"Shae.  Shaelesta."  D'neor knocked on her door, pushing it open as he did.
"What happened in here?"

She jumped, startled, and glanced up at him, blushing.  "I, ah, someone
came in while I was gone and had a lot of fun, apparently.  I'm used to it,
though."

He frowned.  "I see.  Come on out, I need to talk to you for a bit."

Shae's eyes went wide.  "I--I can't.  I have to be on snow crew in a few
minutes--"

"No you don't, I'm exempting you from it.  Don't worry, I'm not trying to
lure you away so they can trash your room again.  Besides," he cast a
disparaging eye at the mess, "There's not much more that anyone can do,
honestly."

"Hey," he continued, seeing her confused and slightly hurt look, "If you
really want to, you can stay at my mother's until you get your own
apartment.  She's mostly harmless, and she likes people.  I'm sure she
won't mind."

Shae looked at him skeptically.  "Mostly harmless?"

"She can't be quiet, that's her only fault.  Look, girl, I'm trying to help
you, alright?  M'ressan says you're a good kid, S'brogh says you're good,
and even Evelle's on your side." I hope. "I just need to ask you some
questions, so I can find out who's really to blame.  Okay?  Good.  Get your
coat."

D'neor strode towards the outside, Shae trotting beside him to keep up.
"Oh, I almost forgot," he said as they neared the entrance.  "I got these
back from the Sword Guild for you.  Here."  D'neor reached into his pocket
and pulled out a pair of small blue gloves, handing them to the girl.
"It's getting too cold to be without now."

Shae slipped them on and smiled, wiggling her fingers comfortably inside.
"Thanks.  What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I need to know what happened on the day that the apartments were first
ransacked.  You know the day I mean, right?  Good.  Tell me everything you
remember, from the time you woke up until the time you went to sleep."

"There was a wraith attack that day, and they had almost all of us working
with the Miners.  The trainees, that is.  Around mid-day, we came in for a
rest and the Master Miner gave us coffee."

"And after that?"

"After that we went back out to the bins again, to keep them full for the
combat wings.  When the battle was finally over and he let us go, I went
back to the barracks to take a bath and then to the dining hall for dinner.
And then you showed up, and I spent the rest of the night in a Sword Guild
cell."

"Hmm.  Is there anyone who can vouch for you during those times?"

Shae shrugged.  "The miners, the rest of the trainees who were there.  But
there's an equal number of people who saw 'me' crossing the Green towards
Lori and Michel's place and back again.  With that, I really don't think I
have a very good alibi.  It's useless--I might as well just confess so
they'll leave me alone."

"I'm not asking you to do that.  Did you notice anything strange at anytime?"

"Well," she frowned, "When I went back to work after coffee I couldn't find
my gloves, even though I was almost sure I had them in my pocket."

"Hmmp.  But we already know what happened to those.  Anything else?"

She shook her head sadly.  "No.  Oh, wait--the night before, when those
people attacked Michel--"

"I'm listening.  Go on."

"I got lost, and I was trying to get back to the barracks.  But as I was
walking, someone came running past and hit me, and we both fell down.  Then
he--I think it was a he, it was a rather big person--got up and ran away,
dropping this leather mask.  I guess it was one of the attackers."

"Interesting.  Do you know where you were when he ran into you?"

Shae shrugged.  "I didn't know at the time.  I still don't know.  Sorry.
But those two riders would know, the ones that found me with the mask and
took me to the Dragonlady.  One was called K'vin, Kyven maybe.  I was kind
of scared to notice."  She smiled sheepishly.  "I really don't remember
much more, though."

D'neor frowned.  "That's alright.  I need to talk to some other people
also.  You come find me, though, if you remember anything else, ok?  Good.
You'd best get back to work now."  Shoving his hands in his pockets, D'neor
turned and walked away through the snow, heading back towards the Warren.

He hadn't wanted to come out and say it in front of her, but Shaelesta's
alibi was, in fact, pretty thin.  And her chances of getting off scot-free
weren't very high because of it.  Still, there had to be something that the
real criminal had overlooked.  No crime could possibly be that well thought
out.

*****
NRPG:  *sigh*

--mia

***********************************************
198,000 miles per second.
It's not just the law, it's a good idea.

seraph@wam.umd.edu
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~seraph/alt_real.html