The Generous Gesture

Looking around, Ignatius wiped his brow. The air inside the city was humid as machines ran on steam. "This looks like a nice place to eat breakfast," Ignatius commented.

"My stomach wants to eat itself," Luna complained, her stomach growling.

"Come, lead the way," Elysia said, taking his hand.

Christie followed in silence. Reflecting on the wonderful three days she had spent with her Master's new companions. On this, their last day, only five pawn shops remained unvisited. After Ignatius mentioned that the thief might have pawned their item for quick coins. They decided to track down all the pawnshops in the city.

"Good morning, have a seat over there," a burly dwarf with an apron said, gesturing to a table.

Everything costs two to five silver Ignatius noticed. In the corner of the diner sat a human woman with five children. To Ignatius, it looked like one child, a little girl, was celebrating her birthday. Humans and dwarfs filled the small diner, indicating that the food should be good.

Ignatius took a golden coin from the pouch tied to his belt. The battle had given him twelve gold coins with a Mithrilen mark on them. He wondered if killing enemies in another city would result in different marks on the coins.

"What may I get you, sir?" a young dwarf girl asked.

Sliding the coin toward the dwarven teen, her eyes widened. "Make sure the table with the birthday girl eat for free. Buy her a big cake—they can eat whatever their little heart's desire."

Hearing sniffing, Ignatius looked at his companions. They wiped their eyes, clearly crying. "Will do, sir," the dwarf said, her voice filled with emotion.

Elysia inspected the table. "That lady is poor; it must have cost her months of saving to treat the little girl."

"Mothers will go above and beyond for their children," Ignatius said.

Christie nodded in agreement as she wiped her eyes. "Dust got into my eye; I'm not crying like you two."

The meal was delicious. The women cried when the burly dwarf placed a massive chocolate cake on the table. The dwarf stood by the woman's table explaining that everything was on the house. He walked away from the table, standing behind a pillar, wiping his eyes as tears rolled down his cheeks.

Walking to the steam tram, Luna took Ignatius's hand. "The dwarfen teen told me."

"That lady lives around the corner; she works in a factory," Luna said.

"She has five children. The little girl turned five today—it was the first time she had cake for her birthday."

Ignatius nodded. Remembering the poverty that loomed around every corner in his old world. Despite being born into a wealthy family with a big corporation, they had their struggles.

He remembered his oldest sister, Cynthia. A picture of her in a white dress with blue flowers. Running alongside him on the beach, laughing, the memory pulled at his heart. He loved her dearly, and she loved him as well.

Their father had separated them by buying his mother an apartment in another part of the city. Cynthia, who had been promised to a wealthy business owner's son, did not take the news well. Ignatius comforted her despite the ten-year age gap. She would say that she would wait for him to become eighteen and wanted to run away from home with him. Time was not on their side. He was seventeen, and she was twenty-seven.

Ignatius was not invited to her wedding; his father kept him away from her. The last he saw of her was when she took his face in her hands and kissed him, tears rolling down her face. That was the day he and his mother moved away to a far-off city.

As a seventeen-year-old boy, he was distraught. He had lost his beloved sister, who had shared everything with him—linked at the hip since he could crawl, as they would say—and how he missed her red hair and ice blue eyes. She was his first love and always would be. He was brought back to reality as Luna touched his hand.

"Look, this cane looks like the one in the picture," Luna said, pointing.

The pawnshop owner scoffed. "That item sold. The man will bring the down payment in three days," he said.

Elysia wrote in a little book, collecting the names of the people involved in the sale. She would use her resources to confirm the facts. They could not take the cane. Ignatius scrutinized it, remembering every detail to compare at a later stage.

"I could be wrong, but it does look like the stolen cane, Elysia," Ignatius said as he studied it.

"I need to go through the right channels. This is not Misty Cove," Elysia remarked.

Elysia and Luna now in good spirits. After discovering a possible clue. They walked hand in hand, enjoying the cityscape as they headed home. Ignatius's arm was around Christie's waist, her tail swooshing from side to side.

