“IT said the thief or thieves may be deadly.” She thought of what had happened in Two Castles. “Desperation could make them reckless.” She leaned her back against the door, her face inches from his. “Let’s look for desperate acts.”
His face, red from the cold, reddened more. “We will!”
Together, they pushed open the door. The bee who was guarding it looked at them and said nothing.
High Brunka Marya occupied her stool in the middle of the great hall. Bees were moving sleeping pallets close to the fireplaces, where the fires burned brightly. The guests clustered at the hearth across from the entrance.
Master Uwald and Albin, both smiling, hurried to Elodie and Master Robbie.
“You must be frozen!” Master Uwald untied his cloak and wrapped it around Master Robbie, who almost disappeared in it. “Come to the fire.” Master Uwald led him away.
Master Robbie turned his head to look at Elodie as they went.
“My cloak is at your service, Lady El.”
She shook her head. Albin could be no warmer than she was. She blurted, “I was in your room. I saw the silver. Where did you get it? How long have you had it?” Then, “I thought it was someone else’s chamber.” Which explained and excused nothing.
“You’re welcome in my room. I have no secrets from a fellow mansioner. I won the coin from Master Uwald yesterday afternoon.”
Probably after the theft. “What did you have to bet against him?” What, she thought, that would be worth a silver?
“He wanted my book of mansioners’ plays.”
“I love that book!”
“Lady El, I would have given him my right arm in exchange for coin to get you. We imagined you starving in Two Castles”—he patted her cheek—“not thriving as you were.”
She blinked back tears. “You didn’t get my letter?”
“No letter came. Maybe it will arrive next year and we’ll laugh over it.”
“What game did you play with Master Uwald?”
“Dice. I think he let me win because he wanted to help us. He could have just given me the money, but that would have meant going against the wishes of the high brunka. And he loves to play. After I won, he wanted me to wager my silver against him. Come, it’s too cold by the door.” He took her hand and led her toward the fireplace. “High Brunka Marya is making us all sleep in the great hall. When the Replica is found, we should mansion this scene and all the events of the Second Theft, and you can portray her.”
“Shh! She’s listening!”
“No matter. Who doesn’t like to be a heroine?”
The heroine needed information. Elodie went to Master Robbie, who was sitting on a pallet next to Master Uwald.
“Master Robbie . . .” Elodie walked away and hoped he would follow.
She heard Master Uwald say, “Go, but not for long. You need your sleep.”
When they reached High Brunka Marya, she said, “Tell me about your conversation with Masteress Meenore.”
Elodie whispered, “IT isn’t sure who the thief is. If not for Master Tuomo’s sons, IT would suspect him above all, because Master Robbie will inherit Nockess Farm.” She nodded at him. “IT says Master Tuomo could have bought the location of the Replica.”
“From a bee, lamb?”
Master Robbie didn’t hesitate. “Or from a brunka.”
The high brunka puffed up her cheeks and let out a long sigh. “Will IT question us again tomorrow?”
Elodie explained that IT had gone to Zertrum.
“Something has befallen His Lordship? He may not have warned Arnulf?” She gripped her stool as if she might fall off. Tiny rainbows flared from her hands.
“The trouble may not have happened until after that.” Let His Lordship be safe, Elodie thought.
The rainbows stopped, but the colors still stained the high brunka’s knuckles.
Master Robbie said, “Masteress Meenore asked us to tell you what IT learned.” He explained ITs theory that a thief had been in the storage room while Ursa-bee and Johan-bee made sure the Replica was still safe.
Elodie added, “IT thinks two thieves were probably in league with each other.”
“Two could be so evil?”
Elodie described the way IT supposed they did it. “Someone has the handkerchief that weeps, or has hidden it.”
“Masteress Meenore said to warn you,” Master Robbie said, and Elodie thought he was enjoying the importance of his information, “that the thief—or thieves—is alarmed. IT said most alarmed and that frightened people can be deadly.”
“Deadly here in the Oase,” Elodie added, in case the high brunka didn’t understand.
“Deadly here,” High Brunka Marya repeated in a flat voice.
Don’t lose yourself in sadness, Elodie thought. We need you! “IT wanted us to ask you if anything was discovered among the bees’ things.”
“Nothing, as I expected.” She blew on her fingertips, and the colors faded. “Go to sleep, kidlings. I have bees searching through the night.”
In a few minutes they were all bedded down, Elodie’s pallet next to Albin’s. Master Tuomo sat up amid his bedding, but everyone else lay flat, breathing quietly, as people do when they’re still awake. A snore came from the bees’ hearth.