Chapter 4 – The Meaning of Nine

Tracklist

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“Hmm….”

Ennea circled around the model safe for the 9th time. Then she did a 10th to avoid leaving it at that. She fiddled with the tiny dial while pressing an ear right up against it, able to hear the sounds of the town around her, but no mechanics. Calvera was right, this thing was totally silent.

“Hey Salute, could you try hitting it?” Ennea asked.

“What? Why?” Salute looked somehow offended by the suggestion.

“I mean, maybe it has a literal weak point. Aren’t drills sometimes used to break safes open?”

“I don’t know. I can’t think like a criminal. But fine.”

Salute trudged on over to the safe, leaned both heads in, and bit it. After trying to chew the metal for a moment, both heads changed to try a different spot. Then again, and again. Once he’d nibbled every bit of the front, he took a step back and worked his jaws.

“Ow,” he helpfully informed everybody.

“I take it that you didn’t find anything, then….”

Ennea was interrupted by a metallic scraping. Looking back at the safe, she saw Autumnal dragging a tail against it. Whoa, what? How’s he—oh, wait. Iron Tail. After lightly assaulting everyone’s ears, he looked at Ennea and shook his head.

“The metal’s real strong, huh?” Ennea rest her cheek on a paw. “I guess that checks out. The real deal didn’t look damaged. Anything done to it would have to be internal.”

Autumnal took a closer look at the dial. At this size, it was pretty hard to operate. Taking his cue, Ennea gave it a look as well, careful not to accidentally brush up against him.

“Maybe…” she wondered aloud. “Something got in. The dial at least needs enough space to move. That’s possibly enough for liquid to get inside. That means…”

Ennea jumped up, slamming a paw to the ground. “That’s right! It’s time to call in our expert!”

After hoisting the model safe to its rightful place on Salute’s back, the trio headed out to the Occipital Corner, near the very edge of town. You could see the lakefront in the distance, with a couple of churches flanking it.

Nestled in-between some kitschy specialty shops was Bezel’s family’s shop. It’s design was subtly different—it had just enough restraint to look properly artsy. None of the other nearby buildings could make a purple roof work, but Bezel was an artisan.

And working the shop today, as Ennea discovered on entering. The second thing she discovered was Bezel’s newest fragrance. Her scents usually tended to be floral, but today it seemed Bezel was feeling fruity. The dinging of a bell as the door closed alerted the Swablu to the group’s presence, and she effortlessly swiveled around to face them all.

“Why, hello there, Ennea.” Bezel placed a wing under her chin. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Unlike last time, this was out of the ordinary. As such, Ennea played along. “Indeed, my dear friend. So much has happened since we last spoke!”

“Oh yes, I’m certain. How has your budding career as an ‘Ace Investigator’ been treating you?”

“Quite well, Bezel. Quite well.” Ennea’s smile turned devious. “I met Polaris.”

Bezel choked on her words.

“It was lovely,” Ennea continued. “We met at twilight, in the most beautiful little spot….”

Bezel jumped up onto the front counter, digging her talons into it. “Tell me everything.”

“…She’s a lot nicer than I expected, after meeting her mom.” Ennea dropped the act. “She didn’t immediately assume Autumnal did it, even if it turned out there was sort of a reason for them to suspect him. She’s got this garden, with all these water-based plants….”

“What kind. Irises? Hyacinths? Cardinals?”

“Um… I don’t know. They had basically every color, though.”

Bezel flipped open a tablebook, scrawling out a truly remarkable amount of notes. Her talon was practically smoking when she finished.

With a clap, Bezel was back to her dignified self. “I see! Well, dearest Ennea, you’re truly too kind for giving me such good news.” She gave the rest of the group a smile, elation dancing behind her eyes. “So! What can I do for all of you on this fine day?”

Salute hefted the safe onto the ground. He took surprising care to not damage the floor with the heavy edges. “This thing. She wants to know if you can break it.”

“Yeah, I’m wondering if you know of any corrosive chemicals. Ones that could ruin this thing’s internal mechanisms.”

“A substance that can damage metals? Ennea, you should really try to challenge me next time.” Bezel ducked down below the counter, clinks of glass ringing out before she popped back up with a pink and purple vial. “Here we are: genuine Salazzle poison, particularly corrosive against metals.”

“You just… have Salazzle poison with you.”

Bezel swirled the vial. “The pheromones it contains are quite effective for creating an especially bold fragrance. Too brash for me, but there are some who believe themselves to be worthy of such a thing.”

She fluttered on over to the safe, and using a thin dropper at the end of the vial, squeezed a couple drops behind the dial. After a minute of suspense, she pulled the safe open like it was nothing.

“Ha!” She covered her beak with the back of a wing. “Truly simple. Never doubt the—whoa.”

“What’s up?”

Bezel gave a close look to the mechanics of the door, and gently closed it. Despite there being no click of a lock, when she tried to open it again, it didn’t budge.

“Whoever made this truly is an expert,” Bezel mused. “You can corrode the mechanisms, but it was designed with this in mind. It uses the damage to gum itself up. Essentially, it’s a method that only allows for you to open the safe once, and then never again.”

Autumnal leaned in, testing the dial. Somehow, it still could spin, despite the internal damage. You wouldn’t even know it was broken unless you tried to open it again.

“I see…” Ennea absentmindedly felt the safe’s texture. “So long as nobody tried to open it back up, it would look untouched. And only Calvera knows the code.” That was something to consider. “Hey, what was inside?”

Bezel rolled her wings into a dramatic shrug. “I’m not sure I understand it. It was simply a scrap of paper saying, and I quote, ‘Conglaturation !!!’ along with a doodle of a smiling Wyrdeer.”

“Yeah, sounds about right. Guess we can’t really use the model anymore if it’s stuck shut. You mind holding onto this for now?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” Bezel took her spot at the counter again. “But because we’re friends, I’ll do it, just for you.”

“Awesome, thanks Bezel! Alright, we’ve got limited time, and a couple of places to check. We can talk again soon!”

“We had better. I’m nowhere near done interrogating you about Polaris.” Bezel gestured to the safe. “I’ll hold onto this until the trial’s over, and no longer.”

“Yeah, yeah. See you later!”

Bezel nodded, then got a sour look. “Oh, there’s just one more thing. Autumnal.”

Autumnal’s ears perked as he turned—

—to find Bezel looking horribly disappointed. “It’s good to see you’ve finally managed to clean yourself up, but if you’re going to wear eyeliner, at the very least try to be more refined in how you apply it.” She tossed him a compact. “Be sure to actually use a mirror, your guesswork clearly isn’t sufficient.”

His face didn’t change, but the glance Autumnal gave to the wall told Ennea all she needed to know. “Rglbja.”

Salute grumbled. “Who cares? There’s justice to be found.” And with those wise words, he led everybody to exit.

Once outside, the trio found a bit of shade and waited for a decision on where to investigate next. Autumnal turned the compact over in his paw, inspecting it with that same empty expression.

“Don’t worry,” Ennea assured him. “She means well. If nothing else, I like how it looks.” His eyeliner was applied on pretty thick, but that helped make his eyes more expressive, which was a boon for him.

“Ah.” Autumnal shook his head, then pressed a paw against his eyelid, slowly rubbing it. He showed off the paw right after. It was totally spotless, and the “eyeliner” hadn’t smudged even the slightest.

“Wait.” Ennea did a double take. “Wait! That’s not make-up?! That’s just how your fur’s patterned?”

Autumnal nodded.

“Wha— you should have told her! She’d totally feel bad if she knew she was insulting your natural fur!”

Autumnal nodded again.

“What do you mean ‘yeah?!’ Jeez… we’ve really gotta fix this speech thing, if only so that you can properly tell off all the people treating you bad. At least you got some free goods out of it this time.”

Autumnal shrugged, stowing the compact in the curl of a tail.

“Hey,” Salute called while keeping watch of the nearby pedestrians. “I thought you had ‘no time to waste.’ Where’re we going?”

“Right, right.” Ennea gave him a look, even though he was facing away from her. “You’re really hung up about the time stuff today. You upset about something?”

“I liked my normal patrol. Sitting around and talking about make-up isn’t allowing me to do my job.”

“You worried your haunt’ll become a den of crime without you watching over it?”

“I would be. But someone’s covering for me.” Both of Salute’s heads snapped in the same direction. “Actually, there they are.”

Ennea followed his theoretical gaze, expecting an imposing fellow guard. She quickly had to adjust her vision downwards to watch the Sandile waddling on up to Salute as quickly as their tiny legs could take them.

“Justice! It’s good to see you!” The Zweilous and the Sandile both gave each other a salute. Neither’s body was particularly well-suited to the pose. “Is everything well?”

The Sandile nodded roughly 30 times in a single second, eyes blazing.

“Is everybody safe and happy?” Salute continued. “Is Locris carrying too much, again?”

“Justice,” as Ennea was suspecting the Sandile was called, stuck out their tongue in a silly smile.

“Of course she is. Did she get some help?”

Lil’ Justice hopped from side to side, ecstatically pointing to themselves.

“Good job!” Salute gave a pair of big, fanged grins as he gave the Sandile some coin. “I’ll be home late tonight. Make sure you get yourself a warrior’s lunch. There’s also enough for dinner if you don’t want to wait for me.”

