The king dismisses the broad-shouldered guard, a broad-shouldered adult man with light skin, short dark-brown hair, and a dark green tunic over brown leather armor with a quiet gesture. The doors close behind him, leaving Shiro, the king, and the palace clerk beneath the silent portraits.
the King
You were young when those voices reached you. Do not force the memory into certainty. Tell us only what returns on its own.
The palace clerk keeps the dark green ledger open nearby, quill poised above a clean margin. She watches Shiro attentively, but does not interrupt or urge him onward.
Palace Clerk
I will record uncertainty as uncertainty, Your Majesty. A fragment may still show where the testimony began.
the King
Your family kept you from their quarters, yet they left you music. Was the harp taught to you by one of them, or did you learn it alone?
Dust drifts through a shaft of pale window light. Above them, the painted elf's silver harp, beside the painted elf's pale oval face, pointed ears, and long white hair catches the glow, its carved strings mirroring the instrument resting beside Shiro.
the King
And when you heard them speak of slavery, where were you? A room, a street, a counting house, or somewhere else you can still place?
“If I remember correctly, I was hiding in a bush when a tall man was shouting at my father about something... The only word I could make out was slave, and it was directed at my father”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +0)
Shiro
If I remember correctly, I was hiding in a bush when a tall man shouted at my father. The only word I heard was “slave,” and he directed it at my father.
The memory settles into place: leaves brushing Shiro's face, the tall man's raised voice beyond the bush, and his father's name left unspoken beneath that accusation.
Palace Clerk
I will record the word exactly, and the uncertainty around everything else. The accusation was directed at your father.
the King
That distinction matters. You heard a man call your father a slave, not a declaration that your father owned anyone.
The palace clerk writes swiftly in the ledger's clean margin, adding the bush, the tall man's appearance, and the direction of the accusation. The quill pauses only when the ink runs thin.
the King
This strengthens the record of a dispute over elven bondage, but it does not prove your family's guilt. Do you remember where the bush stood?
Palace Clerk
Even a garden, road, or riverside landmark could connect this fragment to the counting house inspection.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify where the childhood accusation occurred
“Hm... It was dark out, so the only thing I could make out was my father and the tall man's face”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled -2)
Shiro
It was dark out. I could make out my father and the tall man's face, but little else.
The hidden memory sharpens beneath the gallery's lamplight. Shiro sees his father turned toward the stranger, and the tall man's narrow face caught in cold moonlight, marked by a pale scar through one eyebrow.
Shiro
The scar is clearer than his voice or clothing.
The image gives no reliable road, building, or riverbank. Holding the face in mind consumes the moment, and the setting slips back into darkness before another detail can be recovered.
Palace Clerk
A tall man with a scar through his eyebrow. I will mark that as the clearest identifying detail, while noting that the place remains unknown.
the King
Good. A face may lead us to a witness, even when the night concealed everything around it. Did your father recognize him?
The clerk adds the scarred brow beside the accusation, leaving space for later comparison with the witness index. The king waits, careful not to turn uncertainty into testimony.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the scarred man
“It's... hard to say if my father recognized him, but my father held hostility toward the man”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled -2)
Shiro
It is hard to say if my father recognized him, but he held hostility toward the man.
The memory returns in fragments: his father's rigid posture, the guarded angle of his shoulders, and hostility directed at the scarred stranger rather than a frightened stranger's confusion.
Shiro
My father seemed to know him, though I cannot tell why.
the King
Then recognition is the strongest reading, though not certainty. Hostility suggests history between them, but it does not reveal whose claim was just.
The effort fixes the father's apparent recognition, but the memory yields no name, words, or cause for his hostility. That missing context must be checked against the witness index.
Palace Clerk
I will record that your father's hostility made recognition likely, while preserving the uncertainty. The scarred man's identity remains unconfirmed.
the King
That is useful testimony, Shiro. We will seek the scarred man through the royal records, without treating your recollection as proof of guilt.
undefined / undefined
A black sigil suddenly flares across the closed gallery doors. Frost races over the carved wood, and the ledgers' pages whip upward though no wind stirs the room.
Palace Clerk
Your Majesty, that mark is not among the royal seals. The ink is moving.
The dark green ledger snaps shut beneath the clerk's hand. From beyond the doors comes the fiend's emissary's measured voice, carried through the wood without any opening.
The Fiend's Emissary
The inquiry has touched the bond's first witness. Produce the debtor, and the buried testimony will answer.
the King
You will not command my chamber through a seal. Speak your claim plainly, or remain outside it.
The frost fractures, revealing a thin line of crimson light beneath the threshold. The palace clerk gathers the ledger against her chest while the king places himself between Shiro and the doors.
The Fiend's Emissary
Then hear this plainly: before moonrise, the scarred man will seek the riverside counting house. If your records delay, your witness may vanish.