Completed The Cost of Closure

[Evangeline]

More shuffling through files. She removed another. "Diemut."

"'Quinctus Diemut. Presumed deceased. Thrown from a cliff by his brother, Caeso Diemut, during dueling exercise..." Evangeline's eyebrows furrowed deeper and deeper. She flipped through the file, again to an earlier page. "Magical affinity: magic suppression, absorption, and...duplication..."

Her eyes moved from the page to the initiate before her, who now had tears in her eyes and an expression of deep concern and anger. Evangeline set the file down and took a deep breath.

"Zinnia...you've done well to bring this information to my attention. I have connections throughout Vel Anir, with some very powerful people. I'm going to pull some strings and see where things are at with House Diemut since Caeso's passing. Please, rest assured, we'll get this worked out. For now, why don't you return to your dorm and rest for awhile. I believe you've earned that much."

The girl's face scrunched up in frustration and she gently pounded her fists on Evangeline's desk. The proctor took the girl's hands in her own and softly shushed her.

"Initiate Zinnia St. Kolbe, listen to me: you've done well. You should be proud. Caeso would be proud. But you've done all you can for now. Go back. I'll check in on you in a little while, okay?"

 

[Zinnia]

Zinnia reluctantly nodded. Anger burned in her heart and she fought the desire to bury her face in Evangeline's chest and cry, but she nodded. She had to hold herself together. She wasn't weak. Caeso would not have wanted her to be weak.

"Thank you, Proctor," she complied, rising from her seat. "I'll head back."

And that much was true. She'd head back to her dorm. But her role in this was far from over. Evangeline was observant, but not so much that she'd noticed Zinnia going through Joel's file while the proctor had her back turned. Alarm bells had gone off when Eva had mentioned the boy's cause of death.

The details went a little further. Joel had died in a locked outhouse stall with no signs of struggle and no signs of tampering with the lock. He'd suffocated to death, with the only thing out of the ordinary being nearly imperceptible traces of unknown inorganic particulate in the fibers of his clothes and in a water puddle on the stall floor.

She stood and politely dismissed herself, drying her tears on her uniform sleeves. Zinnia had a hunch now, and she wasn't about to let it slip away.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

It was at some point after Zinnia's meeting with Proctor D'Amour that Kristen Pirian made the decision to go and visit her.

Kristen had been sitting on her bed within her own dormitory room when, again, the thought struck her. Astra's grace...Zinnia had been incredibly distant and withdrawn as of late. She had always been on the shy side of the social scale, but this current demeanor of hers was unprecedented. Quite a number of dire events had transpired lately, but perhaps most shocking among them was the brutal and gruesome murder of Caeso Diemut. Perhaps Zinnia had been shaken by so horrific a slaying in general, or perhaps she more specifically felt grief over the loss of Caeso. All Kristen knew was that Caeso and Zinnia had been on some number of missions together; whether they were close or not, or even if his death was the source of Zinnia's present reservation, Kristen couldn't say.

Well.

Lord Aionus, someone ought to go and see how she was faring, and Kristen resolved for that someone to be her. So she stood up with all the determination of a mind set firmly to a decision and left her room and made for Zinnia's own.

She stood outside Zinnia's door. Raised her porcelain hand. Rapped her knuckles on the wood.

"Zinnia? It is Kristen. Are you there?"

Zinnia

 

[Zinnia]

Zinnia rolled out of bed with a groan, Seri making an alarmed noise as he fell from his perch on her head and papers scattering from the tops of her blankets onto the floor below. A mix of homework from her Anirian history course and documents she'd gathered that might help her better trace the trail of breadcrumbs left behind by Caeso's killers. Emphasis on "might." She'd no idea how effective any of what she was doing was in getting her closer to those involved. Something to worry about a little later, it seemed. Company was here.

Zinnia threw on an over-large shirt and knit-cap and scooped Seri into her arms to comfort both the grub and herself. She cracked her door, confirmed that it was indeed Kristen, and then opened it further.
"H-hi Kristen," she croaked, dark circles visible beneath her eyes. "Did we, um...h-have plans that I forgot about? If s-so, I'm sorry, I've been a little...d-distraced, lately..."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"No, we had no plans, nor anything that you could have forgotten," Kristen said, allaying those concerns first. Two subtle glances up and down the hallway confirmed that no stray ears were there to overhear what Kristen knew would likely be a delicate matter.

