SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant

A week had passed since Trafalgar’s first conversation with Doran Skeff, and very little had come from it.

Trafalgar, Rhosyn, and Zafira had discussed the man several times during the week, trying to understand why he had approached Trafalgar in the first place. They had gone over what Skeff had said, where he had chosen to speak, and the fact that he had apparently gone out of his way to make the conversation look accidental.

None of it had given them much.

Trafalgar had tried to find another opportunity to speak with him in private, or at least cross paths with him somewhere that would allow another conversation without drawing attention. Every attempt had failed.

Whether Skeff was deliberately avoiding him or there was another reason behind it, the result was the same. The supervisor of the manifest office suddenly seemed to want nothing to do with any of the observers.

That morning, Trafalgar stood in his room getting dressed while the same thought continued bothering him.

’He had to have a reason for approaching me.’

He pulled his shirt into place and adjusted the collar before heading toward the bathroom.

’Otherwise that conversation makes no sense. He chose to speak to me, and now he’s avoiding me.’

Trafalgar picked up his toothbrush and started brushing his teeth while looking at himself in the mirror. Skeff was still somewhere in the back of his mind, but the man wasn’t the only thing he had been thinking about over the last few days.

The entire situation in Meraval was starting to feel increasingly familiar.

Not because he had dealt with a succession like this before. He hadn’t. It was the way everything around the actual problem seemed to have been handled.

His thoughts went back to the first mission Valttair had given him.

The mine.

Someone had managed to enter Morgain territory and operate there without the family realizing what was happening. The creatures inside had been kept there deliberately, fed and maintained for a purpose, while evidence had been cleaned away afterward.

There had been planning behind it.

And now, inside Myrrhvale territory, he was looking at a dead matriarch who had grown weaker over a long period of time, records that had been altered after her death, and entire sections of information that somebody had deliberately removed.

The similarities were difficult to ignore.

Trafalgar slowed his brushing as another possibility entered his mind.

What if the enemy of House Morgain was also an enemy of House Myrrhvale?

That changed the shape of everything.

Everyone in Meraval seemed to have spent the last two years looking toward Vaelis. The First Heir had been blamed for his mother’s death so thoroughly that even people without proof spoke about it as if the matter had already been decided.

But what if they were wrong?

What if Vaelis hadn’t killed Nyssara at all?

Trafalgar stared at his reflection for another moment before spitting the toothpaste into the sink and rinsing his mouth.

’Shit... this is more complicated than I thought.’

He ran some water over the toothbrush and put it back where it belonged.

’I don’t know why I accepted this...’

Trafalgar stopped for a moment, then sighed quietly as the answer came to him almost immediately.

’No. I know why.’

He dried his mouth and left the bathroom.

He needed the Myrrhvales for the future.

Whatever happened with the succession, House Myrrhvale was still one of the Eight Great Families. If Trafalgar wanted the Council functioning again and wanted as many of the families as possible standing together when the real problems eventually arrived, leaving Myrrhvale trapped in the same internal conflict wasn’t an option.

Helping them now meant having something to call on later.

’I suppose it’s a fair exchange.’

Trafalgar had only taken a few steps back into the room when something near the door caught his attention.

His eyesight had improved enough that he noticed it immediately. There was something beneath the door that hadn’t been there when he went into the bathroom.

He narrowed his eyes slightly and walked closer.

It was a piece of paper.

The sheet had been folded once through the middle and pushed underneath the door, positioned far enough inside that someone had clearly placed it there deliberately rather than dropped it in the corridor.

Trafalgar didn’t pick it up immediately.

Instead, he opened the door and leaned slightly into the hallway, looking in both directions.

Nobody.

The corridor was completely empty, with the same blue and silver decorations running along the walls and the same doors lining either side. Nothing appeared disturbed, and whoever had left the note was already gone.

Rhosyn wasn’t outside waiting for him either.

Usually they met around this time before going down for breakfast, but there was still no sign of her.

Trafalgar closed the door again and finally bent down to pick up the note.

With a flick of his fingers, he opened the folded paper.

There was only one short sentence written inside.

Are you thirsty?

Trafalgar stared at it for a few seconds.

Then the memory came immediately.

The queue.

The water station.

Skeff standing beside him while everyone around them had been too occupied with their own business to care about two men speaking.

’Skeff?’ His attention sharpened. ’He wants to talk again.’

Trafalgar folded the note and slipped it into his pocket before leaving the room. He didn’t bother waiting for Rhosyn. If Skeff had chosen that same place again, there was no reason to risk arriving late and losing another opportunity.

He moved quickly through the castle district and down toward the station they had used during their first conversation.

The morning crowd was already gathering when he arrived.

Workers moved through the area carrying empty jugs and containers, while a line had formed in front of the water station just as it had before. Nobody seemed particularly interested in Trafalgar beyond the occasional glance in his direction.

He joined the queue.

For the first minute, nothing happened.

Trafalgar kept his attention forward, watching the line move slowly while listening to the footsteps and voices around him.

Then someone stepped into place directly behind him.

He didn’t need to turn around.

Trafalgar recognized the presence and understood immediately why the note had been written the way it had.

He remained facing forward as the queue moved another step.

”You wanted to talk to me?”