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When Birds Refuse to Sing

Started by DragonSong, February 16, 2018, 12:36:19 PM

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DragonSong

Shae frowned, then sighed, shoulders slumping. Well, one more try then.

She approached the window and pointed to it, outlining the shape of it with her finger. Then she signed again: Window.

She mouthed the word as she signed, slow and exaggerated.

emeraldknight

"Yes, the window, the window. What about it?" What was she trying to tell him? She moved her fingers along the edges of the window, before repeating that same hand motion as she mouthed a word: "Window".

"That movement... Means 'Window'?"

Of course! She must have been trying to teach him her way of saying it. "Window!" Blood Diamond repeated the sign enthusiastically, "Window, window! Yes!"

DragonSong

The raven keeper broke into a wide grin and nearly bounced in place, signing excitedly, Yes, window, yes!

Maybe this could work, just a little.

But she should focus. This man was here to track down a killer. Shae gestured to her bed, then to the window again. Mouthing the words slowly as she did, she signed, He didn't kill me, even though it would've been easy. He just left.

emeraldknight

He couldn't quite pick up on every word, but Blood Diamond got the general gist of it. He read her lips, paying special attention to the hand signs as he did. Apparently, the thief, a he, did not kill her, despite being able to. "Why?"

Pacing around the aerie, he thought things over, trying to suss out all of the possible reasons for leaving Shae alive.

"I am sorry if you would rather I not ask, but were any of the deceased servants women? Because if so, then the likely reason for your survival may be... Quite troubling."

"I really hope I sound formal enough here! Diamond was more used to sword-work than detective-work, but justice was justice.

DragonSong

A lump caught in Shae's throat and she nodded. Yes, she signed, mouthing the word. There were women.

Anna. Sirene. Liri. Tiana. Half a dozen others. Her eyes burned and she dropped her gaze, wiping at them surreptitiously.

emeraldknight

As the girl's head dropped, Diamond began to regret his line of questioning. "Do not worry, it will be alright. The truth shall prevail!" He carefully placed his fingers under her chin and nudged her head up higher. "Stay strong". At this, he turned his mind to figuring out his next move.

It seemed as though he had done all he could in regards to the aerie. He had the the testimony from Shae, and he had viewed the scene of the murder. "If the killer had no prejudice in his victims, then they must have... Known her!" He started back down the stairs.

"Thank you, your recount has helped me greatly. Uh... I'm sorry, but what was your name again?"

DragonSong

Shae flinched back from his touch, unused to gentleness from the men of the household. She blinked up at him and nodded slowly.

He seemed...very confident. Who knew, maybe he really would be able to do something about this.

She sighed when he asked her name. How was she supposed to sign this? She bit her lip and furrowed her brow as she thought. Carefully, she raised her hand and started to sign. A clenched fist, her thumb outside her other fingers. As she signed the letter, she mouthed slowly, S.

She signed it twice, then a third time, watching his face, hoping he understood. Then she moved onto the next letter, two fingers extended horizontally from her clenched fist, mouthing, H.

Her thumb moved to rest vertically against the side of her hand, her other fingers sliding down into another loose fist. A.

Another fist with her thumb in front of her fingers, but this time resting her fingertips almost on top of the line of her thumb. E.

She repeated each letter twice, then started from the beginning again. S-H-A-E

emeraldknight

"S, H, A, E. Shae." Her name was Shae. Blood Diamond repeated her hand movements, making an effort to commit each sign to memory. "Thank you, Shae." With this, he smiled warmly, and came back down the stairs, into the room where Barkus had sat. "Excuse me, may I ask a few questions?"

DragonSong

The raven keeper smiled and, unsure what else to do, followed him back into the great room.

Barkus looked up from his ledgers, frowning slightly. "What? Oh, yes, of course."

emeraldknight

"Thank you. The investigation into the aerie has revealed what could be a very critical piece of evidence." Diamond began pacing up and down the room. "The criminal did not simply slip past without noticing Shae. Rather..." He waved his hand as he turned to face the master, arm outstretched, "He choked her, and deliberately kept her alive!"

"Now, at first, I thought this could simply have been done out of unwillingness to harm a woman, but as you yourself must have noted... Some of the dead were women! And why harm Shae by choking her, unless wanting to deliberately remind her of the injuries that led to her current condition?" He pointed at the scar on her throat. "Whoever did this wants to keep her alive and suffering, and no-one would care to do so, unless they have a personal grudge against her. That can only mean one thing... Either you or Shae must have been close to the perpetrator!" With this, he raised his hand high in the air, and brought it down to over-dramatically point at Barkus. "It all makes sense. They knew about the scar, even when it was too dark to see. They killed all the servants that could understand Shae to keep her quiet, to make her despair, and thus they must have known all of them! This is the piece of evidence they were trying to hide while doing so! The murderer was close... With... Shae!"

