limits, or as more farmland without.
And the lack of any genuine sewer system, such as Davillon and Lourveaux boasted, contributed to a bouquet that was foul enough even in winter. In summer, Shins just knew she'd be asking Olgun if he could temporarily remove her nose, or at least turn it inside out.
None of which was the actual reason for the frustration that burned the young thief like a virulent rash, threatening to tether her to this backwater place and miserable family for far longer than she'd hoped.
“Seriously, Olgun! I'm actually asking. Use your divinitiness. Knowledge unobtainable to mortals. How can we have found nothing ?”
As Shins was “actually asking,” Olgun actually answered. Where Widdershins had refused to squint against the frigid gusts, her eyes narrowed sharply against the god's images.
“Don't even say that! The Carnots are involved; nothing else makes sense! Well…All right, you didn't say it, but…Don't do what it is you do instead of saying it.
“We know they moved against House Delacroix, drove them out of Lourveaux, yes? We know that a whole gaggle of the family left Lourveaux not long after the last Delacroix, who never made it here. Lazare Carnot was one of them. House patriarchs don't just wander off, so where the flopping hens are they? ”
Because they certainly were not here, in the ancestral home of the Carnot bloodline in Aubier. Widdershins had scoured every room, every hallway, every nook, every cranny. The Carnots, at least locally, were largely dull and unobservant, the epitome of the laziness that could overcome an aristocrat when ambitions were all but extinguished. Guards and servants were few, and easily avoided. Only once had she even come near to being discovered, by a man she believed to be head of the household staff. And at no point had she discovered any sort of secret more incriminating or sinister than an illicit liaison or a bit of cheating on local taxes.
She had even located a hidden cupboard, one that blended so well with the surrounding walls that the family itself clearly had forgotten its existence. The dust within was more than enough proof that at no point in generations could a house patriarch, or anyone else, have been concealed within. The old furniture and somewhat faded finery belied any recent influx of coin or influence, and the fact that the bulk of the family appeared content to laze around the house did not inspire Shins to believe they were engaged in some great conspiracy of nobles. She'd gone ahead and gathered the addresses of the few other properties—several shops and a small warehouse—the Carnots owned in Aubier, and she'd check them all just to be sure, but none of them struck her as a likely hideout.
In short, as she'd bemoaned to Olgun multiple times in a scant few minutes, they had no proof, not even the tiniest shred of evidence, of anything whatsoever.
Some unnatural union of a growl, a sigh, and a groan rolled from her throat, almost freezing on her tongue before it fell away to vanish in the night. “I don't know, Olgun. Maybe we are on the wrong track? I mean, this could be coincidence, yes? The Carnots can't be the only rivals of the Delacroix trying to take advantage of all the Church nonsense and political silliness. I guess we ought to at least check some of the other…
“What? No, I don't know how many Houses have a presence in Aubier, or which ones are competitors! How would I possibly know that? And where would you have been when I learned it? Napping? Bath time? Napping during bath time? I…Do gods bathe? I mean, you don't really have a body to wash, I suppose….”
Another growl-sigh-groan. “Point is, yes. I know it'll take forever if we have to look into all of this House by House, but what choice do we have?”
At which point the first smile in many hours began to lurch hesitantly across Widdershins's face as she abruptly realized exactly what choice they had.
“Name's Jourdain, right?”
The
And the lack of any genuine sewer system, such as Davillon and Lourveaux boasted, contributed to a bouquet that was foul enough even in winter. In summer, Shins just knew she'd be asking Olgun if he could temporarily remove her nose, or at least turn it inside out.
None of which was the actual reason for the frustration that burned the young thief like a virulent rash, threatening to tether her to this backwater place and miserable family for far longer than she'd hoped.
“Seriously, Olgun! I'm actually asking. Use your divinitiness. Knowledge unobtainable to mortals. How can we have found nothing ?”
As Shins was “actually asking,” Olgun actually answered. Where Widdershins had refused to squint against the frigid gusts, her eyes narrowed sharply against the god's images.
“Don't even say that! The Carnots are involved; nothing else makes sense! Well…All right, you didn't say it, but…Don't do what it is you do instead of saying it.
“We know they moved against House Delacroix, drove them out of Lourveaux, yes? We know that a whole gaggle of the family left Lourveaux not long after the last Delacroix, who never made it here. Lazare Carnot was one of them. House patriarchs don't just wander off, so where the flopping hens are they? ”
Because they certainly were not here, in the ancestral home of the Carnot bloodline in Aubier. Widdershins had scoured every room, every hallway, every nook, every cranny. The Carnots, at least locally, were largely dull and unobservant, the epitome of the laziness that could overcome an aristocrat when ambitions were all but extinguished. Guards and servants were few, and easily avoided. Only once had she even come near to being discovered, by a man she believed to be head of the household staff. And at no point had she discovered any sort of secret more incriminating or sinister than an illicit liaison or a bit of cheating on local taxes.
She had even located a hidden cupboard, one that blended so well with the surrounding walls that the family itself clearly had forgotten its existence. The dust within was more than enough proof that at no point in generations could a house patriarch, or anyone else, have been concealed within. The old furniture and somewhat faded finery belied any recent influx of coin or influence, and the fact that the bulk of the family appeared content to laze around the house did not inspire Shins to believe they were engaged in some great conspiracy of nobles. She'd gone ahead and gathered the addresses of the few other properties—several shops and a small warehouse—the Carnots owned in Aubier, and she'd check them all just to be sure, but none of them struck her as a likely hideout.
In short, as she'd bemoaned to Olgun multiple times in a scant few minutes, they had no proof, not even the tiniest shred of evidence, of anything whatsoever.
Some unnatural union of a growl, a sigh, and a groan rolled from her throat, almost freezing on her tongue before it fell away to vanish in the night. “I don't know, Olgun. Maybe we are on the wrong track? I mean, this could be coincidence, yes? The Carnots can't be the only rivals of the Delacroix trying to take advantage of all the Church nonsense and political silliness. I guess we ought to at least check some of the other…
“What? No, I don't know how many Houses have a presence in Aubier, or which ones are competitors! How would I possibly know that? And where would you have been when I learned it? Napping? Bath time? Napping during bath time? I…Do gods bathe? I mean, you don't really have a body to wash, I suppose….”
Another growl-sigh-groan. “Point is, yes. I know it'll take forever if we have to look into all of this House by House, but what choice do we have?”
At which point the first smile in many hours began to lurch hesitantly across Widdershins's face as she abruptly realized exactly what choice they had.
“Name's Jourdain, right?”
The
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