Patrol 2: Lost & Found

Chapter 1

It's never a good thing when the instant you enter the building, you're summoned to the captain's office.

He debriefed me on the Du l'Tagne incident, asked me a couple vague questions, instructed me to take a week off, as if I can afford it, and informed me of the change: I wouldn't be working with Bergin anymore; or, Enforcer Nahlstrom, as he's always called by the captain. I was now assigned to work with Enforcer Bucktin.

Eddin Bucktin. If there were wrestling matches amongst enforcers, he'd win. With ease. Tall and muscular, and constantly wearing fingerless black gloves, he looks more like a thug or a bouncer than an enforcer; guess the city should be glad he decided to take the high road. I don't know him well, since I mainly ever interacted with Bergin, but I guess that's about to change.

Vania stood, surveying the room. There was the typical banter and drone of discussions as enforcers conversed. The usual mix of pacing, standing, and sitting by the desks. The regular feeling of being casually accepted and dismissed from notice as part of the group. Nothing to make it seem like anything but a typical day. Except there were two new enforcers sitting at her and Bergin's desks.

"Ah. Vania!" Eddin left the side of another enforcer and walked over to her, smiling. "Good morning!" He leaned down a little to extend his gloved hand to her levelly. "Enforcer Bucktin. You can call me Eddin. Captain tells me we're working together now." As he shook her hand, he smiled again and his dual-colored eyes twinkled; "I've heard only good things about you from your previous work partner, Recruit Nahalora, so I'm looking forward to working with you."

"Thank you, Eddin." Vania managed to smile weakly. "I'm sure... we'll work together well."

"Well, come on. We don't have a specific case yet, but we should begin planning our patrol route. Your desk is over by mine, now. I hope you don't mind that I took the liberty of moving it."

Vania stared at her desk as she took off her cloak. Same scratches on the surface. Same small chips along the edges. It really was the desk she'd been using all along. She glanced over to where it used to sit. A different desk, a slightly more reddish brown, sat where hers had been. The two new enforcers were leaning over something on Bergin's desk.

"You might want to check that nothing shifted out of order while I moved it," Eddin added. He saw her looking across the room. "Something wrong?"

"Where's—um. Where's Enforcer Nahlstrom?"

"Oh, you didn't hear? Ah, of course not—you were out following the incident. He was transferred to Merchant Quarter Station. Pretty common for enforcers to get transferred after an incident like that. I hear he's working with Enforcer Kahlin now."

Well, now I don't have to worry about what to say to him if I see him—I won't. Probably for the best; I'm still processing the fact that my parents' blood is on his hands. Though, working with Enforcer Kahlin?  Vania remembered the tydring enforcer—forceful, firm, opinionated. Poor Bergin. He's probably getting lectured non-stop about needing "someone at home."

"Here," Eddin thrust a map of the city under her nose. Various colored lines began and ended at Far Quarter Station in giant, snaking loops. "I usually do a different route every day. Each route is marked out in a different color. It's cold and quiet lately, now, so the wharf is usually also quiet—not too many ships sailing the dangerous seas this time of year, so we can put that route off for another day. This time of year, most of the trouble sparks up around marketplaces and taverns, where visitors and locals run into rowdies and cutpurses. So, we should start our route here," he indicated the orange line on the map, "so we'll be near the lower town marketplace in the afternoon, and ending with this string of taverns and inns here, near the boundary between the port and lower town districts of the city."

Vania traced the line with a finger. That's a lot of ground to cover. If we start now, we might make it all the way around and back to the station to get off shift on time. Eddin must walk fast.

"Sound good?"

"Yeah." Vania put the map down and looked up at her new partner. She smiled; "Sounds great, actually. I could really use a long walk after being cooped up for a week."

"You stay in your house on your days off?"

"Uhh, this time I did, yeah," Vania looked away quickly, biting her lip. Derry was right; Nanda's thugs have been watching my place the last several days. I don't leave my place unless it's absolutely necessary, now. I'm going to have to face them eventually, but I need a plan of action, first.

"Ah. Still a bit shaken after the incident. I get it." Eddin folded the map and slipped it into the breast pocket of his shirt. "Happens to all of us, at one time or another. If you need to talk about—"

"Enforcers Debbin and Awhark, the observation room has your new case," the captain announced as he entered the room. The bustle and conversations all ceased as the enforcers all turned to their commanding officer. "Enforcers Coarick and Hessial, go upstairs to Rand'din; he needs non-magical assistance on his current case. Enforcer Bucktin and welcome back, Recruit Nahalora; there's an incident going on at the Ardent Lion—go look into it."

Vania tuned out the rest of the orders as she pulled her cloak back around her shoulders and walked in Eddin's shadow out the door.

The ivy-covered walls of the Ardent Lion glowed a sullen, dark green in the midmorning sun. Eddin and Vania glanced around the outside and peered at the yard and stable; not a soul was in sight.

"Looks quiet. But there's trouble inside," Eddin commented, head cocked toward the door of the inn, ears slightly twitching as he focused on listening, kneeing his horse toward the yard. He dismounted easily and tied the reins to the post near the wall. He reached up a hand and helped Vania dismount. "You all right?" he asked as he tied her horse beside his.

"Yeah." Vania looked around at the quiet yard. A breeze stirred some stubborn grasses growing amidst the cobbles near the stable. Muffled voices from the inn became shouts as the door slammed against the wall and one patron quickly walked out. "We should get inside. Sounds like our trouble isn't waiting for us."