Andor Shuffle

[Toria Netari]

House Pendar was quiet and lazy the day after a ball hosted at their estates. Noble and servant alike were subdued by both the late night before and the oppressive, overbearing heat of summer's final days in Caemlyn. It was this sluggish response, perhaps, that lead to the lengthy delay between crime and discovery. Late in the day, with the sun creeping down to blanket the city in shade at last, Lady Mierelle Pendar finally raised the alarm: someone had robbed House Pendar, during the height of the ball. Gems, jewelry, even dozens of gold crowns had all vanished in the night.

The response was swift at House Pendar. Like a hive that had a rock thrown at it, servants and nobles alike began to buzz around the grounds. The guards were summoned and reports made, guests of the House present for the ball were interrogated. Word of the robbery spread, particularly as the guards didn't find so much as a trace of the stolen items. Through that night and into the next they continued their search with nothing to show for it. By the third morning after the ball the question on the minds of everyone following the incident was simple: how had it been done?

---

The Night Before, Pendar Estate

Lord Weyland Saniago was a fantastic hit at the Pendar Ball, and an unexpected guest. He had arrived in the city only days before and a House friendly to his own had invited the young, charismatic lord to the party, and from the first moment he set foot on the grounds he found himself surrounded by men and women alike, eager for stories of Tear and drawn to his easy, rakish smile. Few paid attention to his pretty but sullen maid. Some of the women caught the smoke of jealously in her eye when they spoke too closely with the young lord, but they gave her little thought.

The party was in full swing when Toria Netari stepped out of the loud, brightly lit hall and into the dimly lit corridors of House Pendar. No one would notice her missing. She'd been ignored since her arrival, aside from a man or two demanding she fetch food or drinks. Her plain gray Tairen dress didn't draw the eye and helped smother her figure, and outside of her duties as a servant, no one had given her a second glance since she'd entered the grounds. She was one maid of many scurrying around to provide for their lords and ladies. That was good, but blood and bloody ashes was it annoying, especially with everything fawning over the flaming gleeman (and Light the fool seemed to be mooning over half the women in attendance. Not that she cared. And it was part of the act anyway. But burn him for it anyway.)

The halls were deserted, and the time or two she passed another servant she simply kept her head low and pace steady. Not that she was particularly recognizable, but she had no wish to leave the impression of a small woman with short hair and green eyes with anyone in attendance tonight. Finding the master bedroom was the hardest part of the evening, they hadn't had an opportunity to scout the manor house before tonight, but nobles were all the same. If you want to find where they spend their time, look for the room with the most extravagant wealth and the best view.

The door to Lord and Lady Pendar's chambers was locked, of course, but lockpicking was one of many skills Toria had cultivated in her years on the streets. The sound of footsteps down the hall didn't deter her, and she had the door open and locked again just as another servant turned the corner. From there, looting the chamber was simple enough. Lord Pendar, Light illumine him, was notoriously tight-fisted when it came to money, and sure enough, he kept dozens of crowns in a (locked, but who cared about such trivialities?) chest under his bed. Lady Pendar's jewelry was an unexpected windfall, and Toria couldn't help but try on a silver bracelet set with emeralds.

"Light, I'm keeping this."

She spoke quietly, no sense in drawing attention, but it was a fierce whisper. Wealth and status had been in her grasp once, and she wasn't about to let it slip by again. Toria shoved everything, including the bracelet, into a sack. The bag was satisfyingly heavy, and though Toria hadn't made a hard count of the money it was easily the equal of everything she'd earned over the last few years in ways both legal and otherwise. She'd rigged her crossbow to be hidden under her skirts, and she used the rigging to secure the bag as well. What she wouldn't give for her coat with all its pockets. Instead, it was heavy and she would need to move deliberately to avoid noise, but casual glances wouldn't reveal anything wrong.

Toria slipped back to the party with no more fanfare than when she'd left, then waited. Anxiously, with a grimace, but she waited. Thankfully by this point, most of the lords and ladies were well in their cups, and no one ordered her to perform some menial task or another. She simply waited, watched the gleeman dance and laugh and boil her blood in many ways. When we get out of here I'll give that flaming gleeman something to laugh about. The thought was the strange mix of fond and darkly angry that increasingly characterized Toria's relationships, but in this case, she leaned into it to drive away the nervousness.

At the end of the party, she and her lord vanished into the night, first taking a carriage to the New City, then on foot to a small home where they'd arranged to change clothes. From there they disappeared into the city, hard-earned prize well in hand.

If they were lucky, it would take days before anyone realized that the Tairen Lord Saniago had no son. Even if they weren't, notoriety for wealth was a trade well worth making.

[Candia Thame]

She had explained there was very little hope for success after three days, but she would take a look, since they were willing to pay. A crime scene that had already been cleaned wasn't likely to tell her much though.

Her first impression upon entering House Pendar was that it was an ostentatious place. Candia doubted what was stolen set them back all that much. Afterall, they were willing to throw money at her even though she had told them it was pretty much pointless. They were a prickly pair, Lord and Lady Pendar, and had almost threatened to go to the Aiel if she refused to take their case. Apparently, there was a bracelet that was very precious to Lady Pendar. It had been in her family for generations. Even so, the Aiel probably would have beaten them with the butts of their spears for coming to them over something so trivial. They weren't interested in wasting their time for money.

She was lead upstairs to the bedchambers, where the Lady of the House was waiting for her. The woman seemed tightly wound and having trouble accepting the circumstances. She wrung her hands as she spoke, barely greeting Candia before exclaiming how baffling and ridiculous this all was.

Candia nodded politely, murmuring reassurances as she examined the chamber door. Out from her pocket came a glass disc on a metal stick and she held it between her eye and the lock. She noted a small scratch. The lock had been picked, but expertly so. When she examined the trunk, she came to the same conclusion.

She stood up, straightening her coat just as the woman seemed to be winding down her woe is me speech.

"And then in the morning, it was just gone!"

"Of course Lady Pendar, that would be most distressing indeed. One thing that you may ease your mind about though is that I do not believe this was an inside job. It appears the thief had to pick both the lock of the trunk, as well as your chamber door, and your staff would have no need to pick the latter. As you also mentioned they remained in the house all night, attending to the party and then cleaning right away, it seems unlikely that they could have gotten so much out of the house without being observed. I would look towards your guests instead, were there any in attendance you were not familiar with?"

There were more than a few, and in the end a servant had to fetch a list of all those who had been present and they went over it one by one. It was a grueling process, but eventually they narrowed the list of suspects down to only nine.

"I'll go through this list and verify their identities, but even if we discover that someone was a crasher, we still won't know where they have gone. My fee did not include a manhunt. That is a service I only offer for violent crimes."

Even though this was a reiteration of things Candia had already explained, the Lady seemed indignant to have limits put upon her.