Completed In the Balance

Ellory nodded again. She was glad he had decided to not lie to her about this at least. She already knew it was his. Lady Tal'deneshaar had already confirmed it for her. The Lady had been pacing Ellory's office talking about how she was going to disembowel Garron Banick when Ellory had excused herself. It was best for her not to acknowledge those threats.

"Lady Jiya Luana and Lady Mina Pirian were taken from Lady Pirian's gala. It looks like they were taken by surprise. Lady Tal'deneshaar explained to me that she was with you since you arrived at the Gala. I have her version of events. Would you please tell me yours."

It was not a request and her stiff demeanor showed that. She needed to get to the bottom this so they could find the Nobles.

Logan Banick
 
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"Gladly."

Logan straightened himself up in his seat and began. "I, my brother Walter, and my cousin Garron all arrived at Philomina Pirian's gala together. We were greeted upon our arrival by Mina Pirian herself. It was here in speaking with Mina that Kailani Tal'deneshaar came forward to greet me. As I'm sure she's told you, we served in the Guard together, and we had not seen one another in two years, so we were both pleasantly surprised to see each other at the gala when neither of us were expecting such a fortune."

For a brief second, he recalled that moment. Seeing her, meeting her eyes again after so long a time.

He refocused. Continued, "We sought out a quieter, less crowded place at the Pirian Estate to talk, and so we went out to the garden. We spoke there for a while—and I am sure it would interest you to know that other nobles were present in the garden to corroborate this. Eventually, we were interrupted by Drastus Tal'deneshaar, Kai's brother, who...I suppose you could say 'stumbled' onto the scene in the garden. He was a touch vexed with Kai, and none too happy with me for speaking with her. Upon his departure, Kai and I decided to retire from the Pirian Estate, such that we might find more peace and quiet in which to reconnect. Kai had a room at The Immaculate and so there we went, but it was not long before the door was thrown open and accusations leveled."

Logan raised his shackled wrists.

"And so here I am."

Ellory Ashford
 
Ellory was pleased to hear that the account from both Nobles matched. Yes, they could have come up with matching stories but neither story or teller were lying. She could just tell. Her years on this job and her natural ability to read people were usually never wrong.

“Let’s say you are telling the truth, do you know who would want to set you up? Why they would want to set you up?”

Logan Banick
 
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Logan took in a breath of air and let it out in a staggered huff.

"Old enmities, I am sorry to say, still abound in this new age. This fabrication may not have even been against myself in particular, but aimed more generally at House Banick as a whole."

Like any noble House of Vel Anir, or any noble House on Arethil for that matter, House Banick had its fair share of enemies. It could have been any one of them, if they had the means and the will and saw the opportunity. Despite the sea of options though, Logan did have his own suspicion.

He leaned forward. Looked at Ellory intently. Said, "I can speculate, if you wish. I am afraid it will be nothing robust, but...I can indeed speculate."

Ellory Ashford
 
Ellory slowly stood up and walked over to the door. She opened it and looked into the hall. There was one Guard there and she shooed him further down the hall with the excuse of confidential business. Once she was satisfied that no one would overhear, she closed the door and came back to her chair. She sat back down and studied Logan for a few quite moments before she spoke again.

"Logan, forgive my informality, but I know who you are and I know what you have done in the North. You are not an idiot and you are not going to put the kidnapping of two major House Nobles in the hands of hired help. You are going to use your squad of men."

She leaned forward and set her arms on the table in front of her.

"So, please, speculate..."

Logan Banick
 
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Logan nodded, thankful for Ellory's diligence in this matter. It would have been temptingly easy to simply ride the wave of accusation, as Garron did. Pah, Garron. He would get to him in a moment.

He steadied himself. Said as preamble, "I will say that it aggrieves me to speak so of my family, my own family, and yet...I have no other recourse, for I cannot deny the soundness of my forthcoming speculation."

Logan paused for a brief spell. His tongue ran along the back of his teeth as he put into order all of his disconnected thoughts on the matter. And he began.

"It was rather much a last minute affair, my coming down from the North for Mina's gala. Had I not ridden as hard as I did, I would have likely arrived on the morrow or later, having missed the event entirely. My arrival at the Banick Estate prior to the gala was a surprise for my family, for even they were not expecting me."

Logan pressed his hands together and pointed them toward Ellory, this to emphasize his point. "Only a certain small number of people even knew that I was here. My fellow Banicks, our House bannermen, and a few officers in the Army of the North."

The hard part then. Speaking as if to implicate members of his family. Yet in one specific case, he had no problem with it. "Of that small number of people though, one does come readily to mind. My cousin, Garron Banick. He is many years my elder, and, in truth, he has never quite liked me—though my younger brother Gabriel could say the same as well. However, at the Banick Estate and during the carriage ride to the gala, Garron and I had some...fiery disagreements and ill-will between us. He, as well, would've had access to my chambers, and thus would have been able to procure one of my handkerchiefs."

