A fire which broke out two days ago in the Council of Kerlile Archive is being treated as suspicious, as Councillor Pierre’s eldest daughter Olivia recovers in hospital from injuries acquired due to the fire. The Pierre heir reportedly spent several days unconscious and locked in the Archive, which had been bolted from the outside. The fire was extinguished by a burst pipe, which was reportedly deliberately damaged by Olivia Pierre, presumably to stop the fire.
The Archive is only accessible to Daughters of the Council, and contains many unique manuscripts and paper records that do not exist elsewhere. While damage to the Archive is still being assessed, it appears to be localised to sections containing records from the past 20 years; with the most valuable documents thankfully stored at the opposite end from where the fire was set. Unfortunately, it appears the locks to the Archive were not forced – meaning it was likely a Daughter of the Council who set the fire.
The Council of Kerlile is presently in an emergency Council session discussing the matter – one of many which have taken place recently, with only three Sundays over the past six months being free of any Council meetings or associated events. In spite of this recent trend, on paper the Council is not expected to meet on Sundays, however due to repeated crises they have met at least six days a week for the last eleven weeks. Councillor Rosemary Arnott has repeatedly complained to a number of domestic and foreign media outlets about this state of affairs.
Given the limited number of potential perpetrators, an investigation of the fire is likely to be considerably easier than most such cases – however, it remains to be seen whether the Council will even authorise such an investigation to be carried out by the Kerlian National Police. If they do so, it will be unprecedented, with similar matters being handled by internal Council procedures in the past. With Olivia Pierre in hospital, however, it is believed that Councillor Pierre will be pushing for a police investigation – which may be enough to push the vote in favour.
Eva Pierre, Olivia’s younger sister and second-in-line to the Pierre seat on the Council of Kerlile spoke to the Kerlian News Service on the matter, saying: “whoever did this has done a grievous injury to both my family and to the Council itself. Destroying precious knowledge curated by the Council since the foundation of this great Matriarchy, presumably to hide their own misdeeds, is a shocking betrayal. We, the Daughters of the Founding Mothers of Kerlile, have a duty to preserve that which our ancestors created. The perpetrator of this act of arson has betrayed that mission, and must be found and punished.”
