Drawing of Celyn here: rayjinar dot tumblr dot com/post/117773446504/resurface

Chapter 2: Halfling

Heterochromia wasn't unusual with humans, but it was for fairies. An eye injury could be easily healed with a small burst of magic; otherwise, it was a case of something else – some sort of mutation. But with Dian, what struck Celyn was the exact shade of ice-blue on his right eye and deep hazel on his left, too similar….

It took Celyn a moment to respond: "Dian…?"

"Simply Dian. I'd like to separate my police-work from my main career. I suppose you're Celyn Little."

"Oh, so you're police then?"

"Not officially. I do cases for them from time to time. "

The corner of her mouth twitched at that. Sure, she worked with the police from time to time unofficially, too, but she wasn't comfortable with a human doing it as well. Just how similar was his morals with the police force?

And his eyes. Celyn couldn't stop looking at his eyes.

"Mr. Dian is a family friend," said Artemis the Third, "as much as Mr. Foaly's is."

"And I'm pretty trustworthy, if I do say so myself," said Foaly with a grin.

"Fine," said Celyn. She had to take the word of the centaur, a fellow fairy. And a fellow fairy was a victim of a murder attempt. She shouldn't dwell on biases (she had every right to dwell on, she thought) for now. "Fine."

Dian smirked. Celyn would very much like to wipe off that smirk from his pasty face.

She turned away from them and squatted down, pulling a glove from her pocket and fitting it snuggly on her right hand.

Artemis the Third clapped her hands together. "Now that's settled, I'm going back to my office. Minors aren't allowed in the crime scene, and it's thirty minutes past curfew." She gave Celyn a pat on the shoulder and waved the man and centaur goodbye. "Please take care of them, Mr. Foaly."

Celyn wondered how a teenager could run a university but not get out past curfew.

"No human meddling, my ass," she muttered, but Dian heard her.

He sighed. "I understand your resentment."

Celyn laughed. "No, you don't."

"All right, all right, we're not off to a good start," Foaly said before Celyn or Dian could say anything more. He scratched his head a bit. "The victim is Basil. She chose the name herself, because her parents weren't capable of naming her. She is nine-feet tall, weighs three-hundred pounds – ish. She's a third-year student, majoring in Art Studies. Apparently, she was studying here for her Nature and Art exam.

"What do you think of the scene, Little?"

"It's too soon, with too little data, to draw a conclusion."

"I'll have to disagree," said Dian. "We can gather something, at least, from what little data we have."

Celyn rubbed her temple.

Dian stood beside her. "Look at that chair. It is toppled over, but the crime was committed inches away. The glass instruments, too, were shattered on purpose, but that top shelf is too high for most people."

She straightened up. "Unless it's a really tall human," she said sarcastically. Why was this man getting on her nerves?

"That's true, but not during a fight of some sort. If there ever was any."

"Right. I don't think any human could get to her. She's a troll."

Foaly touched his chin. "Well, back in the day, there was a human who was able to."

"How long ago was 'back in the day'?"

"Two hundred or so years."

"Is it, by any chance," Dian said, "a butler? There was a mention in an essay, but I can't find any reference elsewhere."

"Oh, yeah, Butler. I was there. Sort of. Quite a feat, to be honest. Would mean more damage to the place."

"More than a tumbled chair and shattered instruments – damage to the building itself."

Celyn nodded. "So someone set up this room to look like a struggle happened. But why?"

"What are they hiding? I'm assuming the criminal's identity. You cannot hope to defeat a troll in a fight. There is a good chance, then, the criminal is someone familiar to Miss Basil. And Miss Basil takes classes on boxing, too, for PE. There is no chance, therefore, to take her unless her guards were down."

His fists were clenched tightly, Celyn noticed.

"We need to interview people who knew her, close to her," she said. "Check their alibis."

"I'll do it," he said. He pursed his lips. There was darkness in his eyes.

"Halfling!"

"Yeah, halfling!"

There was derisive laughter coming on all sides.

Hands covered eyes.

Celyn traveled back to her flat to gather a few of her things and then back to the university. Foaly led her to the faculty dormitory, complaining about the stairs on the way, how it accommodated only bipeds. Celyn rolled her eyes and smiled. Somehow, this old centaur amused her. He then talked about the case in more detail, and Celyn set the Monocam on record, while half-listening.

Dian seemed to know more than he let on, she thought.

I'll say it now: I suck at crime and mystery, and that's not gonna be the focus of this fic. I'm sorry.