"Gone?" Eirian said.
Li and Henri nodded.
"Gone?" Eirian repeated. Mind empty.
They nodded again, slower this time.
"Gone." This time it wasn't a question. Realization was starting to set in.
She went silent after that. Mouth opening and closing without a sound.
Henri winced.
"Everything." She sounded stunned now, and neither of them could blame her. They hadn't exactly been excited to have to tell her. "The bodies, the masks. What about Finn's research? The list of everything stolen?"
Li looked at the floor. Henri met her eyes and shook his head.
"Unless Finn left another copy somewhere. Maybe in his rooms?" Henri was grasping, but that seemed like all they could do at this point.
"I'll search his rooms myself." Eirian decided and started to pace back and forth in front of them. "But if someone got into the Vault to take all of it, what are the chances they haven't searched his rooms yet?"
"Not good, but the fact that they're right next to your might have bought us a chance." Li pointed out. "Since the assassination attempt, the guards in that part of the castle have been tripled. Even if they snuck in at night and managed to not make a sound, my guards have been checking all empty rooms at random times. Lotta luck involved in not being caught."
Eirian stopped. "Let's search it now." She led the way out the door. "Send someone for Yuze and Kai Low." She paused. "Send someone for his sisters, too." It didn't seem right to go through his things without them when they were here.
***
Tayla and Mela had arrived a few steps behind Yuze, Kai Low, and Ran Orlo, ready to fight.
"You want to go through my brother's things?" Tayla demanded, getting so close to Eirian's face that Li and Henri stepped in to force her back.
Eirian ignored it and nodded. "Yes, we think he might have left evidence we need. The rest of it's been stolen."
"What?!" Tayla's voice echoed off the hallway walls, completely drowning out Yuze and Kai Low expressing the same sentiment.
"Henri, explain," Eirian commanded as she unlocked the door. Finn's rooms hadn't been touched since his death, and a light layer of dust had grown over everything. The curtains were pulled, but a bit of light peered around the edges.
It took a moment for Eirian's eyes to adjust, but at first glance, nothing seemed to be out of place. She ignored the raised voices behind her and stepped inside, sending up a cloud of dust.
She sneezed and rubbed her nose.
"Should open the windows." Kai Low's voice was practically in her ear, and she jumped.
"Rock's sake." He gave her a funny look as he stepped past and went straight for the windows.
Dust sparkled in the light, but the open windows immediately helped with the dust.
Eirian moved further inside, the others following behind her.
"Let's assign specific areas. Everyone searches their own area. We can swap if we don't find anything, just to be sure." Yuze started pointing out sections.
"We'll help." It wasn't an offer, but Yuze didn't seem surprised. No one did. He just pointed them to one side of the room and Eirian to the desk by the windows.
Ran Orlo fidgeted in the doorway. "What about me?"
Yuze blinked, taken aback. He glanced at Kai Low.
The Bandri shrugged. "He has eyes."
Yuze glanced at Eirian and sighed when she shrugged too. "Fine."
Finn's desk was small, thankfully. Though it seemed to have an abundance of drawers, despite its size. Eirian went through them one by one. It was mostly odds and ends. Quills, half-used ink blocks, buttons?
Why did he have a drawer full of buttons?
Was he secretly a wrinkled old woman?
It made her smile. Finn had been such an interesting little thing. It was terribly sad to realize that would be where he stopped. Although in a more morbid way, that also meant he was never going to change. He would always remain the innocent, cheerful being he'd been for almost two decades.
Rage, hot and heavy, curled in her chest. Comforting and familiar, although it probably shouldn't have been.
There was a small stack of letters from his family, mostly his sisters, she realized after flipping through them.
She held them out to Mela. "You'll want these back."
Mela gave her a small, weak smile. "Thank you." She tucked them into her belt.
Eirian went through the rest of the drawers, but she didn't find anything that looked even remotely related to the investigation.
She shut the last drawer with a frown and looked around. Tayla and Mela had emptied the dresser, even turned every piece of clothing inside out. Ran Orlo was digging through a chest, stacking books and scrolls on the floor as he emptied it.
Kai Low had stripped the bed, while Yuze pulled apart the seats in the small sitting room. Li and Henri were searching the rest of the room, but no one looked particularly victorious yet.
"I'm done with the desk. There's nothing." Eirian frowned and joined Ran Orlo at the chest. She started going through the books and scrolls. Most of them were training manuals, history books, and a couple of fairy tales. There were a few accounting scrolls detailing his spending, pay, and family allowance. He didn't seem to spend much; they'd have to make sure the balance was handed over to his sisters before they left.
"None of this looks useful." Eirian sighed.
"We'd like to take it all back with us regardless." Mela requested.
Eirian nodded.
"I might have something." Kai Low's voice was muffled, and Eirian turned and found his legs sticking out from behind the bed.
Yuze's aggrieved sigh echoed around the room.
Kai Low's legs kicked harmlessly in the air as he wriggled further behind the bed.
Yuze motioned Eirian over, and they took hold of the bedposts.
Yuze looked a little too… she didn't think enthusiastic was the right word, but there was definitely a glint in his eyes that signified trouble.
Tayla joined them and took hold of the bed frame, and at Yuze's nod, all three of them pulled.
The huge four-poster bed weighed a couple of hundred pounds, but the three of them managed to pull it several inches in one pull.
Kai Low landed with a thump, and Eirian ignored the way the corners of his mouth kicked up a fraction.
Kai Low pushed up to his knees, and his head popped up over the headboard. He didn't look amused, and he looked straight at Yuze.
The spy pasted a bland look on his face. "What did you find?"
~ tbc