The Prince of Starlight

Chapter Seventeen

Evan Everett's home, as it turned out, held no significance other than that it was a respectable little cabin in a lush cluster of trees where Evan Everett had lived when he wasn't visiting his mother or working at the miller's. Yoshi stood next to (not leaned against because he seemed too upright and proper to lean) one of the trees in the yard while Cricket took a third lap around the property. Cricket scratched his chin, his steps measured as he followed his own tracks.

"It's strange," he said by way of greeting when he'd finished his latest lap.

"Hm?" Yoshi asked. His eyes hadn't left Cricket, which would normally be enough to make Cricket self-conscious, but not when there was a mystery to solve.

"There are no tracks here. Not even his own. You'd think if he was hunting something, he'd have followed it into the wood here."

"Strange."

Cricket wasn't sure if Yoshi were agreeing, poking fun, or questioning, but either way Cricket shook his head. "There aren't even any animal tracks. This close to the forest there should be some animal tracks. Even if it's just bunnies."

"Would a ghost leave tracks?" That sounded like a genuine question, even if it was an utterly ridiculous one.

"Well. No. But you don't really think this is a ghost, do you?" Cricket frowned, tilting his head as he looked at Yoshi. His eyes flickered over the other man. Taking in his upright posture, and his firm stance that grounded him to the earth. He didn't seem the type to believe in such things.

"No." Yoshi was still staring at the cabin as if he would see something that Cricket had missed. Maybe he would, that was the good thing about having two sets of eyes after all. Sometimes one person alone could miss something that the other would catch. Usually it was Ignacia who caught it, and she positively delighted in seeing something Cricket did not.

"Ah, so that was a purely philosophical question then!" Cricket laughed, shaking his head. "Did you notice anything?"

Yoshi settled his gaze on Cricket, and nodded just minutely.

"Well? Out with it!" Cricket crowed. "Wild speculation. Off the wall theories. That's how we get to the truth of a thing in the end."

Yoshi gave him a look as if to ask it is? But didn't say as much.

Cricket folded his hands behind his back, rocking back on his heels, and settled in to wait. He wasn't a very patient person, but he could wait for someone who was trying to find their words. Besides, he thought it only fair since Yoshi decided he wanted to work with them.

Yoshi frowned, meeting Cricket's eyes. He looked like he didn't want to talk. Like he'd have sooner swallowed his words down than let them be heard. But Cricket was going to wait. Whether Yoshi liked it or not, they would stand there all day if he needed to.

"He does not seem to have spent much time here," Yoshi said when it seemed that Cricket was not going to give him an out.

Cricket smiled brightly, rocking forward onto his toes and probably getting much too close to Yoshi for the other man's liking. "You're right! So he probably came into contact with the stag elsewhere! Maybe at the miller's."

Yoshi nodded.

"That's genius, Yoshi! Let's go check around the miller's for tracks. Then we should head back to the inn to regroup with Ignacia before dusk." Cricket leaped forward, heedless of Yoshi's personal space, took hold of Yoshi's wrist and tugged him back towards the center of town.

"Dusk?"

"Yes, from our reports the stag doesn't appear until the sun sets. So, we have another couple of hours to wait. Then we can see the thing in person, I suppose."