering himself, especially evident in the way his native presence hardened and solidified. Light mana bled through his body once, before he pushed off and strode into the middle of the room.

“Let her in.”

A moment later, Hallberta came rushing in. Her face was swollen, cheeks wet with tears and she waved her hands before her as she halting walked toward Grevor. Ranvir’s eyes narrowed, and he focused on her, but he detected neither power nor weapons.

“I’m so sorry, Grev,” she cried, reaching for Grev. He took a step back and held out a hand to ward her off.

“Please, Hallberta,” Grevor said. His voice wavered. “If you could answer out questions for a moment.”

It took her a while before she got something akin to a response out. Finally, words resembling ‘of course’ came across her lips. “I’m sorry,” she cried again.

“What kind of cake were you making?” Grev asked.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, still crying and whimpering. “I didn’t know, I didn’t know,” she bend forward, reaching for Grev as much for support as anything.

“What kind of cake?” Grev repeated. His hands shook, and he had to steady himself against the counter as he staggered a step from her.

Es looked to be equally torn up about the situation, though he hardly knew what was going on. Ranvir glanced at the other guardsmen, but they just looked on uncomfortably.

“I- it,” Hallberta nearly fell. She stumbled so hard. Grev instinctively reached for her, then pulled back. His reaction only seemed to make her cry all the harder.

Ranvir strode towards Skegg, who seemed to hide behind his poisoner’s station. “Where’s the bellowine?” he asked in a low voice.

Skegg pointed towards a vial on the counter where Grev was posted up. Ranvir summoned it to his hand, shaping a tunnel underneath it to drop into his hand. He snatched a clean smelling cloth and walked over to the crying older woman as she staggered to her feet.

“We’re sorry,” Ranvir said, shouldering Grev out of the way. He popped the top of the vial and poured it over her hands, before wiping them down with the cloth. “Take her back to her room,” he looked at the guard who brought her in.

They hesitated, glancing at Grev. He slowly nodded. Hallberta, shocked by Ranvir’s behavior, couldn’t muster a reply before she was out of the room. He returned to Skegg and put the cloth before him.

“How long until we see a reaction?”

Skegg shook his head, then glanced down at the handkerchief. “Um, a few minutes.”

“Ranvir?” Es asked, approaching him. “What was that?”

Ranvir ignored him, grabbing a stool and dropped it behind Grev. “Sit.”

The light tethered didn’t react. He only stared at the vial before him, still unstoppered. Ranvir pushed him into the seat. Grev blinked, his elbow banging into the counter, causing him to wince.

“Ow,” he rubbed his arm and looked at Ranvir. Opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again.

The door opened again, without a knock. Grev’s brother stood in the door, his hair slightly out of array as he glared at Ranvir. “What did you do to Hallberta?”

Ranvir looked at him for a long moment. Baug carried himself with all the same authority that Grev did, but it felt less secure. An awareness that he was a big man in a world where that didn’t amount to much against tethered.

“Answer me. Grev, tell me what happened.”

His little brother ran a shaky hand through his hair. “Brother,” he said, but faltered.

“It can’t be…” Baug said, full of disbelief. “Not her. She used to work for us. Goddess damnit!”

Ranvir continued to look at Grevor. He took in another shaky breath, this time looking a little steadier. “It,” he started over. “There aren’t a lot of other options.”

“Sirs,” Skegg said. He was holding a handkerchief stained with a few dark green spots.

“What is that?” Baug asked. His face had gone completely pale. “Grevor, what is that?”

“Bellowine reacting with rustmerry,” Grev said, as if admitting defeat. “Poison residue.”

They were all quiet. Es looked between them nervously. Ranvir slowly stood up. In his hasty movements, he’d parted his wings occasionally, but he doubted anyone had noticed they weren’t a cloak. At least, not anymore than they would have otherwise.

“We have to,” Grev said. He slowly pushed to his feet. “We have to move this further along. Take it to the Queen,” he winced. “I can’t do the interrogation.”

“Interrogation?” Baug balked. “It’s Hallberta. There will be no interrogation.”

“Baug,” Grev said. His voice was growing harder. “You’re to be the left hand of the Queen, you can’t play such blatant favorites.”

Ranvir remarked on the phrasing and stepped away from the brothers.

Baug looked as if he was going to throw.

