XV - Flowers of Secret Affection

Elda leaned against the stone wall of the Old Cross Inn and took a long drag from his cigarette.

He had nearly finished it when the door finally opened and Haku and Pan stepped outside.

“Well?”

Pan nodded.

“It really is her handwriting. Her father recognized it immediately, mm.”

Elda glanced down at the glowing tip of his cigarette.

“Does he have any idea what it might be about?”

Haku shook her head.

“Unfortunately not. But he seemed quite certain that Miri would never have been involved with shady adventurers.”

Elda snorted.

“That’s what every father thinks of his little girl. Until one day, she decides to prove him wrong.”

He took one final drag, dropped the cigarette to the ground, and crushed it beneath his boot.

Haku touched a finger to her chin, thinking.

“So it seems Miri really did intend to meet your party member.”

“Before sunset at the Ram Fountain,” Pan added.

Elda nodded.

“And if we’re lucky, someone saw the two of them there. So we already know our next destination.”

A short time later, they reached the ram fountain in a bustling square in the middle of Boramgar.

Inns, workshops, and small shops lined the square.

“All right,” Pan murmured. “Where do we start?”

Elda pointed at the nearest shop.

“Why don’t you try there?”

Pan folded her arms.

“We? Are you seriously expecting us to do all the work, mm?”

Elda merely stared at her as though the answer were obvious, pointing at his face.

“A guy in a mask generally doesn’t inspire much trust. If I come along, people might be too scared to tell us anything.”

Haku nodded.

“He may have a point.”

Satisfied, Elda lit another cigarette while Pan eyed him suspiciously.

“He just wants to stay out here so he can smoke in peace, mm…” she muttered.

But eventually she agreed and went into the first shop with Haku.

Many shops later, they emerged from yet another one.

Pan sighed as the door clicked shut behind them, and they returned to Elda.

“Nothing?”

Haku shook her head.

“No one claims to have seen anything.”

“That was the seventh shop!” Pan complained.

“Eighth,” Elda corrected.

Pan shot him a dark look but said nothing.

Haku pointed toward a small shop on the corner of the square.

“What about this one? We haven’t been there yet and it smells so nice.”

Flowers in every imaginable color spilled out between its open shutters.

Pan blinked.

“The flower shop?”

Elda shrugged.

“Worth a try.”

Inside, an elderly woman behind the counter listened as they explained what they were looking for.

The florist narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.

“A month ago, you say?”

“Roughly.”

“Before sunset? At the fountain?”

Pan nodded.

“Short brown hair. Possibly dressed in the uniform of a student from the Minnesang Academy. She might have been meeting a man with a large scar across his nose.”

The woman fell silent for a moment.

Then her face lit up.

“Oh! Now I remember. Yes, the gentleman had a scar just like you described. He bought a Hyacinth Amelie for a girl he was meeting outside.”

Haku and Pan’s eyes lit up at finally having found a clue.

“He bought her a flower?” Haku asked, surprised.

“A very special one.” The florist smiled. “I don’t sell Hyacinth Amelies very often.”

She pointed to a bouquet of pale violet flowers in a pitcher.

“They symbolize secret affection. Traditionally, you give them to someone you wish to be with.”

The florist smiled and glanced through the open shutters toward the fountain.

“It’s one of my favorite things about being a florist, seeing someone’s face light up when they receive flowers from my shop. And those two were such a cute couple.”

Haku and Pan looked at one another.

“So there was nothing shady going on. They were just… dating?”

The florist furrowed her brow.

“Now that I think about it, I remember the young gentleman mentioning he hoped it would motivate her to finally finish it. I wasn’t sure what he meant by that.”

“It?” Pan repeated curiously.

“Maybe a song?” Haku suggested.

The bell above the door jingled.

“You two have been in here quite a while. I assume that means you finally found something.”

Elda stepped inside, bringing with him the faint smell of cigarette smoke.

The florist looked up and her pleasant smile vanished instantly.

Her eyes settled on his mask.

“W-who are...”

“Don’t worry. He’s with us,” Pan explained.

But the florist still looked uneasy.

Elda sighed.

“See? That’s what I was talking about...”

