Hey, guys! Welcome back to Hear a Tale! First things first - review time!

Thanks so much to CitrusChickadee for reviewing! Haha, that's just what H'aanit wants you to think ;) And poor Cyrus...one day, someone will listen to him, I'm sure XD

With that, on with the tale!

Relevant Events: Cyrus' Chapter Two

16. Questioning

"Do you think he even realizes," Primrose mused as she, Therion, and Tressa watched Cyrus interrogate an unfortunate townsperson, "how…abrasive he's being?"

"Doubtful," Therion deadpanned. "He's too wrapped up in his little mystery. I'd bet every leaf I've ever stolen that he doesn't even remember anything else exists right now."

"It's just so…odd," Tressa added, frowning. "He's usually so nice and respectful to everyone! But when he needs to get information out of somebody…"

"...it's like a switch is thrown," Primrose finished, shaking her head. "I must say…as intelligent as the man is, he certainly doesn't pick up on certain social cues all too well…"

The thief snorted. "Now there's an understatement. That poor villager's been trying to leave for the past ten minutes, and yet he just keeps going."

Tressa's eyebrows creased. "Do you think we should…you know…try to tell him?"

"Tch, good luck with that. He's in his own little world right now."

"So, if all is as you say, then townsfolk have been disappearing at all times of the day, yet only in the general vicinity of the inn?" Cyrus was questioning, completely oblivious to the fact that the man he was speaking to was gradually edging further and further away from him. As if unconsciously, he took a step forward, closing the gap so that the conversation could continue. "If I might ask, did you have any personal relation to any of the missing people?"

"Er…not particularly, no?" the man answered wearily. "I knew who a few of them were, but we weren't exactly close…"

Cyrus nodded enthusiastically "Aha, I see! In that case, of the people you did know of, were there any similarities between them? Please mention anything, no matter how slight - even the most innocuous detail could turn out to be a clue! Be it gender, age, social standing, area of residence, a mutual friend, a mutual enemy, or perhaps - "

"No, no, I don't think there was anything like that," the man cut him off, clearly desperate to escape the scholar's onslaught of questions. "And if there is anything, I don't know what it was. Please, all I know is that they were all usually last seen near the inn, and even then, it's not like I witnessed all of that myself! I heard reports from lots of other people, so surely, you could learn more from them."

"That's an excellent idea!" Cyrus said. "You will have to introduce me to some of them! One more question, however, do you happen to know anything about the inn itself? What is the reputation of the innkeeper? Have there been any unscrupulous individuals staying there recently? What can you tell me about the general vicinity of the building?"

Even when the villager audibly groaned, the scholar did not let up. His "one more question" turned into several, which all had follow-ups of their own. The spectating dancer, thief, and merchant certainly did not envy the man forced to bear the full brunt of Cyrus' tirade.

"I'm starting to think that Alfyn would've had better luck with this," Tressa sighed, rubbing her forehead. "At least the people he talks to seem to enjoy themselves more often…"

"The professor's scrutiny is truly a weapon in and of itself," Therion said flatly.

"And a powerful one at that," Primrose agreed. "Perhaps, if this goes on for any longer, we should step in and rescue that poor man…"

Therion rolled his eyes. "And become Professor Prattle's next target? No thanks. I'll be staying right here, and I'd suggest that you two do the same."

Tressa winced. "For once, I kind of agree with Therion…surely he'll run out of questions soon enough, right?"

Primrose shook her head and sighed, "If only we could be so certain…"

"Hey, if you want to try teaching him some people skills, be my guest," Therion said with a shrug. "Personally, though, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it's the one thing he can't be taught."

The dancer gave him a look. "Pot, meet kettle," she said dryly. "You know that he's perfectly eloquent and considerate during the vast majority of the time. Though…I can't deny that his obliviousness seems to increase tenfold when there's a mystery afoot…"

"At least he's got something he's passionate about?" Tressa offered uncertainly.

The thief scoffed. "So that's what we're calling it now?"

"In any case, though," the merchant continued, entirely ignoring Therion, "I think we should probably just let him get this out of his system…it's his first time doing research out in the field in a while, isn't it? He's probably just excited to have new things to investigate."

"Fair point…" Primrose admitted. "Perhaps you are right. I suppose that all this is inflicting on the townsfolk is a bit of inconvenience…though we should stop him if his questioning strays too closely to becoming outright harassment."

"And we should steer him away from anyone that doesn't look like they'd put up with his nonsense for as long as this brave soul has," Therion added with a snort. "Not everyone has that high of a threshold for this sort of thing. If he's not careful, we'll all be the talk of the town soon enough, and not in a good way."

"Huh. Never thought I'd meet a thief so concerned about reputation," Tressa drawled, shooting Therion a side-eyed look. In turn, the thief pointedly ignored her.

"Regardless," Primrose interjected before either of them could start bickering, "I certainly hope Cyrus can get all of the information he needs fairly quickly…there are people's lives on the line, after all."

"Mhm…true." Therion shook his head. "Hopefully Prof over there knows what he's doing."

They watched as the villager finally managed to end the conversation, speed-walking away from Cyrus at the first chance he got. The scholar soon returned to his companions, a bemused expression on his face.

"Well, he was certainly in a hurry," he noted, sounding somewhat perplexed. "He did give me some valuable information, as well as some additional names to look into, but…my, I didn't expect him to just run off like that."

"Uh huh," Therion said dispassionately, ignoring the stern looks he got from Primrose and Tressa. "Can't imagine why."

I'll see you guys next time for Tale 17: Blood!