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Pulling forth the necklace, he holds it up for the man to see. “I want to know where you got this!” he demands.

“You broke into my home, scared my servant half to death, just to ask me that?” he asks incredulously.

“I told you at the bridge this was important,” explains Jiron.

The man’s eyes shift from Jiron, to the necklace, then back again.

“I need to know where you got this,” Jiron says again, “and I’m running out of time!”

Azku puts away his sword as there is clearly no immediate danger. “Let her go,” he says.

Jiron never takes his eyes off of him as he says to Stig, “Go ahead.”

Stig releases the woman who runs past Jiron and clasps the man in a tight embrace, her sobs are muffled from where she has her face buried in his shoulder.

Patting her on the head, the man says to her in a soothing voice, “It’s okay. Go on upstairs and I’ll take care of this.” He places his finger under her chin and raises her face so her eyes look into his. “It’ll be okay.”

She gives Jiron and Stig a fearful glance before moving down the hallway away from them. The man watches her as she walks swiftly away and enters a doorway further down. Turning a face red with anger back to his two uninvited guests, he says, “I suppose I won’t get rid of you until I either kill you or talk with you.”

“I would prefer to talk,” replies Jiron.

The man indicates with a nod of his head for them to return to the room at the foot of the winding stairway. Jiron still has his knife in hand as he backs up into the room. “You are Azku, yes?” he asks.

“That’s right,” the man replies.

“The same Azku that gave a young lady this necklace in Inziala?” he asks. When Azku gestures for him to take a seat on one of the chairs, he does. Stig remains standing next to him as Azku sits in the chair facing him.

Sighing, Azku nods. The anger that was so hot when he first encountered them in his house begins to cool.

“Why did you spurn her when you found out about the child?” Stig asks.

Azku glances at him then back to Jiron. “I thought you wanted to know about the necklace?” he asks, completely ignoring Stig’s question.

“I do,” Jiron replies.

“Why?” Azku asks. “Why go to all this trouble?”

Bringing out the necklace, he says, “The last time I saw this was the night my best friend’s fiancée died. This was a gift to her from him shortly before. The following morning, my friend departed and I haven’t seen or heard from him since.”

“He left?” he asks.

Nodding, Jiron says, “I don’t know why he left, maybe he was too overcome with grief. The necklace was in his possession when he took off.”

“I see,” the man says. “So you hope that I can be of some help in finding him?”

“That’s right,” Jiron states.

The man looks at him, the anger he initially felt continues to melt away. Not completely, he’s still upset about being accosted in his own home. “What will you do with the information should I have any you can use?” he finally asks after a moment’s thought.

“I don’t follow,” Jiron tells him.

“I’m not stupid,” he says. “If a necklace of such emotional importance is not with your friend, I would suspect it wouldn’t have been relinquished willingly.” He pauses a moment to see if his words have any effect. When Jiron fails to react he knows that Jiron has come to the same conclusion.

“Can you help me?” Jiron asks.

“Perhaps,” he replies. “I acquired the necklace through a business associate some time ago for the woman I loved. That was before I realized the woman was…soiled.” His eyes tighten with remembered pain from the night when he had to spurn her.

Coming to sit on the edge of the chair, Jiron asks, “Who?”

“It would be problematic should anything befall this man,” Azku states as he sees the burning intensity behind Jiron’s eyes. “Would giving you his name be a death sentence should you find that your friend is already dead?”

Jiron shakes his head. “No,” he replies. “All I want to do is find out what happened to him.”

Azku studies him for a full minute before asking, “Would you be willing to give your solemn word to leave him as you find