Gale's Inquiry (Part 3)

He takes a small breath again; Gale does. "I don't know if I can fix everything Andelena. But if Father abandons us... I intend to give Seb control of the house." Gale is looking down at his hands. Finally he looks up again nodding. "I... I really don't know that much about Rida. I barely remember being in love with her. It's all like a bad dream. I know it was me but... I would never have been like that over a woman."

Here Gale frowns. "I only met her a few times. Only at her mother's house. She always seemed like the most desirable woman I'd ever seen, and when she was gone I was... obsessed with my painting of her. Nothing else mattered. I don't understand it."

Telamon sits down in the chair next to Gale's bed, casually brushing back a lock of his hair. "Enchantments can be like that. However... that doesn't mean you can't help." He offers Gale a surprisingly cheerful, encouraging smile.

Steepling his fingers, he continues, "You say you met her at her mother's house. Where was this house? Selentia? Alexandros?" He tilts his head. "Did they teleport you there, or did you ride by carriage or by airship?"

About to speak when Telamon speaks first, Dolan's flesh and blood eye widens, and he turns his full head towards Telamon. It is a strange thing, to watch only half of the man's face move. "Damned good thought, Tel." He turns his head back towards Gale. "He asks good questions. Anything you can tell us." Both gauntleted hands now rest on the wooden foot of the bed, and it's easy to see that the gauntlets are different.

Gale looks mildly uncomfortable for a moment, but he's promised answers and he intends to do his best. "Selentia." He seems sure of this and then his eyes turn dark with memory and he hesitates. "I think. I know that Mother and I took the carriage to her house a few times. But now that I think about it, it seems like once I was there... things were not as I expected them to be? Does that make sense?"

The man looks at Andelena, his memories clearly confused. "I'd walk in the house and always got woozy. Mother would help me inside and the house was... not to Selentia tastes. Wrong woods, wrong colors. But then, perhaps it was the spell, and them having exotic tastes."

"Interesting. Well, not everyone decorates the same way." Telamon's expression is thoughtful. "Still, hmmm. Do you remember where this house was in Selentia? How were the servants dressed -- or were there any?" He taps his fingers together. "Supposedly," and Telamon layers this word with a touch of sarcasm, "Lady Aza was an exile from Charn. But I have deep suspicions about the truth of that. She had far too much money, far too much power to offer." Tel tilts his head towards Gale. "Do you ever remember any discussion of that?"

Now this is a line of inquiry most interesting. Dolan shuts his mouth, then, letting Telamon ask the questions, instead turning to watch Gale with considerable interest.

Andelena's eyes dart to Dolan as well with something said in Gale's words. The fact that the interior was _different_ from the exterior. "Gale," she says, "on that note, do you remember if it was... Really uncomfortable inside? Like it was hotter or colder than it ought to be?"

It's from out of the blue, but she intends it to be. To get him to think a little more.

Gale thinks very carefully now, but blinks at Telamon in surprise. "You didn't know? Lady Aza is not in exile; only her parents were officially exiled from Charn. Her and hers are quite welcome in Charn. She has many connections there. Mother was thrilled to have more connections to other places. As for the servants... they all wore Aza's livery but the butler he had an accent... Where was he from?"

Gale can't remember but Andelena's question has him nodding. "Mother always wore her stole, so it must have been cold. I... I always felt warm though?" He flushes in embarrassment. "I was always so excited to see her that I could have worn a bathing outfit and been too warm for it."

He touches his chest again, his expression sad. "I... I miss her... I think? I keep thinking of her voice and her face at odd moments. Even though I know I don't love her I know I did." He looks up and then his vision clears a little and he snaps his fingers. "Stormguard! The butler was certainly of their stock."

Telamon taps his fingertips. "The sins of the fathers often fall to the sons. Or the daughters. But..." He rests his chin on his hand, frowning. "There's something I'm missing here. Lady Aza family is 'exiled' from Charn. But then her parents try to assassinate Baron Valence's father and fail, which gets them executed. Somehow Lady Aza survives and retains some property to continue her schemes."

He looks thoughtfully at Gale, but then his eyes narrow ever so slightly. "What color were her butler's eyes, Gale? Do you remember?"

"You thinking Marsward, or one of his? They were both servitors of the same entity." Dolan's question takes on a hard edge, but one not directed at anyone in the room. "Stormgard would be right. How likely you think it is that that house's inside is actually in Charn, Tel?"

"Mother was funneling money into Marsward's faction, was she not?" Andelena asks, looking between the two, before looking at Dolan specifically, steel-gray eyes locking onto artificial eye and brown eye. "Babe, I think you might be onto something. Charn, Stormgarde--somewhere else entirely. I don't think it was Selentia at all."

"It's a bit complicated, but the House that Aza belonged to is 'dead' in Selentia, she can't use their devices or claim their title or homes there; though she's managed to reclaim some of it thanks to social maneuvering. As for in Charn, her titles in Selentia mean very little, but she was able with some maneuvering there to reclaim much of their holdings. Apparently being... 'suspected' of demon-summoning there is a minor thing for the right price after a generation." Gale seems displeased with this notion, but he continues.

"The truth is that most of it hinged on my marriage to her daughter - since being that she wasn't even alive at the time her name is totally unstained in the eyes of either country. She needed the wealth of our family to secure the deal and increase her standing. With the securement of one small piece of paper from the Duke all would be made well once more. Though I have no idea how they intended to secure that paper."

