Make me a Detective!

"Make me a detective!", A young Aiza demanded. She looked straight up at the golden eyes of her mountainous mentor. Seren stared back down at her, her head at a height Aiza could imagine clouds circling around.

"If I could, I'd use that power to make me the queen of the world." The mentor grumbled. She was hunched over a table, organizing a pile of documents, her elbows stained with ink. The pipe she usually twirled in her mouth was missing.

"But you can make yourself a detective."

"How???" Aiza's eyes sparkled.

"Experience."

"Boring!" The bloom stuck her tongue out.

Seren gave a dry, dangerous smirk. "Did you think it would be that easy? Didn't you follow me to learn mysteries? If you think this will be boring, then I'll drop you off here, in the middle of a forest."

Aiza didn't hesitate to object. "No way!!!"

Seren sighed, lowkey disappointed that she would have to keep this enthusiastic one. What a bother... "Shame. Well then, I'll teach you the first lesson of being an investigator."

The vespire swiveled around and pointed to her mouth. Gold smoke seeped at the fringes. “See if you can find my favorite pipe. I must have left it around somewhere.”

“Roger that!” The bloom turned to hop off.

“Oh, one more thing.” Seren said, with a stern stare, figuring that the bloom could use some motivation. “If you can’t find it, then you will get nothing for dinner.”

“Whaaa-! How mean!” Aiza exclaimed. “How is that going to help me be a good detective?!”

“That’s life itself. Do a good job and you’ll be rewarded.” Seren raised a claw nonchalantly, and returned to her organizing.

The bloom wanted to retort, but she didn’t know anything about adults and life itself. Seren on the other hand, had lived almost for a hundred years, or so, from what Aiza guessed. Her only life experience thus far was moving from an orphanage to Goldfair, and now, this carriage. Knowing she had limited knowledge, Aiza gave a response she thought fit best: Sticking her tongue out at Seren. And she kept her tongue stuck until she backed away into the hallway, out of sight.

---

Aiza’s tiny stomach growled right as she stepped into the hallway. She rapidly zoomed down the corridor with the determination of a shark. She was going to find this pipe, no matter what! As the bloom galloped down the chocolate hallway, she passed by delicate picture frames of landscapes and historical looking lons and vesps. An ambient sound of wood shifting surrounded her, and the hallway breathed like a giant diaphragm. The corridor was high and vertical. Doors, of closed or open fashion, idly floated over the walls, massaging over the breathing wood. There were dozens of them, and Aiza struggled to look at them one by one.

She realized she was lost.

This place was an elaborate construct inside of Seren’s magical carriage, lovingly created by a master carpenter who knew how to use spatial magic. A whole mansion's worth of rooms floated around in the corridor that served as the gateway, accessible from the main room visitors would first see upon entering the carriage.

Seren had asked the carpenter to make the rooms shift around to avoid thieves making off with historical valuables or dangerous magical artifacts. Annoyingly, that also meant that any visitor or new apprentice could get lost and turn up as a skeleton in some neglected room.

Aiza almost had that fate at least twice before the vespire had found her, cowering in rooms full of dusty books. 

But the bloom had gotten a little used to the maze, and learned to recognize the doors for what they were. She knew the red one was the kitchen, the purple: her room, and the green: the study… 

And that was about it. Figures! 

Though, if the pipe was anywhere, the study was the best clue she knew. There were many times she'd seen the giant vespire sit in there, twirling the pipe while reading an elderly book.

The bloom's eyes hopped from one patterned door to the next. Maroon, White… Yellow… But she was in luck this time in the corridor. Up high, her eyes caught the green door floating lazily in the wooden galaxy.

Aiza grinned. The pipe had to be in the study of course! She thought, totally ignoring the relief of not being utterly lost. The bloom quickly flapped up to the foresty door and entered it.

---

A soft golden glow welcomed her when she entered the cavernous room. It came from a high hanging, ornate chandelier. Behind it, an aged mural of the continents of the world curved against the domed ceiling. A large dark oak desk rested at the center of the room, framed by a city of books that clothed the walls. 

"Wooow." Aiza mouthed, walking towards the busy desk. This room never failed to awe her every time she entered. It was a favorite of hers, and why she remembered the particular green door. This was where she would find Seren sitting at the desk, twirling her pipe in her mouth, writing letters and journals til dark, and past her bedtime. Sometimes she would come in and bother the vespire, only to be shooed away to a corner of the room, where she would find a weird book or two about elemental anomalies in the world. Then she would spend her limited attention span book hopping from one out of print book to another, learning random strange facts, before falling asleep, and waking up back at her own room.

She loved this sea of mysterious books. One time, she even found one with a paper talisman and Seren ripped the book out of her hand, hiding it somewhere else. Apparently taking the paper seal off meant very bad news. The bloom couldn't find the book ever since, and always looked for it.