The excited, near feral hiss that Lil’ Justice gave startled Ennea as the Sandile accepted the money. Seeming to sense her unease, Lil’ Justice glanced between Ennea and Autumnal with a child’s curiosity.

“These are the two I was ordered to guard,” Salute explained. “Ennea and Autumnal. Autumnal’s the criminal.”

Lil’ Justice sidled on up to Autumnal, blinking a couple of times. They brought a claw up, pinching it open and closed in imitation of a mouth.

“Ah…” Autumnal shrugged, then shook his head.

That made Lil’ Justice beam, letting out another wild cry as they gave Autumnal a thumbs-up.

Autumnal idly brushed a paw through his hair for a moment before giving a nod and tapping his head a few times.

Lil’ Justice stood proud and tall as they jabbed a claw into their chest, mimicked a mouth again, then pointed to Salute.

“Hm.” Autumnal’s tails started doing their thinking thing again. He bobbed his head back and forth, considering something.

Ennea gave a wry smirk. “…You two get along well.” Maybe it was solidarity?

“Alright, we’ve got justice to find,” Salute announced. Both his heads addressed Lil’ Justice. “So we’ll need to go now. Keep being the best. I’ll see you tonight.”

Lil’ Justice gave Salute a toothy grin and Autumnal a wave before running off.

“…So, you employed your kid to watch over the town?”

“They’re not my kid.” Salute forced a glower at a nearby streetlamp before swelling up. “And they wanted to help. Now they’re an invaluable pillar of the community.”

“I bet they call you ‘dad.’”

“Shut up. Making fun of others’ familial situations is an injustice.”

“By the way.” Ennea felt more than a little awkward having to ask for this part. “Um… are they a boy or a girl?”

“They’re a warrior.”

“Oh. I see.” Ennea gave Autumnal a look that made him raise an eyebrow. Definitely solidarity.

Salute managed to bring his heads back to Ennea and Autumnal. “Let’s not waste time. Where to?”

“Well…” Ennea glanced around. “Obviously we need to go back to Merx Manor to check the safe, but I think we should also stop by and see Kyniska.”

That made Salute perk up. “Wait, you know Kyniska?”

“Chief Hiketeria mentioned her. Since seeing both Ward and Bezel was helpful, maybe it’d be a good idea to check her out, too.”

“Then I can lead you there. She’s actually not too far from here.”

It was a bit busy due to many of the churches wrapping up their services, but Salute took Ennea and Autumnal through a path winding around near the lakefront. The early afternoon allowed its waters to glitter, and lilies slowly drifted down from the deepest reaches of the lake. Ennea couldn’t help but give the mountain casting its shadow over the landmark a meaningful gaze. Adventure always seemed just out of reach.

She looked over to see Autumnal looking up at it as well.

“That’s Mount Cephalo,” she explained. “It’s a pretty cool place, from what I hear. The top part of the mountain actually hangs over the lake, like a cliff.”

Autumnal turned and gave Ennea a nod.

“Wait, ‘yes?’ You already know? Sorry for explaining, then.”

“Ah.” Autumnal shook his head. He used a tail to point to himself, then up to the mountain, just as they got to a street where the buildings blocked their view of it.

“You’ve been there?” Well, he’d been to the base. It wasn’t like anyone outside of the guilds could go up. “Wait, what was the no for, then?”

“For ‘no more talking,’” Salute chimed in. “We’re here.”

The building they’d been brought to felt almost like a den, being shoved between other, taller buildings that made its low position all the more noticeable. Taking a short set of stairs down to the front door, Salute gave a knock using his wing.

After a minute or so of waiting, he just opened the door. “She’s working, I guess. Can’t hear us.”

The inside was decorated enough that despite its rustic brick walls and lack of windows, it still looked like a more traditional dojo. A floor covered in mats, wood pillars holding up the place, and lots of rough, painted signs espousing ideals of effort and dedication. Ennea noticed that an especially haphazard looking one reading “Order. Vigilance. Discipline.” bore Salute’s name on it.

“…I should update that one,” the dragon mumbled.

Near the back, hunched over and panting next to one of many training dummies, was a massive Mudsdale covered in scars and bandages.

“Kyniska.” Salute gave a bow. It was a strange motion to see from him.

Kyniska squinted at Salute with one eye. Despite how exhausted she looked, a satisfied smile was on her face. “Salute! It’s been ages! Good to see you.” She managed to stand up to her full, towering height. “You had better be keeping up with your training.”

“Of course!”

“Good to hear it.” Kyniska cracked her back. “But I hope you aren’t planning on proving it right now.” She gave a slight nod to Ennea and Autumnal. “Who are they?”

Salute jostled a head like he was trying to get something out of his ear. “I wasn’t looking to spar. But someday I’m going to beat you. I’m supposed to guard these two. One of them’s an accused thief. They wanted to ask some questions.”

Kyniska slowly walked over to the pair. Despite wincing with each step, the motion was practiced and deliberate. “Does this have to do with the Merxes?”

“If you mean the Merx Fortune Theft, then yeah,” Ennea explained. “I’m investigating it, and wanted to hear a few things from you.”

“Works for me.” Kyniska rested against a nearby pillar. “I’ve a bit of time. What bothers you?”

“Well…” Ennea glanced at the long, mud-dipped braids Kyniska had, then to her multitude of bandages. “What were you doing the night that it happened?”

A moment passed, before Kyniska gave a big, boisterous laugh that bounced around the room. “Oh, I see! You suspect I did it!”

“I—” Ennea pursed her lips and looked away. “Well, maybe, but—”

“Some advice: be less obvious about it.” Kyniska massaged a hoof. “Don’t start with ‘where were you the night of the crime?’ You don’t want a criminal to know you’re on to them.”

“You seem to have a weird stake in this….”

“It’s just advice. I’ve picked up a few things from Hiketeria. But now I have a question. What happened during this crime I’m suspected of?”

“Well.” Ennea supposed this was a good time for review. “They snuck into the manor undetected, despite the complicated guard plan. After getting in, they cracked the safe and took the money.” Potentially using a corrosive chemical. “As they were leaving, the youngest of the Merx family saw them, confirming they were a quadruped with long hair. The thief jumped out a window and over the wall, but the witness used Gravity, which seriously injured them during the fall. Then they—”

Kyniska raised a hoof. “I understand. I have hair, I’m quadrupedal, and I’m injured. But it couldn’t have been me.”

“Why not? I mean, I know about the alibi, but—”

Kyniska brought that hoof down in a thunderous stomp, rumbling the entire dojo. “More than that. I’m a Mudsdale. I’m big and heavy. A fall that would seriously injure others would do far worse to me. Were I the thief, I would not be able to stand right now, even if I had a healer.”

“Yeah!” Salute butted in. “Don’t accuse her! She’s a friend!”

Ennea shrunk a good bit. “Sorry! We just… need to figure out what really happened.”

“I’m not offended,” Kyniska assured. “But you would be wasting your time suspecting me.”

“Right, right….” Ennea looked for any other direction to steer the conversation in. “You and Salute are friends, huh? Did you train him?”

“Only a little.”

Salute stood at attention. “She helped. But I was lucky enough to have Chief Hiketeria train me herself.”

“Got it, got it…” Ennea’s tail suddenly went straight. “Wait, how did you know something was up with the Merxes, but not any of the specifics of the crime?”

Kyniska gave an amused huff. “It was a guess. I just figured that they would get robbed again.”

“Again?”

“Of course. They have too much money. It’s been a while, but I remember they were robbed before.”

“Wait, what happened that time?” Maybe the thieves used similar methods. Maybe they were even the same person!

“Lets see…” Kyniska stared at the pillar she was using to support her body. “It was around three years ago, now. Hiketeria had more time back then and talked to me about it. She had theories that it was someone who worked in construction, and—”

“I know this one!” Salute slid in front of Kyniska. “It was this Scrafty who wanted to build his own mansion! The Chief managed to solve the whole case in just a day! She even handled the arrest herself!”

“Yes, that she did.” Kyniska nodded, an uneasy smile coming to her.

Not the same person, then. “You know anything else about it? How they got in, or how they broke the safe?”

“The Scrafty had stolen a key from one of the manor’s servants!” Salute gushed. “She never told me how he broke the safe, but the Chief found he’d stashed the money in his own home! How stupid is that? She was also way nicer to him than he deserved, and got him a light sentence!”

“I see that you’re a big fan.” Beside her, Ennea could see Autumnal glancing between her and Salute. “Yeah? And what are you trying to say?”

“That sums it up,” Kyniska explained. “It was a short case, and it’s all resolved.”

“Alright then. I’ll keep it in mind. Anyway, back to what I came here for. You and Chief Hiketeria were sparring the night of the crime, right? You’ve got that as an alibi.”

“I do. I was glad to see her come by, even if it was at nearly 1 AM. We almost never get to spend time together anymore.”

“Yeah… blame the Council for that.” They were both already cleared, since that was the exact time the crime was occurring, but Ennea felt like getting more info anyway. “How long did you go for?”

Kyniska gave a weak grin. “Nearly an entire hour. It had been months since we last met up, so we made up for lost time. She was relentless.”

Ennea eyed the multitude of bandages covering parts of the Mudsdale’s body. “Are you… okay?”

