Befriending a Bandit

The records hall remains crowded after the judge seals the testimony. Corven stays beside the evidence table with Varric and Dalen under guard, while Ricayu stands nearby, bow lowered but ready.

The doors open for a young adult man in plain adventurer armor, medium-sized and athletic, with sky-blue eyes and slicked-back raven-black hair. Two gate guards escort him inside.

Keith kneels and places a broken wax seal on the records table. Its merchant mark is damaged but recognizable, and mud stains the hem of his cloak.

The guards remain at Keith’s shoulders. Corven watches him without speaking, while Varric’s expression tightens at the sight of the broken seal.

Ricayu watches without interrupting. The elderly woman judge keeps her hands near the sealed records, the guards watch every movement, and the gathered witnesses wait for permission before speaking.

Keith straightens but does not rush. He places his hands where the guards can see them, answers directly, and pauses whenever the elderly woman judge raises one finger.

Corven mirrors the court’s discipline: bow lowered, shoulders open, gaze steady. He speaks only when addressed, then points to dates and routes rather than making accusations.

Ricayu studies the altered manifests beside Corven’s testimony, comparing dates, routes, seals, and the discrepancies Keith identifies. The same false entries recur where the shelter operation was financed.

He indicates the matching route changes in the fabricated records and Corven’s firsthand account: the documents show alteration was possible, while the witnesses establish who used that alteration and why.

The clerk places the lawful copies beside the altered manifests. Dates, handwriting changes, and broken seals form a clear chain between the forged records and the testimony.

Ricayu places the lawful copies beside the altered manifests, then aligns the dates, broken seals, route changes, and witness statements without naming the concealed scout.

The clerk marks each correspondence in the record. Corven’s account, the prisoners’ testimony, and the documents now form one chain showing deliberate framing rather than outlawry.

Ricayu’s voice carries across the records hall. The clerk’s quill pauses, and several witnesses turn toward the Blacke seal while the guards watch him more closely.

The clerk strikes Corven’s name from the active outlaw register and records the immediate inquiry. The Blacke documents are sealed as exhibits, while Corven exhales beside the evidence table.

Ricayu leaves the records hall and reaches a nearby inn before nightfall. The keeper gives him a narrow upstairs room with a bed, basin, and warped shutters.

He lies down, but the bed sags sharply beneath him while voices, footsteps, and rattling shutters pass through the thin walls. Sleep comes only in broken fragments.

At dawn, Ricayu rises unrested, his missing strength unchanged. The keeper’s demand leaves him without a bed for another night, while Corven’s promised training awaits outside.

The shopkeeper, a broad-shouldered middle-aged woman with warm brown skin, graying black hair, and a green wool apron, looks up from her counter.

Relief brightens the shopkeeper’s face as she points toward the rear passage. The arrangement is settled: Ricayu will sleep here and begin after training.

Ricayu hurries through the back door, catching his palm on a rough latch. The scrape stings, but he keeps moving past shelves and bundled supplies.

Behind the workroom, several tiny chambers line the wall for elven workers. Each holds little beyond a stool, washbasin, blanket, and narrow bed.

Ricayu reaches an empty room and finds the bed waiting beneath a plain wool cover. It is basic, but dry and private, with the shop’s muffled sounds beyond.

Ricayu sets his belongings beside the narrow bed, washes the scrape on his palm, and lies beneath the plain wool cover as the shop settles into quiet.

Sleep takes him deeply. The soreness from the road, the bowstring, and the long night in the inn gradually leaves his body while pale morning light gathers beyond the shutters.

When Ricayu wakes, his breathing is even and his strength has returned. The workers’ room remains still except for footsteps and the muted opening of the shop.

Corven waits beyond the rear door with his bow, quiver, and weathered cloak. He gives Ricayu time to prepare, then leads him toward the morning road.

For seven mornings, Corven drives Ricayu through hill climbs, loaded carries, controlled bow drills, and silent movement over wet ground. Each lesson ends with breathless repetition.

