Ederra had never had cause to doubt the evidence of her own eyes. She slept enough, didn't drink, and liked to think she kept a good head on her shoulders. But all of that failed to convince her that what she had just witnessed truly happened.

As the strange device dropped from Tahni's senseless fingers, Ederra darted forward to better assess the situation.

"Did you just..." began Steppo incredulously, "did you just turn Meyo into a pickle?"

Tahni's bleary gaze sharpened within the instant, and she glared back at her still present brother.

"That's not a pickle, you moron."

No, it most certainly was not. The thing was too hard, for one thing. And it looked fresh, almost inviting, reminding her of still life tableaus she had perused in an old catalog back home. Kneeling down to peer at the object but without yet touching it, Ederra confirmed her earlier observation: where Meyo had been there now was a perfectly ordinary gourd, as if somebody had just plucked it from the vine and deposited it in the middle of the library.

"Oh, Channa," wailed Tahni, letting herself slide down to the floor. "What have I done?"

"That is a very good question," answered Ederra. "Did you see what I saw?"

Tahni stared at her, dumbfounded.

"What?" she managed.

"I mean, did you see him actually turn into a gourd? A transformation shouldn't have happened so fast."

Tahni threw up her hands and groaned at the ceiling.

"I don't know," she huffed. "I've never seen one, have you? How do you know this isn't how it's supposed to happen?"

Ederra shook her head.

"It was over too quickly, I didn't even have time to register it." She frowned down at the unresponsive gourd. "That can't be your brother. It stands to reason that something else must have happened to him."

"If we're going after reason," intervened Steppo, "we might save some time if we just declare ourselves insane."

"Oh, this is just ridiculous!" cried Tahni. "One second he was there, the next, he wasn't. And he left this behind. What do we do now?"

"What do you mean «we»?" retorted Steppo. "You're the one who turned our brother into Mother's next decorative piece."

"Alright then, screw you!" Glancing up at the ceiling, she closed her eyes and moaned. "What do I do now?"

"Cut him up and get rid of the evidence."

Tahni felt for discarded items by her feet and picked up the strange contraption she had inadvertently used earlier. Steppo put up his hands in a show of surrender.

"Yes, go ahead," he urged. "Make yourself the family heir. Except that you can't because you're a girl, and then you'll really have to get married."

"I hate you," whispered Tahni.

Steppo shrugged.

"Looks like you hated Meyo more."

Abruptly, Tahni burst into tears, sobbing noisily, and Ederra thought she saw the merest flash of regret light Steppo's eyes. His features softened just a fraction, and he straightened himself laboriously, wincing at his smarting limbs. Slowly, he shuffled up next to Ederra and picked the gourd up. He turned it around, peered at it on all sides, and even sniffed it.

"It's just a normal gourd," he declared. "If you want, I can have it hollowed out and you can use it to drink."

Tahni let out an ear-piercing wail and Steppo winced.

"It's remarkable," said Ederra, taking the gourd from Steppo's hands and taking her turn at analyzing it. "Whatever happened, it must have been instantaneous."

"Do you think," said Tahni in a wobbly voice, choking back her sobs, "that anyone will notice?"

Steppo opened his mouth to make an undoubtedly inappropriate reply, so Ederra hurried to answer instead.

"It depends on what you mean. Notice that you two were fighting? Only if one lives within three blocks of this house and has functioning ears. Notice the gourd? Not if we hide it. Notice that Meyo is missing?" She shrugged, a blush spreading along her neck as the others stared at her. "As I understand it, his presence is hardly registered in this household. Perhaps just feign ignorance for now?"

She knew her suggestion was sensible and Steppo nodded slowly. But Tahni wasn't yet convinced.

"Can't we just tell someone? Maybe they can fix him."

"We don't even know what needs to be fixed in this situation," said Ederra gently.

"That's not the main issue," said Steppo. "Any sane person would not believe that you've turned Meyo into a vegetable, but anyone with even a lukewarm intellect will infer you've done something to him. And unless we find him - the real him - they'll assume the worst."

Ederra widened her eyes, fear registering for the first time. Even though she had only been a witness, maybe nobody would believe her, particularly because she was a stranger to these parts and the victim was her...

