Geinn was beyond furious. Not only had his investigator had to admit that he was wrong about Keri but the description of one of the two she met and left Ehart with confirmed she was with that Aeronwyn. He had personally spoken with Lord Barik and was satisfied that he really did not know she would leave or where she had gone. Right here, in Ehart, all the time! How could I have let her get away?
That alone made the Chief Examiner angry at himself but the nail in this particular coffin was driven yesterday. One of the night servants had reported that a new worker failed to show up for work. That by itself wasn't all that unusual, except they had not engaged any new staff! The description he gave the guard was too close to Aeronwyn for it to be anyone else. Not only in Ehart, but in the Examiners Hall! What did she come here for?
He slammed his fist onto his desk in frustration. He had sent out teams in every direction they might go to try and intercept her but he didn't hold out much hope. She had played him. It was that simple. He had failed the last Chief Examiner's final order. At least, so far. When Geinn had realized that Aeronwyn had been inside the hall and, in fact, upstairs where his office was he looked carefully through the items on his desk. He suspected they were rifled through but nothing was missing.
What did she want? Why was she here? The question burned him. He looked around his office. Nothing to steal. Nothing missing. As Geinn's eyes scanned the empty bookcases they fell on the secret door to the stairs below. Is it possible? Decisively, he stood and opened the door, heading down the long stairs to the room deep below.
As soon as Geinn saw the stone he knew. It is different than when I first saw it. I never forget anything I have seen and these words are not what I recall. Hurrying back up the stairs, Chief Examiner Geinn walked through his office, out the anteroom which was occupied by three Junior Examiners and down the hallway. He banged his fist on the door of one of the Senior Examiners. A few moments later, the door opened.
"Chief Examiner? How may I help you?" The older man looked worried. The Chief Examiner always sent others to communicate with the Senior Examiners, he never came in person.
Geinn was too frustrated too wait, although he did not allow that to show. "Senior Examiner, gather all those who worked on the translation of the stone for the previous Chief Examiner. When you have done so, meet me in my office." Geinn turned without waiting for a response and walked back to the anteroom of his office. The three Junior Examiners had all come to report various new discoveries of writing that violated the Law. Two were fairly simple cases. As sometimes happened an apprentice from the Healers Guild, in their newfound excitement about what they were learning, had shown a sibling or a parent how to mark a word. The punishment in these cases was always the same. A strong warning to the parent or sibling, censure for the apprentice who was set back a year.
That was usually sufficient to prevent a repetition. The third case was an undiscovered ruin where there was writing on stone. A tracing or copy was always made but the Chief Examiner had to decide whether to bury it, if rediscovery was unlikely, or have it destroyed. The broken chunks of rock were carried to port, shipped out to sea and dropped over the side. While waiting for the Senior Examiners, the Chief Examiner met with each of the Junior Examiners. He commended them for their diligence, made a ruling and sent them on their way.
The copy of the writing from the ruin was placed on his desk by the Junior Examiner. Geinn glanced at it and noted that it was in a script that was familiar to him. I will look at this later. He waited impatiently for the others and finally, they meandered into his office. Once they were all present, Geinn began.