“We always spar with our full strength. I never get the chance to go all out otherwise, and she must be ready to fight with her life on the line. A little injury is a small price to pay to see a good friend again.” One of Kyniska’s hooves spasmed. “Though I wish she had used fewer of her Grass moves on me.”

“Jeez, that really isn’t holding back. I wouldn’t want to hurt a friend like that….”

“I suppose not everyone can understand.” Kyniska stole a glance at a clock behind her. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll ask that you leave. I need to prepare lunch for myself.”

Late eater, huh? Shoot, I guess we are, too. “That’s fine, thanks for the info!” Ennea shuffled her paws on the ground. “I, um… get well soon?”

Pushing off of the pillar, Kyniska gave a stretch and settled into an active stance. “No need. I’ll simply push through.”

“Yeah. No.” Salute shook his heads. “I’ll be back tomorrow with healing supplies. See you.”

 

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“So what time is it, anyway?” Ennea asked once they were outside.

It was the clock tower that answered, ringing out before giving three chimes.

“…I don’t even know if that still qualifies as lunchtime.” Ennea looked around, spotting a nearby café. “May as well be quick about it. Let’s pop in and grab a bite.”

She trotted on up to the place and went inside, taking a moment to survey the tables, figure out what she was going to order, let Salute go first, and—

Ennea popped back out the door to address the Vulpix waiting outside.

“…Autumnal, that includes you.”

He shook his head. “Tiy sib’r bwws ri aowbs niew nibwt ib nw.”

Was he really trying to refuse? “It’ll be weirder if you don’t. It’s fine, I’ll pay for you.”

He tried shaking his head again, then pointed to himself and slid a paw horizontally in the air.

She really didn’t have a choice, did she? “Okay, I didn’t want to bring it up, but….”

Autumnal tilted his head as Ennea hesitated.

“…Dude, I can see your ribs.”

Autumnal’s tails pressed together behind him as he tried poking himself where his ribs were showing. After confirming that yes, he could use a little more weight on his body, he sighed and entered the café.

“Slnb ur. Dubw, vyr U ln oltubf tiy vlxj die rgua.”

Victory for Ennea! Destroying her friends with facts and logic since yesterday! She skipped on in after him, deciding to order a sandwich with a Liechi-based spread on a whim. Maybe their visit to Merx Manor had given her a taste for it. Working out Autumnal’s order took a lot longer, and disappointingly just resulted in an inexpensive grilled cheese sandwich.

They found a table and joined Salute, who was already busy tearing into his meal. Whatever it was, it was unrecognizable now.

“Hey, Salute.” Ennea’s prompting caused one of his heads to look up, a stray leaf of lettuce still hanging out of his mouth. “I got to thinking about something when talking to Kyniska. You did your whole deep dive into the Merx Guard plan and all.”

Salute finally got his food back in his mouth, talking with it full. “Yeah. I even saw the map of it. Now I know about as much as most of them.”

Ennea struggled to sit still. “So… do you know about the secret garden?”

His chewing stopped. “Secret garden?”

Ennea’s paws rubbed her seat as her tail lashed behind her. “I knew it! It isn’t even on the map! I think that might be how the thief got past the guards!”

Salute slammed his claws on the table, nearly throwing all of their food off of it. “A flaw?! You found one?! Their unjust system is complete garbage, as expected!”

“Yeah!” Ennea turned to Autumnal, causing Salute to whip his heads to the boy as well.

“Uh.” Autumnal gently pat a paw onto the table, looking at Ennea for approval.

She had been trying to give him a signal that they shouldn’t let anyone know it was him who found the secret garden, but it was hard to be disappointed at his attempt to match everyone’s energy.

“Yep, well said!” Ennea scarfed down her food with as much dignity as she could muster. “Now we’ve gotta get back to the Manor to confirm!”

 

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The trio dashed back to the golden gate leading to Merx Manor. Without a moment’s hesitation, Ennea waltzed on up and shouted out like before.

“Heeey! Urania! We’ve got business again!”

This time, Autumnal managed to stay strong in the face of Ennea’s blatant disregard for social graces. More or less, at least. She could still see his ears flick back, even as he kept the rest of himself static. She’d have to try harder in the future.

“Excuse me,” came that now familiar drawl.

Ennea whirled back around to greet the Golduck inside the garden with a confident smirk. “Hey again. We’ve got a few things we need to investigate, so we’d like to be let in once more.”

“I see.” Urania pulled out a pocket-watch from… somewhere, glazing over it for a moment.

“It will be considered,” they simply said before speeding off lazily.

“Wait, wha—” Ennea stammered in Urania’s dust. “I kinda thought they’d just let us in immediately….”

“Maybe they don’t want us back,” Salute guessed.

That was disheartening. Ennea plopped herself down onto the cobbles. They really never tell you how much of a real investigation involves just waiting for people….

With nothing else to do, Ennea scanned the garden on the other side of the wall. It was dense in some areas, sculpted in others, and looked quite nice, though it hadn’t changed at all since yesterday. Or maybe it had? It wasn’t like Ennea was an expert on this kind of thing. A botanist, gardener, or even just enthusiast would probably get a kick out of all the different kinds of plants they had tamed.

Ennea considered whether Bezel would have something to say about the garden while idly humming a tune. She totally would. She was an expert, after all! She had to know a ton about plants with specific fragrances and such. Either that, or she’d have memorized everything she could about decorative flora just to impress Polaris.

She heard a soft thumping, and glanced at Autumnal. He was bouncing a hind leg—the uninjured one—looking deep in thought, tail thing and all. Coincidentally, his tapping lined up perfectly with Ennea’s humming. Wonder what’s got him so worked up? Probably the case. I’m avoiding thinking about it, but if my two theories turn out to be wrong again, then we’ll be kinda stuck….

Reaching the end of the song, Ennea began another, idly taking in her surroundings once more. It hadn’t changed at all since nine minutes ago, and she was pretty sure that wasn’t due to any lack of knowledge on her part.

It took a near embarrassing amount of time to realize that the thumping was still going. She looked back to the Vulpix, finding him bouncing that same leg, now in tempo with her new song. Huh? Did he do that on purpose? She tried changing songs again. After hardly a moment, Autumnal’s thumping matched her, though he didn’t seem to notice. He’s doing it reflexively?

Eventually, Autumnal noticed Ennea staring at his legs, and brought the bouncing to a stop, looking more than a little uncomfortable.

“…Aieet. U susb’r jbiq U qla lbbitubf tiy,” he muttered.

Ennea just tilted her head, tail flicking behind her. On a whim, she began to tap the ground, creating a simple rhythm.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap, Ta-Tap, tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap, Ta-Tap, tap.

Autumnal blinked, watching her as something began to flicker in his eyes. He began to tap a shackle to the ground, in a rhythm that complimented Ennea’s.

Tap. Ting-Tap. Ting-Tap. Tap-Ting, Ta-Tap, Ting.

Tap. Ting-Tap. Ting-Tap. Tap-Ting, Ta-Tap, Ting.

This was kinda cool! They both had a little percussion piece going on now. Ennea began to experiment with her part, tapping in different spots and with different strengths to try different sounds. Autumnal was getting into it as well, sitting down so that he could begin scraping his other shackle on the ground, adding another layer to their song.

Shack. Ting-Tap-Shk, Ting-Tap. Shk-Tap-Ting, Ta-Tap, Ting-Shk.

Shack. Ting-Tap-Shk, Ting-Tap. Shk-Tap-Ting, Ta-Tap, Ting-Shk.

Who knew how long they’d been going. Ennea hadn’t done something like this… well, ever! There was something so effortlessly fun about it… bouncing and nodding along with an improvised tune, one that didn’t need to be anything other than what they wanted it to be. Ennea tried mixing things up, improvising over Autumnal’s beat and ramping up into a true drum solo before bringing it all to an end with one final tap to end all taps.

Their performance a rousing success, Ennea beamed at Autumnal, who gave her the ovation they deserved.

“And you said I was a weirdo….” Salute grumbled behind them.

Still in the middle of giving a bow to her audience/bandmate, Ennea’s ears went straight up as she whipped around with a raised eyebrow.

“You’re still on about that?”

“Hm-hm…!” A soft giggle escaped Autumnal, making Ennea flash the boy a grin. She thought she’d need to try harder in the future, and wouldn’t you know it, the future was already here! He shot a paw over his mouth and looked off to the distance, forcing himself back into his trademark neutrality just as Urania began to reappear.

“Excuse me.”

“Yeah?” Ennea was still smirking. “You letting us in or what?”

Urania’s brow furrowed for a split second.

“Indeed,” they sighed. “Lady Calvera has agreed to allow you into the estate once more.”

Motionlessly, Urania opened the gate into the Merx Manor for the trio again. The only movement they gave before speeding off was a short wave of their hand, a gesture telling the trio to follow.

Keeping up as they ran across the fountain complex, Ennea wondered if the journey over this series of bridges was anything like the one adventurers would take into the heart of the lake Epiphany was built around. It was definitely harrowing enough for Salute, who took extra care to stumble and swerve around any fountains near or on the walkways, whether they were on or not.

Of course, just as he was beginning to look confident, a spurt of water arced in from afar, and with a sad splash, drenched him once more.

“Goodness me, that just won’t do,” Urania chided. “I had hoped you would be more careful this time. I’m afraid you’ll need to be dried off once again.”

