“I will be right back, I just need to sort out this mess”

“But what about Ri—“

Liaena’s immediate objection was stalled by virtue of Sharon leaving the room, stalking out with his mages staff like a man on a mission. Biting on her lip with frustration, the girl glowered at the door as if it itself had dealt her a grievous slight.[i] “Oh no, don’t mind me and my important news. Let’s all go and [b]fight[/b]”[/i]

Like she had done herself on many occasions with Serphia, but that wasn’t the point, dammit. 

Picking up the socked Astrid and dumping her back into her bag, Liaena hitched up her oversized dress to chase after the High Elf. Catching up to the drama at the top of the stairs, the girl looked down at the chaos rapidly unfolding on the lower atrium. For once however, she had no interest in the fight as she rapidly scanned the crowd for one, very specific blue-haired Night Elf. 

Rithrynn herself was simply standing to one side and giving the conflict a wide berth with the rest of her sisters, all of them having been instructed to not interfere and now simply enjoying the spectacle. The elf glanced up at the little human, having detected her presence about the same time Liaena spotted her. Smiled. And waved. 

“…….”

[i]“She [b]must[/b] be possessed”[/i]

Missing a beat, Liaena slowly raised a hand to return the gesture. Eyes tracking down to where Sharon was attempting to insert himself into the conflict, she measured how far it was between him and Rithrynn, and Sharon and herself. She was somewhat distanced from the immediate fight, but there were still Night Elves rushing up and downstairs, and a strong risk of being hit by a flying Blood Elf at any moment.[i] “I need to get over there now”[/i]

*

“And Ragnar, I’m surprised to see you sober. It seems very out of character for you”

“….”

Kathlin glanced down at Ragnar (who appeared to have turned several shades darker in the face at that comment), before swiftly turning back to the servant, Murphy. “Oh, okay. But couldn’t the second key, the one with Mister Alfidious –“

“Lord Alfidious”

“…Sorry, Lord Alfidious been planted on him after he was murdered by the culprit?” Kathlin amended her statement hastily after receiving a particularly cold glare from the servant. “When you discovered him, the door was unlocked wasn’t it? The culprit could have just walked off”

“...Not that I’m not saying that you wouldn’t have already considered that, of course…it was just a thought…” the girl muttered belatedly. Still resting on her shoulder, Hester opened one eye to fixate it on Adolph in a particuarly evil sort of way. 

[i]“Aren’t those men the same ones that threatened the dwarves last night? And am I supposed to be accusing someone at the end of this? This sucks”[/i]

“I’m, uh, Kathlin. Nice to meet you” Kathlin added after a pause, her words this time directed at Adolph. “I was asked to investigate Lord Alfidious’ death and Lady Rosemary kindly gave me permission to examine the corpse and his private chambers. I was just…wondering what you meant about a book in his private quarters. Is it something important?”