They found Maris in the same place she was in the morning : The Investigation Society headquarters, staring outside the windows.
She turned as Raorka and Lucerne entered, and he saw that she had the same wistful look in her eyes as in the morning. She nodded at them, but otherwise didn't say anything before turning back towards the window.
"Will you come with us?" Raorka began, a bit apprehensively.
"Where?"
"To Artemis' hut outside Temuril."
"Artemis? Oh you mean the Witch."
Raorka was about to say she was not a witch but stopped himself. After all Artemis has said herself that being an elf was sometimes even more dangerous than being a Witch.
So he simply said, "Yes."
"For what purpose?" Maris turned, her clear blue eyes affixed on Raorka.
"I have figured out the identity of the kidnapper."
"Have you now?" There was no emotion in Maris' voice. Unlike Jareth or even Drisnen, she seemed nonchalantly calm about it.
How is she so calm?
Does that mean...?
"You know don't you?" Raorka asked slowly looking upnat her.
Maris didn't respond, just stared back.
"You know who the culprit is. In fact you have known from this morning. Ever since Rowena disappeared."
Maris stared outside again, and gave a soft sigh.
"Why?" Lucerne was the one who spoke up, her voice tinged with anger. "Why did you not say something? Why didn't you immediately go to the Mayor? Why, why why??"
Maris laughed gently. "She doesn't know yet does she?"
Raorka shook his head grimly. Lucerne looked once at Raorka and then at Maris.
"Will you stop fucking playing games and tell me already who the kidnapper is?" She almost spit out the words.
Raorka gently touched her shoulder. "All in good time, Lucerne. I promise by the time this day is over all of you will know."
"And what do you intend to do about them?" Maris asked, seemingly ignoring Lucerne's outburst.
"Is that why you didn't say anything? Because you were afraid?" Raorka asked again, looking straight at Maris. She held his gaze for a while before turning away.
"We can't do anything, don't you understand?" She muttered, almost to herself.
Then she sighed and stood up. "Fine. I will be part of your circus tricks this afternoon. I will allow you to tell them all who the kidnapper is. And then I expect you to shoulder the responsibility for the despair it would cause."
With these ominous words, Maris made her way to the door and went out. Raorka and Lucerne quietly watched her receding figure as she headed in the same direction as Jareth and Drisnen had previously.
"What is going on?" Lucerne whispered softly. Her emotions were a storm, she didn't know whether to be confused or horrified. Why did no one want to reveal the name of the kidnapper? Why did Maris think it would cause despair if the name were to be revealed? What the hell was going on?!
Raorka saw the confused mess of emotions on Lucerne's face and was almost convinced to tell her. He had to stop himself, and instead he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder instead.
Not yet
There's one more actor to be gathered.
.XX.
Lumina had been reduced to a ghost of her former self. Gone was the cheerful innkeeper who would greet her customers with a smile, gone was the motherly figure who would take in an unknown stranger like Raorka without further questions. In its place remained a stranger. A dark, brooding stranger.
When Lucerne and Raorka entered the Fritten Inn, the surroundings were almost completely alien to them. The Inn was deserted, as it had been since the kidnappings started. Lumina had kept the Inn closed for business throughout.
They found her in the main dining hall, with her head on the table, and a bottle of wine beside her. Lumina was a very light drinker, in fact rare was the occasion where Raorka had actually seen her drink. But nowadays a routine part of her morning involved a full bottle of wine.
Lucerne walked gently upto her mother and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Mom? Are you awake?"
Lumina grunted, and slowly raised her head up. Her hair was in a tangled mess and her eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep. Raorka felt a surge of pity at this state of the once cheerful woman.
"Mom?" Lucerne repeated once more, slowly stroking her head.
"Yesh. What is it?" Lumina answered, slurring her words.
"Will you please come with us?"
"Come where?"
"To the hut of the Witch outside Temuril."
For a moment her eyes widened with shock, before becoming normal again.
