Closed Playing a Card in a Delicate Game

[Valkyrie]

Fall 45, 512

Coren
seventh bell of the morning

The decision to voluntarily submit to the Icewatch’s questions had been a difficult one. He certainly had no concern for their investigation or their authority; he had questions of his own concerning recent events. But Coren’s magical inclinations had come to light in the recent seasons and he did not wish them to snoop around his home should they come looking. Better to give himself up and keep his projects safe from prying eyes. Walking to the barracks was miserable, every step brought another round of second guessing. Perhaps they wouldn’t bother him and he was just giving up precious time. But then again, if he could get his name cleared then they would be less suspicious of him and he would have greater freedom to pursue his personal goals. The barracks were in sight now, a guard stood at the entrance. Well, it was now or never. Thinking quickly, Coren sought to assemble the right words to say when he approached the guard.

Sliver
half a bell later

Sliver lay curled in her bunk, warms furs nested around her. It was not a day she was expected to go to the Stadium for training and she sought to sleep in as much as possible. No one had ever said being a guard would require living on such little sleep. A sharp rapping at the door brought her quickly to wakefulness. When she opened the door she was greeted by the sight of Jaerith standing in the hallway, looking expectantly at her.

“We’ve got business this morning. Are you ready to get started?” he said and passed Sliver a hot pastry filed with carrots and fish. If Jaerith was here bringing her breakfast clearly it meant a long day ahead. If she needed to finish dressing, Jaerith would wait patiently for her to finish and join him in the hallway.

[Sliver]

The Kelvic didn't groan as she would have for Shylir or Yilarra, she had learned that Jaerith would have none of it. Instead she let out a long breath and got dressed quickly, eyes blinking rapidly to clear the sleep from them that hung around the edges. She took her time with the roll, letting the warm pastry sink slowly into her stomach. She hadn't been informed that she would be doing anything other than regular patrols, so her confusion was apparent when she gazed up at her fellow guard. "Ready to get started, but on...what?" She perused her mind. It wasn't rushed, so no emergency, which was good. That meant no strange animal attacks, but the whispers about mage work had grown steadily over the course of the past few weeks. Something tickled the back of her mind that she couldn't quite reach as she followed him to their destination.

[Coren]

When Coren approached the guard at the door of the barracks the guard easily noticed him, now there wasn't a chance to back out of this anymore, he had to stick to his path he chose and fess up to the icewatch enough details he knew about the arcane to satisfy them to prevent them from snooping around in his quarters. What they would find there would probably lead to them either locking him up or forcing him to talk with less then kind methods. Or both if he was unlucky. “I'm coren.” Coren cut of the guard at the door when she openend her mouth to speak. Coren's voice was level and with a hint of annoyance. “I'm here to answer the summons for mages the icewatch put out. Something about that every single mage in the city had to present themselves to them. Now can you point me towards were I have to go so I can get this all over with?” Throughout the entire conversation coren didn't even bother to feign respect to the icewatch's authority, he would follow their commands if he had to, obvious from the fact he was here at the moment. But that was only because it would inconvenience him if he didn't. It was quite clear he didn't give a damn about what the icewatch thought was necessary for their investigations or for their authority.

[Valkyrie]

Sliver

Jaerith sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. They walked on in silence for a few steps before he stopped and turned to look at Sliver. He bit the corner of his lip, clearly feeling indecisive or torn about something. It was a hard time for all of the Icewatch. There was so much happening in the city and they were expected to keep order despite the grumblings and accusations of their friends and family. All the guards seemed to be having a difficult time.

“Obviously you are aware of the strange creatures that have been found around town. Word has certainly spread quickly enough through the barracks so I shouldn’t have to explain too much. After interviewing some witnesses we’ve determined that the creatures have been made constructed by a wizard. Apparently the magic responsible for this is called ‘animation’.” Jaerith said though he pronounced the last word slowly. He wasn’t very familiar with magic and never seen a reason to learn much about it.

