Arin stared at the old maid, who was still waxing poetic about how much Lana had loved Elara, and would have wanted to protect her.
'Then… what about after?' asked Siel in that same, soft voice he'd been using. 'After miss Lana? I suppose the people at the estate were advised to keep away from the young lady?'
'Yes,' the woman nodded. 'Yes, of course they were. And as you might already know, it was several months later that my dearest husband became the next to –'
'Liar,' Arin interjected.
Both madam Seren and the younger tower magician turned to look up at him.
'What a rotten liar you are,' he said.
The old woman gasped, brows drawing together in an offended expression. 'Well, I -!' She glared up at him, before looking back down at Siel. 'I did lie before, and I shall take all responsibility for – '
'For what, Seren? For all the villagers who are dead, and dying? You're willing to take responsibility for not seeking help even when you were informed about all of Silvershade being drawn in by the distortion? I wonder how they'd execute you for- '
'I would if I had known!' she cried, eyes welling up with tears again. 'I did wonder why there had been no correspondence sent my way for a few days. I questioned it! Of course I did! And when I found out, that young guard had already filed an assignment. You tower magicians would be on your way. You'd learn the truth soon enough! There was nothing for me to do anymore!'
'But you! – how dare you try to blame me for what has happened in Silvershade? Those are my fellow villagers too! I know those people – I lived there! would never dream of standing aside and allowing them to die- '
'– Besides miss Lana- '
'Fine!' the old maid screamed, throwing her hands up. 'Fine, boy! I shall take the blame for my inaction, and suffer the consequences! I already said we hadn't known at the time, and – ' her eyes darted to Siel again, hurt and pitiful, '- those of us in the know never sought any help, because we love Elara. Truly, we had believed the d-dist… matter could be hidden and controlled.'
'But it couldn't,' growled Arin. 'And you are a liar, because miss Lana wasn't the only one to die before the distortion had fully developed.'
There was a tense silence.
Siel frowned lightly as he looked up at Arin, a questioning look in his wide eyes.
Arin just shook his head slightly.
…To be fair, they hadn't exactly discussed this bit back when he'd been explaining the whole good-cop bad-cop routine to the kid.
He'd already had a feeling they'd have to grill the sly old lady for answers. He had finally settled upon making use of that time-and-television-tested method, as opposed to the several, shockingly creative torture techniques Siel had been excitedly detailing.
…
'…but it's far more likely her words will be honest with those burrowing beetles pushing into her sockets, past the eyeballs,' the boy had exclaimed, blinking up at him innocently. 'You could call upon a hoard of those with ease! I cannot understand why must we waste our time on putting up such a- a convoluted farce!'
Arin had swallowed, looking down at the kid. '…Practice,' he'd choked out at last. 'It'd be good for you to, uh… learn… different skills. Besides, we shan't be wasting any time. The villagers can only be saved once the night has fallen, after all.'
…
'What… what do you mean to say…?' Madam Seren's voice was trembling.
'Have your ears rotted as thoroughly as your heart?' Arin sneered. He started taking small, slow steps towards the woman.
'You knew, but didn't report to the officials because you loved the young lady far too much! You allowed miss Lana to die, because that's what she would've wanted, of course! You still covered things up, because you believed the distortion might be controlled – ha! A distortion? Controlled!?'
The old maid's mouth had become set in a thin line.
'You seem to have some pathetic excuse ready for every accusation thrown your way,' he said. 'Then tell me, madam Seren; what of those other people killed by the distortion, even before it had raged out of control? How will you explain that away?'
Still, madam Seren refused to speak a word. Her gaze shifted to Siel, who looked back at her blankly.
In the meantime, Arin had walked past the younger tower magician, and was now standing just about a foot away from the old lady. He looked down at her with as oppressive a glare as he could manage. 'Speak.'
'I – I don't – ,' she started stuttering.
'But of course, you do!' piped up Siel. Putting on a disappointed expression, the boy shook his head. 'I did say earlier we've already learned of everything that's happened. We know about those… other deaths. We are tower magicians, after all.'
Good job, kid, for going along with it, even though they didn't actually know shit.
Well, they didn't, but Arin had had his guesses.
The muddling of the timings, the almost pretentiously callous reaction to Lana's death – as though to highlight it as the worst thing to have happened, the period of missing information from the head maid's otherwise meticulous records, that unread letter in the headman's office…
What profound guilt had burdened the head caretaker such that he'd fallen asleep even before the elderly grandmother under his care – such that he'd been 'weakenedfrom thelossof his soul.'?
Because, frankly, if Seren had come clean about the matter immediately after the distortion had spiraled out of control and affected the whole village, she and her sleeping co-conspirators might have still received some leniency.
After all, it was true that they'd had no way of knowing for certain the reason behind Elara's state. And as far as Seren had known, the matter with Lana had also been cleanly dealt with. And even if it had been dug out eventually, one might have argued that the girl had as good as chosen her fate for the sake of her dearest friend.
Why, then, had Seren chosen to keep covering up what she'd known about the distortion? Why, until it had gotten too late, and three more people had already died to it? Until they had all reached a point well beyond the hope of any redemption?
…Surely, it must have been because there was more, and far worse, to what she and the others had been hiding.