“I will handle it, brother. Go to your wife, go to Bjalki.”

His brother rubbed at his face before shaking his head. “There’s got to be something, I can’t just… We can’t do that to her, Grevor.”

Grev let his eyes hit the tile floor. “You can’t do this to her, but it’s my job.”

Baug looked as if he’d been gutted.

Someone knocked on the door from the garden. “Dad?” Vasso’s voice.

Baug’s eyes shot to the door as well, but Ranvir was already walking towards it. He nodded for the guards to open the door, but they didn’t move. Not with both their Captain and their employer in the room.

Ranvir glanced over his shoulder, making eye contact with Grevor. He licked his lips and nodded. Ranvir glared at the men and they backed down. Vasso peeked in as soon as the door opened a crack.

He paled as he saw all the faces inside and waved for Ranvir to follow. They stepped outside. It struck Ranvir as too sunny, a light breeze moved through the area as well. A perfect summer day in Elusria. Ripe for attempted murder.

Ranvir tried not to let his dark mood slip onto Vasso as they stopped a few steps from the door. “What’s going on?”

“Frija and Dalla were playing,” he said. “And they ‘found’ this,” he held up a clay container no bigger than the first two joints on his fingers.

“They ‘found’ it?”

Vasso nodded. “When I pressed Dalla, she admitted to putting it in the bushes,” Ranvir looked at the other end of the garden. Frija and Dalla were looking in their direction.

“Bring them over here,” Ranvir said. He returned to the kitchen, heading straight for Skegg. “Can you identify what was in here?”

The poisoner blinked as he received the vial, but slowly nodded. “I can try,” he licked his pinkie and dabbed it as far into the vial as he could get it. A bit of residue stuck to it. “Can you smell this?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ranvir winced at the smell. “Sweet, really sweet.”

“I don’t suppose you saved any of the bellowine?”

Ranvir shook his head.

“Oh well,” Skegg took one of the unmarked handkerchief and wiped his finger with it. “I can get more, but it’ll take some time.”

Ranvir looked up. Both Baug and Grevor were gazing at him. “It’ll be explained,” he could hear the children approaching.

Soon, they knocked on the door, and with a nod, the guards let them in.

Vasso cleared his throat, eyes flicking to the others in the room. “Dalla, Tell them what you told me.”

Dalla rubbed her hands together and looked at the ground. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I don’t know why I did it.”

Baug rubbed his forehead as Grev looked on stone-faced.

“There was this lady,” Dalla said. “She stopped me and offered it to me,” she continued, looking into the ground. “Said it would make anything I put it in really good and really tasty.”

Baug approached her and spoke in a deep and gentle voice. “Did you put it in anything else?”

Dalla kicked at the ground and didn’t look up. “My cookies.”

Grev was already on his way over, grabbing raw dough with a spatula and putting it on a plate. The move deformed the cookie slightly, but no one other than Dalla and Ranvir seemed to notice. Or care perhaps.

“It wasn’t supposed to hurt no one.”

Ranvir glanced at Vasso. He looked distinctly uncomfortable in the room and Frija seemed to be stuck edging her way toward Ranvir and the seven-year-old.

Skegg let out an indistinct sound in his throat. The kerchief was stained a green similar to Hallberta’s.

“Where were you when they gave you the vial?” Baug asked. He offered Dalla a hand. She took it, clenching his fingers tightly.

Ranvir reached out and grabbed Frija’s hand as Dalla responded. The others looked at each other, worried by her answer. Ranvir was turning his mind to other questions. Could he stay here? Should Frija or Vasso even consider staying here?

“We’ll double the patrol,” Grev said. “Skegg, get Matilda. I want every guard to be on the lookout for this woman.”

Ranvir had wanted Frija and Vasso to experience Elusria and the city, but this wasn’t a particularly enticing first bite. Maybe it was best to retreat and try again at a later time.

“Is he in here?” the ambassador’s voice cried out. “Show me, my wild man!” she nearly howled as she attempted to open the door.

“Who is she talking about?” Frija asked as Vasso joined them.

Es jumped in, teeth flashing in an ear splitting grin. “Your dad.”

“No…” Frija said with a delighted squeal. She turned to look at Ranvir. Vasso’s chuckle turned into laughter as the ambassador kicked the door and roared for him.