“Great.” In his frustration Salute gave the wood they were on a stomp, drawing a wicked glare from Urania. “Ugh! Fine! I’ll just wait by the gate.” Salute leaned his heads in to both Autumnal and, surprisingly, Ennea. “No crimes.”

And with that, he marched off, attempting to recapture the dignity that the water had taken from him.

“Let us proceed,” Urania suggested, giving the now duo no more time to catch their breath.

“Actually,” Ennea asked as they arrived at the grand entrance to the manor. “There’s a couple of things I wanted to ask you.” Just for fun, she put on an old act. “Would you be ever so gracious as to answer the innocent questions of a young noble?”

“If it will save time for Lady Calvera, I will gladly take your questions.”

“Thanks. First off.” Ennea stopped Urania before they opened the front doors. “This, right here. I heard that a few years ago, someone stole a key to get in. It possible that could’ve happened again?”

“Absolutely not.” Urania produced a silver key from whatever pocket-dimension they stored their watch in. “I have in my hands one of the only two keys to the entire manor. After that incident three years ago, we destroyed the rest. The other lies safely in the talons of Lady Calvera.”

Ennea inspected the key as it caught glints from the dipping sun. “Yeah? You were there for all of that?”

“I have served the Merx household for decades.”

“Mind letting us know what happened during that case?”

Urania whipped the key back to whence it came. “I’m afraid there’s little to say. A disgruntled man wished to take that which was not his, pick-pocketed a key from one of the Manor guards, and broke in, but was found out within a day of his crime.” They gave Autumnal a cold look. “It is fortunate that this case’s trial is being expedited. The most difficult back then was waiting an entire week for a trial that lasted less than an hour.”

“I’d have preferred more time to solve the case, personally, but we’re getting there. Point is: there’s only the two keys, so the thief would’ve needed to pick the door.”

“Impossible. I’m certain they did not.”

Ennea frowned. “What?”

Urania opened the front doors and, their hands moving in a whirlwind of blurs, removed the inner mechanisms, holding them up for Ennea to see.

“I inspected the door and every window personally. I can confirm that none of them were tampered with whatsoever. Lock picking leaves physical marks, and psychic manipulation leaves metaphysical ones. Neither can be found in this case.”

Ennea had to take a moment, blinking and glancing between the entrance, Urania, and the parts of the door they had just with their hands dismantled right in front of her. Okay… so, I guess that’s out of the question, then. I’ll have to theorize later.

“Um, so…” Ennea finally managed to murmur. “What about the window they escaped through? Did they open that from inside?”

“Indeed.”

“Fine then, moving on. Or, actually, back. About how they got past the guards in the first place. Urania, do you know about the secret garden?”

Urania spoke while slowly and carefully reinserting the door’s mechanisms. “I do. I am honored to be blessed in such a way.”

“So a couple of people other than just the Merxes know about it?”

“As few as is necessary. The architect, other necessary planners, and I. Not even the gardeners are allowed to know. In fact, Young Lady Polaris manages the cultivation and upkeep of the secret garden herself.”

Ooh, Bezel will like that. “I’m kinda surprised you’re not mad I know about it.”

Urania’s beak clamped tight. “…You are a member of House Harmonie. It would be expected.”

Yeah, yeah. Despite which one I am, I get it. “I think that’s it, then. Anything else I’d want to ask would need to go to Calvera directly.” Knowing that the culprit either is or has connections to these “planners” is useful for us figuring things out, but not for proving Autumnal innocent. So long as his origins and nationality are up in the air, anything can be claimed about him.

“Then let us continue.” Urania rushed indoors, a levitating Autumnal in tow.

“Don’t—” Ennea glanced at a nearby grandfather clock. It was already past five. An unnecessary argument might waste time. “Darn it… sorry, Autumnal.”

A long, winding trek through the Flying-friendly and grounded unfriendly halls of Merx Manor later, and they were brought to a cozy study, where Calvera was at a desk poring over what looked to be financial records. From what Ennea could see, the numbers they were working with were astronomical, but the profits were comparatively modest. She supposed trying to undercut the stranglehold the Kecleon dynasty had over the market was more difficult than it first seemed.

“Lady Calvera.” Urania bowed while giving Autumnal back his bodily autonomy. “I apologize for the wait. Here are the guests you allowed.”

“It’s no matter. I’ve had use for the time.” The Hawlucha straightened the stack of papers she was holding, then dropped them down as she rose up. “Ennea Harmonie. I trust that you’ve done your family proud and located our missing funds?”

Ennea’s tail drooped. “Not… exactly. I’m working that part out. But I have a good idea of how they got past the guards, and wanted to test a theory of how they broke the safe.”

Calvera rolled her eyes. “That’s of little use to me.” She held up a talon before Ennea could interject. “Don’t waste my time with your arguments. Either you find the money, or you don’t. Learning how the Vulpix took it means little if it doesn’t lead directly to how they stored it.”

“Yeah?” Oh boy, Ennea was about to push it by floating this theory. “And what if the theft never actually happened?”

“Excuse me?”

Ennea tried leading everyone out into the hall. Only Autumnal followed, so she settled for pacing. “When’s the last time you opened the safe?”

“The night of the crime.”

“So you can’t confirm right now if the money is really gone.”

“I had hoped you would at least be a little more intelligent. It had been taken when I checked that night. Are you suggesting that the thief broke back in to return it?”

“No, I’m suggesting that nobody but you can confirm that the money had ever vanished.”

Urania lurched forward, absolute fury contorting their face. They slammed into the wing Calvera put out to stop them. Before they could profusely apologize, the matron continued.

“I see. You believe that this entire debacle is a fabrication of mine. To what end would that serve?” She flicked a wing at Autumnal. “To frame a random Vulpix? One I’d never even seen before, and now can’t for the life of me tell whether they’re supposed to be a boy or a girl?”

Jeez, you didn’t have to just say it like that…. Ennea spared a glance at Autumnal. His face hadn’t changed, but neither had his body language. Guess he isn’t too bothered?

Ennea cleared her throat. “I’m just trying to say that if I have to provide evidence to prove it wasn’t him, maybe it would be fairer for you to prove the theft really happened. All you have to do is open up the safe again, right? For all you know, the night it vanished might’ve been an illusion. Maybe a Zoroark was involved.”

Calvera looked down upon the duo for an entire minute before sighing and joining Ennea out in the hall. “Everybody knows that a Zoroark’s illusions can only cover their own body. But fine, if it will quell your fears, I shall once again open the safe.”

Finally! Ennea trotted off to the safe room, now with the whole gang following. As her and Autumnal settled down flanking the thing and its huge, dark form, Calvera joined them.

“Alright, just open it on up and we’ll be good!” It was time to see whether it could be opened again.

“I will. But first, you two must leave.”

Ennea tilted her head. “Wha…?”

Calvera let out a huff from her break. “You think I would let you in here and risk the safe code getting out? No. Wait in the hall and I will confirm.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding. How are we supposed to even know you opened it?”

“Listen.” Calvera nearly jabbed Ennea’s ears with a talon. “You’ve the tools for it. I’ll even leave the door open so that you needn’t strain yourself.”

“I—” Well, they were mostly doing this to test the corrosion theory. But now Ennea’s bluff theory of the theft itself being a hoax was starting to sound more reasonable.

Autumnal waved a paw, and gave Ennea a nod.

“You think we should do it? Okay….”

And so, they were escorted back out to the hall by Urania. The Golduck made sure they waited in a spot where they couldn’t look into the room directly—not enough to see the safe, at least. It was then that Ennea remembered that the dial was silent. Since the only sound would be the safe door opening, it wouldn’t be all that hard to fabricate….

But the sound did come, even as Ennea fidgeted in her spot. With no more than a simple announcement of “It is open.” Calvera then made the sound of the safe closing and returned to the hall.

“There you are,” she announced. “I opened the safe, and sure enough, all of our hard-earned money was gone. Satisfied?”

“…And it opened completely fine? It didn’t give you any problems?”

“No, none, save for the overwhelming disappointment.”

Shoot. Shoot, that was bad. It was even worse since they couldn’t really confirm. What were they supposed to do? Trust that their one theory was wrong, only by the word and two sound effects from someone who clearly hated their guts?

Surprisingly, it was Autumnal who broke the silence. Or broke it as relatively as he could. He nodded to Calvera, and gave a grateful bow.

The show made the Hawlucha snort. “I never thought I would see the day when a low life has better manners than a noble. If there’s nothing else, I will be back to my business. In the future, do not bother such important people about such trivial matters. Be gone by 9.”

And then Calvera was away, and Urania with her, leaving Ennea to deflate on her own. This was basically the worst-case scenario, wasn’t it? They couldn’t prove how the thief broke the door or the safe. What now?

“Mm.” Autumnal made a sound to get Ennea’s attention, while sneaking back into the safe room. After looking around, checking to make sure Urania was really gone, he motioned for Ennea to come closer.

Ennea decided to take a cue from him and silently follow, though she gave him an incredulous look the whole time. The look grew to full-on shock as he had her get close enough to him to nearly invalidate his claim that he didn’t like being touched. Once she had shuffled close enough that were he able to talk, he could whisper in her ear, Autumnal began to softly tap a series of numbers on the ground.

Nine. Zero. Zero. Two. Four. Eight.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what?” she recoiled.

