The blueprints confirmed shit! The back of her mind screamed. 

“The- this window here doesn’t have a lock,” she said, hoping Irwin had hidden himself. “I hope you don’t mind, I was just trying to get some fresh air.” She put on her best innocent smile and hoped that the man’s age had affected his eyesight prematurely. 

A moment of silence passed. 

“Ahhhh. It is a little stuffy in here isn’t it?” he admitted. “I guess I’ve just gotten used to it after all my decades as the deputy minister of justice.” He adjusted his robes slightly. “But those windows don’t open, I’m afraid. None of the windows in the High Court do, even the skylights in the hallway. Prevents dust and bugs from getting in, you see. And of course, any break-ins.”

Aris nodded her head in understanding. “Of course. Who would ever want to break in?”

Us. That’s who! Her thoughts retorted. 

“Shall we continue the tour?” The man asked, already walking away. “Our next stop is the robing room. I hate to brag, but it was my idea to design a room dedicated to changing into our judges’ robes. Splendid isn’t it?”

“Amazing,” Aris replied, taking one last peek at the window before following him out of the archive room. As she followed the deputy minister to whatever a ‘robing room’ is, she began thinking about other ways to give Irwin access inside. Simply opening a window for him was out of the equation, not to mention sneaking away from Weryth. He would be sure to stick to her as she was the only one around to listen to his accomplishments. 

Maybe if I could get in contact with Tia, then she could find the real blueprints of the High Court, Aris hypothesized. Is there a Visocul in one of these rooms? Maybe I can tell him I need to use the restroom. Would he wait for me outside? She shuddered at the thought. Dear Zephyria, why can’t he just collapse-

A loud thump in front of her distracted her from her inner monologue. 

The girl looked up, needing to rub her eyes a few times to make sure she was not seeing things. The scene in front of her looked like this: Deputy Minister Weryth, who had been walking ahead of her and talking on deaf ears, was now lying on the floor face-down and unmoving. Sitting on top of the unconscious minister was a certain silver-haired marquess stretching his back. 

“Damn this scribe,” Irwin complained, getting up. “He ruined my landing.” 

As he dusted off his cloak, Aris remained standing there with her mouth slightly open. 

Maybe I should pray more often, she thought. 

“Did you just fall from the sky?” She finally managed out. 

“I fell from the ceiling,” he replied cheekily. The black-haired girl looked up and saw that one of the many skylights in the hallway had been opened from the outside. 

“The skylights shouldn’t be able to be opened,” she replied, her attention turning back to him. 

“Skylights are easier to pry open than windows,” Irwin said, looking more and more proud by the second. “Just don’t mind the knife marks on the roof.”

“How did you even get on the roof?”

“I scaled the columns.” He replied, like it was obvious. 

“Yeah, well you have one flaw in your plan,” Aris said, pointing at the deputy minister. 

The marquess turned around and clicked his tongue. “I didn’t think I had to account for the unfortunate luck of a scribe.”

She rolled her eyes. “What about the unfortunate luck of the Deputy Minister of Justice?”

His eyes widened slightly as he took another look at Weryth. “Is that who he is? I thought he looked too old for a scribe.”

Aris sighed and walked closer to the body. “Well, he’s still breathing.” 

“Should we hide him in a closet somewhere?” Irwin suggested. 

“Brilliant idea,” she said sarcastically. “And then the first thing we’ll see in the papers tomorrow is that a Dailoran scholar tried to assassinate the deputy minister.”

“That’s not what happened.”

“That’s what it’ll look like,” she stressed. “Just go back that way and you’ll see the archive room.” She then fumbled around his cloak to find the key ring at his hip. 

“Take this,” she handed him the key she had seen Weryth use to open the archive room. “It’ll unlock the door. Find Captain Hinor’s case and find a way to get out.”

Irwin took the key from her with a slight frown. “What about him?”

“I’ll figure something out,” Aris responded in an exasperated tone. “Now go before someone sees you.”

He nodded with his mouth set in a hard line and ran back down the hall. The girl who knelt near Deputy Minister Weryth contemplated her next move. Surely someone would arrive soon considering it was near time for the scribes and judges to return from lunch.

Getting up from the kneeling position, she waited until she could hear soft voices near the entrance to the hall. Taking a deep breath, she let out a shrill cry of horror. In a matter of seconds, the doors burst open and scribes burst through followed by an older woman dressed in black robes; presumably a judge. 

As they ran towards her, Aris cried, “Oh, thank Zephyria! Deputy Minister Weryth just collapsed!” 

The few scribes rushed to the unconscious minister’s side and checked several places for signs of life. The judge, who was panting slightly, regarded her with a look of worry. 

“Who are you? What happened?” She asked quickly. The judge was a woman in her early 40’s if Aris had to guess, possibly even one of the younger and newer ones. Her hair had strands of grey despite her face not showing a single wrinkle. 

“My name is Alin Anumea,” Aris pretended to sob. “The deputy minister was so graciously giving me a personal tour of the High Court when he just suddenly collapsed!” 

