[Amari POV]
"Animals refusing a place is usually useful," Kitsuna said.
"Is that professional advice?" Ormond asked.
"It's not stupid advice."
I tapped the stack of reports. "Could I see all the monster reports from the last month, not just the attacks? I want the sightings near the wall, along the roads, and deeper in the forest, so we can compare them with what usually lives in each area."
Leroy glanced at Vale. She already had a folder ready.
"Sorted by week," she said.
Vale had it ready before he answered. 'Good, that saves me asking twice.' I opened the folder. Each section listed the creature names, their numbers, where they had been seen, and whether they normally belonged in that area.
Week one had stone-backed crawlers, cliff rats, snow wolves, iron-beaked ravens, and two lone horned brutes.
Week two added mud hounds, ash boars, long-legged spiders, and carrion foxes.
Week three had ash boars near snow wolves, snow wolves in mud hound territory, and long-legged spiders close to carrion fox packs. I stopped there and turned the folder toward Kitsuna.
She leaned closer and clicked her tongue. "Ash boars hate snow wolves. Snow wolves avoid mud hounds, and long-legged spiders don't go near carrion foxes unless something forces them."
Vale nodded. "Our beastmaster said the same."
"Your beastmaster is alive?" Kitsuna asked.
"Yes."
"I want to talk to them."
"We should talk to the survivor too, if he's up for it. And could I see the comms records from when they started flickering?" I said.
Leroy blinked once. "We have them stored."
"Where?"
"In the signal room," Vale said.
"Could you bring the original records here? I'd rather look at them beside the reports."
Leroy studied me. "You think we would hide something?"
"People leave things out."
"That includes us?"
"Yeah."
"And you?"
"Me too."
Vale watched me more closely. Ormond looked annoyed, though less insulted than before.
Leroy's mouth moved, not quite a smile. "At least you're honest."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"No," he said. "But it's useful."
He pulled another piece of paper from the table and handed it to me. "This is the latest patrol map. It's three days old. We stopped sending anyone beyond the second marker after that."
"Why?" I asked.
"A patrol saw lights between the trees," Ormond said. "Blue-white, low to the ground, moving against the wind."
"Did they hear anything? Smell anything?"
"They heard nothing." Ormond glanced at Vale.
She pulled another note from the folder. "One patrol member said it smelled like rain before a storm. Another reported cold, rusted iron."
Kitsuna stopped looking bored. "Cold iron?"
Vale handed her the note. Kitsuna read it, then passed it back.
"Not helpful," she said.
"You asked," I replied.
Leroy looked at me. "Does that mean something?"
"Maybe. I'd like to read the rest before I guess."
Ormond's face hardened. "No."
I looked at him. "No?"
"We don't send outsiders beyond the wall without a Helbram escort."
"We haven't even decided if we're going out," I said. "Let me read what you have first, then we can figure out what's worth checking."
"No," Kitsuna said.
Everyone looked at her.
"A crowd following us will scare everything off."
Ormond's face flushed. I lifted a hand before he could answer.
"Let's leave that for now. We haven't decided anything yet. Let me see what your people have already found."
Kitsuna gave me a disappointed look.
"Don't," I said.
"I was behaving."
"You were about to start a fight."
"I was going to tell him we don't need anyone trailing us."
"That's still arguing."
Vale nodded toward the table. "You can have all the reports. But the count won't let you walk beyond the wall without knowing what you're walking into."
"That's fair. I'd want to know what we're getting into too."
Leroy tapped the map once. "You can have the reports. All of them. But I won't have you walk blind beyond my wall and then make your deaths my problem."
Kitsuna's expression sobered. "We're not going out there clueless."
"Let us read it first. Then we can talk about what makes sense."
Vale nodded. "That's reasonable."
Leroy turned to her. "Give them copies of everything from the last month. Full reports, not summaries. Scout maps. Monster lists. Comms records. The survivor's file and the beastmaster's notes."
Vale nodded. "Yes, my lord."
"Ormond."
The captain straightened.
"Assign two soldiers to escort them inside the keep. Not outside it unless Lady Amari asks."
Ormond's jaw tightened. "Yes, my lord."
He said it through clenched teeth. I'd take that over fake politeness.
Leroy looked at Kitsuna, then back at Ormond. "If they were here to insult us, they would have brought more witnesses. If they meant to take command, Stacy would have sent a larger force. They're here to find what we haven't."
For the first time since we'd arrived, I felt like he understood why we were there.
I gathered the reports into one stack. Kitsuna took half without being asked.
I looked at her.
"What? You'd complain if I let you carry all of them."
"Helpful as always."
"Painfully."
Vale stepped toward the door. "Your rooms are in the inner keep, close to the command level."
"Convenient," Kitsuna said.
"Secured," Vale corrected.
"Good locks?"
"Yes."
"I like her."
Ormond stayed by the table, watching Kitsuna. Leroy picked up one of the red markers and rolled it between his fingers.
"Lady Amari."
I stopped at the doorway. "Yes?"
"You called it a small problem."
"I called the request small."
He held my gaze. "I hope you're right."
"So do I."
Kitsuna walked past me with her half of the reports. "She's usually less wrong than people expect."
I followed before Leroy could decide whether that was an insult.
Vale led us out of the command room and back into the hall. The door shut behind us, leaving the map table and Ormond's unhappy expression out of sight.
The hallway felt colder than the room had. Maybe the north had finally worked its way through my coat.
Kitsuna shifted the reports in her arms. "Well."
"What?"
"Your small problem has eleven missing people, organised monsters, broken memories, strange smells, and a count with a captain who looks like he chews rocks for breakfast."
"That wasn't helpful."
"It was a summary."
"It was rude."
"Still accurate."
Vale kept walking. "Captain Ormond prefers roasted barley."
"How the hell do you roast barley? Don't even. It sounds shit to eat. Just give me roasted bones."
Vale didn't answer, and we followed her deeper into the inner keep with the reports tucked in our arms.
By the time she stopped in front of two heavy wooden doors, my arms were beginning to ache from carrying the stack.
"Your rooms," Vale said. "They connect through a shared sitting room. Guards are outside the hall. Meals can be brought up. If you need access to the survivor or the comms records, send word through me."
I nodded. "Thank you."
Vale looked at me for a moment. "For what it's worth, Lady Amari, the count is angry because he's run out of clean answers."
"That's usually when people start making dirty ones," Kitsuna said.
Vale looked at her. "Yes."
She turned and left. The guards remained outside.
Kitsuna opened one of the doors with her elbow and carried the reports inside. I followed her into the shared sitting room. It had a table, two chairs, a small stove, and a narrow window facing the wall. There wasn't a decoration anywhere that didn't serve a purpose.
'Helbram doesn't seem like a city that trusts pillows too much.'
Kitsuna dropped her stack on the table. The papers landed with a heavy slap. I put mine beside them.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then Kitsuna looked at the reports. "If Leroy wanted to kill us, he could've made us read all this before lunch."
I pulled out the first file and sat down.
"Let's start with the missing scouts."
Kitsuna groaned and dropped into the chair across from me. "I hate when you're responsible."
"So do I."
I opened the first report and found the last place one of the scouts had been seen. Eleven people were still missing, so that seemed like a place to start.