Autumnal brought a single claw to his lips. Not so loud.

“But those numbers, what are you talking about?”

After looking around Ennea to check the doorway. Autumnal gave a slight nod of his head toward the safe.

9-0-0-2-4-8. The safe code.

“Huh?!” Ennea shout-whispered, before correcting her volume down. “How’d you get that?”

In response, Autumnal wandered on over to a small object on the ground, and clamped it closed with a resounding clack. He brought it back over to Ennea to show her what it was.

A compact. A compact with a mirror inside of it.

“You—?!” Ennea shushed herself. He placed the mirror down before Calvera opened the safe and used it to watch the code she entered from the hallway. But that would’ve been so fast, and backwards! Not to mention tiny! How good is he at reading junk?

“Mm?” Autumnal offered, giving another miniscule gesture to the safe.

“Right… we can check for ourselves, now.” Ennea slowly walked up to the safe, just as imposing as anything in the Guard’s Hall. She’d actually have to get up on her hind legs to reach the handle. But before she did anything to it, she looked back and gave Autumnal an amused smirk.

“You know, you’re really not helping your case with this. What’ll we do if they find out?” He’d be the only other person to provably know the safe code. That would destroy him in court.

Autumnal just shrugged and gave another motion to the safe, a final encouragement.

“Okay, here I go….”

Slowly and delicately, while Autumnal watched the doorway for witnesses, Ennea spun the dial, entering 9-0-0-2-4-8. The thing was still silent, only increasing the anticipation as she wrapped a paw around the handle, pulled it down, and…!

The safe opened. Throwing drama and the door to the wind, Ennea finished the reveal, seeing that the inside of the safe was incredibly bare. Only a few documents were inside. A quick skim through them mostly revealed important deeds, birth certificates, and other forms that were completely unrelated to finances.

Not wanting to chance anything, Ennea shut the safe before anyone could intrude. She hopped back, turned to Autumnal, and suddenly yanked her ears down.

“Damn it! It wasn’t corrosion at all! And the money really is gone! I was completely wrong!”

Autumnal just shrugged.

“What? Don’t you care?! You’re totally screwed if we don’t figure something out! And we didn’t get any further!”

She got a headshake in response. Then Autumnal pointed to her and tapped his head a few times.

“I know? You mean… now I know more than I did before.”

“Mhm.”

Ennea sighed. “I guess. I was kinda banking on the safe being the jackpot for us, though. Now what?”

Autumnal looked somewhat amused for a moment, before placing a paw over his mouth and thinking. He gave another shrug, then mimed a pair of glasses over his eyes.

“Polaris? I guess we might as well…” Ennea’s eyes dropped down to the ground. “But I don’t have anything new to ask her.”

When she looked back up, she managed a smile. “But hey, what’ve we got to lose? By the way, you look totally ridiculous using your paws to mimic glasses like that.”

“Ah!” Autumnal brought a paw to his chest in shock, his fur fluffing out.

Heh, got him. Maybe she wouldn’t have to try that hard.

Ennea walked back out into the empty hall. “Hey, Urania?” she called.

No response.

Only when needed, huh? Well….

“Hey Urania, I’m gonna start shouting super loud and disrupt all of Calvera’s work if you don’t show up.”

“Please do not.”

Ennea jumped, not surprised that Urania had reappeared behind her, but surprised at just how fast it had happened.

She got her bearings and turned to face the Golduck. “Mind showing us where Polaris is? We have a few questions for her.”

“The Young Lady is in her room currently. I ask that you do not bother her.”

“I don’t think she’ll be bothered. We got along well enough yesterday. In fact, I bet she’ll be glad to see us!”

Urania pinched the base of their beak before sighing and bringing both hands behind their back. “Understood. But if she is not, I will have to ask that you immediately leave.”

Ennea gave a shrug. Not the worst odds. “Sure. I can work with that.”

“Then let us away.”

Urania brought them a mercifully short distance to a quite decorated wooden door, hand-carved engravings of flowers and vines wrapping around it. Combined with the lantern hanging from the frame, it almost looked like it had been plucked from a fairy tale. Lucky.

Bringing a fist up to the door, Urania gave a gentle knock. “Young Lady Polaris. You have visitors.”

Ennea raised an eyebrow as they got no response, for obvious reasons. “C’mon, you’ve gotta knock harder than that.”

“You do not understand. Allow me to show you.”

Urania brought their fist up to the door, then bashed it several times, sending thunderous booms echoing down the whole manor. “YOUNG LADY POLARIS!!! I APOLOGIZE FOR THE VOLUME, BUT YOU HAVE VISITORS!!!”

…

“…Wow.” Ennea rubbed her arm. “You, um, sure she’s in there?”

“I am quite sure. She is simply taking a nap. The Young Lady is a very heavy sleeper.”

“Then what’re we supposed to do? I’d really like to speak with her before we have to go.”

Urania looked at their pocket watch again. “You do not have much time in the first place. But if you truly insist, I will assist you, on one condition: apologize for insulting Lady Calvera the way you did before.”

Seriously? Calvera was far more insulting to them. “Alright, I understand. I’m sorry for insinuating such things about Lady Calvera. I was desperate to make headway in the case, and lost sight of what was reasonable. Clearly, not only did she do nothing as disingenuous as I suggested, but to even assume that she did was absurd. It was foolish of me to tarnish her good name the way I did.”

A moment passed, and Ennea almost worried that she’d lost her touch when it came to apologizing to aristocrats. Luckily, the beat ended with Urania nodding.

“I’m glad you still have your wits about you. I shall not lose my composure again, myself.” And then Urania zipped off, returning with Calvera a moment later.

“And I thought I would finally be allowed to rest,” the matron complained.

“My apologies, Lady Calvera.” Urania made a gesture to the door with both hands. “But Ennea Harmonie has one more request: that you wake Young Lady Polaris from her nap.”

That made Calvera glare at Ennea. “You wish to bother me, and my daughter? This had better be for a good reason.”

“Well, I—” Ennea’s tail lashed as her mind raced. She couldn’t say this was for the case, Calvera was already disapproving of that. C’mon, think!

“It’s just… Polaris was really nice to us yesterday. Her birthday’s coming up, along with the ball… so I just wanted to see if she was feeling okay after all the recent difficulties. Since I spoke rashly and ruined my goodwill with you, I figured I may not have the chance again….”

Calvera’s gaze softened. “I suppose you do have House Harmonie’s blood within you. Very well.”

Pfft. My family’s the last ones to thank. Honestly, you can give Bezel the points for that one.

Sauntering up to the door, Calvera gave it a gentle tap with a talon. “Polaris? Sweetie? Would you like to talk to Miss Ennea again? She’s here to see you.”

Without even a second’s delay, the rustling of blankets and shifting of a bed could be heard. After a moment, the door cracked open to reveal a very sleepy Meditite with massive glasses barely hanging on her face. Never doubt the ability of a mother to wake their child.

“Mother?” Polaris spoke while rubbing an eye. “You said that Ennea was here?”

“Yes, dear.” Calvera stepped to the side, putting the Eevee into view. “Would you like some privacy?”

“Oh, goodness, I must look like a mess!” Polaris laughed. For having just woken up, she was possibly the most portrait-ready Pokémon in history. “That would be nice. Would you like to come in, Ennea?”

“Sure! Autumnal’s allowed too, right?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“Have fun.” Calvera gave Autumnal the side-eye. “Let me know if there are any issues.”

“Thank you, mother.” Polaris gave her mom a nod as she escorted Ennea and Autumnal inside. After closing the door, she continued. “So, what did you wish to speak about?”

Ennea was admittedly a bit busy looking around Polaris’s room, which matched the story-book atmosphere of the door. Flowing silks, bookshelves filled to the brim with multi-colored tomes, tons of exotic plants growing around the walls, and, most notably to Ennea, a huge four-poster bed with tasseled curtains. It was one of the cushiest rooms she’d ever seen.

“Well, first of all…” Ennea finally managed. “I wanted to see how you were holding up. I realized I didn’t ask yesterday: after the theft, are you feeling alright?” It was an improvised response to Calvera, but Ennea did honestly feel like it was best to ask, now that she’d thought of it.

“Oh, I’m doing okay!” Polaris pulled up two seats for Ennea and Autumnal, then sat on the edge of her enormous bed. “Talking to you yesterday was a good change of pace, although I will admit you weren’t quite what I was expecting.”

Yeah, that’s not surprising. “I hope that’s not a problem.”

“…I wouldn’t mind being friends.”

Ennea had no clue what that meant. She looked to Autumnal for a second opinion, but the disorderly way his tails swayed showed he was just as lost.

“Okay?” Ennea tilted her head. “That’s a good thing, right?”

“Of course! Don’t think anything of it.” Polaris’s smile wavered. “I do confess though… I am worried about the upcoming ball.”

“Oh? How come?”

“Well… it’s bound to be a large event, and I’ll be seen by many people. I had been hoping that I could look glamorous, perhaps with a new dress, but I don’t wish to waste our now limited funds.”

“You wanna impress people, right? Make sure your public appearances go well?”

“Yes, but now I’m not sure how.”

Ennea gave a lopsided smirk. “You know… I have had to make my share of public impressions before. In my experience, it isn’t so much your appearance that matters, but your scent.” She was totally bluffing. But for good reason.

