Adrissu pressed his lips together as Elvard bowed his head. He supposed Ederick was his friend.
“I’m honored to meet you, though I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances,” Elvard murmured, his eyes flickering around the graveyard, looking everywhere but at Adrissu, or at the coffin behind him.
“Likewise,” he muttered, looking away as well. He spotted the priest at the end of the walkway, but did not think anyone else would arrive.
“I’ll, ah, leave you to it,” Elvard continued, clearly trying to be polite, though his tone was awkward and stilted. He gave Ederick a look, and the old human nodded, before stepping away to stand at a polite distance across the footpath.
A few more people trickled in: friends of Volkmar that he’d known from selling his paintings and taking music lessons. Adrissu acknowledged each of them tersely, realizing he couldn’t put a name to any of their faces. If they felt snubbed by his reaction, they didn’t show it.
It was late in the morning and already seemed to be another hot, humid day; he was starting to sweat in his dark robes. Luckily, the priest seemed cognizant of the time, and he started heading back up the path a moment later. Relief spread like a cool balm in Adrissu’s chest; the sooner they got this over with, the sooner he could go home.
The priest started his monologue, speaking of the souls of the dead that would never truly die, that went to be in the presence of the gods, and that would continue to live on there and in the memories of those they left behind. It was all very nebulous and sentimental. Like Adrissu, Volkmar had never seemed particularly interested in the trappings of religion and the gods. The whole ceremony felt pointless.
Then the coffin was lowered into the ground; Adrissu could feel the flow of magic coming from the priest, not particularly strong, but enough to pull the coffin from its stand and lower it into the hole. It was sprinkled with salt, ash, and water, then the priest gestured toward Adrissu.
“Please, if you’ll be the first,” he said, gesturing to the mound of fresh earth alongside the grave. Adrissu sighed, steadying his breathing as much as he could. He took the shovel, scooped up some dirt, and dropped it down into the grave. He passed it to Ederick next to him; with some effort, the human repeated the action, and passed the shovel to the next. Each of them took a scoop of dirt and poured it into the grave in turn, until the shovel made it back into the hands of the priest.
“And thus we say goodbye to Volkmar and send our best wishes to his spirit, as he basks in the presence of the gods,” the priest said, and with a swish of his arm, the rest of the dirt followed to mark the fresh gravesite.
A few more words were said, but at that point it was basically over. Adrissu had no plans of hosting some sort of party or dinner, which humans often would host after a funeral—he could not imagine wanting anything less.
“Thank you for coming,” he said stiffly to the small group around him, when the priest finally finished the rites and politely stepped away, his job done. “I am sure Volkmar would appreciate it, as—as have I.” He cleared his throat, clasping his hands tightly in front of them to keep them from shaking.
“We’re here for you, headmaster,” Ayeval said softly. The others murmured their assent. “You have our support.”
“Thank you,” Adrissu repeated. More than anything he just wanted to go home. “I... Pardon me.”
He turned, ignoring the voices of the people around him, and started walking away. He did not stop until he was alone.
We will find who did this, and they will pay.
Benit’s words were echoing in his head each time he woke over the next few days. Vengeance, he thought, would not truly make him feel any better about what happened, but the most primal part of him burned to find the one who had done this to him, to his mate.
The human’s words were meaningless—after the funeral, Adrissu did not hear anything from the Lord Representative about tracking down whoever had killed Volkmar—so when he could no longer bear the ache of not knowing, he set out to seek his own justice.
He started at the harbor, sitting outside the inn where Volkmar had stayed, and began to watch. He asked the innkeeper if she had seen what happened; she had not, she said, and had told the city guard as such. He had no leads and no idea what he was looking for; but sitting outside the inn watching people walk to and from the harbor, or else walking along the harbor himself, felt better than sitting alone in his damned tower.
For several days, he did not see anything that seemed related to what had happened—not that he had any idea of what he was looking for, of course.
It was late in the afternoon on the third day, when he saw the faint flicker of a bluish-tinged pearl that reflected the light of the setting sun, as it bounced on a silver chain in the hand of what looked to be a dock worker. The worker was presenting the necklace to another man who looked down at it with obvious disinterest.
It had to be Volkmar’s necklace. Adrissu turned abruptly to watch the exchange; the dock worker’s back was to him, but he could see the other man’s face as he reached for the necklace, holding the pearl up closer to his face to inspect it. The man sighed and handed it back, and over the noise of the harbor Adrissu could just barely hear him speak.
“How much?” he asked. The dock worker’s answer was too faint to hear, but the other man visibly balked. “No, that’s too much.”
The man gesticulated with both hands, but seemed to purposely be keeping his voice low. The pearl flashed again in the sunlight, swinging in his grasp. The man Adrissu could see shook his head, frowning.
“That’s not my problem, now is it?” he said, folding his arms across his chest and taking a step away from the man. “Look, ask me again tomorrow if you still haven’t sold it, and maybe consider a discount if you’re trying to get rid of it quickly.”
“Yeah, fuck you,” Adrissu heard the man say, waving a dismissive hand as he turned. Adrissu pretended to look out toward the sea as the man turned, but he continued to watch him from the corner of his eye. The human was tall with a sinewy build, and he wore a set of sailor’s clothes that looked brand new, though his hands were rough and dirty. His hair was dark and cropped close to his scalp, his hairline receding, but patchy facial hair covered his face, as if he were growing it out—as if he were trying to disguise himself. Adrissu’s eyes narrowed, and he turned to watch the man start walking away, having not seemed to notice his attention.
The man was heading away from the docks, toward the path that led further into town. Adrissu followed, keeping a safe distance at first, then closed the gap between them quickly as they left the crowded harbor, and the man turned toward a more quiet street.
“Excuse me,” Adrissu said, and the man turned around quickly, looking startled. “I couldn’t help but notice you on the dock. Is that a Naymerese pearl necklace you’re selling?”
From the way the man’s eyes shifted quickly from Adrissu to the docks behind him to the buildings surrounding them, Adrissu could tell he was nervous and did not know what Adrissu was talking about exactly, but was eager to hand off his stolen goods. Best of all, he did not seem to recognize Adrissu; he guessed the man was a sailor, here for a week or two, until the boat that he worked on set out again.
“Why, yes it is,” he said after a beat, his tone sounding far more chipper than Adrissu would have expected. “If you’re interested, I can part with it for a hundred gold.”