Ricayu’s elven endurance deepens through the work. He learns to draw breath from a steady stance, feel the ground beneath him, and continue after ordinary fatigue would have stopped him.

At the eleventh hour each night, he eats, washes away sweat and mud, then reports to the shop. He closes his shift, receives his daily coin, and sleeps in the workers’ room.

The week leaves Ricayu stronger, healthier, and capable of sustained training without losing precision. It also leaves painful blisters across both palms, forcing him to wrap them before each lesson.

On the seventh evening, his earned coins weigh securely in his pouch. Corven studies his improved stance beneath the trees, then reaches for the bow to begin the next level of instruction.

For several more weeks, Ricayu keeps Corven’s demanding schedule: hill climbs, loaded carries, bow drills, and silent crossings over rain-dark ground.

His palms toughen beneath their wraps, his breathing steadies under strain, and his movements grow quieter. Strength and conditioning become durable habits rather than temporary effort.

Ricayu continues working the shop after each lesson, closing shutters, carrying bundles, and receiving his daily coin. The labor reinforces the endurance Corven demands.

On his day off, Ricayu finds Keith Blacke at a busy tavern near the records hall. Keith has traded his travel cloak for a plain dark tunic and sits beneath a window with two untouched cups.

They share the ale while tavern noise rolls around them. Keith listens readily as Ricayu settles in, then lowers his voice and taps the table beside his cup.

Ricayu gives Keith his full attention, listening without interruption. His sharp elven perception gathers each pause, glance, name, and alteration into an orderly memory.

Keith’s guarded posture eases beneath Ricayu’s disarming smile. He turns one untouched cup slowly, remembering details he had withheld from the court.

Ricayu and Keith spread the second ledger, lawful manifests, receipts, purchase lists, and shop orders across the tavern table. He compares letter shapes, spacing, pressure, and recurring flourishes.

Ricayu recalls handwriting from the shop: local purchases, delivery orders, and receipts handled by the town’s merchants and clerks. One angular capital and hooked final stroke recur in the false ledger.

A second comparison links the cheaper resin purchases to receipts from a Puka supplier whose orders were written in the same cramped hand. The supplier served both Joren and Blacke caravans.

Ricayu prepares the added parcels among the shop’s lawful orders. Oren Vask, a human man in a russet vest over a cream shirt and dark trousers, a thin middle-aged man with a neat beard and ink-stained fingers, signs the first confirmation in cramped, careful strokes.

At the supplier’s store, Pellan Rusk, a human man in a faded linen shirt and dark work trousers, a broad elderly man with a bald crown, red cheeks, and a leather apron, initials the second delivery beside his full signature.

Ricayu and Corven compare the confirmations with the ledger, lawful manifests, and resin receipts. Oren’s hand matches the copied account entries, while Pellan’s initials match the supplier orders and confirm the shared exchange.

They present the delivery confirmations and handwriting analysis to the elderly woman judge. The clerk seals both samples, records the chain of custody, and adds Oren Vask and Pellan Rusk to the court’s formal inquiry.

For two full days, Ricayu rests in the workers’ room, eating well, washing, and allowing the soreness in his muscles and palms to fade.

Over the meals, Keith shares the inn’s bread and stew while Corven watches Ricayu regain his color and steady movement. By the second morning, his health is restored.

Ricayu resumes training, pushing through five demanding days of hill climbs, loaded carries, bow drills, and silent crossings until fatigue becomes disciplined endurance.

The next two days pass quietly with sleep, nourishing meals, and gentle movement. Ricayu returns to the cycle restored, his body steadily shaped under Corven’s tutelage.

On the next day off, Ricayu walks with Corven to Puka’s records hall. His saved wages rest in a secured pouch, most of his earnings untouched.

Corven glances toward the sealed exhibits and the court’s crowded tables. Ricayu remains beside him, ready to help with every record, statement, and lawful question.

