15 :: The Investigation Begins

Nora obediently allowed herself to be led through the tunnels. The dim light of the torches reflected off the glossy walls in sharp, brilliant tongues. After some time, the smooth black ice that she had become accustomed to gave way to smooth black stone. The stone itself had a glassy appearance to it, and while Nora wasn't a geologist by any means, she would bet money on it being obsidian.

Eventually, the tunnel began to widen. Nora ran her left hand absentmindedly along a stripe of light faintly shining through from behind the thin wall of obsidian on her left. As they continued their descent in a counterclockwise spiral, she came to realize that the light must come from some sort of cavern on the other side.

As soon as the first branch appeared to their left, Nora’s guide led her down it. This new tunnel was different from the ones they had just left. It was perfectly round, and the dim light shone through in an even gradient, starting from the top. Nora could make out vague shapes behind the black, opaque glass, but nothing solid enough to comprehend.

Though this path was straight, it still sloped downward. Several other intersections dotted their path, but they stayed true to their original course. The lower they traveled, the warmer it got. By the time they reached what appeared to be their destination, Nora had removed several layers of extraneous clothing. All traces of the blizzard above had vanished, save for Nora’s right hand and a stripe over her eyes, which had a slight, pink, burn from exposure.

Finally, they came to a stop in front of a pair of tall stone doors covered from head to foot in intricate woven patterns. Nora wasn't sure where she was, but it didn't particularly look like a ghetto. The man accompanying her gave a short knock before backing away from the door. After a minute had passed, there was still no sign of the doors opening.

“Where are we?” Nora muttered. She wasn't a patient person to begin with, and in this situation, she couldn't even see the point to what they were doing.

“We must consult the elders to place you within a family,” her stoic companion answered.

“No, I'm old enough. I can live on my own. You don't need to bother somebody else to care for me!” Nora quickly protested. She absolutely didn't want a new family. She wasn't planning on staying here long anyways.

“There is not space,” the man replied lazily. “We all must share.” Nora wasn't sure what to say to that, so she just kept quiet. Being assigned to a family wouldn't exactly stop her from accomplishing her goals here. In the end, it didn't matter.

After another couple of minutes, the doors finally opened and they were waved inside by a couple of guards dressed in light furs. On a slightly raised platform, seven individuals could be seen sitting around a table. Nora supposed that these were the elders.

Their dress was not extravagant or distinguished by any means. If they hadn't been on that raised platform, Nora would never have suspected them of being in any kind of leadership role. They didn't even appear to be terribly old, for the most part. There was only one woman who appeared to be above sixty. The rest were probably around forty to fifty. A few of them surveyed Nora serenely as she stepped into the room. Several didn't even bother to look up from whatever documents they were reading.

“So this is our newest member, huh? Let's see which families have room,” one of the men mumbled as he thumbed through some some worn, vellum documents. None of the members seemed in the least bit bothered by Nora’s sudden appearance. To them, a girl appearing out of nowhere was just another day in the village.

“Ah!” a hoarse voice cried out softly, disturbing their calm. Every head in the room snapped around to face the source. The voice, full of surprise, seemed to have come from the center of the table.

“What is that?” the oldest female elder barked, her eyes wide and her crooked driftwood fingers pointed at Nora’s midsection. Nora’s eyes shot to her waist as she tried to figure out what the elder might be referring to. She pulled a pistol from its holster and dangled it questioningly before the elder.

“Not that!” she hissed, “That!” The crone once again gestured to Nora’s waist. Nora's fingers pulled softly at a sort of makeshift sarong that she had wound around herself during the blizzard. It had been fashioned from Nora’s bulky Warden uniform. The crimson fabric was certainly eye catching. Was she referring to the color?

“Where did you find that cloak?” the elder continued, a sorrowful look crossing her eyes.

“Where have you seen this cloak before?” Nora asked warily.

“A friend of our people used to wear one like it. He went missing a little over a year ago,” the elder croaked. Her authoritative tone was gone and what had replaced it was more of a weak pleading. If Nora had to guess, the man she had spoken of meant more to her than just a friend of her people. It seemed that this realm’s Warden had been a little more involved in community affairs than most.

“This cloak is mine. I believe the man that you mentioned is the man that I came here to find. He and I are members of the same company, though we have never met. Do you think I could see the place where he stayed? He should have some sort of an office nearby,” Nora explained.

“Yes, I know it,” the woman answered eagerly. “Please follow,” she spoke as she rose from her seat and crossed the room. As she neared the door, she paused and turned to face her peers. “I will take care of this girl. Please continue the meeting without me,” she added before exiting. Nora followed behind her as she sped off down the hallway with the gait of a much younger woman.

