User blog:Leea/The Tale of Voronwe, Chapter 55

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4th Era 150, 3rd of Second Seed, Pyandonea
The mountain of paperwork on his desk could compete with The Throat of the World. It had been a long, long time since he had gotten to the bottom. So long, in fact, that he'd forgotten what cases and complaints were buried there. Aside from too many cases on his lap, Oncalimar also dealt with other agents' cases when they were otherwise occupied. And by "occupied" he meant weddings, sick days, sloppiness and just plain not showing up for work. He wished that the people of Pyandonea could behave themselves so that he could also have a day off. It had been far too long. When was the last time? He couldn't remember. Those days - or day - were as forgotten as the cases at the bottom of the pile.

As he did every morning when he showed up for work at the Vigilants headquarters, he started from the top, lest it topple over. For his dedication, he had been given the corner office on the first floor a few years ago. It had been a nice switch from his miniscule desk previously. However, he didn't know at the time that a larger office meant more work. There were times since that he'd regretted accepting that promotion from Junior Investigator to Senior Investigator and the bigger desk. Why couldn't his coleagues be honest? There were a few earnest Senior Investigators as himself, but too many Seniors (to his mind, at least) were connected to weathly or influential families, so they got to slack.

As he re-read the report of an old lady's complaints about a dog chewing on her slippers - even though numerous examinations by plenty of Junior Investigators showed that there were no dogs anywhere nearby - there was a knock on the door.

Looking up from the report, he called for the person to come in.

A man with a roll of papers entered. "I have a delivery from the Temple of Arkay for Senior Investigator...Oncalimar?" he asked, reading from a slip of paper in his other hand.

"That's me."

The courier didn't give the papers over right away, instead looking at the mountain of paper on the desk before him. "You have quite the collection of paper here," he remarked.

Oncalimar chuffed a humorless laugh. "No kidding."

"Do the other Investigators have this much paperwork?" the man asked, moving closer and peering over the top of the mass.

"That's not for me to say," he replied carefully, not wanting his contempt and frustration for his slacking fellow Investigators to filter back - one way or another - to those powerful families. That would be the end of his career.

The courier smiled knowingly, understanding exactly what the Investigator meant with those words. "Uh huh."

Oncalimar sighed. "Look, I'd like to continue this...talk...but you can see the amount of work on my desk." He reached around for the report from the Temple. "Give it here."

The courier tossed his mane of dark blond hair and handed the roll to him.

As he accepted the papers, he thanked the man and prepared to read the report. Feeling a presence in the room, he glanced up to find the courier still standing there, staring at him pointedly.

"What? Oh..." he began, before closing his eyes in realization. "Did the Temple pay you?"

"Just 5 gold." came the reply.

Though he wasn't exactly wealthy, he knew that couriers worked hard for the money they made. "That's quite the distance you had to walk, even though it was only a roll of paper."

"Indeed." he said simply.

Oncalimar pushed his chair carefully back from the desk and gently pulled out one of the drawers, being very carefull not to disturb the pile. Fishing around inside, he pulled out a small pouch of coins and felt the contents with his fist. He judged that there were ten or so gold inside. He tossed it over the paper mountain and the man caught it deftly.

The courier hefted the bag before smiling and giving the Senior Investigator a nod. "Thanks."

Oncalimar matched the smile and nod as the courier turned and went back out the door, shutting it behind him.

Turning his eyes to the roll of papers perched on the edge of his desk, he heaved a sigh and reached for them, both dreading and anticipating its conclusion.