The elderly woman judge receives them at the records table. The clerk, a young adult human man with a thin build, cropped brown hair, and a russet vest over a cream shirt brings forward the sealed handwriting samples, lawful manifests, and payment records gathered for the inquiry.

Ricayu remains beside Corven, listening as the judge reviews each sealed sample. He waits without interruption, tracking dates, signatures, and the clerk’s recorded custody.

The clerk compares Ricayu’s statement with the samples and marks each point in the inquiry record. Corven stays silent, allowing the evidence to stand without embellishment.

The clerk unseals the relevant account pages and arranges them beside the confirmations. Corven’s hand briefly touches Ricayu’s shoulder in wordless approval before the comparison begins.

Ricayu remains beside Corven as the clerk aligns the confirmations with the counting house pages. He takes out his coin-deposit receipt and places it among the sealed documents.

The clerk smooths the receipt beside Oren Vask’s confirmation, Pellan Rusk’s initials, and the altered ledger. He studies each letter, spacing, and hooked stroke.

Corven watches the comparison without interrupting. The receipt links Ricayu’s ordinary deposit to the same writing pattern already associated with the fabricated records.

Ricayu remains beside Corven, silent and attentive as the clerk seals the receipt. The court’s orderly process continues without interruption.

The clerk places the receipt beside Oren Vask’s confirmation, Pellan Rusk’s initials, and the altered ledger, then records each correspondence in careful columns.

A second bundle is opened: counting-house access rolls, ledger custody notes, and dated seals. Ricayu watches each item enter the record without offering speculation.

Ricayu remains silent beside Corven, allowing the sealed receipt, altered ledger, access rolls, and custody notes to establish their own chain of evidence.

The clerk aligns dates, seals, and handwriting samples in the record. No accusation needs Ricayu’s voice; each document reinforces the next.

The clerk writes the warrants, stamps them with the court seal, and passes them to the waiting guards, two adult human men in dark-green tabards over padded leather, one broad-shouldered with a shaved head and the other lean with a brown moustache. The orders take effect immediately.

The guards leave for Oren’s office and Pellan’s store while the judge orders the records secured. Corven remains beside Ricayu, watching the inquiry widen.

Ricayu helps arrange the altered ledgers, lawful copies, access rolls, custody notes, receipt, and handwriting samples into separate bundles. The clerk numbers each exhibit and records its condition before sealing it.

The clerk prepares a full inventory, noting each exhibit’s origin, date, seal, handwriting, and present location. Ricayu checks the entries against the table before the bundles are closed.

The judge signs the manifest, and the clerk stores it with the numbered exhibits in the court’s secured records chest. The evidence is preserved, complete, and ready for examination.

Ricayu remains beside the locked records chest, watching its sealed hinges, numbered tags, and manifest while the court settles around him. The evidence stays undisturbed.

The two dark-green-tabarded guards return through the hall with Oren Vask and Pellan Rusk between them. Oren’s ink-stained fingers are bound before him; Pellan’s broad shoulders sag beneath his leather apron.

The guards position the suspects where the judge, clerk, and Ricayu can see them clearly. One guard presents sealed pockets and writing tools for inventory, while the other keeps watch.

Ricayu checks the locked chest against the judge’s signed manifest, matching each numbered tag, seal, source, date, and custodian entry without disturbing the contents.

The exhibits sit in their recorded order: altered ledgers, lawful copies, access rolls, custody notes, receipts, and handwriting samples. Every bundle is sealed and intact.

The clerk signs the verification beneath the judge’s earlier signature. Ricayu watches the chest relocked, its key returned to the court’s custody, while the guards remain nearby.

The judge considers the locked chest, the waiting guards, and the signed manifest. The clerk prepares a second inventory while the court selects its safeguard.

The broad-shouldered guard with a shaved head remains at the chest while the lean guard with a brown moustache escorts the clerk to the vault. Every bundle travels under watch.

The clerk places the numbered exhibits inside a heavy iron safe lined against heat, then locks it with a complicated warded mechanism and records both guards’ names and seals.