When the Wolfbane Blooms

Chapter 9 - A Newcomer To The Village

It was so rare for someone to travel to Peu-de-Forêt that any newcomers would immediately become the subject of gossip for the entire village. People did not seek out Peu-de-Forêt, not typically. There wasn't anything very notable about the village besides the folklore. As such, the village had no inn. Most visitors were there to see family, so they stayed with their family.

On a rainy morning in early November, a man arrived in the village. He was dressed plainly and only brought one small suitcase with him. The first person he spoke with was Doctor de Garderobe, who directed him to the tavern across the village owned by Monsieur LeFou to seek out a room to rent. After agreeing to rent the room, Monsieur LeFou promptly went to see his neighbour Monsieur Cogsworth to tell him about this new visitor to the village.

Before noon, every business in the village knew. Once all of the business owners knew, it wasn't long before all of their customers knew. And by the time evening arrived nearly everyone in the village had heard about the man.

Monsieur LeFou, who had been asked about him by many of the customers at his tavern that day, had no information to give beyond the man's name and point of origin: Inspecteur Forte. He had travelled there from Strasbourg, the nearest city.

Monsieur l'inspecteur made for a very exciting piece of gossip. Everyone was desperate to learn what business a police inspector could possibly have in their little town. They had no crime, no jail, not a single law officer. They had never had any need for anything of the sort.

Forte mainly kept to himself, spending the following week walking through the village and making observations in his notebook. He spoke only to Monsieur D'Arque and a select few of the hunters, none of whom were the gossiping type. His business in Peu-de-Forêt remained unknown to most.

Gossip did not often reach Adam. Madame Potts was no gossip, and while Lumiere was he only worked at the manor on certain days of the week. Most gossip was old hat by the time Lumiere had a chance to share any of it with Adam, so he often didn't. But Forte's presence in the village was the biggest piece of gossip the town had had in years - aside from the possibility of a werewolf running rampant.

When Adam heard that there was a police inspector from Strasbourg in their village, he tried to brush it off. He thought back to the advice Cogsworth had given him what felt like a lifetime ago about writing to the police in Strasbourg to look into the story Gaston had told about shooting Monsieur Villeneuve. That had been before his entire world was shifted; before Lumiere had been married, before Belle and Adam had gotten engaged, and before he knew that monsters were real. He had never followed through and written to Strasbourg, and he knew now that doing so would only complicate things further. He wondered if Cogsworth had done it himself.

He was in the library, taking notes on the journals Lumiere had left, when Forte arrived to speak to him.

Lumiere burst into the library without knocking. This wasn't atypical, the man had developed a habit of entering rooms without knocking when Adam was considered. Lumiere was not shy when it came to those he considered friends.

"This is interesting," Adam said as Lumiere entered, barely turning to see that it was him. Of course it was him, Madame Potts would never have entered a room without making her presence known first. "It says that a werewolf will see a pentagram - a five pointed star - on the palm of their next victim. It sounds a little... I don't mean to call your great great grandfather's work rubbish, but..."

Lumiere let out a snort. "I did say my family was superstitious, no? We just have to hope that there are little bits of the truth buried in all of that legend."

Adam shrugged. "Perhaps the deer I killed last month bore the pentagram on its hoof. I did not stop to check."

Lumiere crossed his arms as he approached the table. "Did being bitten by a werewolf make you more sarcastic?"