“You’re suggesting I use a new perfume? I’m afraid that would have the same issue as obtaining a new dress.”

“Nah, nah!” Ennea dismissed her concerns with a paw. “You see… I know this absolutely incredible perfumery. Top of the line stuff, you should see the kind of things they’ve got in stock. And they’re always making new ones that could floor even the most stuck-up nobles.” Ennea wrote a quick note on a scrap of paper that was in her bag. “This is the address. You should stop by.”

“Yes, but the money—”

“You get out much? There’s a lot of tricks to getting good deals you might not know.”

“I suppose I do spend most of my time at the manor….”

“Yeah, so let me give you a rundown. Here’s what you do: stop by when the youngest is working the shop. Should be around your age. Go in, compliment their work, see how good it is for yourself, but don’t buy anything. Just strike up a conversation. Talk for a good while. Maybe even do it over multiple days. In fact, make it clear from the get-go that you’re planning on coming back to talk more. Then, after a few times, I bet you everything my family owns that they’ll give you some of their best perfume for free.”

“That is… a steep bet.” Polaris adjusted her glasses. “Are you certain that’s how to haggle?”

“In this case? 100%.” Ennea handed over the address. “Go for it, you won’t regret it.”

“Okay then….” Polaris stared down at the scrap of paper in her hands. “I suppose it would be good to meet new people. Very well, I shall frequent this establishment for the next week or two.”

It was so hard to hide the grin on Ennea’s face. At most, you’ll need me to be your wing-woman, huh, Bezel? Well good for you, you’ve got the best wing-woman on the planet! She shared her barely contained expression with Autumnal, who gave her a knowing nod.

“Well, that has certainly lifted my spirits a bit,” Polaris chuckled. “Anything else you’d like to ask?”

“Yeah, actually. I was thinking… remember what you told us, about how you witnessed the thief?”

“Of course.”

“You said you woke up in the middle of the night.”

“I did.”

Ennea squinted. “…How?”

Polaris blinked once, then twice. “Oh! Right, you’ve seen just how heavily I can sleep. I suppose I didn’t mention it, but it was my mother who woke me up.”

“Wait, really?!” Ennea leaned in so far that she nearly fell off her seat. “She was up, too?”

“No, I don’t believe so. But I did hear her voice.” Polaris looked up at the chandelier in her room. “Our bedrooms are next to each other, you see. I was too groggy to really make out what she was saying, and she didn’t remember herself once I’d woken her up about the theft. I believe that she was sleep talking.”

“That’s… weird. Does she normally do that?”

“Not often. But I believe it’s happened once or twice before when I was young. I didn’t give it much thought at the time.”

“Lucky coincidence, huh? I guess if you don’t know what she was saying, there’s not much more to it, but still….”

“I’ll try my best to recall… but those kinds of moments are not the easiest to commit to memory.”

“No, that’s alright. I’ve got another question. You’re taking care of the secret garden, right? How was it the morning after the theft? Anything unusual?”

Polaris pushed up her glasses. “You know… now that you mention it, some things were a little off the morning after.”

“Yeah? How off? Trampled flowers and stuff?”

“No, no.” Polaris floated her hands out for a moment, seemingly trying to recreate the scene in her head. “The plants were completely fine. But some were a bit out of place, a few even growing in different directions than they were before.”

“I ask because I think the thief used the secret garden to avoid being seen by the guards.” Ennea’s fur shifted in anticipation. “You think it’s possible?”

Polaris sat straight. “Yes. Yes, thinking about it, I think it’s very possible. No, likely, even. But they took great care to avoid damaging the garden. They must’ve been quite graceful to only just move them.”

“I think that’s another point in your favor, Autumnal.” Ennea gave him a look-over, but noticed two of his tails flicking. “What, you don’t agree?”

“…U ret ri vw felxwdyk wbiyfg….” he muttered.

“I guess I haven’t seen how you can move when uninjured,” Ennea thought aloud. “But Fire-Types aren’t really known for being friendly to plants. If nothing else, it weakens the case against you.”

Autumnal’s tails got back in order, and he gave his signature shrug.

“Alright, then.” That was all Ennea had thought to ask Polaris about, so she supposed it was time to improvise more. “There’s a couple more things I’d like to get your opinion on….”

That was how they spent the next while, Ennea pretending she wasn’t totally out of ideas. Eventually, Urania showed up again to bring them dinner, though Polaris had to send them back with orders to bring Autumnal a meal, too. He repaid that debt by handling the dishes, taking them back to Urania once the meal was done and over with.

In the meantime, Ennea tried asking Polaris a series of questions about the circumstances of the theft, offering whatever theories she could come up with on the spot. Unlike many others, Polaris would put actual thought into them before shooting them down.

The conclusion? Very little. It wouldn’t be possible to break and replace a window, the thief definitely didn’t come in through a chimney, the safe was still a complete, frustrating dead end, Polaris was sure she saw what she saw, yes, absolutely sure, and nobody had any clue how the culprit got away.

“Ennea….” Polaris spoke with a frown. “I’m sorry to say… but it is getting late. We don’t keep guests past a certain point.”

Ennea looked back at Autumnal, still seemingly unbothered by just how screwed he was. But Ennea was bothered by it. She couldn’t just end the day without getting any closer to getting him an acquittal! Tomorrow was the trial! They wouldn’t have enough time to figure out the whole thing then!

“C’mon,” she begged. “Just a couple more. We’re making good progress! There’s a reason for everything, so there’s gotta be some way we can logic out how the theft happened!”

“Ennea…” Polaris stood up from her bed. She’d shifted spots several times over the last few hours, but never stood up. “I simply don’t think there’s anything more you’ll find here. You’ll break curfew if you don’t leave soon.”

“No, no! We can’t just end when I’ve only solved half of one of the four puzzles of this case! We’ve totally got time, right? Autumnal, what time is it?”

After popping out and then back in from the hall, Autumnal began to tap out the time.

One…two…three…four…five…six…

Stop….

…seven…

Stop….

…eight…

Stop…!

…nine.

…Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going…!

But he didn’t. Autumnal didn’t tap anything more. Because it was 9 PM.

It was nine.

It was nine.

Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine.

“…Nine…. Nine… nine.

“Nine! Nine, nine, nine, nine! Why does it always have to be nine?!” Ennea raged.

“Nine… nine!” Polaris slapped a fist down to her palm. “Nine!”

“What?!” Ennea would’ve regretted the look she gave Polaris if it weren’t for the uncontrollable storm inside of her.

“Nine! That’s what I heard! That is what woke me up!”

“I— what?”

“When I woke up, my mother was sleep talking. Whatever she said, it began with ‘nine.’”

Ennea gave a wide-eyed glance to Autumnal. Though his expression was muted in comparison, he was just as floored.

She looked back to Polaris.

“Nine. Zero,” she tried.

“I— yes, that as well! It was nine, then zero!”

No. It couldn’t be.

“9-0-0-2-4-8.”

“Yes, that was it! That was what had woken me up! How did you know?”

Polaris looked between Ennea and Autumnal innocently, while the duo shared a far more devastated look. Immediately, Ennea began to pace.

“No way… she just said it? In her sleep?” she mumbled. “For the first time in years? On the exact night? This had to have been on purpose. There’s no other explanation. But how? You can’t force someone else to sleep talk! And you can put people to sleep, and some can even consume their dreams, but that doesn’t give you information… how would someone ensure that a victim just… blurts out their secrets in their sleep? That’s not something anyone can—!”

“Mm.”

Ennea snapped her head to Autumnal, who was shaking his own. He put one paw up, then had his other jump over the hurdle.

“…Move past it? Really?” She stilled. “You’re right, thanks.”

The how wasn’t something that could be answered right now. They had something far more important on their paws.

Now, Ennea hadn’t just solved half of the entrance question. She had also solved the riddle of how the safe was cracked. It really was just opened using its code. No foul play. All it would take would be hearing when Calvera said it.

In other words: anyone able to break into the mansion could have done it.

 

---

 

By the time they’d returned to Salute, dutifully waiting for them under the glow of a streetlamp, Ennea had no idea what she was feeling. They solved a riddle, and were on their way to at least one more, but so far it hadn’t narrowed their search at all. What would they even do tomorrow? They’d have to rush to get something, anything that could save Autumnal, but they’d exhausted everything they’d been told about.

Salute’s heads tilted with each other. “Did it go well?”

“I—”

Ennea stopped as she saw Autumnal nod in the darkness. He really thought it was okay? Even with everything that wasn’t working out?

“…I guess it did,” she finally answered. “We got some important information, but are going to have to get up real early tomorrow to solve the rest. You… wouldn’t happen to have any ideas, would you?”

Salute grinded his jaws. “Not really. I’m not the investigative type. But I had a lot of time to wait. You wanted to know about the previous theft, right? How it was done. We shouldn’t take more of the Chief’s time, but I think we could talk to the culprit in that case.”

“Wait, really? You’re holding them?”

Salute grumbled. “Actually… no. They were let out after just a year. They’re living in town. I make sure to watch over their home, to make sure they aren’t committing any foul acts again.”

“That’s creepy. Alright, I guess that’s something to do.” Ennea turned to the Vulpix by her side. “Autumnal, do you think that’s a good idea? I don’t want to risk spending the time if you don’t think so.”