Distracted. Oh, the ranges of this particular word she used. It could have rivaled "fine" in its span of possibility.

"I was wondering if you had such time to talk, and if that would be to your liking." A cordial smile, punctuating her subtle suggestion. "May I come in?"


Zinnia

 

[Zinnia]

Rubbing crust from her eyes, Zinnia opened the door wider and gestured for Kristen to come in.
"I'm g-glad...uh, both that I didn't f-forget anything, and to have you. In, th-that is."
Nailing that delivery as always...

Zinnia's room was presently cluttered with the mess of her investigations, but otherwise utterly unremarkable. Perhaps the only bit of personalization it bore was the hat rack she kept, lined with several hoods and knit caps in different makes and colors.

The wallflower flopped back onto her bed with a groan, Seri bouncing softly off of her belly with an alarmed yelp before promptly crawling halfway on top of Zinnia's head. She was too tired to deter him at this point; she usually didn't mind at all, but he was getting pretty big these days.

Kristen was by this point one of the few people Zinnia trusted to have her head uncovered around after the events that transpired with the Mad Legion. She was also perhaps the only person that Zinnia would have allowed in with her room in this state. Or at all, really.
"What's on your m-mind?" Zinnia asked, muffled by the half of her pet that was presently covering her face.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen entered Zinnia's room, slightly concerned by the rather messy state of affairs to be witnessed within—it wasn't like this when Proctor Magomo had nearly pounded down her door in his effort to enlist her help with physical training, not from what Kristen remembered. The pet Zinnia had was, as ever, a peculiar sight to behold, and it was one of those things of which she maintained a dual mind: she kind of wanted to touch it, but she was also timidly afraid to do so, so strange yet adorable was the creature.

But she wasn't here for that.

"As it so happens, I have myself come to ask you precisely that. I have..." Gently did she want to proceed here, for if the matter truly was nothing significant, she did not want to conjure awkwardness by overestimating it, "...noticed, as of late, that you seem withdrawn. Far more than usual."

Gah! Was that too much? Snickerdoodle! Just...hold in that wince and continue.

"I merely wanted to see how you were faring, and to offer my ear as a friend if there is something, anything, on which you would like to speak. When the mind lounges overmuch in solitude, so often does the heart long for company."

Zinnia

 

[Zinnia]

Zinnia pulled herself up into a fetal ball, knees tucked to her chest, and slid Seri up to the top of her head. She poked the creature's side a few times and it cooed, then shone with a dim, white light and shifted into a cozy looking knit cap. Tired eyes shifted to Kristen.

"I..." she stumbled and sighed, eyes falling to the bed before her.

"I know. I know I shouldn't b-be hiding away like this. I d-didn't really expect it, but...Caeso's..." she couldn't bring herself to say the word. "I g-guess it hit me pretty hard."

A bashful half smile appeared from beneath the locks of hair that had fallen down over Zinnia's face, and she glanced shamefully up towards Kristen.
"I r-really couldn't have asked for a better v-visitor, you know."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"Oh...Zinnia..." Kristen said, her heart practically melting with empathy for her. She came over and sat on the bed and held out her arms, taking it upon herself to just give Zinnia a hug in that moment. What little Kristen knew of Zinnia and Caeso seemed clarified: that Zinnia did indeed care about him to a considerable degree. The vicious individualism of the old way had not stopped this, and it spoke wonderfully of Zinnia as a person.

Still, even with the Revolution, Zinnia had evidently felt compelled to conceal her emotions on the matter, to bottle up her grief and allow it in the silence and solitude to torment her all the more harshly.

In the embrace, Kristen said quietly, "I am here for you. You need not say anything if you do not wish; but, if you do, I will listen. With an open heart I will listen."

Zinnia

 

[Zinnia]

A...hug? At first Zinnia was stunned. She had begun to realize it at the dance, with Zaire and Silas, but now that she was wrapped in the embrace of her friend Zinnia truly realized how starved for human touch she was--and it struck her heart, profoundly so. Such that she tried to speak, only to choke back a sob. She forced it down; she was strong. She had to be strong.

"I d-don't...I don't even know why...t-truly, I don't understand it," she confessed as she leaned into Kristen. "He was such a j-jerk, and I'm sure he hated me, but I...but...I..."

