Ascended

I didn’t sleep well.

There were too many things running through my mind, but I tried not to think about those things . We didn’t have much time to figure this out. I didn’t know when the Touched would attack, but I wanted to be ready if they did.

The problem was that all those things floating around in my head were demanding to be sorted. I resisted for a little bit, but eventually I decided that I was going to have to sort through everything or it wasn’t going to let me sleep.

First, I tried to think about who would want Winey dead. Master James thought it was someone in the Council room. Narder and Fyga both had alibis, though I guessed they could have slipped away.

Gili supposedly was at the wall the whole time as well, but I guessed we’d have to talk to the guards and townspeople to confirm that. I dreaded that part, I’d much rather fight Zombies all day. I might pitch that to Master James. I knew where a nest was, so I could at least thin out some of them before they could attack.

Wreda was another one that we’d have to confirm with the townspeople to make sure she was in her office the entire time.

Lewiu should be an easy one to confirm since he was supposedly where miners could always see him.

Eveth and Berthre were out Wrangling, so they were easy to take off the list. They hadn’t been back long enough to get to the other end of town, kill Winey, and get back to the front gate.

Master James had confirmed that Helru had been in the meeting house all day, so she was off the list of suspects.

The one without an alibi was Felge, but he had a strong reason for not killing Winey. With Winey dead, he was now losing a lot of money.

I’d have to wait until the morning to do any more investigating, but I really hoped I’d go Zombie hunting.

I tried to find the buzzing in my mind. It was distant, but I could feel them out where they had been left by the Touched. They were too far away for me to do anything more than feel, but it was kind of comforting knowing that they hadn’t moved.

The thing that would be the most helpful was if I could find the Touched. I started looking for magic, but the only thing I could feel was the Zombies.

I tried to see if I could feel Master James or Val. I guess I should start referring to her as Master Val to keep up appearances. I tried to focus on the two beds that they were sleeping in. I knew where they were, so I should be able to sense them, but there was nothing that I could feel coming off of either of them.

I thought about working on my magic, but fire that I wasn’t confident in my ability to control in a closed room was definitely not a good idea.

I closed my eyes again and tried to sleep. It didn't really come more than just a little here and a little there. I honestly felt like if I would have stayed up and went looking for Zombies, I would have felt better, but Master James had been a Bokor for a long time. I would defer to his wisdom.

But I had never been more happy to see a sunrise than I was that morning.