“That was why two days ago we went around the city and told everyone that all mages needed to report to the barracks. Someone is responsible for these dangerous creatures and we need to find out who. We’ve been interrogating them as they’ve come in and we plan on holding them for a few days longer for observation. You’ve been a part of the team for a while now and it’s clear that you are ready for greater responsibility. Being a guard is more then just stabbing wolves and breaking up bar fights. Sometimes we have to use our cunning and skills to question witnesses. So, I’d like you to help me interrogate a wizard who has submitted himself for examination. What do you think?” Jaerith said and gave Sliver a half-hearted smile. It was difficult to be excited about interrogating a citizen but they all had a job to do and Jaerith would do it.

Coren

The guard looked Coren over and nodded briefly. She opened the door to the barracks and waved for him to follow her.

“Thank you for willingly submitting yourself. Your cooperation is appreciated and will be noted.” The guard said mechanically as they walked. It was clear that she had been practicing what to say. Rounding up groups of citizens for examination wasn’t very typical for Icewatch and it had caused a lot of confusion among the guards. The guard continued walking, checking behind her every so often to ensure that Coren was still following. She led him to a door which opened into a small room. Two cots pressed against the wall indicated that the room had previously been used as sleeping quarters. A round table and three chairs had been placed in the small space left. The guard turned to Coren.

“Please have a seat. Someone will be along shortly to begin the examination process and answer any questions you may have. Can I get you something to drink or eat while you wait?” the guard asked amiably. After receiving Coren’s answer the guard would shut the door and leave him to wait with his own thoughts for a little while.

[Sliver]

Sliver nodded slowly as Jaerith spoke. She felt as if he was specifically pointing out the things she preferred to do, it was obvious the wolverine preferred a tavern brawl over engaging in discussion any day. She knew her role was flexible, however, and took solace in the fact that many of the guards seemed to be struggling with this issue as much as she. If it would help the city than she would do what must be done, she just hoped Jaerith didn't expect her to be some expert interrogator. The idea of questioning potentially dangerous mages didn't exactly sit well with her either, but the wolverine just took a deep breath and nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Will I be doing this with you, or alone?" Best to know where she stood right out of the gate, she thought, know all the facts. Animation. She was familiar with the term, bringing things that normally wouldn't be, to life. It could be worse she thought, she had seen some of the strange creatures alchemy magic made on Sahova, they were truly awful to behold, at least these strange creatures seemed less deadly, despite the fact they were still abominations..

[Coren]

Coren answered the guards mechanical speech and thanks with an apathetic nod before he followed her inside. Raising an eyebrow at her as she continued to look over her back at him, as if she was afraid he would suddenly disappear or rethink his decision to cooperate with the icewatch and leave. Still, he kept silent about her strange behavior. When she stopped at a door and motioned for him to go inside he did without raising to much fuss. Though when he saw it used to be a sleeping cot he shook his head. He really had assumed that the icewatch had some kind of official room to interrogate their prisoners in when something had happened. Or at least something more official looking then a former bedroom. “No thank you.” He politely declined the offer of the icewatch for something to drink or eat while he waited. “I already ate.” He sat down on one of the chairs that was standing at the table that was haphazardly shoved in the middle of the room and pulled out his ever present practice book, quil and ink, waiting on the icewatch or not. He wasn't going to waste that timebye twiddling his thumbs and he knew enough about bureaucracy to know that soon was usually quite the long time. He dipped his quill in the ink and began to practice the same array's that where in the last pages over and over again. It was an array that consisted of one big focus glyph in the middle that branched out into multiple smaller ones with a path glyph. The purpuse behind it was that it had a single entry point that guided the magic into the receivers, who where later cut out of the paper and used as seperate scrolls. He didn't know if that configuration had any use at all, but drawing it out did test his skill in glyphing quite a bit. So if anything it was good practice.

[Valkyrie]

Sliver

Jaerith continued walking slowly as Sliver asked her question, the pair progressing quickly down the hallway. He stopped in front of a door that led to a set of empty sleeping quarters, or at least Sliver would have thought them to be empty sleeping quarters.

“Oh, you needn’t worry about going solo this time. I will be there to do a lot of the questioning. I want your help in questioning of course but I really want you to pay attention to the citizen and try to note any body language that might tell us something important. Interrogation is always best with two people, one to lead the questions and the other to pay close attention. “ Jaerith said and turned towards the door before hesitating a moment and looking back at Sliver.

