Ravina rubbed her temples, her glowing purple eyes flickering with frustration as she reviewed the papers Madam Pelmen had given her, the dim light of her room casting a shadow in her eyes. They were three sheets of paper. Two of them were reports sent by both Ravenquil and Ravenwatch respectfully. They were simple things starting off by requesting help from the main house to solve a dispute and then quickly outlining what happened. It was a short explanation, only 200 words long. Not long enough to even get a bad idea about what happened.
The last one was penned by a Ravinsheld scribe. The preliminary report was made to assist the house in the dispute by giving a broader view of the complaints. It gave a brief description of the mines and the families involved. However, all it really told her about the incident was that the mine collapsed into another, killing two people and injuring a third.
Essentially, the Heritage Company, which manages Ravinwatch's Venchenci Mine, mistakenly tunneled into the adjacent Goldwel mine. They were misled by inaccurate reports from the Iron Pen Company—The company that manages Ravinquil’s mine. This error triggered a catastrophic collapse, merging the two mines and damaging both tunnels. At the time, only three workers were present in Venchenci Mine, while the Iron Pen Company was closed for an impromptu holiday, celebrating their boss's new daughter.
House Ravenquil accused Ravenwatch of negligence, citing mismanagement that led to the fatal accident. Meanwhile, Ravenwatch blamed Ravenquil for failing to maintain and publish proper records which caused them to plant a small explosive device into a tunnel in an old part of the Goldwel mine.
The report sent back by Madam Pelmen’s people suggested the accident happened as described but they couldn't find anyone at fault. It was no wonder why she had thrown them to her. Ravina doubted there was even a right answer to this. A week to solve this? A week! With a huff of exasperation, Ravina swept the papers off the desk. She leaned back in her chair, feeling a small sense of satisfaction watching them flutter like falling leaves.
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She took a deep breath in and held it in. Was this a test or an execution? Perhaps she misjudged how sharp the sword could be. She never thought the blade would cut her. “Seit,” she complained with a push of her saved breath. Running there her hair she sat back up in her seat. “Can you please get Mathus for me?” She could use his help. Varis was gone, he hadn't seen her since the festival. Elysia left as quickly as she arrived. The order was deployed so all she could think of was the butler.
She didn't really know him, but he should know where she should start. She already tried everything she knew and no matter how many times she’d reread the three documents she had the same thought. ‘I should have finished college.’
“She left to get you some tea.” Aurelia’s words pulled Ravina’s attention to her.
“Oh,” she blinked. “Right.”
“You’ve been staring at those papers for hours, do you think it's time to do something else? We could start some training exercises—get your mind off the task?”
“You've been brooding over those papers all morning," Aurelia observed, "perhaps a change of pace would help? We could practice some swordplay – moving around would be good, wouldn't it?"
“That sounds… pretty good actually.” Ravina found herself admitting, she had been sitting around, her mind wondering for hours but what could she do, there were only three sheets of paper and she reread them over and over again. Her mind was running in circles, but she wasn't. Not since she returned to her room.
As if she was guided by her bottled-up, youthful energy, Ravina found herself on her feet before she realized she had moved. She teetered on her feet a little, catching herself. “Let's swing by Mathus’ office first. I need him to look into a few things,” She started for a moment, then stopped, turning to Aurelia. “Do… do you know where his office is?”
Aurelia shrugged. “You’ve been here longer than me.” her simple answer drew a little laugh from the young girl's lips.