A letter... Wrote:To One Who Swims, and Swims Well,
As much as you may hate and despise me now, there is
yet a city and its peoples to save. We must have words.
Our Sultana would demand no less.
Sincerely,
Melkire
Papers. Ledgers, contracts, bills of sale and lading for trades made. She had been pouring through everything in Jameson's office for the past two days since the incident in the tunnels. Searching for anything that would connect him to Banurien. Some sign of where he had gone - or where she would be keeping him rather.
Putting pen to paper once more off to the side she jotted a few additional notes. Names, places. A possible connection no matter how small. Two contacts in Gridania she had heard mention of before during her time at the manse. Turning back to the ledger in front of her she barely heard the door open as Mister North entered carrying a silver tray.
Crossing the room quietly he set the tray upon the desk in the same place he had always set it, pushing aside whatever documents previously occupied the space. There was tea, a mint, some dry looking biscuits, and additional ink. She looked up and offered a meager smile to the man. "Mister North. I am surprised to see you still here."
"Indeed, Miss?"
She was not, in truth, surprised at all to see him. His exquisite sense of propriety amazed her on an almost daily basis. While most of the rest of the estate was already emptying he had remained behind to see that she and any other guests were well attended to and for a brief moment she worried there may be more to it than the will to serve. She gestured to one stack of papers set aside from the rest. "It appears this manse is to be sold, and soon. Have you nowhere else to go?"
The man did look up then with a raised eyebrow. Probably the most emotion she had seen from him in the past few days. "My. Change is indeed in the wind, Miss. But there are places I can remain for the moment, as I decide on my next course of action. However, I shall remain here as long as I am yet needed." With a bow he began to move about the room to dust the furniture as if nothing had changed.
Shaking her head once, her gaze lowered back to the work in front of her. A few more notes were taken in silence as the butler continued his own business about the room. Glancing at the platter resting nearby she dared to speak up if only for her own conscience. "You have served Lord Taeros quit admirably. I daresay he may have trusted you as much as he did me."
"Miss is most gracious to say so."
The scratching of her quill on the parchment stopped as she considered her own words. She lifted the pen and tilted it to her other hand to play with the feather idly between her fingertips. "Did he... say anything to you? Anything I should know?" She did not dare look up.
"Regarding, Miss?"
"Oh, anything really. Where he was going, what he had planned? All I've found are financial records and names of dead business partners." Jameson was, if nothing else, very exact in his record keeping. Legitimate transactions were kept succinct, clean. And the illegitimate affairs (if they existed) had no trace to be found. She looked up from the documents in time to catch Gideon's gaze.
"He informed me of my dismissal shortly before the incident transpired, Miss. He also informed me he would be going somewhere a man of my talents would not be needed, to use his words."
Her gaze lowered once more as she read through lists of numbers and names again. "That does not make sense... from what I've gathered he was transferring funds to the north."
"He had mentioned Ishgard prior, but not with any conclusive decision. It seems he was examining his options. I do not know what he settled on, if anything."
"I see." The man glanced once to the map hanging behind her before retuning to his dusting. Coatleque pored vainly over the numbers in front of her again until they began to blur within her sight. "Stubborn bastard, where did you go?" She muttered to herself out loud.
"Miss?"
She glanced up to him with her own lost expression before realizing she was overheard. The unintended slight was waved away with a hand and a sigh. "He mentioned a name in the tunnels..." she continued. "Did you happen to overhear amidst the chaos?"
"Indeed so, Miss. Being withdrawn from the fray, I observed as much as possible. However... I am afraid it was unfamiliar to me, Miss."
She replied with only a defeated nod before returning the quill to the inkwell. "I had hoped I could find some connection, but... nothing."
"Banurein, Miss?"
She nodded. "I have heard this name before."
"I... believe I have as well, somehow, but..."
She tilted her head. "Miss Deneith knows this name as well. Though I doubt I shall... ever see her again."
