The shadow moved from one place to the another in the shadows.  It was well into the night now.  There was no moon in the sky and the shadow moved through the yards as if Cari had still lived her, little had changed.  Names, faces, but the place remained the same.  Objects moved, but the walls and the feel were always the same, even 10 years after leaving these walls.  The shadow searched the area, and found a lone girl sitting outside in the dim light practicing. 

 

Even with the notice it was sure to have brought, the fear of death was not present on this girl.  The shadow smiled to itself and had found it's next prey.  In one foul swoop it was upon her, no scream nothing escaped as the shadow bound her mouth and slight her throat.  The look of surprise still on the girls face.  And it was a beautiful face too.  Cari leaned in and kissed the girl on the mouth.  It was a dead kiss but the shadow wanted the others to know that it cared little for the fleshes of man or woman except when it was lying bleeding and dying before it.

 

In the passion of it all, the girl had grabbed at Cari's hair and when the shadow tried to move the latched on hand tugged at the auburn locks.  It didn't care and pulled carelessly away, leaving a few strands in the girls hand.  It was time to move on, time for another kill, time for another vicitim.  The shadow wouldn't rest until it's blood lust was quenched.

 

Cari

Melenis had just finished her late shift on the Wall, and was about to head to her room when she noticed a humanlike shape lying on the ground. Figuring someone must have left a training dummy outside again, she decided to drag it back to the Armory before the weather would deteriorate it. Training dummies generally didn't last long, not with the intensity at which people trained here, but it would still be a waste of otherwise good material.

 

As she approached, the night's shadows drifted apart for her to notice that it was no training dummy. Alarmed, she quickened her pace, her mind recalling the past coupe of events that had made the Commander double the watch. And yet, at her feet, lay the not-so-living proof that it still wasn't enough. Even in the dim light, she could see the glinstering wetness that stained her throat and had spread to the shirt she wore. It was enough.

 

Her stomach twisted, recalling what happened with Anluan several months ago. Mental images of his death followed, crashing into her, threatening to overtake... It took all of her self control to muster the Void, sealing the memories safely out of reach again. Looking around, she noticed there was another person a bit further off.

 

- "YOU! Wake Thera, and tell her to get over here. I'll take responsability if she gets mad at you, now GO!"

 

Pacing back and forth, she tried to steady her breathing as the boy ran off. In the stories, she recalled, one should never tamper with the scene of the crime. Not much she could do anyway, lacking a torch or those balls of light the Aes Sedai seemed to have. Moments later, a hastily dressed Mistress of Novices came running, followed by her not-quite-as-awake husband.

 

The next few moments were imprinted on Melenis' mind as Thera going into full battle mode. Barking orders left and right, she sent curious Trainees that had come to see what the commotion was about scattering in all directions to raise alarms and rouse the Yards as if the Tower itself had come under attack. In the space of a few minutes, Warders were going through the area with a fine comb, and Kynwric took her apart for a moment to ask her a couple of questions.

 

 

Melenis

Just saw dead people

Kynwric was bleary eyed and late in coming to the scene and was grateful to see that Thera already had most everything well in hand. He had already been informed that Melenis had discovered the most recent body and as such he pulled her aside to ask some questions, noting each answer in the journal he had taken to keeping just for this investigation.

 

"Where did you find him? How was he positioned? Was there anything unusual? Anything near the body?"

Melenis was quite literally shaken out of her trance as Kynwric started talking to her. Or maybe it was just the Void collapsing, she had no idea. All she was aware of was feeling as if she was in a daze, like all of this was some kind of a surreal dream or something. Someone was killed, right here in the Yards. And she had seen nothing. Looking up at Kynwric from where she was sitting, she blinked a couple of times until she realised he was asking her something. Questions, right...

 

- "She had fallen on her back, i thought it was a training dummy at first. There was no scream either, i think the attacker came from behind. Near the body? Only her weapon. Hands looked weird though, as if she was holding something. Did i say she looked like a training dummy?"

