Slaves of the Night

Chapter 27

Kaisa

We retire to our rooms to get changed for the day. The house is just getting up, and we're able to make it to our respective places before we run into people asking where we've been all night. I get changed into a loose ivory dress and matching scarf, Essie puts on more clothes she stole from Rax; they make her happy I guess. Eero and Rax don't get changed. I'm pretty sure they just bicker the entire time we're supposed to be changing. Then Eero goes and check on the girls and hugs them for like fifteen minutes each. Rax isn't much better, though he's more reserved in general and just gives them attention instead of squeezing them to death and saying he missed them. Of course they think they've just seen Eero, so they're confused.

Then I finally drag him away, and we get down to business. Eero summons Captain Kyllo. Time to steal some memories.

"Your Highness?" he looks directly at Rax as he says it though. Rax is leaning by the door chewing his finger and being inane. It's the middle finger, that's why.

"I need to ask you some questions, about the night Maija died," Eero says.

"What? What do you mean?" Captain Kyllo asks, frowning like he wonders why I'm here.

"Like, what do you remember?"

I take the memory easily, even without touching him. The dip in the springs last night was good for me.

"What are you doing up so late?" Mistress Huta asks. They're in the main hall. It is late, I assume, it's dark out but it always is when it's winter.

"Same thing as you, I expect," he sighs a little.

"The boys aren't back from the tavern. Let them be," she says.

"I am letting them be."

"Quit locking the doors, I mean. It's not as though it stops them," she says.

"One of these days—"

"Maku doesn't mean any harm."

"Actuall,y I'm fairly sure he does—"

"Nor does your Rax," she says.

"He's not mine," Kyllo growls.

"Then what do you care if he's at the tavern in town till all hours?" she asks, knowingly.

"They need to learn curfew exists for a reason—"

"So punish them in the morning. Think of how you'd feel if they got hurt out there?" she says.

"You're too soft on them."

"And you're too harsh sometimes."

"Fine. This once they get to stagger back to their beds drunk. They'd better enjoy it because they won't next time."

"I'll have a talk with them again."

"See that you do."

I miss his real answer but it doesn't matter. Rax looks at me, frowning.

"Thank you I suppose, just, trying to piece something together," Eero says, then he dismises him while Rax and I make faces at each other.

"What?" Eero asks, closing the door.

"He didn't do it-----Rax are you sure the door was locked?" I ask.

"It always was---"

"In his memory—he didn't wind up locking it. He was going to, Mistress Huta talked him out of it---that door wasn't locked that night," I sigh, "Not by him anyway."

"Did you actually try the door?" Eero asks, "Or did you just assume it was locked?"

"We tried the guard door only---since that was locked we assumed the others were—but Maija wouldn't have done the same thing she would've tried the main door—or all of them if she was locked out," Rax sighs.

"So someone else locked her out?" Eero asks.

"Yes. Which means we're back to square one. We still don't know how she got outside."

"I think she's the only one who knows that now," Rax says.

"Well, then, we'll do what we can but—Maku's going to want more than that."

"I know," I sigh. And the wedding's in a few days and we're no closer to knowing how Maija died.