"Why should I go there? She's probably the kidnapper. You should stay away from Witches, Lucerne and you too, Raorka." She said hastily.
"You were the one who introduced me to her." Raorka said softly, but Lumina gave no indication that she had heard him.
"We know who the kidnapper is." Raorka repeated, watching her carefully. Lumina stopped abruptly in her tracks.
She looked up at Raorka and scrutinized his face. Obviously she was trying to determine whether he was serious or just trying to rile her up. When she identified the sincerity in his face, her eyes dropped once more.
"So what?" she said, "you can't hope to do anything against them."
"You knew? From the start?" Now it was Lucerne's time to be shocked again.
Lumina sadly nodded.
"Why didn't you say anything? Does every one in this god forsaken town know who the kidnapper is except me? And all of them refuse to do any fucking thing about it?"
Lumina listened quietly to Lucerne's outburst. After she was done, Lumina looked up and Raorka could see the tears in her eyes.
"I did it to protect you, my child."
.XX.
On the journey back to Artemis, Lucerne was uncharacterically quiet. They had convinced Lumina to come along, but she was in no state of body to go fast. Thus the three of them were making slow but steady progress, with Lucerne making sure her mother doesn't fall on the way.
As they shambled along though, Lucerne had a thousand thoughts running through her mind like a nest of wasps. Primary among them one sentence rang out, again and again.
I did it to protect you, my child
She almost screamed in frustration. Raorka glanced a few times at her in sympathy, but he knew that nothing he could see would help the situation.
And so the three of them made their way in complete silence, out of the gates and towards the Forest of Old Gotuj. The cries of the trapped dragon, as usual, rang out louder and louder as they approached the hut of the elf.
In front of the hut, Raorka could see the three members of the Investigation Society standing tensely outside Artemis' door. Drisnen was pacing about restlessly, Jareth seemed to be polishing a sword on a rock, while Maris just looked over towards the forest. None of them spoke. None of them made a move towards the door of the hut.
Drisnen was the first to notice the three of them arriving. He rushed forwards, a look of confusion on his face when he saw Lumina.
"Is it necessary for her to be here? She looks very sick." He asked in a whisper to Raorka.
"It's essential." Was the only response Raorka gave.
Presently the entire group gathered together. The six of them stood as a group in front of the door of the hut. Raorka stepped forward and rapped on it with his knuckles. After about five minutes, the door creaked open and the elf Artemis stood inside, watching the group curiously.
"I can't remember the last time so many people came here." She said dryly.
"Can we come in?"
"Sure." Artemis said with a shrug, stepping aside to allow everyone to enter.
Drisnen was next and he nodded deferentially to her as he entered. Maris entered nonchalantly, her thoughts clearly elsewhere. Jareth gave one suspicious look to the elf, who simply smiled at him. With a grunt he entered. Finally Lumina and Lucerne entered. Artemis looked at Lumina with a gentle smile, but she would not meet the elf's eyes. As if in shame, she kept her head dropped down throughout as she entered.
Once all of them were inside, Artemis shut the door and then turned towards Raorka.
"Well what is this visit for?" She asked, one hand on her hip.
Raorka sighed. This wasn't going to be easy.
"I have determined the identity of the kidnapper and have gathered all of you here to discuss and determine how we can beat them." He said, looking around for any reaction.
There was none. The people he had gathered already knew this information, and Artemis simply raised one eyebrow but didn't say anything further.
"You may be scared, you may despair when you learn the name. But remember the eight of us here can definitely defeat the-"
"Wait a minute." Jareth interrupted, furrowing his brows, "there are only seven of us, even if you count the Witch. Where did you get eight from?"
Raorka smiled. Then in an instant, he turned around to the empty chair in the corner of the room and before anyone could react shot out a jet of water from his fingers towards it.
With a decidedly human yelp, the chair fell down. As it fell the magik enveloping it also vanished, revealing the person who had been hiding in it.
"That's not a very nice way to treat a lady is it?" Rowena Atar said, as she stood up beside the fallen chair, dusting her clothes off with her hands.