 

Whether it was the time, the shock at finding out someone had died where she should have been safe or simply emotional fatigue, but Melenis was feeling out of it. Though she wasn't holding on to the Void, it seemed to have formed regardless, only this time she felt as if she had been locked out of it rather than in, only being vaguely aware of her own actions. She let herself fall back on the ground, mimicking the position she had found the girl in.

 

- "Looked like this, she did. Say, got anything to drink on you? I could kind of use a brandy. Or two."

 

 

Melenis

Tends to drink when depressed

"Drink? No... notice anything else peculiar?" Kynwric answered and asked absently, writing things down in a journal he had bought for just this case. He needed to have everything down so he could reference it. It was something he would normally do by memory, but he had too much going on to effectively catalog it all and be able to sift through it as well. A board to arrange everything on would be nice too... he thought to himself. Finally he took a look at Melenis. "Here," he handed over the key to his room. "One of may as well get some sleep tonight, it won't be me..."

Melenis blinked for a couple of seconds, looking at the key with a puzzled look. His room? Why would she go to Kynwric's room? She had her own, right? That one moment of thought however was enough to snap her out of the semi-daze she had fallen into, using the key Kynwric was holding out as a focus of some kind. Once the Void was back in place -- around her, this time -- she turned to the Warder, shaking her head apologetically.

 

- "Ugh, sorry. I just came back from a shift and stumble right onto this. I'm tired, completely out of it and i'm still trying to process just what exactly happened myself..."

 

She threw up her hands, feeling more than a little powerless. The composure and mental self-control she had prided herself on were nowhere in sight, replaced by confusion and an inability to think due to teh shock at discovering a murder in the Yards. Taking a deep breath, she looked at the crime scene again, but gave an irritated sigh when she failed to recall anything from her jumbled thoughts.

 

- "Listen... Can i have some time to let all of this sink in? Part of me still can't believe what happened... and my mind's jumping around too much to recall anything. I'd hate to ask this... but could we continue this in the morning?"

 

She shook her head as she spoke, before looking at Kynwric again. She looked angry, though her anger was aimed mostly at herself for failing to provide the Warder with some answers. There was something, there had to be something, and she was nothing short of ashamed that she couldn't remember what it was. The gaps in her memory, caused by fatigue, weren't helping much either.

 

 

Melenis

Was on her way home from work...

"Yes, you can... but you're not going to get any rest here or quiet here..." Once again he gestured with his key. Letting her take it or not before turning back to the crime scene.

Melenis raised her arm, covering her eyes with it before taking a deep breath. She was seeking the calmness of the Void, trying to find that little bit of energy she needed to give Kynwric that one piece of information she had been trying to remember. After slamming her fists onto the ground, she got up again, shaking her head at Kynwric's offered key.

 

- "Is there... anything i can do to help out? I don't think i can expect to have a good night's rest in any case, not after this. Maybe i'll be able to recall something later."

 

She still felt tired, though she spoke the truth when claiming not to be able to sleep. She had discovered the body of a murdered Trainee within the very walls of the Yards, how could she expect to sleep now? How could she be expected to? No, it was better to just try to help until the investigaton would be over, so she could go to her room with the idea that she had done all she could. Sleep would still not come easy, but at least it would help her cope with this event a bit better.

 

 

Melenis

Might as well...

Kynwric looked at the young woman and nodded, slipping the key back into his pocket. "Aye, I'll need someone to go and gather her things from his bunk and sort through them for storage. Think you're up for that?"

OOC: The victim's a female, Kyn ;)

 

IC:

 

Melenis took a deep breath, then nodded. As it was, she was unsure on what to do, but perhaps helping out with the investigation would buy her enough time to get her thoughts sorted out. There had been something, something that had to do with the girl's hands. Why did she remember so clearly about how her hands were positioned?

 

After getting instructions from Kynwric, she made her way to the bunks in order to clear out the victim's room. She placed personal belongings on the bed, her family would want to have those. During this time, she reluctantly held back the Void again, not wanting to miss something that had held emotional value. While the Void would help her sort through the assorted belongings faster, it would also end up making her emotionally detached, possibly ending up with sorting items based on efficiency.