No. No no no. Stop. He wouldn't have wanted you to act like this. You have to stop.

"I just...I l-looked up to him and...I can't...I couldn't...help it!" Zinnia buried her face in Kristen's shoulder as her walls came tumbling down. Any pretense of strength was lost as she began to sob. She gripped the sleeves of her friend's shirt and ducked her head down as the shame of her weakness began to rack her body, her back lurching as her sobbing made itself manifest.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

It descended gently upon Kristen that she, now, inhabited the shoes that her cousin Val did some years ago. He taught her well, Val did, in how to be the kind soul one needed to deal with trauma—for Kristen knew just how hard it was to endure those torments alone.

She let Zinnia speak without interruption. Let her speak until the very well of her emotion overflowed. She held Zinnia in an embrace marked by warmth and firmness—not too meekly, yet not too tightly. With her left hand she gently rubbed Zinnia's back, the small movements dispelling what could have been rigid stillness with comforting motion. A stinging buzzed at the corners of her own eyes, tears born of empathy wanting to spill over in heartfelt solidarity with Zinnia's own.

Blessed Aionus, the strength Val had to speak so calmly, with his tone so level, his gentleness undisturbed by the swell of emotion! Kristen herself found it difficult to speak. The feeling of a knot in her throat was palpable indeed.

"You are a good person, Zinnia. Truly, you are. Caeso was—Caeso is one of our own. And who among us is without flaw? Yet easily did you find it within your heart, so great and so expansive it is, to care deeply for him." Kristen had to take a moment to pause herself, to swallow—at least partially—that knot, to re-center herself and continue as Val would have, "It is not wrong to feel as you do. It is not wrong. To care is to make oneself vulnerable, and that takes courage Zinnia. Truly, it does. Courage of so great a caliber that Caeso would helplessly come to admire it."

Zinnia

 

[Zinnia]

Kristen was so unlike everyone else at the Academy. There was no perceptible loss of respect, no belittling Zinnia for cracking under the weight of loss. She could hardly believe that she'd once looked down on the girl for her differences, or for her apparent lack of ability. Zinnia had been a fool to think low of her.

Even still, a pang of guilt shot through the gold-eyed girl. Adjusting to praise she would forever feel was undeserved was part of that guilt, but another part was that Kristen didn't know, couldn't have known, what Zinnia had been up to all this time.

She clung to Kristen for several moments more, doing her best to steady herself for what came next. The release of tension she felt from allowing herself that brief bit of vulnerability was cathartic, but it couldn't go on forever.

I don't th-think he would have seen it that way...but th-thank you, Kristen...dearly..." she replied after finally letting the sobbing pass. She leaned away from Kristen, unable to make eye contact with her. "...He m-might have been more proud of what I'm trying to do about it n-now. But y-you might not be."

Zinnia leaned aside and palmed a few pages of her notes from nearby on the bed, offering them to Kristen. Within, Kristen would find evidence of Zinnia's time spent eavesdropping, and the trail of breadcrumbs she was following back towards those responsible. Still sitting astride her friend, she folded her hands into her lap, chewed her lower lip, and waited for Kristen's response.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen maintained an open mind, keeping her imagination well restrained such that it would not traipse off, as was the wont of the human imagination, into fretting over every negative possibility. She took the slips of parchment, looking over them carefully.

And soon enough she was able to put together just what Zinnia was up to.

Kristen gasped, yet it was not with chastisement nor dread. It was with excitement. "Oh, Zinnia! Why would I not be proud of this? This...this is exactly what needs to be done!" She looked over to her, showing an encouraging smile to assuage what worry Zinnia had. "It is a great tragedy that Caeso's murder was swept under the tide of the civil unrest, that when the latter was quelled the former was forgotten. Justice demands an answer, and shame on me for thinking that hope faded in concurrence with official disinterest!"

Zinnia

 

[Zinnia]

Zinnia raised her head to look up at Kristen in surprise, blinking her confusion at the girl. That was not the response she had expected, and for the moment her heart fluttered with excitement.
"I...I mean, I ag-gree completely! I...honestly I w-would have thought you to be the type to t-tell me to leave it to the Vigilites or something," she laughed weakly and rubbed the back of her neck.