He drummed his paws on the ground for a moment. Pretty rhythmic, though after their stint earlier in the day, that wasn’t a surprise. Eventually, he nodded.

“…Alright. Then first thing tomorrow, we’ll stop by and see this former thief.”

“Good. I’m fine never coming back here.” Salute waved for Autumnal to follow. “We’ll be ready on time tomorrow. Don’t be late.”

“Huh?” Ennea blinked as Salute began to take Autumnal away. “Wait! You’re just gonna put him back in the cell?”

“Obviously.”

But Ennea had seen just what he looked like after having to suffer a night in there! He couldn’t go back, not the night before whether or not he’d be locked away for good would be decided!

“Hold on! Can’t he stay somewhere else? It’s not like he’s a proven criminal yet.”

Salute gave a frustrated exhale. “It’s temporary detainment. That’s what it’s for.”

“Please.” Ennea leaned in, low to the ground. Time to improvise. “What if he stays with me? Just this once. Isn’t it an injustice for an innocent person to have to be treated as guilty?”

“It is. And I don’t like that. But even if he’s innocent, with the time he has left, he might be desperate.”

Autumnal cocked his head in response.

Salute ignored him. “People who’re innocent in the eyes of the law can still do terrible things. Even though it doesn’t make me feel good, I have to keep him detained, to make sure that bad things don’t happen to good people.”

“But that’s not who Autumnal is!” Ennea recoiled for a moment, shook her head, and continued. “Someone who’d do terrible things, I mean. You’ve been around him, too! Please, just trust us. ‘Lil Justice seemed to like him!”

Salute opened a mouth before slowly closing it. “’Lil Justice? Their name’s just ‘Justice.’” Both his heads stared at each other. When he continued, it was the other speaking. “But… you’re right. If Justice likes him… he can’t be unrighteous.”

Salute pointed Autumnal to a spot. “Stay.” Leaving him there, Salute talked to Ennea privately.

“Look. I am going to trust you on this. But. I also don’t want to take any risks. If giving him this extra freedom gets someone hurt, I’ll never forgive myself. So here.”

Salute reached into his bag, and pulled out a brown, glassy globe. It was slightly misshapen, looking to have several purple bands wrapped around it. Despite them not being under a streetlamp, it was perfectly visible in the dark. Not glowing, just visible.

“Is this… an orb? Can I really have this?” Ennea wondered.

“It’s a Petrify Orb. Useful for apprehending criminals, and doesn’t require aim. Keep this on you. If you activate it, not only will it petrify him for a bit, but the Electric energy should activate his cuffs, too.”

Ennea took the orb into her paw. It had a bit of weight to it. Just enough that it felt right to toss up and catch. “Alright. But I’m not using it on him, ‘cuz I won’t need to. How do I make sure the targeting’s right?”

Salute’s heads tilted, this time in the other direction. “It just works. Whoever your enemies are, it’ll get them. And if you’re so sure, then I guess you can just keep it as a souvenir.”

“Sounds good. I’ll frame it on my wall.” She turned to the distant streetlamp Autumnal had been parked under. “Everything’s all good! You don’t have to sleep in a cell!”

The Vulpix gave yet another shrug, but as he walked over, Ennea could totally see a small bounce in his step that wasn’t normally there.

“By the way,” Salute informed them. “I’m going to get in trouble for this. So you had better not do anything stupid.”

“Well….” Ennea looked up, imagining all the stupid stuff she could do.

Autumnal waved for Salute’s attention, then gave him a thumbs up with his tail, and a grateful bow afterwards.

“…Honestly. Maybe he needs to be the one to keep an eye on you.” Salute muttered, stomping off. “Be at the Hall as soon as possible tomorrow. Take care.”

Ennea watched as he left. An Ace Investigator always had a well-meaning, but sometimes difficult detective to work with. Salute fit the bill perfectly. She looked to Autumnal by her side. An Ace Investigator also always had an assistant who kept them going, and helped them see things they might not otherwise.

And if all that was the case… an Ace Investigator always bluffs their way through, solving the case right when it’s down to the wire.

“I hope I can play my part as well as you guys….” Ennea murmured. It made Autumnal look at her funny. “Alright, c’mon. Guess you’ve gotta see my home now.”

That was the one truly unfortunate part about all this. But, if it would keep him from suffering, Ennea would show him.

 

---

 

The walk to Ennea’s place had them skirting the very edge of curfew, but they managed to get to an uninspiring building just before getting in trouble. Without saying anything else, they entered through a side door leading to a narrow stairwell.

“Just up here.” Ennea spoke softer than usual, to not disturb anyone as she brought Autumnal up to the third floor. The first and second ones weren’t hers. The door they finally did arrive at wasn’t anything special, but it was locked.

After retrieving a set of keys from her tail, Ennea opened the thing up, and with an ironic smile, led Autumnal inside.

“Here we are,” she quietly announced. “The home of a noble.”

Ennea’s real home wasn’t a house. It barely qualified as an apartment. Really, it was most similar to a college dorm; just a single open room with a kitchenette and a small separate bathroom. No actual bath in there, which was why she was so well-acquainted with the public ones.

The limited space kept Ennea’s few furnishings from feeling sparse. Most of the bed/dining/living room was taken up by a mattress, the one thing she had really splurged on. It was modern style, no hay, and pretty well cushioned. Considering how much of her time she tended to spend asleep, it had been worth it.

“Sorry, I’ve only got the one bed.” Ennea tossed her bag up onto the kitchenette counter, barely avoiding collision with her cooking pot. “But you can take the couch.”

Said couch was taking up the other half of the room, pressed right up against the dining table. Both were from more innocent times, when Ennea had assumed moving out here would magically solve all her problems. She had envisioned great hangouts with lots of friends… but as it turned out, she had no idea how to make them.

She supposed that this was the closest she’d ever gotten to realizing that dream. Ennea glanced back at Autumnal, looking around with subtle awe, as if her home were the ancient ruins she so loved imagining. It helped make her smile less forced.

“Yeah, it’s not much. But it beats a cell, right?”

Autumnal nodded and wandered on over to the bookshelf crammed into a corner, getting worryingly close to a few notebooks shoved in-between actual literature.

“Ah, um. Don’t check those.” The last thing she needed was for her first guest to see her most embarrassing creations. “Most of the books are pretty old, anyway. They’re the ones I had as a kid. The pile on the ground are all ones I’m borrowing from the library.” She checked a small clock lying on a nightstand. “It’s getting pretty late, too.”

Luckily, Autumnal agreed, and hopped up onto the couch. Crisis averted. Though she did hear what she could swear was a quiet sigh. As he was settling down on a cushion, Ennea tossed over a blanket.

“Dunno if you need it,” she chuckled. “Do Fire-Types need more, or less heat?”

Autumnal moved his paws up and down like they were scales.

“Depends? Alright.”

After putting out most of the lights, Ennea curled up into her own bed. As she was reaching for the last lamp, she heard Autumnal clear his throat.

She looked back, finding Autumnal looking in every direction but towards her, tails drumming against the couch.

Taking a deep breath, he gave her a curious look and tapped out a number using his paw. Nine?

He was wondering about Ennea’s little episode. “Oh, that…. Don’t worry about it. It’s not that important.”

Autumnal cocked his head.

Ennea gave the clock another look. “I’d tell you and all, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the case. I’d be keeping you up for nothing.” She looked back, giving the best smile she could manage. “We should be worried about you first, right?”

Ennea rolled over, ready to turn off the last light.

But she couldn’t shake the feeling that a pair of dark eyes were still on her.

Rolling back, Autumnal was still there, not having moved an inch.

“Wha— j-jeez! Don’t just stare at me all silently like that!”

“Ijlt, qglr’a virgweubf tiy?” Autumnal responded without missing a beat.

“Not what I meant!” Ennea averted her face for a moment. After a deep look into the pads on her paw, she brought her head back up. Autumnal’s ears were angled back a bit, and his tails were giving the couch a slow, rhythmic brushing as he still looked directly at Ennea. That amount of concern was actually pretty fun to see on him….

“Alright, fine,” Ennea sighed. “I’ll keep you up talking about it. No complaining when you’re tired tomorrow, ‘kay?”

Autumnal nodded with certainty. Good to know Ennea had a willing audience….

“Okay,” she began. “Um… do you… know who I am?” She scoffed at herself. “Jeez, that’s such a conceited thing to say… ‘Um, excuse me, do you know who I am?’” she self-mocked.

Autumnal wobbled a paw in the air.

“Let me guess: you totally didn’t, but have sorta put it together through context clues?”

He nodded in response, this time without certainty.

“Yeah, sounds about right.” Ennea’s eyes wandered about for a moment. It was kinda funny. He’d been having to solve his own puzzle about her the entire time. “Oh, wait. Actually… are you from around here? Like, the Southern Arm, I mean.”

“Mhm.”

“Good thing Thyreos didn’t know.” Even if that raised more questions about who Autumnal was and why he suddenly dropped in on Epiphany. Puzzles for later. “Alright, anyway….”

“I’m… actually nobility,” Ennea continued. “I mean, I know you already figured that part out, but I’m a member of House Harmonie. My dad’s the Duke of the whole Southern Arm, and my mom’s the Prime Minister. We’re the latest in a long lineage of Eevees. Honestly, I say nobility, but royalty’s probably more accurate. It’s just that our system’s pretty weird. I mean, Zygarde could literally decide tomorrow that we’re the kingdom.”

