The shouts, while different then the ones that plagued her dreams, made Isabel shoot up and fight the intense dizziness the moment their sound hit her ears.

“Where is she!? I demand you allow me visitation at once!”

Isabel knew that voice, almost as well as her own mother’s.

“Madame Bordigan, I apologize but the Lady is resting. She also still needs to be assesed by the physician and answer questions befo-” But the Vice Captian’s voice was cut short by the fury of the woman known to the lands as ‘The Last Sword’.

“Vincent. I will either remove that door, and that arm, or you will open it. My daughter-in-law has no business being kept in a politian’s prison like some criminal who no one wants to bother with!”

Isabel felt tears drop onto her hands before she had noticed them running down her face. She had still called her daughter-in-law. When the door opened in response rather than any sords and the woman stormed in, it was all she could do not to weep openly.

The fury that had given Floria her reputation and her way drained away when she saw Isabel. Replacing it was sorrow and grief. No words were exchanged before the two woman were hugging and now, now Isabel couldn’t keep her tears from flowing forth. Wracking sobs from her struck a cord and both spent many minutes hugging and tearfully weaping before they slowed. Pulling back a bit, Floria looked her over critically.

“I am so sorry for not being here sooner. When the news arrived I was a day out, hunting for brigands. I never should have left the city”

Control over her emotions had never been Isabel’s strongest point and in this moment of especially so. Still she tried to rein in everything and hold strong.

“Floria… Ben,” she broke before she could finish and Floria embraced her once more.

“I know my sweet. I know,” Floria’s voice cracked and the sorrowful weeping of a mother’s worst nightmare come true filled the room, “I know. My poor, sweet, stupid boy was always too like me. I knew the second I heard that he had been with you and only you were found. That blasted idiot.”

Isabel choked a little, struck by a sound between laugh and sob. Vincent, still in the room, cleared his throat after their moment had passed. Floria turned and looked at the man with some level of scorn and discontent.

“You are still here, Vincent? The rest of this tower is so boring that you need your kicks watching two sobbing women?”

“No, apologies Madame Bordigan. I wish I could leave you both alone as it were, but my orders have made it clear that I am not to leave the Lady alone for the time being. Not with anyone at all.”

She glared at him and he wilted slightly but otherwise held firm. When it was clear he had no intention of granting her request, she sighed but left it as it was. Her daughter-in-law was more important. Besides, she could respect the dedication to the job for what it was. It only made her slightly less willing to beat him senseless.

“Am I... being held, Vice Captain?”

Isabel looked at him, first with confusion and then clarity. She had noticed the room but had thus far held off on the presumption. After all, the room was possibly the only one in the tower that might have been fitting for both her situation and position. The lack of hostility had settled her initially, but Floria’s mention of the room’s typical purpose and his reluctance was making her revise the issue.

“At this time the only witness to the event was Lady Nephet. In addition to this, we are unsure as to the status of the alledged assassins or if they truly met their goals. It is both a typical procedure and an assurance of saftey. You are not our prisoner, Lady Nephet, but we would like you to stay here for as long as nessesary for both precaution and information.”

Isabel opened her mouth to speak but was inturrupted by Floria interjecting with an air that spoke volumes above the words she used.

“Excuse me, Vice Captain. I believe that the words you were looking for must have been ‘at large’ assassins.” Her eyes flashed dangerously at that, the green in them darkening till they seemed pools of dark moss. For the first time in what seemes years, Vincent lost his nerve and felt sweat drip down his brow.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“I… yes Ma’am! Apologies, I am not a scholar and I used the wrong turn of phrase. Pardon the error and thank you for correcting it.” He bowed at her and when he returned to standing, her gaze had softened.

“It is accepted, Vice Captain. I am sorry too, this is trying and you are simply doing your job. Thank you. I believe Isabel and I will be leaving here once she is rested more. Please inform your captain and let him know I would like to speak as well. I believe I might be able to provide some of this information you would like.”

Both Isabel and Vincent looked at her with a start, but Vincent recovered far more quickly.

“Excuse me, Madame Bordigan, but I fail to see how you could.”

“Just do it, Vincent. Please?”

