Chapter 44: Poisoned Warnings
Just going to a gathering out at Gerial's estate would have been bad enough, but the other threats made the preparation excruciating for Suria. Most importantly, she was being sent out to examine someone who definitely was a looper, threatening both of them. But the more visceral problem was that, despite her wishes, she needed to be physically prepared.
If it had been up to her, Suria would have just gone in her peasant's cloak, regardless of the fact that it would make her stick out like a sore thumb. Instead Professor Huen handed her off to some Water Society women who prepared her with a nice dress and makeup, and Suria couldn't refuse, because the result would be so out of character for her that it would itself serve as a warning. That didn't mean that she disliked the process any less.
In the end Suria found herself looking at a barely recognizable woman in the mirror: the makeup subtly altered the shape of her face and her usual hairstyle had been pinned up with elaborate combs. The robes covered all of her, thankfully, but were far too elaborate for her taste. Most shockingly, her glasses had been replaced with a thin pair of elegant silver lenses which somehow still matched the weakness of her eyes.
Suria didn't like any of it except maybe the glasses, but this was what she would have to work with. Her normal satchel obviously wouldn't match this outfit, so she had to leave it and her books behind as she prepared to depart. At least there were pockets hidden within all the folds, where she could keep her talismans, just in case.
There was one another silver lining: she was marginally confident that she wasn't being directly surveiled. Under the pretext of being worried, she had asked the professors to monitor her and they had given apparently convincing reasons why any spells that monitored her risked being detected by their targets. While it was possible they were lying and had secret scrying methods, she had at least some reason to believe they didn't have spells recording everything she did.
She had expected to walk to the estate and was startled to find a floating carriage waiting for her, even though she shouldn't have been surprised. An outfit like this wasn't really suited for long walks, after all. While in the air, hovering over the city, Suria realized that she'd never properly seen Darmkael at night. Though the lights of the city seemed warm spreading beneath her, she was ominously aware of the darkness of the mountains around them.
Then she was deposited at the entrance of Gerial's estate and her trial had begun.
The outer gates were grim iron, but as soon as she stepped inside, she was surprised by the gardens. Not just the number but the variety: there were elegant rows of flowers near the entrance, but also a rose garden, a lush mound of earth with mana-rich plants, shrubberies trimmed into figures, and a greenhouse nearer the main buildings.
She didn't even get close to the main estate buildings because the majority of the gathering seemed to be taking place amid the gardens. From a distance they looked like most of the other buildings in the city, which made sense since Gerial's family was native Taedric.
More people paid attention to Suria than usual, which she hated, and she had to fend off various social tentacles trying to pull her into conversations. She observed that this gathering was not so dissimilar to many on campus, which were often occasions for carousing or simply maximizing alcohol intake... unfortunately the event also had a much more sexual element, with many of the participants kissing or pulling one another into the gardens.
Most importantly, she didn't see any loopers. As she continued to search for Gerial, Suria ended up gaming out the scenario from multiple different perspectives. What did the professors expect her to accomplish and how would they judge her performance, as a normal student or a potential suspect? How would Gerial react to her and what would she do if it proved impossible to warn him?
The trouble was that, if the professors were asking questions, loopers could easily engage in mutually assured destruction. In the short term that enforced cooperation, but she imagined that it would lead to uncertainty and animosity in the long term. If they gained enough power for soul killing spells, or soul armor to resist them, the balance would change with potentially catastrophic consequences.
Eventually Suria discovered Gerial lounging across the steps of his estate, unfortunately surrounded by a great many other revelers. He looked drunk when she first approached, yet she thought she saw a subtle frown the instant he saw her. They didn't know one another well, so she could only hope that he would recognize the oddity of her appearance.
"Well, look at this vision of loveliness!" Gerial lurched to his feet and took a step toward her. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"
"You invited everyone on campus, didn't you?" Suria asked.
"Indeed I did, indeed I did! Come, let me show you around the estate."
That solved the problem of how she was going to get Gerial alone in a natural way, though it might have given her another problem, judging from the way he strode up and kissed her hand. Suria glanced over her shoulder at the crowd as they left, trying to figure out if any of them were watching suspiciously. She doubted that she was the only student working with the professors and it was always possible that they were testing her as well.
They only moved a short distance away before Gerial leaned casually against a wall and turned back to her. "I confess that I've seen you around before. I didn't think you were much for gatherings."
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"I can enjoy the finer things in life too," Suria insisted. "I have rooms at the Cerulean Sanctum, after all."
"Oh yes, I hear about how nice those can be. Maybe we could visit some time, bring the celebrations to you."
"Perhaps, though I would have to insist that you contain the festivities. If we made too much noise, we could get in trouble."
Suria felt completely incompetent at this sort of verbal wordplay and was afraid that hint would be too subtle. But when she said her final sentence she saw Gerial's gaze shift to become cool and thoughtful. Whatever else was happening, he understood the threat.
"Come on," he said jovially, the moment passing, "let me show you more of the grounds. Tell me, have you ever had the opportunity to really explore Darmkael?"