After a two hundred-pound swordsman fell on him, that is, her mind spoke to her. 

“Your Honor,” one of the scribes spoke from the ground. “Deputy Minister Weryth is still breathing but he’s just unconscious. He appears to have no other injuries.” 

The judge directed her attention away from Aris in the meantime to address the scribe. “Is he, now? That is good news. Hurry, help him into one of the offices and call for a doctor immediately.” 

The three scribes followed her commands and tried to help the minister up. Two of them supported his body at the shoulders while the last one lifted him up by his feat. They carried him away unceremoniously as the judge stayed behind to question the only witness. 

“Miss Anumea, was it? Please elaborate on the situation and your identity,” her tone was more stern now. 

Aris nodded and pretended to wipe tears from her eyes. She repeated her cover story and her ‘reason’ for requesting a tour of the High Court as well as the events leading up to Irwin crashing through the ceiling and landing on the deputy minister; except for that last part. 

“-and when I looked forward to the source of the sound, Deputy Minister Weryth was just lying there!” She exclaimed, then added another small wail for dramatic effect. “Oh, Your Honor, I didn't know what to do. I was so shocked and afraid to touch him.”

It was a story that was easy enough to believe since to everyone except her and Irwin, it was the truth. She was on a tour that was officially authorized when the deputy minister had collapsed, just not so mysteriously.

“I see,” her voice was softer yet hesitant, as if she couldn’t believe some aspects of Aris’s story. “Was there anyone else? Did you see someone come in?”

The young girl pretended to think. “No, Your Honor…I don’t believe so. It was just the deputy minister and I.” 

The judge simply nodded her head and clasped her hands together tightly. “Miss Anumea, it seems you’ve had a long day. Perhaps you should return and we’ll call for you to make an official statement once the deputy minister wakes.”  

“Thank you, Your Honor,” Aris bit her lip subconsciously. “Please, do let me know if he’s alright.” 

“Of course.”

Aris bent her head slightly as a sign of ‘goodbye’ and walked past the judge. After she left, the judge stared at the doors that the ‘scholar’ walked through, an unreadable expression on her face. 

________________________

The door to the marquess’s study opened suddenly and slammed against the wall. Irwin’s eyes darted up from the document on his desk at the sound. Orland let out a small yelp and dropped the clipboard he was holding. Aris barely acknowledged the two men that she just scared half to death as she walked over to the plush sofa and fell face down onto it. 

“M-Miss A-Anumea?” Orland stuttered, picking up his clipboard. “Are you feeling unwell?”

“Ha heel like ha loo tun hears huh hi hif,” she replied, her words muffled in the velvet. 

“Pardon?” 

The girl braced herself against the couch with her hands and lifted her head up slightly. “I feel like I’ve lost ten years of my life.” 

Before Orland could respond, Irwin stood up from his chair and ordered, “Orland, take the rest of the day off. I have some personal matters to attend to.”

His secretary turned towards him as he flipped through some pages on the clipboard. “Sir, you don’t have anything sched-”

“It’s a personal matter.” Irwin repeated. 

“I’m your secretary. What matters do you have that I don’t know about?” His lavender eyes narrowed slightly. 

“Orland Nie, please,” the marquess stressed. Orland’s eyes widened slightly at the use of his full name. Clearly Irwin didn’t use it often so he must’ve realized the urgency of the situation. He then bowed his head slightly and with a last peak at the girl on the couch, closed the door to the office quietly. 

The silver-haired man walked to the front of the desk and leaned against the wood. He stared at her form with softened eyes as he asked, “What happened after I left?”

Aris let out a large sigh that was still muffled by the couch as she finally sat up. She swung her legs around to the ground and laid her head on the backrest. 

“I waited until I heard people and then pretended like the deputy minister collapsed on his own,” she revealed. 

“So that’s what the banshee scream was,” he mumbled under his breath.

“I heard that.”

Irwin’s mouth clamped shut. 

“A judge and some scribes came rushing. I told them we were just walking when he suddenly passed out. The scribes carried him away but the judge stayed back to talk to me.”

“Did you get her name?”

“No, she was too busy asking me for mine. I think she believed what I told her but I’ll have to go back and give an official statement when Weryth wakes up,” she finished speaking and made eye contact with her friend. “I’m hoping he didn’t feel you fall on him.” 

Irwin said with a sense of guilt, “Okay, in hindsight that wasn’t the most inconspicuous way of getting inside.”

“Wait, did you leave the skylight open?” Aris suddenly sat up straighter. 

He held his hands up to calm down her rising anxiety. “No, no. I’m not that unprofessional. I went back up to the roof after I secured Captain Hinor’s witness statements.” 

A beat.

“You climbed back up onto the roof?! After what happened the first time you did it?!” She exclaimed, standing up. “No, before that. How did you manage to sneak out of the archive room?”

Aris’s anxiety had spiked several times since she had gotten up this morning and it was just barely past twelve o’clock in the afternoon; which was what made the self-satisfied smirk on Irwin all the more annoying to look at. 

“I’ll explain everything once Tia gets here.”