He nodded toward the exit.

“Why don’t we go outside and you tell me what you found out, hm?”

Pan and Haku thanked the bewildered florist, then followed Elda outside.

“A date?” he asked.

“That’s what it looks like.”

He grimaced.

“Hard to believe this... scoundrel could do something like this.”

“Maybe he changed?” Haku suggested.

“Or he’s just good at acting...” Pan added.  

Elda scoffed.

“Likely the latter. But more importantly... any idea where this new information takes us?”

Pan nodded.

“We do, mm.”

***

When they reached Minnesang Academy again, Pan and Haku immediately headed toward the main entrance.

Elda did not.

“This way.”

They stopped and looked back.

“Huh?”

Elda pointed toward the main gate.

“I somehow doubt that charming dwarven bouncer is going to let you wander around again. Especially not with me around.”

Elda was already walking toward the wall surrounding the Academy grounds.

“We’ll take another entrance.”

Haku and Pan exchanged a puzzled look before following him.

He led them down a narrow lane squeezed between the outer wall and another building.

At the far end stood a stack of empty barrels beneath a small window several feet above the ground.

Elda pointed upward.

“There.”

Haku tilted her head.

“Is this how you got inside yesterday, when you followed us?”

“It is.”

A few moments later, they squeezed through the window one after another.

Elda led them through dusty storerooms and narrow corridors, then up a flight of stairs to the main level, where the Academy was once again bustling with activity.

And yet, no one seemed to pay any attention to the conspicuous trio.

“The hardest part of an infiltration is always getting in. Once you’re inside, hardly anyone suspects a thing.”

“You do this sort of thing often?” Haku asked.

Elda shrugged.

“Now and then.”

Pan and Haku said nothing, though they exchanged a brief glance.

After a while, they stopped in front of a door.

A plaque beside it bore the name:

Mistress Hugendubel.

“I’ll wait outside,” Elda said with a tilt of his head.

After a quick knock and a muffled “Come in,” they entered.

Mistress Hugendubel looked up in surprise from the pile of papers on her desk.

“Oh, it’s you again.”

Her hopeful gaze immediately settled on Haku.

“Are you here to apply for a scholarship?”

Haku shook her head gently.

“I’m sorry. I can’t.”

Pan glanced at her.

She says she can’t. Not that she doesn’t want to…

“We’re here about Miri again,” she clarified.

“Oh,” the tutor said, sounding almost disappointed before her expression turned serious once more. “Were you able to find out where she went?”

“Not yet,” Pan said. “We need to know whether Miri was working on anything particular before she disappeared, mm.”

“A song, perhaps,” Haku added.

Mistress Hugendubel thought for a moment, then her expression brightened slightly.

“She was.”

Hugendubel rose from behind her desk and walked over to a tall cabinet against the wall.

“Whenever she got stuck on a passage, she would come to me for advice.”

She unlocked one of its drawers and began sorting through several folders until she found the one she was looking for.

“Ah, there it is.”

She placed the folder on the desk and opened it.

Inside were several pages covered in annotations and musical notation.

Pan leaned over them.

“Is that it?”

The tutor nodded.

“The draft she wanted me to look over.”

Pan and Haku bent over the pages, studying them closely.

Many passages had been crossed out, with new words and lines scribbled into the margins.

“An aubade...” Haku soon realized.

The tutor smiled approvingly.

“It is.”

“Can we take this, mm?!” Pan asked.

Hugendubel considered the request for a moment.

“Well, I’m not actually allowed to give a student’s property to strangers...”

She shrugged.

“But if it helps you find her, I think I can turn a blind eye.”

“Thank you.”

And with that, they left the room.

Outside, Elda’s eyes immediately settled on the pages.

“Well?”

Pan unfolded them so they could all take a look.

“These are pages from the song she was working on. Maybe there’s a clue in here about where they might’ve gone, mm.”

They studied the pages intently.

“Hmm...”

Soon, Elda’s eyes narrowed.

“I think I know where they went.”

“You do?!” Haku and Pan exclaimed in unison.

He nodded and pointed to a passage on the page.

“It’s actually quite obvious.”