He looks at Andelena and his brow furrows. "The butler... I'm nearly certain that his eyes were green. Why? Does it matter?"

"Seraquoix or Zinskas. Either one would've wanted to look in on Aza's shenanigans." Telamon nods, comprehending the circumlocutions Gale describes, though he raises his eyebrows. "The Baron's father must've been feeling generous. Usually that sort of thing gets you exiled -again-, regardless of your culpability."

Tel listens, and hrms. "What paper was this? An acknowledgement or certification of some kind?"

The doings of noble houses are not something with which Dolan is familiar, but he listens nonetheless, exchanging that full look with Andelena. "Marsward or Dace. More likely Marsward, Dace wasn't tied up with V. Aza and Marsward both were, unless there's another." There's that hard edge, again, in the inquisitor's tone, but when he turns attention back to Gale, it vanishes without a trace. "There's a difference between love and obsession, Gale. Magic will only ever get you the latter. Not your fault at all, but there sure as sunrise is some magic being used here. It matters because that pretty much tells us who the butler is. Damned if I see Seraquoix being anybody's servant, though. Aza must be pretty damned high placed. You think you could get us back to that house in Selentia, Gale, if you tried?"

"I doubt it was Marsward himself, too, but I bet good coin that it was someone from the werewolf faction," Andelena replies in agreement with Dolan. "Someone he put there to oversee the proceedings. Just to make sure that things... went according to plan with Rida. Until shit turned pear-shaped and we arrested Mother and the cook."

She looks thoughtful. "If we could get back to that house... It'd be one hell of a lead. Even if they've already left it behind, they're bound to have left behind clues."

"The paper was a certification of innocence. A... pardon of sorts. Though Rida had committed no crime. It's a rare occurrence. As for the house... Andelena could take you there." Gale looks at his sister. "It's Hamilton's manor, you remember where your suitor lived do you not sister?"

Telamon ahhhs. "That makes sense. The scandal would still cling to Rida even though she was not born at the time. It happens." He looks thoughtful. "It would... legitimize her as well, for lack of a better term." His eyes flick to Andelena, but he refrains from commentary, instead tacking a new question. "Why would Aza be staying at a manor where another Selentian nobleman lived? Did she buy it off him?"

"She couldn't use the Derwes holdings, as Gale said, unless -" Dolan's eyes turned slowly to Andelena, the flesh-and-blood one wide, fingers gripping the foot of the bed. "Was that sod your mother was trying to foist off on you involved as well? I say we'd better go find out, if we can get in there. Is its owner still there, Gale?"

Hamilton. Andelena cringes a little as she hears the name. "You mean that pencil-thin little man who seemed more interested in his own appearance in the mirror than in me?" she asks, raising a brow. "_His_ house?"

But then she thinks a moment. "No, you know what--that makes sense, actually. Mother wouldn't shut up every time Hamilton got brought up--she wanted that damn house, it was a gorgeous house, she wanted to marry the fucking house and have its fucking house children. All that shit. Lady Aza might have bought it to impress Mother and maybe even make her a little jealous."

Gale nods to Andelena's words, agreeing with every one of them. "Aza - I hesitate to call her a lady - Was very pleased to purchase it from Hamilton. Apparently she got a good price for it which surprises me, but then she has always seemed to have more money than she should given her status. It's not as though she got much in the way of a dowery."

Telamon snorts at Gale. "You have -no- idea. One of the thoughts I've entertained was to how to get my hands on her funds to cut her off at the knees. I'd never be able to spend it even if I lived a thousand years, and gods know it'd make me and my family a target. Suffice to say that every temple and charity in Alexandros would be getting a substantial windfall."

He shakes his head. "Sorry, woolgathering. I think we need to pay a visit to this fellow's manor." He looks at Gale, then at Andelena and Dolan. "I don't know that Gale needs to go with us -- no offense, sir, but I think you've been through enough. It's time to heal."

"Not sure where Gale stands in the eyes of Selentian law just at the moment, neither." Dolan straightens, and nods at the other two. "There's a real possibility we could be contending with demons in there, Gale. This ain't gonna be a safe trip, but I'm thinking it's one we'll need to take. We'll need Lana or Aura to look after the cats." He folds his arms across his chest, and turns his entire body back towards Gale. "Thanks, Gale. You've been super helpful. Aza ran, damned if I know where, we'd best be careful."

Andelena looks at Gale for a long moment, and then she adds, "Y'know what. How about I get you hooked up with the Temple where Seb's been staying?" she says. "It beats stumbling into holes in the wall and getting fleeced of all of your money by a long damn shot. You'll be housed, you'll be fed--hell, maybe you'll like it. Weirder shit happens every single day."

Such as the fact that Andelena's smiling at her older brother. It's not a smile worn in the usual contexts, either. It's... warm. Like a Sunguard's smile ought to be.

"I'd like that." Gale says to Andelena's words, looking at her with an expression that almost suggests that he's seeing her for the first time. Though he's known her their whole lives in different ways. "I know I'm not cut out for this demon-fighting that you all do. I'll keep my head low at the temple. It'd be good to see Seb again."

At lest, it seems like he's finally being honest.

-End