The mid afternoon sun shone brightly in the sky, occasionally ducking behind the clouds before coming back out again, as Zandrianna walked up to the trading house with Althessia in her arms. Before she could reach out to open the door, and gentleman stepped behind her and pulled it open for her, holding it with a flourish. Zandrianna turned and gave the man a smile and a thank you, before heading inside to look for Rastellion.
Making her way across the crowded room, she paused at a desk where Geoff sat busily writing in a ledger while he muttered to himself. Stepping up to the desk, Zandrianna waited until he was done and had looked up at her with a friendly, but curious gaze. She quickly introduced herself to the man and inquired where she might find Rastellion.
Pursing his lips, Geoff looked her over for a moment, noticing the child in her arms. “You must be Zandrianna,” he said, nodding his head in greeting. “Lookin' for Rastellion, are you?” He shook his head and quickly explained to Zandrianna that he'd not seen the young man since the afternoon before, when he'd taken up his cloak and left early after spending the day in a angry, morose mood.
As she listened to Geoff's retelling of the previous afternoon, her eyes grew quiet and worried. The fact that Rastellion had left the trading hall in such foul humor was unlike him – even on a bad day he managed to find a smile and a bit of humor. But from what Geoff had just told her …
Thanking him for the information, Zandrianna turned and swiftly made her way back across the room, slipping through the doorway into the afternoon air. The picture Geoff painted for her still fresh in her mind, she looked up and down the street. 'What happened Rastellion?' she thought to herself, 'Where are you?' Thinking the most likely place for a man to go stew would be at home, she turned and headed back towards the houses, hoping to catch him awake and decent at the cottage he was renting.
A brief time later, Zandrianna stood in the main room of Rastellion's cottage, a letter from him clutched in her free hand. His landlady, a nice enough woman named Becky Applebottom, had been full of apologies. “Twas s'pposed t' give this t' ye yesterday, but I forgot,” she said, twittering about the room. 'Yesterday,' Zandrianna thought to herself, a small lump settling in the pit of her stomach as she read the note again. 'If only I had gotten it yesterday.'
The note was brief – he was heading to North Downs to talk to his father and uncle about the mill-house, and he wasn't sure when he'd return. Nothing to be alarmed about – but Zandrianna was alarmed. The letter, written with all the formality of one of the BAA's trading contracts, seemed to omit a very important detail – Immalaine. No where in the brief note did he mention the girl at all. Geoff's words came back to her - “left like a pup that been kicked too much” - and she fumbled for a chair to sit in so she wouldn't drop the baby. As if new words would suddenly appear on the paper, she looked down and read it a third time; however the note remained the same.
Rastellion had left late yesterday – at that Zandrianna flinched and bit her lip, knowing the trip was not safe at anytime, but to start so close to night? And Immalaine – where was she if she wasn't with him? Looking up, she realized Becky was standing at her arm, a glass of water and a worried expression on her face.
Thanking the woman, she set down the note to take the glass and, in moments, had it half drunk, before closing her eyes to think. Something must have happened yesterday while she slept and, from everything she'd learned so far, that something was not good. Who could she talk to? Who had seen – Merry! Of course, the girl was at the house yesterday. Rossiath had said that Merry mentioned Rastellion coming over and talking to Immalaine. She had to find Merry, and she had to find the girl fast. But where would she be at this – of course. Desiare's house most likely as her daughter had hired the girl to watch the house for her. Standing up, she handed the glass of water back to Becky and thanked her again, before hurrying off to find Merry.
In her rush down the path to her daughter's house, she almost missed when her name was called. “Zandrianna!” It came a second time, the exasperated voice of a woman and the quickening of footsteps as Zandrianna turned and slowed her pace without stopping.
“Rossiath, I didn't see you. Well met,” Zandrianna greeted the older woman breathlessly, pausing to let her catch up. “I'm sorry, I was headed to Desiare's home and I've … something's wrong and I must find out what's going on! Have you seen her today?”
“Slow down child, I feel like I've caught the middle of some tale from the bard at the taverrn!” Rossiath reached over and placed her hand on Zandrianna's shoulder to bring her to a halt. “Now, try telling me from the beginning what's going on. And why you've such an urge to find Merry that you're deaf to everything else around you.”
“I can't stop Rossiath, I have to find Merry. It's important!” Quickly Zandrianna fills Rossiath in as she resumes walking, telling the older woman what she'd learned so far that afternoon. “So,” Zandrianna finished, as the two women turned onto the road near Desiare's house. “I have to talk to Merry and find out exactly what happened yesterday. If there's anything I can do to fix this mess.” She mutters angrily under her breath about the stubbornness of a certain young redhead, shifting the baby in her arms as she turns to head up to her daughter's doorstep.
A brief giggle caught both womens' attention as Merry came flying down the path, apparently in a hurry and rather cheerful. “Merry! Zandrianna called out, causing the girl to come to a sudden stop and look surprised. “Oh! Lady Zandrianna, Mrs. Rossiath! If you were looking for Desiare, she's not here, but I'm sure ….”