A highly improvised plan if there ever was one. It seemed equally ludicrous that Logan could be suggesting this as a possibility. Though Garron had never been directly implicated in anything untoward, he did have a vague and ominous reputation as a man you didn't want to cross.

"I know this proves nothing, and might well sound as if I am attempting in some wretched way to shift blame off of myself. But it is all that I can offer, other than the adamant insistence of my own innocence."

Ellory Ashford
 
Ellory listened to Logan's speculations without interruption.

She had found it quite odd that Garron had been so quick to through his own kin to the wolves. There were many disagreements without Houses but most were solved within the House. They did not air dirty laundry so to speak.

"Besides his dislike for you, what reason do you believe Garron would have for kidnapping the Ladies?"

Ellory asked and then added quickly, "hypothetically, of course..."

She really did believe Logan but she still needed to figure things out.

Who did it?

Why?

Where were Lady Jiya Luana and Lady Philomina Pirian?

Logan Banick
 
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"I wish I could be of more assistance in that matter," Logan said. "But, if Garron is truly behind this, I cannot say with any certainty what his motivation might be for kidnapping, outside of the usual ransoming. I cannot even say whether or not Garron merely happened upon the aftermath of someone else's kidnapping plot and used the opportunity to exact some petty revenge against me."

A tangled bind, this web of accusation that had been sprung over Logan. And it seemed the only way to clear his name was if Ellory, the Vestigare, Kai, anyone in truth, was able to apprehend the true culprit behind the murder and the kidnapping.

Just then, a knock at the interrogation room's door. Urgent sounding. On the other side, another Vestigare would be waiting to speak with Ellory.

The body of the man who had been found next to the dead Pirian Guard (the one with Logan's handkerchief tucked into his pocket, as it were) had been identified. Mirhem Lovell. And the same person who identified Mirhem's body also provided the Vestigare with a potentially lucrative lead.

Mirhem had been seen consorting with a foreign man, Till Mormont, a possible smuggler but most certainly a man involved in underworld affairs. And mayhap this man Mormont would have some knowledge on this whole ordeal.

Ellory Ashford
 
Ellory wished she had answers to the questions that surrounded this case. She wished it was open and shut but that was too easy.

When the knock came, she excused herself and went outside to speak with the other Guard. She returned a few minutes later and looked at Logan solemnly.

"I am guessing that I already know the answer but do you know a man named Mirhem Lovell?"

Logan Banick
 
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Ellory nodded. She figured that would be the case especially since she believed Logan was telling the truth.

"We will follow up on this lead and hopefully that will give us some answers. Unfortunately, I cannot let you leave since you are our only suspect and because of the nature of the crime you could run. I hope you understand," she said with a small frown.

"Hopefully, this lead will tell us something and I will be able to let you go somewhere more comfortable with some Guards," Ellory tried to give him a small smile as she rose from the seat.

"Someone will be in to escort you back to your cell in a few minutes, Lord Banick."

Logan Banick
 
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Logan understood, and he said as much. At the present moment, it was best to go along with the everything, to extend a measure of faith to the system of Anirian law in the hope that justice would eventually prevail. Should things take another turn for the worst? Then he would have to fight. Then he would have to try to leverage the weight of the Banick name whether Theodore liked it or not. He simply couldn't not stand by and allow himself to be crushed by injustice. Such inaction found no home in his heart.

Outside of his cell, he had a brief moment to speak with Kailani. The Guardsman escorting him wasn't in a hurry to shove him inside the cell, and so allowed a brief moment for it (maybe with the curious interest that either he or Kai would let slip something incriminating).

"Kai," Logan said, offering a smile. "My tenure in this cell isn't over, I'm afraid, yet there is still good news. The Vestigare are onto something. This whole regrettable affair shall be sorted soon."

So he hoped. But this sentiment he kept to himself, and let his confidence and faith in Investigator Ashford shine through instead.

Kailani Tal'deneshaar
 
Kailani gave the Guard a look as he lingered and he eventually disappeared down the hall to give them some privacy. It was unspoken that he believed the Lord Banick was innocent in the way he apologized five times for all of this. The lingering was definitely just to make sure he was correct in his assumption or to find out that The Northwarden was, indeed, a murdering kidnapper. Either way, they had a few minutes alone together. She was grateful for Ellory and her people right now.

She stepped in and threw her arms around Logan's neck. They had been apart for so long and they had just found each other again. It was a cruel joke that they would be ripped apart once more after such a short time.

