Terry sat and listened to Val's story from beginning to end.
He paled at the revelation that young metalmancers were being taken by an unknown group. He made her pause the story at that point and called forth one of this assistants, ordering them to return home and set up a rotation of bodyguards to watch his son.
He then ordered another assistant to head for the docks to search for Carl, inform him of Val's current location, and to provide aid if needed.
"You take too much on yourself," he said after he had dispatched the assistant.
"I failed in so many ways. I don't know what to do now." Val lamented.
"Well, it's obvious that they wanted your sister and your friend alive, so that's a starting point."
Val nodded.
"Is there anything else you can think of?"
Val thought for a moment, and then remembered a conversation that she recently had with her sister. "We ran into some work because a boy with the gift left his village after being offered some sort of training. Claire was made a similar offer last fall, but she turned it down. They made an attempt at kidnapping her then."
"So they try it the easy way, and if that doesn't work, it becomes the hard way anyway. The question is, why hasn't there been any outcry? Surely if there were children missing, ESPECAILLY children with the gift, their families would be up in arms demanding that they be found."
A knock at the door then. The assistant that had been sent to the docks had returned, Carl ducked into the room following close behind.
Carl locked eyes with Val the moment he entered the room. She felt shame and embarrassment and started to look away, but before she did he looked down and slowly shook his head.
"What happened?" Asked Terry.
"Gone." Carl said. Val had never before seen the usually joyful and energetic man look so downtrodden.
Terry raised an eyebrow and looked at his assistant.
"I found this one yelling at the harbormaster. He was trying to convince him to search every ship in port one by one. I only just managed to pull him away before the guard showed up to arrest him for disturbing the peace." The assistant said.
Terry made a motion to an empty chair, "Please, sit." he said to Carl.
"I'd rather stand." Carl said. The big man eyed the door, looking as though he might leave any second to continue the hunt for his missing daughter.
"I know you want to get back out there and start looking as soon as possible," Terry said. "But we need to have cooler heads right now. We won't be able to conduct a search from a jail cell."
Carl remained silent. He still seemed to be on edge, but certainly a little more present.
"So please, sit." Terry tried again.
The big man sighed and slumped down heavily onto a cushioned chair. He drummed his fingers on the armrest. "So, who are you and why would you want to help?"
"Terry Joymore," he stood and bowed. "At your service."
The drumming stopped immediately. Carl looked flabbergasted.
"Wait, you can't be THE Terry Joymore." Carl said, clearly taken aback.
Val looked between the two men. "Uhh, should I know that name?"
Terry sat back down, he turned to Val and gave her a slight smile. "You could say I'm fairly well know in the business community for.... my assets."
It hit Val like a ton of bricks. Only someone who had an absurd amount of wealth would have been willing to leave behind a fortune of salvaged metal to help repair a bridge.
Terry then looked back to Carl. "As for the reason why I would help you.... well there are two. Firstly, this young lady and her sister helped me out of a jam a few days back. Secondly, we recently discovered that my son Ronnie has the gift. So, if metalmancers are disappearing, I will do everything in my power to prevent that from happening. If they are in danger, then my son is in danger and that..... that I will NOT allow."
Carl gave a deep sigh and nodded. There was a rapport then between the two men. Both were fathers who were worried about their children.
"Val here tells me that they attempted to kidnap your daughter last fall. Can you think of any other information from that time that might help?"
Carl retold the basic story that he had told Mand and Val. Two men had booked rooms at the Right Rudder Inn last fall. The men claimed to represent an institution where young metalmancers could go and learn more about their gift and be around others like them. They offered Claire, what they claimed to be, a once in a lifetime opportunity to go and study with them.
Claire who didn't really care for metalmancy and very much enjoyed working the Inn with her father turned them down.
The men then stayed for another night or two, trying a few more times to get Claire to change her mind. Both Claire and Carl had grown impatient with the duo, and Carl encouraged them to stay somewhere else... after throwing their belongings in the street.
Another week passed, and the Inn had shut down for the season. Carl was awoken to the shouts of Claire screaming. When he went to investigate, he found his daughter being carried down a darkened street by two hooded figures.
Carl gave chase and the two began hurrying towards the docks. All along the way Claire screamed, bit, and scratched, doing whatever she could to prevent from being taken.
With the large man closing and Claire being a bigger nuisance than what they could handle, they dropped the girl and took off running.
"She fought so hard because she knew I was coming to save her," Carl said sadly. "This time, she went with them quietly just to save me."
Terry stood and walked over to the seated man. "And I know that your daughter will remain strong, because YOU are coming to save her once again." He looked around the room. "We ALL are."