There was probably a deep, philosophical conversation to be had about how Zinnia's vigilante manhunt aligned with her usual "duty to Vel Anir first" mentality, but the prime excuse was just as Kristen had mentioned: Vel Anir had failed to do its duty for one of its cherished Dreadlord initiates, a noble, and a citizen. How could anyone blame her for taking things into her own hands?

Zinnia gave a slight smile as she looked down at her hands, palms up and open wide.
"I'm close to a b-breakthrough now, I'm s-sure of it..." she looked up to Kristen once more. "I made a promise, Kristen, that I'd end those responsible with m-my own hands. Will you still be p-proud of me when that happens?"

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"Prouder still," Kristen said. "And in what ways I am able, I shall aid you in this endeavor, even if all that comes to be of it are words of encouragement in occasions like this."

How lonely Zinnia must have felt, doing this all of her own accord! Seemingly the one person, the only person, who cared enough to take action! Even Caeso's own father Sabian had not only given up on justice for his son but given up on Vel Anir altogether, so Kristen had read in a correspondence from her brother.

Caution, then, had its moment.

"An admirable promise you've made, Zinnia, but...will you also make one to me? Please, I beg, be careful. Oft is it said that doing the right thing is not easy, but here, gods, I cannot even conceive of all the possible perils—who is to say, until it is known with more clarity the scope of Caeso's murder? Regardless, be careful, be careful, do be careful."

Zinnia

 

[Zinnia]

Tears in her eyes, Zinnia beamed. She dabbed at their corners, but still they ran freely down her face.
"Kristen...you r-really are the best friend I could have asked for," she said before hugging her once more.

The warning that followed was well heard. Zinnia knew well that whomever she was dealing with was likely both dangerous and intelligent. She nodded her agreement.
"I promise, I will. I have been s-so far, and I can't exactly avenge anyone if I'm d-dead, so...gods that s-sounded cooler in my head," she shook her head, realizing she was getting caught up over something trivial, and smiled. "The point is, I promise!"

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen accepted the hug with arms wide open. Blessed Aionus, how was it even possible that Zinnia could come from the same Academy which produced far less reputable Initiates? Caeso was not a man of any religious persuasion, but this did not stop Kristen from having the thought that, perhaps somewhere, perhaps through some divine means allowing a momentary window into Arethil, if he could but see what Zinnia was doing for him then, with all the earthly matters of life shed, he, too, would be feeling pride in her.

"Good," Kristen said as Zinnia gave the promise so asked for. "You are smart, you are tenacious, and surpassing all, you have heart, Zinnia. And I think that these are the qualities which will in combination shed definitive light on this cruel and villainous deed. You are the one that the guilty should fear."

Kristen smiled with all the brightness she could muster.

"Bring the justice which no one else can, Zinnia."

Zinnia

 

[Soleil Verdane]

ACADEMY DORMITORIES
LATER​

A secretive conversation near the northeast corner of the dormitories:

"...easy. Us? Just need cover story," said Soleil Verdane.

Carter, her interlocutor, sounded unsure and doubtful. "But our mission...how will it get done?"

Soleil just let out one her lilting laughs. "Who cares? Stupid mission. Waste of time. Us? Lie. Simple."

"But the Proctors...they ask about this stuff." Even Carter, who wasn't the brightest Initiate, knew that just because not having a Proctor directly attending you on a mission didn't mean they weren't, in their own ways, looking over your shoulder and double-checking what you were doing.

"Yes," said Soleil, anticipating Carter's apprehension here. She made a popping sound with her lips. "But us? Get someone to help. Lie for us too. Alibi. See?"

"...Who, though?"

Quieter, Soleil said, "Captain Murrick."

Carter seemed shocked. "But...we report to him."

"I know." Soleil trilled her tongue. "But him? Have weakness. Us? Exploit weakness. Make Murrick do what we want. This for that. See? Tooooo~ easy."

Captain Murrick.

The same Guard Captain stationed in Vel Anir city's garrison that, as it so happened, Soleil had been reporting to for a mission during the Dance; the same Dance where Joel Schmidt was murdered, and Caeso Diemut captured.

Zinnia

 

[Zinnia]

With Kristen's encouragement behind her, Zinnia's resolve was fortified. She had her suspects now and a trail to follow. It was time to start moving towards her end goal.