There was a moment of wistful silence shared between the two before he spoke up again, still carrying out his duties from the side of the room. "This figure is a common thread between the three of you, Miss?"
"It was not until now."
She watched him for a moment longer and as she did a lingering feeling of regret began to surface. Since the first night she had spent with Jameson back in Limsa and nearly every night since, Mister North had attended to her in some way or another. He had served her lord faithfully over these past moons when even she herself had not been entirely transparent with her loyalties. Now, due in some part to her failings, he would be without while she still had the Order to return to.
A lump rose in her throat. "Might I confide in thee something I have kept secret these past moons?"
"As you please, Miss." He turned and bowed to her waiting patiently. His expression placid.
"Our... affair as it were, was never born out of any desire or romantic interest on my part. Ashamed as I am to admit it, my original intent was nothing more than deception. I wished to spy on Lord Taeros as closely as I could. I would not hold it against you to look at me in any lesser light because of my actions, however I ask you to believe when I say I did come to love him, truly, before the end."
She paused expectantly, awaiting his reaction. His consternation, anger, some sort of emotion befitting her admission. None came. He merely bowed once more. "I see, Miss."
Her guilt subsided a bit, but it was not quite enough. And so she continued. "Still, the intent was born out of desire to seek this woman, Banurein. While I had only wished to help my friend... I now have vested interest in finding her. I musts..." There was another pause as her hand rose to her cheek for composure. "I must know if he yet lives. And she can lead me to him."
"You believe Taeros's final words were outlining this express purpose, Miss?"
"What I know is the fear I saw in his eyes. And that whatever happened to him... his remains were not present in those tunnels." She sighed and lowered her head then, closing her eyes to collect her thoughts. Gideon paused only momentarily in thought before returning to his dusting once again. There was another long silence between them before she could speak again.
"The bill of sale is legal, Mister North. This estate must be vacated by the end of the next week."
If the man was affected at all by this news, he did not show it. "Very good, Miss."
"If you have need of further employment..." she offered, "I know of a young lady from La Noscea. Perhaps she may be in need of a valet."
"Thank you, Miss, but my further engagement is of comparatively low priority to Miss's other affairs." His words came gently yet reassuringly. "I advise focusing only on that which requires your attention, lest Miss tire and stress herself even more than the circumstances already demand."
She looked back up to him with an understanding smile. "As ever, you are too kind Mister North. I would be remiss to think of you wandering the city looking for a place to spend the night. I, at the least, have the barracks to return to."
He chuckled slightly but did not turn from his task. "I have never lived what could be called a frivolous lifestyle, Miss, and room and board were provided gratis. I will be able to subsist on my savings from employment at the manse for quite some time."
Coatleque nodded slowly. "Then I need not worry. If you have need of anything, simply ask. It is all I could do for faithful service to my... my beloved." She rose then from the desk and gathered the papers she had been taking notes upon, rolling them up and placing them into her gil purse. She adjusted her beret as she turned to face him.
"Does Miss require anything further today?"
She stepped forward around the side of the desk and deposited her silver key which Jameson had given her. She had been hesitant to use it up until now, preferring not to steal what she needed from the man she loved. With him gone she no longer held back. There was no further use for it save a memory she was not intent on keeping. She had other things she would much rather remember him by rather than misplaced trust. "Nothing further, Mister North. I have collected what little I had here into a trunk. I will send someone for it within three days."
"Miss is leaving immediately?" He sounded mildly surprised at that.
"There is nothing else for me here. I am sure you understand."
He paused, just long enough to be noticeable. A very uncharacteristic display of emotion on his part.
"Very good, Miss. I shall prepare the manse for its future occupants' inspection."
"As you will. I wish you luck wherever the Spinner places you."
"To you as well, Miss."
Gideon cleared his throat, clearly finding this parting to be awkward.
"Then, Until we meet again, I suppose."
She tilted her head with as caring and genuine a smile she could muster before quietly letting herself out of the office.
