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Chapter 71 - A Crushing Ache
🕑 Added 2024-11-14 11:07:13 +0000 UTCSilence filled the solar of Elijah's home, fire crackling in the hearth while a dull fog drifted past the windows. Sentinel was facing another day of grim weather, it seemed.
Coin sat hunched by the fireplace, staring into the blaze. Essine was sobbing in her chair across from him, while Pearl paced uncomfortably from point to point.
"Damn it all," the bard huffed. She had not known Elijah for long, but she had thought of him as a good and kind man. For him to be gutted like an animal, it was a cruel fate no man deserved. Least of all one who had been blessed with a good heart.
"This one... this one does not understand. Why... what would drive Valle to do that to a friend?" She gripped her knees as she spoke. "He offered Valle a chance at freedom. Showed him more mercy than he deserved. And still he... still..." Grip tightened, and suddenly the glyphs of her magic began to shine faintly on her arms.
Pearl gripped her shoulder. "Because he was a stupid, desperate fool. And there's nothing more dangerous, more unpredictable, than a stupid, desperate fool."
Essine calmed her breathing. The glow of her arms slowly faded.
"I tried to help him," Coin murmured. "And I failed." That thought had gripped his mind ever since Sister Steele broke the news to him, leaving him in a daze he couldn't break free from.
What was this feeling? This crushing ache that dominated his mind? Coin had been exposed to a litany of emotions since his evolution, but nothing quite like this.
And, though he feared to dwell on it, some small part of himself wished he could go back to his old mindless state if it meant he didn't have to feel this ache any longer. Would the feelings ever passed? Whenever he tried to think of something else, to distract himself, he was dragged straight back to the mental image of Elijah's corpse.
"We can't just leave things like this," Pearl remarked. "You told the town guards what had happened?"
Coin nodded. He had explained the details as best he could remember, omitting the details about his powers, and they had seemed to believe him when he claimed Valle Irons was the murderer. They had been wary of Coin, at first, but his shock and grief had been so genuine that it had left them doubtful that he could have done the deed himself.
Just as it seemed unlikely, in their eyes, for him to murder a man in the dead of night without any witnesses, only to then run screaming into the temple where everyone present had seen his face and gotten his name.
It would have been far easier to simply kill him and vanish into the night, unseen, if he had done the deed.
"Well, nice as it would be to have Arcadian soldiers looking into the matter, I believe it would be prudent to look in to the matter ourselves," she muttered.
"I intend to," Coin replied, finally prying his gaze from the fire. "I'm going to find Valle Irons myself. And kill him."
Essine frowned. "This one... this one understands your sorrow, Coin. But please be careful. Irons may be a fool, as Pearl says, but his allies are very dangerous people."
"Then I'll kill them too, if I have to."
Pearl and Essine shared an uncomfortable glance.
"That Leona is a very dangerous swordswoman," Pearl eventually said, folding her arms. "She could cause you a lot of trouble. And I'd imagine the Brotherhood have other killers just as dangerous as her."
"I drove her away before. And if she fights me a second time, she won't have a chance to flee," Coin replied. Anyone who got between himself and Valle was putting their life in his hands. And, right now, he had a very vicious grip.
The door creaked open to reveal Domajor. The butler was trying his best to wear his usual flat expression. But redness surrounded his eyes, and the corners of his mouth were regular twitching uneasily.
"A man is here to see you, Master Coin."
"See... me?" he asked warily. Probably one of Elijah's friends, wanting some insight on what had happened. It wasn't like he had a long list of friends he could call upon, personally.
"A lawyer from Eli-... Ser's personal law office."
"Ah. Well, show him in. Domajor, you don't have to work during all this, you know," Coin replied.
"I thank you for your concern, Ser Coin. But my labours will distract me from other thoughts." The butler left the room and returned soon after, accompanied by a stooped man in a finely tailored emerald suit. His beard, his white, was done into a braid that reached toward his stomach.
"You are... Coin Thaeka, yes?" he asked, adjusting his broad circular glasses. Coin nodded. "Ah, good. Condolences for your loss. Ser DiVenture was a fine and wise man. I am Mister Sacke, one of the lawyer from the company of Auld and Graye."
Coin nodded grimly. "Well, uh, what can I do for you?"
"Well..." Sacke reached into the satchel at his hip, pulling out a few folded pieces of parchment. "A few days ago we received a pair of letters from Ser DiVenture, delivered by bird. He requested an adjustment to his will, and we obliged after our scryer confirmed the validity of the message."
"His... will?" Coin murmured in confusion.
Essine quickly slipped in to try and prevent Coin's ignorance from becoming too obvious. "His last will and testament! A-ah, yes, this one understands. It's the article that decides who shall inherit what after he died."
Coin blinked a few times. He supposed something had to be done for all of Elijah's possessions. And it didn't seem likely it would be a free for all where people could come and take whatever they wanted.
Sacke cleared his throat and unrolled one parchment. "Initially, Ser DiVenture had no next of kin, and would be content leaving Archchancellor Velasco to decide what comes next with his possessions. But in recent days he seemed to have a change of heart. His home, his wealth, and all his worldly belongings... are hereby bequeathed to his apprentice: Coin Thaeka."
The room fell silent. That rare breed of silence that was somehow deafening.
"E-excuse me?" Coin eventually asked.
"Oh my," Pearl mumbled, falling into an armchair to support herself. "All that money. All those resources."
Coin was similarly shocked. Were it not for the grief in his heart, he'd be salivating at the prospect of all that money. "That's... he... left it all to me?"
"To... him?" Domajor asked, regarding Coin with a newfound wariness.
"Indeed. It was a surprise for us too, but... again we verified the legitimacy of the letter through magical means." Sacke shrugged his bony shoulders. "There was one other thing. A sealed letter enclosed with the message we received, with explicit instructions that it was for Coin's eyes only."
Coin blinked a few times. In an instant it felt his whole world had been flipped all over again. From the grief of Elijah's death, to the sudden shock of being given all those possessions.
The gears of the legal system could turn quickly, and ground rather finely when the wealthy were involved. As soon as they had received word of Elijah's death, and confirmed it with the city authorities, the men of the Auld and Graye law office had sprang into action.
"I realise this must all be a lot to take in, particularly with everything you have just gone through. And when Ser DiVenture's affairs have been fully resolved, and you have processed your grief, we will discuss the finer details of your inheritance." He reached into his satchel again to produce a sealed letter, which he promptly handed over.
Coin swallowed, taking the letter in his trembling hands. "I uh... r-right. Thank you." He was told there would be a funeral in a few days time. News of his passing had been enough to get the city authorities involved, Velasco's own people wanting to organise events.
Which, if nothing else, made things a little bit easier for Coin.
"He left this letter for me," Coin murmured, lifting the sealed letter into view. The last message the old man had for him. The last thing he'd ever hear from him.
Suddenly, holding that slim envelope in his hands, it felt as if it weighed a thousand tons.
"I suppose..." he slowly dragged his thumbnail through the wax seal to break it. "I have no choice but to read it."