---

Some days later, that goal was already beginning to come to fruition. Eavesdropping was becoming remarkably easy at this point; the dorms had rafters above them that were easily accessed through a maintenance hatch outside in a corner of the quad, usually only used by the campus custodians. One individual in particular had sent alarm bells ringing in Zinnia's brain back then: Soleil Verdane.

Put simply, Zinnia didn't believe Sol's excuse that she'd heard everything that had happened at the dance in such detail. She'd never been the type to care, at least from Zinnia's experience, and that she'd go out of her way to taunt Zinnia about it left a slough of questions running through her mind.

Locating Soleil's dorm room from the rafters was easy. Following her as she left to have her conversation undetected was slightly more challenging, but so far as she could tell she hadn't been noticed. As she and her apparent co-conspirator conversed, it was obvious that Soleil was in the process of figuring out how to ditch a mission. Nothing new there, but why would be so adamant about having an alibi for it?

Then the granular girl dropped a name: Captain Murrick. Zinnia's eyes widened. Another thread to follow. She was in no position to pounce on Soleil just yet, lacking definitive proof...but maybe, through Murrick, she could get it.

That someone like Soleil could draw a captain of the Guard into this, though...just how deep was this all going to run? Kristen's warning sounded in her head on loop. She was going to have to be a little reckless if Caeso's justice was to be attained.

 

[VigiloConfido]

Captain Murrick was once an outstanding soldier. And then he had taken to drinking after his divorce. Drinking and drinking and drinking.

Somehow, he managed to keep himself together just enough to get by. His was a position cemented in place only by its unique circumstances: namely, because of his past and who he knew, because replacing him would be more trouble than it was worth, and because of his aforementioned ability to get his job done despite rosy cheeks. Captain Murrick, in addition to his regular administrative duties, also was one of the officers in charge overseeing missions for Initiates from the Academy that occurred in and around the vicinity of Vel Anir city. Not every Initiate at the Academy saw him, but it wasn't uncommon either; it all depended on what missions an Initiate happened to be slotted for.

Today was a cozy day. A rainy day. And almost nothing was cozier than being inside when, outside, it was pouring down rain. Other Guardsmen were likely still training, still patrolling, still attending to other duties under the familiar mantra of "If it ain't rainin', we ain't trainin'", but those days were, thankfully, behind Captain Murrick. He could enjoy his day within his office and just listen to the sound of the rain outside, smell it through the open glass.

Usually he took an hour and a half off for lunch. And, like usual, Captain Murrick liked to rock himself into a nap with a few shots of whiskey.

He sat presently in his office with his feet up on the desk before him, his arms crossed, his head bowed, snoring lightly. His office door was shut and locked, and a dismissive sign suggesting anyone seeking his attention should try later after the lunch hour.

Zinnia

 

[Zinnia]

How fortunate it was for Zinnia that Murrick happened to be a liaison to the Academy. She'd played so nice with the guardsman playing secretary for the day, who himself was also on his way out to lunch. This was one of the first times she'd really had to "act" innocent or demure. Perhaps that was why it came so naturally to her, and why when she told him how excited she was to be visiting, he paid her no mind on waved her by. Maybe that was what Soleil had done, too. The thought made her gag.

Once past the lobby, the lack of staff on duty made slipping through the halls of the building unnoticed easy. The wallflower's footfalls made nary a sound as she approached the office marked "MURRICK." She wasn't about to knock. Zinnia placed a hand on the handle and twisted gently; locked. Well, no problem there...it was just a good thing there were so few people around. Zinnia couldn't have picked a better time to pay the good captain a visit.

With a deep breath, Zinnia began to channel the magic within her battery steadily into the doorknob. Slowly, carefully; she didn't need to make the thing erupt or explode, just get a bit too hot. The metal handle gradually went red, then white hot, then began to melt. After a time, the molten handle was easy to pull free from its slot in the door, and Zinnia promptly channeled cold into it to keep its melty form from making a mess. A quick peek through the hole she'd left revealed Murrick himself, still sleeping soundly at his desk.

Ever so quietly, Zinnia opened the now lockless door and crept within the room, then sealed the hole in the door by touching it and building a thick layer of ice. The seal doubled in utility by freezing into the slot in the door frame where the latch once rested, effectively fusing the door shut for now.

