Just finished C.J. Sansom's Shardlake series (Dissolution, Dark Fire, Sovereign and Revelation), and I'm now changing pace (and genre) and rereading Naomi Novik's Temeraire.

Thea sighed.  She was beginning to think it had been a bad idea to come all this way after all.

She turned and looked at the woman who had just suggested her for questioning, citing her reason of choosing at random as plain evidence of guilt.  "By all means, place your vote on me, as it will reduce the amount of suspects in this, but I don't see how there is any information at all to go on. We have only just got here, after all, and have not even heard from all those present.  Besides, it appears that someone else has chosen at random," she said, gesturing to Kara,  "and yet this is less suspicious than my vote?"

She opened her sketchbook and started to draw.  She had often heard that artists grew more famous after their death, but she doubted anything good could come from this situation.  She was tempted to just get up and go to the thief taker herself.

"Logic will help us, indeed, but we have precious few facts to use this logic on," she went on, sketching the gathering with a quick hand.  The darkness of the pencil she had chosen somehow made everyone look guilty.  "I could suggest that everyone is simply seizing on someone's name and the most flimsy of reasons just to give someone to that vulpine-looking thief taker over there.  If it is to be me, fair enough."

Thea looked up at the thief taker, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the woman's words.  Questioned?  Deciding something like this was not the easiest thing in the world to do, especially since one of them was likely a murderer.  She wondered at what would be the best way to choose when not everyone was yet present, taking out her sketchbook and pencil and drawing something absently in the corner of one page.

Ordinarily, I wouldn't want to choose until everyone has had a chance to speak, she thought, but under the circumstances, I'll let fortune decide.  That seems fair.

Turning to a fresh page (as the little sketch she had done seemed like one she would keep and turn into a painting later on - if there was a later on) she wrote the names of the people around her in the room and then tore out the page.  She set her pencil behind her ear and folded the sheet of paper neatly, before tearing into strips the sections where she had written names.  With that done, she folded up the pieces of paper so that the names were obscured and put them into an empty bowl on the sideboard. 

Holding her breath, she reached her hand into the bowl and stirred the paper pieces around, until she drew one out entirely at random.  She kept her expression neutral as she read the name written there, hoping that fortune had given her the right answer.  She liked to think that luck had favoured her so far, providing her with many a beautiful sight to paint whilst she was on her travels, although the Creator probably had something to do with that.  She exhaled gustily and reached for the paper that Wynne had suggested they use, to write down the name she had drawn.

My vote is:

 

Kara Jay'Alon

Thea then folded the piece of paper and rose from her seat, crossing the floor slowly to hand her vote to the thief taker.  "If there are any revelations, I may need to change my vote, but for now, it stands."  When she returned to her seat, she couldn't believe how quickly the pleasantries of the night before had faded with that scream at dawn.

OOC:  I really did draw the name at random.  I have a little pile of pieces of paper with names on them right next to me. :)

Thea was hovering on the brink of sleep and wakefulness when the scream shattered the peace of a new dawn.  She sat upright in the bed, wondering what had happened to elicit such a scream.  This wasn't the cry of a new maid who had found a mouse in her room, nor was it the cry of someone caught in a dream; this was a cry of terror, and it chilled her, even despite the warmth of the far too soft bed.  She pushed aside the covers and got up, her mind racing.

She dressed quickly in the clothes she had set out the night before; a white cotton blouse with flowers embroidered around the collar and cuffs and a long, heavy green skirt.  Today she was supposed to have travelled to the next commission, but there was plenty of leeway in the travelling time she had planned.  Time enough to see what was going on, at any rate.  She twisted her hair up into a bun, absently secured it in place with one of her clean paintbrushes, and headed for the door, picking up her sketchbook and a pencil as she went.

As she stepped out of her room she nearly bumped into a maid, who delivered a note to her.  Her task done, the maid quickly scampered off in another direction, and Thea gasped as she first opened and then read the note.  How could something like this happen?  Trying to get her thoughts into order, she made her way to the grand ballroom, the very place where she had had such a pleasant evening the night before.  Obviously, this would be an ideal place for people to gather and give evidence where they could all be closely watched, but... that meant that they were all suspects, didn't it?

A few minutes later, Thea pushed open the doors to the ballroom and went inside, noticing that there were some people there already.  She decided against having a glass of wine and instead seated herself in a rather plain chair by the wall, taking the time to compose herself by looking around the room and noticing all of the details in the decoration and antiquities, followed by each of the people present so far.  Finally, at the end of her look around the room, she noticed the figure of the thief taker.  So this was the person who would unravel the mystery.

Standing still and upright, stern as stone, the thief taker glanced at her, and Thea met that gaze calmly.  Rising slowly, she turned to face the woman and nodded once, pleased that she didn't look as out of her depth as she felt.  These sorts of things just didn't happen to artists.  "My name is Thea Taisse, an artist from Jehannah.  I came here to paint two pictures of the gardens and grounds, and once they were complete, the Lady Talman suggested that I attend her party as a token of her gratitude."

Aww, thanks Tig! :)  Thank you, Lara, as well. :)

I hope no-one minds if I join in (being a non-RPer and all).  I've been looking for something new, possibly to dip my toes into the RP side of things, and this looks perfect.

I'm a big Agatha Christie fan, too. :)