The Rogue Guardian

Chapter 36: Intersecting Arrangements

ha sooooo i know you guys probably get tired of regular updates about my mindset but i'm in such a good mood right now! The Royal Thief just hit #47 on the hot list, the highest ever! Top 50! wow. i feel so much less stressed when i think about that lol. anyway check the note at the end of this chapter for some important news!

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Magali was wearing her favorite dress. She'd taken to doing that, lately, little things that made her feel a little more in control. This dress was dark blue and elegant but sensible and reminded her of climbing the roofs of the lower city with Morane, and good memories were important sources of confidence. At least, it felt like. They were also very flimsy sources that tended to crumple beneath the threat of more bad news.

She felt her shoulders slump as Caer came in, shutting the door behind him. She set her book down with a thump. "Don't tell me. More problems with the Perivals?" The noble family and traditional supplier of weapons for the royal guard had caused a lot of stress lately, claiming there were criminals scoping out its smithies and delivery wagons. The fact that they were never more specific about what "criminals" were causing trouble made this sound unlikely, and it was her problem because she'd insisted on taking on a project. At first she'd thought Tobias had given this to her in a condescending way, to keep her busy, but now she wondered if maybe he'd taken her seriously. Smoothing out relations was more tedious than she'd expected.

"No, not them. It's... good news, actually."

"Good news," she repeated, half a question.

He nodded, looking half-shocked himself. "Well, there's a lead on Morane."

"Really?" If she was being honest, she'd begun to think the next time they'd see Morane was when the Thief chose to return.

"It's not huge, but it's something. You know how things tend to sometimes, ah, go missing around the castle? Jewelry, especially."

"Are you talking about Morane stealing stuff?"

"Yeah, actually. Thing is, one of those things that went missing quite a while ago-- a bracelet, I believe, shaped like a snake with jade eyes-- turned up in the city. One of the royal spies who hangs around the shops looking for stolen goods recognized it as a Delmeneth heirloom. There was a lot of questioning involved and they traced it back to a pawnshop in Maenar."

Magali looked down at her book pensively and fiddled with a page, considering. "So, we think Morane stole that bracelet years ago, took it with her when she left, went to Maenar, and sold it?"

"We know she went back to her room between the time she was seen in the ballroom and whatever time the guards at the gate noted her leaving. She left her stuff a mess, so she clearly moved things around to find stuff to pack. And packing jewelry to sell later would take up less room than an equal amount of money, especially considering something as valuable as a noble heirloom."

They both were silent as the fragile hope sank in, then Magali stood up quickly and rushed into the next room. "That's amazing! We need to send someone to that pawnshop immediately. How long does it take to get to Maenar?"

Caer, slightly stunned by her enthusiasm, followed. She was pulling ink and pens and wax from a desk, knocking things over without care. "Three days by a regular-sized boat on the Mitrove, following all regulations and such. One day and night if you skip official stopping points and traffic regulations in a small boat with fewer people."

"Alright, so-- goddamn it, where's my seal?"

He picked it from the ground where she'd knocked it. "To find a boat on short notice you'll have to pay them a bit to drop whatever business they were on."