A short interrogation

Anaisa opened her mouth to yell at the incompetent apprentice again, but Trace continued with a calm line of questioning that was getting more information out of the boy than she had thus far managed.

"Tell me about your day so far," Trace encouraged softly. "Did you see Jin this morning?"

"No, Sir. I have the spare key and let myself in. He left a note–"

"Let me see the note!" Anaisa demanded, startling the teen.

"Please, we would very much like to speak to Jin, and it would be helpful to us to see the note if it is not a private one." Trace amended with a significant glance to Anaisa.

She pressed her lips together as angry tears pooled in her eyes.

Ugh, she hated crying when she was mad! It made her seem weak and weepy. She wasn't sad! She was angry, ready to rip someone's head off! Tears made that intention far less clear to the recipient of her wrath.

The young man darted a look between the couple and disappeared for half a minute. Anaisa was seriously considering chasing after him in case he was trying to make some sort of escape, but he returned with a piece of paper in hand.

Trace thanked him and took it gently before Anaisa snatched it away and devoured the words with her eyes.

"Keep the shop running. I will be back in a few weeks. -Jin"

"WEEKS??" Anaisa's voice rose to a screech. Trace took the note out of her hands gently and read it himself.

"Have you heard from his wife today?" Trace asked the teen calmly, but he shook his head in confusion.

"He's not married, Sir."

Anaisa nearly took the lanky young man by the collar as she bit out the words. "Her name is Katia, I saw them married yesterday with my own eyes! Where did Jin go yesterday??"

"I, um, he went home early, I suppose." Shrinking back, the answer was little more than a squeak. "I swear I know nothing more. Please go, you're frightening me."

"Thank you for all your help," Trace smiled at the young man. "We'll be going."

"Why? We haven't learned anything! Katia could be in danger!!" Anaisa turned her glare on her husband.

"I don't think she is," Trace told her thoughtfully. "For all we know, he was so excited to have such a wonderful wife that he took her on an impromptu wedding trip."

"Wedding trip?" Anaisa knew the nobility did such things, but she was given to understand that common people did not. "Is everyone who lives here rich enough for such luxuries?"

Trace grimaced. "Well, no. Farmers are usually stuck with their land and animals with very little time for such things. However, tradesmen with competent apprentices might afford such a thing."

"And you think this is the most likely reason for their absence? That he would be so excited about his marriage that he would fail to inform anyone about it before leaving on a wedding trip?" Anaisa watched Trace closely. He knew local customs better than she did, but he also seemed like the kind of person who might try to comfort her with a mere possibility.

His expression was dubious, and she frowned.

"What do you suggest we do?" He asked. "Jin's apprentice is the most likely to have known anything more, and he obviously doesn't. I don't think the man had any family hereabouts. There's nothing else I can think of."

"Where would he have gone? Where does one from this town go on an alleged 'wedding trip'?" Anaisa was becoming desperate. With such hope that she would see her sister so soon, to have that hope dashed with no knowledge of when she might find Katia again… it was overwhelming.

"Honestly, I don't know." Trace sighed. "This is unusual, but then again, so is having a wife you've never met dropped on your doorstep."

Anaisa was nearly shaking with emotion. "I have to find her."

"How? Where?" Trace threw his hands up. "If you have any leads, I want to hear them, but if you don't, we should get home and tend the animals before nightfall."

The woman's fists clenched at her sides. She tried to remind herself it wasn't Trace's fault.

"Please go," The apprentice was cowering in the corner, but clearly thought their quarrel might deter potential customers from coming.

"The second you hear a single whisper about Jin or his wife, you'll tell us immediately, you understand?? Run to the farm on foot if you have to!" Anaisa pointed her finger at the teenager, who nodded eagerly.

"Yes, sure, whatever you ask, please just go."

Trace opened the door to the shop, and Anaisa huffed as she walked out.

Angry tears blurred her vision again and she blinked them away. They coursed down her face and she scrambled onto the wagon, glaring forward and silently daring Trace to comment on them.

"I'm sorry we weren't able to find her," He spoke quietly as he sat beside her.

"Sorry won't bring her back to me," Anaisa spat out. "This is all my fault. I should never have let us volunteer. What if he's murdered her? Didn't want a wife, so he didn't tell anyone, and has taken her away to deal with her! Did you think of that? He'll come back with no one the wiser!"

"That would be tantamount to treason for directly contradicting and interfering with the royal decree that every soldier be issued a wife to rebuild the country's population." He said thoughtfully. "I don't imagine the man is a murderer, but he would be risking everything by committing treason."

Anaisa listened to his words, trying to calm herself. Trying to believe him.

"I just can't see any good reason for them to leave suddenly. Maybe that awful man you talked to had something to do with it."

Conlan. The man who had given Trace the letter had also been present to talk to Barnabas when the girls had been thrown from their home. He even used the phrase 'wish you all happiness' both times. Was it a figure of speech, or the same person?

Trace stiffened for a moment, and Anaisa resisted the urge to demand answers. He probably wouldn't give them if she did.

Snapping the reins to send the horses on the way home, Trace was quiet for a time.

"I'm… sure Katia's all right," He said softly after several moments. Anaisa noticed he didn't deny the possibility of Conlan's involvement.

"I hope so," Anaisa shivered and wrapped her arms around her middle. Without her sister, she suddenly felt lost. "I just wish I knew where she was."

Her hot tears cooled, and she wiped them from her face, turning away so that Trace wouldn't see.

She heard some crinkling, a sliding of paper, and glanced aside to see her husband reading a note. The note he'd gotten from Conlan?

His face was clouded. The paper crumpled in his hand, and he shoved it back into his coat where it had been before when he noticed Anaisa looking at him.

She hadn't gotten enough of a glance at the letter to see anything at all. Her curiosity was intense, but she didn't dare try to satisfy it while he looked so furious.

So Anaisa remained silent. She had a quick temper, but had a sense of self preservation that bid her hold her tongue when a man was quietly fuming.

If she pretended she wasn't there, remained perfectly mute and still, his anger would likely dissipate without her receiving the foul end of it. Not having known Trace very long, she wasn't even sure what him lashing out would look like.

Yelling? Breaking things? Beating?

His shoulders were still very stiff when he spoke several minutes later, startling her. She nearly jumped out of her seat and missed the first part of what he was saying.

"I think… the most likely place for a wedding trip would be the capital city. I will need to divide the animals amongst my neighbors again like I did during the war, but I will take you there to look for her."

Anaisa blinked rapidly. "Can you repeat that, please?"

Surely she'd heard wrong. There was no way that this man she barely knew, and had been married to less than a day, would put his entire livelihood on hold to help her go to a giant city on a likely fruitless endeavor to search for her sister.

Was there?

She must be hallucinating entirely. She wanted to go to the city so badly that her mind was playing tricks on her.

"I said, we'll go to the city and look for Katia. I have… friends there. I'm not sure whether we'll find her or not, but we can certainly try."