Regynn Winters

Speculation

The abrupt ring of the bell on the shop door had the sisters tense as Kyalith moved greet the courier on the other side. She gave him a few small coins then turned back to Clair, a plain brown packet held gingerly in her hands. “Do you think this is it?”

Clair raised a brow and smirked, “Gee, I don’t know. Are you expecting any other hand delivered envelopes from Stormwind?”

The redhead’s cheeks flushed pink as she handed to parcel to her sister, “I guess this is it then.” she replied sheepishly.

The elder sister pulled a dagger from her belt and sliced the packet open then pulled a thick sheaf of papers out. She read the top sheet then handed it to Kya, “It says some of it’s redacted for security reasons.”

She scanned the first few pages then blew out a deep breath, “Obviously their idea of ‘some’ is different from ours.”

Kya looked at the sheets, noting that they held more heavy black lines than anything else, “We’ll be lucky if we get anything out of this.” the mage exclaimed.

“My dear sister,” Clair replied, “It’s all in how you read it.” she gathered up the papers and took them to the counter, spreading them out across the surface, “You got any colored pens around?” she asked absently, her attention riveted on the documents before her.

After a few minutes Kya came back with a bundle colored pens, holding them out to Clair who nodded toward the papers, “First we’re going to look for keywords, Stormwind, Regynn, orphanage, mother, father, charge, ward… that sort of thing. We’ll circle each keyword with a different color ink. I bet, after a bit, we’ll be able to piece enough of the story together to at least know where to look next.”

The two of them worked diligently, unaware of the hours that flew by until they realized the shop had become almost dark with the setting of the sun. While Kya went about lighting the lamps Clair gathered up the papers she’d been working on, “Well that was useless, all we have now is paper covered in black blotches and bright circles.” she grumbled.

Kya came from the back room with a tray laden with coffee and muffins, as she nudged the envelope out of the way a faded piece of news print fell to the floor. Two pairs of brown eyes rested on the paper before Clair picked it up, her expression quickly lighting with excitement.

“Ho ho, what do we have here? It says that the young daughter of a prominent merchant family attempted to run off with a ship’s captain but the man  never showed up. The family tried to ignore the scandal for a month or so and then the girl just disappeared. She wasn’t seen again for nearly a year. The article speculates on the reason for her absence.” she looked at Kya pointedly, “ We need to find out who the merchant was.”

“That shouldn’t be hard. Just find one from Stormwind named Winters.” Kya said as she nibbled on a muffin.

Clair rolled her eyes, “That’s not her real name silly. The orphanage named her Winters because that’s when she was left in their care. I got that much from the redacted papers at least, she was dropped off during the Winterveil holiday.”

The women grew silent for a moment before Kya rose, heading to a section of the shop, “I bet I can find him. She’s what… 25 ish?” she ran a finger along a row of books, stopping to peer at the titles before stooping to retrieve one from the bottom shelf, “One of the older guidebooks of Stormwind.” she said at Clair’s questioning look. She flipped through the book as she continued, “It didn’t sell because it was more a who’s who of hoity toity folks than it was about the points of interest.” she paused for a moment, her eyes scanning a page before she grinned, turning the book around to reveal a picture of a small family, “Meet Mr. and Mrs. Walter Perryval and their young daughter, Madelayne. She look familiar to you?”

Clair gaped at the picture a moment before taking the book and reading the caption beneath, “Walter Perryval, owner of Mayfair Shipping; his wife Amelia, and daughter Madelayne.” she read aloud. “Does it say anything about the business?”

Kya noded, “He made his money trading with the Ashvanes before the rift between the countries. I can write some letters and see if I can get hold of any old shipping records from the company.”

The two of them sat in silence for a moment then Clair looked up, “You know what this means don’t you? Reggy could be half Kul Tiran.”