***************

Clair waited at Silvi's Coffee Shop, her eyes scanning the room. Ayla was behind the counter, tending to customers. Clair approached her, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Lovely place you have here. Family-owned, right?" Clair asked.

Ayla nodded, her expression cautious. "Yes, it is."

"How long have you been running it?" Clair inquired, her tone casual but her eyes sharp.

"A while now," Ayla replied, keeping her answers short.

Clair's probing made Ayla uneasy. She felt that this woman was prying into her family's matters.

Ignatius came downstairs with Luna. Luna spotted Clair, and her demeanour changed.

"Ignatius, over here!" Clair called out, waving him over.

Luna's expression soured, but she said nothing. Clair took control of the situation. "Come spend the day with me, Ignatius."

"We have so much to catch up on," she said, ignoring Luna.

Clair made sure to uninvite Luna. "You must have tons to do this morning, Miss Luna."

"She is manipulating you," Luna whispered.

"Do not be jealous, Luna, my pretty elf," Ignatius said, gently touching her lower back.

"I promise I will take care of Ignatius," Clair said as she stared at Luna, her intentions clear.

Christie, standing behind Ignatius, winked at Luna, offering silent support. Luna sighed and returned to tend to the coffee shop, feeling unhappy about how Clair had manipulated Ignatius.

Clair stopped at the door, turning to Christie. "You can go back. You're not needed."

Ignatius grinned awkwardly, taking Clair's hand. "Christie is my handmaid; she goes where I go."

Clair glared at Christie. They moved through various shops, and Clair bought expensive clothes and trinkets.

Ignatius enjoyed Clair's parade of new outfits. "She has a pretty face and lovely figure," Christie commented.

"I know, right," Ignatius said, looking like a cat who got milk.

At one store, she begged Ignatius to buy her a necklace costing two gold coins.

Ignatius took four silver coins out of his pocket and turned them inside out. "That's all I have left from my salary at the coffee shop."

Disgusted with his poor appearance, Clair excused herself, claiming she had an errand. Christie giggled as Clair stomped down the street with her packets.

Ignatius stared after the human woman, his thoughts a mystery to Christie. "What a peculiar woman," he murmured.

Christie smirked. "She doesn't know what she's missing."

Ignatius shrugged. "Let's get back to Luna and the coffee shop."

**********

Magnus leaned against his desk as Elysia walked in. She had greeted the elated officers outside. Behind her back, a big jar with coins appeared out of nowhere. Silver coins disappeared inside, the sergeant writing on a label. 

"Where have you been?" Magnus said, his voice filled with emotion.

"Following a lead. We may have found the missing cane," Elysia said, leaning against the doorpost.

"That is good news?" Magnus said, lowering himself onto his comfy chair. "How is Luna? Still superb in the sack?"

Elysia smiled, her eyes alive. "It's even better than the first few times," she said.

"We need to retrieve the cane from a pawnshop in Mithrilen. I have written down the details of the store and the owner."

"The seller and the buyer as well."

"Good work, detective. They might lead us to the thief," Magnus said, lighting a cigar.

"What new leads on the murder investigation?" Elysia asked.

Magnus moved uncomfortably in his chair. "Well, we have not discovered anything new."

Elysia walked forward. "What have you been doing, staring at my photos from twelfth years ago at the beach party?"

She looked at the desk and saw pictures of herself in a white one-piece swimsuit, a size too small. Magnus had said the lady at the clothing store had mixed up the sizes, but she knew better. That had been the second time he had tricked her.

Magnus hid the photos, and the office fell silent. "Did I not tell you to get rid of those photos?" Elysia said.

"Especially the ones where the swimsuit rides up between my legs."

She fell silent. The photos lay exposed on the table, next to the previous year's beach party bikini photos. Magnus grabbed them and shoved it into his desk drawer.

"You have done nothing in my absence but perv on those photos,"

She looked around at the officers. They seemed very busy with work. Even Sergeant Rose blushed, pretending to work.

Elysia slammed Magnus's door for effect. She sat behind her desk, staring at the officers. They had made no progress. She needed to find out who did it. She had a killer to catch.