She struggled to keep up as the elder wove her way through tunnel after tunnel, gradually moving upwards. They passed back and forth between glass and stone tunnels, until at last, they arrived at their destination.

“Here it is,” the woman gestured to a simple stone door. As Nora stepped closer, she became able to make out the bronze sigil indicative of a Warden’s office.

“This is it,” Nora replied. “Thank you.” The woman paused, an awkward expression on her face.

“Do you think I could come in with you, just for a bit? It’s been so long since I’ve been inside. I tried so hard to get this door open after he left, but I just couldn’t figure it out. There isn’t even a handle,” the woman pleaded.

“This man and you were close, right?” Nora asked. The woman nodded.

“Yes. We had been seeing each other. We were both older and our former spouses had both passed on. We found an answer to our loneliness in each other,” she explained, a wistful expression floating across her eyes.

“I understand,” Nora nodded. “You may enter, but I can’t tell you what to expect. I don’t know the circumstances under which this man disappeared. There may be signs of struggle,” she warned.

“Henrik would not have left me without warning. I am well aware that something must have happened to him. I still hold out hope that he can be found. Perhaps it is you who will be able to bring me answers,” the elder agreed.

“Very well then,” Nora conceded as she raised her hands to the door and began fiddling with the brass contraption. A couple of seconds later and the device released a click. The stone door swung open with a groan.

The lobby was much the same as Kurt’s office had been. The white marble floors and gilded furniture entered her vision once again as she crossed the foyer. The elder seated herself in one of the chairs, obviously accustomed to waiting in the lobby, as she would not have been able to enter the living quarters.

Nora proceeded to the back of the room and placed her hand on the door, bracing herself for whatever she may find. Worst case scenario, there might be a body. No. Worst case scenario, the room might be empty. Nora wondered to herself if it was cold of her to feel that way. She needed information though. A body would be able to give her more information than nothing at all.

Nora eased her spatial energy into the fabric of the door and pushed it open. Fortunately, neither a body nor an empty room greeted her. The room looked lived in. There were no recent signs of life, but there were also no pools of blood, or broken furniture, or anything else that may indicate that he had been attacked. If Henrik had met an unfortunate fate, it had not been here.

A thin coat of dust coated any surface it could cling to. Nora’s eyes were drawn to a desk covered in scattered papers. She shuffled them into a messy pile and began to thumb through them. At a glance, it was apparent that Henrik had been neck deep in researching the phenomenon of people appearing in this region before his disappearance. Nora sighed. There were so many papers here to go through. She hadn’t considered that she would be presented with too much information when she had opened that door. This would take some time to go through.

Nora set the stack of papers back onto the desk. Pausing for a moment to think, she pulled a blank sheet of paper from the desk and jotted down a couple of instructions on it. She folded the sheet of paper neatly before returning to the marble foyer. The elder looked up expectantly as she entered.

“Henrik wasn’t in there and there were no signs of a struggle,” Nora reported. The older woman sighed in relief upon hearing her words. “There was a large number of documents in his office that I need to go through. I will stay here for a couple of days in order to process it. You may have this,” she said, handing the folded sheet of paper to the elder. “It’s the combination needed to open the door. You can enter this room at any time to touch base with me.”

She walked the elder over to the door and showed her how to open the brass cover and turn the dial beneath. This combination was a sort of guest pass that could be given out by Wardens to allow specific persons entry to the waiting room. This was the first time in her life that she had given it to someone. There were other combinations, similar to this one, that were intended to unlock certain functions of the door. Nora thought about the combination she had slipped to Adam. She wondered how long it would take him to figure out its purpose.

“I’ll be by in the morning with some breakfast,” the elder assured her with a smile on her way out the door.

“Thank you, Elder…” Nora began to thank the woman as she realized she didn’t know her name.

“You may call me Vigdis,” the woman interjected.

“Thank you, Vigdis,” Nora replied. “My name is Nora.”

“Thank you, Nora,” Elder Vigdis insisted. “Thank you for coming here and searching for my Henrik. If there is anything you need, just let me know and I will procure it for you.”

“I appreciate that. I’ll let you know as soon as I find any leads,” Nora assured her.

As Elder Vigdis disappeared down the tunnel, Nora returned to Henrik’s study and retrieved her stack of papers. She poured herself a glass of water from the kitchen and dropped herself down onto a soft, green couch. A shower of dust was catapulted into the air, sending Nora into a fit of coughing as she hid her mouth and nose behind her cloak. This was going to be a long night.