The more Warren turned over the oddities in the inventory lists, the stranger the case seemed to be. Speaking about it with Sei hadn't done much to clarify anything, far from it - Now he was more wary of a list of explanations.
The first and most readily discarded was that the Duskbreak was no longer a secure location. That wasn't an option, as the building was always intended to be someplace to rest weary heads, and the prospect that someone was able to slip in and out undetected multiple times... Unlikely, implausible. He couldn't accept that.
Who, then? The heiress? Her cover story was known to Warren, and she would presume then it extended to both Howl and Sei. Warren trusted her to the extent that he did only because they were both aware of one another, and her acting in a way to undermine that would go exceptionally bad for her and her interests. While he didn't trust her partner one bit, he didn't think she would cross Warren's trust to supply him. Besides, crystals and food? Nonsensical, given her own connections.
The only other candidate he had in mind was the one he didn't have a solid plan to approach. The details around the baker's disappearance were minimal - if they existed at all - and all came on hearsay from the seer. She considered herself a "replacement" and wasn't forthcoming about many details except what she found relevant. Could she be siphoning off supplies to route elsewhere? Her tribe was also an unknown; Perhaps her entire endeavor to the Jewel was to play up her small connections inside of it, to slip away necessities to those she left behind...
But that didn't jive either. The amount taken wouldn't sustain a village, it would only be enough for one person for a short while, or a few people for a day. The crystals didn't fit into anything, though, and that was what bothered Warren the most. Someone was stealing them away for some reason, and the longer Warren was unable to piece together a connection, the worse things were likely to be. Without a solid lead, his only option for now was to resupply. Tipping his hand that he was aware of the thefts was not in his best interests. The necessity of it ate at him.
The first and most readily discarded was that the Duskbreak was no longer a secure location. That wasn't an option, as the building was always intended to be someplace to rest weary heads, and the prospect that someone was able to slip in and out undetected multiple times... Unlikely, implausible. He couldn't accept that.
Who, then? The heiress? Her cover story was known to Warren, and she would presume then it extended to both Howl and Sei. Warren trusted her to the extent that he did only because they were both aware of one another, and her acting in a way to undermine that would go exceptionally bad for her and her interests. While he didn't trust her partner one bit, he didn't think she would cross Warren's trust to supply him. Besides, crystals and food? Nonsensical, given her own connections.
The only other candidate he had in mind was the one he didn't have a solid plan to approach. The details around the baker's disappearance were minimal - if they existed at all - and all came on hearsay from the seer. She considered herself a "replacement" and wasn't forthcoming about many details except what she found relevant. Could she be siphoning off supplies to route elsewhere? Her tribe was also an unknown; Perhaps her entire endeavor to the Jewel was to play up her small connections inside of it, to slip away necessities to those she left behind...
But that didn't jive either. The amount taken wouldn't sustain a village, it would only be enough for one person for a short while, or a few people for a day. The crystals didn't fit into anything, though, and that was what bothered Warren the most. Someone was stealing them away for some reason, and the longer Warren was unable to piece together a connection, the worse things were likely to be. Without a solid lead, his only option for now was to resupply. Tipping his hand that he was aware of the thefts was not in his best interests. The necessity of it ate at him.
![[Image: yEROfKO.png]](http://i.imgur.com/yEROfKO.png)
