Shaanelis Estate

Spero gives her that same beatific smile. Her actions having solved the little mystery for him. She'd decided to try and bed him to increase her prestige. It was a very odd concept to him but much of what mortals do is odd to him. He'd come to firmly believed that part of why he'd come down to the material plane was so he could better understand mortals. It was proving was a challenge but one he enjoyed tackling.

"No thank you."

The words are said kindly and without malice. He has no desire to bed the child. She wasn't a monster but she wasn't pure of spirit. Her physical beauty meant little to him when compared to that.

"I cannot answer that question but I can show you."

Spero says his voice still filled with that sense of good and decency that seemed to pervade all he did. He extends a hand towards Ilesia and unless she flinched back he would place it gently on her shoulder. Then he would reach out with his aura deep within her soul and draw what was within her to the forefront. Letting her 'see' herself as he sees her. Making her aware of just what kind of person she was. Every petty cruelty, every misdeed, every act of greed, selfishness, vanity, and pettiness. For a moment she would be filled with the knowledge of just how these actions have tainted her spirit. It doesn't make her a monster, it doesn't make her irredeemable, but she'd be faced with a simple truth. In many ways, she was a bad person. When the act is over he withdraws his hand and smiles at her. Within his silver eyes, she would see what he leaves unspoken. He holds no ill will against her, indeed he forgives her for every sin, but her presence was, in a way, painful for him. She hadn't fallen as far as some, but for a being of utter purity she was woefully tainted.

Spero is not bothered by her lack of repentance. Mortals had a right to chose their fate. Just because he didn't like the choices they made didn't mean he'd try and change them. He'd simply answered the question he'd been asked. The Seraphim enjoyed the party for a time. Greeting people and making new friends easily. His divine nature draws people in like moths to a flame. Though he doesn't burn those who get close. Indeed by the end of the party, many people would consider him one of their best friends. He had no intention of leaving Esdar soon and Ilesia would find that her rumor would be met with some counter ones. Those who liked Spero having asked him for the truth and gotten it. Though the reality would of course be sufficiently muddled for her needs.

Senior Wing Alcedis Vala was not fond of going to the Aristocratic quarter of the city. He found interacting with them to be obnoxious at best, as he had worked hard to get where he was, had just been selected for promotion after spending the past few months undergoing the necessary training to become.an officer, a rare enough feat for an enlisted, let alone one who grew up in the poorer part of the city. The nobles looked down on him.for the most part because of this, doubting every decision he made because of who his parents were. It was bullshit, and not helped by the fact he was just infantry , a thoroughly unromanticized portion of the military.

He stopped to mentally prepare himself for the encounter, signalling his soldiers to spread out behind him. This was technically his first assignment as an officer, or would be if he had not completed it before the scrollwork caught up.

He stepped over ruined statues and shattered fountains, walking over to the door as his soldiers began to take notes and check for any clues. He gestured to one of the servants as soon as he saw them.

"Excuse me sir, would you mind fetching me anyone who was present at the home when this happened?"

Sympathy could be seen in Vala's eyes, the poor woman looked absolutely pitiful, perhaps she was one of the better nobles and this wouldn't be so bad.

"Ma'am, I understand that this was a difficult thing for you to go through, and my soldiers will interview your servants as soon as we have swept the grounds. Is there anything you can tell me right now about what happened?"

He kept a level, calming tone, but maintained a rigid posture to give a sense of order and discipline to the proceedings.

"Silver masks shaped like eagles? That is new...can you think of any reason why they would accuse of you being traitors to Esdar?"

The nobles were jerks for the most part, but traitors? He doubted it, and this was the first he had heard of groups of people, likely thinking themselves to be vigilantes, accusing people of being traitors. Vala glanced over his shoulder to see a pair of his soldiers interviewing the servants, later they would get together and make sure the accounts lined up within reason.

"Rest-assured milady, that we will bring those responsible to justice. If I need anything further from you, I will be in contact. In addition, until these matters are resolved, my entire unit will be stationed here to both perform the necessary investigations and provide additional security, with a full squad posted both at your residence and at the Mileira residence."

Vala stopped for a moment, planning patrol shifts and routes, who would be responsible for what, etc. He had close to 100 soldiers under his command, but there were several guard posts that they could stay in for the duration. Many sleepless nights were to come until this was dealt with.

"That is all I need from you ma'am, is there anything you require of me?"

Vala watched the rather attractive noblewoman walk away without responding, grateful to be able to supply his troops with refreshments, it would mean he could leave them on duty for a longer period of time.

He walked up to his platoon commanders and began telling them what he had told to the noblewoman, albeit in far less flowery language. That conversation had gone far more pleasantly than he had expected, shame what it took to get nobles acting like people. For the next few days Vala would be seen patrolling outside the house once or twice a day, alongside half a dozen other of his soldiers and with shiny new officer's insignia on his breast.

The report he held in his hand puzzled him, brought to him by guards who had seen it happen a few times and thought it odd. Even more odd was the ignorance or unwillingness of the servants to discuss it. So, he decided to see for himself what exactly was happening in the garden.

With his hand not far from his sword, but bow left behind at the barracks, Vala made his way through the nearly healed grounds and into the garden, hoping to catch the noblewoman in whatever act she was committing in the garden and lay the issue to rest. He brought no one with him, desiring to keep the issue away from too many people in case it was a reasonable, but strange explanation that could bring embarrassment to this family.