Prickles of alarm turned into full-on panic as she quickly ran through the list of suspects. Tahni and Steppo were Meyo's siblings, but neither had reason to harm him. They had no personal grudges as far as Ederra could tell; Tahni was a woman so she wouldn't be inheriting either way, and Steppo had no reason to do away with his younger brother since he was the heir. But a new and unwilling fiancée...

Ederra shuddered.

"Can they charge someone with murder if the body isn't found?" she asked, struggling for composure.

"Oh, but that's dreadful!" cried Tahni, banging her head on the edge of the table.

"I'm not sure how law regulations apply to the situation at hand, but I wouldn't want to try our prosecutors. They can be really competent when bribed accordingly."

Ederra peered at Steppo, wondering at his self-possession.

"I'll keep this," she said, clasping the gourd tighter. "We might get some clues if we can find out more about it. I mean, not all gourds are the same... Right?"

Steppo shrugged and stepped away, casting his eyes over the disaster wrought upon the library. Ederra hadn't even had time to weep for the maltreated books, but now that she allowed herself to observe the state of the room while focusing less on the strange object tucked into the crook of her arm, she couldn't help but wonder how the siblings were going to play this out.

"I say we just leave it," said Steppo, and Ederra turned to notice him looking at her. "We don't have time to clean up, and if anyone asks, we'll just say Meyo was nowhere near us when we came here."

"He's been sleeping here," called Tahni. "Or at least someone has, very recently."

Ederra and Steppo walked closer and peered at the rumpled bedroll under the table.

"Did you know about this?" asked Ederra. "I thought he had his own room."

"He did," answered Steppo thoughtfully. "He used to come here very often though, so I suppose he eventually decided to shorten the trip."

"Stop making it sound like he's dead!" cried Tahni, glaring at her brother.

He raised his eyebrows, holding her hostile gaze.

"Do you know for certain that he's not?"

Tahni blinked, and Ederra saw new tears brimming in her eyes.

"We know nothing for sure, so let's not jump to conclusions."

"We could use another pallet," murmured Steppo, and when the other two glanced questioningly at him, he shrugged again. "I mean, what do you want to do with it? I suggest we remove any trace of Meyo's presence in this room. Everybody will probably assume he just packed up and left."

"Left where? He wasn't exactly an active type."

"Who knows? Someone like him is difficult to predict."

"That's not true! Whenever you saw him, he would either sleep or read or write. I don't believe he's ever done anything else."

"That's because you didn't bother looking past the obvious."

"Alright then, Paragon of Observation, instruct me on what I should have done instead!"

Ederra left the siblings to argue, though their hearts were clearly not into it anymore, set the gourd onto the desk, and kneeled down to make up the pallet. She rolled it tight, then scanned the immediate surroundings of the desk. She spotted an empty glass, some bread crumbs on the floor, a used handkerchief - which she picked up carefully and stashed into the pallet -, scattered handwritten papers, and the strange tube that seemed to have brought on this whole tragedy. Taking advantage of the others' momentary distraction, Ederra slipped the thing into her left pocket and began picking up the papers.

"Help me out with these, please. Anything that has his handwriting on it. This is Meyo's handwriting, isn't it?"

Steppo leaned down to pick up a paper. He studied it, then flipped it on the other side.

"It is," he confirmed. "I don't know what he wrote about, though."

"I'm surprised that you can read what it says," commented Tahni, picking up the papers within her reach.

"It takes some getting used to," said Steppo, "but he was really attentive when taking notes."

Tahni narrowed her eyes at him.

"How do you know this?"

"I know this because unlike you, who spent most of her days wishing she were an only child, I actually talked to the guy. He even helped with some designs at one point. And now, because of your recklessness, I'll be forced to hire someone else who'll do half the work for ten times the benefits."

"How much did you pay Meyo?"

"Irrelevant."

"So not even a word of thanks?"

Ederra snatched Tahni's gathered stack and tapped the papers against the floor until they were all aligned. The other two paused their habitual bickering to watch her instead and she began resenting her own presence. The oldest and the youngest Sebek siblings seemed to be most comfortable in each other's company when a state of constant irritation persisted, while Ederra's instinct was to soothe the tempers around her in order to protect herself. She briefly wondered if these two would have turned violent again if she weren't in the library with them.

"I'll look into these," she announced, "if you've got nothing against it."