DragonSong

The raven keeper and the lord of the manor exchanged a bewildered look as Diamond started his pacing and gesticulating.

Goodness, he's a bit of a blowhard, Shae thought despairingly.

But then suddenly he was making sense. Her eyes widened a bit. She hadn't really considered that, that the killer might have known her, because she hadn't recognized him. But...she didn't really have many memories before she'd come to live under Lord Barkus's care. It was entirely possible...

Those eyes. That scar. They flashed through her mind, vivid and haunting, and she staggered back, one hand clapping uselessly over her mouth to stifle a gasp.

Barkus started and turned to face her. "Shae?" His expression hardened and he stalked forward. "Did you know him? Is this man telling the truth?"

She shook her head desperately- not in denial, but confusion. She started signing quickly, desperate to communicate somehow, but Barkus smacked her hands down and she flinched back. "Enough of your infernal gestures! God you are useless," he snarled in her face.

emeraldknight

Blood Diamond watched on,  unsure what to do. He was uncomfortable with Barkus' confrontational attitude, but did not want to offend the man who hired him. In the end, he could not let justice go unserved, and thus stepped between the two, facing towards Barkus. "If it would be alright with you, I'd like to see a list of what has been stolen, as well as anyone who you think may know Shae and have a grudge against her. And if I may, it would aid me greatly if she could sketch what the thief looked like, to the best of her ability." The tension in the air was palpable.

DragonSong

Barkus jerked back with a scoff at the younger man. "You," he barked, gesturing to one of the footmen waiting in the corner of the room. "You heard him, fetch a list. And if any of you who spoke with Anna about the girl's past."

Shae was shaking, and despite her natural wariness she found herself pressing close to Diamond's back, trying to shelter herself from Barkus's anger.

He wasn't normally like this. She knew it must be the grief and the worry, but- but it didn't make his words hurt any less. He's right, I'm useless, I can't do anything to help-

"And someone get the girl ink and paper," Barkus growled as he stalked back to his desk.

emeraldknight

"Crisis averted". Blood Diamond wiped the sweat from his brow as Barkus stepped away. Deciding to get on with the case, he collected his thoughts for a moment, before turning to Shae and pulling her aside, out of earshot of the master of the house. It wasn't that he didn't trust Barkus, more that he was afraid of another confrontation. "She must have it tough", he thought. "Shae, I want you to tell me about the person who- No, that's what the paper is for. Sorry, I haven't quite thought too much further ahead. Uh... Yes, do you know of anyone who might have done this? Someone who knows you quite well, and might have wanted to, well, make you suffer?"

DragonSong

Shae had to fight the urge to shrink back from his grip, but she listened as he spoke. Slowly, she shook her head.

After a moment, she tapped the scar around her throat, then made the sign for “memory”, then shook her head; she had almost no memories of what had happened to her as a child, who had tried to hurt her.

Her eyes welled up and she blinked, turning her head away.

emeraldknight

"I'm sorry, I don't understand". He saw Shae turn away. Diamond couldn't imagine the trauma she's been through in her life.

DragonSong

She hadn't expected him to, really. With a soft, nearly soundless sigh, she shook her head again and looked back to him.

Little bird.

He'd called her little bird!

That was something, right?

Desperately, she started signing. Bird. She mouthed and signed the word, over and over.

emeraldknight

At first, Diamond didn't even know she'd begun to sign again. "I suppose that's one of the problems of being unable to speak". He attempted to read her lips, but had to confess that he'd never been too good at it. "Bur...N? Burt? Is there someone named Burt?"

He really was sorry for his lack of understanding, but he couldn't help it, just like Shae couldn't help her speech problem. Just as he began to give up on the interpretation, he glanced at her, in her usual hunched posture, and remembered the moment he first saw, her, hiding in the shados of the corner, with a bird. "A bird! Bird, right? Yes, what about it?"

DragonSong

Shae beamed and nodded quickly. Yes, yes!

Quickly, she pointed to herself, mimed choking, hands around her own neck. Attacker, she mouthed twice, throwing a fake punch to try to get the message across.

He. She pointed to empty air, mimed being attacked again. Him, the attacker.

She pointed to herself, then her lips. Called me, spoke to me.

She signed bird, then pointed to herself. He called me "little bird".

emeraldknight

Blood Diamond wished so much that he could understand her. Shae was trying so hard to communicate, and he felt directly responsible for not understanding her. But her signing and mouthing only had limited effectiveness, and he just couldn't keep up. "I just can't imagine this being my daily life!" He almost teared up thinking about the difficulties she faced, and looked at her with guilt as he said, "I can't understand".

Before anything more could be said, the servant came back with the paper and ink for Shae.

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