He eyed her once more before nodding and taking his leave.

“Floria, how-”

“The brigands were a false lead. They were there, but only a portion of the reported amount. They led me out of the city in purpose. This was planned, Isabel. You getting out alive is a miracle.”

It didn’t feel like one to her. Not in the slightest. Everyone dead and her home in ruins.

“Look at me,” Floria gently said and used her fingers to raise Isabel’s head, “you are always going to be my family. Nothing will ever change that. This has more to do with than us or our families now. They robbed the vaults of the most valuable and dangerous magic items on this side of the world. Nations have crumbled for less and there will be war. I will keep you safe. I have to, daughter.”

She hugged her then briefly before following the lead of the Vice Captain. As Isabel sat there, swelling emotions fighting over her once more robbing her of bodily autonomy, she shook. It was all too much. Her father, mother, younger sister… lighting struck Isabel then. Her older sister! She had been traveling to attend her wedding, slated to arrive two days from now. Her last blood relative.

Standing on wobbly legs, she almost pitched into the half laden table but steadied herself. The door to the rest of the tower had remained open behind Floria. Isabel knew that it might be foolish, but she had fo alert the peacekeepers. If this really was about her family, rather than purely a robbery, then it might be the only chance she had to save her.

She made it all of three rooms before she heard a noise and turned to see a young woman in the peacekeeper’s garb strolling towards her. Her jingling keys put her as the one who was supposed to keep the doors secured.

“Are you… Lady Nephet? Are you sure you should be up?”

The woman had a friendly demeanor, considering the charge in her care was up and out of her room.

“I need to tell the captain about my sister!” Isabel’s voice came out high pitched from the anxiety filling it.

“My Lady… your sister still hasn’t been id-”

“My other sister! She’s coming from the south, for my wedding. She should only be a few days out but-”

The redheaded woman’s eyes widened with understanding and concern. Nodding once, she grabbed a startled Isabel who stumbled along at first and flinched from the sudden contact. Noticing made the woman release her and gesture ahead instead.

“This way, the Captain and Madame Bordigan are in a warding room. Can you tell me where she would be coming from? I can send the peacekeepers to the location and make sure of her safety.”

Isabel shook her head sadly.

“I only know she was coming in from the south, set from… Lorizno Planta? I’m not entirely sure.”

The woman nodded at her and when they came upon a room marked with three curved lines crossed out with a slash, she knocked in a pattern and waited. A moment is all it took before the captain stood in the doorway.

“Ves, wha… why is Lady Isabel here? What’s wrong?”

“Sir, Lady Isabel says that her sister is on her way from the south. From Lorverga.”

“Lorizna Planta, I think, not… that place,” Isabel said, looking at Ves oddly before continuing, “she is set to be here in roughly two days but if this was about my family…”

The Captain caught on before she had finished and motioned for Ves.

“Summon the riders, have them spread out and cover the ground between the twelve of them. With a tight enough grouping, they’ll have a good chance of covering the land and finding her. Have them hold formation three for their time there.”

With a curtsey and nod of the head, Ves replied with a quick ‘yes sir’ and was gone in like a bolt unleashed as she ran to meet his commands. Her charge, having delivered her message, found herself starring at the two before Floria stood and gave her owm small bow to the captain.

“Thank you, Captain Brooks. I believe I will be taking Isabel home now, given her state and what left either of us have to give you.”

“Floria, I hardly believe that is a good idea given the situation or her state.”

“That wasn’t a question Brooks. She will not be detained here for longer than that.”

The two stared at each other with tension. Feeling the static in the air, Isabel did the only thing she thought might break it. At least her body did as it swayed and lightly thudded against the still open door. The Captain broke from it first and looked at his desk while sighing.

“That is well enough then. She cannot leave the city for the duration of the investigation, you understand?”

Floria nodded but once and swiftly approached the still struggling form of Isabel. She muttered an apology that Isabel did not quite catch, not before letting out a startled noise as she was suddenly lifted off the ground by the surprisingly muscular woman and feeling the world shift. The two where no longer in the tower room, instead outside of it, and moments later outside of area fully. The mansion that the Bordigan’s called home stood in front of them both.