207 A White Ba

Nuria tied her light-brown hair back with an orange ribbon as she led the way to Lily's house. Castel, Macha, and Palila following behind. The sun was directly in the sky above and shined its warm rays onto the cheerful-looking village.

Lily always wanted a child but had never been successful while she was married. Like most women, she had a history laden with miscarriages and stillborn babies. She and her husband tried for over fifty years. Then he fell off a ledge while farming and died. Ever since Lily became a widow, she yearned for a baby to fill the lonely emptiness that filled her days.

Since Lily wanted a child so badly, Nuria said nothing when the woman found a girl by the gates and invited her to live in the village. Once she invited the juvenile in, the wards were useless anyway. In reality, Nuria had been furious. The wards around the village were there to protect them. Everyone who was invited to stay needed to be authorized by her beforehand.

The party made their way to a small white cottage. A swing fashioned out of wood and rope stood in the front yard. The house looked to be in perfect condition but seemed empty and inaccessible. This was the only house Macha remembered to have the shutters closed.

Nuria rapped on the door, but no one answered.

She knocked again and called, "Lily, it's me, Nuria. I need to talk with you about Elodie."

She knew Lily would be home today. The town was in dire need of a few repairs but since Elodie went missing, their village carpenter had been neglecting her duties.

A frantic shuffling could be heard from inside and the front door flung opened. The woman at the door had knotted hair that did not appear to have been brushed for weeks. Dark bags bruised the delicate skin beneath her eyes and she appeared pale.

Desperation laced her voice, "Did you find Elodie? Is she all right?"

Lily's worried face caused Macha to tear up. Her recent talks about children made this woman's feelings too real to her. She wondered if she and Tyr never had a baby if she would end up yearning for a child as much as Lily. It would feel so wrong to finally adopt a girl, only to have her die a little while later.

Nuria put a hand on Lily's frail looking shoulder. "We found her, but she is not alive. I am truly sorry."

"No!" Lily began to cry. "It's not fair. It's not fair," she wailed. "Why?" her lip trembled, and she shook her head furiously.

"Lily, I'll look into it. I want to make sure we find what or who did this to Elodie. Take a few days off to grieve. I do not mind, but we really need you to get back to work soon. The village understands your feelings, but life goes on too. The people here need you now too. We are a small village and we all need each other."

Nuria understood that if their population ever got too low, the King would start a vicious campaign to drum up new workers. The number of workers was not a problem, but she did not like that Lily seemed to be giving in to depression.

The woman stood there and cried, pounding the doorframe with agony.

Macha stepped up and hugged Lily. "I'm sorry. I don't have any children too and can't imagine what it is like to lose a child after she came into your life."

The physical contact had been something Lily yearned for lately. Ever since her husband died, she lacked the physical comfort that human interaction gave. At first, she thought Macha was a child, and she desperately latched onto her, but then she realized the woman lacked the body structure of a young girl. She embraced the small child sized woman and cried.

"I really thought the fates sent her to me. She walked up looking so hungry..." Lily wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I was so happy when she agreed to stay with me."

Eventually, the woman calmed down, and they left. The situation left all of them saddened.

Palila was the first to break the silence as they walked back to Nuria's home. "Who was the other person who went missing?"

This was a case that she wanted to solve as quickly as possible. She did not want another mother to end up like Lily.

Nuria cleared her throat. "Huck. He was Nepo's son, but do not expect much from Nepo. He is a drunkard who barely does any work," she warned.

When Huck first went missing she tried to ask Nepo where the last place he saw the boy was, but Nepo was too drunk to make any sense.

****

They charged the men in the group with finding Nepo at the village bar and figuring out any information they could. Aeson, Castel, and Zian went down after dinner to see what they could do. Nuria gave them a description of Nepo so they could find him easily.

When they entered the bar, they found three customers. The two who sat talking together looked at them with surprised looks on their faces.

The bar was small and was the size of Nuria's living room. It had two small tables and a bar that could seat about five people comfortably. A fireplace stood on one wall and the entrance to a unisex bathroom was next to it.

The bartender greeted them, "Hey, looks like you guys are new. Where are you from?"

Zian walked up and took a seat next to the man who sat alone at the bar.

He put on the friendliest smile he was able to muster, "We came from Marseille. Thinking of taking up farming, but we aren't sure yet. Before we make any decisions, we thought we would take a trip out here and get a feel for the community and lifestyle."

While he talked, he inspected the man beside him. He a dragon tattoo on his neck and brown eyes.

After they ordered their drinks, Zian turned to Nepo. "Hey, I'm Zian. Can I buy you a drink in exchange for your opinions on living here?"

Nepo gave Zian a sideways glance.

He scoffed, "Living here is shit. But sure, you can buy me a drink. I'll sing like a canary as long as you keep 'em coming."

The life in this village was terrible. The only reason he did not leave was that he did not want to live in the slums of Marseille again.

As the night went on, Zian ordered Nepo a sixth beer.

"So, what's the weirdest thing you ever experienced or heard about this place?" he asked in a friendly light-hearted tone.

Nepo took a swig.

"I shaw awhite bat. Awhite bat, ya hearrr?" His closed his eyes and shook his head. It bobbed a few times before he chugged his beer. "Keepum commin' don shtop," he paused, trying to remember his train of thought. "Oh yeahhh... that lil' girl.... Elo-Elo dhie?" he shrugged his shoulders.

Zian was becoming impatient. "Elodie?" he offered.

"Yaaa. She wuz playin' whish my boy n'..." Nepo stopped talking. Looking down at the almost empty mug, he slumped over onto the countertop. The remaining beer poured out of his mug and the bartender quickly put his mug upright.

Zian shook the man, "Hey! You didn't finish your story."

No matter how much he tried, Nepo would not stir.

The bartender tossed a dirty rag over Nepo's face. She gave the man a sneer. "Forget about it. That story is rubbish anyway. He always talks about it."

She began clearing away the empty mugs that Nepo finished earlier.

"What's the story?" asked Aeson. He was genuinely curious about this white bat and his hazel eyes sparkled with interest.

"Nepo says that Elodie left his house after dropping Huck off. That night Huck forgot to give her back her toy, so Nepo took it and ran to catch up to the girl. The streets were empty except for a white bat that flew in the air staring at him. He claims the bat recognized him and he thinks it was Elodie."

She shook her head, "Don't listen to it. Those are the ravings of a drunk man. The town is pretty safe. I moved here cause it was a better environment than the slums. The pay is good too."

When the men got back from the bar, they explained everything they found out.

Macha's brows furrowed. "The white bat doesn't seem like an aswang thing. The heart was missing, but I don't know what a liver looks like."

She turned to Aeson, do you think you can inspect the body and see if the liver is there? They supposedly like livers too."

Aierim thought for a bit. "Another thing that does not make sense is that an aswang would not be able to come into the town with the wards. Zian and I checked out the wards today. They are strong and are made so things must be invited in before passing. If anything comes in with an ill intent to the village, it would be in pain the whole time."

"The only person to come in recently was that little girl," Minh pointed out. She bit a hangnail and raised her eyebrow.

Macha rubbed her temples. "This isn't making sense. The little girl died, but something killed her in the village and buried her. The more I think about it, I really don't think it's an aswang."

"I can send an Air Elemental Message if you want. We can ask for help figuring out what the creature might be. If the heart was missing, it probably isn't a person," offered Aierim. She learned the communication spell last year and found that it was extremely useful.

Zian nodded, "I think that would be for the best. I don't want us to fight things without any understanding. That could lead to doing the job incorrectly or one of us dying."