Autumnal slowly tilted his head from side to side. Right, Ennea was getting off-topic.

“It’s just…” Ennea gave a deep frown. “Eevee families are stupid. Everything’s always gotta be about eight with them. You know, ‘cuz we’ve got eight evolutions? So there’s always gotta be eight children, one for each, and their eighth birthdays are a special rite of passage, same with their sixteenth. Gotta shape freaking everything like an octagon or lotus, too.

“I mean, there’s so many issues with it! First off, everyone has to have their evolution assigned to them so there’s no repeats. Kinda defeats the whole purpose of our species, right? And to make sure that the lineage stays ‘pure,’ whoever takes over as head of the family has to date another Eeveelution. Oh, and don’t even get me started on that bit of succession. You know how dumb it is to have eight possible heirs to one throne? If it weren’t for my parents being, well, them, it’d be a bloodbath.”

Ennea got ahold of herself before she got too lost in the rant. To her surprise, Autumnal’s ears were totally perked. Somehow, she still had his full attention.

“Sorry, I’m getting side-tracked again. So, anyway… eight’s the whole proper number for my family. Divine, even, they say. And you know, things were going pretty well for them. My dad had just ascended the throne, everyone had high hopes for him, and they were just about to have their eighth kid!

“They made the egg hatching a whole ceremony.” Ennea gave a silent laugh. “They’re still kicking themselves for that call. It really screwed them over.

“So, it’s finally happening, the egg’s hatching, tons of important people are there watching. It even happened close to midnight—which is eight times three, so it’s a super good time to them. And finally, after all the pomp and circumstance, the egg cracks open, and out comes my brother.

“…and me.”

Ennea pawed at the blankets she’d at some point surrounded herself with. “Twins. Right at the very end. What’re the odds?”

She gave a deep sigh, barely able to bring her eyes back to Autumnal. “So, that’s what it all is. I’m Ennea… the ninth of House Harmonie’s eight children.”

Ennea brought back a joyless smile. “They really did screw themselves. Everybody saw me come out of the exact same egg, so they couldn’t claim I was illegitimate. Plus, I had all the special traits of the family.”

Ennea brought a paw close to her eyes, seeing the glow they gave off gently illuminating it. “Dunno why mine turned out pink, though. Everyone else got red ones. Maybe they could’ve used that against me if fewer people saw. Honestly, if I had been born privately, they might’ve just offed me and been done with it. But they sprung for a public ceremony, so I was at the very least allowed to live.

“Pretty much immediately after my existence broke tradition, things started going wrong. That was when the Still Years hit. The winds and rains both just stopped for a good while. It ruined tons of farmers and sailors alike, and with food and trade so stressed, people started getting frustrated. Some Guilds on the Grass Continent especially started freaking out, said it was kinda similar to this thing a couple centuries back where—”

Autumnal waved a paw, pointed to himself and tapped his head. I know about the Still Years.

“Right, sorry. You’re from around here. You’d remember it, or at least the aftereffects.”

Autumnal gave Ennea an amusing look, set a paw aside, and pointed to the clock.

“What, you’re down for me to tell you history you already know later? I spoke way too soon when I said Salute was the only weirdo.” She shook her head. Her smile faded as she continued the story.

“Anyway… things were getting so bad for my parents that they were actually getting worried about a potential revolt. They needed to do some major PR. And wouldn’t you know it, they’ve got two adorable little twins they can flaunt. So my brother and I were paraded around for years, to show just how precious we were, and how utterly magnanimous my parents were. ‘Look at that! They even kept the extra.’ And believe me, I put in work for that. Had to perfect my ‘mischievous kid’ act for the public. But hey, I was allowed to exist, and even stay in the castle!”

Ennea scoffed. “For a time. Once the Still Years were over, and my parents comfortably in control, they kept me out of sight. And you know, they never let me forget just who I was. I stayed in the castle, but I didn’t live there. Unlike my siblings, I wasn’t taught anything, or allowed to eat with everyone else, or even go most places. And after enough time secluded that the public started to forget about me, they sent me off to the countryside to be raised in isolation, until they sent me here.

“And that stupid number… it followed me. It always follows me, as an eternal reminder. I was born ninth. My brother was born on the eighth, but I came out of the egg just after midnight, so I was born on the ninth. And given the ninth room in the castle. I never had an eighth birthday celebration, but for my ninth, they shunted me off to the countryside. And they sent me here on my eighteenth! Nine times 2! And they sent me to be the extra for a council with eight members, so that means I’m the ninth again!” Ennea leaned in, eyes streaking light as she did. “Oh, and you’ll never guess what my freaking name means!”

Squeezing her eyes shut, Ennea calmed herself down. When she opened them again, the melancholy that had replaced her anger left them completely dim.

“I’m never allowed to forget. I’m Ennea—nine.”

She gave a dark glare to the lone lamp still lighting the room. “And nine means useless.”

A long moment passed in silence. In the darkness, Ennea could hear the ticking of the clock on her bedstand. She’d tried to find one that was as quiet as possible, but nothing could ever fully cut that sound. Tick. Tock. The sound of a wasted life. Every moment futile and pointless. Nothing but a slow, painful wait for the curtains to drop. A play with no acts.

And all because of that number. The number that defined her. The number that robbed her.

In the corner of her eye, Ennea saw Autumnal slowly nodding to himself. He must’ve finally understood. She wondered if maybe she shouldn’t have told him. How cruel was it to let him know that the one he’d entrusted his defense to was someone without any future?

After she finally turned all the way to look at him, Autumnal pointed to Ennea, then tapped out nine. After she’d stared at him for a moment, he did it again.

“…Yeah, I’m ninth. The unneeded one.”

Autumnal shook his head, then started tapping again. One. Eight. Thirteen. Four. Six. One. Eleven. Two. Three. Five. Twelve.

What? 1813461—? Ennea gave up trying to interpret the mess. “Autumnal, you’re just giving me numbers. Those don’t mean anything.”

Autumnal suddenly sat straight up, all his tails fanning out as he nodded with ultimate conviction. The show left Ennea baffled for a moment, before she understood.

“Oh, I get it,” she sighed. “Yeah, technically numbers don’t have an inherent meaning, but people are still going to assign them ones anyway.”

Autumnal shook his head. Once again, he pointed to Ennea and tapped out nine.

That made her frown deeper. “I’m nine.”

He shook his head harder this time. After thinking for a moment, complete with the tail thing, he tried again, but backwards, tapping nine then pointing to Ennea.

“Nine, me?” Wait, maybe not me or I. “Are you trying to say, ‘Nine is mine?’”

Several nods in response. Then Autumnal started tapping random numbers again.

“Numbers don’t have meanings…” Ennea murmured. “Nine is mine… but if it doesn’t have a meaning….”

Autumnal interrupted by excitedly pointing a paw at her.

“Me? Are you trying to say… I make the meaning for nine?”

Everything in Autumnal’s body relaxed as he gave a final nod.

“I guess… but how do I even go about that? How am I supposed to start?”

Autumnal, strangely, shook his head. Then used both paws to point to the ground.

“Here?”

Autumnal wobbled a paw, then pointed to the clock, then the ground again.

“Time-here? Oh, you mean now. You’re trying to say that I—”

Ennea blinked. “You mean I’ve already started? But how?”

Tink-tink-tink. Autumnal tapped his shackles. It was a bit too dark to tell for sure, but it almost looked like he was smiling again….

“The case?”

…Hey, yeah, he’s right. I’m solving a case the guards were wrong about for the richest and most influential family in town, even getting all buddy-buddy with one of their youngest members. Doing this was something people might finally remember her for. Hooray, I guess… I never thought about that.

Ennea covered her mouth with a paw. That’s weird. I didn’t realize how much solving this case would benefit me. But, I mean, I’m doing this for selfish reasons, right? Like all nobles….

Autumnal waved a paw. He pointed to Ennea, tapped his head, then tilted it. You get it?

“I… I guess I do, yeah.” Ennea rolled onto her back, facing the ceiling.

It wasn’t like hearing that magically solved all her problems. Her family still all thought she was a waste, and she didn’t really have any marketable skills for when they inevitably disowned her. Well, sort of. Maybe she could try to start a PI firm when this was all over. That thought almost made her laugh. Almost.

Still though, at the very least… it was nice to know that there was someone who believed in her.

Ennea rolled back over, stopping Autumnal as he curled up to sleep.

“Hey, um, Autumnal? I just wanted to say thanks for listening. I’ve never really been able to tell anyone all that stuff before.

“And… no matter what, we’re in this together now, okay? I’m gonna see this through and solve the case, whatever it takes. You down to do the same?”

Autumnal nodded with a quiet hum.

“Awesome.” Ennea smiled as she finally turned out the light. You could still see the pink of her eyes gently glowing in the dark. “Rest up, then. By the end of tomorrow, you’ll be free.”

“Mm.”

“Yeah. Good night, Autumnal.”

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER TRACKLIST:

 

1. Slow Unraveling                                                             END POINT

2. Ennea’s Super Cool Totally Legit Drum Solo (epic) (no clickbait)                            END POINT

3. Tricks of the Trade                                                                      END POINT

4. The Meaning of Nine                                                                         END POINT