Tahni shrugged, and Steppo cast her a disbelieving glance. Ederra had gathered that Meyo was seen as the archetype of the brilliant recluse, but she suspected his siblings simply lacked the patience to follow his actions to their logical causes and inevitable conclusions. From what she had learned after reading scattered reports and specialized journals in her father's library, true scientists made their point with straightforward arguments, and didn't distract their audience with unnecessary fluff and long words that didn't quite feel right on one's tongue. If they were in luck, Meyo would prove to be a true scientist, and his research might shed some light on his own disappearance.

Inside Ederra's pocket, the unknown device seemed to want to burn its way down to her skin, and she had to hold back another shudder.

"Why hasn't anybody come yet?" she asked, trying to distract herself.

Tahni scoffed.

"Because we've scared them away," she said. Then she looked back to the room at large and sighed. "But someone should clean up this mess before they gather the courage to come and check."

As if on queue, Steppo yawned loudly and stretched his arms, ignoring his sister's sullen glare.

"That reminds me," he said slowly. "I was on my way to bed when this lovely demoness here decided to have a go at killing me. What do you say, dear, same time tomorrow night? Only then, do us both a favor and turn Nazar into a gourd instead."

And just like that, he was strolling purposefully towards the door, leaving them behind with no apparent remorse.

"No surprises here," grumbled Tahni. "Hey, idiot!"

Steppo froze, and no doubt resented himself for automatically responding to that epithet.

"You forgot your sleeping pallet."

Tahni grabbed hold of the thing, aimed, then rolled it towards the door. Steppo watched its progress unblinkingly until it came to a halt against his leg.

"Now," instructed Tahni, "make sure everybody in the house sees you carrying it. You can even knock on doors to look for people."

Steppo shrugged off his disheveled overcoat, wrapped the pallet in it, and placed the bundle under one arm. Then they watched him open the door and disappear quietly into the corridor.

"There goes the future head of the household," said Tahni. "Always eager to shoulder his responsibilities, that one."

"I don't know," mused Ederra. "He made some pertinent observations and behaved quite reasonably."

When her friend made no reply, Ederra turned to look at her and was shocked at Tahni's arrested expression.

"What?"

"Don't you dare make that mistake. I'm starting to think too well of you to allow that to happen."

"What mistake?"

Tahni gestured towards the door and let out a frustrated groan.

"My brother's a nutcase and that's exactly how he reels you in: he makes one perfectly reasonable assertion after another, wins your trust, and the next thing you know, he's made you a full-on supporter of the entire eradication of our societal system. Or a murder accessory, depending on his mood."

"Is he going to help us?"

"Not if he can help himself first."

Ederra stared at her in astonishment.

"But," she spluttered, "this is about your brother. Your other brother, the not insane one... I presume?"

Tahni considered the thought for a moment.

"Meyo never really got a chance to shine," she pondered. "Or say something worthwhile, or even be noticed. I think that's our fault."

"Maybe he didn't like the attention."

"Perhaps..." Tahni glanced back at the gourd on the desk and winced. "Though I'm not sure this is his idea of sinking into anonymity. And as for Steppo, I don't know that they were very close. Regardless, he won't be losing any sleep on Meyo's account tonight."

Ederra twisted her neck and pulled her shoulder blades together, then placed her hands on her hips.

"We'd better tidy up here quickly."

"Right."

Tahni set about the task with unwavering dedication. She was feeling guilty, and that was no wonder. But while Ederra didn't share that sentiment, she had good, old-fashioned fear to preoccupy herself with. Tahni might have been the one who caused the mysterious incident, but it was Ederra who would be the main suspect if things got out of hand. Grinding her teeth, she gathered armfuls of discarded books and stuffed them haphazardly back onto the shelves.

"I don't suppose you have a botany section in your library?" she asked after a while.

Tahni paused for a moment, frowning.

"Meyo was into engineering, not natural sciences. And Mother doesn't bother with gardening books, not when she can spend the whole day outside in the actual garden."

"I see," muttered Ederra.

She glanced back at the desk, focusing not on the vegetable, but on Meyo's stack of research. She'd be too tired to make anything of it this evening, but she was going to have to study them, and soon. That, and the gourd itself, were the only concrete leads they had, so they would need an exhaustive approach to make sure they didn't miss anything important.

It took a while before Ederra realized that she'd gotten what she'd wanted, though the cure had been worse than the disease. And as she flattened herself against the floor to retrieve a couple of tomes that had slid under a bookcase, she would have given anything to have her unwanted fiancé back. So that she could dump him on her own terms.