"Shhhh," she said as her fingers played with his hair. "We will figure it out, the Lieutenant will figure it out. I am glad to know that the majority of the Vestigare believe your innocence because they will work extra hard to prove it. No one likes when one of their own, Lord of a Major House or not, is accused of such heinous crimes."

Logan Banick
 
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This brief moment, the feel of Kai's arms around his neck and her fingers running gaily through his hair, would be one he would have to hold onto for long while, he thought, at least until the Vestigare did indeed figure this mess out.

He nodded to all she said. Raised a hand. Let his fingers glide across her cheek.

And said confidently, "When all this is over, we shall resume our reunion. This debacle will not steal that from us."

Kailani Tal'deneshaar
 
Kailani smiled as Logan touched her cheek. She did not want to say goodbye but she had things to discuss with Lieutenant Ashford. She stretched up and placed a long kiss on his lips.

"We will figure it out Logan. I am quite disappointed that our reunion was interrupted," she smiled sadly then pulled away. She needed to go before the Guard decided it was time for her to go.



Kailani found Ellory back in her office looking stressed out and writing out notes on some paper.

"Lieutenant, I was hoping that you had some information..."

Ellory looked up and nodded. Normally she wouldn't share details like this with a suspects partner but this was different. Lord Banick and Lady Tal'deneshaar were both of the Guard. They were not just civilians.

"Yes, we got some information about a smuggler who may have information. He is not from Vel Anir but I had someone who is undercover find him easily at the market. Kailani, could you go speak with him? Interrogate him...get the information we need by whatever means..."

Kailani nodded slowly. She did not need to be asked more than once. She just needed a name and an exact location.

Till Mormont.

Market.

Green tent with the symbol of a blue boot.

Logan Banick
 
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How was it that passion could sleep so soundly, slumbering but for the occasional grace of a restless night's wistful excursion, and awaken so powerfully? All it took was a moment and, as it were here and now, a kiss.

Logan returned it in full, kissing Kai as if time had rewound two years and they were once more entangled for one brief and fleeting night.

They parted, Kai spoke, and Logan tried to balance her sad smile with one more joyful. Hopeful. "You give me something wonderful to look forward to upon my freedom."

* * * * *​

Till Mormont hated going into Vel Anir city. Hated cities in general, for that matter. Just made him antsy. If he could've had his way, he'd do all of his business in some remote woodland shack or by some rickety old deserted dock—anywhere with a deficit of people and a surplus of ways to run. Damn city was the inverse of that.

But all the best gigs usually led to a city at some point or another. Started there or ended up there. And so he here was, in some second rate market in a shabby green tent discussing how best to get some choice goods across the Empire/Anirian lands with an old fella who could've doubled as a master wizard with that bushy beard and balding head of his.

Well, at least that noble job was behind him now.

Kailani Tal'deneshaar
 
Kailani would have liked to say that she was going to be diplomatic but that was not going to happen here. She was not in the Guard right now and she needed answers. She had three Nobles that needed to be saved.

She swept into the green tent with her dagger already in her hand. Both of the men looked startled but she just growled get out at the old wizard man. He did not need to be told twice. He threw Till a look right before he made a hasty exit.

Till did not have time to really register what had happened before there was a dagger at his neck and a very angry Kailani in his face.

"Tell me everything you know about the kidnapped Nobles," she pressed the blade into his skin slightly.

Logan Banick
 
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Till liked to pride himself on his instincts, but...sometimes, you were just caught off guard. Complacency was the worst enemy of them all in this business, and his venture into Vel Anir hadn't made him antsy enough it would seem. Because it all just happened so fast.

The woman came in.

And cold steel pressed against his throat.

His hands shot up to his shoulders in surrender. "Okay, okay, okay, easy...nice and easy. I'm, uh, no stranger to the better part of valor."

He licked his lips nervously. The last thing he wanted to do was start rambling. A bad habit that he'd mostly gotten rid of in recent years when incidents like this happened, but if he didn't keep on top of it his tongue would become very verbose very quickly. An economy of words was always best.

"You're talking about the Luana woman and the Pirian woman, yes? My part in it was just to get them to the Falwood Portal Stone and set up the trade, the-the trade between the Blightlands Orcs and a man named Ulren, he's your man, he nabbed those women. I-I don't know what business Ulren has with the Blights, but that's where he took them. L-Last I saw he was sailing away from the Eretejva Tundra on a boat with the women and a whole bunch of orcs."

His eyes anxiously graced the dagger. His bladder felt ready to burst—he'd never been a particularly brave man.

"That's what I know."

Kailani Tal'deneshaar
 
A few slices and no more information later, Kailani left the tent with the information she needed.

Her first stop was to see Ellory and relay the information then to see Logan. She told him the information too and promised that he would be free soon.

It was time to gather the Guard and some Dreadlords to rescue the Noble women!

/EndThread

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