All that remained was for Zinnia to slink across the room and position herself appropriately: behind Murrick's chair, one hand open, the other brandishing a long, curved dagger. She inhaled, then exhaled. Now or never. In one swift motion, her free hand wrapped around Murrick's mouth while the other placed the blade of the dagger to his throat. The moment he woke she'd give him a simple warning, and a simple request.
"S-scream and you die. I have a f-few questions I need answered."

 

[VigiloConfido]

Funnily enough, Captain Murrick did not wake immediately. It was as though Zinnia's hand, roughly covering his mouth, and her dagger, perilously poised against his neck, rocked him ever the more deeply into a sound slumber. Whether this was so or not, said slumber, restful as it might have been, did not last for too long. Her hand blocked his breath and so gave rise to that familiar burning alarm in his lungs, first crackling, then smoldering, then blazing, and with a little jerk, a sharp inhale through his nose as his nostrils gained some purchase on the air, he was awake.

And he froze immediately, for the steel of the blade left no room for negotiation. A muffled yelp into Zinnia's palm, made close and quiet by the same, was all that came from him.

"Mmhmm. Mmhmm, mmhmm!" These the little muffled moans of agreement.

Captain Murrick's glory days were long behind him, alright.

Zinnia

 

[Zinnia]

Well...quick and easy compliance. That was rare. Zinnia had expected at least some degree of obstinance, but if Soleil, also a teenaged girl, was able to get Murrick in her back pocket then perhaps it shouldn't have been that surprising that he was a pushover. What was it that Soleil had said? That he had a weakness, an exploitable one? That weakness would be Soleil's as well.

Zinnia gingerly slipped her fingers off the man's mouth down to his neck. If he did decide to holler it was best not to let too much sound get out. She really, really didn't want to kill him, but if he forced her hand...

"I know y-you've been involved with S-Soleil Verdane. Where was she, and what w-was she really doing on the n-night Caeso Diemut died?"

Best to start simple and direct. The longer she was here, the higher the risk she got caught. The last thing Zinnia needed was to be implicated in a crime against the guard when she was trying to uproot evil. The deafening pounding of her heart was a constant reminder of what was at stake.

 

[VigiloConfido]

The little twists of puzzlement—the muscles of his face tensing, his jaw flexing side to side—were easily available for Zinnia's palm to feel.

"V-Verdane? The Initiate girl? How—?"

In his most prudent decision of the day, and mayhap of his life, Captain Murrick decided it best not to wander off from the point with inane questions of his own while a knife was at his throat. And while there was a time in which Captain Murrick would have had a heart full of courage, where he would have faced death and even suffered it in the name of his country, far gone was that time. He clung to life now, such as it was with his drinking and his slovenly behavior, and here that very fear once triumphed over in the past had now its triumph over him.

So, almost eagerly, did he answer, despite the details incriminating him of corruption.

"She had a mission. Around Vel Anir c-city. She reported to me, as usual, like other Initiates do, but she offered me a bribe. I took it. She only wanted me to say and report that I saw her every day during her mission. That was it. That was everything. I swear by Kress."

Stumbling over his words for a moment, he finally got around to addressing the second part of it. His voice dropped even lower, as if he himself might be peeking toward some realization just beyond the cloistered room of his willful ignorance.

"The next time I saw her...when her mission was 'done'...was the morning Lord Diemut...Lord Diemut's body...oh Kress."

Zinnia

 

[Zinnia]

Was that it? Seriously? If that was true, then Murrick really was just a useful idiot...and worse, that left Zinnia at a dead end. If Murrick didn't know anything beyond that, then Zinnia didn't have any conclusive evidence. Her hunches had been mostly correct, but Soleil was a good liar. She couldn't confront her without an ace up her sleeve.

Zinnia had to think. Murrick was pliant, which might've meant that he was a coward. Clearly he was afraid to lose his life...maybe he was afraid to lose his job as well?

"I n-need more than that, Murrick. You like l-living? You like this c-comfy office? Tell me everything you know about what h-happened, and how V-Verdane is involved. Otherwise it all g-goes up in smoke," she threatened, doing her best to put all the anger in her heart into her words. She'd never been much cut out for interrogations, but she had to show her resolve here. Was what she was about to say too much? Gods, hopefully she didn't sound silly. She needed Murrick to buy it.

Come on, Zinnia, don't stutter on this one!

"There are worse fates than death, you know."