 

When she had gathered what she believed was everything, she then went back to Kynwric, holding the bundle under her arms. Perhaps it would be a little more than necessary, but emotions wee a personal thing, and only her relatives would know what she considered to be valuable to her.

 

 

Melenis

Clearing out a room

OOC: Damn, they're all running together... Mat is killing too many at once.

 

IC:

 

Kynwric was still rifling through the scene when Melenis returned, but the body and many of the other Tower Guards had left along with all the onlookers. There were only two other people present and they were stationed at either end of the hallway, keeping the curious away. He nodded to the one who stopped Melenis and she was then let past and Kyn stopped what he was doing to speak with her. "Find it all?"

Melenis nodded, gesturing at the bundle of things she had found. Upon closer inspection, everything would seem to be wrapped in the old cloak she had probably arrived in, and Melenis couldn't help but wonder if the girl had been as bad at riding as she was due to the lack of saddlebags and other horsemanship gear in the room.

 

- "I believe so. It's hard to tell with things of emotional value, but i think i got everything."

 

She knew there was always the odd item someone could get attached to, she had seen people cary small stones around as good luck charms at times. It was inevitable some things were missed, but she guessed the Warders wouldn't be throwing out anything until the relatives had come to pick up the girl's belongings. If there was anything else, they'd likely bring it up then. Holding the bundle out to Kynwric, she waited on what else she could help out with.

Kyn shook his head and looked around the scene. "No, I don't think so Mel... we're just about done here... light I hate this duty." Kyn shook his head and rubbed his hands in his eyes and yawned. "Between this and Lor I don't have time to sleep, and to tell you the truth I haven't had much time to help her with all this going on either." He took the bundle from her and looked at it, "Thank you, that is a big help. It is absolutely the worst part of this detail... it is like getting to know the deceased after the fact."

Melenis nodded, knowing all too well what Kynwric had been talking about. She thrust her hands in her pockets after handing over the bundle, noticing some hairs in her pocket. They had probably been the girl's, and had gotten caught in her clothing as she sifted through her things. Pulling the hairs out again, she was about to throw them out when she noticed something odd.

 

- "Kynwric... the victim was a blonde, correct?"

 

The lock of hair she held up weren't blonde, but auburn, a redder shade of brown than her own. In addition, they looked as if they had been pulled out rather than cut off, which added to the strangeness of the discovery. Blinking, realisation hit her as she finally remembered what she had been trying to all this time.

 

- "Kynwric, what i wanted to tell you.. I found a lock of hair in the girl's hands. I put it in my pocket to keep it from blowing away, but it had slipped my mind in all the commotion that followed. I can't believe i forgot something this important though, it makes me feel so stupid for forgetting."

 

From the look on her face, she was already mentally berating herself for her little slip as well as prepare herself for Kynwric to say the same. Forgetting about important evidence like that, how could she have done that! Though the fact she was tired and completely unprepared to have found what she had were certainly mitigating circumstances, that didn't seem to stop her much.

 

 

Melenis

Feeling like a comic relief deputy

Kyn smiled and took the evidence. "No harm done, I have it now and that is what is important. Now, my next order is very important and is not negotiable. Go to bed."

Melenis looked as if she wanted to protest, but ultimately seemed to decide against it, simply nodding in reply. Training with Corwin, her shift on the Wall and helping with the murder investigation had made this quite an eventful day, and she had to fight hard to stifle a yawn, showing her how tired she actually was.

 

- "Will do. If there's anything else, don't hesitate to ask."

 

The look in her eyes said that to her, this would be equally important. Her skill with a blade had improved considerably since she had first joined the Yards several years ago, but she still saw room for improvement. Improvement she wasn't oging to get by resting on her laurels and having people go easy on her. Kynwric was still looking at her though... Oh, sleep, right. Slowly walking off to her room, she crashed down on her bed fully dressed, and it hadn't taken her long to fall asleep.

 

 

Melenis

Asleep nao. Ssh.