Ashes

Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 30th August 2019

Characters: Taril
Description: As Taril investigated the theft of his black ledger, he was attacked by Vinalee. Taril is now looking for clues about why.
Location: Sunstone Seahold
Date: month 11, day 2 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: Humari, Vinalee (NPC)
Notes: Takes places after "Why Did This Happen?" and "Waylaid." Late because of moving.

The cots closer to the water weren't as nice as the ones further up the hill. They were crowded together and provided a convenient place to live for the people who regularly worked by the water. Someone had to mend nets, gut and salt fish, pack and move the crates of citrus and other goods from ship to ship to warehouse to Hold. It was easier to live closer to the water than to trudge up and down the hill to the Hold each day.

Taril stood in the shadows near Vinalee's cot. He was relatively sure that it was hers-- a small, cramped stone building that shared a roof with two other cots to either side. Smoke, half-seen, drifted from the chimneys of the cots to either side but from what he could see, her chimney was cold.

Perhaps her brats were somewhere else. She had expected to murder a man tonight, so perhaps she'd taken care of them first. He shifted in the dark, wincing as pain raced down his arm. He'd rather be up in the Hold with Humari instead of down here with the stink of fish guts on his boots.

After a moment he crossed the narrow road and tried the doorknob to Vinalee's cot. There was a lock but it was flimsy, and he was able to slip inside after giving the door a sharp shove. He paused, listening hard, but the cot was silent the way that only an empty room could be. He shut the door and withdrew a candle stub from his pocket and lit it with a match.

The room came into focus slowly. Bunks lined the walls with space for four beds, but they were all empty. The blankets were rumpled, and dirty plates and other debris mouldered on the small round table in the middle of the room. The hearth at the end of the cot was cold and full of ash and charcoal. Taril hesitated, his hand outstretched toward the ashes in the grate. Something that wasn't wood lay half-buried beneath a charred log. He bent and retrieved a scrap of charred hide from the edge of the fire. Hide didn't burn well and some of the writing on it was still legible.

--I know what you did, and--
--can decide, --
--or you can silence Taril for good.---

The back of his neck prickled in warning. **Silenced for good.** Someone had blackmailed Vinalee and told her to kill him. Taril stuck the note in his pocket and finished searching the room but found nothing else save a few wooden toys and a half-eaten loaf of bread. His hand hovered over a wooden podfish. It was something that his own son would play with, and he suddenly missed Tumaril fiercely. Tumaril should have a sibling to share his toys with, just as Vinalee's brats would share theirs. And that had been taken from him by a preventable accident in the marketplace. He balled his hand in a fist, blew out his candle and left as quietly as he'd come.

Ruthlessly he set aside thoughts of his family to focus on the problem at hand. The scrap of hide was the key. What was Vinalee's secret? Taril wracked his brain trying to remember what was in his ledger. He knew a lot about so many people, and it was surprising how often their dark secret was common and ordinary. Cuckolds, gamblers, drinkers and cheats-- there was nothing unusual about that, save for how desperately people tried to save face and hide their true nature from families and friends. That's why he kept a ledger; there were too many mundane details to keep track of otherwise.

Sunstone Seahold shone like a beacon at the top of the hill. Taril looked longingly toward it, then turned his back on its promise of light to head to his tavern. Guilt stabbed at him for leaving Humari, but the sooner this was put to rest, the easier it would be to keep her safe. Whoever had sent Vinalee after him was a coward, he decided. Vinalee was a mother with children. Her debts weren't enough to matter. So why her? If it wasn't about her debts, then she had to matter in a different way.

Pain flared in his arm again and Taril grimaced. Vinalee's secret, however mundane, terrified her enough that she would attack someone she barely knew. All he'd done was lend her marks, and apparently his crime was expecting them back again. He just wished he could remember what her secret was.

Last updated on the September 9th 2019

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Ashes