Aiza peeked over the desk, eyes scanning over the plains of paper and pens. Seren normally placed her pipe down near her quill pen…

She looked. Nothing was there but ink splotches. The vespire often knocked the ink bottle over often with her elbow. A curse would follow, and then she'd huff a cloud of annoyance from her pipe. She'd tuck the pipe into her cape, and then move to the reading room Aiza came from, where she'd wipe the ink off and get back to organizing her letters.

It happened a bit too much, Aiza thought. Adults sure were clumsy. As she had that in mind, she almost tripped while gazing over the desk. 

Ack! The clumsiness was contagious! Suddenly, her eyes met a black lacquered pipe on the floor, under the desk. This must be it! Perhaps Seren had bumped it off the table. She gave a pleased grin as she lifted the fancy pipe from the floor. Her ticket to dinner now secure, the bloom danced off towards the door, feeling like the world's best detective. She curiously inspected for forbidden books right before she left of course. Despite not finding any, she was immensely chuffed, twirling the pipe victoriously in her mouth, and skipping out of the green door.

---

Aiza waltzed triumphantly into the reading room, waving the black pipe at Seren. The vespire was resting against a giant comfy maroon chair, her feet sleeping next to an active fireplace. Seren's tired eyes gazed up, her head unmoving.

"I found it!" Aiza spoke, proudly displaying the pipe in front of the tall mentor.

With one look, the vespire grumbled. "That's not it."

Aiza stared at Seren with the look of a lost dog, eyes ping ponging between the pipe and the vespire. "Wuh-- What do ya mean!?"

"I said to find my favorite pipe, not just any pipe." 

The bloom groaned. Oh. That's right. Seren did have a favorite: a brown lacquered pipe with gold trimmings. It was made of wanderoot, a rare type of wood that aided in magic channeling. The old lady told her it was a pipe she used to help master her magic. Though it's useless to her now, she often carried it around, including times when she wrote letters in the study. Aiza felt her title of "best detective in the world" peel off her brain.

If the pipe wasn't in the study, then where could it be? There were too many rooms to investigate before dinner, and she could see Seren was already done with organizing. It won't be long before the vespire trailed off to the kitchen.

The bloom's tummy rumbled. Seren rose, giving a big shrug. "Too bad I suppose. I encourage you to keep looking. Though your supper might get cold…" 

Aiza shuddered at the thought. There was nothing more she hated than cold soup! She wracked her brain. Think…!

The bloom summoned the clues to her mind palace. The study. The ink splotches… Seren moving… Wait...

"I know where it is!" Aiza exclaimed, her hoof pointing directly at Seren.

"It's under your cape! You have it!"

The mountainous mentor towered over her, eyebrow raised. "Are you certain?" She said, lowly.

Aiza gulped, confidence beginning to shrink as the black vespire stared her down, gold eyes challenging her. 

"I… I think so!" The bloom said, a little doubtfully, but she stood her ground. 

Her mentor held her stern gaze for a little too long. Then she leaned back, giving a smirk. "Clever girl."

She pulled her favorite pipe out from under her cape and twirled it in her mouth. Aiza fell over in relief. Warm soup ensured!...

Her mentor said thoughtfully, "So how did you figure it out?" 

"I noticed you had ink on your elbows… You were in the study, and knocked it over like you always do! And anytime that happens… You would put your pipe into your cape and hurry to this room where you wipe it off, and stay here to organize letters." The bloom recounted, realizing something.

"Gee, why do you always do that?"

"I have a water rune in here I'd rather not use around the books." Seren explained.

"OHH…."

Then, Aiza gave a frustrated look. "Waaait! Why did you tell me to find your pipe when you had it all along?!"

Seren relaxed back into her chair. She puffed a long golden smoke trail as she spoke, "As an investigator, you will meet many who will lie or remember things wrong." Another puff. "The most important thing as a detective is to trust the facts and evidence. Despite what anyone else says."

The bloom thought that was pretty profound and wise. Her eyes glittered in a bit of awe at the small lesson, and she silently tucked the quote into her memory. Then her child brain remembered the trouble of getting the wrong pipe. "You coulda just told me that!" Aiza huffed.

Seren chuckled amusingly, "That wouldn't have been as fun." 

It was trouble, but even Aiza had to admit it was fun to explore the study a little. 

"If you keep this up, maybe you'll become an okay detective some day." Seren mused. The bloom eagerly smiled.

"Though magical mysteries are the utmost dangerous and difficult to solve. I wonder if you'll survive." Seren gave a dangerous smile back, surveying the bloom, as if sizing her up to invisible expectations. Aiza gulped.

She had a dreadful yet exciting sense that the pipe was the easiest case she'll have… in probably ever. 

"I'll s-s-survive!" Aiza blurted nervously. Her stomach growled, which prompted Seren to rise. The vespire chuckled. "You will tonight. Consider dinner your first reward on your journey to become a mage detective. Let's go."

The two headed to the kitchen, passing into the wooden galaxy of a corridor. As they walked, Aiza began to daydream. Again, she got excited about the future adventures. What magical investigations will she encounter?, she wondered. And would some lons hide the truths of these mysteries? Her heart raced at the idea of uncovering them.