“Merry,” Zandrianna said again, raising her hand to pause the flow of words. “I need to see you about yesterday. About this conversation that Immalaine and Rastellion had. It's most urgent. We'll head back to my house and you can tell me, while I fix us some tea.”
Seeing Zandrianna's pale and worried expression, Merry nodded her head and followed the two woman back to Zandrianna's house, answering questions from both women as they walked. By the time they had reached the house, Merry was halfway through her telling, having explained the fight and the deed, and was starting to tell them about Immalaine's visitor when Zandrianna opened the door to her house a came to a sudden halt with a small gasp of shock.
The other two look past Zandrianna to the interior. The usually neat and tidy house looked as though a winter storm had hit it, books and papers scattered across the floor a chair in the corner overturned. Turning back to the other two women, Zandrianna said in a low voice. “Take the baby! I'll go look inside and ..”
Rossiath pushed Zandrianna aside, her eyes looking around sharply as she took in the situation. “You!” she barked quietly, “Will stay out here and let me look inside! Don't be a fool. If someone's in here … “ she bit off the last of her words, thinking to herself that the young mother should not put herself at risk, and made her way in the house, careful not to trip over papers strewn on the floor as she moved between each of the bedchambers. Finally, she returned to Zandrianna and Merry, he face grim but more relaxed. “It's safe,” she said simply, “There's no one here.”
Her mouth agape, Zandrianna took in the mess with growing dread and a sense of unease that someone had been inside her home. “Help me … please.” she said to the two woman, looking for a place to begin.
Zandrianna is greeted with a quiet chorus of assent, as the women spread out to look around the room, picking up the scattered papers and books as the go. “I don't get it,” Zandrianna mumbles to herself, shoving her hair back as she mentally takes stock of everything. “I can't find anything missing … it's like someone simply came in here for no reason!”
Placing her hand on Zandrianna's shoulder, Merry said quietly. “Maybe they just didn't find anything they wanted?
“I don't know Merry,” Zandrianna said with a shake of her head. “But … I …” Placing her hand on her forehead, she went to check on her daughter, crawling along the floor while the women had tried to puzzle things out. “Althessia! Get that out of you mouth!” Zandrianna suddenly shouted, racing over to where the baby had picked up a crumpled piece of paper and was happily trying to chew on it. She bent down, gently prying the ball of parchment from her daughter's hands and uncrumpled it to see if it was any of the association papers. “Dear Rastellion ..” it began.
Zandrianna read through the letter quickly, then read it again more slowly as she began to fill in the spaces covered with ink, her apprehension growing with each word. “Merry,” she said finally, looking back at the young girl, “I need to know exactly what happened yesterday. It's important that you don't leave anything out.”
Unsure what was going on, Merry nodded and began relating the encounters of the day before – Rastellion's fight with Immalaine, Immalaine's mysterious visitor that she'd been all too eager to leave with, Rastellion's return and his reading the letter before leaving more dejected than he had arrived. As the girl's tale unfolded, Zandrianna grew more pale, until she lowered herself into a nearby chair, her face white with fear. 'No,' she whispered to herself, shaking her head, the pieces of the puzzle falling into place with frightful clarity. She looked down at Immalaine's letter, thought about Rastellion's letter and sudden departure from Bree. Immalaine's stranger … “Theoden King, no. It can't be.” Why hadn't she been awake for it? Now …
“What's wrong child?” Rossiath said, setting down the books she'd been sorting to go to Zandrianna's side. “Surely a lover's quarrel can be ...”
“This is no lover's quarrel, Rossiath.” Zandrianna said, turning to the older woman with a look of desperation. “This is far worse. And I'm afraid Immalaine is in great danger now! I have to write to Rastellion, explain things to him. Tell him …” Looking over at her desk, she shook her head and stood up. “I've got spare parchment and charcoal in my bedchambers, I need to go get them.”
“I know where there are, I'll get them for you,” Merry said, racing off to gather the materials. Barely a breath had gone by before she returned, Zandrianna's songwriting tools in hand. Zandrianna nodded her thanks, unrolling a piece of parchment as she began to quickly write a letter to Rastellion.
As she wrote, she went over in her mind the events from the day before. The fight, hadn't Merry said it started over … “Merry? Did you say that Rastellion brought a deed for Immalaine's farm?”
“Ye ...yes.” Merry replied, thinking about the day before. “He had it in his hand, he was showing it to Immalaine. He … when they argued he set it down ….” Merry turned to look over at the desk. “He set it down right there on the desk. I remember some books falling over … and ...” She bit at the tip of her finger as she looked around at the papers that had been strewn everywhere. “I didn't see it when I was picking up, did you?” she said, looking at Rossiath.
“No, I'd know a deed if I saw one and there wasn't one in the papers I collected.” Rossiath said, shaking her head.
Zandrianna thought for a moment, shaking her head. “Neither did I see it, and you're sure he left it here?” she said, prompting the young girl.
“Yes. He was really upset and he walked out without it and … it's gone, isn't it?”
Zandrianna sunk into her chair, writing even more quickly. “Yes Merry, it is ...”
