4 Ymiden 723
"There are other spots in greater need. Spots without any dubious reputations." Robin objected. He and Lyanna didn't ever really seem to see eye to eye but Balthazar was beginning to think that there might have been something more going on between them. She teased him about his coming up as a squire and he always seemed to turn his chin up at her when she did. He was certain that they liked each other. He was also certain that it was slowing getting on Croft's nerves. Balthazar had to agree that the meetings would go a lot faster if everyone could just agree... or present a thought out argument and not an emotional one.
"Say what you mean, prick." Lyanna sniped Robin and for a moment Balthazar thought she was really mad, but he could see in the way she watched him that she was still just trying to get a rise out of him.
Robin sneered at her but spoke in a calm voice. "If the Black Cats are going to be seen helping a medical group- it should be the Order, not Dukahrn."
"We can help them both, but Dukahrn's can be done in a trial. If we start helping the uptight order-" Lyanna was cut off quickly.
"Mind yourself, Lyanna. I have good friends who were in the order." Balthazar interjected. Lyanna raised her hands as if in surrender to withdraw her comment before she continued.
"If we start helping the order, it will never end. You won't get to go back to Haven, you won't get to investigate. They'll use your ability and then there will always be something else to do- someone else to help." Lyanna said. Balthazar could see where she might have been trying to manipulate his own feelings about the situation.
"And why do you want us to repair Dukahrn's building?" He asked her. Lyanna's walls never shot up as quickly as they did right in front of his eyes at that moment. Little signs gave everything away. He posture stiffened. She blinked a little too fast as if she were trying to reset. The cool and calm attitude vanished for a trill and that was all it took- even after she slinked back into it. Biggest of all the signs, her eye color changed. Just like it changed when she looked at Robin.
"We wanted buildings we can repair quickly didn't we? Places that are important to the guild and to the people? Dukahrn's is one place and it's a good alternative to the Order for people who won't... go there." Lyanna seemed to catch herself before she said something. She was hiding something. Balthazar was going to figure out what.
"Robin, Croft- give me and Lyanna the room." Balthazar said firmly. He knew she wasn't going to say what she was really thinking in front of Robin. Not if she was clinging to her confident facade and she liked him like he thought she did.
"Balthazar-" Robin began to voice a complaint but was cut off by Croft.
"Let it rest. We have plenty of trials ahead." Croft spoke in a kind voice and Robin seemed receptive. He nodded his head and the two men departed the room leaving Balthazar and Lyanna alone.
"I asked 'why do you want us to repair Dukahrn's building?' Not why it would be good for Almund." Balthazar said calmly. "Robin isn't wrong. It might not be the best idea for us to go around repairing places like Dukahrn's while there are plenty of homes and smaller businesses which could our help. Beneath- we might even need to make repairs to the Council Halls."
"I just think that it would be good for the Black Cats." Lyanna said. He could tell she was lying.Arcs of working cases as a detective have given Balthazar ample experience with liars, cheats, and criminals who seem to frequently perform similar tells when fibbing. As a result Balthazar has become so adept at recognizing the signs of deception during interrogation that he has learned how to tell the difference between the truth and lies when questioning individuals, be it one or multiple. While this ability does not give him a sense of how much a suspect or suspects know, it allows him to discern whether or not they are responding to him truthfully. When faced with individuals who are as good at deceiving as he is at investigating (individuals with capstones to counter it), Balthazar would be unable to tell perfectly whether they speak the truth or not.
"Lyanna, I am only going to ask one more time and if you lie again I am going to have us rebuild Buckle & Chain." Balthazar said firmly.
"They weren't even that badly damaged." Lyanna tried to deflect the question but Balthazar sat waiting for her to tell him the truth. For what felt like a solid half a bit, they sat there staring at each other and waiting for the other to budge. Lyanna budged first. "I have friends who use Dukahrn's. They don't like people who ask too many questions and it hasn't been a problem there." She stopped but there was clearly more. When she realized Balthazar was still not going to budge she continued. "Some of them were... hurt in the fires. They're not getting better and they won't go to the Order. With all the relief efforts going on, Dukahrn's would be full but but most of their space was too heavily damaged by the fires. They just don't have enough room left to help."
"Why not bring them here? I could have helped." Balthazar asked.
"You were an Element. They won't go to you either. They're not the sort of people you would want at your table." Lyanna said. "They're good for information but... not business."
Balthazar nodded his head slightly as he thought about what she had said. At least now he knew she was telling the truth. He let out a long sigh and nodded one last time. "At least it isn't Berlwin's Brews. I'll tell Robin and Croft, you go on ahead and let Dukahrn know we'll come by to repair the damages. Maybe this can get some of your less reputable friends to understand I'm trying to help everyone right now." Balthazar wasn't sure that it was the best decision but knowing Lyanna's situation made him sympathetic. He hadn't always been what he was now. He used to be a lot more like her. If no one had helped him he would never have lived through as much as he had.
They left the office and he relayed the news to a disappointed Robin and an ambivalent Croft. Robin didn't like it but it was easier for Balthazar to persuade him that it was for Lyanna. They gathered their supplies and set out for what remained of the rather large medical facility shortly after Lyanna and reached it at about mid-trial. It was, like the Merchant Guild Headquarters, too large for Balthazar to repair it all in one fell swoop however he could deduce fairly quickly which portions of the building needed his help. Lyanna had arrived ahead of time, as planned, and spoke with Dukahrn about the Black Cats providing aid. Dukahrn was reasonably skeptical about allowing someone to light his building on fire again but he had also heard about the work done to the guild so he was willing to play along.
The events that followed proceeded so similarly to all the others that it almost isn't worth mentioning it only took Balthazar fifteen bits to repair as much of the building as his healing fire could reach this time. Dukahrn was grateful for the repair and set about filling the space with the customers who had been outside waiting for rooms to open up. With the space available, the medical personnel had their hands more than full so Balthazar and his small company of Black Cats departed from the facility without drawing too much attention. So many people were moving into the facility that no one seemed to mind the people moving out of it. They made their way back to the Hull and settled into their building. Robin and Lyanna went to train with some of the other mercenaries in the training area and Balthazar went to look over reports again for anything he might have missed.
He knew he needed to go and visit The Bones on the morrow but he would also have to go back and finish up preparing Dukahrn's. If he needed to help one of Woe's people, Dukahrn would have to wait another trial for the full repairs. It would be impossible to know until it happened though... okay, maybe not impossible. He could deploy people to find things out now. He began drafting a plan and instructions to gather information in his head when Avery Fairchild, the greeter at the headquarters, gracefully emerged through the open door to Balthazar's office. "A message from the Albarech." Avery said as she presented Balthazar with the letter. She backed towards the door, "I'll leave you to it." Just like that, she was gone again.
She must have suspected the letter would be bad news.
Balthazar opened the letter slowly and soothed the mutation hindering his ability to read. It was a short letter at a glance but as it turned out, short was not entirely a bad thing. She was coordinating from Scalvoris Town and he would have a trial to look into the ships before they were repurposed. All and all, the letter made Balthazar smile. He would need to cut out a short time for a trip to Scalvoris Town. He reorganized again. See ships, write Elisabeth... and others too he supposed, visit Bones, finish Dukahrn's, visit Scalvoris Town, visit Haven, back to Almund for more repairs. He was sure that his plan would change again when new information came to light but for the time being he was content. He would have been happy too if not for the circumstances.