"I only recently moved here to become a student," Suria told him, not certain where this was going. Just putting up a screen? She was puzzled by his apparently irrelevant statements showing her around until they walked through one of the gardens.
"You know, I was thinking of taking a little vacation." As he spoke, Gerial sounded even more careless than before, so much so that she felt it had to be false. "The school terms can be so stressful. Tell me, would you like to join me on a trip outside the city?"
"That seems entirely too forward." Suria frowned as she tried to work out what he was saying.
"Forgive me, I didn't mean anything by it. But would that sort of thing suit you? Do you think a trip out of the city would be... rejuvenating?"
"Perhaps." As she saw the hard look in his eyes and realized, Suria shifted her understanding of the conversation. "Sometimes a short trip isn't enough, for me. If your home is weighing you down, it can be better to leave behind your old environment entirely."
"Oh, so you'd recommend a more expensive trip? A more extreme vacation?"
"You could say that." As she spoke, Suria put a hand to her collar and then drew a finger across her throat.
"Wonderful!" Gerial said with shockingly good cheer. "I didn't think you had such a spirit of adventure in you. Do you think we could arrange a journey together? Perhaps in about a month, when we have our first saintsday break?"
"Perhaps we could find a time sooner than that. Much sooner."
"I understand, I understand. The term can be ever so stressful."
After that the conversation became so trivial that Suria was half-convinced that Gerial was trying to push her away. They still finished the tour, however, which deposited her near the entrance. He turned away to speak to an attractive woman seated by the flowers and seemed to forget about her entirely, leaving Suria to linger uncomfortably for a while before she finally fled.
In the carriage on the way back, she found herself anxiously going over the conversation repeatedly. She thought they had communicated indirectly, but now that she was past the conversation, she had no idea if they actually had. The second layer of meaning that had seemed so clumsily obvious to her could be entirely in her head, or perhaps it had just come off as extremely inept flirting.
She thought it was likely that this was a test for her, regardless of whether the professors suspected her. Whether or not she had succeeded, Suria decided that she needed to point out Gerial. It might attract scrutiny if he killed himself before the professors could arrive, but everything she could do might attract even more, and telling them that he definitely wasn't a looper would look far worse.
When the carriage opened, Suria realized that she wasn't back at the gates: she had been deposited by the shores of the campus lake. Professor Huen stood by the waves - no, she was actually hovering on a thin plate of stone. The professor had been staring out over the shadowed waves but now turned to look at her, eyes revealing nothing.
"I think I messed it up," Suria said, trying to pour all her real anxiety into her words. "I tried to talk to him and I think I just made him suspicious."
"So you think he's behaving like someone in a time loop?" Professor Huen asked.
"I'm not sure. Many students are using this time to drink and celebrate, and I don't really understand that at all. But Gerial seemed... different. Like he didn't care about tomorrow. Will you... would you actually act based on what I said? It was just an impression, if I accused the wrong person I'd feel awful and-"
"Peace." The professor touched her shoulder gently. "We consider all available evidence before coming to a conclusion. Thank you for your work... you can return now and prepare for the term."
Without another word she rose into the sky on her stone and was soon gone. Was she actually going directly to Gerial's estate? Suria couldn't help but stare into the dark sky for a while before she trudged back to her room to finally shed her costume.
Had she just condemned Gerial to death? Was it possible that her performance had been so poor that he hadn't understood, or worse, that she had looked suspicious? She had no way of knowing, and even after she had washed her face and returned to comfortable clothing, she felt entirely out of sorts.
Suria slept poorly that night and the next day, when she began inscribing glyphs into her new runebook, even that didn't improve her mood. Casting from the runebook felt smooth and fluid, but she couldn't concentrate on it.
Were the professors going to reveal anything about what had happened? Would it be suspicious if she asked about the results of the investigation, or would it be even more suspicious if she didn't ask? Suria was supposed to be a new student out of her depth, and even though she basically was that in truth, she didn't know how to behave.
No one told her anything during the final days before classes started, which felt grimmer than normal. The mood on campus seemed to be suppressed and the krashorb tournament was canceled. When it became clear that no answers were going to be handed to her, Suria headed back into Darmkael to find some of her own.
She couldn't afford a newsbook, even with her stipend, but she could pay to read one for a little while. In some ways that was actually more convenient, because she just needed to ask the owner for the type of news that interested her. Soon enough she found a source that discussed local city gossip, particularly about high society.
There she found the headline she'd wanted: Gerial Negnan, son of a local wealthy family, had been found dead on the night of his gathering. Most of the article discussed the funeral being arranged by his parents, but it briefly mentioned that the cause appeared to have been excessive drinking.
That told her absolutely nothing - it was equally possible that Gerial had killed himself or that the professors had destroyed his soul. Her behavior might have made the professors suspicious, or it might have just convinced them she wasn't cut out for such assignments. All she knew for certain was that her actions had probably made a difference, and she wouldn't find out until the next loop, assuming she survived to reach it.