Mai thought things over a moment, “What did you say to the two guards who brought you in here to make them go catatonic?”

Andraon almost smiled, this question was always asked sooner or later. “That’s simple enough to answer. I merely said… ,” the next word out of Andraon’s mouth had no audible  sound but cared with it more power than any audible word.

Mai’s eyes glazed over for a moment before clearing once more. “I see, a joke like that shouldn’t have made them catatonic. Thought it’s not a very good joke Mister Andraon, I mean who tells jokes about farmers in this day and age?”

Andraon smiled, this was unusual and pleasing. “I must egress that it is indeed not a very good joke Miss Mai, but still a joke none the less.” The ‘door’ leading out of Andraon’s cell began to open, “It seems the Warden is a bit early. Farewell Miss Mai.”

Mai rose and bowed, “I’ll see you again for our next session Mister Andraon.” With that she turned and began heading back out of the Darkness.

Andraon purged the alcohol from her system as she left so that the good warden’s doctors wouldn’t find it when she was examined latter. Once the first doorway closed once more he summoned a small tengu.

“What is your request Magus?” the small being asked once it had appeared.

“Keep an eye on Miss Mai and report back to me should anything disheartening happen.” Andraon commanded.

“As you desire.” The Tengu replied before vanishing.

“This could prove most interesting indeed.” Andraon chuckled.

****

As Mai finally emerged from the Darkness the Warden, a platoon of guards, and several medics were standing by. Once the guards gave the all clear the medics moved in and directed Mai to a chair. They then began to examine her starting with a full blood analysis.

The Warden walked over, “I must say I’m surprised you made it out. None of the others did.”

Mai blinked, “What do you mean others?”

“You’re not the first one to be assigned here right out of the academy to insist on going in there even after finding out what I told you before. However none of the others ever came back out, so you’re the first. Congratulations.”  He looked to the medics, “I want a thorough examination both physical and mental on my desk by morning.”

The chief medic nodded his understanding and the warden walked off.

****

It was late evening before she finally made it back to her rooms. She flopped down on the bed with a sigh. Her examination had been much more grueling than her time spent in Andraon’s cell. After a shower to clear her head she sat down at her desk and pulled a small book from the locked drawer. She thumbed through the pages before finding the business card she was looking for.

****

The run down office was muggy and filled with pipe smoke that the whirring ceiling fan couldn’t dissipate. He leaned back in his chair and removed the pipe from his mouth to blow smoke rings which drifted up until the whirring fan destroyed them.

The ring of the old phone nearly caused him to loose his balance and fall over backwards in the chair. With a jerk forward the front two legs slammed back onto the wooden floor and he scrambled to pick up the phone, “Murry and Marden’s investigation service, Marden speaking” he answered in a rusty, gravelly voice.

“I want to know everything that can be found on one Andraon Vilofangis” A female voice responded on the other end.

“Marden almost couldn’t believe his ears. It’d been months since his last job and he was so broke he could hardly keep this place going. “We can look into that Miss but there is a cost involved.”

“I’ll pay fifty thousand credits plus expenses, half now, half on competition, but I want to know everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING.”

The phone slipped from Marden’s fingers as he heard the offer. He cringed as it hit the desk with a thonk and quickly picked it up again. “All right Miss we’ll get on it as soon as we get the initial payment.” It was only with years of experience that kept the disbelieve and excitement of this possibly being real from his voice.

“Check your account.” The female voice answered before hanging up.

Marden slowly hung up the phone and flicked on the display so he could verify if this had been a prank or not. A single tear of joy slipped from his eye as he saw that this was indeed not a joke. He blinked as he noticed there was also a note in his safety deposit box. Come to think of it the woman hadn’t said her name or how to contact her. At this point he didn’t care about her objectives; money like this didn’t land on a run down detective with a dead partner every day after all.