“We have turned a couple of the sleeping rooms into temporary holding areas for the mages. All of the mages are suspects but we don’t have specific evidence against them so it wasn’t appropriate to shove them all in Svanhildur like we would with law breakers. We really need to get some signs up but just try and remember that these couple rooms have been requisitioned for that use.” Jaerith said and waved his hand toward a few other doors along the hallway. Jaerith opened the door and exposed Sliver to the sight of Coren waiting within.

Coren

The time passed slowly for Coren as he practiced drawing glyphs. One would think that the Icewatch was better prepared to process those they had explicitly requested to come forward. But then again maybe they were just trying to make Coren sweat it. Either way, the time passed quietly with the occasional sound of footsteps walking past the door. There was nothing of real interest to look at in the room, the walls were barren and the blankets atop the bunks were plain grey. The austerity of the room was quite different from the typical domicile in Avanthal.

Almost half a bell passed before a set of passing footsteps seemed to stop in front of the door. Coren would be able to hear muffled speaking but be unable to pick out specific words or phrases. The door swung open and Jaerith, a well-known Icewatch guard stepped through. A very typical, serious look was glued firmly to his face. After Jaerith stepped through Coren would have a clear view of the second person about to step into the room, Sliver. At least they had finally arrived.

[Sliver]

Sliver took it in, and tried not to audibly sight with relief. She wasn't alone, it would be fine. Taking suspect mages to Svanhildur did seem a bit extreme, but keeping them in empty quarters? To the wolverine, that seemed rather close to negligence. She refrained from comment, however. If an angry mage tore the inside of the barracks apart, they'd probably found their suspect anyhow. Sliver was just contemplating who they would be questioning, certainly not familiar with the magic users of the Avanthal community, when Jaerith opened the door and she glimpsed the cloaked figure. Coren. She was unsure if this was good or bad. On the one hand she had already had some experience with the man, but perhaps this would reflect negatively on their interrogation, he hadn't seemed to take much of a liking to her in their previous encounter. The Kelvic ran her handover her mohawk a bit nervously. Also, how in the realm of Dira was she supposed to gauge him with that petching cloak covering his face? There was no body for her to see to get this language from.

[Coren]

If the prolonged wait the icewatch was putting them through was supposed to let him sweat, they really weren't doing it right. The bare room, the silence and the fact he was doing something he truly enjoyed nearly got his mind of the ungodly hour he had to get up to satisfy the ridiculous wish of the icewatch. At least his bad mood was a little bit alleviated when the door opened. Coren closed his book and looked towards the two members of the icewatch. Both of them where familiar to him, the woman with the strange hairdo wa Sliver, a wolverine kelvic if he remembered correctly and the other one was the guy that told him his 'sentence' He didn't know his name though. “Good morning, Sliver” Coren spoke up in his usual polite and monotone voice. His gaze drifted towards the other man. “I know you, but I haven't caught your name.” He put his book back in his cloak, he was done with that for the moment, waiting for them to begin with their questioning.

[Valkyrie]

“Jaerith.” Jaerith said quietly as he looked from Coren to Sliver and back. Dimly he remembered Sliver bringing in a masked fellow, most likely this one since relatively few people ran about Avanthal wearing a mask. Well, he had already had one run in with Icewatch. That didn’t speak the highest of him but one never knew. Many young men had run ins with Icewatch.

“Is your prior knowledge of each other going to be a problem?” Jaerith tossed the question out in the air for either to answer. He expected that Sliver wouldn’t have a problem and he didn’t much care if Coren had one, so Jaerith walked forward and seated himself at one of the chairs around the table. He looked back at Sliver and indicated she sit at the remaining open chair. Jaerith turned himself toward Coren and set his hands down on the table, fingers interlaced.

“Well Coren. Why don’t we start with you telling us a little of your basic information? Where are you living nowadays? What profession do you keep?” Jaerith asked in a pleasantly bland tone of voice. He kept his eyes focused on Coren though his gaze was not a glare.